“Mason,” Travis said, “you and Ella know more about that than anyone.”
Mason snorted. “Yeah. And maybe I should take my kids away from this table since Wyatt and Cade are together and normally that just spells trouble for us all.”
“I’ve matured,” Cade said. “I’ve got a wife now. I can’t let my future kids be that way.”
Alex laughed. “I’ve already threatened him, but I don’t think it’s going to matter. They are going to be the way they are.”
Wyatt was trying his damnedest not to be jealous over the interaction of everyone at the table. The closeness they all had with not only their significant others but their siblings. It was like the numbers doubled, which they had, but the dynamics only got stronger.
Ella came back over to the table and he stood up to give her her chair back next to her husband.
That was him now, the single one in a sea of couples.
When had that bothered him before? He never thought it did but since everyone was pairing up, he was starting to wonder what he might be missing.
He went back to the head table where Ryder was sitting with his brothers talking to them. It didn’t seem to matter to Ryder that his brothers were paired up and he was alone. He took everything in stride and since he was dancing with some woman here earlier, probably a friend of Dani’s, he suspected Ryder was enjoying life.
Jade was off talking to the parents. He’d seen her when he walked back. She wasn’t smiling, but that wasn’t anything new. If Jade got a bug up her butt, she made sure everyone knew about it. He was sure he’d find out soon enough what it was if it was important.
“Where are you off to in thought?” his cousin Bryce asked him.
“What?”
“You. You’re looking a little lost tonight. Is it because you don’t have a dance partner other than your sister? There are plenty of Dani’s coworkers and friends here eying you like they wouldn’t mind some company.”
Bryce laughed and wiggled his eyes at him. Of all of them, Bryce was the most antisocial, but since he’d met Payton he’d come right out of his shell...somewhat.
And yes, there were plenty of women who’d asked him to dance tonight. He’d said yes to a few, but not to any offers to take it past the wedding.
They weren’t short, they weren’t curvy, they didn’t have dark hair that he was dying to take down and see how long it was. Or almond-shaped brown eyes, flecks of gold in them that almost glowed when she was riled. They weren’t fiery with a temper and a passion either.
They weren’t Adriana.
* * *
Adriana had just left the hot yoga studio and was on her way home. Alone.
She’d said she wanted to be that way, but the truth was she was getting bored.
Saturday and Sunday yoga at the studio was her big outing in life and it was pretty sad at that.
Had she talked to a few women there in the past month she’d been going? Sure.
Did she want to go out and hang with them? Not really.
Nor did she want to go on any dates with the men that hit on her. She wasn’t an idiot. She could see right through them. Half couldn’t do the moves and spent more time looking at the women than they did the instructor.
Not only that, she just wasn’t into men who did yoga. She’d found that her mind—and her eyes—always went toward the lean chiseled men that lifted weights but weren’t bulky.
That didn’t have a gym body as much as a physical one. That played in the outdoors. That had fun.
Then why was she so opposed to Wyatt who seemed like he always wanted fun?
Because she wasn’t looking for fun in the bedroom, even if her body had other ideas.
When she was done with her shower, she grabbed her computer to see what activities there were to do in the area. It was probably time to get out and just...do.
Sitting on the sidelines and watching had never been her thing. She wasn’t afraid to do things by herself. Never.
Was it more fun with others? Yeah, it was.
Her phone rang and she saw it was her mother. The last person she really wanted to talk to, but she was so sick of the quiet, she was willing to take the call.
“Hello,” she said.
“Adriana, how are you doing? We haven’t talked in almost a month.”
Because her mother was too busy half the time or when they did talk it was to go on and on about whatever guy she was dating, where she wanted to vacation next, or what she had done to keep herself looking young.
Superficial shit.
Things Adriana wasn’t and would never be.
“I’ve been busy. Work keeps me that way.”
“But you said you don’t work weekends. Have you gone out and met anyone? Had any dates?” her mother asked.
Always back to men. Never if she had some friends she was doing things with. “I go to yoga on the weekends. There are plenty of people there I talk to.”
“Men?” her mother asked.
“Those too.” She’d keep it simple.
“Anyone catch your eye?”
“I’m not really looking right now,” she said and it was the truth. She wasn’t going to answer the fact that a cocky doctor caught her eye because she wasn’t sure anything was going to happen there.
And if she said it to her mother, she’d never hear the end of it.
“Don’t let what Spencer did stop you from living your life. You never sat around and moped before. Don’t do it now. I get why you wanted to start over, but the speed and way you left made it look like you were running with your tail between your legs. You didn’t do anything wrong. Things like that happen. I know. I might have been in that situation before too.”
The last thing she wanted to hear was that she had something in common with
