Page 53 of The Wedding Wrecker

"She needed something to wear," James said smoothly. "She was meeting with a client a few minutes from where we were, and didn’t have time to go back to her place. We hit my apartment and I let her borrow some of my sister’s clothes. It was almost a perfect fit.”

“Your sister keeps her clothes in your apartment?” Marcus asked.

He has a sister?

“She was staying with me for the week. Lucky coincidence.”

“And then what?” Lily asked.

“Well, I was admittedly smitten. So I slipped my phone number into the pocket of my sister’s jacket with a little message.”

“What was the message?” Lily asked. She was eating the story up.

So was I.

It was like he was imagining how this could have happened between us in another world—one where our professional lives didn’t clash so spectacularly.

“It said he hasn’t been with a woman in years,” I said before James could continue. “That he was desperate, and went on to beg me to call him back.”

James cleared his throat. “Ah, yeah. Something like that.”

Lily laughed. “Really? What possessed you to writethaton the note?”

“I’m persistent when I want something,” he said softly.

The way he said ‘want’ sent heat through my entire body.

"What about you two?" James asked. "How did you meet?"

"Oh, it was so cute," Lily started, but she was cut off by a sudden lurch of the sleigh.

One of the horses had spooked at something in the trees, rearing up with a nervous whinny. The other horse danced sideways, making the sleigh rock precariously.

"Whoa!" The driver pulled on the reins, but the horses were properly scared now. They were trying to walk in different directions, which was making the sleigh rock from side to side. If they kept this up, the whole thing would tip, or maybe be dragged straight into a tree.

Before I could process what was happening, James had vaulted over the side of the sleigh. He moved to the horses' heads, speaking in low, soothing tones as he got hold of their bridles.

"Easy there," he murmured, stroking their necks. "Nothing to worry about, girls."

The horses settled almost immediately under his touch.

The driver was able to take that moment to join James, thanking him and speaking quietly to the horses as they calmed.

I watched it all with a still-pounding heart.

“Do you moonlight as a horse whisperer?” I asked. I had to admit the way he swooped in to save the dayagainwas admittedly a little hot. Was there anything this man couldn’t do?

James gave the horse a pat and a quick nod to the driver before vaulting back into the chariot. “I grew up around horses. He settled the blanket back over us again, somehow even closer than before. "My grandfather had a farm in Kansas. I used to spend summers there helping him out. Most horses just want to know you’re in control. If they see somebody is calm, they’ll be calm. It’s just about confidence.”

Once the driver was sure the horses were good, he got back in and urged them into a trot again.

Lily spent most of the ride peppering us with questions about our dating life and past, which James was able to answer so convincingly that I almost found myself believing it all, too.

We occasionally stopped for photos, which meant having to trudge through ankle deep snow with the Wellington’s, but I saw too many perfect spots to miss it. I was pretty sure I had about a hundred I was going to want to keep and touch up later for the wedding album.

Between the stops for photos, I tried to focus on the scenery instead of how good James smelled, or how he kept finding my hand beneath the blanket and holding it.

"Look!" Lily pointed to where a family of deer watched us from between the trees. "Are all Colorado deer that big?”

---