Should’ve Known It’s You (Not You Again #7)

Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

KENNEDY

G etting to this wedding had taken a lot of effort. I’d been up to my eyeballs with work—or rather, with trying to get my business off the ground, but to no avail—and driving back to Firefly Grove hadn’t really been in the cards.

Or in my budget.

After some penny pinching and a couple of weeks of burning the midnight oil so that I could take the weekend off, I’d finally made it here in one piece. And I was so glad that I had. All the effort had been completely worth it, and now that I was here, I couldn’t imagine not being at Jess’s side on her big day.

Another thing I couldn’t have imagined until it happened?

Developing a sudden, sharp, all-consuming, massive crush on Austin Merrick.

In my defense, the guy had grown up really well. I remembered him as a gangly, long-limbed awkward farmer boy with shaggy brown hair and big, puppy-dog brown eyes. He’d always smelled like hay and he’d worn head to toe denim every day of his life.

That had been a long time ago, though. Eighteen years, to be exact. My family and I had moved to Manhattan when I’d been twelve, which would’ve made Austin about sixteen at the time. If memory served, there had been a four-year gap between him and Jess, who I’d grown up with until my dad had decided to leave Firefly Grove.

In that time, Austin had transformed from the awkward farmer boy into a broad-shouldered man with a jawline that could cut glass and eyes that were less puppy dog and much more come here and let me show you what I can do .

And he smelled like money instead of hay.

While Jess and I had always stayed in touch, we hadn’t spoken much about Austin over the years. All I knew was that he didn’t live in Firefly Grove anymore either. I had no idea where he’d gone or what he was doing, though. Just that he hadn’t wanted to be a farmer and had moved away to pursue a different career.

As he dipped me down low and we danced, my heart fluttered. He brought me back up, pulling me flush against his chest, and heat broke out on my cheeks.

Gosh, who would’ve thought Austin Merrick had all this in him?

Sliding one arm around his shoulders, I brought a hand to the nape of his neck and held him to me, feeling hard muscle under his shirt as his body fused with mine. On every breath I took, I inhaled the slightly spicy, masculine scent of him, and when I closed my eyes, I felt like I might as well have been dancing at my own wedding.

Which was ridiculous, of course, but being in his arms with his heat enveloping me and the glorious scent of him pervading my senses, it just did all kinds of things to me. I didn’t know who he’d become in the years since I’d seen him last, but I was more than curious.

Too bad there was no sense in even asking. I already knew what this would be, if it turned out to be anything at all. A whirlwind wedding hookup. No more. No less.

And I’m okay with that.

My life was far too busy to fit a man into it, and more than that, I didn’t want a guy, either. The last one had done a number on me and I was still healing.

All in all, tonight, I was just enjoying some male attention that didn’t make me feel icky. The last few dates I’d been on had been disastrous. The thirty-plus crowd of men in the city either came with a ton of baggage, or they arrived with the intent to provide mediocre sex they seemed to feel the need to be praised for to infinity and beyond.

Austin, on the other hand, made me feel soft, pretty, and delicate.

I hadn’t felt this feminine in a long time, usually dressed in either business suits for pitches or just pajamas when I fell into planning for entire days at a time. It was a nice change tonight to be in a dress again, being held by a man who hadn’t yet reduced me to tears with his sob story or come on to me before we’d even finished our first drinks.

Plus, he was holding me tightly but gently. His movements were confident and powerful but his touch was thoughtful and considerate.

As the song drew to a close, he wound his fingers around my own and led me toward the bar. “Let’s go get a drink. It’s damn hot in here.”

I smiled, fanning my face with my free hand, but the real heat I felt wouldn’t be helped by a cool drink. Not unless he splashed it on my?—

No. Nope not going there.

“I’ll have a glass of white wine and a water, please,” I said.

“You got it,” he said, his voice so much lower and sexier than I remembered it being.

The sound of it sent a thrill through me, but I was distracted when I realized that Slate and Logan were still at the bar where Austin had gone to speak to them earlier. They smirked at us. I frowned at them, and they just chuckled and quickly made themselves scarce.

I glanced at Austin. “What was that all about?” I asked.

“No idea,” he said on a small shrug, shaking his head at them as they disappeared. “They’ve been acting real weird tonight. They both seem to think they have the secret to life now that they’re married. People in love are exhausting.”

