by Ann, Natalie
“You?” Wyatt asked. “Tough Jade Fierce never cries over things like this. Not at weddings or happy ever after. Now if you got some dirt on your dress, like ink from this pen,” he said picking it up.
“I’d kick your ass and then you’d be the one crying, not me.”
“That’s the sister I love.”
“I love you too, Wyatt. Look at this. It’s just you and me and Ryder single. Ryder doesn’t count. I don’t like to be lumped in the same sentence as him. How is this possible? We are pretty awesome catches.”
“I keep saying that too,” he said. “No one believes me.”
She laughed. “Someone on your mind you are trying to catch?”
His twin saw more than he ever wanted her to. He suspected that was what brought her in here to begin with. “There is someone I wouldn’t mind spending some time with,” he admitted. “It’s just not a good time for her.”
“Meaning?”
“Someone Mom asked me to show around town. She’s new to the area. All fiery and giving me shit too.” He waved his hand. “Doesn’t matter. I offered and she told me no.”
“Someone turned you down?” she asked. “Did your ego deflate on the spot?”
“She’s interested,” he said. “It’s just not the right time. I’ve got to figure out my next move.”
“Hmm,” she said.
“What was that sound for?”
“Nothing. It’s time for a wedding. See you down there.”
Jade left and he grabbed his keycard. Everyone was staying the night in the hotel the wedding was being held in. It wasn’t far from his place, but he didn’t want to worry about watching his drinks tonight either. No one did.
His cousins from Charlotte were all here and he was going to let loose and relax.
Hopefully all their blissful marriages and kids didn’t put him in a bad mood. Because his sister was right—he thought he was a damn good catch, if only he could find someone like everyone else seemed to be doing.
Two hours later Sam and Dani were happily married. Pictures were being taken while the guests were having drinks and eating food that he wished was in front of him.
But he’d have to get used to this since both of his brothers were now engaged too. He wouldn’t be the best man. They’d be each other’s best men. He figured he’d never be the best man either.
All his cousins will get that honor, but not him. Noah and Drake had each other and Sam, Bryce, and Ryder already talked it over to split it so they each did it once. They were all close. Ryder was going to be Bryce’s best man. Sam Ryder’s. Which meant Sam would probably never have to worry since Ryder had the worst taste in women in the whole family and it never lasted.
But his youngest cousin kept trying so he’d give him credit for that.
Once pictures were done, the wedding party made their way onto the dance floor one at a time, the music started, and the bride and groom began their slow dance.
Yeah, Sam looked happy as hell. His oldest cousin almost shed a tear up there when Dani walked down the aisle. He supposed he couldn’t blame Sam, as Dani just looked radiant.
Jade was standing in front of him. They needed to do their dance. After the talk they had in his room he figured he would have a little fun with her.
They put their hands in each other’s and she moved close to him, not enough to touch him other than their hands but within his personal space.
“Come on,” he said loud enough for others on the dance floor and family close by to hear. “It’s not that icky, Jade. You’re my sister for God’s sake.” Then he stepped back so that their arms were stretched out wide, a few people could fit between them. “But if you don’t want to touch me, then I guess we can make sure it doesn’t accidentally happen either.”
“Wyatt,” she said, narrowing her eyes.
“Jade,” Dani said as Sam and her twirled closer. “You shared a womb with him. It’s only a dance.”
Wyatt pulled her in closer and laughed. “Ass,” she said to him.
“Did you expect any differently?” he asked.
“No, I didn’t.”
* * *
“One down,” Carolyn said to her sister-in-law Diane. “You beat us to it, but Sam is the oldest. Bryce is next. It’s two and two.”
Her sister-in-law Diane and brother-in-law Grant might have had their two kids beat her boys to the altar, but she’d always have more.
“It is,” Diane said. “But you’ve just got two more to worry about. I’ve only got one.”
“Please,” Grant said to his wife. “We’ve got the hardest of the lot with Ryder. So how is it going with Wyatt?”
Carolyn looked around and leaned closer to everyone. Her sister-in-law Jolene and brother-in-law Gavin were at the table too. They’d started the whole thing years ago with their five. “I know they’ve talked. He told me they were in the same OR the other day.”
“Wyatt was trying to ask some questions about her,” Garrett said. “But Carolyn was playing hard to get with him.”
“That just annoys Wyatt,” Diane said. “Good move. It made him want to know more, didn’t it?”
“That was my plan,” Carolyn said. “Shh. Here comes Jade.”
“So what is going on over here?” Jade asked and sat down.
“You look so lovely, Jade,” Jolene said.
“Thank you, Aunt Jolene. So, Mom and Aunt Diane...what have you two been doing?”
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“Oh. I don’t know. I talked with Wyatt before the wedding. He was explaining about someone you wanted him to show around town. It wouldn’t have triggered anything except, well, we are here for Sam’s wedding. And I got thinking that Aunt Diane gave Sam Dani’s name.”
“Just a coincidence,” Diane said.
Shit, could Jade really be onto them?
