Rebel Hard (Hard Play #2)(97)

“You can have whatever you want,” Raj said before pausing. “Except for a giant ice sculpture that begins to melt halfway through, almost causing a flood.”

Nayna burst out laughing at the memory of how Raj and Sailor had sprung into action to avert disaster. The poor melting swan, in danger of imminent decapitation, had been whisked away with alacrity to provide the children running around outside with a source of much laughter and fun.

“Did ísa tell you anything about her and Sailor’s plans?”

“They’re thinking a beach wedding.” Nayna drank in the sunshine outside. “She gets this funny, sweet smile when she talks about it. I think the two of them must’ve had an important moment on a beach.” ísa had never told Nayna what, and Nayna understood. Some things were to be held close to the heart, shared with only one other person.

Having reached the truck, Nayna got into the back with her mum while her father got in the front passenger seat. The four of them talked easily as Raj drove her parents home.

“We have to finish packing for the cruise today,” her mother said.

Up ahead, Nayna saw her father wince at the idea of a cruise, but he didn’t say a word. Nayna had to fight to keep her grin off her face. It was about time her mother got her own way in their plans. “It’s a week, isn’t it?”

“Eight days.” Shilpa Sharma sighed. “I need the rest and for someone else to cook and do the cleaning and the laundry. I love Madhuri, but she was a bridezilla.”

Then Nayna’s well-behaved mother made claws with her hands, as if pretending to be a marauding bridal monster.

Nayna laughed so hard that she cried—and so did her mother. In the rearview mirror, Raj’s eyes were bright. Her father was actually grinning.

Life, Nayna thought with a smile, was good.



* * *



It only got better as the months passed. Nayna was a bridesmaid at ísa’s wedding, alongside ísa’s sister, Catie, and Raj was a groomsman alongside two of Sailor’s brothers and a plus-one. That plus-one was Harlow.

Sailor’s older brother, Gabriel, stood as best man.

The sea crashed to shore beyond the wedding party while sand glimmered around them, the sunshine bright. Color cascaded from the flowers in ísa’s hair and in the clothing of her guests. Sailor wore a crisp black suit with a white shirt and a blue tie that matched the brilliant hue of his eyes and the ribbon tied around ísa’s living bouquet. That bouquet featured astonishing, lovely succulents and had been created by ísa’s soon-to-be-husband.

Raj and Sailor plus his brothers had, together, built a temporary wooden aisle and wedding platform, all of it in a sand-washed wood that appeared aged by the sea itself. ísa had made the request and Nayna knew why. Catie was incredibly surefooted on her prosthetic legs, but Nayna knew she’d been stressing about messing up ísa’s wedding by tripping on the sand.

It was also why they were wearing shoes rather than going barefoot. Even on this most important day, ísa thought of her teenage sister’s happiness along with her own.

As it was, the aisle and platform had turned out exquisite. The men had outdone themselves by putting up four posts and connecting them at the top. That had provided the understructure for gauzy curtains and cascades of white flowers. ísa and Nayna had done a lot of the decoration with Catie and, surprisingly enough, the Dragon.

With the wedding taking place on the edge of sunset, glass lanterns sat on the sand around the wedding platform, the candles within glowing softly. The seats for the guests were placed on either side of the aisle, simple wicker chairs with flowers woven into the backs. Many of the heavily muscled rugby players in attendance had given the chairs a serious side-eye before gingerly taking their places.

“You look so beautiful,” Nayna said to her best friend as she fussed over ísa’s halter-neck dress with lace detailing. ísa’s red hair blazed against the rich cream of it. The lower half of the dress was flowy and floaty while the upper half was as delicate and pretty as spun sugar.

Face glowing from within, an inner peace in ísa’s eyes that Nayna had never before seen, her best friend said, “I’m so ready to marry him.”

As Nayna stepped out with Catie, the two of them dressed in lovely, simple dresses of sea blue, she felt the same certainty about Raj. He was hers and she was his, and they’d have their adventures together.

His eyes caught hers as she walked up, and the intense look he shot her was unabashed in its appreciation. Beside her, Catie giggled. Nayna shared a smiling glance with her before the two of them took their places on the platform, ready to watch Nayna’s best friend walk up the aisle.

The lanterns shone around them, but nothing could compete with ísa’s glow—or with the light in Sailor’s eyes when he saw her. Nayna had to swallow back tears, was more than ready for Raj to put his arm around her when they followed the newly married couple down the aisle.

Catie was up ahead with Gabriel.

Raj kissed the top of her head as the guests rained flower petals down on a laughing ísa and Sailor. “You like this a lot. Regretting our own plans?”

“Six hundred and fifty guests at last count,” she reminded him, slipping her arm around his waist. “No way a beach would work. Most importantly, I get to marry you—I would do it even if all we’d been able to find were avocado-green walls. I just want to be your wife.”