Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 120838 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 604(@200wpm)___ 483(@250wpm)___ 403(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 120838 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 604(@200wpm)___ 483(@250wpm)___ 403(@300wpm)
But this meant the ceremony was done.
Which meant I had more check marks to put in my binder.
I waited patiently as my sister and her new husband practically floated up the aisle. Gal and Katie, her co-maids of honor, went next, and I hooked arms with Kevin, a friend and co-worker of Rix’s, and we walked down the aisle together.
I smiled at Kevin when we were clear then peeled off and went down the side of the wooden chairs to get to Dair’s row.
They were waiting for their row to come up so they could file out.
Davina noticed me. I pointed at her brother. She then yanked on Dair’s jacket sleeve, and he turned my way.
I did a circling wave to get him to come to me.
He got up and scooched in front of everyone else in the row to get to me.
“Ye did good, Blake.”
Whatever.
“Where’s my binder?” I asked.
“Sorry?”
“My binder,” I repeated. “The one I gave to you to arrange the flowers.”
“Dinnae see a single flower in this place.”
“The grass then,” I amended.
“Who knew grass could be so pretty,” he murmured, glancing at one of the arrangements that sat at the end of the row.
I slapped a hand on his chest to get his attention, his head tipped right down to stare at it, then it came back up so he could look at me when I demanded, “The binder, Dair.”
“I chucked it.”
My insides froze solid.
So it sounded choked when I pushed out, “You…chucked it?”
He looked from side to side. “Aye, lass. Day’s done.”
Was he mad?
Argh!
No, he was just a man.
Only a man would think that after the ceremony was finished, a wedding was finished.
Fucking men!
I curled my fingers into the lapel of his jacket and got so close, my breasts were brushing my arm, and I tilted up on the toes of my gold, Giuseppe Zanotti, high-heeled orchid mules.
“The…day…is…not…even close to done,” I sniped.
“Heard the man say the husband-and-wife thing, babe.”
“We have…we have…” I spluttered and then pulled myself together. “We have photos to get through. Hors d’oeuvres and cocktails. Another fucking buffet. Toasts. Dances. Cake cutting. I’ve written down how much I’m going to tip everyone at the end of the night.” I got even closer, so my chest was pressed to his and my voice might have risen two octaves (or three) when I asked, “How am I going to know what to tip everybody?”
“Calm down, darling,” he whispered, his brogue sliding over me like velvet, something I didn’t have time to feel right then (or ever). “I’ll find it. We’ll sort it. No worries.”
“I’ve been working on that binder for a year,” I informed him.
He put his hand to my waist and gave me a reassuring squeeze. “Blake, we’ll find it.”
“It has every little thing laid out for the day in fifteen-minute increments.”
He stood there staring down at me like he’d never seen me before.
This necessitated me grabbing him by the neck on either side and saying frantically, “Dair, I need that binder.”
He kept staring at me, and when I was about to scream, he turned his head, put his teeth to his lip, and let out a shrill whistle.
Everyone turned to look at us.
I slid my hands down to his chest and pushed in, gritting, “Oh my God, Dair, what on earth are you doing?”
I noticed movement at our sides and turned that way. My hands fell from Dair’s chest, but his hand at my waist slid around it as Gage, a friend of, well…everybody, and one of Rix’s ushers finished jogging up to us.
“Everything cool?” Gage asked.
“Ye remember that book I had when we were putting out all the grass?” Dair asked.
“Yup,” Gage answered.
“Ye see what I did with it?” Dair went on.
“Yup,” Gage told him.
“Can ye go and grab it?” Dair finished.
Gage smiled. “Yup.” He looked at me. “Lookin’ good, Blake.”
“You too, Gage,” I replied.
He jogged off again.
I turned to Dair. “Thank you.”
“Ye ken it’s gonna be okay,” he said.
“All right,” I began to educate him, “you probably never noticed this, but Alex isn’t good in this kind of situation.”
His brows knit.
“She doesn’t like to be the center of attention,” I explained. “She’s a people person but not this many people. It’s practically impossible for me to protect her from being inundated and overwhelmed in this scenario, when it’s a wedding, and she’s the bride.”
“Blake,” he said softly, and it was then I realized when I’d turned to him, I was now standing in the circle of his arm.
And I realized this because he tightened it to pull me closer.
Even though his hard body felt really nice, and I hadn’t had a man this close in forever, I didn’t have time for this.
I tested pushing away, but he only strengthened his hold. Thus, in order not to make another scene after his whistle, I stopped trying to get away.