“Pleasure to meet you both.” Declan smiled at them. Gerald and he struck up a conversation as Faith and I started asking Eve a ton of questions to catch up. We hardly ever saw her anymore.
A petite woman with shoulder-length pink hair skipped over to our table and took a seat on the other side. She gave us a small wave.
Faith cleared her throat. “This is Delilah, she’s here with Luca. Delilah, these are my two best friends, Mags and Eve, Declan, Mags’ date, and Gerald, Eve’s boyfriend.”
Delilah beamed at us. She gave off a positive aura, and her being there with Luca didn’t sway my opinion of her. Okay, maybe a small part of me wanted to hate her. But she made that difficult to do with her friendliness.
We chatted for a few more minutes before a curvy brunette and a burly man with a beard sat down at the table. Faith introduced them as Jamie and John Pierce. They were sweet but slightly introverted from what I could tell.
The last of our bridal party came just after. Asher sat next to Faith, and Luca took a seat next to Delilah, his eyes burning holes into me.
Faith smiled as Asher kissed her cheek. “Everyone knows Asher, and this is my bratty cousin Luca.” She pointed toward the black-haired man sitting opposite me.
Luca grinned. “I know almost everyone here, except him.” His eyes narrowed on Declan who smiled back at him.
“I’m Declan, Magnolia’s date.”
Luca snorted out a laugh. “She lets you call her by her first name?”
He shrugged. “She doesn’t seem to mind.”
“Let me tell you a secret then, that woman hates her first name. I couldn’t imagine she enjoys you using it.” Luca winked toward me.
I glowered at him. He was around for the bullying I endured in high school since he was only a year ahead of us. Faith, Eve, and I would spend nights talking about it at Faith’s, and he was there for most of them. Even so, he didn’t have a right to act like he knew a thing about me. Not after how he treated me.
Declan turned to me. “Do you really hate your name?”
I shrugged. “It’s fine. You didn’t know.”
His brows bumped together. “You could’ve told me. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”
I shook my head. “You don’t.”
The rest of the brunch was filled with small-talk and details about the wedding. I couldn’t focus on much, except for a certain dark-haired man with his baby blues trained on me. I wasn’t the only one that noticed, Delilah did too. She stared at me like I was a puzzle to figure out. The brunch had to go down as the most awkward one I’d ever attended.
“I’ll see you all for mini-golf this afternoon,” Faith said as everyone began to disperse.
“Mini-golf?”
Her eyes narrowed at me. “Did you read the itinerary I texted you?
I smiled sheepishly. “Not yet.”
Asher chuckled. “Oh, Mags. You’ve done it now.”
Faith continued to glare at me. “We have bridal party activities this week. Basically, we have a lot of bonding ahead of us. Read the message right now.”
I pulled out my phone and scrolled to the message of the itinerary. My eyes scanned over it and my stomach dropped. The next six days were jam-packed with activities.
“This is insane, you know that right?” I asked them. I rubbed my forehead. A headache was already forming from the overwhelming amount of “activities”.
Asher scratched the back of his head. “Yeah, it’s a lot. I agree.”
Faith whacked his chest. “It may be a lot, but everyone is going to enjoy themselves. Or I’ll cry. You don’t want me crying during our wedding week.”
“Of course not, honey.” Asher wrapped his arms around her.
Declan and I left them to do whatever it was engaged couples did before they got married. I was thankful we made it back to the confines of our room without running into Luca and Delilah.
I collapsed on the bed and shut my eyes. We had two hours before we had to meet up at the mainland for mini-golf.
The bed dipped beside me and I opened my eyes to see Declan propped up on his forearms as he stared at me. “Need a nap?”
I groaned. “Yes. There are way too many festivities to prepare for.”
“I think it’s sweet. I would want something like this for my big day.”
“Big week, you mean,” I interrupted.
He chuckled. “Yeah. I mean, why not.”
I turned away from him and onto my side. “It’s definitely not my style.”
His arm wrapped around me, and the heat from his body resonated as he snuggled up against me. It sent a shiver through my spine, and I cringed. His touch didn’t feel right.
As I heaved myself up, his arm fell off me and onto the bed. “I’m going to go check with the front desk. We need more towels.”
I hurried out of the room without a reply. It was the lamest excuse I could’ve come up with. The door shut, and I walked straight into a broad chest. My breath caught as the warmth of the person enveloped me. Two strong arms wrapped around my waist to prevent me from falling backward.
My defenses dropped. I could feel his firm torso and the heart that beat within. His hands clasped around my back, and he drew me in closer. My body trembled in his grasp.
Finally, my senses returned, and I ripped myself from his arms, ignoring the weakness in my knees.
His eyes bore into mine, and his jaw was set. “Careful, Mags. Lucky I was the one to catch you.”
My feet were rooted to the floor. “Luca.”
Day One
11:30 AM - 12 PM - Free Time
Her light blonde hair hung in effortless waves down to her hips. I caught the faint fragrance of berries, a scent she’d always worn. Her light green eyes shot daggers at me as she stood a couple of inches away. She was almost a foot shorter than I was, and her petite frame was
