‘Or maybe it’s Liberty. Look at the way they are glued together,’ Liam speculates.
‘Nah. Too soon,’ Ged says. ‘Although he is forty and a billionaire, he might do this sort of thing on a regular basis. This is Las Vegas.’
‘Unless…’ I peer at them. ‘Unless it is you two, and you’re trying to call my bluff?’
They feign innocence. ‘Honey, if we were planning a secret wedding, you’d know about it.’
He’s right. They couldn’t keep a secret to save their lives. None of us will forget the time Liam admitted in a job interview that his guilty pleasure was eating jars of organic baby food while quilting. He didn’t get the job. But we do have too many quilts.
‘I guess we’ll have to get all spruced up for it. It’s quite romantic, don’t you think? A midnight wedding on our last night here?’
‘But surely if it was one of the Dollz getting married, they’d say?’ I shake my head, wondering whether to reveal that I’ve seen nearly all of the Dollz in Macy’s. It could be any of them. ‘I’ll probably give it a miss. I’m sure Matteo would rather spend the night alone with me. If that’s okay with you guys?’
‘NO!’ squeaks Liam. ‘Wemustgo. We must. I couldn’t bear to not find out. You need to be there to see who gets married, babe.’
‘Who is getting married?’ says a sharp voice.
Ged jerks upright, spilling his drink.
Gah!
Like a disgruntled ghost, Birdie is floating before us. She is wearing a barely-there bikini made of two fine strips of coloured tape criss-crossing her nipples and a loose chiffon kaftan. I’ll be honest, it’s awful. Very in your face.
I shield my eyes from the sun. It’s time to face her head-on. I’m a married woman now. It’s time to start acting like one. Butterflies flit around in my stomach at the thought of being Matteo’s wife. ‘What are you doing here? You’re not welcome. You’ve done everything you possibly can to keep me and Matteo apart.’
She has the good grace to bend her face into a shape that looks vaguely guilty. ‘You’re right. Sorry,’ she says with absolutely no remorse whatsoever in her voice.
‘Making him work all through the night just so he can’t consummate his nuptials,’ blurts Liam. ‘Who does that?’
What did I say about keeping secrets?
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about. I haven’t seen Matteo since yesterday evening,’ Birdie says snippily. ‘He’s obviously been too busy producing your amateur track to do what he’s being actually paid to do.’
‘I beg to differ,’ I say, defending Matteo. ‘Your client has asked if that amateur track of mine can feature on his new album.’
Birdie’s jaw drops to the floor. ‘But… how? Why didn’t Matteo tell…?’
‘Perhaps because you’ve been treating him disrespectfully since you got here.’ I fold my arms and stand up straight. I’m an inch taller than her even though I’m in bare feet and she’s in high mules. ‘My husband is a very talented man. He has a successful business to run, and he ismarried. So why don’t you back off, stop with the emotional blackmail, and behave professionally for once?’ My heart is pounding in my chest. I’ve never stood up to a bully like this.
As my words sink in, Birdie lifts her chin and regards me through her long lashes. ‘D’accord.’
Oh, my word.While that felt incredibly satisfying, I hope I haven’t just made everything worse.
I’m too busy watching her flounce off in a huff to notice Matteo standing nearby, listening to every word. I can’t tell what he’s thinking. He puts his hands together to slow clap me, his eyes crinkling at the sides as he walks over. ‘Glad to know you have my back.’
If only he knew how I feel about him. In this moment I’d do anything for him.
I am flooded with joy, and all I want to do is be close to him, touch him, listen to every word he has to say.
He takes my hand. ‘Mind if I steal my wife away for a few minutes?’
Gah!I will never tire of hearing that.
The music is pumping out around us. ‘We never did get a first dance,’ he says, leading me to a small clearing.
We never got to do a lot of things.
He twirls me out and back in again so that I’m pressed up against him. Sparks shoot down to my toes as our foreheads touch. With a wide smile, he dips me backwards. I’m still wearing my tiny sequined bra top and hot pants. He must be getting a right eyeful of underboob.
