“Yep, plenty of room.”
“I’m glad.”
Was it ridiculous that he’d built the enclosure with otter yoga in mind? With Paige in mind? Knowing that she was planning to leave? Knowing that every time he looked at the grassy space up behind the rock formations and water slide that he’d think of her? Probably. He’d done it anyway. It wasn’t as if his heart was going to be any less broken without that yoga space.
“So, I have a question for you,” she said.
“Anything.”
Her smile brightened. Did she really not know that was where he was at?
“Will you be my plus one for all the wedding stuff?”
He huffed out a laugh. “Uh, yeah.”
“Well, I know we’d agreed I’d be your date to Tori and Josh’s wedding, but now it’s turned into a whole thing with the three weddings and some activities for the guests coming in early.”
He made himself take a deep breath before he answered. There was no too much this woman could ask him for, but he had to be careful not to spook her.
He reached out and caught her hand, tugging her closer to the fence. “I’m in. For all of it. You’ve done an amazing job with all of this, and you deserve to enjoy it when it all happens.”
Her eyes darkened with desire and a harder-to-name emotion.
He loved how pleased she looked by the compliment and by realizing what she’d put together. “Well, the tour in New Orleans wasn’t my idea. That was Tori. I guess Josh and Leo did that when her friend got married. And the crawfish boil the night before the weddings is the usual setup, just bigger. And—”
“You’ve made this all happen, and not only taken a huge weight off the girls, but actually turned this into a hell of a lot of fun for everyone,” he said.
He ran a hand up to the back of her head and pulled her closer. With his mouth against her ear, he said, “It’s hotter than hell to watch you enjoying all of this so much. Makes me want to throw you over my shoulder and kidnap you out onto an airboat.”
“Yes, please,” she said. Her voice was breathless.
“I’m thinking we—”
“Oh, hey, Paige.” Juliet was suddenly beside Paige. “I was wondering if you could look at something with me. For the wedding.”
Mitch pulled back with a sigh. Seriously?
His and Paige’s gazes met. She gave him a smile.
“What do you need me to look at?” she asked Juliet.
“Um… my…”
Mitch glanced at Juliet.
Kennedy cleared her throat, and Juliet blew out a breath. “My… dress.”
Mitch looked at Kennedy who was rolling her eyes.
“What’s wrong with your dress?” Mitch asked.
“Oh, you wouldn’t understand,” Juliet said. “It’s about the fit of the bodice.”
Paige snorted, and Mitch gave her an amused look.
“I don’t really do alterations,” Paige told her.
“I just want your opinion on it,” Juliet said.
Mitch finally laughed and straightened, dropping his hand from Paige’s face. “I love that you’re a terrible liar, Juliet.”
She blushed. “I’m not lying. I do want her to see me in my dress.”
“You’re making up an excuse to get Paige away from me.”
Finally, Juliet sighed. “You’re the one who said it was important that you two don’t get too close. We’re just trying to help.”
Mitch met Paige’s eyes again. She lifted a brow.
He had said that to his family. They had said it to one another. It was true. Or it had been.
Ironically, all the things that had been keeping them apart—her working at the tour company’s office, helping with the weddings, concocting with Cora, and hanging out and getting to know his family better—had made him fall harder for her than if he’d kept her to himself.
“Well, making me associate her with things like weddings and family gatherings rather than just hot, dirty, fling-sex isn’t really helping your cause,” he said honestly.
He’d addressed the words to Juliet, but his eyes were on Paige.
Hers widened, and he watched her lips part.
He heard Juliet sigh. “You know, I actually mentioned that to Kennedy the other night.”
He grinned. Paige looked surprised but not shocked. Or spooked. Exactly.
“Maybe you need to let me take her out tonight, just the two of us, and stop with all the wedding cake and flower talk,” he said. Again, more to get Paige’s reaction.
“No. No, no, no.” Kennedy came stomping toward them. “Dammit, Juliet, that was terrible. Your dress? Why would you ask Paige about your dress? You could have asked her about the cake, or the flowers, or how about the cream we talked about for your sore shoulder? Those are her wheelhouse. Way more believable.”
“Your shoulder is sore?” Paige asked, seeming bemused.
“It was.” Juliet rotated her left arm. “But actually, since yoga, it feels better.”
Kennedy shook her head. “I should have sent Maddie. Maddie can lie. You and Tori suck at it.”
Paige laughed. “I’m happy to get you some cream. And look at the dress.”
Kennedy was studying Mitch now, her eyes narrowed. “But you’re saying you might need to spend more time together so that you realize she’s not so amazing?”
Mitch grinned at Paige. “Well, spending time apart isn’t working. Maybe we should try it.”
And damned if Paige Asher, the hardest woman on earth to woo, didn’t blush.
“Deal. You can come with us to Ellie’s and listen to all the talk about the food and cake and flowers and crap,” Kennedy said, turning to start in the direction of her truck.
“Crap?” Juliet asked, falling into step beside Kennedy. “Is that how you’re going to feel when it’s you and Bennett?”
Kennedy grinned at her. “Bennett and I are going to elope. Just some weekend when we have time. Then we’ll throw a big bash to celebrate after. But I’m not going to talk about flowers and shoes and music for weeks ahead of time. We’ll just get a wild hair one Friday night, fly out to Vegas and do it, and then come back and tell you all when we’re ready.”
Juliet stopped walking, nearly causing Paige to plow into her.
Kennedy went several feet before she realized Juliet was no longer beside her, and she turned back.
“You and Bennett got married, didn’t you?” Juliet demanded. “You already did all of that.”
Kennedy shook her head. “I didn’t say that. I said that’s what we would do.”
Juliet stalked toward her until she was nearly on Kennedy’s toes and put her hands on her hips. “You and Bennett already got married. You didn’t want to wait, but you didn’t want to do it in the middle of all of our wedding planning, and you didn’t want to say anything. So you went to Vegas. And you’re going to tell us about it in a month or so.”
Kennedy opened her mouth. She blinked. Then she sighed.
Juliet gasped. Then she threw her arms around Kennedy. “Oh my God! You brat! I can’t believe you did that!” She pulled back. “And I can’t believe you think I’m a bad liar!”