Chapter 26

Frankie

“Woah! We’re halfway there!” I screamed. “Wo-oah! Livin’ on a prayer!”

My voice cracked and I giggled, which soon turned into a coughing fit. Val turned down the volume and patted my back, laughing uncontrollably.

“You okay?” she asked.

“I found myself suddenly filled with the spirit of the Jovi,” I replied, wheezing. “It was the closest I’ve ever been to the divine.”

“I wouldn’t mind getting filled with the Jovi,” she muttered, keeping her eyes on the road.

I started to laugh again.

Val returned her hand to the wheel and I soon recovered. Then I cranked up the volume again, skimming the playlist on my phone for our next tasty track.

We were on our way up Mount Hood, and as we drove, I couldn’t help but draw parallels between this car ride and the one I took a couple of months before with Levi. The scenery was the same, but the vibe in the car couldn’t have been more different. We’d been jamming out to power ballads the entire way up, which probably wasn’t wise. We’d spend the next week drinking tea with honey to try and get back the voices we lost hitting the high notes in “Total Eclipse of the Heart”. I wasn’t sure Garrick would find it as funny as we would.

Still, the energy was electric, and we kept on singing.

It was a gorgeous sunny day, and only a couple of white, fluffy clouds dotted the otherwise endless blue sky. White light glittered from the snow bordering the road, which ran like a thick black snake around the side of the mountain. If it weren’t freezing out, I would have the window open so I could drink in the fresh alpine air. But it was freezing. Luckily, Val’s car had seat warmers.

We didn’t turn down the music again until we reached the entrance to our hotel’s underground parking. Val’s face glowed.

“I can’t believe we’re here,” she squealed. “I can’t believe that in a few days I’m going to be married!”

“You’re damn right you are. Let’s get checked in and settled before we go too bonkers though.”

She nodded solemnly. “Good point.”

We parked and I went to grab our bags, careful not to damage the wedding dress as I extracted it from the trunk. Val came around to help me a moment later.

“I texted Garrick but haven’t gotten a reply yet,” she said. “I guess we’re the first ones here.”

“They left soon after us. They should be here soon.”

She nodded. “They better be. I’ve got a full day of canoodling planned with that man before we have to start making the rounds with our families tonight.”

That brought up a valid point. What was I going to do all day? I hadn’t thought about it up until now, and I guess I figured I’d spend it with Val. It made sense that she would want to spend time with her fiancé, so I didn’t mind going solo, but I still had to think of something to do that wasn’t seeking out Xavier at the bar to get plastered on my own.

We headed up into the lobby, which was just as I remembered it. The receptionist at the stone check-in desk smiled warmly and found our reservations, congratulating Val on her upcoming nuptials. She gave us our room key and we started walking toward the elevator. We were about halfway across the lobby when Val lurched to a sudden stop, then dropped the handle of her suitcase and jetted off in the other direction.

“Josh!” she cried, flinging her arms around a tall, blonde man. She turned her head and waved enthusiastically at me. “Frankie! Come meet Josh!”

I gently lay the dress over the handles of our bags and stepped over to the newcomer. The closer I got, the better he looked. He had inquisitive blue eyes that never left mine as I approached, a strong, confident chin, and cheekbones that could have cut glass. He had model style, too. His hair was short at the sides and combed over at the top, and I knew the sweater clinging to his lightly muscled frame would feel like a cloud if I touched it.

“Hi,” I said with a lame wave of my hand when I reached them.

“This is my cousin Josh,” Val said, stepping to the side.

Josh smiled and his cheeks dimpled. Very cute.

Val finished the introductions. “Josh, this is my amazing maid of honor, Frankie.”

He stretched out his hand I shook it, noting how soft his skin was.

“I’ve heard great things about you,” said Josh. “It’s nice to finally put a face to the name.”

“I’m at a disadvantage,” I said, chuckling. “I know nothing about you.”

He let go of my hand but held my gaze. “We’ll have to fix that, won’t we?”

“Did you just get here?” Val asked, saving me from whatever weird answer threatened to blubber out of me. I had never been good at flirting, especially with guys as hot as Josh. He was no Levi, sure, but he was already a helluva lot nicer than Levi.

“I checked in half an hour ago or so but forgot my toothbrush,” Josh replied. “I just came down to grab one from reception.”

He gave a dazzling smile that showcased his superb dental hygiene. His teeth were almost too white.

Val looped her arm through mine and pulled me forward. “Josh is a lawyer. He does a lot of the corporate stuff for my parents.”

“And you’re a wedding planner,” Josh said, fixing me with the full weight of his attention. “That is much more interesting.”

I laughed. “It has its moments.”

“Hopefully my cousin hasn’t been too much of a beast.” His lips quirked and he elbowed Val in the side.

She elbowed him right back. “We both know you’re the beast of the family.”

“Don’t listen to a word she says, Frankie,” Josh said. “I’m an absolute delight.”

I fluttered my lashes, enjoying the attention. “I’ll be the judge of that.”

The elevator doors slid open behind Josh, and Val immediately bounced away from us, tackling her fiancé in a hug before he made it two steps into the lobby. Beside Garrick, Levi wore his eternal frown. His eyes tracked through the room, as though searching for something. When they landed on me, they stopped.

For one brief second, our gazes locked and heat shot through my limbs. Levi was even sexier than I remembered, his broad, muscled frame tucked into a long wool pea coat, not a strand of his dark hair out of place. I swallowed. Then I remembered that I wasn’t alone.

Josh looked between Levi and me with an interested tilt of his brow, but he didn’t say anything. I turned back to him with a smile.

“Do you live in Portland?” I asked.

