The ceremony was beautiful, and she was floating on cloud nine by the time they went through the receiving line.
“Liam Prescott?” The groom, who was beaming as he shook hands and hugged guests, turned it up a notch when they reached the newlywed couple. The bloom of recognition and excitement had his big voice booming over the soft music that was playing in the lobby.
She turned to see what Liam thought of the reception he was being given and was happy to see a genuine smile on that handsome face.
“It was a beautiful wedding, Marc. You’re a lucky man.”
“Liam, wow, never thought I’d see you at a place like this.” He was looking at his friend like a miracle had happened in front of his eyes.
“Yeah, me either, but I wanted to see you married off, and I wanted to see the wedding my…friend Raina helped put together.”
“You came here to see her work? That’s awesome, man. I’m glad you could make it.” He looked at Raina. “You’ve pulled off an amazing feat. An awesome wedding, and you got a man who is allergic to weddings to attend. Look, he even has a smile on his face.”
“It was Angie who did most of this. I just helped, but I knew it was going to be fabulous. Thanks for allowing me to attend.”
“No problem. You’re coming to the reception right?” He turned to Liam.
“I just wanted to see the wedding. I know there is the whole seating thing and RSVPing. I’m just pleased to see this part.”
“In for a penny, bro. Come on, I’d love to tell the guys Lieutenant Prescott was at my wedding, and I have to get a picture.”
The bride was in full agreement, and although Raina was happy they were going to be together for the reception, she’d have preferred he’d had nothing to do but take her home. Sad but true.
“Well…if it’s all right with Raina, then I’ll be there.”
They moved down the line and got to the end, where there were well-wishers standing around waiting to go through the garden and into the reception next door.
He was looking at her with his “I’ve got so much to say to you but I’m trying to find a way to say it without you thinking I’m taking your head off” face.
She tried to stop him from whatever was so serious he had to consider how he was going to put this.
“I heard you got a new phone,” she offered.
His left eyebrow raised, but he went along with the conversation. “Yes, I did. I had some time free yesterday, so I replaced my phone.” It was said cautiously, like there was something he wanted her to know from the statement. She wasn’t that good at cryptic. If he wanted her to know something, he was going to have to say it out loud. Maybe with illustrations.
It was a cool night, but it felt good, especially since she was so flushed.
“Would you like to walk in the garden?” He presented his arm, and she held on to it. This memory was going to make it impossible to ever have her very own wedding here.
They walked in the large maze of rose bushes, and she was again in awe of the beauty of nature—the flower and man varieties.
“Aren’t you going to ask me what happened with the boxes I took over to Sue’s house? I was sure I was going to get a call from you asking how everything went. I even made sure you had a way to contact me.”
“Whatever you do is your business. If you wanted to stay over at Sue’s house, that is your prerogative.”
The frown was deeper this time. “You, Miss Organization, didn’t want to know if the boxes got to the calligrapher, if they were done on time…and were they done to your specifications? That’s hard to believe. Or is it you didn’t want to ask because you thought I was going over to see another woman fresh from your arms? I guess it’s better not to ask if you don’t want to hear the answer.”
“If you’d like to share…feel free.” She dropped his arm and moved away. When she stopped to look at a statue and read the inscription, she could feel him coming closer.
He used his hand to gather the hair she’d worked hard to straighten over the front of her shoulder, leaving the side and the back of her neck open to the air. She felt a shiver run down her spine as the warmth from his mouth heated her skin.
“I would like to share.”
The open-mouthed kiss to her nape shouldn’t have surprised her, but it did. Not the fact that it was happening but that it was so out in the open and he seemed so hungry. She turned in his arms just to see his face and almost moaned at his look of hot desire. He smiled and pulled her in for a kiss, and she prepared to be ravished, but it was a soft kiss. Full of questions and sweetness, she was lost in the sensation of being valued and missed. She opened her eyes and found him looking at her.
“Since I was given the shake after our hallway fun, I dropped off the materials and went looking to replace my phone.”
She didn’t want to look into eyes that were probably reading the thoughts on her face.
“Then…I’m sorry for what I insinuated. I should’ve known you wouldn’t go from me straight to her. I was just…” There was no way she was going to tell him she was jealous.
“You were just what?”
When he looked at her with that measuring gaze, like he was trying to figure out her next move, she felt stuck. She didn’t want to ruin what was going on by telling him she was getting carried away with this arrangement, but she didn’t want to lie. He took a deep breath, and she could tell that he was going to let it drop.
“Your apology is accepted. Next time, try to have a little faith in me, or at least ask about what I’m doing. Communication has always been a strong point for us. We’ve been able to talk about anything. We should make sure to keep that going.”
“You’re right.” She looked up at his face and was thrilled at the sincerity she saw there. She probably shouldn’t have been. He tended to say what he felt—usually not without tact, but what he wanted said was said.
