Icing on the Cake - Karla Doyle Page 0,1

dozen feet away. Time to wedding rehearsal—two minutes. Conspicuously absent—the maid of honor.

“Shit.” Conn muttered the curse under his breath as he joined Curtis on one of the small church’s front pews. “Any chance you brought your handcuffs this weekend?”

Curtis raised an eyebrow at his brother. “Maybe. You looking to start the honeymoon early?”

Conn laughed. Just once, a short burst, but it drew inquisitive looks from everybody assembled. Including Nia. Conn smiled at his bride-to-be while answering Curtis’ question. “Every day is like a honeymoon.”

Should have seen that one coming. The guy’s love-struck grin seemed to be in permanent residence on his face. Curtis was happy for his brother, he really was, but Conn and Nia were sweeter than a cup of sugar. And as a rule, Curtis preferred spicy.

The odds of Curtis landing anything spicy this weekend barely registered on the scale. Not in Nia’s hometown with its population of a few thousand—on a busy day. But he wasn’t here to pick up. Even if that was the only good thing to come out of most weddings, in his experience.

“Who do you want restrained?” he asked. “One of Nia’s ex-boyfriends?”

“Ha. Nope. Somebody closer to home. Nia’s sister—if she ever shows up.” Conn spoke low enough to keep the conversation private, his clean-shaven jaw ticking in the process. “I can’t believe she’s doing this.”

“From the bits and pieces you’ve told me, screwing up the festivities sounds right up her alley.”

Conn grunted and clasped his hands behind his head. “Sara’s a handful, no question. But I honestly thought she’d keep her shit in check for the wedding. She and Nia have a pretty solid relationship, hard as that is to believe, given their differences.”

“If you say so, man.”

It’d been a year and a half since fate—or more specifically, car trouble and bad weather—had brought Conn and Nia together. In that time, there’d been several occasions where the Lawler and Chambers families had mixed. Sara hadn’t attended. Not even Christmas dinner at her sister’s house. Sara’s family didn’t make excuses on her behalf, nor did they seem upset. Instead they affectionately tossed around terms such as “free-spirited” and “nonconformist.”

Well, the free-spirited nonconformist better walk through the church doors, stat. Anybody who got in the way of his brother’s happiness, especially this weekend, would be answering to Curtis. Badge and handcuffs not required for that job.

“You didn’t bring a date for the wedding,” Conn said, interrupting Curtis’ internal threats toward a woman he’d never met.

“Nah. With the wedding all the way up here, that would’ve meant spending an entire weekend together at the various family-bonding events. An invitation like that tends to send the ‘this is serious’ message.”

Conn stretched his arms along the top of the church pew while nodding. “Gotcha.”

“Yeah.” He didn’t have to explain it further. His brother knew that Curtis didn’t have anything against commitment itself, he just didn’t have much faith in it lasting. He’d seen too many of his buddies, especially the cop ones, fall victim to the big D.

“Since you’re flying solo this weekend, I need a favor.”

“Spending tomorrow in a monkey suit isn’t favor enough? Especially after that overly friendly tailor at the tuxedo-rental place got a little too much enjoyment out of measuring my inseam?”

One of Conn’s patented grins took over his face. “Did you check the pockets yet? He might’ve slipped you his number.”

“Whatever, man.” He issued Conn a friendly shot to the ribs. “How you, the totally unavailable groom-to-be, got the hot Asian chick to measure you while I got stuck with the grabby-hands guy, I have no fucking idea.”

“Was she hot? I didn’t notice.”

Oh man, he was serious. Love had put blinders on his brother. Big time.

“Ten out of ten,” Curtis said, shaking his head. “So, what’s the favor?”

Conn’s smile thinned. “Keep an eye on Sara. Make sure she doesn’t cause any trouble.”

“Babysitting detail.”

“Yeah.”

“Is she that bad?”

“I hope not,” Conn said as the church’s front door slammed and all heads turned toward the entryway from the vestibule.

Call him fucked-up, but one look at the dark-haired beauty who’d just strutted into the building, and Curtis kinda hoped Sara lived up to her troublemaker reputation.

Sara

There were only nine people in the church, but every eye in the place was trained on her. Which was how Sara liked it—usually. Not this time. Not when the attention resulted from her late arrival to her sister’s wedding rehearsal. Worse—the looks on her family’s faces. Relief on Nia’s. Disappointment on her parents’. Conn looked plain-old pissed off.

With her