enough older than she and Gavin and Devon that he probably wouldn’t have known Gavin. Gav hadn’t been a star student or athlete, so he and Josh hadn’t run in the same circles anyway. Even if he had known Gavin, he would have never recognized him now. She barely recognized him. Wow.
She nodded, unable to take her eyes off of the man who now stood only a few feet away, looking like a wild man. His eyes were bloodshot, he wore jeans and a T-shirt under a hooded sweatshirt that had seen better days—a long time ago. He wore lumberjack boots and the look in his eyes was…determined. That was the best word for how he was looking at her.
Allie became aware of the murmurings and rustlings of the crowd in the pews. The crowd of family and friends who had come to see her and Josh married.
Holy crap, indeed.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Josh demanded of Gavin.
It felt like the moments were passing in slow motion, like they’d been standing there staring at one another for an hour, but it had only been a few seconds.
“I’m here to talk to Allie.”
Oh, boy. Allie pressed a hand to her stomach. Now would so not be the time to throw up.
Josh moved to stand between Gavin and Allie. “We’re kind of in the middle of something.”
“Yeah, this can’t wait.” Gavin looked past Josh to her. “I need to talk to you. Now.”
Her heart flipped over in her chest. God, she’d missed him. She wanted to touch him, smell him, taste him.
Quite inappropriate considering she was standing next to the man she was in the midst of marrying.
What she really wanted to do was throw herself into Gavin’s arms and ask him to take her away.
No, she didn’t. That was crazy.
God, her head hurt.
He started toward her, and she sucked in a quick breath as Josh moved to block him. “I don’t think so, Gavin.”
Gavin’s eyes narrowed. “Listen. I can do this here in front of the whole town. I don’t mind. I’m leaving here with Allie one way or another. But I think keeping some of this private might be appropriate.” He leaned around Josh to look at Allie. “I have some things I need to say before you say I do to another man, Al.”
Oh, her heart hurt too. This was…a dream. It had to be. That made the most sense. Her brain was floating in champagne and her blood alcohol level had to be…well, really high. Or low. Whatever it was when you were really drunk.
This whole thing was nuts. There was no way Gavin was here. The stress had finally gotten to her. She’d finally cracked up.
Josh sighed, stepped closer to Gavin and lowered his voice. But Allie could still hear him.
“Don’t do this, Gavin. Haven’t you messed with her enough? Just let her be happy.”
Allie felt a twinge in her heart at Josh’s words too. He was such a good guy. He was her friend. He really was trying to protect her.
“That’s exactly what I want to do,” Gavin insisted, not backing down an inch. “Is that what you want?”
“I’m standing next to her in a tux in front of a minister. What do you think?”
Crap. Crap, crap, crap. Josh was standing next to her in a tux in front of the minister because he was a really good guy who was trying to do a good thing. The right thing.
Of course he was. That was all he or Allie knew how to do.
He loved her. She knew that. She loved him. She was equally sure of that. They would have a great life together.
“I think that if you don’t let her talk to me, you know that she’ll always wonder,” Gavin said. “You don’t want that, do you? To have your wife wondering about another man?”
Allie felt her eyes widen. Damn, but that was kind of romantic. And sexy.
And no, she’d never love Josh the way she had loved Gavin.
Josh blew out a long breath and shoved his hand through his hair. Then he half turned to her. “Allie?”
Ah, crap. She was going to have to make a decision here? She hadn’t even been able to pick out her bridesmaids’ dresses or her own shoes.
“What would I wonder?” She meant specifically. She had about a billion questions and thoughts swimming through her liquor-saturated mind.
“You’d wonder what I had to say to you so badly that I would fly over four thousand miles so I could