Jamie Farrell

“Her eyes slid closed, her secret places pulsed in anticipation, and his lips settled onto the skin beneath her ear. That was magic. She held perfectly still. He pressed a kiss to her neck. Then another, lower. A third, even lower. She squirmed. He dropped his hands. “Sorry. I---“ “Don’t stop,” Kimmie whispered.”

“You wanna go see my old bedroom?”“Is that a pickup line?”“Come on inside and you’ll find out.”How was a girl supposed to resist an offer like that?”

“A fake ring. A fake engagement. Fake love. Everything was fake. Shiny and put together on the outside, empty on the inside.”

“They don't like my kind in here," Arthur said to CJ...I own a shop on The Aisle. Huck there" - Arthur nodded at the barkeep - "isn't a fan of the wedding industry.""Why not?""Guy's been divorced three times and has a bar called Suckers in the most married-est town on earth. He caters to the underground wedding haters and single groomsmen.”

“I am so not kissing you tonight,” she informed him.He chuckled softly. And if she thought his smile wasdangerous, his chuckle should’ve been classified as a biologicalweapon. Sin in a sound wave.“But now you’re thinking about what it would be like, ain’tyou?” he said.“Only my stupid parts.”

“Josh squeezed her arm. “I’ll behave,” he murmured. “For now.” She’s going to pickle your cucumbers.” “He has more than one?” Natalie whispered. “That’s between me and Kimmie,” Josh replied.”

“But he knew how to kiss a woman until she needed his kisses more than she needed to breathe. Until her bones melted. Until she gave him exactly what he wanted.”

“Your mother can’t hear you here.” “Distance is no match for my mother’s eavesdropping and mind-reading skills.” “I had steel anti-mind-reading plates installed this week. Specially designed to be Marilyn-proof. Also sounds an alarm if she gets within two hundred yards of the building, and I sent the guards downstairs to ninja training. You’re safe.”

“You could make friends with a possessed unicorn, couldn’t you?”“Probably so. We both fart rainbows.”

“He looked up from the paper he was scribbling on and offeredher a lopsided grin. “Hey, sweet pea. You bring me anythingspecial?”The lopsided bit wasn’t odd, but there was something forcedabout it. “Got a fresh bag of cat food outside.” Cat food that she’dbought with the twenty he’d left to pay for his ice cream.He pushed his makeshift drum set aside and rose with astretch. “Words every man dreams of hearing. Make my night ifyou say you got catnip too.”She tried not to giggle. She tried hard.But she couldn’t help herself. “Extra strength,” she said.This time, his grin came out bigger, less forced. “Woman ofmy dreams.”“In your dreams,” she said.”

“She was the only one who made him hear music. The only one who made him feel home. The only one who wanted nothing more than for him to be plain, simple Will Truitt.”

“Some days, Will wished he could’ve been like Mikey. Living it up, having fun, embracing the moment. But Will had never been the kind who could keep his heart out of it.”

“That was his biggest regret. He loved playing for aliving, loved hearing his songs on the radio, loved being on a stage and the road, but some days, he wouldn’t have minded going home every night to a sweet wife and a couple babies and fried chicken on the table. That was what Lindsey had taken from him. He’d fallen hard. He’d seen what his momma must’ve felt for his daddy, he’d felt his world crack right down the middle when the girl who hadbecome his everything ripped his heart out of his chest.”

“He was sort of Kimmie’s boss. And he wasn’t just a thorn in General Mom’s side – he was a whole stinking rosebush. If the rosebush were six feet of hunky, cake-blaspheming, rich playboy.”

“What, was there something special in your ice cream?” he said like an ass.“Estrogen,” she said. “You might notice some swelling in your boobs and shrinkage in your package for a few days.”

“Cinna slid down the bar, sassing three groomsmen andwinking at a fourth on her way.“I totally get why some animals eat their young,” Pepper said.”

“She was his, but she wasn’t.I don’t do love, she’d said.But with her, he didn’t know any other way. Even when hewanted to protect himself, he knew. She was the only one who made him hear music. The only one who made him feel home. The only one who wanted nothing more than for him to be plain, simple Will Truitt.”

“I'm fine," she said. "I'm just hiding from the Queen General and her latest poster boy.""The Queen General?" Which one of his sisters fit that description?More like which one didn't."Queen General Marilyn," his visitor said. "Supreme ruler of Bliss and chairperson of Knot Festival."The words 'Knot Festival' twisted CJ's stomach, and the room seemed to climb ten degrees hotter. He tugged at his bow tie. The woman kept talking...Marilyn rewrote the Golden Husband Games rules so her Exalted Widower is eligible to be named Husband of the Half Century. And you know what? He's the reason my husband left me.”

“They hadn’t been good months. About as ugly as a wet warthog and as messed up as a bumblebee in a snowstorm.”

“He was the most handsome nightmare she had ever met.”