Page 9 of A Different Husband

“Oh, no. I think he deserves far worse, because it won’t hurt him until much later. He thinks you’re safe with me.”

“Aren’t I?”

Flynn leaned in closer and the smile that spread across his face was nearly my undoing. “You will always be safe withme, Courtney, but the safety Beckett thinks about is entirely different.”

“What do you mean?” I managed to choke past my suddenly dry throat.

“He thinks you’re safe from me wanting you, from pushing physical boundaries only he thinks should remain in place.”

“And you don’t see it like that?”

He shook his head slowly from side-to-side. “Nope.”

“Nope,” I whispered, though I wasn’t sure if it was a question or what.

“Nope. I don’t see it like that at all. If you marry me, and you give me even the tiniest hint that you might be interested in more than a marriage in name only, there’s not a damn thing to stop me from having more with you.” He leaned in a little further and placed a quick kiss on my cheek, but it was close enough that he caught the corner of my mouth too. His green eyes twinkled in delight at my shocked expression as he pulled back. Then, before I could read anything into the situation, he turned and moved back to the glass he placed on the counter. He filled the damn thing up, as if he hadn’t left me standing there in a Flynn Fog, and handed it to me. His sturdy hand made my quivering one seem to shake harder.

Could I go there with Flynn?

I wasn’t sure if it was a smart idea, but the zing of electric energy between us made me think maybe it wasn’t completely out of the realm of possibility though. Then again, that could have been my spiteful revenge rearing its ugly head. Flynn was right, Beckett assumed I was safe with his cousin. I was beginning to think he might have been wrong.

Chapter 6

FLYNN

I stoodin the room that had been set aside for the groom to prepare for the wedding, and it felt as though the fires of hell itself were responsible for heating the place. “Is anyone else sweating?” I asked.

My father’s immediate response was to mockingly laugh at me. “It’s okay to have cold feet, Son.”

“I wish my feet were cold,” I grumbled. “I’m about to sweat my balls off in here.” Dad wasn’t fooling anyone. Sweat beaded up on his forehead too.

“I’ll go check and make sure the guests aren’t making puddles in the church,” Ky, my eldest sister’s husband and my best man, announced as he quickly launched himself from the room. I didn’t blame him. None of us wanted to sit in a sauna in a tuxedo.

The minute he left, I turned to see if I could open one of the windows. By the time I managed to get it cracked open, a familiar sparkling metallic silver BMW pulled into the Handicap space just to the right of the window. I rolled my eyes at my cousin’s audacity as I my stomach plummeted to know that Courtney would either not be happy to see him there, or wouldride off into the sunset with the jerk and leave me hanging at the altar like an idiot.

The odds of the latter happening diminished quickly as a giggling blonde, who looked like she was dressed for a night of clubbing instead of a wedding, wobbled out of the car without any assistance from Beckett. My eyes landed on my cousin again and I noticed he wore a tuxedo, though rumpled to shit, instead of a suit as other wedding guests would. I hoped like hell he didn’t think he would be able to slide back into the wedding as the groom. Then again, I wouldn’t put anything past him.

“This is not happening!” I growled as his smug face met mine through the window. My father came over to see what had me so concerned and as soon as he noticed Beckett, he swore under his breath.

“I’ll handle this. It is almost time. Get yourself down that aisle to wait for your bride. I have a feeling Courtney will one day thank her lucky stars that she married you and not my idiot nephew.”

He was gone before I could respond. What could I say though? I hoped so, because I had been a little bit in love with my soon-to-be wife since I first met her in middle school. Considering this was more of an arranged marriage for convenience, admitting my real feelings felt like the wrong thing to do. Did it make me a creep to end up with the woman who I secretly loved when she didn’t know? I wasn’t sure, but refused to take a chance on telling her, in case it made her want to run away.

“Everyone is about ready, and this room is the only inferno in the place,” I turned to see Ky in the doorway. He had come back to fill me in. It made me wonder if my path to hell was already paved in flames, considering the room I was supposed to wait in was like standing in one of the infamous pits.

“Am I doing the right thing?” I asked him. There was a time, not too long ago, when he had been the swapped groom in a wedding. He did it to save my sister the embarrassment of being left at the altar, but the sad sack was also hopelessly in love with her too.

“She knew what she agreed to. If it makes you feel better, everyone thinks she traded up to the better cousin.”

It didn’t really make me feel better to be a last minute trade-up, especially since it hadn’t been her idea to do it. Still, I huffed out a quick breath full of anxiety, squared my shoulders, and marched to the door. “Let’s do this.”

Chapter 7

COURTNEY

“Am I really doing this?”I whispered to my reflection in the mirror.

My makeup was perfect, done in soft tones that matched the silver and peach theme I’d finally chosen for the wedding. I looked like the perfect bride. Most of my hair was swept up into an intricate updo while some of it escaped to frame my face with soft russet curls. My eyes stood out in stark contrast to everything, because the panic in them was evident. How could I marry a different man than I planned this wedding with? My heartbeat tripped around in my chest, a chaotic beat that mirrored my conflicting emotions.

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