Jack said, “For what it’s worth, I think you’ll have more luck than I do landing the guy you’re meant to be with.”
I pulled away. “What?”
“Caden is crazy about you.”
“Not in that way. If he were, he would have said something. He’s not one to hold back, and I told him once that I was in love with him.”
“You’re blind if you don’t see how he looks at you. He might not have put all the pieces together yet, but he will, and you’ll get the happily-ever-after you deserve.”
While I hoped like hell Jack was right, I didn’t believe he was. I’d know if Caden loved me. “What about you? Who is it?”
“You’ve never met him. He’s from back home. Anyway, shall we go announce to our guests that there will be no wedding?”
“Oh shit. I forgot about that part.”
Jack laughed.
My parents were going to kill me.
Calling off a destination wedding an hour before it was supposed to happen was definitely not one of my favorite things I’d ever done.
I told Mom and Dad first, and Mom said, “Oh, thank God,” which totally surprised me. Almost as much as her telling Dad, who’d nudged her, “What? You’re thinking the same thing.”
“Well, yeah, because Alex isn’t in love with Jack, and I don’t think Jack is in love with Alex either, but…” Dad looked at me. “Is this because of Caden? Because we know how you feel about him, and we don’t want you to get hurt.”
“Jesus Christ, does everyone know I’m in love with Caden?”
“Yes,” they both answered, and I rolled my eyes. Yep, I was totally screwed.
“It’s not because of Caden, and I’m not stupid. I know I don’t have a chance with him.”
When we finished our conversation, I told Caden next. He grabbed me around the waist, lifted me up in the air, and danced around with me while laughing. Clearly, he was excited I’d go back to pining over him. Not that I actively pined a whole lot. I still got mine, I just wished I could have it with him.
Jack had been telling his family at the same time, and then he stood by my side at the front of the room, Caden grinning like a fool from the front row, while we announced the wedding was off.
It was a bit of a whirlwind from there. Jack and his family decided to head out, back to Oregon. Mine were staying, but at a different hotel. They’d be leaving in the morning, and I…wasn’t ready to go home. I didn’t want to marry Jack. I knew we’d made the right decision, but…was it still okay to be a little sad? Because if I couldn’t make it work with him, I wasn’t sure I could make it work with anyone.
I was sitting alone in the room where I was supposed to be announced husband and husband, elbows on my knees and face in my hands, when someone sat beside me. His body was warm and smelled like sunshine and rain, so I knew it was Caden.
“You okay? I know I acted a little excited earlier; it’s just, I knew in my gut Jack wasn’t right for you. But like I said before, I want you to be happy.”
“You tried to talk me into marrying him!”
“Like I said, I want you happy, and I didn’t want to screw that up. It was hard. I didn’t know what to do. I haven’t for the past three months.”
Yeah, that made sense. We’d all made a mess of things.
“I’m okay,” I answered honestly. “It wouldn’t have lasted. I need to figure out what I should do now. I don’t think I can head back to Portland.” The idea hit me, just slammed into me, rattling my brains. “Go on my honeymoon with me. You’ve never been to Puerto Vallarta.” I was apparently on a roll today because as soon as the words left my mouth, I realized how stupid that was. Caden didn’t want to go with me to a honeymoon suite at a gay resort. Plus, he had to work. “Never mind. I don’t know why I said that. You’d have to get time off, and the whole thing is pretty gay, and—”
“I like gay.” He grinned, and when I cocked a brow, he rephrased, “I like you, and you’re pretty gay. I just like good people. That’s all that matters.”
Excitement began to spark inside me. “But what about work?”
“I, um…” He looked away and rubbed a hand over his face. “Already requested the time off.”
“What? Why did you request time off for my honeymoon?”
“I don’t know. I thought I might be…weird while you were gone. That I might need to adjust or whatever.” I smiled at that, and he added, “Shut the fuck up before I kick your ass. If you tell anyone I said that or ever mention it again, I’ll… I don’t know what I’ll do, but it won’t be pretty.”
I laughed, feeling better than I had in a long-ass time. “Are we really doing this?”
He shrugged. “I mean, free trip for me. Why not? For tonight, we get some dinner, get some drinks, and then tomorrow, we’re going to Puerto Vallarta.”
Hell yeah. I couldn’t wait.
Chapter Four
Caden
Kill me now.
My head was pounding, and I hadn’t even opened my eyes yet. I was pretty sure I didn’t want to, and not at all convinced I could. I only knew I was alive because I felt like death, and I figured if I actually were dead, I wouldn’t feel it.
From beside me came a deep, masculine groan I would recognize anywhere. At least I wasn’t the only one feeling like shit.
“Kill me now,” Alex gritted out, his voice rough as sandpaper.
“I literally just thought the same exact thing.” I opened my eyes. I’d kicked the blankets off at some point because that’s what I did. I was wearing the black boxer briefs I’d worn the night before and nothing else.
“I hate it when you shove the blankets to the floor.” Alex reached for them, and I noticed he was in his underwear too. He wore trunks, this cross between briefs and boxer briefs—and a whole lot shorter than mine, which reached down to mid-thigh. When he leaned forward, I could see the top of his ass crack. The muscles in his back shifted, and then he was lying back down.
I jerked my gaze away because…well, because I didn’t need to be looking at him like that and wasn’t quite sure why I was.
“It’s hot, A. And I’m a hot sleeper. You know this.”
“Yeah, but I’m not, so why do you take them away from me?”
I tried to come up with a snappy reply but had nothing. “I’m too hungover to think. God, I have to piss.” I shoved out of the bed…in the honeymoon suite—because that was how we’d be rolling for the next week—and went into the bathroom.
I pushed the door closed partway, leaving it open just a couple of inches while I fished my dick out and let loose. “Oh my God. Is there anything as amazing as the first pee of the morning?”
Alex snort-laughed. “Should I make a list?”
“Or you could not be so literal.”
“Or you could not be so literal,” he mocked. We were basically twelve years old at heart, and I loved it.
I finished up and washed my hands before heading in and collapsing beside him on the bed again. “I drank so much. I don’t remember anything past leaving the hotel because we wanted to drink in as many places as possible.” I was pretty sure part of that was because Alex had been sad. Yes, not marrying Jackass had been the right call—for both of them, apparently. Alex wasn’t in love with him, but that didn’t change the fact that he’d come to Vegas engaged, and planned to leave married and now he wasn’t. He was stuck going on his honeymoon with his straight best friend, who was clearly cool as fuck, but again, not what he’d planned.