Chapter 41
At the sound of a loud gasp from my side, I tore my gaze from my reflection to glance over at Natalie. Hands covering her mouth, she made no effort to hide the tears running down her cheeks.
Those pesky pregnancy hormones had made her a bit more emotional than usual. Especially these past two weeks, since she’d helped me prepare everything for the year-end function.
“Oh my gosh, Evie,” Nat cried. “You look like a princess.”
My attention shifted back to the mirror, and a smile spread across my face. She wasn’t wrong, and I didn’t even care how arrogant that sounded. Because, dammit, I did look like a princess and felt like one, too.
I ran my hands down the gauzy material of my dress, and my smile spread even wider. Somewhere, without me even knowing, Liam had contacted Natalie and asked her to design a dress for me for the event.
He’d wanted it to resemble Snow White’s gown. And with the tight royal-blue bodice and huge bright-yellow skirt, it did. Maybe a bit more modernized since it was strapless and pushed my boobs up for all the world to see.
But for the first time, I didn’t care.
I felt beautiful.
I felt wanted.
And loved.
So, so loved.
There was just one thing missing. As it always did, my heart squeezed tight behind my ribs when I thought about my parents. My mom had texted several times but only to update me on my father’s progress.
We hadn’t had any meaningful conversations, those true and deep heart-to-hearts. I wanted that. I wanted to sit down and tell her how something she believed to be so bad had truly turned out to be one of the best things I’d ever done.
Maybe when the event’s excitement died down, I could ask Liam if we could take a trip to Portsmouth. If my mom met him and saw how much he cared about me, maybe she’d see reason.
“Hey, hey, no sad eyes,” Natalie said. “The makeup artist is long gone, and I cannot recreate her magic.”
Her tone was so serious I couldn’t help but laugh.
“No sad eyes.” I held up my hands. “I promise.”
“Good.” She stepped forward and brushed her fingers over the loose curls tumbling over my shoulders, then shifted her attention to the sparkly red bow clip pulling one side of my hair off my face. “See, he does think you’re a princess.”
My heart somersaulted. Liam didn’t just think it, he made me feel like one every day.
“Yeah,” I whispered. “How lucky am I?”
Natalie shook her head, eyes shining with a fresh batch of tears. “Oh no, he’s the lucky one, Evie.”
Emotion crawled up my throat, and I quickly threw my arms around my best friend. Squeezing my eyes shut, I willed my own tears away while silently thanking the universe for giving me a friend and soul sister.
“All right, all right, no more mushiness.” She pulled away and bounced my curls. “The car is waiting, and I promised to get you to the ball on time.”
With that, she ushered me out of the apartment an into the waiting limo. The drive to Center415 was both too long and far too short, and when we rolled to a stop in front of the entrance, my heart beat so fast and erratically I feared an impending heart attack.
“Breathe.” Natalie reached over and squeezed my hand. “Tonight is going to be perfect.”
I didn’t have time to answer her. My door swung open, and instead of the driver peeking inside, Liam’s bright-blue eyes stared back at me. He held out his hand, and I didn’t hesitate. I touched my palm to his and allowed him to help me out of the limo.
The moment we faced each other, he snaked an arm around my waist and held me close to him. His free hand came up, fingers gently tilting my chin.
“You look magnificent,” he rasped. “I want to kiss you but don’t want to ruin your makeup.”
I grinned up at him like the lovesick fool I was. “The artist said my lip stain won’t come off.”
“Thank fuck.”
His mouth was on mine. He didn’t kiss me like he always did. This was sweet and tender, the kind of kiss that wrapped around your entire being and told you you were home.
I would’ve let him kiss me like that forever if it hadn’t been for the murmur of voices and wild clicking of cameras.
We slowly broke apart, and I chose to keep my gaze on Liam instead of the hundreds of people around us.
“You ready?” he asked.
I nodded. “I am.”
Liam turned around and said a quick thanks to Natalie, who was tucked into Zach’s side. Then he slipped my arm through the crook of his elbow. Those beautiful eyes met mine, and he winked before making the trek down the red carpet that led into the building.
