by Joya Ryan
Kind of like how I still am.
“Thought I’d find you here.” He glanced around the small office. “Still rescuing the damsels?”
“You know it.” East might not have changed like Matt had, but he did take his job seriously. Rescuing people and keeping up his medic training were essential to his mental health. He needed to feel…needed. He and his closest friends made up the core of the team, and East’s specialty was medical training. He didn’t just search and rescue, he cured. At least he tried. After being an EMT for years and reviving overdosed users or the abused and battered, he’d finally recognized how angry he still was at his mom. Every time he’d seen someone OD, he’d seen her, until he couldn’t take it anymore and shifted into the outdoors version of the rescue bit. Broken limbs, hydration, and CPR were on a different scale with lost hikers than with strung out junkies.
There wasn’t much room for growth in S and R. He was at the position he was in, loved it, and that was it. Good enough for him. There didn’t need to be any kind of goal or endpoint. Which was why he couldn’t do anything to fuck with his setup. If anyone found out what had happened with Natalie, not only would he lose his friends and family, he’d likely have to find a new job because staying in Beaufort wouldn’t be an option. Her family was the name of the town. And no way in hell would a scandal like East and Natalie hooking up be allowed to thrive. Lemon-Anne would have a damn conniption.
“Well, I have some best man duties for you,” Matt said, not bothering to go into pleasantries. Not that they were needed. Especially since the longer East was in his presence, the more he realized that he’d just had sex with Matt’s little sister—
Fuck. Now he was thinking of Natalie naked again.
He shook his head.
“You okay?” Matt asked. “You having a stroke or something?”
“I’m fine, just a headache,” East lied. He blinked several times, trying to get rid of the image of Natalie in nothing but frosting.
So much for fading away…
“Since we’re moving everything last minute, I need you to help with some stuff to make sure it all goes smoothly,” Matt started. “Bridget is freaking out about every detail.”
“Sure, man, I can handle the bachelor party,” East said. He’d had some sweet spots mapped out in Connecticut, but he could definitely throw a party around these parts, too.
Matt laughed. “Forget the party. I need you to do more than that.”
“You did not just say ‘forget the party.’” East held a hand over his chest like Matt had just shot him through the heart with his words.
“There’s so much, East. I promise you can still throw the bachelor party, but I need your help with other shit, too.”
East nodded. “Of course. Anything.”
“Look after Natalie.”
Except that.
“What? I don’t need to look at her,” East said quickly.
Fuck, that had come out wrong. But he needed to just stop talking about her, because any minute Matt would see right through him and Jesus…when did it get so hot in here?
“Bridget is bouncing between here and Connecticut for the next two weeks, and I’m helping her move everything, so I’ll be back and forth, too. And one of her bridesmaids can’t make the wedding now, so place settings are off and the bridal party is uneven.” Matt shook his head like this was some dramatic devastation, and East couldn’t help but wonder if there was about to be some kind of Oprah moment here. Man, his buddy was like his brother, but the boy was whipped. “Anyway, it’s a mess, so Bridget is asking Natalie to fill in as the final bridesmaid.”
That last part registered real quick.
“Wait…Natalie is now a bridesmaid?”
“Yeah, and she needs a dress and all kinds of other stuff…” Matt pulled out a list from his pocket, one that was clearly written in feminine handwriting. Likely Bridget’s. Poor Matt just frowned at it and looked overwhelmed, then handed it over to East. “Here. Just do all this stuff.”
East looked over the list. “I can do…” He ran down the list of items again. “None of this.” Then he pointed at one of the line items. “What the hell does ‘get bodice fitted’ mean, anyway?”
“I don’t know,” Matt said and threw his arms up. “Something about the dress Natalie will have to fit into. Can you just help her? The switching of bridesmaids is freaking Bridget out the most. And you know Natalie. She’s…”
Right then, East looked up from the list and almost wanted to smack his best friend. He knew what he was about to say, and for some reason, he already didn’t like it.
“Natalie is just awkward with this kind of stuff,” Matt finally finished. And yep, East kind of wanted to smack him. Which was dumb. He also wanted to say that there hadn’t been a damn thing awkward about Natalie last night. Which would have, of course, been even dumber.
“Just look out for her,” Matt said. “I heard what you did last night.”
East’s heart stopped.
“You did?”
Matt nodded and smiled. “My mom was already chewing my ear first thing this morning about Natalie’s failed date. But rumor mill had it that you went after her to make sure she was okay.”
“Right…” East said. “That.”
“If I can’t be around to look after her, it helps to know that you will be. I don’t want her feelings hurt or some asshole manipulating her. I’m glad you were there last night. Man, the thought of some random guy taking advantage of her bothers me. Besides, you have all your tux stuff done, and she doesn’t know any of the other bridesmaids, and they aren’t even coming to Beaufort until the rehearsal anyway. She could use a big brother right now. My mom is on her ass about dating, and I know she’s having a hard time.” Matt stopped and seemed to realize how many words he’d just spewed. “Just…help me out. Help her out.”
