The Bridesmaid & The Ex (Wedding Games Book 2) Read online

  The Bridesmaid and the Ex

  Wedding Games: Book Two

  Kayla Tirrell

  Daphne James Huff

  Copyright © 2019 by Kayla Tirrell and Daphne James Huff

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Cover Design © Designed with Grace

  Image © DepositPhotos – Andrew Lozovyi

  Proofreading: EditElle

  this is for Elle because she really is a superhero, and she can’t edit this out because we added it after she proofread

  Contents

  1. 5 Days Until Dream Wedding

  2. 5 Days Until Dream Wedding

  3. 5 Days Until Dream Wedding

  4. 5 Days Until Dream Wedding

  5. 5 Days Until Dream Wedding

  6. 5 Days Until Dream Wedding

  7. 5 Days Until Dream Wedding

  8. 5 Days Until Dream Wedding

  9. 5 Days Until Dream Wedding

  10. 5 Days Until Dream Wedding

  11. 5 Days Until Dream Wedding

  12. 5 Days Until Dream Wedding

  13. 4 Days Until Dream Wedding

  14. 4 Days Until Dream Wedding

  15. 4 Days Until Dream Wedding

  16. 4 Days Until Dream Wedding

  17. 4 Days Until Dream Wedding

  18. 4 Days Until Dream Wedding

  19. 4 Days Until Dream Wedding

  20. 4 Days Until Dream Wedding

  21. 4 Days Until Dream Wedding

  22. 4 Days Until Dream Wedding

  23. 4 Days Until Dream Wedding

  What will happen next?

  Acknowledgments

  About the Authors

  Free book from Kayla

  Free book from Daphne

  One

  5 Days Until Dream Wedding

  Harper speed walked through The Emerald Inn. Her entire body wanted to bolt down the hallway like a wedding cake was on fire, but she was afraid that kind of urgency so early in the morning would draw the attention of the production staff. And that was not what she needed right now.

  It was supposed to be easy. Just take ten days off from work to film Wedding Games and get her sister Audrey the dream wedding she’d always wanted.

  But now Audrey was missing. And Harper’s Flour Girl Bakery was getting slammed with orders. Not to mention an even bigger surprise that Harper couldn’t even let herself think about right now.

  Harper had to focus. Bruce, the producer, couldn’t find out the bride was MIA. He’d all but threatened to get the network’s legal team involved if anything else went wrong. And this was a pretty big anything.

  Harper had to make sure her sister was really gone before anyone else noticed.

  First she looked for Audrey in her room. Miraculously, there were no cameramen around. Then she snuck out to the parking lot and discovered her older sister’s car gone, and her luck held: no one from the production team was in the tech tent they’d set up outside. So, for now, it looked like her secret was safe.

  But that didn’t mean that things were okay. Not by a long shot.

  Harper burst through the door of the dining hall, still secretly hoping Audrey would be sitting there with a cup of coffee and some fantastical excuse of why her car was missing. But instead, she found her youngest sister, Sienna, cozying up with Fox, the best man.

  Harper would have much rather had privacy with Sienna, but she also knew Fox could be trusted. And thankfully, the only other people in the room were the maid of honor, Reagan, and her fiancé, Harry. And they were completely absorbed in a very heated discussion. Harper doubted they even registered her presence, even though she’d accidentally slammed the door against the wall when she came in.

  Heck, even Sienna didn’t seem to register Harper’s presence, too absorbed in getting lost in Fox’s light blue eyes. Barf. But what could Harper expect? Sienna and Fox had literally declared their feelings for each other the night before, and were in the gooey, disgusting honeymoon stage.

  And they’d be the only ones on a honeymoon if Harper didn’t fix this quick.

  Harper tried to catch her breath. “Have either of you seen Audrey this morning?”

  Sienna looked up and glared at Harper. “I’ve been kind of occupied. Isn’t she in her room?”

  Harper shook her head. “I’ve looked everywhere. And her car is missing.”

  Sienna stood up, all color draining from her face. And in that moment, Harper knew things were really bad. It wasn’t just the stress of this week and everything that had come with filming Wedding Games.

  Tears pooled in Harper’s eyes. “I think...I think she’s gone.”

  “Gone where?” Fox asked.

  Harper shook her head frantically. “I don’t know.”

  “How can you not know?” Sienna said, her eyes wide.

  Harper tried not to take the question personally. Sienna was just as worried as she was. But it still stung because she should have known where Audrey was. The weight of Audrey’s absence lay heavy on Harper’s shoulders.

  The three sisters were all three years apart, which was just enough so that they’d grown up in separate social worlds, rather than the best of friends that people liked to imagine when they saw the three of them together. But ever since Audrey had moved back to their hometown of Wellspring to teach, Harper and Audrey had made time to hang out and had discovered that, as adults, they had a ton in common. Their Sunday afternoons spent cupcake testing while lesson planning were the highlight of Harper’s week.

