Kate looked like a million bucks in her pink bridesmaid dress. She’d been nervous about it, but it hugged every curve of her in pink satin. It fit her perfect body in such a way that she had every male eye in the house following her around longingly. It was even worse than usual. I was actually a bit surprised that Emma let Kate look so hot at her wedding. If I were her, I’d be worried about the competition. Actually, I was the one who was worried about the competition. The many men that were ogling my fiancée were welcome enough to look, but only I was allowed to touch.

And I couldn’t seem to keep my hands off her (not that I was really trying). I’d never danced so much in my life as I did at Ward and Emma’s wedding reception, and it was all because I never wanted to stop touching Kate.

“I love you,” Kate said blissfully, kissing me when we took a short break from the dance floor at our table. Other women sweated, Kate glowed. I however, was sweating. Apparently being a professional athlete had not been adequate physical conditioning for dancing in a tuxedo.

“I love you too,” I told her feelingly, “more than you know. But do you think we could take a song or two off?”

Unexpectedly, she nodded. “Sure,” she answered. “I’ve got to go powder my nose anyway.” She sashayed away, and I savored my few moments of idleness with a deep sigh of relief.

“You two make me sick,” Lucas joked from my left. “I mean, I’m happy for you. And I’m happy for Ward and Emma, but still. Could you maybe try not to be so revoltingly cute, in love, and happy all the time?”

“Get out there and find someone to fall in love with,” I suggested, pointing at the crowded dance floor. There were lovely single women out there. Probably. Lucas had told me once himself that this town was full of them. In fact, I was fairly certain that he’d brought a date, but she was now nowhere to be found.

“I have,” Lucas said unexpectedly. My attention snapped from the dance floor to his face in surprise. “Her name is Victoria,” he continued to my annoyance, “and I’ve got a plan. I’m going to win her back.”

I resisted the urge to dissuade him, roll my eyes, or display any emotion that might get my head bit off. Instead, I just asked, “how?”

Lucas nodded his head toward an elegant redhead who was approaching our table from across the room.

“See her?”

“Yeah.”

“Her name is Rae. She’s my date.”

“Ok.” I failed to see the point of Lucas taking this attractive woman to a wedding when hung up on Victoria. I’m sure my confusion showed on my face. Lucas smirked at me and leaned forward conspiratorially.

“She’s not really my date. She’s part of the valuation team that’s performing due diligence on my app.”

“You brought her to the wedding?” I was confused. “What does that have to do with your app?”

“Nothing. But Rae is the key to winning back Victoria. Step one was establishing that we’re in a relationship to mutual friends.”

Oh no. A sinking feeling started in my stomach. Maybe I was wrong.

“And step two?” I barely even wanted to ask.

Lucas smiled. “Jealousy. Step two is jealousy.”

“Step three?”

“I let Victoria destroy Rae and I’s ‘relationship’ and get back with her.”

This plan was not good. This plan was going to backfire. I looked at Rae, who was still trying to fight her way through the crowded dance floor and over to our table and winced. Lucas was off his rocker. Somebody was gonna get hurt.

“You’re an idiot.” I told him. I could already see there was no way to slow this train down, but I felt obligated to at least try to talk sense into Lucas.

“Actually, I’m a genius,” Lucas replied. He took a sip of his champagne. “This is my plan. Therefore, it’s a genius plan.”

Rae was looking annoyed. She’d attracted several men who clearly wanted to dance with her, but she obviously wanted none of it. She said something to a man who’d placed a hand on her arm. It was inaudible to me, but it caused the entire group to step back and then scatter. The one who touched her ran off faster than a one-legged man in a butt kicking competition.

“You know,” I told Lucas seriously, “my uncle Jimmy has a saying about geniuses.”

“Oh yeah?” Lucas wasn’t really listening to me. He was watching Rae cut through the rest of the crowd like a knife through butter.

“Yeah. He told me one time that he’d met a few geniuses in his life. The problem, according to him, was that outside of their realm of expertise, most geniuses were so dumb that they couldn’t pour piss out a boot with the instructions written on the heel.”

Lucas smirked. “Thanks, but I’m not sure your uncle Jimmy’s hillbilly wisdom applies here. Don’t worry about me, Cole. I’ve got this all figured out.”

Sure you do, Lucas. Sure you do.