“Sweet at first, runs fire through you as it goes down, and ends up knocking you on your ass if you aren’t careful. I think that’s more or less accurate.”
He pulled back, his eyes falling to my lips as they had countless times tonight. I’d thought he was about to kiss me every time, and the heat in his golden eyes left me breathless. Soon, the spell would be broken, and Tyler and I would be back to acquaintances, although the nasty bickering would hopefully not be our style anymore. The notion of going back to reality gave me a bone-deep sadness that I should have expected, but it plagued me all the same.
“There she is!”
Donnie’s booming voice broke us out of the trance we’d fallen into. His smile was wide as he held his new wife’s hand.
“Look, I need to shake your hand.” Donnie extended his hand to me. “I always knew that field hockey story was bullshit.”
My eyes widened as I whipped around to face Tyler.
“I know you were sworn to secrecy, but it’s been, like, fifteen years and there was no way I couldn’t tell Donnie. We’ve waited too long for someone to beat up that jerk. And since by family obligations we couldn’t, well, tonight you became our new hero.”
I laughed until Tyler’s smile faded as he glanced over my shoulder.
“Sorry, we’re so late. The weather is so awful, a ton of roads are closed. We almost didn’t make it at all.” A tall redhead fluttered by in my periphery and gave Cassandra a lukewarm hug. I remembered Amy from a few parties Helen had over the years. She always had a forced, saccharine smile with anyone she spoke to, and I had to hold back an eye roll each time I saw her. Of course, I set out to dislike anyone Tyler dated, but she truly rubbed me the wrong way.
They were the main reason I’d offered this favor in the first place, but we were having so much fun that I’d forgotten all about them. Now was the real showtime.
Amy rested her hand under the empire waist of her black dress as Jayden’s gaze traveled around the room, looking everywhere but at us. I almost wanted to make a joke about him noting all the exits.
“Hi, Tyler,” Amy said as Jayden wrapped an arm around her shoulder. All Jayden gave Tyler was a chin nod. The least you could do after stealing your best friend’s fiancée was give him a decent greeting, but nothing about these two was decent.
“Hi, Amy. Jayden. I think you remember Olivia.” Tyler snaked an arm around my waist. I didn’t know how much he wanted to play us up now that we were in front of them, and I planned on just following his lead. When he shot me a crooked grin, I melted into his side and turned back to Amy and Jayden.
“Nice to see you again.”
Amy’s expression was all forced pleasantries and boredom when she first came in, but now as she looked between Tyler and me, her eyes narrowed to slits.
“You’re here with Olivia?” Jayden barked out a laugh.
“You weren’t the only one surprised,” I shot back, letting my hand drift down the lapel of Tyler’s jacket.
“Well, since you both always hated each other, I think you could understand that.”
“You know what they say,” I began, rubbing circles on Tyler’s back, more for comfort than a show. “That line between love and hate is paper thin, right, babe?”
I worried I’d gone too far until Tyler’s lips twitched.
“Very thin, sugar,” he whispered and pressed a kiss to my temple.
I breathed him in, enjoying this charade for all it was worth.
“Dinner is still being served. Once you sit down we’ll tell the wait staff to bring you something,” Cassandra chimed in, breaking the tension.
“Thanks—we’re starving. These two need to eat,” Jayden crooned, sliding his hand over his wife’s tiny belly, but Amy stiffened against him. As they walked away, the bitch in me hoped they were both always this miserable and karma served them well and quickly.
“It couldn’t rain just a little harder so they couldn’t come at all,” Cassandra whined. “I’m sorry again, Tyler. I really can’t stand her. I guess we have awful cousins in common.”
Tyler smiled and waved a hand. “All good, really.” His arm tightened around my waist even though Amy and Jayden were already out of sight.
“We’re on our way to see the DJ. If we don’t ask him to play the classics for at least an hour, the old people are about to riot.” Donnie slapped Tyler on the arm. “See you guys later.”
“Sugar?” I asked, raising a brow. “Nothoney, notsweetheart.Sugaris what you came up with?”
He shrugged. “I’m a baker. It just came out. Take it as a compliment.”
“Okay, I will.” I squeezed his shoulder, unsure if we were still in the moment, but I couldn’t not touch him. “Are you okay?”
