AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Anyway,” Charlee said dramatically, swatting Lucas on the shoulder, “you’re overthinking this. I think his text means what it says. Relax. Enjoy your spritz and have the night of your life when, not if, Jax joins us later.”
“You’re right,” I said. And I did just that. Brushing off my overthinking as nerves, I texted him back, “See you later,” and tried not to think about it.
Tried. But did not exactly succeed.
When Jax didn’t show up by the time salads were served, I stared at my second empty seat for the night.
He wasn’t coming.
“Look who the cat dragged in,” Charlee said, my friend sitting next to me again at dinner. The restaurant overlooked the sea, and we were in a prime location for a view. The bride and groom sat with their families across the room, the DeLucas and their extended Grado families making up more than half of the attendees. The mood was festive, and things were about to get more interesting. Because sure enough, Jax was walking toward our table.
He looked, in a word, amazing.
It wasn’t the first time I’d seen him wearing a sport coat, and with luck, it wouldn’t be the last. Model gorgeous, he turned more than one head in the room. But thankfully, he was looking straight at me. He sat, greeting Lucas, Charlee, Nate, and Zoe.
And then me.
“Sorry about the drinks,” he said. “You look stunning, sun—Natalie.”
Sunshine. I loved when he called me that. But I hated the question that I knew would burst from my lips at some point. Might as well get it over with.
“Thanks. You look great too.” Great was an understatement. “So, work emergency, huh?”
The question left no room for interpretation. But technically I hadn’t brought up the land, so I wasn’t in breach of our weekend agreement.
“Nothing to do with that,” he said. “Another deal in Jersey. Long, boring story, but it’s all taken care of.”
Although I was thrilled to hear it, I wondered what kind of deal he was talking about. More protected land, obviously, since that was his specialty.
“No frowning in Sicily,” he said, ordering a beer when the waiter came up to us.
Charlee agreed with him. Zoe apparently did too and made me laugh with her not-so-amazing Italian as she tried to share what she’d learned since coming earlier that week. Between Lucas and Nate’s Army backgrounds, and Charlee and Zoe’s ability to charm the pants off anyone, the six of us talked and laughed through dinner as if we were on a triple date. Only the toast Mazzie and Gian gave, thanking everyone for traveling for their wedding and giving logistical information for tomorrow afternoon’s nuptials, reminded us this was not just an ordinary dinner, but a very special occasion.
Mazzie had never looked happier, or more beautiful, and I couldn’t wait to see her tomorrow in her dress. “I still can’t believe they met here,” I said. “So you knew Gian when you were young,” I remembered. “Tell us about him.”
Jax shifted in his seat. “That guy,” he said, pointing to the groom, “is quite a bit different from the one I knew.”
“Really?” Charlee asked. “Do you think people change though? Or are they, at their core, always the same?”
“You really have to ask that question?” Lucas asked. “How many times have you literally said, ‘You’ve changed’ since I’ve been back?”
Good point.
Lucas and Charlee were high school sweethearts and had gone through a rough patch when he first got back. Apparently being an Army sniper did change a person slightly.
“But,” she argued, since Charlee would never let Lucas win an argument that easily, “deep down inside, you’re the same Lucas I knew before.”
“The same, but different?” he asked.
As the two of them debated back and forth, Nate and Zoe watching with rapt attention, Jax leaned toward me, whispering into my ear. “Speaking of changing, I hope you haven’t changed your mind about staying at my place tonight?”
His breath on my ear, Jax’s easy manner at dinner...everything about him had me anticipating tonight more than should have been humanly possible.
“I thought maybe you had,” I admitted.
His hand rested on my leg. All night we’d sat close but hadn’t touched, but now that his fingertips brushed the bare skin below the hem of my dress, I willed it to stay.
“Not a chance in hell.”
