Page 54 of The Wedding Wrecker

“Those are pretty typical,” the driver said. “Beautiful buck, though.”

I smiled and snapped a few pictures, both of the deer and my sister’s wide-eyed marvel as snow blown by the wind drifted down around her.

The whole thing felt like a fairy tale, which just made it more dangerous. I was doing my best to think of this as my sister’s fairy tale. Thiswasher big wedding. These were her moments.

So what if a distractingly hot guy was sitting next to me, too? Or if every time I lost concentration, I was also drifting into this winter wonderland fantasy where all the stories he told about our meeting and past were true—where we were just a normal, ordinary, perfect couple.

But I couldn't afford to get caught up in the romance of it all. Not with James.

Then he turned to brush snow from my hair, his touch lingering longer than necessary, and I forgot all my reasons why not.

"Your ears are turning pink," he whispered.

"It's the cold."

"Liar." His breath was warm against my skin.

The sleigh crested a hill, revealing a breathtaking view of the mountains. Everyone oohed and aahed appropriately, but I was too aware of James to properly appreciate it.

"We should do this again," he said softly. "Just us."

For a moment, I let myself imagine it. A nighttime ride, stars overhead, no one around but us...

"Emma?" Lily's voice snapped me back to reality. "Didn't you say there was a bonfire at the end?"

Right. Work. Wedding. Reality.

"Yes, the resort has a fire pit set up with hot chocolate and s'mores."

"Perfect end to a perfect day," Marcus said, but he was looking at his phone and his voice was slightly distracted.

I noticed James watching him with that same sharp focus he'd had during the food tasting. I wasn’t about to ask him about it in front of Marcus and my sister, so I kept my attention on the scenery until we finally came into view of orange flames flickering through the trees. An employee from the resort snuck away just as we were coming close, probably hoping to give the silly illusion that the fires and supplies had just magically appeared here.

"Last one to the fire has to share their s'mores," Lily declared as we pulled to a stop.

James helped me down from the sleigh, his hands lingering on my waist. "Want to share anyway?"

"In your dreams."

"Oh, sweetheart." His voice dropped lower. "In my dreams, we share a lot more than s'mores. And I’ve had a preview of your dreams. They might be even dirtier than mine…"

I grabbed a handful of snow and shoved it down the back of his jacket.

His yelp of surprise was deeply satisfying. Right up until he tackled me into a snowbank.

"James!"

"You started this," he said, hands planted on either side of me. He grinned as snow fell from his hair onto my face.

"I’m going to be freezing now.”

“Maybe that was the plan. Now you won’t be able to stop yourself from cuddling up to me.”

I shoved another handful of snow at him, but he caught my wrists, laughing. For a moment, we just stared at each other, breath mingling in the cold air.

Then someone cleared their throat, and we looked up to find the entire wedding party watching us with varying degrees of amusement.

"If you two are done," Dick drawled, "some of us would like hot chocolate and s’mores."

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