“Wow,” Brayden says softly behind me. I hear the awe in his tone before I turn to see it on his face. “I knew your ideas would come together, but this is . . . magnificent.”
I smile. “Nic and Ethan deserve the best.”
He nods, his throat bobbing as he swallows and scans the room again. Is he thinking of the long journey his brother had to take to get here? Of the man’s grief after losing his wife? Of the joy I’m told Nic brought back to his eyes? “They really do.”
“The band will be on the stage,” I say, motioning toward the elevated platform on the dance floor. “And we have bars set up on either side of the room. We have high-top cocktail tables set up around them so people will move toward the dance floor after the meal is over.”
He shakes his head, taking it all in. “No one will ever know this is your first wedding.”
“I wouldn’t be happy with my work if they did.” I scan the space, looking for missed details and finding none. “Thank you.” I turn to him. “For giving me this opportunity.”
He looks into my eyes, but I’m not sure what he’s looking for. “You’re welcome. It’s a shame you did all this work and you’ll be too busy managing the staff to enjoy the party with us.”
I shrug. “I don’t mind.”
“There’s no chance I can talk you into letting someone else take the reins tomorrow, is there?”
I snort and press my hand to his chest. “Hi, Pot, I’m Kettle.”
He grins and grabs my hand before I can pull it away. “If I don’t get to dance with you tomorrow, I’ll just have to do it tonight.”
Before I can protest, he takes my champagne glass and puts it on the floor with his.
He taps the screen of his phone until the opening chords of Prince’s “I Would Die 4 U” fill the room. I laugh, a sound that’s half joy and half disbelief. He remembered.
Grinning, I let him pull me into his arms. I drape my arms around his neck. “You’re crazy. No one slow-dances to this song.”
“Says who?” His gaze drops to my mouth and his smile falls away. “You’ve really never had a boyfriend?”
I shake my head and swallow. “I’m the girl guys take home for some fun, not the one they take home to Mom.”
Something dark passes over his face, but he exhales and it’s gone. “Strange, because my mom thinks you’re the best thing ever.”
My heart squeezes. “Your mom is awesome.”
“Next time one of my siblings gets married, let’s make sure you have a reliable number two who can run things so I can keep you in my arms all night.”
The next time . . . “Who else is engaged?” Levi and Ellie are barely back together, and last I knew, they weren’t rushing things.
He shrugs. “Nobody at the moment, but I’m sure someone will be hitting us up for the family discount in the next year or two.”
I lean my head against his chest to hide my face and swallow hard. Year or two. He still expects me to be around then.
“You okay?” he whispers, so soft I can barely hear him over the music.
I’m afraid to speak, so I just nod. I’m so good.
Brayden
Molly fell asleep on my lap, and I can’t stop staring at her. She mumbles incoherent words for the third time since she drifted off, and I smile. She’s a sleep talker. I shouldn’t be surprised. She always has so much to say, so why should it be any different in sleep?
I turn off the TV—I’ve barely looked at it all night—and brush her blond hair from her face. When we got home, I told her to change into pajamas and meet me out here.
“Is pajamas code for slinky lingerie?” she asked. “Because all of mine’s in storage.”
I recommended flannel pants and a T-shirt, and she laughed like I’d lost my mind. Maybe she doesn’t understand what I see when I look at her. That I was never drawn to her because of her cleavage or flirtatious smiles. She’s beautiful, but beautiful is easy to resist. It’s everything beneath the gloss and curves that made me fall in love.
If we didn’t both have such a big day tomorrow, I probably would have danced with her until sunrise. We’ve danced around what we want for so long, and tonight we both found the courage to say we wanted more. Truthfully, I didn’t want to come home. I’m afraid she’ll wake up tomorrow and panic about our relationship, about what this change means.
Molly shifts in my lap then opens her eyes, stretching her arms over her head. “Shit. I fell asleep.” She rubs her eyes, leaving a streak of mascara across her cheek. “I guess your masterful efforts at seduction failed.”