“Hello?” Her voice sounded deep and scratchy.
“Uh-oh. Someone’s hung over.”
“This isn’t my hangover voice,” she said, sitting up and putting her feet on the floor. What the hell? She was only wearing one sock. “This is my mornings suck voice.” Glancing around, she searched for the other sock as she listened to Riley giggling on the phone.
“Glad to hear you’re not hung over.”
“I never said that. I only said it wasn’t my hangover voice.” She spotted her other sock peeking out of the cushion at the other end of the couch. Reaching over, she pulled it out. “Did you know this couch eats clothing?”
“Are you sure it was the couch?”
“What? Yeah, it ate my sock.”
“Oh.”
Riley’s quipped tone had Jena suspicious. “What are you holding back, Riles. Spit it out.”
“I thought a certain fireman who followed you out last night might have eaten your clothes.”
Jena’s lips tightened at the memory. “Ha ha, and no. I came in alone and slept alone, thank you very much.”
“Yeah? That’s too bad.”
“You know, I feel like we’ve somehow switched roles while I was gone. I need caffeine.”
“Coffee’s in the cupboard. Have at it and get showered. I’ll be there in an hour. I’ve got about three things on the checklist planned for the day.”
“Yes, bridezilla.”
Riley gasped. “You’re going to try on a hundred fluffy dresses for that. See you soon, maid of horror.”
Laughing, Jena set the phone down and put her sock on. The cheery mood didn’t last long, however, once she remembered the conversation she’d had with Tyler the night before. He’d seemed intent on proving they had unfinished business, as if they could pick up where they’d left off the last time she was in Seeton. Sure, there was sexual tension on her end, and obviously on his too, but that didn’t mean she wanted to act on it. Okay, she really, really wanted to act on it, but she couldn’t if she planned on sticking to her newfound path to maturity.
Maybe he was simply drunk last night, or his ego was bruised, and he felt the need to puff out his chest.
But what if it was none of that? Could she really fight off more advances from him? She’d barely avoided kissing him last night, and was quite certain if she had, there would have been no going back. She might have even let him take her up against the door for all the crazy residents of Seeton to see.
Staying away from Tyler had to be a priority. She couldn’t risk that he’d make good on his threat. And yes, that was exactly how she’d understood his words—a threat to bring her to her knees.
Hmmm…on her knees with Tyler…
Jesus, she really needed to work on the whole maturity thing. So far, her brain hadn’t gotten the memo. Or maybe it was her body, she couldn’t be sure. Both were acting like a teenage groupie for Team Tyler. It had taken months to build up her wall and less than ten seconds around the man to obliterate it.
Coffee. She’d start with coffee. That was a strong, fortifying, mature thing to do after a night of too much alcohol. She could drink it black for the extra grit. Then, she’d set all of her energy into making sure Riley had the best goddamn wedding a girl could have.
Yes, that was exactly what she was going to do.
***
The grit lasted for the first few hours while she and Riley ate breakfast at the diner solidifying plans for the invitations at the print shop. Conversation revolved around the wedding preparations already in place, which seemed to be close to everything. Since so many details were handled, it did nothing to alleviate Jena’s guilty conscience. Riley assured her she was still needed for some major decisions…one of which was the bridesmaids’ dresses, and it was next up on the task list for the day.
Stepping inside the small bridal boutique—located amongst other unique shops on Main Street—they were immediately held at gunpoint by a tiny child with cowboy boots and a hat several sizes too big for his mini head. He fumbled with the giant water gun in his hand but quickly steadied it.
“State yer business, lassies.” With his high-pitched lisp, Jena guessed he couldn’t have been more than six.
The women shot their arms in the air, surrendering to Sheriff Waterboy.
“Please, don’t shoot, Mr. Cowboy,” Riley squeaked.