  At least, they had been the highlight until Eli finally popped the question, and Audrey became consumed with wedding planning. It had been fun at first. The two sisters talked flowers, bridesmaid dresses, and best of all, cake.

  But when Audrey mentioned her engagement to a parent at a school conference—who just happened to be one of the owners of The Emerald Inn—one thing led to another. And now the entire family was stuck on this stupid mountain filming a reality show. And all the sister time Harper and Audrey had been having went flying out the window.

  It had been months since their last Sunday afternoon sister time. And now Audrey had run off in the middle of filming, and Harper didn’t have a clue why or where.

  It killed her that she didn’t know what was going on with Audrey. But right now, she had to focus on doing what she did best and get everyone out of a sticky mess. Whether handling twenty last-minute orders at her bakery or keeping their weekly family dinners going, Harper could handle anything. Finding a missing bride should be a piece of cake.

  So why did she just want to run up to her room and hide under the covers?

  The door to the dining room burst open again, and Harper turned, hope fluttering in her stomach. But it wasn’t Audrey running in crying about a flat tire. No, it was a tall, handsome, blond production assistant who looked perfectly refreshed.

  Austin Mariani, the only guy she’d ever loved, looked just as delicious as he did every time Harper saw him—which was quite often these days considering he was a part of the Wedding Games crew. Hadn’t that been a fun surprise the first day of filming?

  “Is everything okay?” He looked from Sienna to Fox, then, after a beat too long, finally caught Harper’s eye. She inhaled sharply, angry at herself for how his deep amber eyes still make her heart thump wildly after all these years.

  No, everything most certainly was not okay. Her sister was m
issing, she didn’t know where to find her, and now she was forced to stand right next to Austin, who, if his bland expression was any indication, had completely forgotten who she was. Her traitorous body leaned toward him, fondly remembering the days when he was hers.

  He’s not yours, he never was, you are over it.

  She took a step back and straightened her shoulders. “Everything is fine,” Harper said, her voice nearly cracking under the strain of appearing normal. She’d barely been coherent the past few days, on camera or off.

  Sienna shot Harper a look before she put on a bright smile that Harper could barely tell was fake. She laced her hand through Fox’s arm. “We were just waiting to hear what the plan is for today. The schedule just says ‘dress day’ so I assume the guys have a break today?”

  “A break would be great,” said Fox, his acting skills less convincing, but good nevertheless. “It’s been hard to adjust to all these cameras around all the time.”

  Austin looked down at the clipboard in his hand. Harper hadn’t seen him without it in the five days they’d been filming, but it didn’t surprise her how attached to it he seemed to be. When she’d known him in college, he had been a super organized person. He’d always kept a calendar, and nothing ever slipped through the cracks. When projects were due, when exams were, the dates and locations of all the sorority parties across campus…

  Back then, Harper had thought Austin knew everything. And it looked like some things never changed, because when he turned his gaze to Harper, the corners of his mouth turned down just the tiniest bit. He knew Sienna was lying.

  She did her best to adopt the same carefree smile that Sienna still had plastered to her face, but his frown deepened. He looked down at the clipboard again briefly before looking back at Harper.

  “Bruce should be down soon to go through today’s schedule,” he said.

  At the mention of the producer’s name, Harper felt a cool trickle of sweat make its way down her neck into her shirt. Did Bruce already know about Audrey? She casually wiped her hands on her jeans, but the clamminess didn’t go away. She resisted the urge to do it again.

  “Actually, Harper, I’m glad you’re here,” Austin continued. “Could you come with me, please? I have a quick question about some footage from the bakery the crew took the other day.”

  The footage from the bakery? The only thing they’d filmed inside Flour Girl was Harper rolling dough. There was nothing special or confusing about that. And even though Austin hadn’t been there, he had seen her roll out dough hundreds of times in her college dorm. Maybe he just wanted to talk to her. A splash of hope surged through her, like a drop of red food coloring spreading through cake batter.

  Then he lifted an eyebrow at her and jerked his head toward the door. A giant ball of dread settled in her stomach like a burned Christmas cookie. She’d forgotten he also knew what she looked like when she lied. Maybe she wasn’t as forgettable as she’d thought. She certainly relived that painful graduation day over and over. Her embarrassing declaration of love. Maybe he did, too, and ignoring her the past few days was just his way of being nice.

  Harper glanced over at Sienna and gave her what she hoped was a believable “everything will be totally fine” smile before she followed Austin out into the hall.

  But deep down, she knew that it wouldn’t.

  Two

  5 Days Until Dream Wedding

  Austin struggled to keep his breathing steady and his hands from shaking as he led Harper down the hall. Ever since seeing her on the first day of filming, he’d been able to keep his distance from the one who got away—or rather the one he’d left behind like a total idiot.

  But today, he’d finally gotten close enough to talk to her. And, after four years of silence, the first actual words out of his mouth were “is everything okay?”

