“You two clean up nice.”
A smile instantly graces my face. I turn to see McKenna. She’s wearing a purple sundress and brown cowboy boots. Her hair is in a braid and hanging over one shoulder. She takes my breath away.
“Thank you,” I say, my eyes only for her.
“Hey, none of that,” Sara scolds when I lean in for a kiss. “We don’t want to ruin our makeup.”
That’s when I look over at Sara. She’s wearing the same dress as McKenna and similar boots, and her long blonde hair is styled the same as McKenna’s as well.
“Babe, come on.” Corbin leans in and kisses the corner of her mouth as she swats him away.
“If he gets a kiss, so do I,” I say, kissing the corner of Kenna’s mouth.
“You two are on a roll today.” McKenna laughs.
Instead of commenting, because she’s right, I pull her into a hug. “You look beautiful,” I whisper, just for her.
“And you’re handsome,” she tells me, glancing over her shoulder at me.
“All right, are we ready?” Dad asks, joining us. Laramie has her arm through his, and I’m man enough to admit I get a little choked up seeing my baby sister ready to get married to her best friend.
“Lara.” Releasing McKenna, I go to my sister and place a kiss on her cheek. “You’re beautiful.”
“Thank you.” Her smile is blinding. “You in a better mood?”
“I am. Thank you.”
She shrugs. “You love her. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
I glance back at McKenna, who is talking to Sara, and thankfully didn’t hear her. “I do,” I say when I turn back to face my sister and my dad.
“Son, you plan on doing something about that?” he asks me.
“I don’t want to scare her off.”
“She loves you too,” Laramie announces.
“Yeah, I think she does.” I swallow the emotions rising in my throat. I don’t know if it’s that my little sister is getting married or the fact that I just told my family, well, other than Mom, that I’m in love with McKenna. Not that I needed to tell them; it sounds like they already know. “Let’s do this, little sis.” I give her hand that’s not gripping Dad’s arm a soft squeeze and go back to McKenna.
“So, how are we doing this?” Sara asks.
“McKenna and Corbin were supposed to be first.”
“Since Colby is already down there, how about you and Corbin go first?” McKenna suggests. “He’s been standing out there all by himself while we’ve all had each other. He might need his best man, his brother.”
“Done.” Corbin offers Sara his arm, and they wait for their cue to begin their walk down the aisle.
I stand with McKenna, her arm linked with mine, my hand resting on her arm. I can’t seem to stop touching her, no matter where we are. “You ever think about your wedding day?”
“I have.”
“And?”
“And what?”
“Are you going to tell me about it?”
“That’s a conversation I should have with my future husband.”
“So tell me.”
She stiffens, then turns to look at me. “Rip?”
“When I think about my wedding day, it’s you walking toward me.”
“You’re up,” Dad says, tapping me on the shoulder.
I wink at a speechless McKenna as we begin our trek down the makeshift aisle. I know that I’ve come on strong, and I know I told myself I wasn’t going to push for more from her, but damn, the emotions of the day got to me.
I want Laramie to be right. I want us to be next. I’m more than ready to start my life with her. I know I need to slow down, but I’m ready for our forever.
“Can the wedding party please make their way to the dance floor?” the deejay announces.
“Finally,” I say, pushing back from the table and walking to the center of the barn, or in this case, the dance floor for the night. I’ve been sitting at the opposite end of the table as McKenna all night. I get it. That’s how my sister wanted it. Her girls on her side, his guys on his, but I’ve been itching to get my hands on my girl.
“If I didn’t know better, I’d say your sister is trying to torture us,” Corbin comments.
“Hey, cowboy.” I hear from beside me.
McKenna.
I pull her into my arms and twirl us around. “Have I told you how beautiful you are?”
“A time or two.”
“Well, it deserves to be said again. And again, and again,” I say, kissing the tip of her nose.
“Everyone is watching.”
“I don’t care who’s watching, Kenna. If I want to kiss my girlfriend, I’m going to kiss you. If they don’t like it, they can look away.”
“I guess it’s still hard for me to get used to this. Being together in front of our families.”
“You better get used to it. I’m not holding back. Like right now, I want to kiss you.”