Jack had left town and come back, bringing with him a fresh perspective that often benefitted their home town. And if he’d done it, maybe Leo could, too.
And there was Tessa, sitting in a chair wearing a lacy dress, bright pink heels on her feet, laughing.
Adjectives to describe her came to mind—but “punctual,” while it could have made the top of the list, didn’t even break the top ten.
Pretty. Great legs. Hot.
Okay, delete that last one.
The last time he’d heard her laugh like that was probably in high school when she’d beaten him out with the high score in AP Calc.
It was…nice, her laughter. And sort of musical. The kind that made you want to join in and laugh, too.
Nerves made him straighten his tie and clear his throat. A sense of relief flowed through him that he’d been spot-on about ditching the khakis.
“Hi Leo,” Jack said, glancing up and gesturing him in. “Have a seat.” As Leo walked to the front of Jack’s desk, his friend was frowning.
Leo ignored the displeased look as best he could. As he dropped into the seat across from Tessa, he noticed she smelled good. Like flowers. What he imagined meadow flowers to smell like, not fancy ones.
And speaking of flowers, she didn’t have a bouquet. On her wedding day. He hadn’t even thought to bring one, and she somehow didn’t seem the type to get one for herself. For some reason, that made him feel sad.
Just business, he reminded himself. Don’t make it personal.
“I’d like to know what’s going on here.” Jack removed his long legs from the top of his desk and sat up in his chair, glancing back and forth between both of them, then riveting his gaze onto Leo. “Tessa doesn’t seem inclined to explain much about why you two want to get married today. How about you?”
“Because we’re busy tomorrow?”
That got a balled-up piece of paper tossed at him.
He’d purposely told Jack he had official business but didn’t get into what that was on the phone—for obvious reasons. He telegraphed a warning look in Jack’s direction that was supposed to mean, Ask no questions. Just do your job.
But Jack, the second-most obstinate person he knew, didn’t seem to get that memo. “I’ve just spent the past fifteen minutes trying to talk Tessa out of this. I am your best friend, unless you’ve gone and gotten another one in the past week. What the hell, Leo?”
He tried for a nonchalant shrug. “We fell in love fast. We want to get married. That’s it.” Was unemotional and deadpan convincing enough? Because that was the best his nerves seemed to allow.
Jack looked at him with piercing blue eyes that never missed a trick and combed his fingers through his thick head of hair. “Are you really sticking with that story?”
Leo had never kept a secret from his best friend before. But if he told Jack the truth, he would never agree to marry them.
“As of two weeks ago, you were chatting up some woman at the Tin Cup in Cloversville.” Okay, now he was playing dirty. Tessa’s face colored, and that made Leo feel bad. Even though this soon-to-be-marriage was as fake as reality TV.
He had zero emotional attachment to Tessa. But what woman wanted to hear that her fiancé had been flirting with someone right before their wedding? Especially someone who’d been cheated on by that ass Sam, who’d wanted Tessa ever since high school and, from what Leo had gathered, had zero emotional growth since then. Why she’d finally given in and dated him these past few years baffled him.
He reined in his wandering mind, but one glance at Tessa herself distracted him again. She looked…she looked really nice. She wore a very pale pink lacy dress with a bright pink sash around her waist and some seriously sexy bright pink shoes. She had pretty ankles. Shapely calves, too, like she might be a runner or something.
And her hair was flowing loose and wavy around her face. Not her usual messy bun accompanied by the typical trail of flour on her cheek. Although he didn’t mind the flour. It was the mark of a hardworking person—and was also kind of cute. But this look…this feminine Tessa…completely threw him.
When their gazes snared, he actually sucked in a breath because she looked worried and a little fidgety and…beautiful. There was no other word. He couldn’t even lie to himself.
His nemesis was beautiful.
His mouth went dry. Not from attraction. Not that. Because he was robbing her of a real wedding. What if this harebrained idea failed? What would the fallout be for both their families? And he hadn’t thought of this before but…what would it be for them?
No attachments, he reminded himself sternly. Business only. He’d make sure of it.
If she fell for him…well, that would throw everything off. He didn’t want entanglements or hurt feelings. He’d fended that off before with women in the past.
And of course, he would never fall for her.
“So, Leo,” Jack said, leaning back in his chair and tapping his fingers on the armrests. “I can see by that smitten look on your face that you might be in love with her.” He addressed Tessa. “But no way are you in love with this clown.” Back to Leo. “Cloversville?”
Leo opened his mouth to answer, but Tessa spoke instead. “That,” she said coolly, waving her hand dismissively in the air, “was the past. A lot has happened since then, and we’re totally in love.” She levelled her gaze at Jack. “Can we please get on with this now?”
Jack looked at her sympathetically. “If he knocked you up, you don’t have to marry him. You know that, right?”
Leo rolled his eyes. “She’s not knocked up.”
Jack responded by frowning deeply. “I don’t want any sort of coercion here.” He leaned over his desk. “Tessa, honey, don’t do it.”
“Oh, for the love of…” Tessa honey? Just how well did Jack know her? There were times when his Texas-born-and-raised friend was just too much.
Jack assessed Leo carefully. “I’ve known you since you were four, and I get how you throw yourself into anything with all you’ve got. But this…this is just…hard to stomach.”
Leo felt a little torn. He caught Tessa’s eye, and she seemed to agree silently that this was between the two of them.
“Neither of you is going to say anything?” his friend asked.
“Just do it, Jack—please,” Leo instructed.
Jack’s gaze drifted back over to Tessa. “Tessa?”
She smiled at him in a sweet way—a way she never smiled at Leo. She leaned across the desk and patted Jack’s hand. Patted his hand? As in, touched him? Why were these two so friendly, anyway? “It’s okay,” Tessa said. “I’m not being coerced”—she tossed Leo a wink—“too much.”