  Those three words weren’t even close to the script he’d gone over in his head since realizing that the Harper Hudson on his contestant list was, in fact, the girl he’d been in love with four years ago. The same Harper Hudson he might still be in love with. Over the last few days he’d mentally prepared half a dozen speeches to apologize for the pain he caused her.

  But when he’d finally come face to face with her, he’d chickened out and fallen back on what he knew—production. He treated her like any other seemingly spooked contestant and asked if she was okay.

  Austin half expected Harper to reach out and slap his cheek, but she didn’t. Her face flashed through several different emotions before settling on the face she always made when she was lying.

  She wasn’t okay.

  Harper was keeping a secret, and that was a very dangerous thing to do on Bruce’s set. The middle-aged producer was notorious for the way he demanded to be in control of every aspect of his shows. And this group of contestants wasn’t doing a very good job of keeping Bruce happy.

  They’d had one argumentative actress-wannabe question everything and go against his demands. Then all the groomsmen went on a late-night escapade that the whole crew was sure would give Bruce a coronary. But Bruce had worked his magic, and everything was good for now.

  Unfortunately, none of the contestants knew the thin line they were currently toeing. Not in the same way Austin did. He’d heard the stories from Jennifer, one of the other production assistants, about what had happened to the reality show Bruce had been producing before Wedding Games—the one that never even made it to an editing studio.

  So now, Austin needed to figure out what was going on with Harper before Bruce decided he’d had enough. Austin couldn’t handle the idea of leaving another set and having to start all over again—especially now that he was so close to Harper again. And while he’d never met Audrey before filming began on Wedding Games, he didn't like the idea of Harper’s sister having to deal with the consequences of a broken contract.

  Harper trailed behind Austin down the hall toward the safe room, her silence heavy and accusing. He was risking a lot by taking her there, but he knew she wasn’t going to open up anywhere a camera could be lurking behind a corner. But he wasn’t sure she would confess what was really going on in the small linen closet either.

  Harper followed him inside without a word, but as soon as Austin shut and locked the door behind them, she crossed her arms and lifted a brow. “I thought we were looking at footage?”

  “You knew that we weren’t,” he said with more bravado than he felt. He leaned back against the wall. It was a tiny space, and he was way too aware of how good Harper smelled. She hadn’t been at the bakery in days, but it was like the delicious aroma of cinnamon and everything sweet just followed her around. “What didn’t you tell me back there?”

  Harper made the “get me out of this” face he knew so well. Or at least, had known so well. “There may be a problem with Audrey,” she said, not quite meeting his eyes.

  His chest squeezed. So, he’d been right to suspect something. He just hoped it wasn’t anything serious. “You mean, like, she’s sick?”

  “Uh, not exactly.” Harper looked down and shuffled her feet.

  Austin bit his tongue. His first instinct was to ask a million questions and find out what was going on as quickly as possible, so that he could handle it in the same timely fashion. But he also knew Harper wasn’t a person to be rushed. She took her time, which was great when she was decorating a cake or waiting for dough to rise, but it would be great if, just for once, she could be on his schedule.

  “Audrey seems to be...missing.”

  Luckily, he was already leaning against the wall because Austin’s legs threatened to give out. He had to get it together, for the sake of the show and everyone on it.

  “Any idea where she’s gone?” He winced a little at how stern he sounded. Why was it so hard to talk to her normally? He had no trouble giving directions to anyone else in the cast, but then again, he wasn’t secretly in love with anyone else on the cast.

  “If I did, I would be there getting her, wouldn’t I?” Harper leveled
her steely gray gaze on him and put her hands on her hips.

  Austin swallowed hard. He’d forgotten how she could go from zero to pissed in about one point three seconds. He paused and tried to find a non-confrontational way to phrase his next question but didn’t have much luck. “Do you know what you’re going to do?”

  “What am I going to do?” Harper shook her head and let out a harsh laugh. “Hmm, let’s see. I need to go down to Flour Girl at some point today and make sure my staff filled the giant order for a birthday party, and that they’re doing my prep for a wedding cake.”

  Austin nodded but didn't interrupt.

  “Then I need to find a way to somehow lose the cameras to keep looking for my sister, even though they’ve mysteriously managed to multiply overnight.”

  “In all fairness, that’s because—” He stopped with the look Harper gave him.

  “And this is all while trying to figure out how I’m supposed to handle seeing…” She shook her head. “Never mind. It doesn’t matter. But to answer your question: no, I have no idea what I’m going to do.”

  Austin looked back down at his clipboard, even though he’d memorized everything on it the night before. It was easier to stare at the words on the page than look into Harper’s scrutinizing gaze.

  “Who else knows she’s missing besides us?” he asked, keeping his eyes on the notes in front of him.

  “Besides us?” She paused just long enough for the word “us” to linger between them. “I told Sienna and Fox.”