Page 153 of The Wingman

While we eat, the wedding party and parents make speeches.

“Upon first impression,” Miller says into the microphone, “my surly, serious best friend appears to be an asshole.”

He glances at Pippa for confirmation, who nods hard in agreement. Everyone laughs, and even Streicher cracks a smile.

“But everyone in his life knows he’ll do anything for the ones he loves. Pippa,” Miller smiles at her, “with your strength and bravery, your work ethic, and your creativity and kindness, everyone in this room can see why he loves you more than life itself. Daisy,” Miller peers around the table, where Daisy is sitting at Donna’s feet, getting pets, “you changed everything when you tried to follow Streicher home that day.”

Daisy lets out one high bark and everyone laughs again.

Hazel narrows her eyes at Streicher during her speech. “I wasn’t sure about you, Jamie, but you won me over when you encouraged Pippa, built her up to her full height, and told her she could do anything.” Her expression warms. “You’d do anything for my baby sister, and I love you for that. I’m proud to call you my brother-in-law.”

She looks to Pippa, and her eyes shine with love.

“I once told you I wished you knew how incredible you were, because you’d be unstoppable.” Her throat works, and she blinkshard. “Now you do know, and now youareunstoppable. I love you. I’m so proud of everything you’ve accomplished and the person you are, and I thank the universe every day that we’re sisters.”

My eyes sting, because Hazel normally keeps her emotions locked down.

“Crying again?” Darcy whispers with a teasing grin.

“I’mnotcrying,” I whisper back, blinking fast.

She smooths a hand down my thigh in a comforting motion, and I slip mine into hers, holding it tight.

“I’m crying a little,” I admit.

“It’s okay.” She leans up and kisses my cheek. “I like that you’re secretly a sappy romantic.”

I huff an embarrassed laugh. I guess I am. I guess I always was.

“Jamie, you’ve been part of the Hartley family since that first Christmas you joined us,” Ken, Pippa’s dad, says with pride, chest puffing out. Maureen stands beside him at the podium, beaming. “Everyone says Jamie and Pippa are the lucky ones, but it’s Maureen and me who are counting our lucky stars, and not just because we’re welcoming two members of the Storm at family holidays.”

Everyone chuckles. On top of being a friendly, open-hearted guy, Ken is a rabid hockey fan.

“You’re a good man, Jamie. Donna did an amazing job, raising you,” he tells Streicher and Donna, and Streicher leans forward, watching with his elbows on his knees. His throat works. Donna dabs at her eyes. “Pippa chose well when she chose you.”

“I knew Jamie liked you,” Donna says to Pippa with a smile during her turn, “when I asked if you were pretty and he wouldn’t look me in the eye.”

Pippa laughs and Jamie grins, shaking his head.

After dinner, Pippa plays a song she wrote for Streicher onthe guitar he bought her for their first Christmas, and when I see the look they exchange, him so proud of her and her so openly loving, I tighten my arm around Darcy’s shoulders.

After, we dance to love songs, and I hold her tight, breathing in her sweet, familiar scent.

I love her, and it’s getting harder to keep it in. Every day, I wonder if she’s ready to hear the depth of my feelings for her.

“You want to go back to the room, Andersen?”

She holds my eyes and nods, and I take her hand, pulling her to the door.

CHAPTER 74

DARCY

In the elevator upto our room, Hayden smiles at me, then down at our joined hands. His smile is so soft and yearning, and he’s so deadly handsome in his gray suit, that I can’t get a full breath.

When the elevator dings at our floor, he leads me to our room and unlocks the door and holds it open for me. We step inside the suite overlooking the lake—the room is way too big and luxurious, but when I told him this when we arrived, he backed me up into the bedroom and kissed me on the bed until I forgot how to speak.

He kneels to help me with my shoes, and I smile as I bring my hands to his shoulders for balance. He’s so careful with the thin strap around my ankle, and the caring gesture tugs at my heart.

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