Epilogue
Kendall Castille
“Oh no. Travis!” I hissed.
My husky looked up at me, blinking with innocence in his blue eyes.
I knew better. When I turned to look at the dress I was supposed to wear to the wedding, his gaze followed mine.
Not my wedding, mind you,but it started in an hour, and the dress I was supposed to wear was perfect for my three-legged husky to rub his whole muddy body all over.
He sidled against my legs, giving an affectionate snort. “You don’t even care, do you?” I glanced down at him.
His tail wagged before he let out a nice little roo for me. “Oh my God,” I muttered.
When my phone rang, I didn’t glance at the screen before answering it. “What?”
“Well, hello to you too. Sounds like you’re having a great morning,” Jude Silver teased. “I’m on my way to pick you up.”
“I know,” I ground out, “but I have a small problem.”
“What’s that?”
“Travis got muddy this morning, and, well, now the mud that was on his fur is all over the dress I was supposed to wear.”
Jude didn’t even try not to laugh, letting out a deep, hearty bark of a laugh. “No need to stress. It’ll be fine.”
“Jude,” I protested. “It’s a wedding.Your brother’s wedding.I care about Elsa and Haven, and I don’t want to show up in a muddy dress for their wedding. I don’t know what to wear, and I don’t know what to do!” I threw my hands up in the air as I paced.
Travis was now worried about me. Not because of the dress, mind you, but he sensed my stress, so he danced along at my side, tippy-tapping his feet on the floor.
“You have another dress or something, right?”
“Jude,” I ground out, “I’m not exactly a dress girl.”
I ignored the way his chuckle played over the edges of my nerves in an unsettling way.
“Not exactly. Well, I’m still coming to get you.” He paused. “You could always go to the wedding naked.” Electric pause this time. “Okay, maybe that came out the wrong way.”
I sighed. “Maybe it did, Jude. I’ll figure it out. What’s your ETA?”
“Ten minutes.”
“Ten minutes?!” I yelped.
“See you in a few,” he replied with a chuckle.
The line clicked, and I threw my phone on my bed. Racing around my room, I frantically looked for anything to wear. Finally settling on a skirt and a blouse, I glared down at my dog.
“This is not exactly wedding-worthy, but it’ll have to do. I wish you had to get dressed for a wedding.” Travis’s tail just wagged along.
I hustled to get dressed and refused to even look at the clock. I didn’t need to waste time counting the seconds. Small problem with that, though.
My apartment was a studio, just one big space with the living room and kitchen all together and the bed tucked in a little alcove. Everything was visible when you came through the door. Except the bathroom, which did have a door. But my closet? It was also out in the main area.
Maybe I was overexplaining. I was prone to doing that, but you need to have a sense of the context for what happened next.
Jude was my best friend. We’d become close in middle school, and that never changed. We had keys to each other’s places. He could just walk in. That was the kind of thing that would be okay—except for now .
In my haste, compounded by my choice not to obsess over the time, just as I was adjusting my skirt—one of those wrap skirts that needed to be tied just so—there was a sharp knock on the door. Before I could say a word, the door swung open, and Jude stepped inside.
There I stood with my skirt halfway tied with no shirt, no bra, nothing up top. My breasts were fully on display. My eyes whipped up to collide with Jude’s. His big, beautiful blues went wide, and I could have sworn he actuallystopped breathing for a few seconds .
I felt the blush bloom all over my skin, the heat starting on my chest, rising up my neck and into my cheeks. I tried to breathe, but I was frozen, my hands still holding the stupid wrap skirt. As we stared at each other, my nipples— my freaking nipples —tightened like they were happy to see him.
Fire spun in my belly, sending sparks scattering through me.
I took the moment to absorbhim. Jude’s black hair was damp.
His blue eyes were bright with flashes of silver.
Sweet hell, he was so freaking handsome.
Tall, broad shoulders, lean, and unfairly fit.
