Page 1 of Crashing the Altar
Prologue
Penny
“Makeawish,Lucky.”
The rich timbre of my best friend Tripp’s voice settled right between my legs. That, combined with the childhood nickname he’d given me when he learned that finding a penny on the ground meant good luck, had heat rising to my cheeks.
Today was my twenty-first birthday. And as I pursed my lips to blow out the candle on the cupcake set on the bar top of the Watering Hole, the only bar in our small town, I made the same wish I had since I was eleven—probably even earlier than that, but that’s as far back as I could remember consciously making it.
I wish Tripp Sullivan was mine forever.
The flame flickered before my exhale extinguished it, causing a stream of smoke to curl into the air. I watched the trail of it disappear and, along with it, any hope that Tripp could ever be mine.
No amount of wishing would ever be enough to break me out of the friend zone. And not just your typical friend zone but thebest friendzone.
Tripp and I grew up together, born only three months apart and living on the same ranch—his family’s ranch. Our friendship was natural. Wespent nearly every day together, going from a shared playpen to gripping each other’s hands tight enough to cut off circulation on our first day of kindergarten.
As we got older, our bond only strengthened. Wherever Tripp was, that’s where I wanted to be, and vice versa. We were pulled together like magnets; it was impossible to keep us apart—much to our mothers’ dismay when they’d find one of us missing from our beds come morning, only to learn we’d snuck out and crawled into that of the other one.
By the time we became preteens, I was hopelessly in love with the boy next door. And unfortunately for me, the only person who couldn’t see that was him.
I’d convinced myself it was better that way. If he never knew, our friendship wouldn’t change. A one-sided crush wasn’t worth losing my best friend. The same best friend who currently sat on the barstool next to mine, flashing me the most gorgeous smile as he passed me a shot, which I downed quickly, grimacing against the burn.
Fuck, he was handsome. A carbon copy of his father with his pitch-black hair, blue eyes, and chiseled jaw covered in stubble, he could have any woman in this bar. Yet, his eyes never strayed, his focus firmly on me.
Come to think of it, I’d never seen him look at another woman. That had to mean something, right?
I shook that thought off almost as soon as it entered my mind. He probably just saved picking up women for when he was on the road during rodeo season.
Our hometown of Rust Canyon, Oklahoma, was small. Tiny, really. With only six hundred residents, everyone knew everyone, so if Tripp dared to date in town, our community would be planning the wedding by the third date. It just made sense that if he wasn’t ready to settle down, he would keep that part of his life out of sight.
Resting an elbow on the bar, he leaned in close. The clove scent of his cologne infiltrated my senses, and I had to bite back a moan as his mouth came to rest a breath away from my ear.
“What did you wish for?” His voice took on a husky quality when he spoke those words.
Goddamn, my toes curled inside my boots. Didn’t he have any idea that this was the sweetest torture? Being so close to him, having him in my life, but not in the way I truly wanted?
Breathless, I replied, “Can’t tell you, or it won’t come true.”
His massive palm came to rest on my thigh. Even though my heart rate kicked up, my head warned not to get too excited. We touched each other all the time; it wasn’t sexual. Or at least,hedidn’t see it that way. I was ashamed to admit that, more than once, I’d touched myself to the memory of my best friend’s hands on me in a totally platonic way.
“Come on, Penny. If you tell me, maybe I can help make it come true.” He squeezed my thigh, his pinky shifting closer toward my now throbbing core.
I sucked in a sharp breath, pulling back enough to search Tripp’s eyes, which had darkened to the color of the ocean. My head was swimming, but I could swear the buttons of his flannel were hanging on for dear life as his chest strained against them with its rapid rise and fall.
Could he feel this pull between us, too? The one I couldn’t ignore, couldn’t shake for the life of me?
Tripp swallowed, and I tracked the bob of his Adam’s apple along the column of his throat. “Tell me.” The command was issued softly.
Even if I wasn’t too superstitious for my own good, I was a coward, too afraid to lose everything by confessing the truth. So, I elected to skirt the line, offering him a slightly modified version.
“I don’t want to end up alone.”
Almost as soon as the words left my mouth, I wished I could take them back. Especially when Tripp reeled back, eyes widening.
“What? How could you—I mean—“ He shook his head slightly, blowing out a breath. “Penny, you’re this amazing, pretty, albeit incredibly impulsive”—that got a shaky laugh out of me because he wasn’t wrong on that count—”girl. Someday, you’re going to make some lucky man the happiest son of a bitch alive when you agree to become his wife.”
The only man I want that to be is you.
