“You must,” she said, her eyes crinkling at the corners.“We’d love it.I’m so glad Cole found you.”
“Aren’t you glad I found the little trespasser?”Cole teased from beside me.
I bit my bottom lip to keep from laughing, willing the heat rising in my cheeks to cool.
“She wasn’t trespassing,” Kendall said, rolling her eyes.The marriage celebration was hers and Jude’s.“Plenty of people hike on that property.”
Cole looked unabashed and unruffled.Meanwhile, I was ruffled.Verymuch so.And, hot.Stillhot.All over.
Cole Silver
“To the happy couple,” one of my brothers called out.
I lifted my glass to join in the toast.When there was a lull in the conversation, my brother Jude glanced around, his smile warm.“Thank you all.”
“We were all wondering how long it was going to take you to realize you’ve been in love with Kendall forever,” Grady teased from across the table.
Jude shrugged.“It took as long as it took.”
Kendall blushed when Haven lifted his glass aloft.“To my brother’s new wife and closest friend since middle school.”
“We really had wondered how long it was going to take,” Asher, another brother, offered with a grin.This appeared to be a running joke with the brothers.
Jude leaned close to give Kendall a kiss.My heart tightened.Though I liked to tease, I was genuinely happy for my brother.Just like I was happy for Haven, also now contentedly married.
“Kendall,” I said, “I’d say welcome to the family, but you were already part of our family.Now it’s just official.”
Kendall glanced over, her cheeks still pink from Jude’s kiss.“I feel lucky.”
“Yeah?”Jude asked.
“I love the Silver family.”She looked around the table.“But the question is, am I taking the last name?”
My other brother, Lincoln, grinned.“Are you?”
Kendall contemplated this, tapping her fingers lightly on the table.“I don’t know.I guess I’m neutral about it.What do you think?”she asked, turning to Adele.
“Me?”Adele’s eyes went wide, color rising in her cheeks.
The heat that had been banked inside me ever since I’d first seen her days ago flared hot again.She was simply gorgeous with auburn hair and green eyes that sparkled and flashed.
“Yes, you,” Kendall said.“You’re probably the most unbiased person at the table because Cole dragged you in here, and you’re new to town.”
Adele tipped her head to the side, and I tried not to stare at the dusting of freckles on her cheeks.“I’m of the mind that you should do what you want.There’s the whole inconvenience of the paperwork to consider.So if you want to take it, take it.If you don’t, don’t.”
“But what wouldyoudo?”I asked, leaning in slightly.For some reason, I really wanted to know.
Adele’s eyes flicked up to mine and flashed with something that sent a jolt of electricity through me.“I wouldn’t,” she said.“On the range of independent and stubborn, I’m pretty far on the upper end of the scale.I wouldn’t want to deal with the paperwork, and I am who I am.Plus, I like my last name.”
Asher let out a laugh.“That’s a good reason.If I hated my last name and I got married, I’d change it to my wife’s.”
“You don’t even have a girlfriend,” I pointed out.
He shrugged nonchalantly.“So what?When all is said and done, if I hated my last name, I’d change it.”
“But would you change it if your hypothetical wife wanted you to?”Adele asked.
Asher tipped his head to the side, seriously considering the question.“Maybe.”
