Page 48 of Take Me to the Wedding

“You might have to starve a little longer. I heard we have to fetch the eggs and milk the cows.” I paused to let that sink in. “But then Marin told me that a chef named Pierre is going to whip everything up into a fantastic meal.”

“Milk the cows?” The color drained from her face. “Are we processing the sugar cane and picking the coffee beans too? What does it take to get a cup of coffee around here?”

“Already did that.” I produced the cup of coffee. She shot me a startled look followed quickly by a grateful smile. She immediately took the lid off, rich fragrance and wisps of steam and rich fragrance escaping.

Somehow, I knew she’d be pleased. Her reaction made me happy.

“What’s for breakfast anyway?” she asked as she blew on it and took a sip. “Thank you for the coffee. It’s good.”

“You’re welcome.” For a moment, our eyes met and held in an inescapable hold. In the distance, some pigs squealed, excited to be served breakfast by one of the farm hands, who dumped a giant bucket of something into their area.

“Bacon,” I finally said. “Bacon’s for breakfast.”

“Stop,” she said. But she was wearing a little smile. As the smile faded, she glanced down at the cup and then up at me as if she wanted to say something, but she didn’t.

“Hasn’t anyone ever brought you coffee before?”

“No,” she said honestly. “But you’re two for two days. You’re setting a bad precedent.”

“Hey, it’s my love language. Er—I mean, myfriendshiplanguage.” Great. A vivid scene flashed uninvited in my mind, triggered no doubt by theloveword. Sam in bed, her long hair down and tousled. Me handing her coffee. Her taking it with a smile—a welcoming one. A get-over-here-right-now-and-kiss-me one.

I blinked. Cleared my throat. Made a big show of visually scanning the entire area from the barn, the fenced field, and the wild field beyond to the tree line. A soft, low moo or two came from the barn. Jetson nickered. In the yard, a rooster crowed.

She downed another sip. “Oh wow. It’s ridiculously delicious.”

And I was ridiculously pleased. She had deep brown eyes, warm and rich like the coffee. When she wasn’t frowning at me, she was noticeably pretty. I mean, not that I noticed—except in a purely clinical sense. We docs were trained to observe, of course. The sun was rising far across the field in front of us. It was a beautiful almost-summer morning. I stepped back a step and pointed to a railroad-tie fence overlooking a rolling meadow. “Want to sit and talk about today?” Business. Purely business.

“On the fence?” she asked.

I looked around. Barn, dirt, fence, field. “No patio furniture for miles.” I made a gesture like a stirrup with my hands. “I can help you up.”

“I don’t need your help.”

I held back a smile. “Of course you don’t.”

She made several unsuccessful tries to get up on the fence, holding the coffee.

“Are you always determined not to ask for help?” I asked. Although admittedly, I had quite a nice view from down here.

“Did you just mumble something about a nice view?” She gave me a cold stare from the top plank of the fence.

Oh no. Had I said that out loud? “I—what I meant was,” I said, going full damage control, “that meadow.” I pointed out to the lush green meadow, covered with slanted rays of morning sun. “I mean, come on. It’s as nice as the one where Lizzy met Mr. Darcy at the end ofPride and Prejudice. With the sun just peeking through the trees. I mean, yeah.” I whistled. “Quitea view.”

Her frown was accompanied by a big effort not to smile. “How do you know aboutPride and Prejudice?”

“It’s Mia and my mom’s favorite movie.” Then I looked into her eyes, which were brown, with pretty gold rims. “‘You have bewitched me, body and soul.’” Not a bad impression, if I could say so myself. I’d had a lot of practice tormenting Mia with that Matthew MacFayden line.

She laughed, but then a weird thing happened. I couldn’t stop staring into her eyes. I got tangled up in that big, brown gaze.

Finally, she turned to look out at the fields. “Thanks for helping me with Quinn last night.”

“He’s like, head over heels. He couldn’t stop talking about you.”

She put her hands up defensively. “I’m not looking for anything, especially not with anyone in this wedding party.”

“Aw, come on. One of the bridesmaids always sleeps with one of the groomsmen.”

She tossed me a glance. “We’ll save that for you and Lilly.”

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