Page 78 of Kiss the Bride

Olivia: I promised to put in a good word for her.

Hunter: Explains a lot. Are you up to seeing them?

I don’t want to ask if Mitch is with her. Or whether she’s made a decision.

“Who replied?” Tash asks and when I tell her, she frowns before excusing herself from the table. Why hadn’t I seen the signs? Tash is one of the sweetest people I know and didn’t deserve how she and Nathan ended. Still, I’m not her rebound. I’m not anyone’s rebound. I want to be Olivia’s forever.

“Did you hear back from that reality TV show?” I decide to make conversation with Jess. My friends had been joking about signing up for the dating show on the off chance some nameless producer would match them up with Olivia’s pocket-sized friend. Brunette, vivacious personality and ability to flirt under water, Jess is made for television but I think she’ll change her mind after she sees what producers can do to Elena in the edit of her show.

“Missed out on the one I applied for, but I’ve got a call back for one they are still scoping out.” Jess shugs. “I’m not in any rush. Elena will be back in a couple of months. She might be able to hook me up with her show if there’s a second season.”

“Are you sure you want to put yourself out there?” I refill our water glasses.

“Elena handled all the screening interviews okay. If our shy and introverted mouse can make it onto a show, I’ll be fine.”

“Elena’s too sweet to get a bad edit, and her family has her protected by a barracuda agent. Even if she gets trashed on screen, they have contingencies in place.” I connected Elena and her family with the same firm to help out one of my executives who got caught up in a revenge porn situation—not that Jess needs to know.

“I’ll be fine. Not everyone can find love.”

“Don’t remind me.” At least we’ve found common ground. “Remember, I found it, set her free, and then introduced her to my best mate.”

“If you still loved her, why’d you let Mitch ask her out?”

“Because he convinced me he was genuine. I respected the hell out of him for asking, and back then I wanted Olivia to be happy. My head wasn’t in a good place, and I had nothing to offer her.”

“What changed?” Finally, Jess sounds like she wants a reason why Team Olivia is also Team Hunter.

“The more I tried to find myself, decide for myself what I wanted out of life, the clearer the answer. It had been there all along, but she was with Mitch and, like I said, I wanted her to be happy.”

“You loved her enough to watch her marry someone else?”

“I loved her enough to be the schmuck who agreed to take her back to her house so she could print off her vows. I even agreed to drive her to the church and hand her to her father to give her away.”

“How’d you do that? I mean, if you loved her.”

“Because—“ How the fuck can I explain it to someone else. “Love is the most humbling feeling there is. I couldn’t hate their relationship because it made her happy. At the time I thought he offered her everything I didn’t, that I walked away from. There is no fucking way I would do anything to hurt her.”

“I think …” Jess pauses when the door opens and doesn’t finish her thought before dashing across the room to hug her friend.

“Thank goodness you’re okay. Tell me you’re okay.” Jess’s squeals are muffled in Olivia’s hair as the two of them bounce around in a circle as if they haven’t seen each other in years.

“I’m fine, Hunter has been … great.”

Great?Hunter has beengreat?Was Igreatin getting her out of the house without burning it down and Mitch with it? Was Igreatin helping her escape onto the water so she could cry in private, or the night I didn’t sleep in the café at the casino because I was watching over her? Or was Igreatwhen I resisted her before the burning ceremony?

Before I can pull Olivia intomyarms with awhat the fuck does ‘great’ mean, Tash returns from the restroom and there’s an even louder three-way hug. All I need is for Mitch to come and claim his prize and I might as well pay rent on a stool at the bar until I can get the next flight home, grab my passport, and get the hell out of Australia.

No.

I have to trust what Liv and I share is real and, not a fling.

“Nice lip color,” Olivia says to Tash, and I notice the fluffed-up hair and freshly applied lip gloss. If she made an effort for me, she’s wasting her time. If it’s for Mitch, then have at it.

“Thanks, seems you and Hunter have had quite the party until we all decided to gatecrash. Where’s Mitch?”

“I don’t know. I was down on the beach when I got the text.” Olivia shrugs toward me and I get the subtext—she had been alone on the beach. They’d gone down for a conversation and she left him. Still, her body language doesn’t give me any encouragement. Are we back to being friends? Can I hug her? Kiss her? Claim her as mine in front of her friends like some alpha-possessive jackass? Despite myself, I grin. Liv will knee me in the balls if I act alpha possessive.

“So, are you and Mitch getting back together?” Tash tries to glue herself to my side while her questions are out of a playbook.Step one, show Hunter that Olivia and Mitchel aren’t over. Step two, show Hunter there’s another fish in the sea and ready to nibble on whatever he wants.Spoiler alert, the only woman I want to nibble is standing in front of me in shorts and a crop top, and wearing my jacket. Wait, what?

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