Just One of the Groomsmen

by Cindi Madsen

  She wanted to tuck up a knee, but then she’d be flashing everyone, which volleyed her back to her earlier stance of never wearing a dress again.

  “…and then there will be some speeches. We won’t go through all of them right now, but Tucker’s gonna come up and say a few words.”

  Addie tensed at his name, which was ridiculous. And devastating.

  How could they ever recover their friendship if she couldn’t even hear his name without hurting?

  Knowing his voice was about to be amplified, she began silently chanting her new mantra: Be strong, be strong, be strong.

  “Hey, everybody. I’m Tucker Crawford, one of the groomsmen. Hardly the best man, as I’m sure plenty of people here could attest.”

  Did he mean her? He shouldn’t talk about himself like that.

  The guy worked for two-dollar retainers.

  She loved him for that. His determination to make sure justice was served versus his need for financial security made it that much more admirable, and damn him for being admirable and lovable and so dang sexy that she hadn’t managed a full breath since their earlier conversation.

  “I feel like I should apologize in advance to all the innocent bystanders for what’s about to happen. The truth is, I’m going to do something crazy. I’m up here tonight to put myself on trial.” He switched the microphone to the other hand and made a there-there gesture. “Don’t worry, I’m a lawyer, which makes me semiqualified.”

  Most everyone in the vicinity exchanged confused looks, and several of the townspeople gave her suspicious glances, as if she knew what was going on.

  Obviously everyone thought they were pulling one last big prank.

  Considering Easton rushed up front with a Bible, of all things, in his hand, maybe they were.

  Lexi sidled up to her on one side, and Ford scooted his chair closer on the other, both of them effectively blocking her in.

  “I’m totally here for you, and if you need a hug or a hand to hold, I’m your girl,” Lexi said, and then she made a face best described as an unapologetic grimace. “Full disclosure, I’m also here to make sure you stay long enough to hear him out.”

  “Hear him out?” Addie glanced from Lexi to Tucker, who was placing his hand on the Bible Easton was holding.

  Ford put his hand on the back of her chair. “And I’m here because if you say the word, I’ll get you outta here.”

  “You’re not being helpful,” Lexi hissed.

  “I made my choice,” Ford shot back, and seriously, what the hell was going on?

  A Twilight Zone sensation crept over her.

  She’d love to determine if she was dreaming or not, but Tucker wasn’t next to her, so she could pinch him and he could tell her.

  No, he was lifting his arm to the square and speaking into the microphone.

  “I swear that the evidence that I shall give shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God.”

  Easton stepped back and sat in one of the three chairs lined up beside him. Shep took the other one. A quick glance at Ford left her sure he was meant to be in the last one.

  With all the weirdness going on, she was glad he’d stayed by her side. If she was the hand-holding type, she might’ve grabbed his, but she gave him a nod, and he returned it, and that said enough.

  “These guys to my left are my character witnesses, should I need ’em,” Tucker said. “So let’s get started, shall we? Here’s a rough list of everything I’ve done wrong since arrivin’ in town…”

  He cleared his throat, and the townspeople and groom’s side leaned in, practically salivating, while the bride’s side squirmed in their seats, clearly not sure they wanted to hear.

  Addie wasn’t sure she did, either, but she leaned in all the same—must be something in the swampy lake water.

  “Since moving back to Uncertainty,” he started, “I’ve stared at my best friend’s legs. A lot. Now the first time I didn’t exactly know they belonged to her, but if you’ve seen Addie’s legs, they certainly make an impression. She was underneath a car, trying to figure out what was wrong with it, which made the whole thing even hotter, let me tell you.”

  Hot. Yep, with that statement in the air and people giving her sidelong glances, hotness was definitely happening—embarrassed heat with an edge of interest in what more he had to say.

  “I went to a soccer game that she coached and checked her out again, and more than her legs this time. I vowed to chase off the other guy who’d been staring at her, and I did. I also stand by my claim that he never would’ve been able to handle her, and let’s remember I’m under oath.”

  Two different kinds of anxiety went through her, about what he’d say next and if it’d wreck her, but intrigue and the tiniest pinch of flattery joined the tornado of emotions twisting up her insides.

  And since she liked to be prepared, she contemplated the objects in the near vicinity, weighing which ones she should throw if he went too far and she needed to stop it or create a distraction, at the very least.

  Candles would probably break, and she couldn’t destroy the fancy centerpieces before the wedding.

  The metal napkin holders, maybe? Heavy enough to go far and do some damage.

  Same went for the battery-powered tea lights.

  “From there,” Tucker continued, “in spite of tellin’ myself numerous times to keep things strictly platonic, my thoughts constantly strayed to what it would be like to kiss her. In my defense, she’s funny and smart, and she does this unbelievable fake-out move on the field…”

  “I can attest to that,” Shep said, standing and leaning over Tucker to speak into the mic. “It’s why I feed her the ball so much. You get her in her natural habitat”—he grinned, obviously proud of himself for throwing that in there—“and there’s no stopping her.”

  “You okay?” Ford whispered, and Lexi grabbed her hand, gripping hard enough to convey she planned on thwarting any attempts at leaving.

