Page 30 of Best Man
“I thought it’d be fun if we had a spa night,” Piper explained, “so we can wake up looking and feeling our best tomorrow.”
“Oh, you mean the opposite of how our boys are going to feel tomorrow morning?” Austen joked, earning a chorus of laughs.
“Those boys of ours,” Katerina sighed.
With Piper heading to the bathroom to change, Paulina saw her chance. She sat next to Katerina. “Do the guys really party like that all the time?”
“Not allthe time, no. I’d say they’re all business, oh, ninety percent of the time during the season. It’s during the off-season, though, when they tend to go a little wild. For about a month or two, anyway, before they start training for the next season again.” Niko’s sister flashed a polite smile. “Why do you ask?”
“I was just curious.” Paulina shrugged. “Niko told me he doesn’t drink.”
“No, not anymore, thankfully. It was a problem for him—I’m guessing he told you?”
“He didn’t go into details, but I sorta figured.”
“I see.” Katerina leaned closer. “So whatelsedid you two talk about, then?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” she demurred. “Like I said in the car, we only talked for a little, and mostly about the wedding.”
“Your sister thinks something’s going on between you two, you know.” She lowered her voice. “Do you like him? I won’t tell.”
Paulina chuckled nervously. “I don’t know him. At all. Obviously.”
“Sure, but do you think he’s attractive?”
“Well—” Paulina hesitated, trying to figure out how to dance around the subject, before she surrendered with a smile. “How could I not?”
Katerina nodded, looking pleased. “I thought so.”
“Please don’t tell him I said that, though,” Paulina said with sudden regret. “It’s just a stupid little crush.”
“I’d never tell him,” Katerina said with conviction, and Paulina didn’t doubt her at all.
“Oh, and don’t tell Piper, either.”
“You were more worried about Sasha finding out than your sister,” Katerina reflected with a grin. “That’s cute. But don’t worry. I won’t tell her, either. I think this storm has Piper plenty stressed out already—we don’t need to add to her worries.”
“Worries?” Piper barged into the living room wearing her slumber party jammies and a sheet mask plastered to her face. “What else should I be worried about?”
“Nothing,” Katerina sang.
“Absolutely nothing,” Paulina emphasized.
“Uh-huh.Sure.” Piper grumbled. Her sheet mask crinkled along the spreading lines on her forehead. “Perfect. I can feel the stress zits brewing.”
Paulina sighed. She didn’t want to run around behind her sister’s back. And, frankly, there was no way Niko could make it to the farm without someone hearing. That was another fact of life in the country—you could hear a car coming from miles away. Especially if Niko was driving a big, loud truck like Jax’s. She decided to confessnow,before she was inevitably caught later.
“Okay, okay,” she began sheepishly. “If youmustknow, I invited Niko over tonight.”
All the other conversations suddenly ceased, and the girls reacted with a mix of shock and amusement.
“WAIT, WHAT?! DID I JUST HEAR THAT?”
“Paulina invited Niko to our slumber party?!”
“Giiirl!”
Paulina snickered. “No, I didn’t invite him to the slumber party. I invited him to the farm, because I need his help on a project.”
