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“Marcus! Wake up!”
Somebody pulled at his feet, and instantly he jerked awake. The fantastic dreams about Caitey fled. The bedroom he was lying in was still in shadow; the curtains pulled across the windows. Where was he? What time was it? Unfortunately, he couldn’t see the clock through his blurry eyes.
Man, he hated that disoriented feeling whenever he woke up in a new place. Especially when rudely awoken.
He didn’t have to wait long before Logan growled in his face and threw off the blankets. “Get your derriere in gear, sailor; we got work to do.”
Marcus got up on one elbow, shaking sleep from his eyes, then dropped back to his pillow again, running both hands through his hair. He used to dream about Shelley, but those were never dreams, merely nightmares. after she robbed him and disappeared into the ether with her conman.
Good riddance, even if it had hurt more than he’d imagined. Love had turned to hate. The deceit was hard to get over and even more complicated trying to understand why.
Logan gave him a year to mope, then started his weekly ritual of bugging him to ask someone new on a date. He had not been enthusiastic for a long time.Having the rug pulled out from underneath you, having your life, your heart, and your savings ripped into shreds was an intense thing to come back from.
He was a zombie for months in the land of the living.
Then, one day, he finally grew sick of his lazy, unmotivated, unshaven self—with the help of Logan, who’d given him more than a few yanks around the neck—and slowly returned to the real world.
“Marcus, you in there?” Logan said now, a little gruff. “Can you hear me?”
He finally jerked to a sitting position, staring at the clock on the bedside table, which read a few minutes after nine. Wow, he never slept this late, not even on vacation.
The dream hovered, and Marcus was desperate to drop back into sleep. Caitey was beautiful, sexy, and had a great smile when she wasn’t so worried about the wedding.
He imagined her drifting through the ceiling like an angel, her hair billowing around her shoulders, hovering over him until she sank into his arms, where he held her close, and their bodies fit perfectly together.
“Hey, is that the actual time?” he finally asked when Logan entered the room.
“Yeah,” Logan said, picking up a pillow from the floor and throwing it at his face. “And it’s kind of a big day, you doofus.My wedding day!”
WEDDING!? That jerked Marcus into action. He sat up and pushed off the blankets. “Why didn’t you wake me up sooner?”
Marcus’s consciousness finally came fully into focus.
“You have a goofy smile on your face, sailor!” Logan said with a laugh. “It’smywedding day, not yours.” When Marcus growled at him, his friend quickly apologized. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. I know that’s still a sore point.”
“You’d think it wouldn’t be such a tender spot after four years. And it isn’t. My hurt turned to hate, followed by ambivalence, and then anger for being so taken in by her.”
“Quit blaming yourself,” Logan chided. “But someone put that smile on your face. Might it be Jenna’s cousin? Our cute and flustered wedding planner?”
“Mind your own business,” Marcus said, trying not to laugh.
“If you want to make a move, now is the time before she leaves tomorrow. Well,afterthe ceremony, when Jenna and I are safely on our honeymoon. But we’ve got a big problem right now.”
Marcus sat up, pushing the blankets away. He was on duty now. The old training kicked in, but Logan’s following words almost knocked him off his feet.
“Hey, I’ll check all the cameras right away. I saw the wedding announcement on the local news, and we might get gawkers.”
“No gawkers this morning.”
“Huh? How can you be so sure?”
“Because there’s three feet of snow out there!”
“Snow! But I heard rain right after midnight.”
“Temps dropped from sixtyto thirty—and that rain turned to snow. It’s been coming down like a blizzard for about six hours. We’re all on shovel duty. Guests will start arriving soon after five for the six o’clock ceremony.”
Marcus rubbed at his jawline, still trying to shake himself fully awake. He didn’t admit it to Logan, but of course, he had been dreaming of Caitey. And it was averynice dream . . . She was serving him hot cocoa loaded with whipped cream, and they were sharing sips from the super-sized mug at the Coffee Loft.
