Page 128 of On the Line
If he knew Lexie, if she was still the same woman he’d fallen in love with underneath the emotional trauma he’d put her through, she had taken that step forward, gotten spooked, and was now trying to backtrack.
He wouldn’t let her go that easily. Not again.
“I’ve got an idea,” Brent said.
Mitch sighed, resigned to his fate. He supposed he should be grateful he was standing here with Brent, considering Lexie wasn’t the only one he had left without a goodbye. “Let’s hear it.”
“First of all, as my best man, you’ll have to walk with her.”
“I’m aware,” Mitch said drily. “Remind me to thank your fiancé for that one.”
Brent clapped him on the back. “You leave Berkley out of this. Look, the fact of the matter is you’re going to be stuck together doing lots of cheesy, couple-like things for the next few days. Sitting next to each other at the rehearsal dinner. Walking with each other during the ceremony. Dancing. Speeches. Photos. I’m just saying that there’s lots of opportunity to start planting some seeds that you two could be here one day.”
“Brent, I appreciate the thought, but that’s not going to work on Lexie. The first time I told her I loved her, she practically ran screaming.”
“That’s because your dumbass said it barely two weeks after she agreed to be your girlfriend.”
“It wasn’t two weeks,” Mitch said defensively. Then, “Goddamnit, that little lady of yours talks a lot.”
Brent chuckled. “We tell each other everything.”
“Everything?” Mitch asked, a jolt of fear shooting down his spine.
“Everything,” Brent confirmed. “But look,” he continued, shuffling over and placing a comforting hand on Mitch’s shoulder. “Berkley and I can both tell she’s thawing. She hasn’t been with anybody since you came back. I think she’s confused and conflicted, but I also think that this is your chance to shoot your shot.”
The bare bones of a plan began to form in Mitch’s mind. It wasn’t anything as grandiose as what Brent would do. No, it was subtle, more a mind game than an outright physical display of his affection.
Weddings were romantic as hell, where people couldn’t help but be blinded by the love the couple was pledging to each other.
As Brent said, if ever there was a time to shoot his shot, it was this weekend.
This was the love of his life on the line; everything had to be perfect.
And it didn’t get more perfect than a wedding.
Two days later, Mitch found himself lined up at the back of the wedding party procession, staring down a trek up the dock to where Brent waited with the officiant, Lexie’s arm wrapped loosely around his.
Next to him, she was stiff as a board, and she had barely glanced his way since they’d gathered here for the ceremony. It was amazing to him how she’d gone from wanting to take things slowly but give them a chance to acting like she didn’t even know him in the span of a few weeks.
He bent close, the baby hairs escaping her braided crown tickling his cheek, and whispered, “Come on, Lex. It’s a wedding, and your best friend’s at that. At least try to look like you’re having a good time.”
She turned her head toward him, so close their lips nearly brushed, and Mitch pulled away as though he’d been shocked. “Don’t talk to me,” she said.
“I don’t know if you realize this, Lex, but you’re kind of stuck with me tonight. Can we tone down the animosity until our friends are married? Then you can go back to hating me.”
It killed him to speak those words, imagining she actually did hate him, but he would do anything at this moment to get some sort of reaction from her.
She held his gaze for several long beats, until the processional music started up and the couples in front of them started moving forward.
And so quiet, soft enough that Mitch wasn’t entirely sure he hadn’t imagined it, she whispered, “I don’t hate you. I never have. And that’s the problem.”
Well, okay then. They would be talking aboutthatlittle admission later.
When it was their turn to walk down the dock, Mitch quickly glanced down at her, watching in awe as she squared her shoulders, lengthened that slender neck, and pasted an incredibly convincing smile on her face. But being pressed against her like this, Mitch could see her pulse ticking in her throat, fluttering much faster than normal.
Was he causing this reaction in her? Truth be told, touching her again, and having her nestled into his side exactly as she’d been so many times before, was wreaking absolute havoc on his nerves. He wouldn’t be surprised if she could feel his heart pounding against his ribs where her arm was pinned between them.
They slowly made their way down the dock, the weathered boards creaking beneath them, a stiff breeze keeping them all from sweating profusely under the late-July sun. When he and Lexie reached Brent and the rest of the group, he reluctantly released her arm and took his place at Brent’s side.