“I thought so too. I mean they have nothing in common and you’ve always been in their face trying to set them up with people just like them, Aunt Diane. But then I thought of Bryce and he met Payton after you gave him a gift card.”
“Sounds like another coincidence too,” Grant said.
“I didn’t think much of it either, Uncle Grant,” Jade said. Carolyn was looking around the table at everyone hoping they weren’t flushing like she felt she was.
Jolene was cool as a cucumber and said, “What are you getting at, Jade? You couldn’t possibly think your mother had anything to do with Drake and Kara since they work together. You work there too and see how they are.”
“Very true,” Jade said. “Which is why I still wasn’t catching on.”
“And Noah met Paige when he had to call her in after Sebastian got in trouble for fighting,” Garrett said. Thank God he spoke up and started to defend her. If not, he would have gotten an earful from her later tonight.
“Again,” Jade said. “I didn’t think much of it.”
“And what is so wrong with asking Wyatt to show a coworker’s daughter around who is new to the area?” she asked her only daughter, trying to put an end to this before someone said something wrong and let the cat out of the bag.
“Nothing at all. But you know what really gave it away to me?” Jade asked. She looked at her Aunt Jolene. “You set the Five up in birth order. And all of a sudden my cousins and brothers are dropping...in order of birth.”
“You’re just like your cousin Ella,” Gavin said. “Always so paranoid. Just relax and enjoy the wedding. You’re overthinking things.”
“Says the man who got the ball rolling on the first.” Jade stood up and put her two fingers in front of her eyes and then turned her fingers and pointed them to everyone at the table. “I’m watching you all. It’s not happening to me. I might even mention it to the rest of them if you even think of trying to pull this off.”
Jade walked away and Carolyn looked around the table at her husband and the others. “That was close.”
“She really is just like Ella,” Jolene said.
“You don�
�t think she will say anything, do you?” Diane said. “Ryder is going to be hard enough to begin with. He can’t know what is going on.”
“She won’t,” Garrett said, “as long as she thinks she isn’t up next. This is just going to make it even harder. I’m struggling with her. There’s no one at work either. Grant and I talked about it.”
“I’ve got someone,” Jolene said. “Trust me, it’s perfect.”
“Your nose is still out of joint you didn’t pick out Travis for Ella,” Gavin said. Her brother-in-law had set it up long before the four boys got their wives, but no one had any idea.
“I am,” Jolene said. “Which is why I’m going to help Carolyn with her only daughter.”
“I’m all ears,” she said. “Lay it on us.”
9
Single One
Wyatt moved over to the two tables where his brothers and cousins were sitting. There was an empty seat where Ella had been, so he sat next to her husband, Travis. Mason and Jessica, along with their twin toddlers, and Cade and Alex were still there. Brody, Aimee, their daughter, Sidney, and son, Evan, Aiden and Nic and their son, Anthony, were with his brothers and fiancées at the next table.
It was a family affair, the kids wouldn’t be excluded, even Brody’s and Aiden’s newborns that were currently in their mothers’ arms. Anthony sleeping, Evan wide awake and kicking his legs like he wanted to get down to run if only his few-months-old body would let him.
“How’s everyone doing over here?” he asked in general.
“Not bad,” Mason said. “You always have to put your sister on the spot like that, don’t you?”
“Come on,” he said. “You guys did it to Ella all the time and you know it. Now you’re all too afraid of Travis to do it.”
Travis, ex-Navy Seal, laughed. “They aren’t afraid of me. They are afraid of their sister...just like you guys are of Jade. Those two are some tough ladies.”
He laughed. “They are. We made them that way on purpose.” Wyatt turned to Jessica. “I can’t believe how big the boys are getting.” Jacob and Jeremy were in their highchairs babbling toddler twin talk to each other. He remembered that well. When he and Jade were younger and had their own language of half words and signals to get their point across. Noah and Drake did also.
“I can’t stand when they do that,” Jessica said, laughing. “I have no idea what is going on. I feel like they are conspiring to torment me. They split up and cause trouble at the same time and I can only catch one of them.”
Cade started to laugh. “Oh man. That brings back memories. We did that too. Well, not Aiden,” he said loud enough for his brother to hear. “He always wanted to be the good kid. He hated whatever punishment Mom had in store. The rest of us didn’t care.”
“Please,” Alex, Cade’s wife, said. “I heard you got in trouble the most. You and Brody. Mason wasn’t that bad.”
“I wasn’t,” Mason said. “Not in terms of fighting. I just tended to blow shit up in the garage when I was trying to experiment more than anything. Brody and Cade were always rolling around on the floor fighting.”
“That’s because Cade always had to prank everyone,” Brody said.
“Mason,” Travis said, “you and Ella know more about that than anyone.”
Mason snorted. “Yeah. And maybe I should take my kids away from this table since Wyatt and Cade are together and normally that just spells trouble for us all.”
“I’ve matured,” Cade said. “I’ve got a wife now. I can’t let my future kids be that way.”
Alex laughed. “I’ve already threatened him, but I don’t think it’s going to matter. They are going to be the way they are.”
