1
TREY
“That should do it,” I said to an empty parking lot as I stared across it, looking at the front of the inn where I’d spent most of my youth.
Wildwood Valley Inn, the big sign next to me read, but the D was so faded, it actually readWildwooinstead ofWildwood. I’d repaint it, but that was part of the remodel I was overseeing for the next few months.
The low hum of a car approaching dragged my attention away from the building in front of me. I turned, expecting to see a vehicle exiting the ramp and going straight into town, but instead, it was heading across the main road toward the entrance to the inn parking lot.
And that was exactly where I was standing.
“Holy fuck!” I shouted, like that was some sort of warning.
I stepped out of the way just in time, narrowly avoiding being leveled by a white Chevy sedan. My breath caught at the sight of a passenger in the back seat.
It was her. The reason I was out here, clearing away brush and trimming shrubs that were going to be replaced soon as part of the remodel. I’d been working off some nervous energy, but ifI were honest, I’d admit that I was hanging around the inn in the first place solely to meet her before she headed off to meet her future husband.
I expected the vehicle to keep going to the inn’s front door. I also expected the driver to pop the trunk, hop out, and grab the woman’s suitcase. Instead, the vehicle abruptly stopped halfway across the parking lot. Seconds later, the trunk popped up, but the only door that opened was on the back passenger side.
I stood frozen in place as a ballet-flat-covered foot emerged, followed by an ankle-length, flowy skirt. When she stepped out, I started walking, unable to take my eyes off her.
She headed to the trunk without even glancing in my direction and grabbed a light-pinkish hard-top suitcase, setting it on the ground before shutting the trunk. The car immediately started moving, doing a wide U-turn across multiple empty parking spaces, then curving around me on its way toward the exit.
“Dude, slow down!” I called out.
It was doubtful he could even hear me. If he could, it didn’t faze him in the slightest. The baseball-cap-wearing driver of the car didn’t slow down. I let him blow past me, though, immediately losing interest in what the driver was doing. My eyes were on the beauty standing a good twenty feet from me.
“Wow,” she said.
That was it. That one word. What did it mean? Was she talking about the town? The inn? The horrible driver?
She was staring directly at me. In fact, even though she had sunglasses on, I swore I could feel her gaze scanning the length of me.
“Hi.” I continued toward her. At the very least, I’d help her take her luggage in.
“You’re not Blade,” she said.
Damn, I wish I could see those eyes. Was she disappointed that I wasn’t the man she’d come here to marry? She had no idea I was the man she’d been talking to for the past six weeks. We’d shared our past and what we wanted for our future in hours of text messages. And now she was standing in front of me, like she’d stepped straight out of my fantasies.
I hadn’t even had time to clean up or mentally prepare—not that anything could’ve prepared me for this. For her. She was everything I imagined and more, standing there with one hand on the handle of her suitcase and the other shielding her eyes from the sun, even though she wore sunglasses.
She looked around slowly, her brows drawn, like she wasn’t quite sure if she was in the right place. “Wow,” she said again, a little breathless this time.
I took a slow step toward her. “You must be Lauryn.”
She laughed—a soft, slightly confused sound. “What gave me away?”
I shrugged. “Could be the suitcase. Could be the fact that you’re the only person who gets dropped off in the middle of nowhere with luggage that color and still looks like you’re in a tourism commercial.”
Her lips curved. “Are you mocking me or flirting with me?”
God, her voice. It was familiar and brand-new all at once. I’d read every word she’d written—dozens of messages, little one-liners and full paragraphs that hinted at her soft heart and sharp sense of humor—but hearing her speak in real life? It hit different. It settled in my chest like she’d always belonged there.
“Why not both?” I said and tipped my head toward the inn. “Your mountain man’s inside. Big guy. Grunts a lot. You’ll know him when you see him.”
She blinked. “Wait, what?”
Her grip tightened on the handle of her suitcase, and I immediately felt like a jackass. That wide-eyed moment ofhesitation—damn, it hit me harder than I expected. She was nervous, hopeful, and probably wondering if she’d made the biggest mistake of her life getting on that plane. And here I was, messing with her like she was just another tourist.