  “I’m okay,” Addie whispered to both of them. She wasn’t precisely sure where this was going, or if she’d be okay afterward, but now that Tucker had started talking, she couldn’t not hear what else he was going to say.

  Especially since his eyes locked on to hers, anchoring her to this spot, to him, to everything they’d been through the past two months.

  Her heart picked up speed, revving to hummingbird levels and leaving her a tad dizzy.

  Shep nudged Tucker with his elbow. “I believe you were listing the things you’ve done wrong.”

  “Right.” Tucker ran his fingers through his hair, and that one rebellious wave stuck out even more. “I also started feelin’ super protective, somethin’ she hates, and she made sure I knew it.”

  He flashed her a smile, and her heart went from beating too fast to forgetting how to function altogether.

  “I took her out in gator-infested waters on a boat I hadn’t tested and thought some more about kissin’ her. I’m sure thoughts about her legs and the rest of her body were mixed in, especially since…well, let’s just say she loves my puppy as much as I do, and there was something about the way she picked him up and cuddled him that I’ll never forget.”

  Addie’s fingers wrapped around the napkin holder, testing its weight. Yeah, if he went there, he’d have a black eye for pictures tomorrow.

  Sorry, Lexie, but if he mentions the flashing incident, it’s happening.

  “I kissed her that night,” Tucker said, “and after that, I couldn’t stop kissing her.”

  Time ground out as he looked at her again, and then she was reliving that night, too. His lips on hers, the way he’d pulled her close and molded her body to his…

  A torturous amount of longing annihilated every other emotion, and she wanted to run to him and fling her arms around him and kiss him again. But as fantastic as that moment and the da
ys that came after had been, things had still fallen apart.

  Rehashing the good parts only made the subsequent crash that much harder to bear, and her brain reminded her that he was putting himself on trial for those kisses. That he was listing the things he’d done wrong.

  Addie stood on shaky legs, making it a few inches off her chair before Lexi tugged her back down.

  “Okay,” Addie said, “I think you’ve proven your point. You shouldn’t have kissed me.”

  “But you see, that’s not where I went wrong,” he said. “I kissed you before telling you that you’re the coolest person I’ve ever met, hands down. My witnesses will definitely back me up on that.”

  Easton and Shep muttered their agreement.

  “And I should’ve told you that I love how competitive you get, whether it’s poker or football or control over the remote. I love that I hardly have a childhood memory without you in it. But these past several weeks? They’ve been the best weeks of my life, Addie.

  “You have no idea how much I appreciate your reassurance that it didn’t matter that I walked away from a perfectly good, high-paying job, and the way you encouraged me to try something new when I really needed someone to believe in me. I love that you always texted to check on my dog and ask me if I had more legal or boating clients. Love that I can talk to you for hours and hours and still have more to say. You’re the first person I want to talk to when anything good or bad happens.

  “I shouldn’t have kept us a secret. I worried other people would mess it up, and in the end, I messed it up. I should’ve told you that you’re beautiful and smart and sexy—for you to not think you are is ridiculous. You’re sexy as hell in that dress right now, sure, but you’re also sexy in that ratty Falcons hoodie or your farmer overalls or any damn thing you put on.”

  He looked at her now. “You’re especially sexy when you’re covered in dirt and your cheeks are flushed and you get that competitive gleam in your eye that gets my heart pumping double time. You’re the whole package. I’d be so lucky if you’d be willing to do the long-distance thing. But after this past shi—crappy week, I’m not willing to have that much space between us.

  “There’s too much space between us now.”

  Tucker started down the walkway leading from the gazebo, his intense gaze leveled on her, and her stomach rose up, up, up.

  “Crossing lines with you is the best decision I’ve ever made. When you told me about the job, I should’ve said I wanted you to go for your dreams and that I’d do whatever it took to make us work. I had this idea in my head of how it had to be before I let myself fall for someone, and now I see that once you find the right person, those kind of things no longer apply, the way the rest of the rules never applied to us.”

  “Those rules did apply to you,” one of their former teachers said. “Heaven help us if y’all actually work this out and have children.”

  Tucker ignored the comment from the peanut gallery, his long legs eating up the distance between them, and then he was right in front of her. “I love you, Addison Murphy. Which is nothin’ new, but being in love with you is, and I couldn’t let you go without at least telling you so. But I’m hoping I won’t have to let you go at all. If it means we get to be together, I’m goin’ with you.”

  “With me to live in Tuscaloosa?” she asked, because of all the crazy thoughts spinning through her head, it seemed to be the only one she could catch hold of. The safest one to ask, as well, considering the others might mean her crying in front of the entire town.

  “With you wherever you go.”

  “But you hate the city. You never wanna live in one again. You don’t deal well with being cooped up, remember? And I don’t want to be the one to rip you away from your home.”

  He reached down and cupped her cheek, and everything inside her came undone. “I think you missed the part where I said I love you. That overtakes everything else. You’re what I want more than anything else. You make me happier than anything ever has.”

  He brushed his thumb across her cheekbone. “You’re my home.”

  Her heart pounded so hard she was sure it was bruising her insides.

