The Wedding Date Disaster (Harbor City 4)

“I could get used to this,” he said, imagining himself out on the range painting fences or tracking gophers or whatever it was that someone did on a ranch. “Might need to get a place out this way. I have the clothes for it now.”

That pulled her attention from the view to him, which would have been more ego-boosting if it hadn’t resulted in her looking at him as if he were wearing a head-size belt buckle.

“Please, you’d freak out as soon as you figured out you couldn’t get your favorite Chinese place to deliver.”

“So I’d learn to love pizza delivery.” There. He could be a man who compromised.

Hadley laughed so hard, she snorted. “Let me know when you make the call for an extra-large pepperoni. I want to be there to hear how hard they laugh when you give them the address.”

Oh really? He was going to have to pull the rich-guy helicopter-food-delivery option out of his back pocket? Determined to prove her wrong about not being able to get pizza to the front door, he pulled out his phone. That’s when he spotted notification after notification rolling in now that they were within a cell phone service area again. As he scrolled his brother’s Instagram posts, realization dawned with a smack to his face. Web hadn’t just set him up for a long and miserable drive in the country.

“Have you seen this yet?” he asked Hadley.

“What?” She took a step closer, her hip brushing his leg, and peeked at his phone screen. “You don’t think he faked it?” She looked up at him, her pink lips parted and her eyes wide. “He wouldn’t.” She glanced back down at the photo of his didn’t-look-like-he’d-been-sick-for-even-a-minute brother. Her eyes narrowed. “I’m gonna kill him.”

Shaking his head, Will grimaced. “You’ll need to get in line.”

Then they stood there in a silent what-the-fuck moment, staring at the photo of a very healthy Web out on the family yacht with a handful of people in cowboy hats and bathing suits behind him. Web was obviously having the time of his life. The caption read: Celebrating the two people I love most in the world finally getting to spend some time together. That definitely calls for a little vitamin D! Yeehaw.

She made a sound that bordered on a growl. “He faked having food poisoning.”

“Looks like it.” Will might be the bad twin, but that didn’t mean Web didn’t get into plenty of shit himself.

“But why?” she asked, looking up at him as if they were on the same side for once.

The combination of her closeness and that nonhostile expression on her face was disconcerting. It made his fingers itch to reach out and run a thumb across the line of her jaw, tilt her face back, dip his head down, and— Whoa there, Holt. Remember who you’re looking at and why.

Rubbing his palm across the back of his neck, he tried to steady his pulse. “Guess someone wants us to be friends.”

Hadley snorted. “Not gonna happen.”

“Finally,” he said, not meaning to but somehow dropping his ga

ze to her glossy pink lips. “Something we can agree on.”

But that wasn’t the only thing they’d agreed on. A week ago, they’d agreed on that kiss, that stick-your-brain-in-a-wind-tunnel-and-let-it-get-blown-away-because-you-aren’t-using-it-and-you-don’t-care kiss. As if she were thinking about the same moment, Hadley lifted her fingertips to her mouth and let out a shaky breath.

“Enough with the gadgets—come on into the kitchen,” Stephanie called from the area behind them.

He and Hadley jolted apart, the air coming back into the room with a whoosh, and looked away from each other. After a few seconds, Hadley led him from the living room. Everyone had gathered around the huge kitchen island and was eating handfuls of a Chex cereal, peanut butter, and chocolate mixture that they called Puppy Chow. There was Hadley’s mom, her sister, several people introduced as cousins ranging in age from six months to late teens, and one older lady who’d spent a lot of time staring at his junk and then unashamedly giving him a wink when he caught her.

Note to self: Do not dance at the wedding with the old lady. Possible package grabber alert.

The radio was tuned to a country music station, but with so many people talking at once, he only caught a half a verse here or there. It was loud enough, however, that Hadley was moving along to the beat, her hip occasionally bumping up against his as they stood next to each other on one end of the island that separated the kitchen area from the living room.

“Don’t be a chicken,” Hadley said, nudging toward him the bright-green bowl everyone was snacking from. “It’s made from only the best organic dog food.”

She was giving him a hard time—he knew this because what was in the bowl looked like a giant vat of Muddy Buddies. Still, her cocky we’re-on-my-home-court stance had him second-guessing himself, something he never did.

He dipped his hand into the bowl and scooped up a few pieces. “You’re giving me shit, aren’t you?”

Hadley elbowed him in the side, shooting him a what-is-wrong-with-you look, at the same time her mom cleared her throat.

“Language, young man,” Stephanie said, her tone cutting him not even an ounce of slack.

He winced. Cursing in front of the family was definitely a mistake Web wouldn’t have made. “Sorry, ma’am.”

“Yeah, I’m Stephanie. There’s no reason for that ma’am stuff.” She rolled up the sleeves of her denim work shirt, never taking her eyes off him, as if he were the kind of person who needed to be kept track of at all times. “Now, Web—sorry, Will, we haven’t heard hardly anything about you except that you’re a fabulous dancer.”