“Let’s go in and see what you’ve put together for the reception. People seem to be moving toward the hall.” He let her go, and she found his hand wrapped around hers. She smiled to herself. This was definitely a better time than she’d expected to have.
HE LOVED SEEING her happy, and knowing that he played a part in that made him excited in a way that was more than sexual.
Her face when she’d observed him walking down the aisle toward her had been wicked and surprised. She had a habit of displaying her feelings on her face, most of the time. He was enjoying himself seeing her in her element and watching her glow under his attention.
He’d taken the day to assess his whole life situation and hadn’t come up with much besides that he wasn’t ready for this temporary thing with Raina to end. He wasn’t sure what that meant in the whole scheme of things, but that was where a basketball game, an evening with his buddies at the bar, and home in bed at a reasonable hour had gotten him. He was surprised at how many times he’d picked up the phone to call or text her something he thought she’d like or think was amusing. He wondered what she was doing, but since he’d seen Ethan at the bar, he hadn’t worried she was out with him.
The moment he saw Elaine—the woman who’d started all of this with the rumor for Raina—some of his good cheer eked out, but he had to be happy that some of the crap she’d been feeding Raina was what made them start this whole thing in the first place.
“Look who’s at a wedding and all dressed up too.” The raven-haired beauty was going to try to start trouble; he could see it in her eyes.
“Hello, Elaine,” Raina said, the cheer in her voice evident.
He knew that was going to set Elaine’s competitive spirit off. She was looking at him but then narrowed her gaze fiercely in Raina’s direction, and for some reason Liam wished Elaine couldn’t see Raina. He knew she was going to try her best to mess this up or mess with Raina’s head.
“Good to see someone could get you to come out of the shadows. Now all we have to do is keep you there,” Elaine said as she sidled up to him. Not enough that she was in
appropriate but enough to invade his space.
“Let’s find our seats,” he said to Raina, wondering why he’d bothered with Elaine. She had an inquisitive look about her, but he wasn’t sure what she was up to.
She walked slowly and turned to Raina. “I hope your reign as a friend isn’t drawing to a close.” The smile looked innocent, but he knew she’d constructed that poisoned barb to do damage.
He guided Raina to the table they’d been instructed to sit at. The wounded, worried look on her face made him sorry they’d met up with Elaine at such a beautiful event when they were having so much fun.
* * * *
The reception was beautiful; the calla lilies had been flown in from various places around the country. They had been so expensive that Raina had tried to talk the bride out of them, but she had to have them, and Raina would admit they looked great. With the dinner done, the cake cut, and the three flutes of Moscato D’Asti she’d imbibed making her feel relaxed, she found herself out on the floor to catch the bouquet. She didn’t want to do it, especially with Liam in the house. It was hard enough to remember this wasn’t a date without all the touching and fondling he was doing. The only down note was Elaine. The woman had been staring a hole through her the whole night. There were other attractive men in the house—none like Liam, but he wasn’t on offer. She wished Elaine would just move on.
Elaine was on her left, and she and the crowd had edged Raina almost off the ballroom floor. That was okay with her. She knew there was no way she was going to be getting married anytime soon, and it would probably be better if someone else caught it anyway.
The bouquet was tossed from off the balcony, and there must have been too many drinks consumed, because the women all fell down like three-legged chairs and it found its way to her. The sad moans and congratulations mixed in her ears, but she could only see the beautiful man with the beaming smile.
“It came straight to you. That’s good luck, right?” he whispered in her ear.
“I guess. Now it’s your turn.”
“I’m not going out there.”
“You have to. Whoever catches the garter has to put it on the thigh of the woman who caught the bouquet.” He looked at her, clueless, so she continued. “I don’t want anyone seeing my pretty lace panties.”
“Why did you wear them here anyway? Hoping to get lucky?”
“Maybe I did get lucky. You showed up.”
“Good save,” he said with a brilliant smile. “What do I get if I catch the garter?”
“What do you want?”
“Let me think on that and get back to you.”
“Come on. When in Rome… Besides, what are the chances you’ll catch the garter? There are men who would line up to be the next married. Don’t give me that look. I’m being serious. At the very least, they’ll get to put their hand under my dress and put on the garter.”
“Why would you allow that?”
“That’s the tradition. The woman catches the bouquet and the man catches the garter, and then the man puts the garter on the woman who caught the bouquet.”
“Hmmm…sounds pretty complicated.”
“It’s not. You’re just stalling. Get out there.” She gave him a playful push.
He made it out to the floor and watched the groom go through all the grand gestures of taking the garter off his bride and dancing around with it. He took his place on the balcony to throw his item for the few men who’d gotten up to try to catch it.
Raina watched Elaine’s mouth fall open when she saw Liam was out on the floor to catch the garter. That was almost worth hearing what Elaine had said earlier. Let her think what she must. Raina was the one going home with Liam, and she was going to be his friend forever.
The garter was thrown, and Liam was right. There wasn’t a big fight for it, so when it came near Liam, he just stuck his hand out and caught it.