  “And if you wanna go back to just being friends, I’ll…” He blew out a breath. “Man, I’ll be so miserable, but Addes, I’ll try it for you.”

  “Ah, hell.” Ford stood next to Tucker and crossed his arms. “I’ll be a character witness.” He looked down at her. “Still on your side, and the promise to get you outta here if you say the word stands.”

  Tears were forming, such a rush of them that it left her useless to fight them. She bit the inside of her cheek and nodded. “Thank you, Ford.” Tucker’s features blurred as she turned her teary-eyed gaze on him. “As for you, Tucker Crawford…”

  Addie stood, and Lexi jerked her back down. Half a second later, she seemed to realize what she’d done and gave her a shove up.

  Then Tucker was mere inches away, so close and so familiar, this big guy who’d just poured out his heart with the entire town watching, something he wouldn’t normally do. “You know everyone’s gonna be all up in your business after this. You’ll never live it down.”

  “Guess that’s a point for me moving to the city with you.”

  He obviously didn’t mean it, but she could tell he was trying to.

  “Can you lift up the mic?” a voice called out. “We can’t hear you anymore.”

  Addie grabbed the microphone, put it right next to her lips, and looked her best friend in the eye. “I declare Tucker Crawford guilty of everything he said, and there’s a whole lot more I could add. But right now, y’all might want to avert your eyes because I’m about to do somethin’ terribly unladylike.”

  She handed the microphone to Lexi, gripped Tucker’s tie, and yanked his lips down to hers.

  Then she looped her other arm around his neck and kissed him for all she was worth.

  And when he lowered his hands to her butt, she jumped into his arms and wrapped her legs around his waist.

  Hooting and hollering carried across the square. While her group of friends were the loudest by far, most of the town was cheering for them, reminding her of why deep down, this was her home and always would be.

  Later there’d be stories about how people had to cover their children’s eyes, and her mom and Lottie—and probably a whole mess of other women in town—would congratulate her in one breath and then, in the next, give her a lecture she’d heard every variation of before, but she didn’t care.

  She cared even less when Tucker’s tongue grazed hers. “I’m sorry I was so stupid,” he said. “If you give me the chance, I promise I’ll spend the rest of our lives making it up to you.”

  “The rest of our lives, even?”

  “You think I’m ever letting you get away again? But if you need to take it slow, I—”

  She cut off his words with another kiss. “No more going slow. Because I’m in love with you, too. I’m all in.”

  Relief flooded his features. Then he glanced around. Lexi was thanking everyone and instructing them when and where to be tomorrow, but they were still getting a mix of scandalized and hungry-for-more looks.

  “I think I’d better take you home so we can talk more about this love thing.”

  “Oh, no. I know how this ends. You get a crazy idea that you then talk me into, and we both land in a heap of trouble.”

  “There’s no one else I’d rather be in trouble with.” Tucker slowly lowered her to the ground, and she tugged her skirt back into the respectable range.

  Then he took her hand, and after a quick wave at their friends, they rushed off to get started on seeing just how much trouble they could get into.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  “Pinch me,” Tucker said to Addie, who took all of two seconds to slip her hand inside his suit coat and pinch his side.

  “Did it hurt?”
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  “I’ve had worse.”

  She pinched him again, harder this time.

  “Uncle, uncle.” He wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her to him to prevent further injury. And because he loved being able to hold her and kiss her and they should’ve gone public weeks ago.

  Maybe he could’ve saved himself that crazy trial, although he’d never felt like he’d so thoroughly won a case before.

  He ran his hands down to the curve of her butt, and he copped a generous feel as he swept his tongue inside for another taste. The red dress was sexy as hell, as was the fact that she’d been wearing only his T-shirt around her house this morning as they’d rushed to get ready.

  “Seriously, guys?” Shep asked, and Tucker wasn’t going to take his eyes, hands, or lips off Addie to see, but he was probably still working on getting his bow tie right. “Get a room already.”

  “Had one last night, thanks,” Tucker said.

  “Nice!” Easton held up his hand, and Tucker smacked it.

  Addie raised an eyebrow. “Really?”

  “Don’t get all huffy. I’m getting to you, too.” Easton extended his open palm to her, and she smacked it.

  “Does anyone know how to tie a damn bow tie?” Shep asked.

  Everyone turned to Addie, and she pulled out her go-to-hell glare. “Tell you what, I’ll trade you. I’ll wear the tie; you wear the dress and heels.”

  The gang quickly returned to working on their ties, and Addie tugged him off to the side. “Hey, so I know we got distracted with other things last night…” Her cheeks flushed, and he was reliving carrying her into her bedroom and making up for two weeks without her.

  Thankfully, Ford had been willing to go puppysit Flash so that Tucker could stay the night. Waking up with Addie in his arms was something he could definitely get used to—and he planned to.

  “Anyway, about Bama,” she said.

  “Boo,” Easton said. The guy must have bat hearing.

  “I’ll ask for all y’all’s opinion in a few minutes, but for now, shut it.” She hooked her thumbs in the top of her dress and tugged, and for a second he got distracted watching the way it emphasized her cleavage. “They’ve officially offered me the job.”