The Road to Rose Bend, Naima Simone [jenna bush book club .TXT] 📗

over the crowd of vendor booths. Oh, what she wouldn’t give right now to describe this pressure steadily gathering against her rib cage as elation.

But she would be deceiving herself as well as the people gathered to celebrate her and Cole’s nuptials. The least she could do was admit that anxiety and unease coursed through her. No matter how big a smile stretched her face. That was for show so no one else guessed that inside she trembled with worry.

Worry over Cole regretting his decision.

Worry over if her parents and his family would accept this marriage.

Worry over her rash behavior.

The last one caused her smile to waver for a moment before she firmed it up. How many times had her reckless and impulsive choices affected and hurt those she loved? Carlin. Because of her refusal to donate part of her kidney, her sister had died. Her parents. Carlin’s resultant death had destroyed their family. Daniel. She should’ve never married him in the first place. She’d been too young.

And now, possibly her baby.

Cole’s arguments in favor of this marriage of convenience—Jesus, she couldn’t suppress a disbelieving chuckle even as she thought the words—had swayed her. They’d been valid. Marriage to him would counter Daniel’s reasons for seeking custody of their baby. She possessed zero doubts Cole would make a good husband. After all, he’d been loyal, kind and loving to Tonia.

And wasn’t that the crux of why her stomach churned while she’d recited vows to love, cherish and honor him? He’d sworn these same vows years ago to the woman he loved. He could never honestly give them to Sydney. As he’d admitted in his living room a week ago. She was consigning herself to a future of being second in someone’s heart. Oh no, he would never neglect or hurt her. At least not intentionally. But all her life, she’d never been a priority. Not for her parents—true, Carlin’s illness and medical treatment had come first, and rightly so. And unless Sydney was giving blood, tissue or an organ, she’d always felt like an afterthought, a Plan B, for her parents. And with Daniel, his career had taken precedence.

She didn’t know what it felt like to be a priority in someone’s life. In their heart.

But oh God, had she always dreamed about it.

Craved it.

It wasn’t meant for her. Because when it came down to it—when the choice was between her needs and her baby’s welfare and happiness—there wasn’t a choice. Her daughter came first.

So, she’d agreed.

She’d settled for affection and sex.

Her cheeks heated and standing amid the hundreds of people celebrating their nuptials and the rally, she forced herself not to fan her face. Just the memories of how he’d kissed her, touched her...

Jesus.

She’d lit up like a torch dipped in kerosene as soon as his mouth crashed to hers. Desire and embarrassment collided and she sipped from the glass of cold lemonade Cole had pressed into her hand just after they finished taking pictures.

Desire, because, whoa. The kiss the first night of the rally hadn’t prepared her for the conflagration that had leveled her on his couch. She’d experienced good sex—even great sex—with Daniel. But what amounted to heavy petting had obliterated her preconceived notions of “great sex.” And Cole hadn’t even been inside her yet.

She might not survive that “yet.”

Her fingers tightened around her glass and her thighs tightened around the empty ache.

Embarrassment, because she’d shown her hand, revealed her vulnerability to him. She’d begged him to touch her. Now he knew how much she wanted him. She couldn’t deny it. She’d basically just given him her weakness.

With her safety, her protection, her child? She unquestionably trusted him.

But with her feelings? No.

And she knew with a clarity that carried heavy resignation, that the more she had sex with him, was intimate with him, the more she placed her own heart in jeopardy.

But again...her daughter was worth any risk.

And Sydney had to guard her heart. Remember who she was fighting for. And believe Cole when he told her he couldn’t be more than her friend and lover.

“You okay? Do you need to sit down?” Cole murmured in her ear. To an onlooker, it might appear as if he were whispering something sweet to his new wife. And for the sake of her pride, she hoped that’s how it seemed. If anyone knew the truth... Jesus, she couldn’t handle the pity or being the topic of hot gossip.

Well, any more gossip.

“No, I’m fine.” She turned the wattage up on her smile. “I can’t believe you got all of this together in such a short amount of time. I mean, even a photographer?”

He winked. “I’m mayor.”

“Which means, what exactly?” she teased. “You have the goods on everybody to make them comply with your wishes?”

“That’s called blackmail.” He arched an eyebrow. “Besides, in a town this size, where everybody knows everybody’s business, I couldn’t find any dirt that isn’t already common knowledge.”

She shrugged a shoulder. “True.”

“To answer your question, though, I have six brothers and sisters and wonderful parents. The people I don’t know, they do. Between all of us, we got the impossible covered.”

“Do they know about...us?” she asked quietly. Leo did. Sydney couldn’t have held that truth back from her friend. The other woman had been mad as hell at Daniel and surprisingly accepting of the “arrangement” Sydney had decided to enter into with Cole. Hell, Leo had even insisted on standing up with Sydney as her maid of honor. So, yes, Leo knew.

But the rest of the Dennison clan...

He hesitated, then pinched her chin and tilted it back. “Yes,” he said, his voice incredibly—terribly—gentle. “I was honest with them because they love me and had questions and concerns. And because they love you, too, and want to be our support system. I had a difficult time convincing Moe that she could not drive down to North Carolina and ‘handle’ Daniel, but after that crisis passed, everyone was adamant about being in this with us. You’re family, and no one