I hid my reaction by taking another sip of my drink. "Nice turnout." If Ihadto be cordial to Harrison, I needed to stop mentioning the past.
Harrison obligingly turned to scan the crowd of partygoers. "Yeah, Liam and Amelia sure know how to throw a good party. We have the bachelor party and wedding rehearsal to go."
"Yeah, Amelia's having a bachelorette partyanda bridal shower," I laughed. "It's not the best role for an introvert like me, but I'm gonna fake it til I make it. Plus, Amelia deserves the best. And Liam," I added.
Harrison laughed. The sound made my stomach flutter. "C'mon, we both know this is all for Amelia."
I found myself giggling along with him. "She has turned into a bit of a belle of the ball, hasn't she?"
I made the mistake of glancing up at him, our gazes holding as we smiled warmly at each other. The air between us fizzled, and Harrison's chest rose in a deep breath. He kept his eyes on me, his expression bearing an emotion that had my own breath suspended. I blinked and dragged my gaze away before scowling down at my almost empty glass. What the fuck was I doing? I could not be attracted to Harrison. My mortal enemy.
Harrison cleared his throat and sipped his beer. "So, ah…" He cleared his throat again. "That's not the only event that's on, you know. Our reunion is coming up a week before the wedding."
I groaned. Why did people keep bringing that up? Amelia chatted my ear off about it again this morning. "Don't remind me. At least with that one, I can just pop my head in for ten minutes."
"I thought you said at least half an hour?" he reminded me.
I lifted a slim shoulder. "I don't think it matters. Amelia will be so wrapped up in her wedding plans that she'll probably forget to go to the thing."
When Harrison didn't respond, I peered up at him. He was frowning into his glass. "Harry? I mean, Harrison," I amended. Dammit.
His mouth kicked up at my noticeable slip, but he wisely ignored it. "I think you'll find that she'll probably attend. And I have a feeling you'll be staying for a lot longer than thirty minutes."
I surveyed him suspiciously; my eyes narrowed to slits. "Why? Are you guys going to name me "most improved" and then dump a bucket of pig's blood on me?"
Harrison's eyes widened in shock. "Why would we do that?"
"You know, likeCarrie?" At Harrison's confused face, I huffed in surprise. "Carrie?" I pressed again.
"Who's Carrie? I don't recall a Carrie in our year."
I laughed, shaking my head. "No,Carrieis the name of a book by Stephen King. I mean, it was also made into a pretty popular movie—and then horribly remade again."
"Oh. And the pig's blood?"
"I can't believe you haven't seen it," I murmured. I didn't bother saying "or read it," considering he made it bluntly clear in high school that he thought reading for pleasure was for losers like me.
"Carrie was horribly bullied throughout high school by a group of popular students. One of the popular kids asked her to prom, and she won Prom Queen, but it was all a horrible joke. When she was on stage accepting her crown, they dumped a bucket of pig's blood on her from above."
"Fucking hell," he jerked in surprise.
I shrugged. "It's okay; she ended up setting the school on fire and killing most of them."
"Ahh…okay." Harrison had visibly paled, and I internally snickered at the thought of him thinking I would set fire to the school.
"Look, Grace." He turned to me, his expression serious. "I know we have a lot to discuss." He held his hand up when I started to interrupt. "But I would never do or say anything ever again to hurt you."
At my dubious look, he reached out and cupped my cheek, causing me to freeze in shock. "Ever," he stressed.
He rubbed his thumb against my soft cheek before removing his hand. My skin flamed, and I resisted the urge to rub the spot he had just touched.
I glanced away, my body on the verge of tearing off to seek a place to hide. I was confused by my response to him and by his peculiar behavior. His words appeared sincere, but I knew better than to trust him.
"Please come to the reunion." He held his hands up in defense. "The only red that will get splashed on you will probably be a few splashes of Merlot."
"Because someone will dump a glass on me?" I held my hand up when he went to comment. "I was just joking, O'Connor."
He grinned. "So you'll come?"
