Chloe beams, and there’s a certain glow about her that squeezes my chest a little. “Excited, yes, but I think I’m more nervous than anything. I mean, we’re keeping it pretty small, but my nerves grow crazier every day.”
“You’re going to look stunning. I’m so excited for you.”
Chloe smiles with her appreciation. “You should come.”
Monica gasps, and her eyes light up. “Oh my gosh, yes. You can be my date!” She squeals.
I laugh. “I thought Zach was going to be your date.”
Monica frowns. “He doesn’t know if he can come yet since he’s got a game the next day. He needs to get clearance from Coach.”
Monica doesn’t even blink when she calls our dad Coach, and it weirds me out a little. “Jeez, Dad won’t even let him go to a wedding?”
My sister immediately jumps to our dad’s defense. “Zach’s kind of important, Mags. He’d rather not have his player taking red-eyes when they have a game the next day.”
I just shake my head, hoping we can drop the subject of Dad. I should have kept my mouth shut.
“Well, you should come anyway, Maggie,” Chloe says with a smile. “You don’t need to come as anyone’s date. We’re having a short ceremony and a big, long reception. Open bar. DJ. You’ll love it.”
“Please come.” Monica bats her lashes up at me with pleading puppy-dog eyes. “There will be so many hotties there too. We’ll find you a man.” She loops her arm through mine. “Who wouldn’t want to date a hot model?”
“Ex-model,” I correct her while I laugh at her lame attempt at hooking me up.
Chloe laughs. “I promise, there are plenty of good options. In fact, a lot of them are here today. Come meet our friends, Maggie.”
I hesitate for a second. “I should get back to work.”
Monica looks up at me with a wink. “All you have to do is hand them one of those babies, and they’ll want to be your best friend forever.”
I laugh at the reference to the White Water drink tickets in my hands. “Noted.”
Chloe takes the lead and introduces me to their friends. She tells them who I am and what I’m doing dressed like a Seattle dancer. And just as Monica predicted, they are overexuberant to meet me. I make my way to the center of the group, where I meet a guy named Justin and his friend Blaine.
All of a sudden, a deep voice speaks up from behind me. “What does a guy have to do for one of those?”
A shiver skates up my spine at the familiar raspy voice that is filled with flirtation. When I swivel around to face him, his eyes widen a few too many inches, and his jaw falls in shock. “Maggie?” he practically squeals. Then he scans the length of me, and his eyes bulge out a little bit farther. “Holy shit, I didn’t recognize you. What are you doing here?”
It’s impossible to hold back my laughter. He was hitting on me, and he didn’t even know it was me. “Workin’. I’d ask you what you’re doing here, but I already know.” I wink and hold up a drink ticket. “Looking for one of these?”
He is still wearing his shocked expression as his eyes dart everywhere. They’re on my breasts when I slip the ticket into his hand and step forward. “Good to know you don’t hate everything about me.” Then I brush past him, trying to ignore the rush that fills my blood from the simple touch.
I’m halfway across the beer garden when Desmond manages to catch up to me. “Wait a second. You can’t just walk off like that.”
I tilt my head and lock eyes with him. “Actually, I can. I’m working, and I have about a million more of these things to hand out. See, this is a job I’m actually good at.”
Desmond makes a face and shakes his head. “You said something about me hating you back there, and I want you to know I don’t. We may not get along, but that doesn’t mean I think badly of you. I like to tease you a lot, and maybe I come off like an ass. You and I—we’re just different. And you’re good at plenty of things, just not at cooking.” He grins at his last comment, like he can’t help himself.
I growl and start to push him, then I realize that touching him is too intimate. I pull my hand away like it’s been burned. Then