“Jason’s a player. I hope that this marriage lasts for him, but with the way his eyes keep straying around the room, I’m not seeing how it’ll happen.” Sammy paused. “That was kind of rude of me to say, wasn’t it?”

It was, but when it was the truth? Who knew? Maybe it was just something that was hard to swallow because you knew it was right. Even if you didn’t want to be.

“A bit.” Bourne looked at me. “You want a drink?”

I’d had cake, and that was only because someone had brought it over for Jamie, who said that she didn’t eat carbs during the week.

Whatever that meant.

I ate carbs all the damn time.

I was my sister’s official taste tester, too. So on any given day, I had at least one donut.

See, my sister owned a donut shop. But it wasn’t just any donut shop. My sister specialized in gourmet donuts as well as cutely decorated ones.

For instance, today’s set of donuts that she’d brought home were shaped like flip-flops.

Needless to say, I’d eaten the cake and had only stopped when I couldn’t stand the nuts on the outside of the cake.

Who the hell put nuts on a wedding cake?

“Umm,” I hesitated. “I’m okay. Thank you.”

He rolled his eyes but turned away from me to lift his chin up at Sammy. “Anything for you?”

He shook his head and I watched him go, wondering if I should’ve asked him if Sammy could give him a ride home.

“What’s that look for?” Sammy asked.

I blinked, turning my head so I could gaze up at him.

“What’s what?” I blinked innocently.

He grinned and gestured to my face with the bottle of beer that was in his hand.

“That look that said you’d rather run out of here screaming than wait for Bourne to get back,” he answered.

I sighed. I did have some problems when it came to infidelity.

My one and only boyfriend, when I was fifteen, had slept with my best friend. My best guy friend.

And that was how I acquired so many trust issues.

“I’m tired,” I admitted. “And this party is something else.”

This party was like a fuckin’ music club.

There was a DJ, along with hundreds of writhing bodies out on the dance floor. Along with those bodies were the bride and groom who were both dancing—but not with each other.

The groom was dancing with a female cop that I’d seen over here with Bourne and Sammy earlier in the night. And then there was the bride, who was dancing very close to a tall man that I’d seen before but couldn’t say where from.

“It’s weird,” Sammy agreed. “I think they have an open relationship. That’s the only way that I can see them marrying.”

I didn’t know what to say to that but was thankfully saved from having to when Bourne arrived with three bottles of beer.

He was missing his tux jacket, and he had his white sleeves rolled up to his elbows, showing off very muscular, tattooed forearms.

He handed one to me, one to Sammy, and kept one for himself.

“There’s a table open in the back corner,” he said. “I put my tux jacket down so nobody would sit there.”

“Oh, thank God,” Sammy muttered as he gestured to Bourne. “Lead the way. My knees feel like they’re going to break.”

“It’s the weather,” I said. “When the weather changes, my bones start to ache.”

We were getting a cool front.

That was the reason for all the inclement weather over the next twenty-four hours.

We were supposed to drop down to eighty degrees, which was unheard of for Texas this time of year.

“That must be why my foot hurts where I broke it,” Bourne said. “I hadn’t much thought about the why of it hurting until just right now.”

I’d heard him explain to Asa once how he’d hurt himself, which was why he hadn’t been able to go into the military like his brother, Booth.

When Asa had been born, I’d been very thankful for Bourne’s presence in Asa’s life.

Though he hadn’t always been there, it’d been enough that it’d kept Asa from freaking out every single time Booth was able to come home for long enough to spend time with our son.

It helped that Bourne and Booth were identical twins. That way, when Booth came home, he didn’t have to crawl into Asa’s good graces all over again.

Which I’m sure would really hurt Booth if he heard that Asa had called Bourne ‘daddy’ first.

Not that I’d ever admit that to Booth.

I didn’t want to break his heart any more than I already had.

Though I wasn’t in love with Booth, I respected him as a person. He was kind, intelligent, and attractive.

He was also the identical twin of the man that I did like.

So of course, I would never want to hurt him if I didn’t have to.

“Here,” Bourne said as he gestured for me to squeeze into the small corner.


Tags: Lani Lynn Vale SWAT Generation 2.0 Romance