to be tied down. I flowed with the wind and relished each adventure. But the pain in my heart right now feels damn good.
This time when I look up from the ring, Rhett is staring back at me. He doesn’t wink this time and only stares at me with a blank expression covering his features. His dad’s voice fills the air, hypnotizing the mood in the pasture. A small smile spreads across Rhett’s face and a light grows brighter in his eyes.
I know it’s Ava and Zane’s day, but whatever is bouncing back and forth between Rhett and I is more than lust and hormones. I bite down on my bottom lip and know this is the moment where I have to decide to jump off the cliff, falling into Rhett or run from this.
He’s saved me in so many ways.. He holds me at night when the memory of Oliver attacks, protects me, fulfills all of my fantasies, and so many other things that he doesn’t even realize. My heart aches watching him stand behind his best friend, knowing that Zane is Rhett’s world. He stands there so handsome with his signature flare of cocky bastard.
“You may kiss the bride.”
Those words throw me right back into the present. Zane wraps Ava in his arms, dips her back silently, and then lays the mother of all kisses on her. It’s more than the awkward one that lasts a few seconds longer than it should. It’s lots more than that, so much more and it only deepens the ache in my own heart for a certain brown eyed, sinfully sexy man holding his arm out for me.
It’s the easiest decision I’ve ever made looping mine in his. Rhett leans down, breathing heavily on my cheek, and then nuzzling his nose on my skin.
“You’re fucking beautiful, Darby.”
I slightly turn to him and know better than to look directly at him or we’d be in a full-on lip lock, clothes ripping off session.
“Thank you,” I whisper and feel my cheeks heat up in a blush.
It doesn’t help that he keeps his lips on my skin while we wait for Zane and Ava to turn to the crowd and pose for pictures.
“I mean it. You’re so gorgeous and all incredibly mine.”
His words force me to look over to him. We lock eyes and are only inches away from locking lips. “If I’m yours…”
I try get out my question in a rushed whisper, but he cuts me off.
“It’s not if you’re mine. It’s that you are mine and that means it’s just us in this adventure. Us, Darby.”
“Then you are mine?” I have to ask.
“All eight inches of me.” He winks.
I slap his forearm, then finally break the strength I’ve had the last few minutes and reach up on my tiptoes and give him a peck on his cheek. There’s so much more I want to say and ask. I could just spew right now from the bottom of my feet and everything in between, but our moment is interrupted as the ceremony proceeds.
Zane take a few steps up until he comes to an unoccupied chair in the first row. It has a lone black cowboy hat and Zane’s favorite snapback cap sitting in it. He takes a second, keeping hold of Ava’s hand and kneels down in front of it. The small crowd remains silent as he kneels before the chair with his head bowed.
Rhett unweaves his arm with mine and pats my ass gently before stepping up behind his best friend. He doesn’t get between Zane and Ava, but stands back strong and steady behind his best friend. The only other time I’ve even seen Rhett even close to shedding a tear was at Grandpa’s funeral and today. The moments he lets his best friend or more like brother have, I focus in on Rhett’s face and study the tears welling up in his eyes.
I’m forced to weave my fingers together to stop me from going to his side. I don’t want to be the person to come between them. Rhett can be the king of arrogant, self-centered, but I discovered it’s in him and Zane where he truly lives and thrives. I give them the time they need.
Several minutes pass, as the crowd remains silent and standing, giving Grandpa the respect he deserves. And it seems the sly old man still has a hand in all of it. Baby Charlie rips a sonic ear-ripping, juicy fart. It’s the moment you’re not supposed