Page 1 of Third Time's the Charm

Prologue

December 19th

Calusa Key

Berlin

Istood twitching in front of the “small” gathering of the Anderson and Kaine family and friends. It was not small. It was huge. And it included my damn ex.

Why was Jack here?

The breeze picked up and blew part of my bridesmaid dress across my arm. My hair got stuck in my lipstick. I righted it all just in time to see Erik, Jack’s brother, look between us.

This had to be some kind of sick mistake, right? London was dumb enough to trick us into seeing each other once, but she wouldn’t do it twice. Right?

Right?

I barely spoke to her after that poker game trick meeting. And I know I’m a hypocrite. I don’t care. London was never married to Ben. They were childhood sweethearts who hadn’t seen each other once as adults.

Jack and I? We had years together. We had careers and hopes and dreams. It was not the same thing.Why was he here?

“Oh my gosh. What a day!” Zoe, Erik’s fiancee, came running up beside me. The wedding ceremony was supposed to start in ten minutes.

“What happened?”

“We got a flat tire on the interstate. Luckily Jack was visiting so he was able to come get us. We would have missed the weddings!”

Son of a bitch.Jack always had crazy luck. Always.

“Wait. Did you just say weddings? Plural?”

She blushed a little and then nervously giggled. “Uh no. No I did not. Nope.”

“Who else is getting married?” I hissed at her.

She shook her head vigorously. “Absolutely no one. This is London and Ben’s wedding.”

I scanned the crowd, realizing most of the damn Mantas team was here.

This was a surprise double wedding!

“Why didn’t they tell me?” At this point I was irrationally angry about everything—whether it warranted anger or not—simply because Jack was standing fifty yards away. It shouldn’t matter if my sister decided to share her wedding day with her brother-in-law and childhood friend. But I was angry so it was as good a reason as any.

Zoe shrugged slowly. Her shoulders slowly crept up to her ears, her hands flat up to the sky, a very uncomfortable smile on her face. “I don’t know. I just show up.”

“Why is Jack staying?” I could only speak through gritted teeth now.

Zoe shuffled a few feet back. Probably for protection. “London asked him to stay.”

“He saw London?” What was she doing talking to people right before she walked down the aisle?

“He gave his best wishes to Olivia...who is with London. Please don’t yell at me for saying this...but Jack cares a lot about London. It’s her wedding day.”

Fuck.I took a painful, deep breath and let it out hard and fast. Then did it again, but slower. This wasn’t my day. I didn’t get to be in charge of the guest list or anything else for that matter. “Thank you for pointing that out to me.”

“Is there anything I can do to make this easier for you?” Zoe and I had gotten progressively closer as I caught up with Erik. I liked her a lot. I just didn’t like having my own hypocrisy pointed out to me. Here I was spending time mending my lost relationship with Jack’s little brother, but I didn’t want to extend the same courtesy to Jack and my sister.

“I will release my anger for the day.” I took a lot more deep breaths while I tried to convince myself that I could do it at all.

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