My chin lifted and I had to lean my head all the way back just to meet Cash’s deep blue eyes. At barely five foot two most people were taller than me, so I was used to it. Cash stood an impressive six foot four so even with my four-inch heels he still towered over me.
His dark hair and olive skin were a stark contrast to his crisp white dress shirt and a charcoal gray neck-tie. The only tattoos visible were the ones peeking out from his collar on his neck. My eyes locked on one in particular of an eagle’s wings.
“Hi.” My mouth watered as I imagined what it would be like to kiss him on his eagle.
When he didn’t answer I tore my gaze from his sexy neck and saw that his eyes were running the length of my body. I could feel his stare like a physical touch. He seemed in no rush as his gaze slowly traveled up and down. By the time his eyes met mine again, my heart was pitter-pattering so loud I was sure that the entire wedding party could hear it.
He blinked and cleared his throat. “We just got an update from Hank. He’s on his way. We’re going to start in about fifteen minutes.”
His deep voice caused my insides to go all gooey and I heard myself giggle like a schoolgirl as I said, “K.”
My reaction caused his forehead to wrinkle with concern. “Are you okay?”
“I’m great!” I flinched as soon as my shouted response hit my eardrums.
“You said fifteen minutes?” I heard Reagan ask from behind me.
For the first time all day, I detected stress in her voice. Or maybe it was just excitement.
“Fifteen,” Cash confirmed looking over my shoulder at her. When his attention returned to me, my heart leapt into my throat and my cheeks heated. He had a way of looking at me that made every cell in my body tingle even when I hadn’t had three mimosas. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
Since I didn’t trust myself to speak at an appropriate volume my only response was a thumb’s up.
A thumb’s up?!I internally facepalmed.
Was there anything unsexier than a thumb’s up?
Quickly, I lowered my thumb and arm and tried not to do anything else that would be filed in the unsexy category, you know like swallowing a burp or giving a thumb’s up.
Cash’s kissable lips pulled up into the bad boy half-grin that always served to make my ovaries ache before he turned and walked down the hallway. I stood at the door, watching him go and my eyes shot straight to his backside. I couldn’t help myself. He had a nice booty, one that I’d actually seen women bounce quarters off at my family’s bar that he managed.
“You hate to see him go, but you don’t mind watching him leave,” Nadia commented beside me as she reached up to grab Reagan’s wedding dress that had been hanging on a sconce beside the door that I was shutting.
I nodded in agreement and turned around when I heard a phone buzz.
“It’s Jimmy,” Isabella announced as she stared down at her screen. “He says to turn on the TV. Clancy Grant is going live out front and it’s not local, it’s national.”
Reagan grabbed the remote and turned the TV on. “What channel?”
“Channel four,” Isabella responded.
The wedding being postponed while we waited for my oldest brother Hank to arrive wasn’t the only wrinkle in my brother and Reagan’s happy day. What was supposed to be a small wedding in my brother’s backyard had turned into a media circus.
My brothers were sort of, well, infamous thanks to a family curse put on the male bloodline of our family. I had nothing to worry about since I was a female and not only that, it turned out that the man I believed was my father wasn’t even my biological father. Technically, I wasn’t a Comfort at all.
On the large flatscreen, a news anchor sat behind a desk and spoke directly to the camera. “And now we’re going live to Firefly Island, Georgia where our very own Clancy Grant is covering the wedding day of Billy Comfort who was scheduled to walk down the aisle four hours ago. Clancy, any update on whether the wedding is going to happen or has the curse struck again?”
The next frame on the big screen television was a live shot right outside Billy and Reagan’s house.
The gorgeous brunette reporter stood in front of my brother’s fence. “Thanks, Mark. I’m here in Firefly Island, Georgia.” The camera panned around to the coastline that my brother’s property faced. “This small, coastal community nicknamed the Jewel of the South boasts a modest population of less than five thousand but draws close to half a million tourists a year. The island is known for its quaint downtown area comprised of both historic and arts districts, breathtaking beaches that are lit up nightly with lightning bugs, deep-sea fishing, the tallest Ferris wheel in the East on Firefly Pier, and Abernathy Manor, an estate that has been featured on several paranormal investigation and reality shows for being haunted.”
The camera landed once again on Clancy. “Legend has it that Lucille Abernathy had a forbidden affair that ended in a secret engagement to Phillip Bruce Comfort, a longshoreman who was beneath her station. When her affluent family learned of her betrothal they demanded that she call off her engagement at once or be disowned and disinherited. When faced with that heart-breaking ultimatum young Lucille risked it all choosing love over family.”
“I can’t believe this is making national news.” Reagan shook her head, her eyes glued to the screen.
“It’s because of that fucking Netflix show,” Nadia commented.
A few months back, my brothers had given an interview in a documentary called “What is Love?” that streamed on Netflix discussing the curse. The doc skyrocketed in popularity which was seen worldwide and the Comfort Curse had gone from being a local superstition to gaining international interest overnight.