At the question, I yank my hand away with so much force that I fall back on my ass. “Sorry!” My eyes flick back and forthbetween his face and the thigh I’d practically groped. There are dark blotches scattered over the denim in the vague shape of my hand. “Shit! I hope that doesn’t stain.”
“It’s fine,” he says, lips quirked in amusement. Then he offers his hand to me, and I realize I’m still sitting on the floor.
It would be more awkward to ignore the gesture and find another way up to my feet, so I push past my minor humiliation and grab his hand. Both of our hands are slick from the lube, which means he has to hold me a little tighter so he doesn’t accidentally drop me. With one swift tug, he hefts me to my feet.
As soon as I’m standing, I slip my hand out of his and back up until the backs of my knees hit the bed. I sit down heavily and try to make it look intentional. I have to say something or my thoughts will keep lingering on the idea of me kneeling between his thighs, hands slick with lube as I—something pokes uncomfortably into my palm and I look down at my clenched fist.The engagement ring!“We got it off!” I announce, holding it up with a triumphant grin.
Euan flexes his left hand, carefully curling his fingers toward his palm before stretching them wide, displaying the full width of his hand from thumb to pinky. “Good, that’s one problem solved.”
“Just a million more to go,” I mutter.
“How about we watch our wedding video now?”
Surely there’s another way he could have phrased that.“Right. The wedding video.” We’ll have to sit really close together to watch any sort of video on his phone. Shoulders pressed against each other. Our knees brushing casually. Maybe even our heads tilted together. So close that either of us turning could lead to an accidental kiss …
While my mind is wandering like a horny teenager, Euan gets up and casually strolls across the room to his luggage. Then, of all things, he pulls out a laptop.
It’ll be a lot easier to watch this on a bigger screen. We won’t need to be quite so close.And I’m not disappointed at all.
While he’s setting up, I return the ring to its box and glare at it. “Stay put,” I hiss in a low whisper. The ring sparkles at me innocently, like it hasn’t caused a dozen problems in the last twenty-four hours. I snap the lid shut and stuff the whole thing back into my suit pocket to deal with later. At this point, I don’t even care if I get any money back, I want the cursed thing out of my life.
When I turn around, Euan is sitting on the bed, back against the headboard, computer settled in his lap. I look at the table, where I expected him to set up, and then back to the bed, trying to decide which is weirder: his choice of location, or my self-conscious thoughts lingering on it.
I sit on the bed next to him and feel the mattress dip beneath me. It’s a king-sized bed with plenty of space, and Euan is firmly planted on the other side. I’ll either have to awkwardly scooch across the bed, jostling the whole thing, or crawl toward him on my hands and knees.
I plant one hand firmly on the mattress, then shift onto my knees. He’s not looking at me, his eyes locked on the computer screen. A little voice in the back of my head pouts with disappointment. I shove it deeper into the shadows as I approach him slowly. It doesn’t take long to reach my designated spot, yet my heart is pounding like I raced up six flights of stairs. I adjust my position to see the screen.It’s not a big deal. Calm down. He didn’t notice anything weird.
“Ready?” he asks, hand hovering over the spacebar.
The video is long and narrow, obviously from one of our phones. Most of the frame is taken up by Euan and me sitting in the bar’s booth. His arm is around me, tucking me close to his side. God, we fit sowelltogether, like two carved figurines that look neat individually, but become a work of art when they’re placed together.
Theresa always outshone me. More than once, I’d heard good-natured jokes about her being out of my league. In heels, she was my height, with toned legs and slim curves. Every time she walked into a room she gained new admirers. That wasn’t even taking her career into mind, where she thrived on an audience hanging on her every word and crushed her opponents under her heel. Meanwhile, I was stuck in middle management, making constant decisions with little real authority.
In comparison, the Euan in the video seems easy, comfortable. Even with a camera on him he doesn’t look like he’s performing for anyone. His beard softens his face and makes him more approachable. It was one of the reasons I happily accepted his invitation to drink. After only exchanging a few words, it felt like we could be friends.
Next to him, I look so relaxed I might melt into a puddle. My posture is horrible, shoulders slightly hunched as I lean into his side. But my smile is wider than I’ve seen in a photograph in years. You can actually see myteeth. Ironic, because you can’t see my eyes, which are squinted into slits, almost engulfed by my rounded cheeks. Definitely not the poised, close-lipped half-smile I’d practiced years ago.
It takes me a few seconds to pull my eyes away from us and look at the other participants on the screen. Two people poke over the back of the booth, one in lime green, the other in fluorescent orange. Until now, I forgot all about the neon sea of people who had descended onto the quiet bar halfway through our drunken night. The one in lime green grins directly at the camera while the one in orange discreetly tries to finish a drink.
There’s a tiny box in one corner with a woman on the other end of the video, who must be the Virtual Vows representative. Her black hair is pulled back in a neat bun and she’s wearing a dark suit. Unlike the rest of us, she looks like she’s in the middleof an average workday. I wonder where she’s at in the world and what time it was for her.
I realize Euan is still waiting for me, so I nod, and he presses play.
“Hello, everyone,” the woman says. She has a faint accent I can’t quite place. “Thank you for gathering here today for the wedding of Alexander Marklin and Euan Blair.”
At our names, a cheer rises in the background. Lime Green pumps their fist in the air while Orange raises their glass in a toast. Video-me waves enthusiastically. Euan’s response is the most subdued, though his smile broadens.
“Witnesses, please introduce yourselves.”
Lime Green almost falls over the back of the booth in their enthusiasm. “I’m Jesse Foster!”
Orange still has their glass raised, now empty. “Hayden Marsh.”
The woman nods and seems to do something off screen. “Alright, that matches the paperwork. And you two have an officiant, correct?”
“I’m here,” a voice off-screen says. “But I have to hold the camera.”
Holy shit, I didn’t evenconsiderwho might be filming.