Wyatt was trying his damnedest not to be jealous over the interaction of everyone at the table. The closeness they all had with not only their significant others but their siblings. It was like the numbers doubled, which they had, but the dynamics only got stronger.
Ella came back over to the table and he stood up to give her her chair back next to her husband.
That was him now, the single one in a sea of couples.
When had that bothered him before? He never thought it did but since everyone was pairing up, he was starting to wonder what he might be missing.
He went back to the head table where Ryder was sitting with his brothers talking to them. It didn’t seem to matter to Ryder that his brothers were paired up and he was alone. He took everything in stride and since he was dancing with some woman here earlier, probably a friend of Dani’s, he suspected Ryder was enjoying life.
Jade was off talking to the parents. He’d seen her when he walked back. She wasn’t smiling, but that wasn’t anything new. If Jade got a bug up her butt, she made sure everyone knew about it. He was sure he’d find out soon enough what it was if it was important.
“Where are you off to in thought?” his cousin Bryce asked him.
“What?”
“You. You’re looking a little lost tonight. Is it because you don’t have a dance partner other than your sister? There are plenty of Dani’s coworkers and friends here eying you like they wouldn’t mind some company.”
Bryce laughed and wiggled his eyes at him. Of all of them, Bryce was the most antisocial, but since he’d met Payton he’d come right out of his shell...somewhat.
And yes, there were plenty of women who’d asked him to dance tonight. He’d said yes to a few, but not to any offers to take it past the wedding.
They weren’t short, they weren’t curvy, they didn’t have dark hair that he was dying to take down and see how long it was. Or almond-shaped brown eyes, flecks of gold in them that almost glowed when she was riled. They weren’t fiery with a temper and a passion either.
They weren’t Adriana.
* * *
Adriana had just left the hot yoga studio and was on her way home. Alone.
She’d said she wanted to be that way, but the truth was she was getting bored.
Saturday and Sunday yoga at the studio was her big outing in life and it was pretty sad at that.
Had she talked to a few women there in the past month she’d been going? Sure.
Did she want to go out and hang with them? Not really.
Nor did she want to go on any dates with the men that hit on her. She wasn’t an idiot. She could see right through them. Half couldn’t do the moves and spent more time looking at the women than they did the instructor.
Not only that, she just wasn’t into men who did yoga. She’d found that her mind—and her eyes—always went toward the lean chiseled men that lifted weights but weren’t bulky.
That didn’t have a gym body as much as a physical one. That played in the outdoors. That had fun.
Then why was she so opposed to Wyatt who seemed like he always wanted fun?
Because she wasn’t looking for fun in the bedroom, even if her body had other ideas.
When she was done with her shower, she grabbed her computer to see what activities there were to do in the area. It was probably time to get out and just...do.
Sitting on the sidelines and watching had never been her thing. She wasn’t afraid to do things by herself. Never.
Was it more fun with others? Yeah, it was.
Her phone rang and she saw it was her mother. The last person she really wanted to talk to, but she was so sick of the quiet, she was willing to take the call.
“Hello,” she said.
“Adriana, how are you doing? We haven’t talked in almost a month.”
Because her mother was too busy half the time or when they did talk it was to go on and on about whatever guy she was dating, where she wanted to vacation next, or what she had done to keep herself looking young.
Superficial shit.
Things Adriana wasn’t and would never be.
“I’ve been busy. Work keeps me that way.”
“But you said you don’t work weekends. Have you gone out and met anyone? Had any dates?” her mother asked.
Always back to men. Never
if she had some friends she was doing things with. “I go to yoga on the weekends. There are plenty of people there I talk to.”
“Men?” her mother asked.
“Those too.” She’d keep it simple.
“Anyone catch your eye?”
“I’m not really looking right now,” she said and it was the truth. She wasn’t going to answer the fact that a cocky doctor caught her eye because she wasn’t sure anything was going to happen there.
And if she said it to her mother, she’d never hear the end of it.
“Don’t let what Spencer did stop you from living your life. You never sat around and moped before. Don’t do it now. I get why you wanted to start over, but the speed and way you left made it look like you were running with your tail between your legs. You didn’t do anything wrong. Things like that happen. I know. I might have been in that situation before too.”
The last thing she wanted to hear was that she had something in common with her mother.
“I don’t need advice from you, Mom,” she said. “We don’t think the same way.”
“I’m sorry if I don’t like being alone. Your father worked a lot of hours and it was hard when he was away traveling.”
She didn’t want to get into this again. “That doesn’t mean you find another man to keep you company and you know it.”
“Your father and I had our problems,” her mother argued.
She was sure they did, but it never was an excuse to cheat. That would always fall on her mother’s shoulders.
Adriana wasn’t a cheater. She didn’t believe in it.
But she got stuck in a triangle just the same without even knowing.
“Whatever,” she said. “Was there a reason for this call?”
“I can’t call to just say hi?” her mother asked.
“You never did before.”
“Fine. I was thinking of taking a little trip and thought I’d stop in North Carolina on my way to Florida.”
“That’s your choice,” she said, “but I can’t take any time off of work to spend with you. I’m too new.”