Best Man - Katy Evans Page 0,1

my adult life with—in holy matrimony, ’til death us do part.

I will become Mrs. Aaron Eberhart.

But I know I’ll be looking past my husband-to-be to the man who, up until twelve hours ago, I’d thought I hated. Miles Foster.

And I will be wondering What if…

I wish choosing a husband was as simple as choosing a dress.

When you know, you know.

I did know, or I thought I did. Up until twelve hours ago, I thought Aaron Eberhart was my true soul mate, the one I’d happily spend the rest of my life with. That’s when things took an unexpected turn.

Right now? I don’t even know my own name.

And I have a feeling I might be making a huge mistake.

9:00 AM, December 6

Eva knocks on the door to my hotel room and screams so the entire lodge can hear, “Happy Wedding Day Eve!”

I grin as my fairytale princess dreams dissolve in my head, and I’m faced with the reality, which is, for once, even better.

I’m fucking getting married.

I sit up in my little double bed and blink in the sunlight. Tomorrow night, my wedding night, I’ll share the spectacular Presidential Suite with my husband. Just me and my husband and a massive king bed with silk sheets.

And sex. Lots of hot, wedding-night sex.

My pulse flutters when I think of my hotter fiancé, Aaron. We’ve been together half a decade, had sex probably a thousand times. But sex as man and wife…it’s got to be different, right? Hotter, more intense?

I shiver again just thinking of it. Of being a wife. To Aaron.

Ohmigod.

I’m twenty-three, and in just over twenty-four hours, I will be Mrs. Aaron Eberhart!

I scramble out of bed, doing a little dance of excitement, and tear open the door, a big grin on my face. Eva has her blonde hair in a loop atop her head and is wearing Lycra pants and a hoodie, straight outta eight AM yoga. She’s also holding a bag of Danishes and two big traveler mugs of coffee. “And how’s my favorite bride?” she sings.

I rub my hands together and grab the coffee. “Great. Tell me this is black.”

“What kind of best friend do you think I am? After twenty years of being besties, I think I know how you take your coffee.” She opens the bag and pulls out a round Danish, laying it on a napkin. She sits down at the little table and pulls her knees up to her chest, biting into a raspberry. “Danish?”

I wrinkle my nose as I sip the coffee. “I have a dress to fit into, remember?”

“Really? For what?” she asks with mock confusion. Then she smiles. “Just take a whirl on the elliptical downstairs later. Hope you’re ready to spa yourself silly today.”

“Oh, yes. I’m so in. I need to do something to these nails.”

I hold them out and she inspects them. They’re practically chewed to the quick because of all the nervous energy I have. I’m an awful nail-chewer.

“Yikes. You definitely need a mani-pedi. Your dad’s paying for anything we want done?” She reaches into her gym bag and pulls out the Midnight Lodge Spa brochure. “Because I think I’m doing the chocolate and champagne decadence massage and body facial.”

I shrug. “He said, and I quote, ‘It isn’t every day my only daughter gets married. Treat yourself!’ My mom’s doing the works. But chocolate and champagne? I think I gained ten pounds just hearing that.”

She eyes my body, which I’ve been beating into submission with PiYo classes and endless dieting since Aaron proposed, nineteen months ago. “You look great.”

I spin around in front of the full-length mirror, zeroing in on my butt in the boxers I’m wearing. I’ve squatted enough to give myself a little shelf back there, and I hardly jiggle at all anymore. “I’m so excited. I can’t wait to see Aaron’s jaw drop when he sees me. I keep dreaming about it.”

She smiles. “Oh, he’ll be unable to take his eyes off you.”

I frown. The truth is, Aaron hasn’t really noticed my transformation at all. But that’s because I wear baggy clothes most of the time. In the dress, with the help of the corset to cinch my waist and push up my boobs, it’ll be obvious. “He better.”

In my mind, the scene is set: The distant mountains, the crisp air, the robin’s-egg-blue sky, loving family from far and wide. And up ahead, the man. The man of my dreams. I thrill for the thousandth time in an hour and grab a tank and yoga