East took a deep breath. He’d been through this with Matt before. It was their job to look out for Natalie. Had been doing it since Matt’s family had accepted East as one of their own. He’d be there for Matt, and he’d be there for Natalie. Always.
I’m such a fuck.
Because, yeah, helping was one thing, but now he was also lying to his best friend. Last night with Natalie, and now thinking of her the way he was, and then to be stuck with her? He wouldn’t let the family down, but he also couldn’t spend that kind of time with Natalie. God forbid they ended up alone again…
“I can’t, man.” East searched for a valid reason and thankfully came up with one. “I’m running the office these next two weeks and have CPR training this weekend.”
“Then you can help in the evenings,” Matt said.
“I have shit to do.”
“Well, now you have more shit to do.”
East shook his head. “There’s a ton on this list, and I’m supposed to—”
“I love you, bro, but man the fuck up. You’re like my brother. Which means Natalie’s like your sister. We’re family. And family’s always there for one another. Right?”
Now East really felt like an asshole. But he couldn’t come out and say, Dude, I’m trying to stay away from your hot sister because I just banged her and want to bang her again.
So instead he said, “All right. I’ll be there for Natalie.”
Matt smiled wide and tapped the list. “Thanks so much!”
“Yep,” East said as his best friend walked out.
Great. This was just great…
“You can’t put ‘hangs out at a bar all day’ on my…what the hell are you even doing?” Natalie set down the cupcake she was frosting and looked up from the prepping table in the back of the shop to glare at her friends.
Michelle had brought her laptop into the cupcake shop, and now both of Natalie’s friends were set up on her counter and huddled around it, and they were asking way too many questions.
“We’re making you a profile,” Michelle said. “And we need to put this information on here so the men you date have a better sense
of who you are.”
Michelle just kept typing and clicking while Chloe polished off her third cupcake and rubbed her very pregnant belly. They were her two best friends, and while Michelle was newly engaged, Chloe was expecting twin girls any day now, thanks to her super-hot search and rescue husband, Gage McGraw.
“I still think this is a bad idea.” Natalie put the finishing touches on the cupcake’s frosting and then wiped down the counter. There was a smear of frosting she’d missed from earlier, and the stupid smudge reminded her that only last night she’d had sex with East right here…
She sprayed cleaner and scrubbed harder.
“You need this profile if you want to find a date by the wedding,” Michelle said. She was happily typing away on the laptop, and Chloe was reading over her shoulder. After she’d called them in a panic earlier, both of her BFFs had showed up to save the day. Except their version of saving the day was setting her up on Match.com.
“Looking for a short-term, good-time, no-strings kind of fun…” Michelle mumbled.
“That makes me sound like I’m looking for a hookup,” Natalie said.
“Well…” Chloe coughed. “Does it matter? You just need a good enough first date to invite the guy to the wedding for the second date.”
Natalie was starting to think maybe she was too far out of her area of expertise to deal with this. She wasn’t her mother. That woman was graceful and classy and could turn the head of any man she wanted. Natalie? Not even close.
“No one around here is going to date me—” Natalie started.
“That’s not true!” Chloe cut in. “You’re very dateable. It’s just that everyone in town knows you.”
Michelle tapped a few more keys. “Which is why I’m expanding the search to a fifty-mile radius. Unless…” She stopped typing and looked Natalie dead in the eye. “Is there someone you’re interested in?”
Something felt off about the way her friend posed that question and kept that pretty, questioning gaze locked on her. There was no way she could know about East, right?
“Around here?” Natalie asked.
Michelle just continued to look at her. “Yes. If you like someone, there’s no shame in that. No matter how close to home they are.”
Okay, now Natalie was being paranoid. She really thought Michelle might know about East…but there was no way.
“Nope,” Natalie said, cutting off this line of questioning. “There’s no one in Beaufort I’d want to date.” And that was the truth. Easton Ambrose was the least dateable person in these parts. Next to Natalie, that was. Ironic.
“Okay,” Michelle said, going back to typing. “Hookups can be fun, too. You’re hot, Nat. But if the men around here are so set on friend-zoning you, then we’ll go to a different zone.”
That was Michelle. Miss Can-Do Attitude, all the time.
Natalie smiled. Her friends really were great. Too bad she couldn’t tell them that the one man she never thought would ever look twice at her was officially out of the friend zone and in the “oh shit we totally had sex” zone.
Even if she could tell them, she could never go for East anyway…but that didn’t stop her from needing to talk about it. In some way. Because this was killing her. She didn’t know how to process half the feelings she was feeling, and worse, she was pretty sure one of those feelings was withdrawal, like East was some kind of drug. The whole day today, she could still feel him every time she moved.
Yeah, she needed to talk. But she couldn’t out any of the details. Maybe she could be discreet…
“So, most of these guys are probably players, right?” Natalie started. Both of her friends looked up at her. “I mean…” She pointed to the screen. “They won’t be looking for anything long term.”
“You want something long term?” Chloe asked.
Natalie shrugged. “Eventually. One day. I just want…”
“Passion,” Chloe said. She remembered from the discussion they’d had back when Chloe was fighting against wanting Gage. Passion had never been a problem for her. And yeah, Natalie wanted that. In fact, she’d had a taste of that with East. And it was addictive.
