She rolls her eyes. “I know guys like you. I mean, the ring is nice and all, but I’m not one of the brainless Barbies you like to bang. I won’t fuck you for it, so you can stop with the unnecessary flattery.”
Alright. That’s it. I was doing my level best to be a good guy and reassure her, but that feeling is long gone. Poof. No more. Now I’m pissed. Sheknowsguys like me?Guys like me.No. Fuck that. I’m a decent person, goddamnit. I have done absolutely nothing but treat her with respect.
“You don’t know me, Taryn,” I grit out. “You have no idea what I want or what I’m thinking.” My voice is hard. Venomous. She looks shaken by it. “And, you sure as fuck don’t know what type of women I’m interested in. But, none of that shit matters anymore. That’s my ring on your finger. I didn’taskyou to fuck me for it.”
“I… I…” Her confidence has waned. Uncertainty has taken its place.Yeah, beauty. I know the feeling.
“We need to go in there”—I motion to the door—“together. And we need to get through this night. Then—then—we can talk about all this.” She looks absolutely sick, and a wave of something that feels close to guilt takes up residence in my chest. “One step at a time. Okay?” I soften my tone. I need to change her opinion of me, and that won’t happen if I keep snarling at her.
She sucks in a breath. And, I’m a bastard, because I notice the rise and fall of her tits as she does. “Yeah,” she agrees. “One step at a time.”
I can do this. I can turn things around. After all, we have no choice.
TARYN
I don’t know how I will make it through this reception. There is a faint buzzing in my head, and I’ve been repeating Liam’s angry words over and over in my mind. I see people’s lips moving—I assume congratulating me. I can’t hear what they are saying over my own turbulent thoughts.
That’s my ring on your finger. I didn’t ask you to fuck me for it.
He looked at me with such disdain. I was imagining being hit on by the campus manwhore. Joke’s on me. Instead, I watched the playboy shift into a real person before my eyes.
I can’t seem to focus, because this is suddenly very real. Liam is flesh and blood. His ring is on my finger. I’m supposed to spend my life with him, and I clearly annoy him. He obviously has his own feelings about all of this. Feelings I never once considered. Yet, despite my total disregard for how this impacts his life, he hasn’t left my side during my semiconscious state. No, instead, Liam has been steadfast. Hand on my lower back or at my elbow. Guiding me from person to person. Smiling. Saying all the right things when I can barely keep it together.
“Right, Taryn?” he’s asking, smiling at me encouragingly. He seems to be prompting me for a response, but I have no idea to what. I give a shaky smile and nod. This was obviously the right answer because Mrs. Murphy’s eyes light up.
“Good! Good! No sense in one of those long engagements. I remember what it was like to be your age,” she shares with a bright smile.
“We need enough time to plan everything, ma’am. I want Taryn to have the wedding that she always dreamed of,” Liam says kindly. I’m not sure if he’s buying us time before our nuptials or if he means that. As he so eloquently pointed out earlier, I don’t know him. Yet, I’ve never once dreamed of my wedding, so I guess he doesn’t know me either.
Mrs. Murphy is utterly charmed, so I continue my forced smile until Cole Murphy saunters over to kiss the old woman on the cheek. “Not causing any trouble, are you, Maimeó?”
His grandmother titters out a girly giggle. “Hello, dearest. I’m trying to get the good gossip on the wedding date. I have brunch with the ladies after mass tomorrow.” Her eyes remain bright. “Nothing more exciting than young love. Speaking of which, young man, when will you finally settle down with one lass and start giving me more great-grandbabies?”
I look Cole directly in the eye.Finally settle down with one girl?I’m curious how his family doesn’t know he’s had the same girlfriend for years now. God, did I mention that I really hate him?
If my glare bothers him, he pretends not to notice. “Maimeó, you have at least ten great-grandchildren. I think you can give me a few more years.” He chuckles and tweaks her chin. I want to kick him in a place where children will never be a concern of his again.
“I have fourteen,” she replies saucily. “But, there is always room in our family, Cole. Always room.” She pats him affectionately on the bicep.
“Well, it was nice meeting you, Mrs. Murphy.” Liam smiles brightly. “Cole.” He dips his head at my roommate’s asshole boyfriend before steering me away. “Do you have a history with Cole Murphy?” he asks me gruffly as he pushes me gently toward the bar. He sounds perturbed.
“Unfortunately,” I grumble. “My roommate is his girlfriend.”
Liam’s eyebrows shoot up. “Does he know that?”
“Right?” I snarl. “God, she could do so much better than his lying ass.”
Liam stops our forward momentum and spins me to face him. “I need you to know… I don’t believe in that.”
I’m confused. I’m also exhausted if I’m telling the truth. “You don’t believe in what exactly?”
“Cheating,” he replies definitively. “You won’t have to worry about that with me.” There is such a conviction in his words. He’s making a vow to me right in the middle of the O’Tooles’ grand parlor. Right under the gaudy chandeliers and in a room full of half-drunk Irishmen, he’s making a commitment that I didn’t think was possible for a guy like Liam. He plans to be monogamous? Really?
I don’t even know how to respond to this, so I don’t. I continue to watch him, and he looks so sincere that it confounds me even further. His eyes are studying my face as though I hold the secrets of the universe. Like he’s waiting for me to say something profound. I’m sorry to disappoint him because I am certain of absolutely nothing right now. I look away because I can’t stand his continued scrutiny.
“And you plan to be faithful to me.” He says this as a statement.
“This isn’t the place to have this conversation,” I say quietly and his eyes flash. “Let’s get through tonight and talk later, remember?”
