Page 127 of Bodyguard By Night

“Hmm.”

“He’s dealing with some merger or buyout or whatever it is he does.”

She patted my chest one last time. “Okay, honey.” She went around the counter and poured me a large coffee in one of the reusable cups she kept on hand for me, then put together a sweet cold coffee concoction in a sunny yellow cup with an eye-searing pink straw. “Willow will appreciate the coffee too.”

“Sure hope hers is the Crayola explosion.” I took both cups.

“Maybe a little sugar would do you good.”

Not in this lifetime.“Thanks, Laverne.”

The girls were giggling as I approached. The big book of doom—aka the wedding book—was back out along with a white board with an army of sticky notes. More seating chart fun, evidently.

I set the yellow cup next to Chaos. She took it with a muttered thanks and went back to rearranging post-its. “If you put these cousins together, there will be a conga line before the appetizers are done.”

“And that’s wrong?” Rachel’s bluebell eyes twinkled.

“If that’s what you’re going for, you can add the Manning boys to the triangle.”

“I’m not looking for drunken headlocks.”

Chaos laughed and leapfrogged to one circle away, plunking the sticker with the number seven down. “Make it a little harder for them to get into trouble.”

I leaned against the window, sipping my coffee. As I’d had a bar room brawl with two of the Manning brothers, I couldn’t dispute her reasoning.

Rachel glanced up at me. “We’ll probably be here for a while.”

“Understood.” I’d sat under camouflage in a jungle for eleven hours straight, I could handle wedding planning. At least I hoped I could. “I’m here for pack mule duty or whatever.”

Rach straightened. “Well, maybe we should go to the lodge then. I can definitely use those muscles. Clay is supposed to be here in a bit.”

“Good thing I’m here then.”

She laughed. “Are you saying my future husband can’t lift things?”

“If it’s a Christmas tree, maybe.”

Rachel shook her head and gathered up her papers. “He’s quite handy to have around.”

“I’m sure he’s all about keeping you happy.” Chaos gave me a tight smile before turning the megawatt brilliance at her sister. “You’re very lucky, Rach.”

“I am, aren’t I?”

I resisted an eyeroll and took the pile from her. “I’m assuming you guys are using the bigger room?”

“We tried to keep the wedding list to a minimum, but between my family and Clay’s, it was nearly impossible.” She stacked up two more books and set them on top of my pile. “Look at that. You’re already helpful.”

“I live to serve.”

Willow arched a brow at me and made me think of all the ways I could serve her without benefit of her clothes. Too bad we were fighting over her foolish female reasoning.

I was better off being Rachel’s pack mule than thinking of what I was already missing like hell.

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