The man’s lifestyledemandedthat kind of fitness.
He was a wilderness guide, an outdoor survival expert, a first responder, and a hotshot firefighter.
He was manliness wrapped in lumberjack and topped off with a dose of too sexy for his own good. And apparently, for my nipples.
He wore a royal blue shirt over slacks. He looked much tamer than usual. The man practically lived in battered jeans and T-shirts, all of which did nothing other than show off his sexy, hot bod. But tucking this wild man into civilized clothing for a wedding somehow made him all the sexier.
My lungs abandoned any effort to get air, and my pulse had taken off so fast there was no catching it. We simply stood there and stared at each other for God knows how long until Jude snapped the moment.
“For fuck’s sake, Kendall?” he burst out as hespun around. “Get dressed!” He clasped the back of his neck, his head bowed.
“I am getting dressed!” I protested.
“You knew I was arriving in ten minutes!”
“Yeah, and I just told you on the phone thatTravis ruined my dress! Well, maybe not ruined, but for the purposes of today, I can’t wear it!” I flung my arm toward the dress in question, which was draped over the back of the couch.
It was my own damn fault. My dog loved rubbing his back along the couch. It was like a personal scratching post for him.
“ Get dressed ,” Jude ground out.
Jude
Roughly an hour after picking Kendall up for the wedding, I looked ahead at my eldest brother, who had just said his part of the vows.
Haven was oblivious to everything but Elsa.
His eyes were locked on her as she stood in front of him.
They were getting married outside, and it was a beautiful day for an outdoor wedding.
A soft breeze rustled through the air. The fireweed was in full bloom in the field nearby.
All in all, there might as well have been birds chirping.
Who knew my grumpy oldest brother could fall so hard that he would actually not be so cranky?
I took a breath, shifting my shoulders. “Are you okay?” Kendall whispered from where she sat beside me in the front row of chairs.
“Fine,” I all but hissed through my teeth.
“Sheesh, I was just asking,” she muttered.
After this afternoon, I would never, ever , ever walk into any space again after knocking without waiting for someone to tell me to come in.
Walking in and seeing Kendall bare from the waist up had nearly undone me.
I was still trying to recover. And honestly?
I didn’t know if I ever would recover.
We’d been friends since middle school when she moved to town. For years, I’dtried to pretend that I didn’t havethat bigof a crush on her in high school. Except I knew better. But then, I’d convinced myself I’d gotten over it.
For a few years, we’d both gone our separate ways. Kendall left town for college. And well, my life, along with the rest of my family’s, had been a hot mess for the past decade or so.
So it had been fine. No crushes for me. Then she moved back, and we fell back into our friendship. It was all fine.
But, as of roughly an hour ago, I knew what her breasts looked like, and they wereperfect .
Absolutelyperfect . But then, she was perfect.
With her wild brown curls, her big blue eyes, the freckles on her cheeks, her cute little body, curvy and soft-looking.
Now, I was forever cursed with the knowledge that her breasts were more than a handful and her nipples were a light, dusky pink and puckered up beautifully.
Sobeautifully that it had been all I could donotto walk across that room in her apartment, cup both breasts in my hands, and suck her perky nipples into my mouth.
I was going to fantasize about that, well,probably for the rest of my fucking life. It would betorture . Her perfect nipples were the problem.
Well , her nipples weren’t the problem . The problem was I was half in love with her, and she was mybest friend , and I didn’t want to screw up our friendship. Yet now my mind would be forever filled with the images of her breasts and the way her skin flushed.
Fuck me.
Kendall’s breath drew in with a soft sound of surprise, and I glanced over to see tears shining in her eyes as she pressed her palm against her chest.
Oh, that’s right . We were at a wedding, and my eldest brother was pledging himself to the woman he loved. Focus, focus, focus.
I brought my attention back to the happy couple. They must have just been pronounced man and wife because Haven dipped his head to kiss Elsa.
