Go time.
“Nice job, man,” Jase offered, taking the trash-bag liner out of the bin and shoving it in Emily’s direction. To his utter delight, she was so startled that her hands came up before she’d had the chance to think. And then she was stuck quite literally holding the bag.
Hauling Dean up by his good arm, Jase and Max worked the guy into the jacket and started pinning his sleeve to his coat. It wasn’t perfect, but if ever there was a pinch, this was it.
“Oh… Oh no… Oh… What am I supposed to do with this?” Emily asked shakily behind him.
Jase didn’t look back. “See if one of the groomsmen can help you with it.”
He’d love to leave her hanging, but this was Dean’s wedding, and he wouldn’t be doing his friend any favors by screwing over his bride with a missing attendant. Even Emily.
“Uh-uh, no way,” Brody said, laughing. “That has ‘best man’ written all over it. You know the drill, dude. With great power comes great responsibility, or some shit like that.”
Not a chance. “Power to delegate responsibility. Hey, you with the braces, take this to the Dumpster out back and meet us up front.”
The skinny kid let out a groan but hopped to, taking the trash bag from Emily and scurrying out the door just as Sean Wyse strode in. Smoothing back his immaculate hair, he flashed a picture-perfect smile at Emily. “Looking breathtaking today, but I think you’re mixing with the wrong crowd here. Can I walk you back to the girls?”
Emily was chugging Sean’s BS like it was a Starbucks mocha latte, cocking her head appreciatively but declining all the same. Then she was out the door, and the too-small space around Jase opened up enough that he could breathe.
About time.
Sean reached into Brody’s pocket and helped himself to a swig of what was probably Jameson. “You ladies ready yet?”
Brody started lining the guys up in order for their trip to the other end of the church, while Jase took care of the sweat beaded on Dean’s forehead with a handkerchief he knew better than to attend a wedding without. Then grabbing Dean by the side of his face, he looked him straight in the eyes.
“You good, man?” he asked, hoping like hell Lena was in it for the duration. Dean was too good of a guy to get screwed over. “Ready to do this?”
Dean swallowed and nodded. “Yeah. I am.”
The same thought that tore through Jase’s mind every time he got one of his grooms ready echoed then—the thought Emily Klein had played no small part in reinforcing:
Better him than me.
Jase smiled his most confidence-inspiring smile, the one that closed deals, and jutted his chin toward the door. “Then let’s get you married.”
Chapter 2
Sticking to the far side of the left aisle, a pinch of floor-length blush chiffon in hand and her smile straining at cheek-cramping proportions, Emily Klein skimmed past an usher seating the last of the late arrivals as she hustled toward the bridal room where Lena was waiting with the girls.
Best man her butt.
Seriously, how did Jase Foster keep getting this gig?
Obviously, the guys loved him. Couldn’t get enough of the whole bromance business Jase had perfected back before it was even a thing. But the women? Come on, like they hadn’t heard about the time Jase got Neil Wallace to the altar a mere two hours late—because the boat they took out that morning on a whim ran out of gas. Or when Jim Huang wore an eye patch to the altar because of some “epic” game of finger football gone wrong. Or when Trey Wazowski needed to start a suspicious course of antibiotics before leaving for the honeymoon.
Cripes, Emily had heard them all, and she hadn’t even been at those weddings.
And now, because Lena had turned the same blind eye to Jase’s questionable record as all those other brides, here she was, saddled with the task of preparing her friend for the fact that her husband-to-be looked like he’d been jumped in a dark alley on the way to the church.
Stopping in front of the paneled door not solid enough to muffle the twittering chatter within, Emily took a bracing breath.
A chuckle sounded from a few paces away, and she turned to find Paul Gonzalez shaking his salt-and-pepper head at her. “I thought the bride was supposed to be the nervous one.”
Emily gave Lena’s dad—who’d been her boss before his retirement—an affectionate smile. Like his daughter, the man was small in stature but big in heart, and Emily had always had a soft spot for him. “I don’t know, Paul. Seems like someone ought to have a case of the nerves, and Lena’s as cool as a cucumber.”
Stepping over to her, Paul laid a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “Relax, Emily. Everything is going to be fine. Even if nothing goes according to plan—though something tells me since you had a hand in all this, it will—the day will still be perfect. Lena’s marrying the man she loves. Nothing else matters.”
He was such a sweet old guy. And so misguided.
But that’s what she was for.
“You’re right. Okay, I’ll relax.” And then flashing a wink as she slid into the bridal room, she quietly added, “Just as soon as the cake is cut and the bouquet is thrown.”
“Yay! You’re back,” Lena sang out, delightedly rushing to Emily’s side.
Dressed in formfitting raw silk with a mermaid flare that emphasized her curvy physique, the bride-to-be looked gorgeous, every lustrous mahogany coil pinned in place, her warm complexion flawless, lips glossed, and each lash curved in exacting detail.
Lena was ready to go.