“Oh, my God, Ethan,” a woman yelled, running up and grabbing the gun out of his hands. “I told you to stay in the back.” She spun, put the water pistol behind her, and threw Riley and Jena an apologetic smile while pushing a blond strand behind her ear. “I’m so sorry. No school today, and my mother-in-law couldn’t watch him. Are you here to look at the bridesmaids—”
The kid snatched the gun out of his mom’s hands, cocked a lever, and fired a stream of water at her. Jena and Riley watched like paralyzed bystanders as the woman’s eyes bugged and chest flew forward, her torso arching in a way yoga students would drool over. She swung around and snatched the gun away from Ethan again, giving them a peek at the drenched damage the water had done to her dress. “You are in so much trouble, young man.”
Jena realized the woman was having a hard time keeping herself under control.
Riley must have agreed because she moved in and put a hand on the woman’s arm. “Stacy, go ahead and do what you need to do. I’ll have Jena try on the dress we picked out. We can handle it.”
“I’m so sorry, Riley. Are you sure?”
“Absolutely.”
Stacy let out a sigh. “Thank you.” She turned her attention to Jena. “Riley has told me so much about you. It’s nice to finally meet you. Sorry for the stickup on your first day here.”
Jena smiled. “Oh, no problem. I love kids.”
“Well, you’re more than welcome to take this one if you want. I’ve about had it with him.”
They all laughed.
“Riley, I kept the dress behind the counter for you. Feel free to go get it. I’ll be back out as soon as I can.” She grabbed Ethan by the hand and almost dragged him through the shop, holding the water gun in the air out of his reach.
“Poor girl,” Jena said. “She’s got her hands full.”
“Yeah, Seeton doesn’t have much in the way of babysitting, besides friends and relatives. When they’re not available, people here do what they have to in order to keep their businesses going.” She stepped around the main counter, flipping through the various dresses hanging on pegs at the back wall. “Here it is.”
Jena gasped when Riley pulled the dress out from behind several others. “Oh, my God, Riley, it’s gorgeous.” The color was perfect, a teal hue, reminding her of Tyler’s eyes. Not that she was thinking of him. Without even holding it in her hands, she could tell it was made of the softest, lightest material, probably silk. The dress was long and elegant below the waist with a halter-designed bodice that tied around the neck.
“You think so?” Riley asked.
Jena joined Riley behind the counter and rubbed the material with her fingers. Definitely silk. “Yes,” she whispered. “It’s perfect.”
“Yay. I’m so glad you like it. Okay, if I remember right, this one is your size. If not, it’s close.” She pushed the dress into Jena’s hands. “Go try it on. If you still like it, we’ll have Stacy take your measurements and finalize everything.”
She took the dress to a wardrobe room in the back and put it on. A near perfect fit with only a few alterations needed. She stood staring at it in the mirror for minutes, admiring the way the slit up the left side teased at her long leg underneath, and the low cut V of the bodice showed off her ample cleavage.
“Are you coming out, or what?” Riley shouted from the other side of the door.
Jena stepped into the showroom, watching her friend’s eyes widen. “So?” she prodded, after an awkward period of time.
“My God, Jena. It’s beautiful on you.”
“Yeah?” She walked over to the three-way mirror, turned, and peeked over her sho
ulder at the back, bare skin visible to the waist.
“I love it,” Riley said. “It’s definitely the one. Although, it could be a problem at the wedding.”
“What? Why?”
“Because Tyler won’t be able to keep his hands off you in that.” She winked.
Damn it. She’d been trying so hard not to think of the man. Freaking best friends with their stupid wedding cupids shooting stupid arrows at everyone just because they were all stupid in love and happy and getting married. The visual was enough to make a woman sick. Okay, she was being dramatic. But she’d been doing so good as the helpful, fun-loving, maid of honor, and now, she felt like the single, horny friend, craving the best man.
Deep breaths. She could do this and get back on track. All she had to do was make sure Riley was on board the train.
“This is a Tyler-free day, Riles. No Tyler talk.”
Riley stiffened, seemingly surprised by her announcement. “It is?”
Seriously, why did she look so shocked?
“Yes, it is.”
“Uh…okay.”
