Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 69266 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 346(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69266 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 346(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
Tamara arched an eyebrow. “Really?”
Weston stepped forward. “Sorry, didn’t mean to interrupt a meeting.” He stuck a hand out. “I’m Weston Wright.”
“Wright,” Tamara said with wide eyes. That name held a lot of weight in our small town. The Wrights were Texas royalty. “I’m Tamara.”
West jerked his hand back before Tamara could put hers into his. “Oh.”
Tamara’s mouth dropped open in shock at the insult. But Weston’s eyes went straight to mine. He knew all about what had happened with August and Tamara. We’d lived together after it all went down. I’d been a wreck, crying myself to sleep most nights. He’d been there for me through all of it even though we hardly knew each other then.
“What are you doing here?” Weston snarled at Tamara.
And bless her heart, Tamara rushed into her spiel again. “I just got engaged! I was here to ask Nora to be the wedding planner for me and my fiancé, August.”
“No,” Weston snapped before she could get any further.
Tamara crossed her arms. Red rose up her neck and to her cheeks. “Excuse me?”
“Are you out of your goddamn mind? No fucking way is Nora going to plan a wedding for your snake ass.”
“What?” she gasped. “How dare you!”
“No, how dare you! You put her through the wringer last year. You have no right to be here. What is wrong with you? Wasn’t stealing her boyfriend enough for you? Do you have to continue to try to ruin her life?”
Tamara opened and closed her mouth like a fish.
“Get the fuck out,” Weston said. He stepped back and pointed at the door.
“Well, I never…”
“Well, now, you have. Get the fuck out. Now.”
And to my shock, Tamara went. She was flustered and angry, spouting obscenities at both of us, but she went.
As soon as she was gone, I burst into laughter. “Oh my God, I can’t believe you did that!”
“I can’t believe you didn’t.”
“I had it under control. I’d already told her that she couldn’t have the wedding here, but I couldn’t exactly tell her to fuck off at work. This was way more satisfying.”
He laughed. “Yeah, I suppose so. Happy to oblige.”
My hand landed on his wrist. “I’m glad you’re home.”
I suddenly realized we were mere inches from each other, alone in my office, and I hadn’t seen him in months. Our eyes met in the small distance between us. I swallowed and pulled back.
“I mean…”
“I’m glad to be home, too,” he agreed. “I missed you.”
And though he meant as a friend and roommate, my heart tightened, and my stomach fluttered traitorously anyway. Because damn, I’d missed him too.
2
Nora
“You know, there are things called cell phones,” I said with an arched eyebrow as I stuffed everything into my oversize work bag. “You could have called or texted to let us know you were coming home.”
“I could have, but then I wouldn’t have gotten to see your face when I showed up in your office.” He slumped back in the chair across from my desk, kicking his feet up.
I brushed them off my desk. “LA has left you uncivilized.”
He laughed. “That would be your brother.”
I wrinkled my nose at him. “Campbell always was uncivilized, wasn’t he? I never should have let you go off with him for six months. You’re going to spend one night in the house and wreck all my progress.”
“Progress?” he asked, jumping to his feet as I slung my bag on my shoulder, staggering slightly under the weight.
“I might or might not have been making some improvements.”
“Improvements?” He looked stricken. “What did you do?”
“Guess you’ll have to see when we get home, won’t you?” I winked at him.
It had been silly to spend any time or energy on the house I was staying at, but it was impossible for me to live somewhere and not turn it into my own. It had been a nightmare to move out of the dorms because I had completely transformed my and Tamara’s tiny suite into a girlie floral haven. I hadn’t gone that far with West’s place, but I’d had it to myself for six months. How could I resist a few dozen trips to HomeGoods?
“Is everything pink?”
“Maybe. What, are you not man enough for pink?”
“No, no, pink is definitely my color,” he said with a grin in my direction.
“Good. It’d better be.”
We headed out of my office and into the cellars of Wright Vineyard. It was a thriving operation. Last year, we’d won an award for Best in Class wine at an event in Austin. Hollin was taking our wine down to the show again this year in hopes of repeating the accomplishment. Plus, the weddings had really taken off after last year.
We’d had two huge weddings, including Morgan Wright—the CEO of Wright Construction, a Fortune 500 company—and her husband, Patrick’s, event. That had been the highlight of the season. After that, wedding requests had skyrocketed. We had something at the vineyard nearly every Saturday. Hollin and I had even talked about bringing on another event planner since we were getting so much interest. At this point, I could handle it, but it was exciting to see that the vineyard had grown this much.