Kate brushes his arm off as if he were the plague, and we all laugh. “Yeah, I don’t think so, little boy, but nice try. I need a drink.”
She turns and heads toward the bar.
Bennett rubs his hand along his jaw. “Damn, I hate to see them go, but I love to watch them leave.”
“For fuck’s sake,” Hunter says, dropping his head at the same time as Aria chokes in a fit of laughter.
“And that is why you get punched.” Haylee tips her drink in his direction, and Aria’s laughter continues.
“You think that’s real funny, don’t you, Blondie? It’s okay; she will want me by the end of
the night. But I guess it’s a good thing there’s two of them. I have a 50/50 shot of taking one of them back to my room.” Bennett winks in our direction.
Kyler holds up his hand as if he were going to interject, but I place my palm on his chest.
I lower my voice so only he can hear. “Babe, don’t even worry about it. Lauren and Kate may have different personalities, but I can state for a fact that Bennett won’t be going home with either of them.”
At least, I think.
“Benny, we’re sharing a room tonight. Please leave Lauren and Kate alone,” Hunter pleads.
“You and Blondie go get your own room and have some fun too. Today is a day to celebrate love, and sex is the art form of love. Duh!”
I don’t know whether to laugh or shake my head at Bennett’s antics, but I am enjoying the show.
“You’re such a dog,” Haylee jokes before resting her head on her husband’s shoulder.
“Nah, I’m all wolf, baby,” Bennett responds with a wink before walking away from the table, my guess would be in search of one of my sisters-in-law.
“Next time, we leave him at home.” Aria raises her glass in a toast.
As we all raise our glasses to join, my brother chimes in. “Ooh, or we can get him a leash.”
Clink. Clink. Clink.
The sound of a knife hitting a glass draws our attention to the left, where we find my brother, sister-in-law, and niece standing. Oh, Lord, who gave him a microphone? It seems every time someone picks up the microphone, something crazy happens. I cross my fingers that this is not the case this time, although knowing my brother, anything is possible.
Zach clears his throat. “Not sure I can top the lovely Kate and Lauren’s speech last night at the rehearsal dinner or our performance earlier, but I’m going to try. If anyone uploaded that to YouTube, please send me the link. Who knows, maybe I can top the number of views from my Foreigner video from college.”
“Get on with it!” my dad shouts from his table.
Zach waves him off. “For those that don’t know me, well, I apologize, but I’m Zach, the best man. I have the honor of being the bride’s devilishly handsome older brother and the groom’s best friend. I’ve watched these two grow from strangers to friends to lovers. And saw even more than I would have liked.”
Haylee smacks his chest, and he laughs.
“What? It’s true. Sorry,” he chuckles.
“You should have knocked!” Kyler shouts.
Zach waves him off. “Kyler, you are my best friend, my sidekick, the Uncle Kracker to my Kenny Chesney, and the Cher to my Sonny. By the way, he makes a beautiful woman.”
Kyler runs his hand over his face before he shouts jokingly, “Still not cool, man.”
Zach pulls the microphone back to his mouth, but it can’t hide that signature Jacobs smirk across his face as he points to my husband.
“Yeah, it is, but I won’t tell it now.” He turns back toward the crowd. “Just come find me if you want to hear that story.” He brings his hand to cover the side of his mouth as if he’s whispering a secret. “It’s actually a really hilarious story.”
Haylee clears her throat, reminding my brother to get back on topic.