The Bridesmaid & The Ex (Wedding Games Book 2)

by Daphne James Huff

  She snuggled deeper into the bed.

  Austin had made it quite nicely, considering he just had musty sheets to work with. There was somehow a fresh, clean smell to the linens, which baffled Harper. How had he managed that?

  Okay, sitting here smelling the sheets was not exactly making a choice about what to do. But it helped calm her down, and she hadn’t felt calm since they’d left the inn this afternoon.

  Just thinking about how worried everyone must be about them sent her pulse racing again. They were in so much trouble. Everything was ruined. And instead of trying to fix it, she and Austin were making out next to the fire in the most romantic scene Harper had ever witnessed.

  She closed her eyes and let herself remember the sweet words he’d just whispered. How beautiful she was, how much he had missed her. It was everything she’d ever wanted to hear from him. She sunk down into the mattress. Did it matter that it was four years late? Better late than never, right?

  She groaned and covered her face with a pillow. A pillow that smelled fresh and green like the rain that was pounding on the roof.

  Four years made a big difference. His life was in California. If this had happened at graduation like she’d hoped, then her life would be out there too. But it was here, in Wellspring, North Carolina—a town so tiny they combined the post office and bank. What was here for him, other than Harper? She wasn’t naive enough to think she was enough to keep him here longer than a night kissing in front of the fireplace.

  Sure, he’d told her he loved her. He’d also said he had loved her for the last four years, and that hadn’t exactly brought him knocking down her door.

  He had plans, and so did Harper. She wasn’t that absent-minded girl from college anymore. She ran a successful business, for goodness sake, and didn’t need someone to remind her to pay her bills. Well, she didn’t need two people, she amended, thinking of her assistant Tiffany.

  Trying to tap into that more logical side of herself she’d only recently gotten used to using, she took a deep breath and tried to ignore the fresh cleanliness of the sheets she’d ensconced herself in and how much they reminded her of how Austin smelled.

  Why not just enjoy it? said a quiet voice in the back of her mind. Don’t make plans, just have fun.

  Making out while Austin was in town didn’t have to be the start of something major. It didn’t mean they had to get married or anything. It could just be kissing, not the end of their worlds as they knew them.

  She just needed to be careful not to let her stupid heart get involved. She needed to keep it in check so that it wasn’t completely broken when this inevitably went south—or rather, when Austin went back west.

  Her twenty-two-year-old love-struck self deserved some happiness, but that didn’t mean twenty-six-year-old Harper had to be an idiot.

  Satisfied with her plan, she took a deep breath and threw off the covers.

  Austin stared into the crackling fire, the shifting rhythm of its flame soothing his anxious nerves.

  He’d done it. He’d actually kissed her. Laid himself bare and told her everything. No plan, no clue what to do, he’d just gone for it.

  And she’d run away.

  If this was what she’d felt like at graduation when he’d done the same, then he was the biggest jerk in the world.

  He was in the middle of calculating how much time it would take for him to walk back to the highway, and if it would be enough time for his embarrassment and shame to fade to manageable levels, when the bedroom door cracked open. Harper poked her head out, her still damp hair sticking up in every direction.

  She was so beautiful, and he’d hurt her so much. Kept hurting her. The only reasonable plan here was to remove himself completely from her life, for real this time, and let her live in peace. He opened his mouth to tell her he’d be out of her hair soon when—

  “I’m sorry I ran.”

  He looked at her in surprise. “You have nothing to be sorry for. I’m the one who ran all those years ago.”

  She shook her head. “You’ve already apologized for and explained that. I know how you are with surprises and, well, I did kind of lay a giant one on you. I forgive you. Really.”

  His heart soared at the words. Ok, so Wedding Games was probably ruined, and he’d never be allowed to work with Bruce again, but for Austin, this whole disaster of a week was worth it to have heard those words from Harper.

  “I think that deserves a make-up kiss.”

