CHAPTER 12
Olivia
I don’t hate love. I just don’t believe in it.
I repeat Asher’s words over and over in my head because all the moments I’ve spent telling myself that I’m not attracted to this dark mystery of a man do nothing to prepare me for how devastatingly sinful he looks dressed in a perfectly fitted three-piece suit.
The way his eyes meet mine as I walk down the aisle ahead of CeCe and Ivy makes me feel like I’m the only woman in the room. His focus is unashamedly on me, like it’s his job to guide me safely to the front of the chapel.
Ivy follows me, smiling at Billi on her mama’s lap in the third row, followed by CeCe, her big bouquet of flowers resting sweetly on her baby bump.
A certain sort of magic hangs over the room when Ginger starts down the aisle with her father, just behind Mabel, who’s scattering petals along the walkway.
Her eyes meet Cole’s and he smiles so big both dimples in his clean-shaven face pop out. I look between them and that familiar pang of jealousy hits me. It’s not born from malice. It’s more like a wish that one day a man will look at me the way Cole looks at Ginger.
I do my best to keep my focus on them, fighting the nagging feeling that I’m going to end up the crazy cat lady while all my friends live happily ever after.
Ginger has tears streaming down her cheeks as Mabel presents her with a special bracelet with two hearts on it. One for each of them.
My heart swells as I watch my best friend say her vows to her new little family, a family she was destined to have, but my eyes can’t keep from straying to Asher.
Illicit thoughts of tearing open that suit coat and running my hands over his hard body fill my head as the officiant says the magic words and Cole and Ginger are announced husband and wife. The chapel cheers when they kiss.
Asher’s eyes meet mine across the aisle, heating as they glide over my body.
He isn’t coy; he doesn’t try to hide it.
He looks at me like it’s his right to do so, like nothing would pull those mercury eyes away.
Call it the romance of the day or simply the fact that I haven’t had sex in what feels like eons, but more than ever, that heated way he’s been looking at me since the night of my fire is starting to feel less like coincidence and more like unfinished business.
“Me and Mom want one picture with you, sweetheart, before you scamper off.” My dad approaches with my mother, sweet smiles on both of their faces.
They’ve known Ginger since she was a girl and they’re so happy to be a part of her big day.
We’ve been at photos for over an hour already and the photographer has every shot she’s planned among the maple trees and honeysuckle bushes.
Ivy is breaking off to feed Billi—with Wade close behind—and the rest of the wedding guests are milling about with champagne flutes in the early evening sun.
There isn’t a breath of wind, and the sky is a clear, duck-egg blue. It couldn’t be any more perfect.
“Okay, but I’ll take it,” I tell my dad.
“Don’t trust the old man’s photography skills?” he chides, passing me his cellphone.
“We just want to have foreheads in the picture, Ken, and that might not be the case if you take it.” My mother and I look at each other with knowing grins as my dad shrugs with a chuckle. It’s been the three of us for so long that we know one another inside and out.
“Touché,” my dad agrees, feigning a scowl.
I hug them before they congratulate Ginger one more time and head off to change before the reception.
“Do you guys mind heading over first to make sure everything is perfect for me?” Ginger asks me, Asher, CeCe, and Nash as we mill about, chatting.
“Of course, we can head over. Whatever you need,” I answer right away.
“I really want to get out of this dress,” CeCe says to me. “You’re welcome to come with us, but I’m going to stop at home and change first.”
“You can come with me, I’m heading straight there,” Asher says cooly from my left.
My mouth falls open in surprise. It’s not like he’s asking.
He’s telling me in his trademark nonchalant, commanding way.
Standing beside Nash, his inked hands are casually parked in the pockets of his suit pants as his intense eyes burn through me, and with that voice directed at me for the first time in weeks, even the tips of my fingers tingle.
CeCe shoots him a glance and then her eyes find mine. “That okay?”
“Of course,” I answer way too quickly, avoiding Asher’s heady gaze. “We’ll make sure everything is hunky-dory.”
Hunky-dory? My dad says that. Why am I so awkward right now?
“All right … I guess it’s settled,” she says with a smile as I give her the best hug I can around her baby bump. “We’ll meet you two there.”
“You kids behave now.” Nash chuckles as he goes to shake Asher’s hand.
“Aye,” Asher answers at the exact same time I blurt out, “We’re just friends.”
Everyone in the vicinity stops and stares at me. All right, well, time to crawl under a rock.
“Of course,” Nash croaks out, trying not to laugh.
I can almost feel my palms sweating. The thought of being alone with Asher is making me beyond antsy, yet I want it.
As the others start to head out, Asher raises a perfectly suit-clad arm, gesturing for me to go first.
“Thanks for letting me tag along,” I say in an attempt to break the silence.
I can almost feel the heat of his gaze on me as we descend the chapel steps. His hand meets my lower back to guide me forward and my nipples instantly pebble at the touch.
When we reach the bottom of the steps, he stops and drops his hand to my arm. I turn to face him and find those gray eyes I’ve been avoiding for weeks searching mine.
“You don’t need to avoid me, Liv.”
“I’m not … honest.” I look up into those eyes and almost forget my own name.
“Mm-hmm. Okay then. Well, since we’re being honest, I say this in the friendliest way possible”—his eyes move slowly, hotly—“you look really fucking beautiful today.”
He tilts my chin up and I breathe him in deeper, aching to touch him. The thought sends sparks through me, straight to my core.
He may not be Mr. Right, but as he backs up slowly and heads around to his side of his truck, I drink him in. Part of me is really wishing he could be Mr. Right Now.