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a new path, and that
    scared the hell out of him. Seeing Drannon and Roman both settling
    in with monogamous relationships assured him that he’d always have
    a place at Crawley Creek. Even if it was as a lonely bachelor.

    35
    Lori King

    36

Chapter 5
    August 4 - Wedding Countdown T-minus 4 days

    Lauren’s ears were still popping twenty minutes after her plane
    landed in North Dakota, and she once again second-guessed her
    decision to come back to Montford. It wasn’t the fact that she had
    very few good childhood memories. Nor was it the fact that there
    were thousands of people impacted by the recent severe weather
    outbreak even though her employees were handling it all without her.
    No, it had more to do with the fact that she was going to come face-
    to-face with Vincent Rhone again after he ripped her heart out and
    stomped on it in his eighteen-year-old arrogance.
    It had been eighteen years, but the memory still hurt like hell.
    She’d loved him more than any man before and more than any man
    since. She was ashamed to admit that he’d ruined her for other guys.
    It wasn’t like she’d been a nun. She’d dated regularly her whole adult
    life, and even taken a swing at a serious relationship, but Darren
    called it quits when it was obvious her whole heart wasn’t in it.
    Amazingly, she was less bummed about seeing him walk away than
    she was about him carting off his big screen TV when he left.
    A wolf whistle grabbed her attention, and she spun away from
    the baggage claim to look for the noisy son of a bitch. Hawke was
    grinning ear-to-ear as he barreled through the crowded airport to
    reach her. He looked damn good all grown up, with his muscular
    frame encased in a skin-tight black t-shirt and well-worn blue jeans.
    It wasn’t just the country cowboy apparel that drew attention to him
    though. The skinny boy with an overbite had grown past his braces
    and into his looks. Now he looked like some sort of GQ model on
    Lori King
    vacation with his long, blond hair tied back in a messy man-bun at
    the base of his neck, and a pair of leather cowboy boots on his feet.
    “Damn, girl! You look fine!” Hawke growled as he lifted her in
    the air and swung her around, kissing her enthusiastically.
    Laughing, she leaned against him while she got her balance
    back. “It’s good to see you, too, asshole.”
    “Where’s your bag?” He took in every detail of her full frame.
    After a slight twinge of self-consciousness, she struck a pose making
    his grin widen. “Cheeky.”
    “Hasn’t come through yet, but it should momentarily. How was
    the drive?”
    He shrugged. “Boring as ever. I swear one of these days
    someone will get smart and put up some sort of Billboard Bingo
    alongside the highway. You know, something to keep the mind
    occupied and distracted from the boring North Dakota scenery.”
    “Distracted isn’t usually a term people like associated with
    drivers,” She teased. “But I’m sure it’ll be the next big thing.”
    After a brief argument—which she won—over who was going to
    carry her shoulder bag, they headed off to the parking lot with the
    rest of her luggage. Hawke laced his fingers through hers
    affectionately. “So how long are you staying?”
    “I booked a flight back for Monday,” she responded
    noncommittally. He didn’t really need to know that she had three full
    weeks off from her job because she had no plans to stay at Crawley
    Creek for that long.
    “Really? That soon? I thought maybe we could hang out after all
    this wedding nonsense was over.” He sighed heavily. “I swear if
    getting married means dealing with all this planning bullshit, I will
    never get married. Period.”
    “So Drannon’s pretty head-over-heels for this Lacy girl, huh? I
    never thought I’d see the day when he’d say ‘I do’ again.”
    “Wait until you see them together. There’s no comparison
    between what he and Lacy have versus what he had with Amanda.”
    “I’m glad. He