Then there were the dogs that were shut in Chelle’s room with her as she got ready for her walk down the aisle, but barking their heads off because the living room was filled with Becketts talking loud, trying to coax the cat down, and offering Nash pre-wedding advice he didn’t need because this was an arrangement, not a forever. He’d managed to ditch them all—at least as much as he could in a packed living room—when his mom started sharing memories of her wedding night.

There wasn’t enough bleach in the world to erase that from his brain, and just as horrible Dixon and Griff were headed right toward him, looking exactly like they had that time when they were twelve and triple-dog dared him into spending the night in the supposedly haunted tower at Gable House. Nash had no idea what those two were up to now, but he knew it wasn’t going to be good. Thank fuck, he was saved when Chelle’s friend Karmel clapped her hands.

“If I can have everyone’s attention,” she said as she made her way over to the fireplace, where the ceremony would take place. “The show is about to start.”

While everyone settled into their chairs arranged so there was an aisle that led from Chelle’s bedroom door to the hearth, Nash took his place up front, next to Karmel. Chelle’s friend was wearing what looked like a vicar’s costume from some British TV show where there was a grizzly murder every episode, and he couldn’t help but think that Grandma Betty would have approved. She was a woman who liked making a statement.

“You know,” Karmel said, keeping her voice low so that only he could hear. “They say that when a woman gets to a certain point in her life, she stops having one-night stands and instead has auditions. Just something to keep in mind when you turn around to see your bride.”

She pressed the play button on her phone, and the wedding march started playing through the Bluetooth speaker. Nash didn’t bother to wait to turn around. Looking past his family, he sucked in a breath when he saw Chelle standing in the open doorway, flanked by her pugs who were in doggie formal wear. Chelle had skipped the veil and had left her dark hair down. Her pale-pink lace dress clung to her curves and stopped just below her knees. That was all it took for Nash to start to wonder how in the hell he could get an audition.

The pugs pranced around her feet as Chelle walked up the aisle, making their crystal-encrusted leashes sparkle in the sunlight coming in through the apartment’s big windows. By the time she got all the way up the aisle to stand next to him, the dogs had circled their leashes around her calves enough that she was taking tiny little steps.