“You can find that,” Michelle said. “Maybe one of these guys will work out. You never know!”
Yeah…you never know. Just like she’d been on a date last night and then ended up sleeping with Easton.
“I’m not sure…” Natalie said. “I want passion but have no idea how to get it, or sustain it if I had it.”
“What’s going on with you?” Chloe asked.
“I just don’t know about this dating thing. It shouldn’t be this hard.”
“Ah, it’s hard as hell,” Chloe said.
“Yeah,” Michelle agreed.
“Did it bug you, Dex being a ladies’ man before he met you?” Natalie asked Michelle. Her fiancé Dex had grown up here like most of them, and he’d had a reputation before he’d met Michelle. A one-and-done kind of man, much like East. Only Dex had always wanted more, and East? Natalie was pretty sure that man would die a bachelor. Proudly.
Michelle thought about her question. “No. I mean, I knew he had experience with other women in this town, and it never really bothered me. Everything you go through makes you the person you are. And Dex is amazing.”
“That’s because he’s all about you.” Chloe winked. And Chloe was right. Both of her friends were gorgeous.
If Natalie were honest with herself, she had to admit that Easton’s reputation made her nervous. Take out the whole family complication and she’d still feel insecure about the whole thing. She didn’t have the experience he did. Hell, everyone in town looked at her like a buddy and looked at him like a sex god. She couldn’t compete with the women he’d been with. Or the women he could get.
And now she’d added herself to that list. Jesus.
She’d always assumed the guy was a knockout in bed. He had to be with that kind of experience, right? But she’d been unprepared for just how good he’d been.
She’d never felt that before. But maybe this was routine for East. What was new and fun and unique to her was probably old hat for him. Show up, make a woman come harder than she ever had before, then take his distance. And that was the problem. She was reeling today, and East probably hadn’t given her a second thought.
So I should stop thinking about it.
Because she couldn’t go after him. So there was no point in obsessing over him. The man drove her nuts, and she wasn’t interested in being compared to others and found wanting. Yeah, he’d blown her mind, but could she say the same for him? If she’d had even half the effect on him that he’d had on her, he wouldn’t have been so eager to leave this morning.
Time to move on.
“We’ve got a live one!” Michelle said, interrupting Natalie’s thoughts. A ding sounded on the computer. “You have a wink already!”
Natalie looked at the profile her friends had just set up. They’d even put up a picture of her.
“That guy likes me already?” Natalie asked.
“Yep, I told you, you’re hot. And you’re awesome.”
Natalie didn’t feel hot, but that quick ding…somebody had thought so, right? So maybe she could do this. If it meant not feeling like an embarrassment to her mother and family, and not dating her cousin, then she’d do just about anything.
She might be plain to some—like East—but she could use these next two weeks to really date and figure out how to get the passion she wanted. Surely East wasn’t the only game in town.
“You’ve got another one!” Michelle said.
“Set it up,” Natalie agreed. Yep, she’d find passion, or at least a date. East might have awoken something in her, both good and bad, but she’d figure this out for herself. She had to. Because after being seen like she’d been seen last night, she couldn’t go back to being invisible.
“Time to date my ass off!” Natalie said, and both of her friends cheered in support.
Her cell phone rang. Natalie fished it out
of her apron and pushed her glasses up as she read the caller ID.
“Who’s calling?” Chloe asked.
“It’s my future sister-in-law.” Natalie answered the phone. “Hi, Bridget.” She plugged her ear with her other hand to better hear Bridget’s lyrical voice. “You what now?” Natalie asked. Surely she couldn’t have heard her right. But when Bridget repeated herself, Natalie covered the speaker of the phone and mouthed to her friends. “I’m a bridesmaid now!”
Well, that just got a bit more complicated. And judging by the continuous stream of duties Bridget was telling her came with the honor, Natalie was going to be way busier than she’d thought.
Which was a good thing. It would help keep her mind off a certain someone.
“Now, I know you’re worried about how you’re going to be able to handle all of this,” Bridget said. “But East agreed to help you through it all.”
Natalie’s heart seized, and she nearly dropped her phone. “Did you say East?”
“Yeah! He’ll be there every step of the way.”
Yep, she was fucked.
Chapter Four
This cannot be happening again…
Natalie stared at the man across the table from her. He was droning on and on about his cocker spaniel, and even though he glanced at her chest a few times, there was no heat behind the look. He was just a jerk taking a peek.
Natalie tried really hard to follow what he was saying. But she felt zero chemistry and even less interest.
“Yeah, dogs are great,” she said. She’d kind of missed his exact words because honestly, she had gotten side-tracked by all the bustle around the restaurant. Yep, she was back at Honey’s. The same place she was at the other night. Only instead of sitting at the bar, she was at a corner booth for two.
Beaufort was small, and honestly, Honey’s Restaurant and Bar was where she felt comfortable. That her best friend was the owner was a plus. So she didn’t really care that this was her repeat location. However, last time in her cupcake shop had proven to be both convenient and not a great idea.