Page 92 of Changing the Game

He looks to Belles for permission, then nods, and I offer a silent thank-you to Chloe. I really do owe her one.

I look Carys over and try not to smile too big. “Guess that leaves you and me, mini-Murphy.”

She rolls her eyes at the use of the old nickname and probably at Chloe’s blatant manipulation. “Guess so.”

We’re lined up from there and told to wait for our cue to begin our walk down the aisle. It’s the closest we’ve been in months, and my skin feels like it’s stretched too thin against my body as I ache to reach out and hold her in my arms.

Carys stands next to me, behind Nattie and Brady. Her soft brown hair is held back by a thin white ribbon, and a white lace sundress brushes her knees. All the girls are in different white dresses except for Sabrina, who’s wearing an emerald-green one. Carys’s skin is warm against mine, and I ache for so much more. More of her. More of us.

I don’t think she even realizes her body is leaning toward mine.

Of course, it fucking is because we’re supposed to be together. She might be holding back, but this woman is mine, and she knows it on a subconscious level.

Brady and Nattie are told to walk, leaving the two of us momentarily alone.

“You look pretty tonight, baby.”

The smile she gives me is sad.

“You look nice too, Coop,” she whispers. We’re told it’s our turn and walk slowly down the aisle.

“Can we talk later?” I ask.

“Everyone’s watching us, Coop.” Her words are clipped, and her lips barely move.

“You better say yes then.”

We come to the end of the aisle, and she whispers, “We’ll see.”

What seems like minutes later, we’re done, and everyone is walking to the main resort for a formal sit-down dinner and drinks. And as we make our way there, my girl makes sure she’s as far away from me as possible. She does the same damn thing when we take our seats, and for one of the first times in my life... I wish my friends and family weren’t around.

I need to get her alone.

It’s time to end this game.

I pickeda seat at the long table set up in the stunning dining room as far away from Cooper as possible. Sabrina’s parents spared no expense for this event. It really is a shame that she and Aiden refused to let it be photographed for a magazine. They all asked, but my brother and soon to be sister-in-law wanted it kept small, intimate, and completely private.

Once dinner is over and dessert has been served, everyone gets up to mingle, and controlled chaos ensues. Chloe sits down next to me with an evil glint in her eye. She’s having way too much fun torturing me today. When she came back from grabbing the special lingerie she and I created for Sabrina earlier, she couldn’t wait to tell me that Cooper was here and that he looked hot as hell.Lickablewas the word she used.

Brat.

She wasn’t wrong though. He looks devastatingly handsome in his khaki pants and white linen shirt, but the understated clothes barely contain the raw power Cooper wears like a second skin.

And that smell… Clean, citrusy, and earthy. My stomach somersaults as memories assault me, and the familiar flare crackles to life at the thought of when his skin touched mine... God, I ache for him.

I feel like that kid at the table, longing to be a part of the cool kids again as I watch my brother and him laughing with their friends. He tucks Sabrina against him and whispers something in her ear before they both look at Aiden and burst into hysterics over whatever he just said.

I miss that easygoing laugh.

But I did this to myself.

I chose this.

“You’re drooling, Carys.” Chloe hands me my napkin, and I snap it out of her hands. “Why are you doing this to yourself?”

Twisting the napkin in my hands, I look around the room, full of the people I love... The people who have no idea that I’m in love with him... That I’ll always love him, and I cringe. “Lower your voice.”

Aiden comes over and drops his hands on the backs of both our seats. “You ladies having fun?”

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