Chapter 1

1

LEXIE

F uck the Ambers, both of them. Fuck Violet, who’d made my life miserable since kindergarten. And fuck my best friend Gia for having them in her wedding in the first place.

I thought I’d gotten past all that mean girl stuff when I moved out of my suburban town, taking a job in the big city of Nashville. Then my best friend from high school announced she was getting married, and now here I was, walking around on a gigantic luxury liner, fighting back tears as I remembered the hateful words I’d overheard about how my bridesmaid gown fit.

“That girl looks like she’s hiding two beach balls under that dress,” Violet whispered to Amber B. in the bathroom, not realizing I was in one of the stalls.

“Yeah, it wouldn’t hurt her to skip the buffet and head to the salad bar,” Amber said.

My mom always said some people are just ugly inside, and she was right. But thinking of her threatened to bring tears to the surface. I’d been keeping them at bay since meeting up with these women at the hotel near the departure port a couple of days ago. My mom died when I was a freshman in college and I still hadn’t gotten over it.

Opulent Oasis Martini Bar.

The sign up ahead stopped me in my tracks. I didn’t drink, ever. I’d never even tried it. I’d grown up in a very religious household, and I’d gone to a religious private school, where I’d met my best friend Gia, the bride.

No one in the bridal party believed in drinking. We’d just gotten through a wedding at sea, as well as a reception, without a drop of alcohol anywhere in sight. Even Gia would be appalled if the idea of champagne was mentioned.

A smile slowly spread across my face. Yeah, fuck all of them, including Gia.

I stopped just inside the doorway, giving my eyes a second to take in the scene in front of me. The place was mostly empty, which probably wasn’t unusual for four in the afternoon. It was that weird time of day when people headed back to their rooms to get ready for dinner.

As I scanned the room, I spotted a guy sitting at the bar, probably getting a drink while his wife gambled at the casino or hung out at the slot machines. Or shopped. I’d worked as a salesclerk at a touristy gift shop in college. I knew the drill.

I went straight to an empty stool at the opposite end of the bar from the guy. I didn’t even make eye contact, instead pulling out my phone, but I could see out of the corner of my eye that he was hot. I didn’t dare look closer to see just how hot.

I didn’t even bother thinking about him. My curves for days meant guys like him were for my friends, not me. Besides, I’d already determined he was likely married.

“It looks like we’re going to have to make our own drinks,” the guy said.

His voice tore my attention off the social media feed I’d just pulled up. I’d planned to take a look at the pictures Violet had been posting since we got here. I needed to check to make sure she hadn’t deliberately tagged me in anything unflattering. It wouldn’t be the first time.

But as soon as my eyes landed on the guy’s face, all the breath whooshed out of me. This guy was beyond hot. He had a stocky build and short, dark hair. So short it made me wonder if he was in the military.

But why would a soldier be on a cruise ship, sitting in a bar by himself? That made no sense.

The guy nodded toward the area behind the bar. “I’ve been sitting here for about twenty minutes and no one’s shown up. Do you know how to make a Moscow mule?”

Eyes widening, I immediately looked down at my dress. It was the ugly sort of bridesmaid dress I’d expected, and it was particularly unflattering on me. My cleavage was showing far more than I thought it would—something that seemed to scandalize my friends. It was Gia’s fault for picking out something that looked good on her maid of honor, Violet, so-so on the Ambers, and horrible on me.

I was all too aware that if I stood and went behind the bar, the hot guy would see this ugly dress. From the way the bar wrapped around, he couldn’t see below my chest.

“I’m sure there’s a server we could grab or something,” I said.

I looked around. Not an employee in sight. Since it was dead in here, maybe they’d all taken a break at the same time.

“So what’s your story?” he asked. “I’m guessing you were in that wedding that happened earlier today? I was going to climb the rock wall, but they’d closed off that area.”

Were we the only wedding on this cruise? It was possible. I hadn’t seen signs of any bachelorette parties or anything.

“How did you know I was in a wedding?” I asked. “It’s the dress, isn’t it?”

