Just when she was about to check the arrivals board for the zillionth time, passengers started flowing through the security doors on their way to baggage claim. Hadley scanned the crowd, looking for her bestie. If their positions had been reversed, Web would have had a helluva time trying to spot her in the sea of humanity. She always just got lost in the crowd. That was the curse of being of average height (five feet four inches on a tall day), build (on the chuffy side of the scale but not giving a shit because doughnuts were to die for), and hair color (bland brown because she had no time to go to the salon for highlights or anything else).
However, at six feet four inches with dark-brown hair, green eyes, and the kind of laid-back attitude that came with never having to worry—about money, a job, or what people thought about him—Web always stood out. And if he walked into a room with his identical twin brother? No one could look away.
Annoyance started bubbling in her stomach at even the thought of Will.
The way he was always smirking at her as if he knew something she didn’t. Her chest tightened and she ground her molars together as that all-too-familiar tension locked her back tight. The pseudo-concerned crap he shoveled at her about not being born with the silver spoon of Harbor City’s high society firmly in her mouth.
She closed her eyes and envisioned smacking Will upside the head with that well-polished utensil.
And—on top of all that—there was the fact that he was the reason she was now unemployed.
She cut herself off before her temper went into countdown mode.
Let it go, Had. The second-best part about spending a week in Nebraska is not having to see your bestie’s completely horrible, absolutely awful, no-good twin. The first—obviously—would be your sister’s wedding.
Adalyn deserved to have the kind of happily ever after she’d spent her life wanting. Hadley could understand that, even if rolling over in bed to get blasted in the face with the same guy’s morning breath day after day, year after year, decade after decade was definitely not in her plans.
Hadley dreamed of adventure and freedom and total self-control all the days of her life.
But she didn’t have time to dwell on that amazing thought right now as her gaze snagged on Web’s tall frame coming through the security doors.
Her welcoming smile turned to outright amusement as the sight of him finally processed. The black cowboy hat that almost sat right on his head. Wrangler jeans so new, they still had a crease down each leg hugging his muscular thighs. And the boots? Good Lord. He was wearing the fancy, shiny kind that showed up only at movie premieres and would never see any actual work on branding day.
If there was a soft-focused holiday movie about a heifer with magical matchmaking abilities, the cowboy hero would look exactly like Web. He didn’t even begin to look as if his clothes had come from Feed and Steer, the store where a rancher could get his entire wardrobe, a fully automated roping shoot, and a gallon of supplements to encourage the cattle to stay hydrated while increasing their food consumption.
She shouldn’t laugh—Web was a child of Harbor City’s richest of the rich and obviously was trying to fit in the best he could. His heart was in the right place. Still, her lips twitched as the giggles bubbled up inside her.
Get ahold of yourself, girl. This is your best friend. The guy who flew across the country to stand by your side. Don’t make him feel bad for cosplaying the kind of cowboy who exists only on TV.
“Hey, cowboy,” she called out, her voice giddy with unreleased laughter despite her best efforts.
Web turned his head, spotted her, and tipped his hat like he was Curly in an Oklahoma! revival, then headed her way, a sly grin on his face.
That’s when her oh-shit senses started buzzing. As he swaggered through the crowd, that warning sense grew from a low hum to a full-on-earthquake. Heart hammering and palms sweaty, her left eye started twitching as she held tight to the one truth that she had to believe: This couldn’t be. This abso-fucking-lutely couldn’t be.
She squeezed her eyes shut and forced out the oxygen that had been trapped in her lungs.
It was just a trick of the light or her pre-family-gathering jagged nerves playing her. That had to be it.
Please, whoever is the patron saint of women just trying to make it through the day without committing murder, deliver me from this vision of a totally fresh hell.
She opened her eyes right as he stopped in front of her. Searching his face for the tiny little markers that differentiated Web’s face from Will’s, she held on to that little ribbon of hope that everything hadn’t suddenly gone pear-shaped. Then she noticed the tiny mole by Web’s left eye was missing. Maybe she’d always imagined it had been there? She took in a deep inhale and was hit with the unique mix of musk, leather, and the kind of trouble mothers had been warning their daughters about for generations. It was a uniquely Evil Twin scent. There was no way she could deny what she’d known the moment she’d seen him move.
