Page 31 of Accidental Wedding Crasher
“Fine.”
They emerged from the villa into the bright Tuscan sunshine. Only a few members of Evan’s family had decided to come on the cycling adventure: his father, Luka, Sarah, one of his aunts on his father’s side, and her three sons, Evan’s younger cousins. They all looked surprised when Evan grabbed one of the bikes and joined them.
“Are you really coming?” Luka asked, leaning off his bike to punch Evan in the shoulder.
“It looks like it,” Evan said.
“Awesome.” Luka grinned, and Evan remembered the goofy smile from when they were kids. “Let me guess. This is Mia’s doing, isn’t it?”
The brothers glanced over at Mia, who was putting on her helmet and chatting with Sarah, a bike leaning against her hip.
“Yeah.” Evan shrugged. “Maybe.”
“Good.” Luka’s grin widened.
The guide walked through the group, making sure everyone had their seats properly adjusted and their helmets secured, then they set off. The road began with a gentle descent from the villa, and Evan found that he enjoyed the fresh air and the scenery. Just in front of them, Mia and Sarah were riding together. Mia looked happy, as always. She rode easily, her legs effortlessly pushing the pedals, and she made little zigzags across the road until Sarah did the same.
“Hey, slowpokes!” Mia called back as the hill flattened. She glanced over her shoulder, grinning. “Race you to the top of the next hill!”
Evan wanted to protest, but Mia, Luka, and Sarah immediately put on a burst of speed, and he was caught up in the excitement. They all pushed hard, and soon, Sarah fell back a little. Luka managed to overtake Evan at first, but then Evan caught up to his brother. As they neared the top of the hill, it was Evan and Mia battling it out for first place. The hill was steep, and the sun was strong, but neither of them slowed down. At the last minute, Mia edged out a victory and pumped her fist in the air.
“Yes!”
“Good job.” They came to a stop to wait for the others, and Evan leaned over to give her a high five. Mia’s eyes were sparkling and her cheeks had turned red from exertion, but she looked lovelier than ever. They were both breathing hard and grinning like kids.
“Hey, that was completely unfair,” Luka protested, pulling up beside Mia and Evan. “You and Sarah were ahead when we started.”
“Ooh, do we have a sore loser here?” Mia teased.
“It’s his doctor’s hubris,” Sarah said as she joined the rest of them. “He has a very competitive side that can’t be extinguished.”
“Andyoudon’t?” Luka asked.
“Nope.” Sarah coasted past them slowly, pushing off with her feet. “I’m much more relaxed.”
“Is that so?”
Sarah edged to the hill. “Yep. And plus, I know that I’m going to win the race to the bottom of this hill!” With that, she pushed off and began to race down, having slowly slipped past them. The other three exchanged glances before pedaling as hard as they could after her.
This wasfun.Even Evan could admit that. Racing each other, stopping to tease and joke before pushing off again — it wasfun.He felt like a kid again, with no cares in the world but winning the next race and enjoying the wind in his face. His heart was pumping, and his legs quickly began to ache, but it didn’t matter.
The best part was seeing how much fun Mia was having. She was a natural leader, stepping up to organize different kinds of races. “Who can go the longest without pedaling at all?” she asked, or “Who can reach that tree up there the slowest without putting their feet on the ground?” and generally keeping everyone entertained. Evan’s cousins, who were all in their young twenties, joined in, too.
The first stop came as they were starting to tire. The guide led them into a vineyard, where they sat beneath an arch of vines at long wooden tables and snacked on grapes, cheese, bread with fresh butter, and wine.
“So, Mia,” Evan asked, holding up his glass, “what do you think of this one?”
“Come on.” She punched him lightly on the arm, grinning broadly. “You know that I have no idea. All of you have to stop asking me. Anyway, I’m not having any wine today. I need to focus on my cycling if I’m going to win.”
“Uh-oh, the competition is on,” Evan joked.
“I have to win at cycling since I’ll never win at wine tasting,” Mia replied with a wink.
“I promise I’ll stop asking soon. I’m doing it to remind myself that you have some weaknesses,” Evan told her. “Otherwise, you seem too perfect to be real.”
Mia blushed pink, and Evan tried to ignore how nice it felt to make her blush like that. He was putting on a show for his family, particularly Luka and Sarah, who were sitting across from them, but he meant what he said, too. She really was almost too perfect to be real.
“Oh, wow,” Sarah said from across the table. “Luka, you need to step it up on the romance game. Take notes from your brother.”
