White. It was not bright yellow with diamonds painted around a—well, yes, it was still a chandelier.
She squinted in the dim light and looked to the left, at the curtains—bearing a similar pattern to the ceiling—and the near-blinding shaft of light they let into the room.
Wind from a vent somewhere shifted the curtains and let in more light. Light that promptly stabbed her in the eyeballs.
She hissed and rolled onto her back, her head pounding, the room spinning slightly.
She wasn’t at home. Where else would she be?
The wedding.
Oh right. The wedding of the century, at least according to the town of Copper Ridge, Oregon. The wedding that hadn’t happened. The wedding of her ex–best friend Natalie Bailey to Colton...
His name hit her like a brick. A brick thrown directly at her head. She turned away from the window and looked across the bed. She covered her mouth with both hands, trying to prevent the horrified squeak from escaping and disturbing the man that was lying there. The very beautiful man, whose brown hair was shot through with gold, and looked perfect, even in sleep. The man with the exquisitely square jaw, and lips that looked like they existed to kiss a woman. The man who was barely covered by a very brightly colored hotel bedspread.
She had never, ever, ever done anything like this in her life. Ever. Ever.
At least, she was pretty sure they had done this. Her memory could not be trusted at the moment. How was that even fair? She was in bed with Colton West and she didn’t even remember what had happened.
She was... She lifted the sheets and cringed in horror. Well, she wasn’t dressed, either. So there was no way to deny the very likely happenings of the night before.
What kind of friend was she? What kind of bridesmaid slept with the groom?
Though, in fairness to her, Natalie hadn’t shown up to the wedding, so the groom hadn’t really had a bride. And also in fairness to her, her friendship with Natalie was already splintered and—according to her friend—Lydia had already committed a heinous betrayal by running for mayor against Natalie’s father.
But the bridesmaid dresses had already been ordered and fitted, and there had been no way to shuffle things without creating ripples in the community. And both Lydia and Natalie had wanted to avoid ripples.
Lydia nearly laughed. At the moment she wasn’t experiencing a ripple. Right now she was in the middle of a tidal wave.
She got out of bed, dragging the sheet with her while making sure the thin bedspread stayed in place to keep Colton covered, and started to tiptoe around the hotel room. She assumed it was a hotel room. Unless Colton’s bedroom was very strangely decorated.
Her hideous bridesmaid dress was on the bar. The hideous bridesmaid dress her mother had pointed out was her unlucky number three bridesmaid dress.
“Three times a bridesmaid, Lydia. You know what they say.”
Well. She had not actually been a bridesmaid. So her mother’s fears were unfounded. At least, that specific fear.
The bar was huge, with a wide selection of alcohol her dress was currently draped over. This wasn’t just a hotel room. It was a suite of some kind.
In Copper Ridge? There wasn’t a place like this that she could think of.
She wandered across the room and grabbed the edge of the violet-colored dress, then dropped the sheet as she quickly put it on, the tulle and netting rustling as she tugged it up over her bare curves.
There. Now her dignity was restored.
She laughed, a kind of short, hysterical sound that she quickly tried to tamp down. She did not want him to wake up. Not now.
Sanity. She needed sanity. And coffee. And to figure out what had happened to bring them to this point.
Lydia had never, ever gotten drunk enough to leave the previous night a total blank space in her mind. She had never even been hungover. It wasn’t fun. Not at all.
From across the room, Colton groaned and rolled onto his back and Lydia froze.
Please, don’t wake up. Please, don’t wake up.
She tiptoed across the room and over to the window, because she needed to try and get her bearings so she could figure out how she was going to get home. Without involving Colton in any way.
Maybe they would never even have to speak of this. Maybe they could pretend it hadn’t happened.
She paused in front of the curtains and steeled herself for more sunlight. It looked awfully bright out there