Chapter Thirty
Thirty
Sunny
Aamar was calming Sam down from his “oh, shit, I’m about to get married” panic surge. The guy had known this was coming, right? He’d planned this and had paid for it. I didn’t understand why some people got cold feet or panicked about exchanging vows in front of others. He obviously adored his bride; he had no regrets. But I was one to talk. Me and commitment seemed to be polar opposites.
Sam chuckled and exhaled as if things were suddenly all right. Maybe they were. Maybe this wasn’t about huge life changes or eternal commitments, but the emotion. His eyes were glistening, and Sam would most likely cry when he saw April walking down the aisle, which was going to make her cry, which was going to make everyone in the audience cry.
Aamar patted Sam on the back and laughed with him, looking up at me and then past me. His mouth almost dropped. He cocked his chin and I turned to see what all the fuss was about. Because Aamar wasn’t the only one gawking at the woman at the entrance. One would think the bride had made an early appearance. This wasn’t the woman of the hour dressed in a white gown.
No.
This woman was far more captivating, and I wasn’t the only one thinking that. Not when so many seemed stuck on her, whispering, “Who is that?”
“She’s gorgeous.”
“She’s sexy,” a man nearby uttered, and I rolled my eyes. But there was no lie there.
“Breathtaking dress.”
“Stunning hair.”
“Purple hair? How dramatic.”
“It works for her.”
“Her skin.”
Her presence was a force to be reckoned with and had stunned me into place.
I’d always noticed Bane when she walked into a room. There was a soft yet immediate knowing. I think everyone noticed her, really. She lit up the place with either her bubbly aura or her work ethic or her skill. Here, in this surreal moment where time had stopped, she was lighting this place on fire with her looks, an all-commanding presence, so powerful that it stole the breath right out of my lungs.
Bane was a fucking goddess.
I almost expected to see her in sweatpants or, at the most, unassuming monotone slacks. I always noticed what she wore. Solid colors, nothing too eye-catching, comfortable clothes. Nothing could have prepared me for Bane in a sultry strapless white lace dress. It had a subtle design of yellow and green, and ended at the knees. A vibrant purple belt tied into a little bow made her stand out even more. It matched the purple flower in her hair, which complemented her hair. Purple and black waves cascaded down over one shoulder.
She seemed uncomfortable with the attention, wringing her hands in her lap as she approached, her gaze darting left and right. Once our eyes met, her body relaxed. Her hands fell to her sides, and she offered a soft smile. Just for me. She made me feel as if I were the only other person in existence and everyone around us were ghosts fading away.
My heart was hitting my ribs. I’d never felt this before, this rush in my blood and excitement in my chest. I could see why people got off on adrenaline and craved more. I didn’t want this thrilling sensation to end. Probably not great for my blood pressure, but who cared?
“Wow, Bane…” I said on an exhale.
She stopped in front of me, her eyelids speckled with glitter and her lips—god damn those lips—a vibrant pinkish purple matching her belt and the flower in her hair. She scowled and I put my hands up in silent apology, whispering, “Babe. I meant babe.”
She rolled her big brown eyes, her lashes twice as long, twice as thick, twice as sexy beneath shimmering eyelids. Bane was, without a doubt, the most beautiful woman I’d ever had the honor of breathing the same air as. Her look was everything: complementary and beauty and art.
Maybe I was staring. Maybe a few extra seconds or a few extra minutes had passed without a word. I had no idea. She warped time. I was completely enraptured by her. Nothing else existed.
Bane swallowed, her gaze breaking as she adjusted a segment of hair, and I wondered if it was as soft as the skin it touched.
I brushed the hair aside, my fingers gliding over her collarbone. Her breath hitched and I said, “You look amazing.”
She scrunched her nose as if to ask, “Really?”
I clucked my tongue and ran a hand down my face. “You look fine as hell, and you know it.”
“It’s what happens when I get out of sweatpants. Which is why I don’t do it often. I could bring down entire nations. It’s obviously enough to distract you.”
“I can’t argue with any of that.”
She tugged on my tie and adjusted the knot with the slightest pressure, but it might as well have been a punch to the gut. A light floral scent crept up from her hair, and I just wanted to lower my face to her neck and see if her skin smelled as good.
“I’d say you look pretty good yourself, except I’m the one to thank for that.”
