Harper snorts and lifts Danny into her arms. “TMI, Jackson.”
Reece tips his head back and groans in frustration. “There’s no way I’ll fit into your clothes. I’m bigger and taller than you.”
All eyes shift to Ethan.
His face twists in horror. “Fuck me,” he says under his breath.
While they change, I sit alone and reflect on our time in Charleston. Did we make things worse for Reece? Did we ruin his sister’s wedding as he’d predicted? I hope not. If anything, we came together as a family—Sadie, Harper, and Danny included.
This trip brought our foursome closer, that’s for damn sure. I didn’t understand Reece before, didn’t understand how much his sisters’ happiness meant to him or how intolerant his parents are.
Movement in my periphery grabs my attention. I blink and blink again. Ethan approaches, and if it wasn’t for his confident stride, I wouldn’t recognize him.
The worn leather jacket hangs open, the silver zipper and buttons catching the sunlight. The T-shirt underneath stretches tight across his broad chest, revealing the outline of his pecs. Distressed jeans sit low on his hips, strategically frayed at the knees, and combat boots add two inches to his already imposing height.
He’s straight out of a dream—a wet dream where my world is rocked by a six-foot-seven ex-con who smells like cigarettes and motor oil.
He drops into the seat beside me, and hilarity bubbles up from my chest—not at the outfit but at his disgruntled expression.
“Holy fucking shit. Can I please take a picture?”
He doesn’t even glance my way. “No.”
My shoulders shake with silent laughter, and tears sting my eyes. “My God, you’re a panty melter.”
“Jackson,” he warns, a flush creeping up his neck.
“I’m sorry.” I press my palm to my chest and draw a steadying breath to calm my raging hormones. It doesn’t work. “The beard, the leather jacket, those jeans on your hips… I’m so hard, I could cut glass. I’d lick the bottom of your boots for you to fuck me. Smash my forehead into the bathroom mirror while you ride my ass, please.”
“Can you shut up?” he grits through his teeth, but there’s a hint of a smile in his eyes.
“No, you’re so fucking hot. I’d take a puck to the nuts to suck your dick right now. Tie my hands behind my back and fuck my face until my throat memorizes every vein. I wanna taste you on my tongue for we?—”
His fingers grip my jaw, and his lips crash into mine, killing my filthy monologue. I groan into his mouth, and he breaks the kiss, leaving me wanting more.
“Be a good boy, and maybe I’ll reward you on the plane.”
“Yes, Coach.” I adjust myself discreetly. “Or do you prefer Sir?” My grin is absolutely feral. “Daddy? Master? Do you have a road name, perhaps?”
Reece walks his sister down the aisle, and the bride and groom exchange their vows beneath the oak trees draped in Spanish moss. It’s a picturesque Southern backdrop.
I glance at Aurora beside me. Her caramel eyes are glassy, catching the late afternoon sunlight. The Viking puts his arm around her and whispers something in her ear. She stares up at him in awe, her red lips parting. He kisses those lips—the same ones I’ve kissed a thousand times.
I recall him saying he’d propose one day, and, judging by the longing in her eyes, she wants that—the heartfelt proposal, the dream wedding, the handwritten vows.
Depression or sadness hit me out of fucking nowhere. She settled for me. She gave me what I wanted and needed, signing papers in a sterile office when a man who’d fulfill her fairy-tale dreams was there all along.
I didn’t get down on one knee. I didn’t propose. I never wrote the vows. I didn’t even take her to the courthouse. I took her to Rocco’s office to avoid attention.
Over and over, she set aside her dreams for me.
She deserves better. She deserves the man who will get down on one knee, who’ll write his own vows and have the courage to recite them in front of a courtyard of people.
My lungs seize, and I can’t draw in air, can’t look away, can’t stop the thought that they’re meant to be, that I’m losing my soulmate. My best friend.
Darkness claws at my mind.
The scream builds in my chest.