The seat was set up, and Raina was asked to come out to the chair as the band played old-time stripper music with a lot of trumpet and drum. Liam was quite the ham. She’d never seen such a silly, playful side to him, and in public too. He went down on bended knee, extended her left leg, put the garter on over her shoe, and worked it up. He looked into her eyes until she didn’t know if he was doing it for the audience or for her. He looked playful but serious, and her heart was pitter-pattering like he was going to pop the question. When the music stopped, he pulled Raina up and gave her a kiss on the cheek. The room was filled with laughter and fun; too bad her heart didn’t get the memo.
“Let’s get out of here,” he whispered.
The last thing she saw was a very angry Elaine watching them head for the door.
She felt so dreamy on the way home; she didn’t know if it was the beauty and splendor of the day, just being with Liam, or her alcohol consumption.
“If I remember correctly, you wanted to be married by the time you were twenty-six. What happened to that?”
She could almost feel the good feeling dissipating. This was not where she wanted the conversation to go.
“Things just didn’t work out.” Short and sweet; maybe he would let it go.
“You were going pretty hot and heavy with Theo for a while there. I thought he was the one who was going to be the Mr. to your Mrs.”
“I kinda thought that too.”
“I see him every once in a while. We were never best buddies, but since you’ve broken up, I feel a definite vibe coming from him.”
“What kind of vibe?”
“The ‘I want to hurt you badly’ vibe. Maybe he’s not over you. Maybe there is a chance you two could get back together.”
She couldn’t believe she’d been sitting there thinking of all the hot and sinful things she wanted to do to his body and he was thinking of how to get her back with her ex-boyfriend.
“What?”
“He was pretty intense when we talked about asking you to do the auction. He said you broke up with him, and he wasn’t happy I didn’t know the details of the whole situation. Why didn’t you tell me what happened with him?”
“Why didn’t you ask?”
“You didn’t seem that broken up about it. Truthfully, when you told me you broke up and I came over, I was expecting waterworks. When there weren’t any and you acted like it was our normal time together, I just went with it. You didn’t speak about it, so I didn’t either.”
“Is that all Theo said about the reason we broke up?”
“He told me he wanted me to ask you because you’d do anything for me and then marched off in a huff. I called him the next day and told him you agreed to do it. I thought he’d be happy, but he sounded even more pissed off and said ‘I told you she’d do it for you.’ He did thank me for asking, but it sounded like those words were difficult for him to let go of. Maybe you could still get together with him. I don’t think it would be that difficult.”
“Are you serious?”
“I’m just saying, watching you back there at that wedding and taking in the longing on your face… I know you were thinking about your plans. You are going to be a beautiful bride and make some guy extremely happy.” He was studying her like she should be taking notes, and she just wanted to punch him in the nose.
“Thanks, Liam. I’m glad you think so.” He had the nerve to look like he’d said something wonderful.
“All I ask is that you invite me to the wedding and maybe name a kid after me or something. How about the dog?” He was all caught up in getting his name in the family somehow, and she felt like the bottom had just fallen out of her boat.
She watched the landscape go by. This day had had so many ups and downs, it was a wonder she didn’t have motion sickness—or emotion sickness. All she had to do was just get home, and then she could cry all by herself.
Thank goodness they were close to her house, because there was no way she was going to be able to take breathing the same air much longer. They were going to have to stop the physical part of this relationship because she could almost f
eel her heart breaking every time he said something to her that was probably nothing to him but devastated her. Talking while in the car didn’t seem to be something that went well for long.
The car pulled up in front of her house, and she asked if he would get the favor out of the trunk. While he did that, she took off the garter and left it for him in her seat.
She got out and walked quickly to her door.
“Hey. Don’t you want this favor?”
“No, you keep it.”
“Well…I was going to come in and visit with you for a little while.”
She held out her hand as he walked closer. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. Not tonight.”
He looked slightly baffled. “I said something to upset you? I’m sorry. It seems like I’m always saying the wrong thing.”
“Don’t worry about it. I just need to be by myself.”
“What did I say?”
She had to get away from him; he couldn’t stand there trying to be sweet and figure her out. She was not strong enough to withstand that, and she would eventually give in. She couldn’t. This was becoming about self-preservation. At least for tonight, she had to get her thoughts and libido together.
“Have a good night, Liam. I’ll see you at the meeting tomorrow.”
She would never tell anyone that she watched him watch the house for a few minutes before he gave up and got into his car.
She stood there long after the taillights weren’t visible and willed him to come back and fight for her. Stupid. She had to make a decision and stick with it. Someone was going to have to take control of this situation, and since she was going to be the one black and blue from the emotional beat down, it should really be her.
Chapter Eight
The Fire Hydrant was filled with patrons, and the meeting room had more than enough volunteers to keep Raina busy. She was happy everyone had so many questions, because it was easy to duck Liam. She could feel him and his attention on her even though he wasn’t looking in her direction.
Rumor Has It Page 10