“Is that so?” I asked, my voice rumbling out of my throat. Could she even see what she was doing to me? Part of me hoped not, because how embarrassing to give her an upper hand and fodder for future teasing. But part of me wanted her to know, to explore what her reaction would be, what her next move would be. If we’d tiptoe around this with jokes and banter, or if we’d near a continuously blurring edge until there was no coming back. I needed to know.
“The tie is everything. Without it, you might as well be in your touristy shorts.”
“We both know what happened to my last pair of touristy shorts.”
Her cheeks flushed.
I cracked a smile. “Thanks for completing my look.”
Her hand slid down to the end of the tie. The warmth of her touch seared through my shirt, to my abs. I had to focus, to remind myself that we were in public, in the middle of a crowd.
Not alone where I could place one hand on her waist, drawing her near, the other at the base of her neck, stroking her throat with my thumb as I kissed her. Where I could press her body against mine, eradicating this annoying space between us so that she was clutching the sides of my shirt, tugging it out of these slacks, letting bursts of chilled air hit my skin to cool me off but in no way actually cool enough. Probably nothing would cool me off at that point unless someone shoved me into a freezer.
We weren’t alone, so I couldn’t skim my hand across the exposed part of her chest and down her arm, to her hands, which would be unbuttoning my shirt. But first, the tie. Her fingers slipping into the knot and dragging it off me, her eyes locked on mine so that I could see the need in them the way she could see the need in mine.
Off with the tie and the shirt before I hoisted her onto my hips, my hands underneath her dress to hold her in place, feeling the roundness of that backside that I’d admired way too much this week. She’d gasp against my lips and…
Bane snapped her fingers, and I came back to reality with a jolt. Shit.
“Where did you go?” she asked, then gave that smart-ass smile of knowing. “Good thing I don’t dress like this all the time. You’d never get anything done.”
I tilted my head. “No, I’d definitely get something done.”
She shook her head, her skin still flushed. “Can I ask you something, and you be honest?”
“Of course.”
“Am I not supposed to wear white? Is that why everyone is looking at me?”
I glanced around and promised, “You are wearing the perfect dress. People are looking at you because they weren’t expecting a fucking goddess to walk among them. They can’t help but stare. And I stand by them.”
She bit down on a smile. “You’re so corny.”
“Where’s the lie?”
She lifted her chin. “I’m a goddess, huh?”
“Every inch of you.”
Chattering pierced our bubble of solitude, and a soft melody began to play; a signal that we would begin shortly.
Bane looked around as people began claiming chairs. “I better find a seat.”
“Sit anywhere you’d like.”
She spotted one behind me. “I’ll take that one in the back.”
“Sure you don’t want to sit closer? You can fawn over me in a tie with a better view.”
She rolled her eyes, the sparkle of her eyeshadow catching the light. “So full of yourself.”
A few rows away, Aamar motioned for me to meet him.
“We’re about to begin,” I told her. “I have to go. Try to enjoy yourself. It’s an all-expenses-paid wedding, you know?”
“Lucky me.”
“Which means reception afterward.”
“I know.”
“If you’ll be okay. I know it’s a lot of people, but if you’re drained or bored—”
“I wouldn’t ditch you.” She smiled and walked past, brushing my arm with hers, her hand gliding across my stomach, which had me instantly clenching my abs.
I had to calm down around her. As much as I enjoyed teasing her, I was pretty sure she was teasing me back, trying to get to me in order to win some unofficial game we’d been playing, to best me at something we were both so good at doing.
Bane took a seat in the very back, adjusting her dress as she sat. Damn, it was hard to peel my gaze away from her as we moved into place. Sejal grunted at my side as if having to be paired with me was her worst nightmare. But it was easy to ignore her when Bane had established herself so fully in my headspace.
I even found myself smiling.
Aamar gave me a look.
“What?” I asked, clearing my throat.
“The sparks between you and Bhanu could start a fire.”
“You’re imagining it,” I replied. Bane was just very good at playing girlfriend.
He wagged his brows to stand by his claim.
The intro music picked up and we walked down the aisle, each groomsman with a bridesmaid. Then everyone stood to welcome the bride as she walked down the petal-laden walkway behind the flower girl. April looked radiant, grinning and eagerly looking at her groom. Sam looked infatuated with her, and I got why he wanted me to have something similar.