“Is Dean nervous?” she asked in a hushed voice, leaning close like she was protecting the other bridesmaids from the truth. “Remember how he was before he got his car? With the pacing and all those lists—and that was just leasing a Bimmer. This is forever. He’s got to be nervous. He is, isn’t he?”
Emily stared into her friend’s deep mocha eyes and shook her head. “Nervous? No way.” Not anymore, she didn’t think.
Lena bounced in her beaded pumps. “So tell! Is he completely devastating in his tux?”
Yes, completely. Only Lena probably wasn’t talking about Jase, so no need to clarify the whole ugly-on-the-inside business.
And this was where it got dicey. Because while Emily knew Lena needed to be prepared for what Dean was going to look like—before she hiked up her skirt and started sprinting down the aisle barking out orders to call 911—she didn’t want her friend freaking out before she’d even set foot down the aisle. So time to employ some of those well-honed public relations skills and put a little spin on the situation.
Emily took Lena’s hands and pulled her friend over to sit on the floral love seat beneath the window.
“It’s a gorgeous tux, Lena. We totally nailed it with the cut. The guys are all ready to go. But just so you’re prepared, Dean took a little spill on the way to the church.” When the limo driver got overeager for a rebound, started throwing elbows, and knocked him down. Yeah, she’d caught up with Braces, and he was a talker. “He has a bit of a black eye”—a bit because it was really way more red and blue and disgustingly swollen than actually black so far—“but he can’t wait to marry you.”
Lena looked past Emily to the door, like she was already considering that sprint. “He’s okay?”
Okay would be stretching it. “He’s waiting for you up front, hon. I guess his shoulder is banged up a smidge”—and his arm is safety-pinned to his jacket to hold it in place—“but it’s nothing that would keep him from marrying you today.” True story.
Satisfied, Lena smiled at Rachel, Marlene, Lorna, and the rest of the attendants hovering around the mirror, helping one another straighten straps and smooth hair. “Time to line up, ladies. I need one minute with Emily, and we’ll be good to go.”
The girls filed out the door, and then it was just the two of them.
“Today is because of you, Em,” Lena s
aid, squeezing Emily’s hands. “If you hadn’t been there three years ago…I don’t think I would have been able to leave. I wouldn’t have found Dean. None of this would be happening today.”
Emily’s heart gave a soft thud as she looked into her friend’s sweet face. She was so happy, so confident: so different from those first months Emily had known her, when there’d barely been any light in her eyes at all. Emily had recognized in Lena the kind of quiet despair that had shaped her own life so significantly.
“No, Lena. You’d have gotten through it on your own.” She had.
Lena shook her head. “You were with me through the worst days of my life. And nothing makes me happier than to have you here at my side through the very best one.”
Blinking past her tears, Emily pulled Lena in for a tight hug. “You deserve this.”
Lena pulled back and, with an arched brow, replied, “You deserve this too.”
“Someday, maybe,” Emily said with the smile she wanted Lena to believe. “But today’s all yours. Are you ready?”
Her friend blinked back her own tears and nodded quickly.
“Then let’s go.”
Paul was standing at the door, his arm out, waiting to walk his only daughter down the aisle.
Emily adjusted Lena’s skirt and handed her the bouquet before taking her spot in line ahead of them. The groomsmen who’d been waiting to the side paired up with bridesmaids.
A text alert vibrated the phone she’d managed to camouflage within her bouquet, in case of any wedding emergencies. Heart pounding, she checked and, seeing the message was from Jase, stifled a groan.
You got your end done?
Jackass.
She texted back what was bound to be the truth.
Better than you.
Then, with a tilt of her head, she flashed a winsome smile toward the front of the church, where Jase was waiting to walk up with Dean. He saw. The scowl said it all.
The music changed, and a hush fell over the church as the processional began.
Lena’s words echoed through Emily’s mind. You deserve this too.
She might, but that would mean inviting someone to get closer than she ever let people get. It would mean opening herself up to something she wasn’t so sure she could handle again…whether she deserved it or not.
May the Best Man Win
On sale now!
About the Author
Hard-core romantic, stress baker, and housekeeper non-extraordinaire, Mira Lyn Kelly is the USA Today bestselling write-at-home mom of more than a dozen sizzly love stories with over a million readers worldwide. Growing up in the Chicago area, she earned her degree in fine arts from Loyola University and met the love of her life while studying abroad in Rome, Italy…only to discover he’d been living right around the corner from her back home. Having spent her twenties working and playing in the Windy City, she’s now settled with her husband in rural Minnesota, where their four amazing children and two ridiculous dogs provide an excess of action and entertainment. When she isn’t reading, writing, or running the kids around, she loves watching action/adventure movies and the Chicago Blackhawks, blabbing with the girls, and cooking with her family and friends.
Also by Mira Lyn Kelly
The Wedding Date
May the Best Man Win
The Wedding Date Bargain
Just This Once
Back to You
Hard Crush
Dirty Player
Hot Friction
Thank you for reading this Sourcebooks eBook!
Join our mailing list to stay in the know and receive special offers and bonus content on your favorite books and authors!
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP
Books. Change. Lives.
Decoy Date Page 26