  Her lips twitched. “It…” She looked around the room. The fire crackled happily, but she frowned. “What happened to the lights?”

  Huh, he hadn’t noticed either. “I guess the power went out while we were, ah…”

  “Catching up?” The half-smile that slid across her face made his breath catch in his throat.

  She walked over to him and grabbed his hand. Austin tried but failed not to overanalyze what that small gesture meant. She’d forgiven him, and they’d kissed, so were they together now? Should he ask to make it official? Could he put his arm around her?

  He had so many questions, but his growling stomach beat him to the punch.

  “Hungry?”

  He chuckled. “All this running around hasn’t exactly been conducive to eating.”

  “Hmm.” She bit her lip. “Let’s see what Eli’s parents have hiding in the cabinets.”

  Austin watched her as she walked over to the kitchen, and started opening doors and drawers. She pulled a box down, and turned to him with a frown. “All I can find is this box of instant oatmeal. Not a lot to work with.”

  Austin stood up and walked to where she stood. He grabbed the box from her hand. “We can make oatmeal over a fire.”

  She made a face. “Sounds delicious.”

  “It could be worse.” He laughed again and pointed to the fire. “Why don’t you stay warm, and I’ll take care of dinner.”

  As he prepared a very unappetizing but nourishing pot of oatmeal, they talked. And talked. And talked.

  It was just like it had been in college. Maybe slightly less outright teasing, and a bit more cautious around certain topics, but this could have been any random Thursday night in her dorm room, chatting about their week.

  It got even more reminiscent of college when Austin asked what she’d been watching lately. A completely normal question four years ago that drew an odd reaction out of Harper.

  “Oh, I don’t really have much time for TV these days,” she said, but avoided his eyes.

  He folded his arms across his chest. “Just tell me.”

  “I don’t know what you mean.” She was squirming uncontrollably from her seat by the fire, eyes on her hands.

  “Is it that Full House reboot?”

  She bit her lip. “Hart of Dixie.”

  Austin groaned. “And here I was actually worried about you being mad at me.”

  She grabbed a pillow from the couch and whacked him with it. “Hey, I get one pass after sitting through Taken 3 with you.”

  He shrugged. “Liam Neeson is my spirit animal.”

  She laughed and eventually, they made their way to the couch, and Harper snuggled into his arms. It was a familiar position, one they’d taken a hundred times while watching a movie late into the night, but tonight, it felt different. It felt like the start of something new. The beginning of a new story for them. And this time, Austin planned to make sure he did everything right.

  Thirteen

  4 Days Until Dream Wedding

  Austin woke up early the next morning; his internal clock made it impossible to sleep past six. He slowly adjusted to his surroundings. He was in a dark cabin, sitting up on a couch, with Harper’s head resting on a pillow in his lap.

  The memories of the night before came rushing back. He’d kissed Harper. And she’d kissed him back. And—miraculously—she’d forgiven him for leaving her four years ago, and they’d spent the rest of the night talking.

  Austin didn’t remember falling asleep, but his body certainly felt the aches
and pains that came with sleeping upright. He tried to shift in his spot, not wanting to wake Harper. But eventually the cramp in his lower back and the overwhelming urge to pee won, and Austin carefully slid out from under Harper’s head and readjusted the pillow.

  He held his breath as she mumbled something and turned her body to face the back of the couch. When her gentle snore interrupted the silence of the cabin, Austin let out a relieved sigh and went to take care of his more pressing duties.

  Once he was done, he went back to the couch with every intention of scooting beside Harper again. But he pulled up short at the sight of her sleeping so peacefully. The stress lines he’d seen grow deeper over the past twenty-four hours had finally smoothed out, and her entire body radiated calm. Had he done that? Happiness filled his chest, and he had to take a few deep breaths before he could move again.

  Once again, his bodily needs interrupted his thoughts. Thirst finally overcame his overwhelming desire to stare at Harper all morning. He found a small cup in a cabinet and got a drink. He downed the water, then paced back and forth in the kitchen, replaying the kiss over and over again in his mind.