Once we were inside, pride filled my chest as I took in the decor and how perfectly everything had come together. It was as if we’d stepped into a fairy tale. It was breathtakingly beautiful, surrounded by white and gold with pops of apricot and green.
Different chandeliers hung from the roof. Some spiraled down, while others clung to the ceiling in three-dimensional spheres. Between the lights were rows of roses and ivy leaves.
“Oh wow, Evie, this is amazing,” Natalie exclaimed from behind me.
“Couldn’t agree more,” Rafe said as he and Tristan joined us from I didn’t even know where.
Tristan let out a low whistle. “Buckle up. You’ll become a hot commodity once word gets out that Mrs. Maxwell is this good at events.”
My cheeks heated, and a little voice inside my head immediately wanted to yell they were saying it because they were my friends, but I told it to shut up. I’d own this. It was one of the things I was good at, like Natalie with her designing and my sister with her dancing.
This was my thing.
That pang of sadness from earlier was back with a vengeance. I wished my mom could have been there to see it.
Swallowing down the hurt, I took in the people who had become my stand-in family. No, that wasn’t right. They might not have been related to me by blood, but that didn’t make them any less my family.
They weren’t stand-ins; they were the real deal. Each and every one of them.
“Thanks, everyone, this really means—”
Tristan held up his hand, cutting me off. “Nope. There will be no mushy speeches tonight. Tonight, we let our hair down and have fun. Besides…” He leaned a bit closer. “I have it on good authority that the new Nouvelle Femme line has a salacious ad campaign.”
Liam and I groaned while the rest of the group laughed. I’d almost forgotten about the new line and the hotter-than-sin photo shoot to promote it. Gosh, maybe it was a good thing my parents weren’t here after all.
More people filtered in, a few of them stopping by our table to congratulate Liam and me on our nuptials. Then there were those who’d walk by and point before immediately whispering behind their hands.
I knew there would still be people who believed the first article, even after the news site issued an apology and confessed they were paid to write what they’d written. Unfortunately, that’s just the way people were wired. There would always be those who believed the worst.
The important thing, I realized, was those people didn’t matter. All that mattered was what Liam and I believed of each other.
As if hearing my thoughts, Liam laced his fingers through mine and brought my knuckles to his lips.
“You know I can have security throw them out.”
I smiled because he’d do it. That was the kind of man he was. “No, let them talk. The more people talk, the more buzz we’ll create around the new line.” I shrugged. “More buzz, more sales. We win.”
He stared at me momentarily, then threw his head back and laughed that rich, beautiful laugh I’d never get enough of. “I’ve already won, wife.”
As always, it was so easy to get lost in his eyes. Until his phone dinged and he looked away to check his message. The longer he stared at his screen, the lower his brows dipped.
“Everything okay?” I asked, the slightest hint of trepidation tingling down my spine.
Liam’s gaze met mine, and I swear, the expression on his way-too-handsome face nearly did me in.
“All good. I just need to take care of something.” Leaning forward, he pressed his lips against my cheek. “Be back soon.”
I watched him push to his feet and stroll out of the ballroom. As much as I wanted to believe him, I couldn’t help but feel like the other shoe was about to drop.
“What’s wrong?” Natalie slid onto the chair Liam had vacated moments ago. “You’re a little pale.”
The last thing I wanted to do was worry her because my paranoid brain ran away with me. Forcing a smile, I reached forward and patted her hand. “Nothing’s wrong, sweetie. I’m just taking everything in.”
“You did so good, Evie. I just know people are going to talk about this event for years to come.”
I smiled again and I knew if my friend watched me close enough, she’d see exactly how fake it was.
The trepidation from earlier grew bigger when I felt eyes on me. The hair on the back of my neck slowly lifted while tiny bumps sprinted across my skin at breakneck speed.
This feeling was nothing like how I felt whenever Liam’s gaze was on me. I was vaguely aware Natalie was still talking, but I couldn’t listen. I was too busy scanning the crowd, trying to figure out who the hell’s eyes were boring into me.