“No, I live in San Francisco, but I’m often in the city for work.” He thrust his hands casually into his pockets, leaning in a little closer to me. “Do you ever find your way down south?”

I shook my head. “Can’t say I’ve ever had a reason to.”

His eyes glimmered. “Perhaps by the end of this week, you will.”

Val and Garrick walked past us, heading for the front desk. Levi was just behind them, and as he walked past our eyes met again. It was only the briefest of glances, but it effectively turned my stomach to goo. I looked back to Josh and found him staring beyond me at Levi’s back.

“You and Levi Wheeler close?” Josh asked, looking back down at me.

I laughed. “No.”

“What’s with all the intense stares then?”

“It’s nothing.” I shrugged. “He’s just an intense kind of guy.”

Josh snorted, eyes crinkling at the corners with laughter. “No kidding.”

I glanced over my shoulder to where Garrick and Levi were checking in at the desk while Val hung off her fiancé’s arm with stars in her eyes. Levi stared at the receptionist like there was nobody else in the room.

“What are you doing this afternoon?” Josh asked, pulling my attention back to him.

“I’ve been trying to figure that out,” I replied.

Josh’s gaze flicked above my head for less than a second, then he directed his thousand watt smile at me. “Have lunch with me?”

“I would love to!”

“Excellent. Do you want to put your things away and meet me at the cafe in fifteen?”

“Sounds good.”

Josh patted me on the arm and walked to the desk for his toothbrush. I turned to find Val, Garrick, and a moody looking Levi strolling toward me.

Levi nodded in greeting. I nodded back.

“Hey Frankie,” Garrick greeted. “Long time no see.”

“Still rockin’ the kooky professor vibe,” I noted, gesturing to his baggy black cardigan and golf shirt.

Garrick winked. “Until the day I die.”

“You ready to head up?” Val asked.

I nodded. “After I drop my stuff off I’m having lunch with your cousin.”

Val cackled. “We’ve only been here a few minutes. You sure work fast, don’t you?”

“Hey, he asked me!”

Val and I retrieved our suitcases and the dress, heading for the elevator. Garrick and Levi followed close behind.

“You should definitely marry my cousin,” Val said. “What would that make our children? Second cousins?”

“Don’t get too ahead of yourself. It’s just lunch.”

“I don’t know about that,” Garrick piped up. “There was a dreamy look in his eyes.”

Garrick and Val joked about what our couple name would be the entire elevator ride, finally settling on Froshua just as the doors opened on our floor. It seemed harmless, so I didn’t stop them, but I couldn’t deny there was a certain tenseness emanating from Levi’s side of the elevator. I said goodbye to them in the hall and headed to my room to get ready for my lunch date.

Josh was waiting for me in the cafe when I came down ten minutes later. He stood to wave me over to a table at the back.

“Thanks for inviting me to lunch,” I said as we took a seat.

“Nonsense. I should be thanking you. I’m the first of my family to get here besides Val, and I thought I’d be spending the afternoon alone.” His lips curved into a smile. “Your beautiful face is a marked improvement on my own company.”

“I’m surprised you’re up here so early,” I said, blushing at his compliment. “The rest of the Fieldmans aren’t arriving until closer to the wedding.”

“I had some free time in my calendar, and I love to ski. Plus it was a good opportunity to spend some time with my favorite cousin, even if I am a little outnumbered.”

“Outnumbered?” I asked. “You mean by the Wheelers?”

He nodded. “I’m sure you’ve heard all about our rivalry.”

“I have. But Garrick’s a good guy, and the rest of the Wheelers are nice. At least, the ones I’ve met so far.”

He smirked. “Then you can’t have met the other brother.”

“What have you got against Levi?”

Josh snorted. “That guy’s a piece of work. Don’t you think so?”

I didn’t know what I thought of Levi these days. His grumpiness in the lobby shouldn’t have surprised me, but it didn’t feel right for this place. This hotel had served as both prison and sanctuary for us once upon a time, and it was impossible to sit in this cafe without remembering all the fun we’d had here together. It made me miss him.

“He has his moments,” I said finally. I left it up for Josh to decide whether those moments were good or bad.

“What he has is a superiority complex,” Josh replied. “He thinks he’s better than everyone and he doesn’t care who knows it. It’s disgusting.”

“Tell me how you really feel,” I joked, growing uncomfortable with the direction of the conversation.

“Sorry.” Josh smiled apologetically. “It’s in poor form to talk about a rival like that.”

“You guys take beer very seriously,” I remarked.

Josh’s gaze flitted over my face, returning to my eyes with steely intensity. “I wasn’t talking about the brewery.”

Woah. Smolder alert. My gaze dropped to the menu.

“Trust me, nothing for you to worry about there.”

“Good. He’s an asshole and you’re sweet.”

Levi isn’t an asshole, I wanted to say. Not really.

Levi might play the big scary lion, but he had a good heart under it all. I knew. I’d seen it. I’d listened to it beat as he rubbed gentle circles on my naked back.

But I didn’t say any of that. It would have been pointless to defend him, especially since letting myself hate Levi was probably my best option for surviving the next five days without going crazy.

Without finding an excuse to slip into his bed for the night.

“I’m glad you think so,” I said.

The waitress arrived and took our orders. When she left, I turned the conversation away from talk of Levi, or any of the Wheelers. We chatted about Josh’s firm, my business, and our mutual love of Portland’s rainy streets.

Josh was a good talker, and I enjoyed our lunch together, but something was missing. When he looked at me, I didn’t get the same electric thrill that I did just from being in the same room as Levi. But hey, he would be a good distraction—and it was more evident by the second that I was going to need one.