I smile kindly. “Thank you. We’re very excited.” The lie slips off my tongue with ease. Not so much excited as I’m nervous. Hopefully, excitement comes soon. “Uh, is Brian available? I know I came unannounced, but I hoped I could talk for a moment.”
“He always wants to see you,” Beverly says. “I believe he’s just working right now, not on the phone.”
“Okay, thank you.”
I wave to Beverly and make my way toward his office. She’s always been so kind to me. In her fifties, she is as efficient as they come, detailed, and never lets anything slip, ever. I remember when Brian first hired her, his mother was furious. Said he needed someone younger, not that she should have a say in it. Still, Brian’s intuition has paid off because Beverly has been such a tremendous help to him in getting all his work done throughout the day.
Plus, she’s nice to me, so bonus.
I knock on his door, then push open the frosty glass, poking my head in.
He looks up from his desk, and when he spots me, his face completely lights up with a smile.
“Lia,” he says as he stands. “What a great surprise.” He walks over to me, takes my hand, and pulls me into his office while shutting the door behind me. Before I know what’s happening, he has his hands on my cheeks and tilts my head as his lips land on mine. I place my hands on his chest for balance while he kisses me deeply like we haven’t seen each other in days. Not sure if his mother has talked to him yet. Not sure I would receive the same welcome. “I’m so glad you’re here,” he says between kisses.
I move my mouth along with his, sink into his hold, and let all the stress and concerns fall to the side as I allow myself to be right here, at this moment.
After a few more seconds, he groans and pulls away, his eyes looking heady and his breath labored. “Okay, things are going to get out of hand if I keep kissing you.” He smiles and strokes his thumb over my cheek. “Why am I so lucky to see you this afternoon?”
God, he’s being so sweet, I almost feel bad about bringing this up, but if I don’t, it’s going to thoroughly bother me, which will turn into resenting him, and I don’t want to resent him.
“Have you spoken to your mom yet?”
“No, I’ve been busy. She’s called twice, though. Why?”
“Uh, I went to look at the church with your mom this morning.”
He pulls me toward his desk, and he takes a seat on the edge while pulling me between his legs. “How was it? Beautiful, right?”
“Very,” I answer. “But I think we might change it to the gardens at the club.”
“Oh wow, that would be . . . that would be perfect.” He smiles so lovingly that I question myself and what his mother said earlier.
“I think so.” I want to tell him thanks to Breaker but decide that’s probably a sore subject. The last thing I want to do is make him mad or defensive, especially when I’m about to have this conversation with him. “But something happened when I was there at the church.”
“Okay . . . what happened?” he asks skeptically.
“First of all, it was an accident.”
“Now you have me worried. What happened?”
“Well, your mom made me try on her wedding veil because she wanted to see me walk down the aisle wearing it. I was wearing those shoes you got me that are a touch too big, and long story short, I slipped out of them when walking, tumbled into a lit candle, and it rolled off the holder and right onto the veil. It caught on fire, and the only reason I still have hair at this point is because Breaker doused me in holy water.”
Brian doesn’t initially react.
He just stands there, a confused look on his face. After a few moments, he says, “Are you being serious?”
“Yes, I wouldn’t lie about this. Trust me.”
“So you set my mom’s veil on fire?”
“Not on purpose,” I say quickly. “It was all an accident. And that, uh, that wasn’t the only thing that happened.”
“What do you mean that’s not the only thing that happened?”
“Well, you see, after the church, I went and changed because the holy water soaked me, but we had another appointment to pick out invitations, and well, I got a paper cut while flipping through the paper, didn’t realize it, and ended up flicking my blood on your mom’s face and all over the paper.”
“What?” he asks, his eyes wider than ever now. “You flicked your blood at my mom?”
