After wallowing in the hug long enough to be sure they were back on an even keel, Alex tapped her on the nose. “How did you even hear about the engagement? You’ve been in Heron Cottage all morning.”
“On the radio.”
What the hell?
His fake love life was a media story? In a place where he didn’t know anyone? Yet everyone now knew him? The inn was supposed to be the story, not him. Alex literally could not imagine how this could get any worse.
Teague’s laughter rolled off the walls and filled the four floors of empty space amidst the open staircase.
“Zip it,” Alex growled.
At this point, Teague was laughing so hard that he had to grab on to the railing to keep himself upright. “You’re breaking news, dude. This is hilarious. I wonder if anyone’s going to roll out a location reporter to interview me about the inevitable bachelor party.”
“I said, zip it.”
The front door banged open. Again.
Dinging the wall. Again.
Guess that project needed to be air-lifted to the top of the priority list. Since knocking and doorbells weren’t apparently the custom in Chestertown.
This time, it was Sydney who raced through the doorway as if…as if her dad was about to turn this into a shotgun wedding.
Huh.
Maybe this whole thing could still get worse.
She threw her honey-streaked mass of hair over her shoulders with both hands, then looked down the hallway. Their eyes immediately connected. “Oh, good, you’re here.”
“For the next four months, I can guarantee this is the only place you’ll ever find Alex.” Amelia hip-bumped him. “He’s as grafted to this inn as that giant magnolia out front.”
“No, I mean here.” One hand unwound a pink and brown plaid scarf, while the other gestured at his spot by the stairs. “I already knocked on half the cottages, because I saw your car over there.”
“Well, welcome to the Three Oaks Inn. Officially.” Alex bumped Amelia back—with enough force to bump her out of his way—and moved toward Sydney. “Or are you expecting me to carry you over the threshold? You know, to practice for our big day?”
And yeah, he let more than a little of his temper singe his words. This was not how he wanted to be introduced to the town. Also? Not a fan of other people making decisions on his behalf.
In other words, Alex was regretting this favor. Big-time.
“Alex, I’m so sorry.” She twisted and untwisted the scarf around her wrists. “As soon as I heard the radio report, I raced over here to warn you. And apologize.”
“Christ, Sydney, how are we a news story? What did you do?”
“Nothing.”
He curled his fingers on the lintel of the doorframe. Angled his body to cage her in against the screen. And ignored—mostly—that it put him close enough to notice the sprinkling of cinnamon-sugar freckles that dusted across the bridge of her nose. “Really? If you didn’t tell the DJ, then who did?”
“My gram’s friend Hazel. Gram went to get her hair done one last time before it all falls out and told the entire salon, because she’s so tickled. Hazel thought it was the most romantic thing ever. Couldn’t pass it along fast enough to the station manager. Because she wanted to top her friend Myra who’d tipped them off on the mayor’s pregnant daughter last week.”
That was…convoluted. Small towns, man. They ought to come with an instruction manual.
“Romantic?” Teague heaved himself up, shaking his head. “It’s barely believable. Hasn’t everyone already heard that we won this place in a lottery?”
Or did logic get left behind at the town border? “Tacking on, after the fact, that we just happened to win it in the same town where my fiancée lives?” Alex spread his arms wide, palms up. “Come on. That stretches suspension of disbelief more than sitting through Cats.”
“That’s evidently what makes it so romantic. The unlikeliness of it all.” Sydney shrugged out of her wool coat to reveal a pink sweater. One that hugged her curves and dipped low between her breasts. Her initial hung from a thin gold chain, and suddenly Alex was consumed with the idea of pushing it aside with his mouth and tasting her.
He took two giant steps backward.
Away from the temptation.
“Then people in this town are dumb. Or the biggest suckers who ever lived,” Teague proclaimed. He came down the stairs with his hand outstretched. “I’m Teague. I hear you’re going to marry my best friend. Any chance you want to