Sam had it all. Looking around at our friends, they had it all, too. I was the odd one out, even if they didn’t know it. In these past few days of faking a relationship, my loneliness had become nonexistent. Not because I was literally never alone, but because this fantasy vacation was burrowing deep into me. To the point where I had to remind myself that none of this was real. None of this would last. As soon as we set foot off this island, everything we “had” here would dissipate like Seattle morning fog.
I staved off the pain from knowing such a thing. At least until I had to leave.
The ceremony was short and sweet. That was the great thing about destination weddings. Everyone wanted to come together, watch an official union be born, and then get back to the vacation.
An explosive applause went off when the couple exchanged vows and Sam swept his bride into his arms for that first kiss. We whistled and hollered. My eyes skimmed over the pleased crowd, landing on Bane. She was the most collected, awkward in her little corner with a smile. She was gawky in a crowd that wasn’t hers, but she was here for me.
I shoved that thought out of my head. No. The truth was, Bane was here because she got us into this mess and felt she had to save me from an atrociously grumpy time around my friends.
Bane caught me watching her. She gave a thumbs-up, as if I were a kid who’d just had the best recital of my life. I shook my head at her. She was so damn cute.
Aamar elbowed me in the side. “Haven’t seen you cheese like that in a while.”
Ah. I was grinning like an idiot, wasn’t I? “I haven’t heard anyone use the word ‘cheese’ that way in a while.”
“You seem really happy with her, man.”
Either our acting skills were impeccable, or…nah, we were being great liars. There was no other explanation as to how we were pulling this off. “If you say so. Thought we bicker too much.”
“Maya reads lots of rom-coms. She calls your guys’ antics as classic sexual tension.”
The blood drained from my face. “What?”
He elbowed me again. “You better be making the most of coupling at a romantic place like this.”
I cleared my throat. “No way I want to discuss that with you.”
“Ah, right. You like to keep that to yourself. But a bro can tell.”
Was it written all over my robotic face?
The wedding planner called us over and off we went to take a million pictures on the beach.
“You should bring Bhanu,” April insisted, seeing that everyone would have paired off for the few non-wedding-party-only pictures.
“No,” I said with a shake of my head. “We just got together.”
No way in hell was my fake girlfriend going to end up being in their perfect wedding pictures only for me to tell them weeks from now that we’d split. I was not set up to have to hear about Bane for the rest of my life every time my friends showed these pictures.
But April wouldn’t hear of it as she waved over Bane, who reluctantly eased toward us. She slipped up beside me, our arms touching, and I’d never wanted to get out of a suit faster. Not just the heat, I wanted to feel her skin against my skin.
“You look so beautiful!” April exclaimed.
“That’s what I’m supposed to be telling you!” Bane replied. “You looked gorgeous during your nuptials, truly. You’re glowing and it’s everything.”
“Oh, you’re so sweet! Thank you. I was just telling Sunny that you should come be in our pictures. We’re going to the beach to take them.”
Bane hugged my arm, sending me a whiff of the floral scent that was trying harder than ever to get me to my knees. If she kept pressing against me, I’d be ditching the rest of my duties, taking her back to the villa, and more than happy to get on my knees.
“No, I couldn’t possibly be in your pictures,” Bane argued in that sweet voice of hers.
“You must!”
Bane shrugged, moving her arm up mine. It was a mistake glancing down, because the movement only brought attention to her swollen cleavage. I bit my lip and looked away. Damn that dress.
“No. I can’t. My cousin got married years ago and another cousin had brought his girlfriend because there was serious talk of engagement, which is a huge deal in my family, almost a done deal if you mention engagements…anyway, the couple included her in the family pictures, but then they broke up a few months later. Every time we look at those pictures, we just hound my cousin on how he could let such a woman slip away, but more than that, she was forever in these wedding pictures. The entire thing feels awkward now. I’m not going to subject you or Sam or Sunny to that. It wouldn’t be fair.”
The bride opened her mouth to protest, but Bane was quick to add, “I appreciate the sentiment and the offer. It’s truly meaningful to be invited into your pictures. I’ve had such a great time with such a lovely couple. But I’m about to pass out and need water. Please excuse me!”
“Oh! Okay…”
“I look forward to seeing how amazing the pictures come out, though! See you at the reception, and congratulations!”
With that, Bane patted my stomach as she turned to leave, brushing her breasts against my arm, her eyes flashing up at me.
One. More. Touch.
And I was going to lose any remnant of control I had left.