Had he peeked at me when I was climbing on the stool? Probably. I was a little mortified to think he’d noticed it. This dress was not my best look.

“The puffy sleeves,” he said. “And is that…silk?”

“I think it’s polyester.” I shrugged. “It was a four hundred dollar dress that I’ll only wear once.”

He narrowed his eyes at me. Was he studying me? Trying to figure out what idiot would pay hundreds of dollars for a dress she’d only wear once? Someday he’d probably be asked to serve as a groomsman in a wedding, and he’d do the same thing. Rental tuxes couldn’t be all that much cheaper.

“You can get back at the bride when you get married,” he said. “Unless you’re married already.”

Was that his way of asking if I was available? I was trying to take a peek at his left ring finger to see if he was married, but he had it folded on the bar top in front of him.

“Not married.” I shook my head. “Not even dating anyone. I’m still trying to figure out what I’m going to do for a living. I need to get that squared away first.”

I left out the part where I’d graduated from college a full year ago and had drifted from temp job to temp job, working as a customer service representative, a front desk receptionist, and more.

“You aren’t alone there,” he said. “I just came out of the military. Decade-long stint. I don’t even know what city I want to live in. A bunch of buddies have moved up to the mountains. I may join them there.”

That sounded amazing. Waking up every morning with the smell of crisp mountain air and beautiful views… But mostly I liked it because it would be far, far away from people like Violet.

“Gatlinburg’s pretty nice,” I said.

His eyes widened at that. “My buddies have been trying to talk me into moving to East Tennessee,” he said. “Not Gatlinburg, though. Another mountain town. Rosewood Ridge?”

Now I was the one narrowing my eyes. Not to study him, but to try to place the name.

“Rosewood Ridge?” I asked. “Never heard of it.”

“It’s not quite as touristy as Gatlinburg, but it’s getting a little crowded,” he said. “My buddy heads up their volunteer fire department, so he’s trying to get me there to help. But I’d have to make a living somehow.”

“I wouldn’t think there would be a lot of jobs in mountain towns,” I said. “Unless you worked in a restaurant or shop, maybe a hotel. They have a lot of log cabins.”

What was I going on about? The log cabin comment had me imagining him shirtless, wielding an ax as he worked hard chopping down trees to build one. Man, that would be hot. He’d come inside after working hard all morning and take me on the kitchen table. Dirty, sweaty sex. The kind of sex where we couldn’t get enough of each other. We couldn’t even wait until we’d showered. We had to have each other immediately.

I sat up straighter in my seat, worried he could read my thoughts. This was not like me at all. I was a virgin. All my friends were. We didn’t drink, smoke, have premarital sex, or even get into make-out sessions with our boyfriends. I’d never even had a real boyfriend. I wasn’t allowed to go on solo dates with guys, which made it hard to get serious about anyone. Especially since I always put the brakes on the physical stuff.

“You know what? Fuck it.”

Those words from the hot guy pulled me out of my thoughts. He was on his feet and walking around to my side of the bar before I had a chance to respond.

“What do you want to drink?” he asked.

My heart was pounding so hard, I thought it might break through my chest wall. I’d been sure he was coming over to grab me and pull me into a passionate kiss. Like something straight out of the movies.

But of course he wouldn’t do that. He was a gentleman. He’d want consent first. He had my consent. One hundred and ten percent.

“Surprise me,” I said, mostly to disguise the fact that I had no idea what kind of drink I liked. Unless it was water with lemon squeezed into it. Or the occasional sweet tea. But that made me think of something. “How about a Long Island tea?”

It was something I’d heard of in college. It sounded yummy and perfectly in line with my sweet tea craving.

“You’ve got it,” he called out as he disappeared through the door next to the bar.

He emerged behind the bar seconds later. That was when I got a good look at the part of him I hadn’t seen yet.

Oh yeah, this guy was a bona fide hunk. No way would he ever be interested in me. But I could fantasize about it for a minute. A little fantasy never hurt anyone, right?