I studied Allegra. The years (and the plastic surgeon) had been kind to her. She didn’t have that tight and shiny surprised look of someone who’d gone too far with surgery. No, she looked fresh and beautiful. It wasn’t fair.
Her smile looked genuine as she pledged her life to Charles and agreed to let him be “her captain.”
“Fucking hell,” Vail kept muttering under her breath. “They can’t be serious.” Oh, they were serious.
Even after they did the nautical knot, they brought out a bell to ring for some reason and then it was time for the rings and the kiss and finally, they were walking back up the aisle to cheers.
“Thank god it was shorter than the Hawaii ceremony,” Vail said in my ear. That had been a nightmare. Not only had they hired dancers to perform, but there was poetry and a whole lei ceremony that all felt very gross to me. I’d wanted to hide the entire time it was happening, and Allegra had been livid at my sour expressions in the pictures.
I’d tried to forget so many of her insults and comments and all those little things she’d said that had gotten under my skin.
They’d left damage. I wanted to pretend that it didn’t still affect me, but now that I was back in her vicinity, those wounds were aching again.
People started getting up and going back to the tent that had been set up for cocktail hour. The formal dinner and dancing would be in the ballroom inside after Charles and Allegra had taken their pictures.
“I need a drink,” Vail said.
“Agreed,” Dallas said.
“Same,” I said.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Vail
I’d hopedshe would look terrible. She didn’t, of course. She looked radiant. The very picture of what an older bride should look like. Her dress was perfect for her body. Her smile glowed as she looked at Charles in his tux with that ridiculous fucking captain hat. This wedding had obviously been all his idea.
I didn’t start feeling steady until I had a glass of champagne in my hand.
“Should we toast to something?” Dallas asked. Things were still a little unsteady but getting better. He was much more at ease than I was. I wouldn’t be truly easy until I was far away from here.
“To open bars,” I said, lifting my glass.
“Cheers,” Dallas and Lea both said.
We drank and I tried not to make eye contact with anyone. I’d probably have to talk with Carter at some point, seeing as how he was my uncle. He and Allegra were always falling in and out, and I guess they were in again.
“Do you think she saw us?” Lea asked me as she sipped her champagne, looking like a purple dream. I still wanted to whisk her away so only I could look at her. More than a few eyes had slid over her body in an appreciative way and I wanted to tell all of them to keep them away from my Lea.
Except she wasn’t mine. She could never be mine.
“Yes,” I said. There had been a moment when I’d locked eyes with Allegra and her smile had frozen for half of a moment. Oh yes, she’d seen me, and she was livid.
Exactly the way I’d hoped.
I should have felt more satisfaction. I should have been filled with righteous vindication, but all I could feel was how much I wanted to be alone with Lea.
All I could think of was her. All I could see was her.
In addition to the pond with the bridge, the club was also attached to a lake where members could dock their boats and take them out in the summer.
Only a few of the boats were uncovered for the season, most still wrapped up for the winter.
I wanted Lea to myself and there was only one place I could take her to make that happen.
“Hey, come with me,” I said, grabbing two more glasses of champagne. “I want to show you something.”
She gave me a puzzled look. “Okay?”