Jena was about to ask her why she was acting so odd when Stacy came into the dressing area. “Ohhh…that is stunning on you,” she said. “And it doesn’t appear we have to do much with it either. Maybe take the waist in a little, but that’s about it.”
The compliment had Jena beaming. “Thank you.”
“Is this the one you want to go with for sure?” she asked Riley.
When Jena encouraged her with a nod and a smile, her face lit up. “Definitely.”
“Great. I’ll take her measurements now and send this and the other one we sized for Ivy over to Lynn. So far, we’ve gotten lucky with our stock. You said your sister is close to your size?”
“Yes. And she said she could probably come up next week sometime to get measured.”
“If that’s the case, perfect. I had another size four and six brought in already. We got lucky the warehouse had them in stock.”
“So far I’ve been lucky with everything about the wedding.”
Stacy put an arm around Riley’s shoulders and squeezed. “That’s when you know this marriage is meant to be.”
The twinkle in Riley’s eyes said she was in total agreement.
With the measurements taken, they left the shop.
“So, what’s next?” Jena asked.
“Well, I’d show you my dress, but Lynn isn’t open on Saturdays.”
“Lynn? Tyler’s mom?”
Jena had briefly met the woman at the bar the previous night when his parents joined the group to talk to Wade. To say it was awkward—meeting the mother and father of the man she’d had a crazy, awesome, one-night stand with—was putting it mildly. She could barely look at them while shaking hands and had said little other than casual pleasantries. Jena’s paranoia kept whispering in her ear that the nerves dancing under her skin had been from the death ray glares Lynn was giving her, regardless of the smile on the woman’s face every time she happened a glance at her.
“Yeah,” Riley said. “She’s the seamstress in town. Her shop is two doors down. She’ll be doing all the dresses.”
Great. Now, her paranoia had something else to work with. Images of being a human voodoo doll with a gazillion pins sticking out of her body flashed in her head. “Maybe we can stop in sometime next week to see it then,” Jena said, trying to block the mental pictures.
“Sounds great. Okay, let’s get some lunch, and then head to my house.”
“I thought we had another mission on the list to accomplish.”
“We do. Actually, two more things. I want to see what you think about the setup for the wedding and go over seating arrangements for the reception. Both are taking place at my house, or rather, on the property. We’ll do that and have dinner there. Since it’s so nice out, Dax bought steaks to grill.”
Riley was clearly excited, and Jena couldn’t help but catch a ray of her sunshine. She returned the smile and pulled her friend into a hug. “It’s so great being here with you, Riles,” she whispered into her ear. Damn it, her eyes were watering. “I can’t wait to see everything. I’m so excited for you.”
“Thank you, sweetie. I am too. And even more now with you here.”
Riley’s happiness made all the discomfort she might have to endure around Tyler worth it. Every. Single. Aching. Second.
Not that she was thinking of him.
“Oh, but there’s something you should know,” Riley said, as they reached the car.
Jena waited at the passenger side door for Riley to finish, but she motioned to get in the car first. Once in, Riley started the engine, but then turned toward her and stared.
Thoroughly confused and starting to get nervous, Jena asked, “What is it?”
On a loud exhale, Riley reached over and belted her in. Slamming the car in reverse, she said, “Tyler’s at the house.” She glanced at Jena out of the corner of her eye. “We’re all having dinner together.”
Jena’s groan was long and loud.
So much for her Tyler-free day.
CHAPTER NINE
Sweat pooled at the tip of Tyler’s nose as he nailed another shingle on the roof of Dax’s barn. Still on his knees, he arched his back as he reached for the balled-up shirt next to him. “Fuck, it’s hot.” After wiping the perspiration from his face, he swiped the shirt across his bare chest. Turning to Dax, who was tackling another section of the roof several feet away, he asked, “Was this your way of making us burn in hell?”
“This isn’t hell.” Their friend Zane spoke up. “Hell is sitting next to the ex-wife with her latest barely legal boytoy, watching your four-year-old roll around on a mat like she’s a tortured Tootsie Roll at Tumbling Tots once a week.”
