Page 2 of Risky Play

“Oh, D! He loves you, and that doesn’t matter to him,” Fi said.

Ooh, right. Noah had mentioned that to me. It broke my heart for Dinah because she would have been such a good mom. None of that ever mattered to my brother, though. He just wanted her to be happy.

“Noah loves you for you,” I reassured her. “So we’re all going to go out there and watch you say your vows and have your happily ever after.”

“Okay…” Dinah whispered, but she still looked unsure.

“Girl, come on, you two are so sickeningly cute!” Rox encouraged. “Let’s get you married.”

“You’re next,” Fi teased.

Rox made a face. “Hard pass!”

Fi led us out of the bridal suite, and we began the procession down the aisle. She walked with her hot, blonde, hockey-playing husband, while I walked with Noah’s best friend TJ. TJ’s fiancée wasn’t a bridesmaid because she had been pregnant for most of the wedding planning, and now she had her hands full, literally, with twin babies. I took my place behind Fi and watched as Rox and Benny walked down the aisle next.

My brother had his long hockey flow down but out of his face, and his beard was freshly trimmed. I was glad he had listened to me about the beard but not about pulling his hair back into a fashionable man-bun. He hated those.

I gave him a thumbs-up when he caught my eye.

Panic was etched across his face, and he looked like he was sweating in his tux. Oh, poor guy.

Noah wanted everything to be perfect for his wife, but Dinah would have much preferred getting married in a pair of jeans and a hockey jersey at the courthouse. She was doing all of this for him and her family. I guessed that was what love was like—sacrificing things for your partner even when you didn’t want them. I’d never known that. Never got far enough with anyone to feel that way about someone.

The music switched to the bridal procession, and I was pretty sure Dinah was gritting her teeth in annoyance behind her veil. Rox nudged me with an elbow so I wouldn’t laugh. My brother turned, and his face broke out into a big smile. He looked so happy, and I loved that for him.

I watched as Noah bent down to his pint-sized partner and lifted the veil over her face. She reached up a hand to brush across his beard, and their love poured out between them. A spike of jealousy ran through me. My brother and Dinah were so freaking cute together. I wanted that one day, but I wasn’t sure I’d ever find that if my brother disapproved of every guy I was interested in. Not that he didn’t have his reasons. I wished he’d forget about what happened with my ex last year.

I daydreamed during the ceremony until the preacher announced them married, and the happy couple kissed. I made a face. I didn’t need to see Noah’s tongue in Dinah’s mouth.

“They’re so extra,” Rox chided beside me.

Fi barked out a laugh. “You have no room to talk.”

Rox shrugged with a mischievous look.

We spent an hour getting pictures done while everyone else was enjoying cocktail hour. I was grateful I was twenty-one and could legally drink here in the States.

“You okay?” Dinah whispered in my ear when we settled at the long table in the banquet hall.

I nodded.

“You sure?” she asked.

I nodded again and took a sip of my cranberry vodka. “I’m so happy you’re my sister-in-law now.”

She squeezed my hand. “Me too.”

I looked down at my plate, and when I looked back up, my eyes locked with the hottest man I had ever seen.

His dark hair was styled back with the ends curling around his ears. He was clean-cut and looked sharp in a blue pin-striped suit that stretched across his broad chest. He smiled at me, and when I saw a full row of pearly white teeth, I got excited, thinking that meant he wasn’t a hockey player.

Dinah nudged me. “He’s cute.”

Cute didn’t even cut it.

“Who’s that?” I asked.

“Oh, that’s Cally. I forgot we didn’t introduce you yet.”