Page 12 of Kiss the Bride

“Why?”

“I have a honeymoon to go on. Mitch wanted to go to India and experience life. I insisted a honeymoon was about lazing around and enjoying—“ I stop before sayingeach other, replacing it with, “the sun.”

“Food first, then I’ll take you wherever you want to go.”

The Better Man

Hunter

“Eat, sweetheart” I tryto coax Livia to eat when I return to the car from the old-fashioned roadhouse café. For once, I don’t care if my leather seats smell of greasy hamburgers and fries for the next month. It’ll be worth it if Livia eats something. If I know her, and I do, she hasn’t eaten anything substantial since last night between nerves and wanting to look glamorous in her gown.

“I can’t.”

“There’s a battered pineapple ring hidden in the fries,” I tease, dodging through traffic on our way back to the marina.

“You can have it.”

I could kill him. Seriously, if Mitch had tried to stop us leaving instead of standing on the driveway like a chicken shit bastard, I wouldn’t have stopped at one punch.

I would have killed him. How the fuck could he do this to Olivia? How could he have done her best friend—her bridesmaid—on the day of her wedding?

Like, it takes some seriously messed up son of a bitch to screw around on your actual wedding day. Day before—should have been a sign that he wasn’t ready for marriage. A week before—if he was the reason Lina and Pete broke up—maybe a sign that he and Oliva had a few things to sort out before making a life-long commitment.

But on the way to his wedding? I want to drop Olivia off somewhere safe, into her mother’s arms, pick up her father, and go and belt the living crap out of the guy I used to consider my best friend.

Not anymore.

Mitch, Caleb, Pete, Soren, and I have been friends since prep school. We’ve been tighter than a bloody drum except for the couple of years we all went to different universities.

History be damned. He screwed around on Olivia. He broke Olivia’s heart and left someone else to deal with the sobbing mess.

I take full responsibility for being the first person to break her heart. The combination of guilt and the opportunity to make it up to her, drives me forward, needing to be the one to help Olivia see through this mess and realize she deserves better and life will go on.

It’s all my fault.Mitch had asked and I’d given him my blessing to date her. Fucking Mitch. I’d trusted fucking Mitch to protect the heart I loved.

Look at where my trust got Livia?

My fault.

Impulse one, deck my former best friend.

Impulse two, grab my first love, and get her out of here.

Impulse three, kiss the bride.

I cut through traffic, impatient to get back to the marina and escape out onto the beautiful Sydney Harbour. It had been our playground growing up, and as Livia’s wedding day got closer, I spent countless hours on my boat, trying to convince myself that Livia would be happy with Mitch and that one day, I’d forgive myself for breaking her heart.

Her heart had healed. Mine? Well, I learned years ago to accept my punishment. Olivia Woodgrove is it for me. There’s no point dating women who might be looking for a happily ever after, because they won’t get it with me. And any woman who is good enough to introduce to my circle of friends deserves more than to be compared to the only woman I’ll love. I deserve what I’ve got, which is nothing, while Livia deserves the world.

“Everyone’s seen it,” she sobs, breaking the silence and waving her phone around. Damn it. I didn’t notice her turning it back on. I glance over, her sea-green eyes already swollen and red, her face marked with mascara-stained tears as her manicured fingers glide over her phone. She’s never looked so haunting and fragile. Or looked so desperate to be and feel strong. “Mitch has already gone full circle, from begging me to come back to—well, he’s seen the video and, apparently, I don’t catch his good side.”

I know she’s trying to hold it together with sarcasm and hope she can wait until we get to the marina and the privacy of my boat. Out on the water, she’ll be safe to let all her emotions go and I’ll never tell a soul whether she cries into my shoulder or into the wind.

“Jess and Elena knew Lina was seeing someone behind Pete’s back, but thought the guy was married and she’d come to her senses,” Livia says, shaking her head in disbelief. “Elena had already cut off contact with Lina but didn’t want to tell me that Lina had broken up with Pete until after the reception or when she gets back from the reality TV show.”

“They knew?” Of course, they knew. I can’t believe none of the guys knew, then again, they all knew what my reaction would be, so were probably saving Mitch’s face from my fist.

“About Lina, not about who with. Elena didn’t want to spoil my day. Tash thinks I should go to the reception and show everyone I don’t care.”

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