“Maybe I should take you home?” Sadie asked when Marlee finally relaxed.
Marlee shook her head.
“Because we don’t have to be here. We can get you home, and I can rub your feet or whatever.” It’s not like Sadie was really an invited guest at this soiree. She was simply her pregnant best friend’s babysitter. Her best friend who really should go somewhere she could put her feet up. Marlee wasn’t having it though. She pushed forward through the doors as though Sadie hadn’t said a word.
Marlee was like twenty-five billion months pregnant with their kid. That wasn’t Sadie’s approximation of Marlee’s due date, but it’s what Marlee had said on the car ride over. She was ready to give birth at literally any moment.
Not this moment.
Gah, Sadie hoped she didn’t have to deliver this kid herself. They hadn’t covered that type of thing in her constitutional law course.
Sadie let out a deep breath and followed her friend. Onward.
Together they entered the door and…freaking hell, it was Roman. Smack-dab ahead of her down the aisle. Right at the front of the chapel.
Her world tilted, tipping her on her ass. Not literally. She remained standing, but barely.
Maybe delivering a baby would be better than running into her old fling? Possibly?
The totally reasonable expectation that he’d be at the wedding of his brother did not include the expectation that he’d be the literal first person Sadie saw upon arrival.
Roman stood right next to Sadie’s brother, wearing a full tuxedo—black slacks, suit coat, and a pressed white shirt with a bow tie situated around the collar. He was not a man a girl forgot. First, he was tall. Like, really tall. And built like a tank. His muscles seemed to sprout muscles—and over the years, they’d had little muscle families take up residence. His hair was still cropped short, but not as short as it’d once been.
Holy crap, he looked good enough to lick. Nibble. Gorge herself on.
Fine, this was fine. She was Sadie Howard. She could handle a dash of Roman.
Quickly, she moved her focus, hoping he wouldn’t feel her stare and look her way.
It didn’t work.
Her gaze stumbled back to his and he held her eyes with some kind of magical Roman warrior god power. His lips spread into a grin that transported Sadie back to all those years ago. To a time when she was only a hopeful law student ready to take on the hallowed halls of the University of Denver.
His mouth parted just slightly, his expression one of confused concern, a touch of desire, and…was that regret? Nope, not regret. The last part was definitely a solid heap of ambition.
The time she’d spent mastering facial profiling for jury selections had trained her to get all of that information from just the slash of his eyebrows and the turn of his mouth.
Perhaps she should leave. Was it really running away if she had a boatload of other things to do instead of staying as an uninvited guest?
One glance at Marlee’s belly reaffirmed why Sadie couldn’t take off. She couldn’t leave because Marlee wasn’t leaving.
This was just fine. No big deal. Sadie did her best to obscure her face and hide behind the usher. She seriously considered dropping to her hands and knees to crawl between the pews to her seat as she followed her best friend and weaved through the wedding guests milling about the back of the chapel. The wedding wasn’t scheduled to start for another fifteen minutes, so the friends and family were doing what friends and families do best—some sat in the pews, some stood, everyone gabbed.
“Doesn’t he look amazing?” Marlee asked, giving Sadie’s biceps a quick squeeze before she could do the pew-ducking thing.
Say what now?
Marlee didn’t know that Roman wasthe guy.
Oh, Marlee knew there was a guy. Of course, she did. They were best friends—the kind who once had matching necklaces to prove it. So, no, Sadie couldn’t keep something like that away from Marlee for long. But Marlee didn’t know thewhoof the situation and Sadie had never volunteered that information. It had never seemed important.
Except, why did Marlee make it a point to tell Sadie that Roman looked amazing?
Sadie shifted her gaze toward her friend. Her friend who was openly staring at Eli, not Roman.
Right. She wasn’t talking about Roman.
“He does. Look amazing,” Sadie said entirely too belated. “Eli does.” Her tongue tripped over Eli’s name.
