Page 29 of Best Man
“Okay!” Paulina shouted back. She turned to Niko. “Gotta run. I’ll text you later.”
“See you later,” he said. He watched her scamper off with a cute wiggle in her butt.
“Hey, Niko!” Piper shouted. “Make sure my future husband doesn’t get into any trouble tonight, will ya?”
“Don’t worry! I will get him home safe.”
“Counting on you!” she sang. “Bye!”
Niko waved. “Bye.”
Close one,he thought as he watched the girls leave.Damn, man. I can’t help myself.
10
Paulina
Night fell during the thirty minute drive home. The headlights of Piper’s SUV shone on the mile-long road to the farm, and gravel crackled and popped beneath their tires. Out in the country, where the night skies were always crystal clear, it was easy to see the distant clouds to the west pulse with flashes of lightning.
“I don’t like the look of that at all,” Piper grumbled.
Paulina didn’t like the look of it, either, but at least the coming storm took the heat offherfor a little while. As soon as they’d piled into the car, Piper and the girls had grilled her over what she had been doing alone with Niko. No one seemed to buy her innocent explanation—that they were discussing wedding stuff—even though it was the truth.
Mostly,Paulina thought.
But she couldn’t deny the electric thrill racing up her spine when she and Niko were sitting so close. It was so crazy! She’d never been so attracted to someone she’d just met, but everything about Niko made her skin tingle with pins and needles. Especially his gritty, rumbly voice, which sounded so sexy in his Russian accent. But maybe the sexiest thing about him was simply how badly he wanted her—oh, how she’d enjoyed catching him, again and again, stealing glances at her, raw desire just burning in his eyes. It made her feel so wanted.
Why hadn’t he tried to kiss her, though? Couldn’t he tell she was practically daring him to make a move? How disappointing he hadn’t! Or was he waiting until tonight to make his move?
Wait, what am I talking about?she thought to herself.That’s not what I invited him over for!
Another flash of lighting flickered and forked through the faraway sky.
“Oh, man,” Piper murmured. “This is not good. At all.”
“It’ll be fine,” Paulina reassured her. “It’s supposed to stop raining tomorrow morning.”
“Yeah, after dumping an entire inch of rain on us tonight,” Piper said. “Ifit stops raining tomorrow—if—the ground might be too wet to have the ceremony outside.”
“If that happens, then we’ll hold the ceremony in the barn,” Paulina said calmly. And yeah, that’d suck, but what else could you do? That was the risk of having a wedding outdoors. “I’m sureVeronica has a contingency plan already worked out.”
Doing their best to keep the bride chill, the other girls in the car expressed their optimistic opinions that the rain would stop, the skies would clear, and everything would work out for the best.
“No sense in worrying about things I can’t control, I guess,” Piper said as she parked in the driveway. The other car of bridesmaids pulled up and parked behind them. The two cars emptied and everyone entered the house through the garage.
“Okay, so this is a little corny, but Ihadto do it,” Piper warned as she led the group into the living room. She pointed at the coffee table, where six gift bags were waiting to be discovered. “Make sure you grab the one with your name on it!”
Paulina already knew what each bag contained since she’d helped put them together, but she still shared the girls’ excitement as they rushed over, found their bag and dove into the tissue paper. One by one, they yanked out their gift: a personalized set of silk pajamas for the slumber party.
“These aredarling!” Emma gushed as she unfolded her blush colored blouse.
“And they come with matching shorts!” Camille Bradford squealed. Her husband, Beau, played for Jax’s former team, the Colorado Blizzard.
“Aaah!” Ainsley Vaughn, the goalie’s wife, cooed. “It’s even got our names and numbers embroidered on it!”
The numbers were the same numbers their husbands wore on the back of their jerseys. Piper had #55, Katerina #8, Emma #19, Austen #22, and Ainsley #33. The only set of pajamas that didn’t have a hockey number belonged to Paulina, of course. She didn’treallycare, but when was it ever not a little disappointing to feel like the sole outsider of a group?
One by one, the bridesmaids took turns going to the bathroom to change. The other girls dug deeper into their goodie bags and discovered a selection of Piper’s favorite beauty products—face and sheet masks, hair masks, oils, serums, and plenty more.
