Second Chance Mess (Bad News Billionaires #1) - Lucia Jordan Page 0,59

it in the kitchen.

I knew that Kate would try to woosh her away soon, and even though I knew that she would be fully and completely mine after tonight, I still didn't want to let her go. Not even for a few hours. Everything was too wonderful and too perfect, and I didn't want to chance anything going astray. Tonight, Brooke and I would be alone in our home for our wedding night. Max had pulled his van a bit farther into the woods, and Kate and Nick would be going back to the apartment. Tonight belonged only to us, and I had a wonderful plan for after the ceremony.

"Okay, lovebirds," Kate said.

I knew it was coming.

"I'm stealing the bride," she said.

"But Kate, it's still morning, and we have all day," Brooke said as I felt her press her back against my chest. I didn’t think she wanted to be separated yet, either.

There is a lot to do," Kate said as she turned to look at Max, Nick, and me. "You boys stay out of trouble before the wedding! No drinking and no touching things, except for Max, of course. He seems to make things beautiful when he touches them, so he's excluded."

"Should I be worried that you're going to steal my girlfriend?" Nick joked to Max. All three of the guys busted out in laughter.

"Last kiss until tonight," Kate winked at Brooke.

Brooke turned around in my arms, and I leaned my face down to kiss her. The taste of her tongue in my mouth made my whole body feel energized. If it weren't for the other three people currently in our house, I definitely would have snuck in some love-making before the wedding ceremony. Kate would have said it was bad luck or something of that nature. I couldn't wait until tonight.

"Love you," I whispered into Brooke's ear as I let her go slowly and reluctantly from my arms.

27

Chapter Twenty (Brooke)

"Are you nervous?" Kate asked as she clipped up sections of my hair and affixed little clip-in rhinestones to them so that it looked like I was wearing a crown of stars.

We had designed the whole wedding theme to look like an entire galaxy in the sky, and between my lacy, sequined dress and all the rhinestones in my hair, I was beginning to feel like a celestial body.

"A little," I answered. "But it's a good nervous, the exciting kind."

When she finished doing my hair, I stepped back to take a look in the mirror. Everything was perfect. I felt perfect.

"Thank you for helping me so much," I said as I turned around to hug her.

"Oh, it was nothing," she said. "I just happen to have a flair for style."

"That's not what I meant. You helped me through every step of this bumpy road, and I wouldn't even be here on this wedding day if it weren't for you."

Kate smiled and teared up as she looked at me. "Don't make me cry," she teased. "I have too much makeup on that will smear. You and Tim would have made it here eventually; you just might have taken a long and overly difficult road to arrive at the same point."

I laughed because she was probably very right. We sat down on the side of the bed together and held hands.

"We've known each other since high school," Kate said. "And I've known you throughout lots of ups and downs and several boyfriends. I may have had my doubts about Tim in the beginning, but I can tell you now, as your best friend and as someone who will always be brutally honest with you, this guy loves you. Stick with him, Brooke."

"I will." I smiled as she gave me a kiss on the cheek.

"Okay," Kate said, standing up and trying to wipe her eyes without getting her mascara all over the place. "Nick is going to walk you down the aisle, and Max is going to be Tim's best man. I'm going to multitask as both your maid of honor and also as the twelve-year-old flower girl who throws petals down the aisle, simply because I've always wanted do to that."

I took one last look in the mirror before we left the room and walked outside.

"You ready?"

"Absolutely"

When we walked out the back door, it was the most wondrous scene I could have ever imagined. Max had laid down a white tarp to serve as the aisle to walk on through the snow, and at the end of it was his handcrafted