Page 71 of Under Pressure

They took pity on her.

Grace placed a hand on her shoulder. “We’ll go, we just wanted to be sure we heard right.”

Blue wrung her hands in front of her. “Thank you.”

The women hugged her.

“I know the wedding’s a rush job, but once the hurricane’s gone, we want to throw you a party,” Kate said just loud enough for her to hear as they embraced.

Letting out a breath of relief that she hadn’t said it loud enough for Jonah’s friends to hear—and decide to stay in town long enough to wreck the party, Blue said, “Thank you.”

Blue cleared the path for Kate and Grace to leave, totally convinced one or both of Jonah’s friends would try and cop a feel as they had with her on several occasions. Both times they’d ended up red-faced and not enough shame. Not even their mamas could shame these boys into behaving, and there wasn’t a woman on the planet that could make them want to be real men.

Jonah told his friends to go into the living room as Blue waved goodbye to her friends and shut the door with a resounding, safe, click. She faced him, and he stuck his hands in his pockets.

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

“I know this is a cheek, but can Miles and Levi stay the night?” His accent thickened—a trick he used to try and get her to do things he wanted.

Her jaw dropped. “Those two cavemen in my house the night before our wedding? Seriously?”

He stepped forward, hands out in front of him. “I wouldn’t ask, but the rest of the guys are staying at my place, and I don’t have room. They aren’t here yet, so I thought—hoped these two knuckleheads could stay here.”

They were all going to be here for the wedding. The whole. Freaking. Gang. And Blue wasn’t even sure her dad was coming. Not after their conversation earlier today. The thought of getting married without him to give her away made her stomach churn, but it was his choice to make. She wouldn’t force him.

She glanced to her living area. The guys had raided her kitchen. Each had a soda, Miles had a bag of chips, and Levi had broken off the end of her French loaf and was eating it like a rabbit. Levi plopped down on one end of the couch, and Miles went to the other end, knocking into her dress and nearly sending it to the floor. He righted it with the hand he’d been eating chips with. Joke was on him; those were vegan and gluten-free chips. He wouldn’t be able to poop for three days.

Miles glanced down the hall and looked at her. “Hey, nice dress.”

They turned on the T.V. and cranked the volume up so the announcer’s voice was louder here than in the stadium.

“The man is an elephant, Jonah. If there’s chip stains on my dress, I’m switching their shampoo out for Nair and they’ll be bald before noon tomorrow,” she whisper/yelled at Jonah.

“I’ll tell them to cool it before I leave.”

“Wait—You’renot even staying! Who’s going to babysit?”

A wicked grin tilted his lips up at the side, and he pulled her into his arms. “You want me to stay, darlin’?”

She put her hands on his chest, and when he leaned closer to kiss her, she pulled away.

His eyebrows pinched together in a fake I’m-so-innocent look. “You’re mad?” he asked incredulously.

She clenched her jaw. Like she didn’t have a right to be upset about this crazy turn of events.

She took several deep breaths while fighting the urge to kick them all out to a tent on the beach—during the hurricane.

Longview. She needed perspective.Zoom out, girl, she told herself.

Maybe she didn’t like Jonah’s friends, but she wasn’t marrying them. Yeah, they’d be around now and again but not always. In fact, she hadn’t seen them in months. Not since she’d moved to Diamond Cove. In all this time, Jonah had been traveling to see them. Even for work. She breathed out. “No, I’m fine.”

“So, they can stay.”

She could take her dress down to the shop and stay there. Heck, she could sleep there on one of the sofas and not even set foot in her apartment until the bozos were gone if she wanted to.

She gave a hesitant nod.

He kissed her on the cheek and turned to join the guys when the doorbell rang. Again. “What is happening? Do I have a come-in-we’re-open sign on my door?” she asked as she slung it open.

---