The warm feeling in my chest as I stared at Kaelynn gave me the answer. “Tell him to stop,” Tucker said.
Kaelynn glanced down at her phone and sent off a text, then looked back up to me. The way she looked at me made everything clearer. I was in love with her, and I was going to jump. Feet first and see where in the hell this took me. I could see the flush of her cheeks from across the church.
“Nash. Nash, please, don’t do this. Talk to her. Give her the chance to tell you. She might not be hiding anything at all. Nash, are you even listening to me?”
Tucker’s voice pulled me from the trance Kaelynn had over me. Turning, I faced Blake and pushed out a deep breath before I said, “Tell him to stop.”
With a sigh of relief, Tucker placed his hand on my shoulder. “That’s the right thing to do, dude.”
Blake stared at me in disbelief. “Man, are you sure?”
I swallowed hard, and I knew Blake saw it in my eyes. I wasn’t sure, not a hundred percent. But I needed to give Kaelynn the chance to tell me herself before I found something that would change everything.
“I’m sure.”
Turning, I made my way to the back of the church and to Kaelynn. Her head tilted as she regarded me carefully.
“Hey, are you okay?” she asked, lifting up on her toes to kiss me.
“I am now,” I replied, pulling her to me and holding her. “Let’s get to the rehearsal dinner so we can leave early and spend some time together.”
She grinned. “I like the sound of that.”
Dinner was at the Barton Creek Country Club, where the reception would be after the wedding. Terri’s father was part owner of the club and had reserved an entire room for the small group of us. Terri and Jim had wanted to keep it on the lighter side, so only family and those in the wedding were at the dinner tonight. Kaelynn had come as my guest and sat next to me, talking to Terri’s cousin, who was in the Marines. I was trying like hell not to think about what Blake had told me about Kaelynn. My mind went everywhere, though.
Why in the hell would she not use her real last name?
“So, Nash, Jim tells me you own a construction company and you are in architecture. How wonderful. Do you design custom homes as well?”
The woman sitting across from me was Jim’s aunt, Dorothy. I forced a smile as I answered her.
“We do. I actually designed and built Tucker’s home. His wife, Charlie, helped a lot with the design process, though. I’ve designed a few more homes, as well. I’m really just getting started on the design side of things.”
Dorothy raised a brow. “How exciting. Do you only build homes?”
“No, we’re actually working on a new apartment-and-retail complex going in on the east side of downtown Austin. It’s our company’s largest project right now. We have a few smaller ones going on, as well. A house and another buildout of a salon in south Austin, to name a few.”
“How exciting!” she gasped. “My husband likes to build things. Model trains and airplanes. Things of the sorts.”
Blake snickered next to me, and I hit him with my knee under the table.
“That’s great. My job is a bit different, but exactly the same concept.”
She smiled.
The night seemed to drag on. Charlie had whisked Kaelynn away from me every chance she had to introduce her to someone else. When she finally made her way back to me, she wore a sexy grin on her face.
“I’m ready to leave.”
“Are you now?” I asked, my brow arched. “And why the rush?”
“I haven’t seen you all week. It would be nice to just be alone for a bit.”
My body ached for her. I pushed the nagging voice in the back of my head away as I took her hand in mine. “Then let’s leave.”
“Don’t we need to let Terri and Jim know?” she asked.
“Nope.”