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COLE

I can’t stop thinking about kissing Dylan.

Why the hell did I kiss him, anyway?

I’d never kissed a guy before. Never wanted to.

But he just kept calling me straight . It was something about the way he said it, like he was putting distance between us, like he was pushing me away from him. But it was true, wasn’t it?

I was straight.

I barely even noticed when other guys were in a room unless I planned on talking to them about something. And yet, with Dylan, it was like I was hyperaware of his every move, always conscious of exactly wherever he happened to be. It didn’t matter if I planned on chatting with him or not, I just liked knowing where he was?—

Shit. What is happening to me?

The morning after we left the cabin, I hadn’t said a word to him. There were too many thoughts in my head but absolutely no connection with my mouth, like I couldn’t figure out how to speak anymore. Dylan had tried to spark up a conversation a few times and I just let it die in silence between us. After that, I’d dropped him back off at his own cabin before getting started with my day.

I still needed to figure out the McMillan property deal. Hell, maybe the stress of the project was getting under my skin, making me act out of character. Maybe Levi was right, and I’d simply let things go on too long, let myself be single for a few too many months. Either way, I was grateful to have something else to focus on, locking myself in my office until the late afternoon. I felt a little closer to ironing out my final offer to the McMillans, knowing they’d be overvaluing their land in the current market?—

“Cole!” Amber casually burst into my office. “Are you serious right now?”

“That door was locked.” I raised an eyebrow. “How did you get into my locked office?”

“Master key.”

“You have a master key to every room on the ranch?”

“Yeah. Dad gave it to me for wedding planning stuff. He said it makes it easier.”

“That’s a security risk, Amber?—”

“You’re a security risk!” She shouted back. “You’re at risk of ruining my wedding!”

Shit.

Does she know I kissed her wedding planner?

Is Dylan threatening to quit or something?

Shit, shit, shit ? —

“But I did exactly what you wanted me to do,” I replied. “I took Dylan to see the night sky and?—”

“And you were supposed to check out the potential flower arrangements with me today! Like, right now!”

“Don’t you have an entire team of assistants for that?”

“I don’t care what they think! I care what you think!” She pouted as she came around behind my desk, grabbing onto my arm. “Please! Can you just come look at it? It’ll take five seconds.”

I opened my mouth to protest but as soon as my eyes met hers, I felt a small smile on my face instead. In that moment, she reminded me of when we were little kids, her demanding to follow me up to a tree house or share my toys or insist it was her turn with a coloring book. Feeling suddenly sentimental, I decided to go with the flow, enjoying what would possibly be one of the last moments that my little sister was just my little sister.

Not a mom. Not a wife. Just Amber.

“Oh, my God. Are you actually making this easy for me?” Her jaw was wide open as I headed out the office door. “I thought you’d waste more time telling me how busy you are!”

“What can I say? I’m feeling helpful today.”

There were so many flowers stuffed inside the barn that I couldn’t tell what I was looking at.

It reminded me of standing too close to a puzzle, completely unable to see the big picture. There were roses like Dylan had talked about, but other types of flowers, too, sunflowers and daisies. I was lost among the flowers, even as Amber tried to point out different sections of them, explaining her vision for how they’d be arranged on her big day. I nodded along to everything she said, hopeless and helpless…

Right until I spotted Dylan across the room. He was laughing, a perfect sound, even throwing his head back a little like he was on a TV show. There was a man standing beside him, wearing a simple tank top and jeans, the only noticeable thing about him being the shell necklace against his skin. He was about the same height as Dylan, and it seemed like whenever he spoke, Dylan laughed again.

Huh.

I turned all my attention to their interaction, the stranger every so often reaching out towards Dylan and touching him on the shoulder. When Dylan said something, the stranger would tuck their own hair behind their ear, sometimes gently biting their lower lip. When Dylan looked away from the stranger, scrolling through something on his phone, the stranger still stared at him, eyeing him up and down?—

Ow.

I looked down at my palms, now noticing that I’d been squeezing my fingernails into them, hard. But why was I clenching my fists? I wasn’t mad about anything. I looked back up at Dylan and the stranger, curious about what would happen next?—

Ow. Again.

I shook my head as I walked over to Dylan and the stranger, not wanting things to remain strained because of last night. I especially didn’t want to be the reason Dylan decided to bail on planning this wedding for my sister, a thought that had only crossed my mind when Amber broke into my office. I needed to apologize to him ASAP and set things right the best that I could.

There was also the fact that I felt like I just needed to talk to him for some reason, a strange desire to inject myself into their conversation taking over me.

“Hey,” I started. “Are you good?”

Dylan shot me a confused look. “Yeah? Why would you think I wasn’t?”

Ow. For a third time.

“I was just checking in with you and—” I pointed towards the stranger.

“Alex,” he answered, with a bright smile. “I’m the flower guy.”

“Oh, so you brought all these in?”

“Isn’t it lovely?” Alex smiled again. “I’ve always loved flowers, but I love weddings even more. And it seems like your sister’s wedding is shaping up to be something truly magical.”

Alex nodded over at Dylan. “Not to mention the work of her incredible wedding planner… it’s such an honor to get a peek into Dylan Reid’s head. He’s brilliant.”

Alex paused for a moment before he added, “It’s… incredible that you’re single, Dylan. I just mean…with everything you do for others… Assuming that you are single. Sorry. My information might be outdated.”

Is Alex fishing for information? Why the hell does he care if Dylan’s single?

“Being single is pretty easy, actually.” Dylan chuckled, his attention back to his screen. “Precisely because of everything I do for others. I have a lot on my plate.”

“Right.” Alex beamed. “Not to be too forward… but speaking of plates… there’s this Italian place in?—”

“Amber! Can you come over here, please!” I was panicking but I didn’t know why, my heart beating a little too fast inside my chest. “Sorry, I just think she really wanted to catch up with you Alex?—”

“Oh, no worries.” Alex politely nodded before he headed over to my sister, ready to meet her halfway. “Anything for the bride.”

“What was that?” Dylan pressed.

“What was what?”

“He was obviously going to ask me out.”

“And what? You were going to say yes?”

“It doesn’t matter what I was going to say. Why do you even care?” Dylan gave me his full attention. “You wouldn’t say a word to me this morning.”

“He doesn’t get to ask you out. Not right in front of me.”

“Why not?”

“Because!”

“Oh, my God!” Dylan threw up his hands in frustration. “Do you want me to set you up with one of Amber’s assistants? Because I swear, it’d be easier for both of us. If you just need to get laid?—”

“It’s not about that.”

“Then, what is it about, Cole?”

“I… don’t know.” I let out an exasperated sigh. “I just… I don’t know.”

“Right. Of course, you don’t.” Dylan sighed now, too. “I need to get back to work, okay? I’ll see you around, Cole.”

He rolled his eyes before he stepped away from me, joining the conversation between Alex and Amber. And I stood in that same place, feeling like an idiot, my head hanging in my hands.

“You’re jealous.”

“What?” I turned to see my uncle sitting amongst the flowers next to me. “How long have you been sitting there?”

“Long enough to see what I needed to see.” He grinned. “So, a fight isn’t about a fight, and flowers aren’t about flowers.”

“I don’t really need this right now, Virgil?—”

“It’s always a worthwhile use of time to look beyond the surface, nephew,” he continued. “To stop and smell the roses, so to speak.”

“What are you talking about?—”

“You’re jealous,” he repeated, before he quietly sank into the flowers, practically disappearing from my view. “It’s a hell of a thing, isn’t it? Makes you wonder what you’re so jealous of…”