The ceremony was flawless, and I spent the entirety feeling in awe of the both of them.
As I once again linked my arm with Landon’s, I refrained from looking at him again. Focusing ahead, concentrating on placing one foot in front of the other, I had a goal: make it to the end on my own two feet.
Pausing near the end of the aisle to allow the photographer to gain yet another photo of the happy couple, I felt Landon’s hand rest upon my lower back. He even stepped in closer, the scent of his cologne filling my nostrils, and for a moment, I closed my eyes, trying not to show how it all affected me. Every single time he was near me, all I could seem to remember was the rejection from the bar. The way he called me kid and led me outside, tucked me into a waiting cab, and then reentered the bar like I was nothing more than an interruption to his night that he had just eliminated.
I didn’t even want to think about what he did after I was out of the way or who he did. I was so embarrassed, and I knew that embarrassment would never ease.
“Do I need to carry you?” I was brought back to the present when his country drawl whispered near my ear. Forgetting my promise to not make eye contact, I did just that and felt the tip of my nose skim over his jaw as I look toward him far too quickly.
I half expected him to step back and gain some distance, only he didn’t.
“Because if that’s what I need to do, I’d be glad to hold you close.”
Staring blankly ahead, I allowed his words to roll around in my mind. Was he flirting? Was he playing a game with me? Was that what I was to him? A game?
Chapter Two
Landon
“Before you know it, you and Maddison will be announcing that you’ve got a baby on the way.” Rhett chuckled, but I noticed the flash of something in Mike’s eyes. Not acknowledgment, but most definitely something as he used his beer to cover his mouth before saying or doing something that would give it away.
I knew that he and his new bride would be announcing that very secret soon enough.
I think so far I was the only one who knew about the mini Mike that Maddison was carrying. Or, as she so proudly put it, the baby could be a mini Mad, too.
I’d overheard them weeks ago when they thought they were being quiet. It also didn’t help that Mike wouldn’t let her carry anything, barely let her exert herself in any form, and constantly rested his palm over her stomach when whispering softly. Sweet, yeah, most would say so, but a sure sign that I was surprised others hadn’t picked up on yet. This family was observant, very observant, most of the time to the point of annoyance, yet they had missed every single sign Maddison and Mike had managed to slip up on. I guess with the distraction of the wedding and all its planning, they were too preoccupied.
A flash of blonde caught my eye, and I looked up just in time to see Chloe hurrying across the room toward the table of all the men in her family. Rhett’s father, Mike’s and Maddison’s, and yes even her own sat in a group. Ben Rigdon was by far one of the biggest men I had ever seen. It helped that he did manual labor for a living, but when I said big, I did not meaning just muscular. He was at least six foot four, and when entering through a doorway, I knew without a doubt he filled the opening, leaving little space around him. He wore this look about him, one that most that didn’t know him would classify as mean, but I knew and had witnessed a softer side. Especially when it came to his one and only child, Chloe. It didn’t take a genius to see that she hung the fucking moon in his eyes; the man was fierce when it came to her and to her momma.
Stepping up behind her father, she placed her hand on his shoulder and leaned in to press a kiss to his cheek. Immediately, he beamed with pride. In an instant, I saw his features soften as he watched his daughter.
“Five years is not so much.” I quickly looked back to the guys and noticed they were all watching me. Mike stared at me with an eyebrow arched as if he were waiting for me to challenge Rhett’s comment.
“What?” Clearing my throat and ignoring the strange aching in my chest, I repeated Mike’s earlier move. Lifting my beer, I took a long pull, trying to ease the uncomfortable feeling I now had as they all watched me closely.
“Chloe’s not a kid,” Rhett added, looking back toward the table that I knew she stood by. Only I didn’t follow his gaze. I had already been caught once, it seemed. “So she’s twenty-two and you’re twenty-seven, but that doesn’t make her a kid.”
“And you’re telling me this why?” Where in the hell was all of this coming from? Had I missed something?
I’d been careful not to show my interest in Chloe, or so I thought.
“Because she told the girls about that night with you at the bar.” Rhett crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back against the side of the barn, a defensive tactic the men in this family used in reference to the ladies always. They were protective. “AJ said that Chloe was mortified and—”
“Wait.” I shook my head, wondering what he was talking about. “You mean the night she was out with friends and I found