  During college, Austin had kissed a lot of girls. With a pang, he realized he’d told Harper about them over Chinese food and reruns of Parks and Rec. He’d never experienced a kiss like the one last night though. If he’d known being with Harper would be like that…

  He slammed his cup down on the kitchen counter. He’d been such an idiot when he’d graduated college. Deep down he’d known how good things would be with Harper, and he’d blown it anyway. But that didn’t mean he had to repeat his mistakes.

  Now that he was lucky enough to get a second chance with the girl he’d been in love with for years, he was going to do things right. And that meant helping her find Audrey.

  He pulled out his phone, and his relief that he had a signal again quickly turned to panic. The screen was lit up with missed calls and a million texts from Jennifer that started last night and continued through the morning. The last one had just come through a few minutes earlier.

  Where are you? You know your walkie is out of range?

  Bruce is asking about you, and I can only stall so much.

  Something weird is going on with the bride’s family, and I can’t quite put my finger on it. I need your help.

  Please stop ignoring me.

  The familiar churning of Austin’s stomach at the thought of everything blowing up in his face was accompanied by the heart-wrenching hopelessness of his situation. He needed a plan, and the longer he stayed here, the more likely it was that he’d just curl up next to Harper and sleep the day away. Austin shoved the phone back in his pocket, and with one last lingering look at Harper, he walked out the front door.

  Harper stretched out her arms, waking up slowly. Her neck hurt for some reason, but she felt refreshed. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d slept so peacefully.

  All at once, the events of the previous night came flooding back to her.

  Her broken down car.

  The cabin.

  Austin.

  The kiss.

  She’d fallen asleep the second she’d laid her head on the pillow in Austin’s lap. And while her head still rested on the pillow, Austin wasn’t there anymore. Harper shot up from the couch and looked around. She wasn’t sure if the power was back on, but the sun was just rising over the horizon, and she could easily see around the small cabin.

  “Austin?” She held her breath. When he didn’t reply, she called out again. “Hello? Are you here?”

  Still nothing. Harper ignored the growing unease that filled her mouth with a dry, bitter taste like pure cocoa powder and got up from her spot on the sofa to look around. She checked the kitchen, the bathroom, and the porch. She called out for Austin every so often, and she was met with silence every time.

  After searching for way too long in what was a relatively small cabin, Harper had to accept that the guy she’d spent the night pouring her heart out to—like she was a silly, trusting freshman—was nowhere to be found. Austin was gone.

  “Don’t panic.” She swallowed the lump in her throat and grabbed her phone. Maybe he’d left a message for her. Her heart fluttered to see there was a signal again, and ten messages. But when she unlocked the screen, all she saw were a bunch of worried texts from Sienna.

  Nothing from Austin.

  Hot, embarrassing shame coursed through her. Harper knew it had been smart not to let Austin all the way back in. He had his grand plans, and they had nothing to do with her. They’d had one perfect kiss and spent one night together talking and he disappeared first thing in the morning to get back to his real life. His job was clearly more important than whatever stolen time they’d managed together.

  Whatever. It didn’t matter. He was gone, and that was fine. That was her plan, too. Have fun while it lasted, then things go back to the way they were before Austin and Wedding Games had crashed into her perfectly nice life.

  The only thing she wondered about was how he got back to The Emerald Inn. Maybe he called that cute girl Jennifer he worked with, and she was able to bring him back.

  Harper grabbed her things. Sadness and regret bubbled up that things hadn’t lasted longer than a single night, but she pushed that away.

  “Perfect,” she mumbled when she slipped on her shoes that were still wet from the night before. Tears prickled in the corners of her eyes, and she swallowed hard to push them away.

  She’d cried about Austin enough already in her life.