The next few hours were a blur. No matter how hard I tried not to pay attention to Kendall, it was impossible.
She was like a magnet for me. I might as well have been physically attached to her.
Of course, we were good friends, and we truly were, so everyone kind of expected us to hang out together because we usually did.
Spending time with Kendall was usually one of my favorite things. Until I saw her breasts today.
“Congratulations, man.” I clapped Haven on the shoulder and pulled him into a back-slapping hug.
He chuckled. “I’m finally married,” he said, looking almost surprised.
“You are. Elsa is perfect for you,” I said, meaning it in a way that I couldn’t have imagined, even at the beginning of their relationship.
“She is. Thank you.”
“For what?” I prompted.
“Being my brother. Being here. Giving me a nudge when I needed to get my head straight. About Elsa, all that stuff,” Haven explained.
“Anytime, man. That’s what brothers are for, right?”
“Something like that,” Asher, another brother, said dryly from my side.
I chuckled, sliding my eyes to him.
“It’s your turn,” Asher announced.
“Excuse me?”
“I’m just kidding, but now that Haven’s fallen, somebody else has to.”
“Well, it’s not gonna be me,” I said flatly.
“Oh, I think you’re the most obvious one,” Asher returned.
“Why?” I was flummoxed.
He narrowed his eyes, his expression knowing as he glanced over toward Kendall.
Her makeshift wedding outfit looked amazing on her. It was a wrap skirt with a silky blouse on top. Of course, all I could do was picture herwithout the blouse. I wanted to lift her hips onto a counter, drape that skirt around her thighs, and?—
Well, there went my thoughts again. Slow your roll, dude.
“You’re in love with Kendall,” Asher said flatly.
“What?!” I exclaimed.
Haven overheard and chuckled. “Maybe you haven’t figured it out, but the rest of us have,” he pointed out. “Anytime you want to talk about it, I’m here. After our honeymoon.”
Elsa appeared at his side after parting with her mother who angled over to chat with ours. “What’s happening after our honeymoon?” she asked.
Haven grinned. “Jude is in love with Kendall, and I told him we all know it, even if he doesn’t.”
Elsa nodded, her gaze understanding as she glanced at me. “When you’re ready, Jude, you can face it.”
“Oh my God,” I muttered.
Of course, the part that killed me the most about thisentire ridiculous conversationwas the one person I wanted to vent to was Kendall.
“Wow.” I looked among them. “How about you guys steer clear of the gossip? Not cool.”
“You’re family,” Elsa said matter-of-factly.
“It’snot gossip, just observation,” Haven added, his gaze teasing.
“All right, lovebirds. Off with you. It’s getting late,” I finally said. “Do you need a ride to the airport tomorrow?”
“Actually, that’d be awesome.” They were flying to Hawaii for their honeymoon. Elsa insisted she needed somewhere tropical.
“You got it,” I replied, relieved they let me drop the burning-hot topic of Kendall.
When the happy couple moved along, Asher glanced over, one brow rising. “Looking for Kendall, aren’t you?”
“Oh, shut the fuck up. I’m giving her a ride home.”
Asher chuckled, but then his gaze sobered. “I won’t tease you.” He paused. “I mean, just a little.” He held up his thumb and forefinger with a tiny space between them.
“Fuck you,” I teased before turning and threading my way through the crowd to find Kendall.
The space inside my truck was unusually quiet as I drove her home. I contemplated whether I should discuss what happened. Then, like an idiot, I started the conversation. “So should we talk about that, or…”
“No, we shouldn’t talk about that. In fact, why don’t you just forget what you saw?”
I almost choked. “Well, that’s impossible, Kendall.”
When I glanced her way as I parked my truck, her eyes were wide. “Why is it impossible?”
“Because you’re fucking beautiful, Kendall. And now I know you have perfect breasts,” I said flatly.
Thank you for reading Elsa & Haven’s story!