Sisters In Love (Snow Sisters, Book One: Love in Bloom Series)

Chapter Six, Sisters in Love

Chapter Six

It was almost midnight when Blake finally hugged Sally one last time and told Rusty he’d take him to his basketball practices when he was ready to play again. He stepped out the front door of his dead best friend’s house and into the frigid air. The door closed softly behind him. He pulled his shoulders up against the chill. A crushing guilt paralyzed him. He was alive and Dave wasn’t. He stood there in the darkness, tears welling in his eyes, and sobs that he’d held in for the past several hours bubbling from his chest. He clenched his teeth against the sadness. He’d seen the woman Dave loved, seen the son he adored, hugged them, assured them he’d do anything he could to help them through the tragedy of Dave’s death. And the whole time, all he could think about was how it should have been him that had died instead of Dave. It felt like a betrayal, being there with Dave’s family. Blake had nobody waiting at home for him. He was just a blip on the radar screen of life, and once he was gone, he’d bet there wouldn’t be many people who would cry for him. He was a selfish man, he realized. He’d been living his entire life caring only about himself and his own pleasures, never looking back at the hurt he caused others.

The woman he'd accidentally elbowed earlier in the week floated into his mind. The appalled look in her beautiful eyes when he’d glanced at the blonde came back to him. Selfish. He should have stopped Dave from going toward the back of the mountain. He should have considered that he might double back and take Little Hellion instead. If he’d been less self-absorbed, he might have pushed Dave to talk about the phone call, and then he might have realized that Dave’s frustration would hinder his judgment.

The lights inside the modest two-story home went out. Blake stepped off the porch in a stupor of sorrow and guilt. His shoulders rounded forward as tears filled his eyes. He opened his car door and sat in the driver’s seat, wanting desperately not to be alone.

Danica was on her third drink, feeling less inhibited and enjoying the feeling of having her guard down. She drank so rarely that she had an almost immediate reaction to it.

“Hey, there’s Jeffrey and Mike.” Kaylie pointed at Camille’s fiancé. “Oh. My. God. Yummy, yummy.” Kaylie stared beyond Jeffrey and Mike, to the entrance of the bar, where two men filed in like rowdy football players. One of the men leaned down to hug a woman as he passed. Behind him, the man from the coffee shop came into clear view.

Oh shit.

“Dibs!” Kaylie squealed.

“Oh no, you do not want him. Trust me.” Danica downed her drink, while Kaylie nursed hers.

“Are you kidding me? Want him? I need to taste him, feel him, own him—at least for a night or two.” Kaylie’s eyes danced with mischief. “Look at that body. Where on earth has he been hiding?” In a serious voice, she asked, “Do you know him? Can you introduce me?”

Danica’s throat tightened. Behind Jeffrey and Mike, Blake was making a beeline for the bar, right where she and Kaylie were standing. She couldn’t take her eyes off of him. This was impossible. Too coincidental.

“Danica, you look beautiful!” Jeffrey was the mirror image of Bradley Cooper. He was athletic, smart, witty, and very, very rich.

Danica kissed his cheek. “What are you doing here?”

“I can’t let my fiancé go out alone on a Saturday night, can I? I brought my guys to make sure the bridesmaids weren’t misbehaving.” Behind him, his posse of groomsmen were greeting Kaylie and the others. Danica told herself that Adonis’s presence was just a coincidence; he wasn’t one of Jeffrey’s groomsmen. They couldn’t know each other, could they? Wouldn’t she have known that? She’d seen the list of the bridal party and there was no Blake on it. Why, then, was he walking toward her, his eyes locked on hers, his goddamned gorgeous body coming closer by the second, rattling her nerves until her legs were trembling. She yanked at the hem of her dress, wishing she’d worn pants, something, anything to cover up her body a little more. Now that she was among the bold and the beautiful, she didn’t feel quite as in proportion as she had in front of her mirror.