bridesmaid dress, her blond hair pulled back into a beachy bun. “Sam, just
consider yourself lucky I talked Mitchell into black tie optional for our wedding.”
Mitchell gave her a steady look. “It’s at the Plaza. We’re going to look like hobos
without it.”
Sam groaned. “How long do I have to prepare for that one?”
“Four months and twelve days,” Julie said, patting him on the arm. “But you
should probably start fretting now. As a groomsman, your black tie isn’t so
optional.”
Riley slid her hand over the back of Sam’s neck, letting her fingers toy with his
hair. “I think you’ll look hot in a tux.”
Emma sipped her mojito. “All guys look hot in a tux.”
Alex Cassidy, Oxford editor in chief and Jake’s best man, gave her a hooded
look. “Even me?”
She didn’t even bother to glance at her ex-fiancé. “Hard to say. The whole effect
is kind of ruined by your ego.”
The approach of Grace and Jake put a halt to another one of their ice-cold verbal
wars, although Riley noticed that Alex’s eyes stayed on Emma long after she’d
turned away.
Interesting. Very interesting.
“Don’t even think about it,” Sam muttered quietly in her ear.
“Think about what?”
“Matchmaker. You’re bad at it.”
“I matched up us.”
“Something I might start to regret if your dog destroys one more pair of my shoes.”
“What can I say?” Riley said, patting his cheek fondly. “Pippy has a fondness for
old sneakers from 1987.”
Sam’s eyes narrowed. “Did you put her up to it?”
Riley hid her smile as she stood to hug the bride and groom. “Grace, if you weren’t
my best friend, I’d hate you. You’ve ruined weddings for the rest of us, because
nobody will look as good in white as you do.”
Grace smoothed the skirt of her slim empire-waist dress. “Why, because I’m so
virginal?”
Jake snorted and earned himself a jab in the ribs.
“I’m thinking of getting married in green,” Riley said as she fixed the flower in
Grace’s hair. “Or maybe black. Ooh, or leopard print.”
“That should go nicely with the classic lilies we picked out,” Emma said, resting
her chin on her hands.
“Don’t get lilies,” Alex drawled. “Bad luck.”
Emma turned to glare. “They are not.”
“Yeah? How’d those carefully selected centerpieces work out for us?” Alex asked,
his voice every bit as cool as Emma’s.
“That’s not going to happen to us when we finally get to wedding planning, right?”
Sam asked, pulling Riley against him.
“Get to wedding planning?”
“The major stuff, I mean,” he hurriedly corrected.
“Oh, the major stuff. So the venue I’ve reserved, and the save-the-date cards I’ve
ordered … those were just, what? Trivial little details?”
“Abort. Abort,” Mitchell said through a cough.
Sam held up his hands in surrender. “If you want me to help, I will.”
“Say no, Ri,” Grace said, “You should have seen the cake Jake tried to sneak in
here. It was shaped like a whale. Literally.”
“Hey, it was huge. And more cake never hurt anyone,” Jake said.
“Hear, hear,” Riley said, raising her glass with genuine enthusiasm.
Julie gently put a hand on Riley’s wrist, forcing her arm down. “If we’re going to
do a toast at our best friend’s wedding, it needs to be about something other than
cake.”
“Why?” Riley asked.
Julie glared. “Get it together, McKenna. Despite all your fussing about being the
flower girl, you’re the maid of honor.”
“We’re all maids of honor—”
“Which I can tell was such a great decision,” Grace said sarcastically.
“I’ve got this,” Emma said, standing and giving the rest of the group a pointed
look until they all stood as well. “We’ll do the public toast later, but let’s do a quick
private one now. Fast, before Camille makes her way over here and makes good
on her promise to sing ‘On the Wings of Love.’ ”
“We’ve got some time,” Cassidy said. “I saw her asking one of the servers for
late-night swim lessons. And then her hands wandered.”
“Never mind the cake,” Riley muttered. “I just lost my appetite.”
“First time for everything,” Sam said.
Emma cleared her throat pointedly. “Ahem. Here’s to Jake and Grace. I can think