Without a Hitch
Avery Maxwell
This book is dedicated to you, my amazing readers who have followed, LUVed, and supported me on this journey!
It’s also for anyone who has had to deal with a Christine. Their issues are not yours, don’t take them on. Trust me, they’re not worth it, but your mental health is!
You do you, boo!
XOXO,
Avery
AUTHOR NOTE
In this story:
When Tilly was a child, she lost her mother to mental illness. This is as in-depth as the storyline goes with her mother, and I understand that can be triggering for some readers.
If you or someone you know struggles with mental health, please reach out below: https://www.nami.org/help
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1.800.273.TALK (8255) https://findtreatment.samhsa.gov/
LOC HL ANISMS
Dear Reader,
The hero in this book, Lochlan, has a lot of quirks. Here are some of my favorite Lochlanisms: Bloody fucket: Lochlan’s favorite curse word. Part British, part his father’s colorful influence.
Dachoobie: This refers to a man who is both a douche and a dirtbag.
Skittle scuz: The film you get on your teeth from too much candy.
Floating bed of doom: A hammock.
My favorite thing about writing books like Lochlan’s is being able to explore different family dynamics. The family you choose, the family that chooses you, and the family you blend to make one.
Lochlan’s parents are a perfect example of creating a family by blood, by choice, and by chance.
However you find your family, love them hard.
Luvs,
Avery
PL AYLIST
WITHOUT A HITCH
1. Raise Your Glass, Pink
2. Wildest Dreams, Taylor Swift
3. Renegade, Big Red Machine
4. I Need My Girl, The National
5. What Have I Done, Dermot Kennedy
6. New York, Snow Patrol
7. Flaws, Bastille
8. Welcome To New York, Taylor Swift
9. Demons, The National
10. Steal My Sunshine, LEN
11. Distorted Light Beam, Bastille
12. You Oughta Know, Alanis Morissette
13. Things You Do for Love, Thomas Rhett
14. I Can’t Be With You, The Cranberries
15. Gaslighter, The Chicks
16. Something Just Like This, The Chainsmokers & Coldplay 17. Semi-Charmed Life, Third Eye Blind
18. Outnumbered, Dermot Kennedy
19. Mo Money Mo Problems, The Notorious B.I.G.
20. Another Place, Bastille
21. One Week, Barenaked Ladies
22. Power Over Me, Dermot Kennedy
23. Good Riddance, Green Day
24. Lover, Taylor Swift
25. Unforgettable, Thomas Rhett
26. Father and Son, Cat Stevens
Spotify: https://geni.us/WOAHplaylist
PROLOGUE
TILLY CAMDEN
Without A Hitch!
T hey say behind every good man is a great woman. They say a hospital is only as good as its nurses. They say a hotel is only as good as its employees. They say behind every good wedding is a bridesmaid who gets shit done.
Okay, so maybe that last one isn’t quite true, but as I stand here, arms spread wide, yelling at one bridesmaid to put down the ice bucket and another to drop the hairspray while I’m wearing a sherbet orange dress and my hair is teased to within an inch of its life, I’m going to say it’s true.
Why, might you ask, am I playing referee in a wedding where I don’t know a single soul? Not even the bride or groom?
Well… That’s a funny story. One I’m happy to tell, but it started a few years ago while I was working for my brother-in-law’s brother (Did you follow that?), traveling the world, and staying in some of the fanciest hotels I’d only ever dreamed about.
I was just a girl with a dream. A dream of starting my own wedding planning business (because weddings are my happy place!), writing my own blog (to keep my sanity in the insanity that’s life), and to not, under any circumstances, fall in love with my boss’s best friend (because that’s always a bad idea).
Okay, that last one came later. Much later. Much, much later, after I learned why he had that slightly British lilt to his voice. Or why he could be so charming to those he cared about but the devil incarnate to everyone else. Or why, why, why he would do the sweetest things but never admit to them.
This is my story of business, sex, and love. Buckle up, buttercup—it’s going to be a bumpy ride!
C HAPTE R 1
TILLY
Six Months Ago
“Y ou got penis whipped. Pe-nis whipped!” My childhood best friend, Delaney, gasps as our roommate, Hadley, stares on in wide-eyed horror.
Eli, my only sister in attendance, documents our reactions with photos on her cell phone as any good sister would. Her long legs are on display tonight, and the dirty blond hair she got from our father falls in loose curls that frame her face. She’s beautiful, even if she is annoying.
She holds the phone out for another photo op, and I let out a low groan. “I—I think I’m going to kill Sloane.”
Sloane! My youngest sister, an award-winning romance novelist who, since marrying her super-spy husband, has veered off into the erotica category. I don’t even want to think about how she comes up with her story ideas, but it’s probably why she’s now six months pregnant and home on bedrest while we’re at a male strip club in Myrtle Beach at her request. Research, she’d called it.