  It was easy enough to tidy up the cabin since they hadn’t really used much except the blankets and a pot for the oatmeal. Austin would have done a much better job of cleaning, but he wasn’t here, was he? She locked up the cabin and started walking down toward the car. The ground was still damp, and she walked slowly to avoid slipping. The trek the day before had taken forever in the rain with Austin there to keep her from falling; it seemed twice as long on her own.

  Finally, she saw her car exactly where she left it. She doubted it would work, but she had to try anyway. She reached into her purse and came up empty.

  Oh, no. Did I leave them in the cabin?

  The idea of hiking back up there in soggy shoes made Harper want to cry. But she’d already decided there’d be no crying this morning.

  She dumped the contents of her bag on the hood of her car. “Where are my keys?”

  Her head snapped up at the sound of crunching twigs. There, jingling a set of keys, was Austin. On his face was a big, stupid grin. “Looking for these?”

  Harper stomped over and snatched them from his hand, and his smile fell. “What were you doing with them? Trying to make your escape?”

  “What? No.” His brow furrowed. “You thought I was leaving?”

  She kept her face blank and shrugged, but her heart gave an involuntary leap. It went into full-on high-speed mixer levels when he wrapped his arms around her.

  Simmer down now. He’s leaving for real in four days.

  “I didn’t mean to worry you.”

  “You didn’t,” she said, and reluctantly pushed out of his warm embrace. “But, you know, notes are nice. And I got all these text messages from Sienna, so our phones work again.”

  He shook his head. “It was really spotty service in the cabin. I walked down to the freeway to get a stronger signal and call AAA. The mechanic just left.”

  Harper looked down at the keys in her hand. “The car works again?” She jogged over to her car and slid into the driver’s seat. When she turned the key in the ignition, the engine roared to life.

  A giddy laugh escaped her throat, and she looked out the windshield to see Austin smiling at her. Harper tried to tell herself the shiny happiness warming every part of her was because the car worked, and not because Austin was looking at her like she made the sun rise.

  Fourteen

  4 Days Until Dream Wedding

  Despite Austin’s reassurance that he could handle the curves, Harper had once agai
n insisted on driving. Which meant she’d had only a minute to send a message to her younger sister before Austin threatened to wrangle the steering wheel from her.

  On my way. Didn’t find anything. Keep my return low key pls.

  As if Sienna had ever done anything low-key in her life.

  “Where were you?” Sienna’s welcoming screech instantly alerted the entire Wedding Games crew of Harper’s arrival.

  Before she was even halfway up the winding gravel path that led from the parking lot to the inn, Sienna rushed down and almost tackled Harper to the ground with her hug.

  “Hey,” Harper said, suddenly worried. “I’m here. What happened?”

  There were tears streaming from Sienna’s eyes. “Fox and I got into this huge fight and then I threw a plate, and now Marcey says she won’t make me breakfast…”

  Harper let out a secret sigh of relief. Sienna was still playing the part from yesterday. The heartbroken beauty would get a lot more attention than a missing sister. Or two.

  “I should have brought some éclairs from the bakery. The oven is fixed, by the way, thanks for asking.”

  Sienna’s brow furrowed then smoothed out when she understood the new element in their increasingly elaborate lie. Tiffany’s single succinct text message had been mixed in with Sienna’s ten rambling ones that Harper had received overnight. Apparently all it took was one call to the bakery to convince the producer that the emergency level of all four Flour Girl ovens breaking the same night meant Harper would be away until the morning. The show Sienna and Fox had put on must have been quite something for her to get away with being gone almost twenty-four hours without so much as a second glance.

  Harper wondered what Austin had told the crew. He’d walked up ten minutes after her, so that it wouldn’t be too obvious they’d arrived together. She looked around and spotted him near the equipment tent, and caught his eye. His face was blank, but he tilted his head up the tiniest bit, and she felt the same rush of warmth to her face that she’d been battling the whole drive back. Her forehead tingled at the spot where he’d planted a quick kiss before she’d gotten out of the car.