The Wedding Pact Box Set - Denise Grover Swank Page 0,90

reached over and slipped her right hand under his, lacing their fingers. He didn’t respond at first and she almost pulled away, but then his fingers curled over hers, squeezing tight.

He was still silent when she parked outside the store, though he helped Gram out of the back. She shook him off as soon as she was on her feet. “I can walk on my own.”

“I wouldn’t dream of helping you,” Josh laughed, but it sounded forced to Megan’s ears. “You could probably run laps around me, Gram.”

“Damn straight,” she muttered as she made her way to the door.

Josh started to follow her, but Megan snagged his hand and pulled him back.

She looked down at their linked hands, then up into his troubled eyes. “Josh, I know you have bigger issues than my stupid wedding. I want you to know that if you need to bail to take care of your business, you’re free to go. Don’t let me stop you.”

He studied her for a moment before pulling her into his arms and crushing her lips with his. One arm encircled her back while the other dug into her hair, holding her firmly against his mouth.

The intensity of his kiss scared her. Was he telling her goodbye?

But he pulled back and slid his hand down to her cheek, the corners of his lips turning up with a hint of a smile. “I have a job to do here first. Let’s go get a tux.”

Josh put an arm around her back and led her into the shop. Gram had already wandered in and found a chair to sink into.

As if Megan were a heat-seeking missile, she instantly spotted her mother in the back of the store. Kevin and Noah were with her, and they looked like two bucks ready to butt antlers. Apparently Kevin held the same animosity for both of the brothers McMillan. But Noah was holding his own. Megan figured Noah was the type of guy who could be dropped into a camp of cannibalistic pygmies and come out of the incident revered as a god.

Her mother gave her a disapproving frown as she approached. “Megan, I’m glad to see that you could manage enough responsibility to bring Josh to pick up his tux for your wedding tomorrow.” She puckered her mouth. “Let’s hope you can show up for your own wedding. I didn’t spend fifty-six thousand dollars just to throw it all away.”

Fifty-six thousand dollars? It had snowballed even more than Megan had realized. Her irritation grew, heat burning her cheeks. Josh had more important things to attend to than this sham wedding, and she was through with pretending. “Miss my wedding? Funny you should mention it, Mother—”

Josh’s hand tightened, snugging her firm against his side. “Megan wouldn’t dream of missing the wedding. Isn’t that right, Meggie?”

“Meggie?” Kevin snorted. “She lets you call her that? She tried to beat the shit out of me every time I said it.”

“Tried,” Megan sneered, lifting an eyebrow. “You still can’t admit that I beat you up almost every time!”

“I didn’t fight that hard, Meggie,” Kevin said. “You’re a girl, in case you haven’t noticed.”

“I can still take you, Kevio!”

Noah watched their exchange with an amused grin. “Kevio?”

Megan’s mother rolled her eyes, clearly irritated. “Kevin always attracted a lot of interest from girls in high school and had quite a few girlfriends. Megan compared him to Fabio one day, then started calling him Kevio.” She shot them both a reprimanding look. “You two are too old to be bickering like children.” She turned her back to them in dismissal of the subject. “Now we need to pick out a tux for Noah. He has to match because he’s going to be in the wedding.”

Ignoring her mother, Megan stuck her tongue out at her brother, and he flipped her off. It was a shame that Gram had nodded off. She loved when Megan and Kevin pushed Knickers’ buttons.

Josh’s arm was still around her waist, and she was surprised when his chest shook from a suppressed chuckle.

“How is Noah going to be in the wedding?” Megan asked her mother. “I thought you had the bridesmaids-to-groomsmen ratio perfectly figured out.”

“I’m making your cousin Vince an usher now.”

Noah shifted his weight. “I’m good with just sitting in the audience.”

“I was tempted,” Megan’s mother said, giving her attention to a shoe display. “Especially since Josh’s side is shockingly bare. But I think it’s more important to have his brother standing beside him. Oh, here’s the salesperson now.”

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