Chase leaned down and placed his mouth next to my ear, “Baby, there are no words to describe how beautiful you look tonight.”
“You don’t look so bad yourself,” I breathed. I was a hot, horny, needy, flustered mess.
His lips lightly grazed my jaw before capturing mine in a soft kiss. “I love you so much, Harper Jackson.”
“I love you, too, Chase Walker.”
“One day, I think—”
He didn’t get to finish his sentence because he was interrupted by a shockingly familiar voice. “Harper! I had no idea you would be here!” Hilarie excitedly exclaimed from my side.
My surprise easily masked my annoyance at being interrupted. “Hilarie! What are you doing here?”
“The guy that I’ve been seeing was in the wedding. He invited me to attend as his plus one earlier this week.”
“Who?” Chase and I asked at the same time.
“Jay Markus,” she replied with a dreamy lilt in her voice.
Confused, I turned to Chase. His forehead wrinkled for a second before he shook his head and gruffly uttered, “Shaker.”
“Shaker?” Hilarie asked.
“Nickname,” Chase explained.
Right on cue, Shaker joined Hilarie on the dance floor. “Do you two know each other?” he asked flatly, looking back and forth between the two of us, but I got the distinct feeling he was pissed.
Hilarie laughed loudly. “I would say so; she’s my best friend.”
Shaker’s face remained impassive. “Small world,” he clipped.
“How did you two meet?” I asked.
“We met at a bar a while back and hit it off so we started hanging out when we could on the weekends,” Hilarie explained.
“Why didn’t you tell me he was from Croftridge?” I asked, failing to hide the hint of accusation in my voice. I don’t know why, but her being at the wedding didn’t sit well with me.
Hilarie glanced at Shaker. “Because I didn’t know; it never came up.” She directed her full attention to Shaker. “You’re from Croftridge?” Shaker nodded uncomfortably. “How do you know Harper and her non-boyfriend boyfriend?”
Shaker’s eyes widened, and Carbon said in a low voice filled with warning, “Tell her how we met.”
“We met in the Marines. When I was discharged, I didn’t want to go back home, so I called him. He invited me to come to Croftridge and invited me...to, uh, stay with him until I got on my feet.”
“Oh, so that’s how you know Harper?” Hilarie pried.
“No, I met Harper through her brother. I didn’t even know these two were a thing until he cla—”
“Excuse us, please,” Chase interrupted, pulling Shaker away by his arm, which left me standing in an awkward silence with Hilarie.
“I don’t think your guard dog likes it that I’m here,” she said, a hint of something unpleasant in her voice.
“I don’t think he gives a shit one way or another that you’re here. You’re the one who doesn’t like him. You’ve made that very clear from the first time you met him.”
Her shoulders slumped, and her voice softened. “I’m sorry, Harper. I got the feeling that he didn’t like me, so I wanted to not like him first. But then it wasn’t so hard to not like him because I felt like he was trying to take you away from me. I’m pathetic, I know.” She sniffled, her eyes full of unshed tears.
Well, shit. I hadn’t expected an emotional confession from her. Reaching out, I pulled her into a hug. “Nobody is going to take me away from you, but it would be easier if you could try to get along with him, especially if you’re seeing Shaker. If you and Chase could put aside your differences, we could all hang out together sometime.”
She sniffled a few more times. “I would really like that.”