I finally couldn’t take it anymore and jumped up and excused myself. Natalie didn’t even have time to follow me before I hurried out of the ballroom, searching for a bathroom.
I found one a good distance away from the crowd and was all too happy when I pushed inside and saw the space was empty. Pressing my hand against my rolling stomach, I let out a long, slow breath.
“Get it together, Evie.”
I would have loved to splash my face with cold water, but since I didn’t want to ruin my makeup, I just stood there until my racing heart and frayed nerves calmed.
Which turned out to be quite a while.
You’re just overwhelmed, I told myself. There’s nothing to be afraid of. And there wasn’t. Shane was still in jail, and Liam’s grandfather had somehow dropped off the face of the earth.
Everything had been good—no, better than good, great—over the last two weeks. And maybe that was the problem? Or maybe my overactive imagination—fueled by action-packed, angsty books—was running away with me.
I decided it was the latter and shook my head at my silliness and walked out of the bathroom. I was halfway down the hall when I heard it.
“Evie?”
And there it was, the shoe I’d been waiting for to drop. Stopping in my tracks, I slowly spun around to see Anthony approaching me. He looked…different, and not in a good way either. His blue shirt was wrinkled and half untucked, his brown cargo pants in pretty much the same condition.
His once neatly combed hair stood out in every which direction, and I swear, his face seemed to have aged by years.
“You look good,” he said, stopping in front of me. “So good.”
I honestly had nothing to say to him, so I just tilted my head and turned around. Before I could take a single step away from him, he grabbed my wrist and held me in place.
“Let go,” I warned.
“Evie, baby, I screwed up. I know that now. I’ve seen the error of my ways, and if you come back, I swear—”
“Come back?” I yanked my arm free from his grasp. “You seriously can’t be delusional enough to believe I’d ever come back to you. You never deserved me. I’m just sorry it took me this long to realize it.”
Again, he tried to reach for my arm, but before his hand found purchase, a big body stepped between us.
“Touch my wife again, and it’ll be the last time you touch anything.”
Ignoring my husband’s hard words, Anthony peered around Liam’s shoulder to glare at me. “Really, Evie? This is the type of man you’re shacking up with? Did he tell you what he did? Did he?”
I stepped out from behind Liam’s back and tucked my hand into his. To Anthony, I said, “I don’t care what he did. All that matters is the way he makes me feel.” And just because I wanted to be petty, I leaned forward and added, “And the way he makes me scream.”
The way his eyes widened and his mouth popped open was enough of a win for me.
Peeking up at Liam, I jerked my head toward the ballroom. “Shall we?”
“Well,” Anthony yelled before we could turn and leave. “This man bought our apartment building and decided to throw me out on the street. And not just that, he cost me my job and made sure no one else would hire me.”
My gaze shot to Liam.
Eyes sparkling, one corner of his mouth curved upward and he slowly lifted a shoulder in a shrug. “I can’t stand dirty fucking liars.” Then, the man stole my breath when he leaned down and took possession of my mouth.
Yes, possession. He kissed me like he was ready to strip my clothes off and have his way with me right there. He kissed me like he never wanted to let me go.
Somewhere in the distance, Anthony muttered something, but by the time Liam and I reluctantly pulled apart, he was nowhere to be seen.
Couldn’t say that I minded.
“Did you really acquire that apartment building to throw him out?”
Liam’s grin was wide and magnificent. “I did.”
A laugh bubbled up my throat. “Wow.”
Cupping my cheek, he leaned closer. “If you give me the names of all your exes, I promise to give them the same treatment.”
“Oh my goodness.” I gently swatted his chest. “That will absolutely not be necessary.” I held his gaze, my heart doubling in size the longer we stared at each other. “I love you.”
He released a ragged breath and squeezed his eyes shut. “Say it again?”
It was my turn to take his face in my hands. “Look at me.” When those blue eyes found mine, I smiled wide. “I love you.”