Hugged?
Asher snorted as he swung back to the kitchen. Camera definitely not needed, and a hug didn’t bode well for the future of that marriage.
He couldn’t speak for Loyal, but looking back, he should’ve realized that in his own relationship. Even though Brianna had been one hell of an actress, he should’ve recognized the lack of true, unadulterated, lasting passion.
Like his parents, who still shared R-rated kisses when they thought they wouldn’t get caught. And his sister Celia, and her fiancé, Robert, who were always sharing glances, smiling, and touching even after six years. Not to mention, the night of their engagement party, he’d walked in on them in the wine cellar.
The image seared into his brain still made him cringe as he refilled his coffee cup. Robert had an obscenely white ass.
CHAPTER 2
“ Got a big enough slab there, Ace?”
In the middle of lifting his fork to his mouth, Asher shifted his gaze from the dance floor to his best friend, Roxanna Kent. The tall, feisty brunette sauntered up to his corner table, still flushed and disheveled a half-hour after the Grand March and the recent departure of their newlywed friends, Shawn and Miesha.
“I’ve been working, remember? Other than a few appetizers earlier, this is the first thing I’ve had all night.” He shoveled the chunk of marble wedding cake into his mouth before slouching down into his chair with a guttural groan of ecstasy.
Marble wasn’t fancy or gourmet, but the cake went light-years beyond basic. Exquisitely moist, it had the perfect hint of butter and almond flavoring in the yellow cake to combine with the rich swirls of chocolate.
After a second bite topped with a delicate green frosting rose, he held up his fork and spoke around the sensory orgasm seducing his taste buds. “This is the only reason I still do weddings.”
Roxanna dropped down onto the chair beside him and brushed her long hair back over her shoulder with a tired smile. Kicking off her shoes to prop her feet on a neighboring chair, she grabbed his Nikon and started flipping through the images.
“Right. It has absolutely nothing to do with the hopeless romantic you keep locked behind that sexy, rugged exterior.”
“You think I’m sexy?” he inquired with a grin.
“All you Diamonds are—though not quite as sexy as Merit,” she teased as his younger brother danced past with a blond guest from the bride’s side. Miesha’s cousin or something. Roxanna gave Asher a quick sideways grin, then rolled her eyes. “Except I can’t even give you credit for shaving when you have green frosting in your teeth.”
“Want some?”
“I’m gonna pass. There’s something off about that cake.”
“Such blasphemy. There’s something off about you.”
She scrunched up her nose and kept scrolling through his pictures.
Asher didn’t care what Roxanna said, the cake was pure heaven. Any masterpiece by Honor Hartman was nothing short of amazing. Didn’t matter if it was marble, lemon, red velvet, carrot, chocolate rum, or any of the other flavors he’d been lucky enough to taste the past couple years. His mouth watered whenever he saw the signature double H’s creatively swirled into the design on the back side of her cakes.
Since he was usually photographing the ceremony while she was delivering to the reception, he’d never met the baker, and frankly, he didn’t want to. In his mind, Mrs. Hartman was a sweet grandmother wearing a matronly apron as she baked wedding cakes filled with love for young couples starting their lives together. When he did find the right woman, they’d have an Honor Hartman cake at the wedding.
Oh, crap.
There was that hopeless, romantic sap Rox had accused him of harboring behind his rugged exterior. But in his defense—and the romantic sap’s—eating the woman’s cake was an erotic enough experience by itself. No way he wanted to picture some sexy young baker in a skimpy apron unless he had the flesh and blood woman at hand to complete the fantasy.
Speaking of sexy…he turned to scan the wedding guests until he located the slim redhead in emerald green he’d been watching on the dance floor—and pretty much most of the night. Disappointment drew his brows together as he watched the woman with her partner. Too bad she didn’t match that beautiful dress.
Well, her body was equally breathtaking, but—
“In-ter-rest-ting,” Roxanna murmured beside him.
Asher nonchalantly returned his attention back to his plate, hoping his friend hadn’t noticed the direction of his frown. He relaxed when he saw she was still looking at his camera screen.
“What?”
“Some-one’s got a girl-friend.”
Her teasing, sing-song tone made him snort. “What are you, seven?”