Page 105 of Never the Bride
“Look at our little brother, all grown up and married.” There’s so much teasing in Rhett’s voice that I don’t freak out inside by what he said.
“Yeah, it’s about time you got hitched,” Noah says. “But you couldn’t do it the normal way, could ya?”
Dane grins. “Had to go arranged-marriage style just to keep up with the rest of us.”
Ashley smiles, stoking the fire with her own words. “Only Hess would turn marriage into a side hustle.”
The way his siblings joke is easy, fun, and playful in a way I can’t remember ever having with Selena. My sister and I don’t tease each other like this. We never have. I was too busy raisingher, too busy being the responsible one, while she got to justbe. Sitting here, I can’t help but wish it had been different.
“What can I say?” Hess smirks back, unfazed by their verbal assault. “Women are literally paying me to marry them.” With that, his hands clasp around my shoulder, pulling me to him, exploding the side of my body with warmth. He glances at me with a wink. “But don’t worry, I gave her a good deal.”
“I don’t know.” I keep my expression even. “I’m realizing that no amount of money is worth being married to you.”
The porch erupts in laughter, and I can’t help but grin.
Rhett looks at Dane and Noah. “I like her. I think she’ll fit right in.”
Fit in.
I’ve never fit into a family before. And when you can’t have something, you swear it off forever, tell yourself the idea of a family is a lie society tries to sell you so you can bear the pain of not having one. But this family. This house. This warmth. It’s everything I used to dream about as a little girl, before life taught me not to. And sitting here now, I feel that dangerous tug again, the longing I’ve worked so hard to get rid of my entire life.
“Okay.” Anita steps in, looking at Noah, Rhett, Ashley, and Dane. “Could you four at leasttryto make your brother look good in front of Camila so she’ll want to stick around a little longer than just this weekend?”
My eyes drop as guilt pools inside my stomach—exactly what I was worried about from Hess’s mom.
“Thanks, Mom, but I don’t need their help. I can convince Camila on my own.”
“No, you can’t.” Rhett’s face is even for a second before he splits into laughter.
“The judge may have ordered Camila to act like she likes me, but I have the skills to woo my wife.”
I turn to him with lifted brows. “Woo your wife?”
“That’s right.” The smugness in his smile is wildly attractive.
Dane leans forward with a grin. “If that’s true, prove it. Give your wife a kiss.”
The porch erupts. Rhett whistles, Ashley claps her hands like she’s starting a game, and Noah eggs on the few kids nearby until they’re chanting in sing-song voices, “Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!”
Beside me, Hess shifts on the swing, his arm still stretched along the backrest, fingers just barely brushing my shoulder. Every tickle of contact makes my skin hum, but now the attention of the entire family has turned that hum into a full-on buzz under my skin.
“We’ll do it.” Ashley leans over and plants an exaggerated kiss on her husband’s mouth. Noah pulls his wife into a slow one that gets plenty of “oohs” and “ahhs” from the kids.
Rhett holds his hands out. “I would kiss Janelle if she weren’t upstairs feeding the baby.”
Dane’s eyes lock on us. “Come on, Hess. Let’s see it.”
I glance toward Anita, silently begging her to intervene, but she just shakes her head, half amused, as if she’d like to see a kiss too.
There’s no one to save us. If anything, the chanting gets louder. My heart thuds, hard and uneven, and when I finally look at Hess, he’s already looking at me. For a long, suspended moment, neither of us moves. Then his brows tick upward, a silent warning in his eyes before dipping toward me. It’s tentative, cautious, just a brush of lips. A “fine, there, happy?” kind of kiss.
But everyone starts to boo, and we both know we need to give more if we want the heckling to stop. His lips linger, soft and warm, and his fingers close around my shoulder like he’s anchoring himself there. My body betrays me. I lean in, tilt toward him, giving more to the moment.
His other hand cups my cheek softly as the kiss deepens into something that unfurls heat through my body. I react, placing my hand on his shoulder, instinctively pulling him to me.
It’s supposed to be awkward.
For show.