Tyler and Dax stared.
Zane peeked up through his goggles from the area of roof he was working. “What?” He returned his attention to the shingle he was setting. “I’d take melting in the sun on a hot roof over that shit any day.” He punctuated his point with a shot of the roofing nailer.
Tyler chuckled. “If you say so, man.”
After Zane’s divorce a year ago, he’d come to Tyler asking if he could help out with rehab jobs in order to supplement his income as a general practitioner at the medical center. Being a doctor at the small town clinic paid well, but not as much as similar jobs in the city, and apparently, not enough to satisfy the alimony checks he got screwed into paying on a monthly basis. His daughter, Hannah, was his life. He only had custody part-time but did everything he could to make her happy when she was with him. Tyler welcomed the help, especially on the bigger jobs, like re-roofing Dax’s barn. Zane had been fairly handy to begin with, but after a year of working together, he matched Tyler’s renovation skills.
Dax finished a bottled water and tossed it over the side of the barn. “How was I supposed to know summer would come in March? It was freezing the other day. Anyway, it needs to be done for the wedding, so I didn’t have much choice.”
He had a point. The weather in Wisconsin could go from ninety to a blizzard with the blink of an eye.
Grabbing for his own water bottle, Tyler said, “Yeah, well if you were like most people and waited awhile to get married, we could have planned this better. Just sayin’.”
Dax threw his arms out. “We planned almost a year out.”
“If you ask me,” Zane said as he continued to work, “you’d put marriage off indefinitely. It’s not worth the torture, man. Once they get a ring on their finger, they turn into evil she-demons with little purses to carry all your money.”
“Damn, dude, you need to get laid,” Dax said.
Zane sat up on his knees and adamantly shook his head. “No way, that’s how it all started. Not unless there’s a signed agreement demanding no strings attached. You know, like a prenup for sex.”
“Now, there’s an idea.” Tyler laughed as he followed Dax’s example and chucked the empty water bottle over the side of the barn.
A feminine g
runt sounded, and then a familiar voice cried out from below. “What the hell?”
From Tyler’s vantage point, he couldn’t see Jena, but he’d know that tone anywhere. He’d fantasized over it long enough to recognize it on the first note. Of course, the fantasy carried a different chord, one that suggested he’d hit her with something more pleasurable than a water bottle.
Zane peered over the side of the barn and let out a low whistle. “Who is that? Now, she’s someone I might draw up a contract for.”
While Dax moved toward the edge of the roof, Tyler stood and shot Zane a glare edged with steel. “Not gonna happen.”
“That’s Jena,” Dax said. “Riley’s maid of honor. She’s in town to help with the wedding.” He peered down. “Hey, ladies. Sorry about that, Jena. Tyler’s a bit of a slob, but I’ll work on him.”
Tyler threw his shirt, landing it on Dax’s shoulder.
Dax gave him the stink eye, and then a smug smile turned up the corner of his mouth. Turning back to the women, he said, “Apparently, he wants you to have the shirt off his back as a token of his sincere apology. Would that help?”
Tyler shuffled over to stand between Zane’s kneeling form and Dax. Jena and Riley were staring up, both using hands to shade their eyes from the sun. He zoned in on Jena. “Sorry, about that, Red.”
Red? Where had that come from? Then he realized how mesmerized he was by the vibrancy of her hair as it reflected the sun’s rays. He’d given her a pet name. Did she realize he’d created the same intimacy between them he’d accused of his brother? The coincidence hadn’t escaped him, but had she caught it?
“Hi, Red. I’m Zane.”
Tyler glimpsed next to him. Zane was still on his knees, peering over the side with a dumb smile on his face, waving a hand. He had the urge to nudge him with a foot and send him and his stupid smile to a painful landing.
“It’s Jena,” Tyler said through clenched teeth.
“But you just called her—”
He narrowed his eyes. “It’s Jena.” His tone said there was no other explanation needed.
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