Page 7 of Pucking Wild

Taking a deep breath, I glance over my shoulder, grateful to know that—at least for the moment—we’re alone. “Listen, Rach…”

She pauses, one foot flamingoed in the air as she works the buckle of the strap. “Yeah?”

I step forward and grab her lightly by the shoulders.

She drops her foot to the floor. “Tess, what—”

“Just listen for a sec,” I say over her. “I wouldn’t be doing my job as your best friend if I didn’t ask you this. If I didn’t look you in the eye and hear you say the words—”

She groans. “Tess—”

“Rachel Diane Price,” I say, my voice louder. “Are yousureyou want to get married tonight? Because I swear to God, if you give me even alooklike you’d rather run, I will throw you over my shoulder, linebacker my way down those stairs, and we’ll run.”

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“Ineed to hear you say it, Rach,” I say again.

Rachel smiles, her eyes suddenly watery. “Tess, I love you so fucking much.”

“I love you too,” I say quickly. “And only my love for you has me asking this now. You deserve an out if you need it. I mean, you haven’t known these guys long, Rach. And it’s a big freakin’ leap. Marriage is…well, it’s a legal quagmire—”

“Tess,” Rachel says again, lifting a hand to cup my face.

I still at the touch.

“I don’t need Lawyer Tess with me right now. I’m good,” she says with a gentle nod.

I suck in a breath, letting it out. “You’re good?”

“I’m really,reallygood,” she replies. “Tess, they’re the ones.”

“They’re the ones?” I echo.

“They’re the ones,” she repeats. “Tess, I’ve waited my whole life to feel like I make sense. Always searching for the reason.Myreason. I thought travel was my reason. Then maybe it was medicine. And I do, I love medicine,” she adds. “I love healing what’s broken in others. Each time I think it heals a little something in me too.”

I smile. She’s certainly helped heal me. She found me at my lowest and gave me a home and a friendship I wouldn’t trade for the world.

“And then Jake found me in Seattle,” she says with a smile. “And when he found me, I found me too. I’m who I’m meant to be now. With them, I’m me. Jake, Caleb, and Ilmari, they’re my reason. So, I’m not walking down that aisle tonight. I’m running. I’m running to them, Tess. I’m going home.”

That word.Home. It stirs something deep inside me. I’ve never had a place that felt like home. I envy her that she’s found hers at last, even as I’m so happy for her I could burst.

“Fuck,” I huff with a laugh. “We should have written that down.” I look around distractedly.

“What are you looking for?”

“Your phone. You just wrote your vows. Say exactly that, and you’ll have the whole house in tears.” As I snatch up her phone and unlock it, there’s a scuffle out in the bedroom.

“Ouch, you’re shoving me,” Harrison grumbles.

“Well, then, walk,” Jake huffs. “Just don’t let me see Rachel.”

“Jake, you’re being a little dramatic right now,” says his twin sister from behind them.

Both the guys are dressed to kill in suits that fit them so well it looks like they were poured in. And Amy looks gorgeous in a little black number. She’s got Jake’s coloring—the dark hair and pretty hazel eyes. But the line of her jaw is more feminine, the features of her face softer. And, of course, he’s almost a foot taller.

Harrison calls out, “Rach, we’re coming in!”

I block the doorway with my body. “Absolutely not. He’s not seeing her before the wedding.”

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