Almost done, Emma thought. Tomorrow she could finally stop being the bride-to-be and start being what really mattered.

Alex Cassidy’s wife.

She absently handed the lipstick back to Daisy as her eyes scanned the crowded room until she found who she was looking for. It didn’t take her long. Alex Cassidy had always been like a magnet for her eyes. Even before he’d known who she was, she’d found herself looking for him around the UNC campus. Although, to be fair, that didn’t make her special. All the girls had had a crush on the university’s star soccer player.

And out of all the girls, he’d picked her.

As though sensing her gaze, Alex turned his head slightly from where he was talking to his uncle and gave her a wink.

She winked back.

“This is real, right?” she asked Daisy. “I’m not going to wake up and realize this was a beautiful dream. I am actually going to marry him tomorrow. Right?”

Her sister laughed and linked elbows with her. “Are you kidding? That man is crazy for you. He’d have dragged you off to Vegas to elope if Daddy would have let him. And speaking of Daddy…”

Daisy nodded toward the front of the room, where their father was talking to an employee and reaching for a microphone.

The twins looked at each other and rolled their eyes cheerfully. Winston Sinclair was a doting father, if a bit controlling at times, but he could be prone to blatant displays of ego. There was no way he wouldn’t leap at the chance to be the center of attention, even if this wasn’t his party (Cassidy’s parents were hosting the rehearsal dinner, as was custom) and even if it took away from the bride.

Emma’s father didn’t need to tap the microphone to get everyone’s attention. He was just the sort of big, commanding presence that had only to exist in order to dominate a room.

Emma smiled tolerantly as the room quieted down and attention turned to her father, although her eyes flicked warily to the glass of amber liquid in his hand. Daisy apparently had the same thought, because she made a little sigh of dismay.

When it came to alcohol, Winston Sinclair had only two settings: too much or not at all. When he was working, he didn’t touch the stuff—said it made him foggy. But when he was in party mode, which he increasingly was as he got older, he was inclined toward a drink too many.

Tonight, he was definitely in party mode.

“Maybe he’ll make it fast,” Daisy said, squeezing Emma’s arm.

Emma gave a noncommittal noise. She wasn’t worried. Sure, he was a little tipsy, but most everyone at the party seemed to be having a good time.

She glanced around for Cassidy and saw him about to make his way toward her, when his mother grabbed his arm, whispering something and then giggling too loud before teetering slightly in her high purple heels.

Cassidy took his mother’s arm to hold her steady and gave Emma an apologetic look. She smiled, and held up a hand. Stay.

They’d have plenty of time for just the two of them after the wedding, when the circus would be over.

Her father waited for the room to quiet completely, save for the clink of glassware, before he started talking.

“Well,” he said, in a voice that would have been booming even without the microphone. “I suspect I need no introduction, but for anyone on the groom’s side of the family I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting, I’m Winston Sinclair, proud father of our blushing bride, who, I think we can all agree, looks exceptionally beautiful tonight.”

Several people turned to glance at her, and one of Cassidy’s cousins gave a wolf whistle. Emma smiled and waved awkwardly. Cassidy caught her eye and smiled. His eyes were warm as he watched her, heating her even from across the room.

The flutter Emma felt from that one simple look reminded her how lucky she was. She didn’t need his words or whistles to tell her she was beautiful. All she needed was one glance from him and she felt beautiful.

Her father was still talking and people were still laughing politely, but she had eyes only for Cassidy, and he for her.

His sometimes-blue, sometimes-green eyes were the perfect blend today, burning aqua as they held hers across the room.

Daisy pinched her arm ever so lightly to bring her attention back to her father’s speech, and Emma tried to tune in as her father told some long-winded story about how Daisy always wanted to play “wedding” when they were little, and poor Emma would always end up as the groom, and sometimes not even that when Daisy decided that their fat cat was a better life mate.

“But tonight, Emma’s finally getting her moment,” her dad said, grinning around at his adoring audience. “My baby girl is getting married tomorrow, and to a man I couldn’t have picked better myself. Oh, wait…I did pick him,” Winston Sinclair said, with a big booming glass as he took a healthy swallow of his bourbon.

Emma chuckled along with everyone else, even though she didn’t have the faintest clue what he was talking about.

“Do you think there’s any subtle way to wrestle the bourbon away from him?” Emma said out of the corner of her mouth to Daisy.

But her sister didn’t respond. Emma glanced at her, surprised to see that Daisy was looking at Cassidy, her face somewhere between nervous and guilty.

Emma looked at Cassidy just in time to see him look away. From her?

Or from Daisy?

Emma frowned. What was that about? Her sister and fiancé were friends—actually, they’d been friends before Cassidy and Emma had started dating back in college. But this felt…strange.