This wasn’t Web.
It was Will.
She stopped breathing, the world stopped spinning, and every one of the forty bazillion people in the crowded airport disappeared. It couldn’t. They wouldn’t. Holy fuck, her stomach was knotting up at the realization that she was now in hell.
He gave her a slow once-over that, despite knowing better, made her body wake up and take notice—stop it right now, boobs, or it will be all uncomfortable sports bras for you until the end of time—and punctuated it with a half smile.
He tipped his cowboy hat like a man who’d practiced it in the mirror. “Howdy.”
The way Will said it with that rough rumble that on anyone else would be sex personified made her twitch with annoyance. Oh God. She couldn’t kill him in front of witnesses.
Hadley crossed her arms and glared up at his somehow-hotter-than-his-identical-twin’s face. “Get back on that plane.”
“No can do.” He gave his head a regretful shake. “It’s going on to L.A. and I have had my fill of actresses for the time being, but it was sweet of you to think of me.”
Heated frustration shot up from the earth’s core and blasted through her. How did he always produce this hot, flushed, so-damn-bothered involuntary reaction just by existing in the same room as her? Every. Single. Time. Ugh. He was the worst, just the absolute worst.
“What are you doing here and where is Web?” she asked, practically biting off each word.
“In reverse order…” He held up two long fingers. “At our family place in the country puking his guts up, but don’t worry, he’ll be fine.” He lowered one finger. “Coming to your rescue.”
Ha! That would be the day. “I don’t think so.”
He smirked at her.
Yes, smirked, and it wasn’t even the least little bit sexy. It was enraging—like shake-her-fist-at-the-wide-open-high-plains-sky-and-yell-“nooooooooooooooo” enraging.
If Will had any idea how he was affecting her, he didn’t show it, just kept right on going like God’s gift to humanity. “I’m tall, dark, handsome, and rich. I’m pretty sure I fit the bill of a knight; I just need my brave steed. And anyway, I look exactly like Web, so your family will never know the difference. He and I used to swap spots all the time in school.”
Nope. This was not happening. “You can’t come with me.”
“Are you sure?” He shot her a skeptical look. “I was told this was an all-hands emergency. Web’s words were that anything—I repeat, anything—would be better for you than going to this wedding alone. Now, my brother’s not known for exaggerating, but there’s a first for everything. Are you really saying that spending a week with me is worse than facing down your entire family as they question every life choice you’ve made since you left your teeny, tiny hometown?”
The questions would come from love, Hadley knew it. A little query here, a comment there, a concern uttered in hushed tones over the homemade enchiladas. She was bound to crack under the pressure, which was exactly what she did not want to happen. Losing her cool and acting like the metaphorical flaming bag of dog poop during her sister’s wedding and thus ruining everything was pretty much a nightmare situation. She needed someone to have her back, to help keep her sane, and to give her an excuse to escape the confines of her family before she lost it.
She sighed and her shoulders sank. She needed Will Holt, and the big jerk knew it. “Don’t make me regret this.”
He tipped his hat at her again, as if this were some old western movie with him playing the part of the flirtatious gambler while she was the saloon girl with a heart of gold. “I’m all about leaving women happy wherever I go.”
Hadley clamped her mouth shut before she told him exactly how he could make her happy. Not to go into it, but in the week since the incident, she’d developed a very in-depth revenge fantasy that included a deep hole, hot honey, fire ants, and itching powder. Instead of telling him that, though, she turned and marched toward baggage claim, not bothering to check if the wrong cowboy was following.
Chapter Four
If Will didn’t love his brother, he’d try to kill him—on purpose this time for forcing him to go to these kind of ridiculous lengths.
The only positive in the current situation being that Country Barbie wasn’t happy about him being there. Good. Misery loves company.