I laughed and accepted the explanation. I didn’t know either of the men well enough to have any reason to doubt Austin’s opinion. I’d only met Slate after I’d arrived in Firefly Grove last night and Jess had introduced me to Logan and his wife, Mira, just a few hours ago after the ceremony.

“What do you think of the wedding so far?” Austin asked after ordering our drinks. He turned to face me at the bar, one of his arms on it while he still held my hand in a loose, casual grip with the other.

Our fingertips were just barely hooked on one another’s, and our touches were light, but I liked the gentle, almost playful way that the pads of his fingers toyed with my own. I smiled as I looked around, drawing in a deep breath before I looked back at him.

“It’s been perfect,” I said honestly. “I love that Jess stayed true to herself and decided to have it right here at Merrick Meadows. It must’ve been a lot of work fixing this old thing up, though. On the other hand, I haven’t been here for so long, I don’t even know if they fixed it up for the wedding or if they redid it ages ago.”

Austin cocked his head at me, eyes focused entirely on mine. “You haven’t been here for a long time, huh?”

I shook my head. “It’s been years. I don’t live in town anymore, but if there’s anything that would’ve made it worth coming back to Firefly Grove, it’s Jess’s wedding.”

His gaze remained on mine. “I don’t live in town anymore either.”

“Yeah, I heard something like that,” I said. “Whereabouts are you based now?”

“New York City,” he replied easily, those eyes moving slowly from one of mine to the other. “I’m out here every other weekend for family dinners and stuff, though, so I’m back in town pretty often.”

“It’s nice to hear your family is still as close as you’ve always been.” I felt my lips tugging into a wistful smile. “I always used to envy Jess for that.”

A slight crease appeared between his eyebrows as he kept looking at me like he was desperately trying to place me—and failing. At least that confirms that he doesn’t remember who I am.

A few seconds later, he finally blew out a breath and his features scrunched up before he shot me a sheepish smile. “Shit, I feel like an idiot, but I’m so sorry. I don’t think I remember you at all. I’ve been trying, and someone told me earlier that you grew up around here, but…” He trailed off and shrugged.

The bartender set my wine down. I reached for it and took a sip before I gave Austin a devious little smile. Honestly, I didn’t blame him for not remembering me. I definitely couldn’t state as an absolute fact that I would’ve been able to place him if our roles had been reversed. Besides, it was a bit fun to watch him struggle. He gave the impression that he rarely ever did.

“Kennedy,” I said after dragging out the moment for as long as I could without making it awkward. “Everyone calls me Kenny.”

Austin’s eyes remained blank for a second, and then I suddenly saw the light come on as he grinned. “Kenny Sweet . Right, I remember you now. You were always hell on wheels, if I’m not mistaken. Aren’t you the one who got Jess into racing against the boys?”

I laughed. “I might’ve been. Or she got me into it. I don’t really remember.”

“Yeah,” he said, his eyes slightly glazed over with thought before he chuckled and blinked it away. “Yeah. No, I definitely remember you now. My old man didn’t like you hanging around with her. She always seemed to get into a lot more trouble when you were around. Didn’t you guys steal the tractor when you were, like…”

“Eleven,” I finished for him when he trailed off. “We did, yeah. We thought we could make the engine run faster.” I giggled, feeling myself turn bright red at the memory. “I swear, I’m a lot tamer than I used to be.”

“That’s a real shame.” Austin chuckled, his gaze lowering to roam over me again, but slower this time, like he was trying to reconcile the way I looked now with the preteen he remembered. “You were a lot of fun back in the day. A lot of trouble too.”

He brought his gaze back to mine and I realized it was smoldering now. My insides squirmed. Clearly, he liked what he saw when he looked at me, and I understood, considering that I felt the exact same way about him.

Staring back at him, I was suddenly itching to get him alone. Sure, he was Jess’s big brother, but he was also a wildly attractive, ruggedly sexy, hopefully single man and I’d been working much too hard for way too long.

Besides, it wasn’t like she would ever find out if something happened between us. Austin Merrick and I probably wouldn’t see each other for at least another eighteen years after this, and by then, we’d probably both be married and starting our families.

The way I saw it, this was my one chance to have a bit of fun with him before we both went back to our own lives—and fun had been in short enough supply for me lately that I would jump at any chance to have it.

Especially if it meant jumping on a guy who looked and smelled like him.