Page 82 of Part of Me (The Seaside Chronicles 2)

Brody

Gannon adjusted the sleeves of his tux for the hundredth time while Braxton and I sat on the sofa watching him.

“Gannon, your tux is fine,” Brax said. “The weather is amazing, and you’re about to marry the love of your life. Why are you pacing and acting like a freak?”

With a sigh, Gannon faced his soon-to-be brother-in-law. “When you marry the love of your life, then you can tell me how to act. I just want everything to be perfect for Addie.”

Brax sat back on the couch. “The only thing she cares about is marrying you.”

Gannon smiled. “Thanks, Brax.” Turning to me, he asked, “Did you do a walk-around? How’s it look out there?”

“I did. Twice. Everything’s all set up for the ceremony and the reception.”

“Heaters?”

Braxton answered, “I checked them like three times. They’re working.”

Gannon looked back at me. “Ring?”

Patting my tux jacket, I replied, “Right here.”

He turned to Brax again. “How’s your sister doing?”

He laughed. “Which one?”

Gannon shot him a dirty look. “The one I’m marrying.”

“I checked in on her earlier, and she was ecstatic. She was about to put her dress on.”

A wide smile spread across Gannon’s face. “I can’t wait to see her.”

“I’m sure she’s going to look beautiful,” I said.

“I know she will. I just wish my heart would stop pounding. I don’t know why I’m so damn nervous.”

Braxton kicked his feet up on the coffee table and put his hands behind his head. “This is why I’ll never get married.”

I glanced over at our confirmed lifelong bachelor. “Why is that?”

“All this ‘my heart is racing’ and gushing over a dress. All the hassle of a wedding. No, thank you. No woman is worth all this trouble. If I ever do get married—and that’s a very, very big if—I’m eloping like you and Sutton did.”

I shook my head. “Sutton and I got married for completely different reasons. If we’d gone about it the right way, I would totally have had a wedding. Especially if she wanted one.”

Gannon started to pace again, and Braxton rolled his eyes at him before focusing back on me. “She doesn’t want to have a wedding now?”

I shook my head. “We’ve talked about going somewhere—maybe Belize or something—and renewing our vows, but no, Sutton doesn’t want a big wedding.”

“Not even considering the first one wasn’t real?” Braxton asked.

I shook my head. “She’s not the least bit interested.”

“And you’re okay with that?” Gannon asked.

I smiled. “I’m married to the love of my life, and it doesn’t matter to me how we got married. As long as I get to go to sleep holding her at night and wake up holding her each morning, the rest I couldn’t give two shits about.”

And it looked like maybe I’d get my wish. Everything had finally worked out for Sutton in regards to Jackass. The courts ruled that the marriage was never legal, and therefore Jack had no rights to Coastal Chic. No one had seen him around town for the last week. I was hoping that meant he’d gone back to France for good, as his lawyer claimed, to be with his real family. But I wasn’t so sure.

“That’s my man!” Braxton held out his fist, and I bumped it.

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