As her brother kissed his wife before their friends and family, Casey let her tears of happiness fall, and soon the guests were clapping and cheering, and the quartet was playing again.

She felt a hand on hers, then fingers threading through hers, then a voice in the ear. “What if the best man wants to kiss the bridesmaid?”

“She’d say yes.”

They kissed too.

32

New York, two weeks later . . .

Nate tugged at his tie, wishing he could yank the damn thing off, and shed the whole jacket and suit too, just wear shorts and a T-shirt to his board meeting.

He headed up Lexington as the sticky July heat pelted the sidewalks and the city sweltered under the weight of the sun’s punishment. He pushed his sunglasses on the bridge of his nose, and walked quickly around a group of teenagers sucking on iced drinks. Glancing at his watch, he ran a quick review of the day’s agenda in his head. In a word: packed. He’d just gotten off the phone with Jack, thanking him for making the necessary European intros that Nate had asked for at the rehearsal dinner. He’d need to make some final calls on that front next. Then, he had a board meeting all day, a Skype call scheduled with his Las Vegas property manager, and finally he’d get to see Casey. That was his reward, and what he longed for most. He’d just returned late last night from a four-day trip to New Zealand, and couldn’t wait to have her in his arms again.

But first, he’d promised Ethan he’d grab a cup of coffee. The man had called him that morning and said he desperately needed to run an idea past him. He’d sounded worn thin. Ethan said he was catching up on emails at a diner so Nate had told him he’d stop by for a few minutes. It was on the way to the meeting, and he figured it was the least he could do for the guy. Ethan had been busting his ass. He’d always been a hard worker.

Pushing open the door to Sunnyside Diner, he scanned quickly for Ethan, spotting him in a booth at the back. He had his laptop open, and papers spread across the table.

As Nate slid into the orange upholstered booth on the other side, Ethan did a quick sweep of the papers, grabbing everything as best he could and piling it on top of his computer. “Sorry. I’ve been working here all morning. I kind of took over the space.”

“No worries. You setting up a new office?” he joked.

Ethan scoffed, then shot him a sad smile. “You never know, right?”

Odd response. Nate was about to ask what was up, but the waitress stopped by. “What can I get for you?”

“Just a coffee. Black, please,” he said, and she nodded crisply and left. “So what’s the story? How can I help?”

Ethan shook his head, and blew out a long stream of air as he shoved a hand through his hair. Damn, this man was the very definition of frayed. “Fucking boss,” he muttered. “The guy is relentless and is constantly on me to come up with new ideas, then he shoots them all down. And everything I’ve brought to him has fallen apart too. Like this deal I had with Joy Delivered. It was all signed and ready to go, and then wham,” Ethan said, miming an explosion. Nate narrowed his eyes, trying to process what Ethan had just said. How on earth would Ethan have a deal with Casey’s company? “She pulled it out from under me to go to the Pierson,” he added, mentioning the name of another hotel chain.