“Can I at least karate chop her?” She slashes her arm through the air. “Hi-yah.”
I fall apart, laughing like I’ve never laughed before. “You’re a case.”
“What’s going on?” Mum muscles in on our banter, frowning at Lainey’s poised hand in the air.
“Lainey was just demonstrating what she’s going to do to Annabella if she comes close,” I explain.
“Tyler,” Lainey cries, horrified that I’ve been so open with my mother.
“It’s fine.” I roll my eyes and start to follow the crowds, pulling her along. “Mum wants to do a lot worse, trust me.”
“I wouldn’t spit on her if she was on fire,” Mum says from behind. “The nasty piece of work.”
I don’t wince at Mum’s spite, but Lainey does, looking at me with wide, worried eyes. “Remind me not to piss off your mother,” she says, following my lead and taking a drink from a tray.
“You’re protective of your boy, aren’t you, Mum?” I flip my mother a wink.
“You’re telling me,” Ted chimes in, placing a drink in Mum’s hand. “Tyler is her golden boy.”
“So are you,” I mutter. “Literally.”
Lainey laughs, before quickly apologizing for it, Ted shakes his head, and Mum slaps my shoulder. “Enough, Tyler. Play nice. Come on, Ted.” She orders him away, scowling at me, and I chuckle to myself as Lainey looks at me in dismay.
“What?”
“He seems nice.”
I scoff. “Nice and bronzed? Come on, let’s find our seats.”
“Hey, do you think your cousin put us on the same table as your ex-wife? That could be awkward.”
“You’re not funny, Lainey,” I grumble, but my mind strips Lainey, lays her on the table in front of Annabella, and fucks her stupid. The thought makes me smile. “Besides, she’s a bridesmaid. She’ll be on the top table.”
We reach the table plan at the entrance of the marquee and scan the lists of names. “Oh, table four.” Lainey points, and I see my name. But I don’t see Lainey’s and it takes me just one horrifying second to realize why. Oh shit. “You’re sitting next to Jenna.” She looks up at me, interest on her face. “Who’s Jenna?”
My lips press tightly together, as if helping me from spilling the confession that is likely to earn me a slap. I shrug my answer.
“You invited Jenna before me, didn’t you?”
“Not exactly,” I squeak, my shoulders dropping. “I told Gina I was bringing Jenna.”
“Great,” Lainey quips, turning toward the entrance of the marquee. “But I don’t suppose you could tell Gina you were bringing me. So let’s go find Tyler’s and Jenna’s seats.”
I’m surprised by how cool she is with my oversight. Women usually go off the deep end with shit like that. God damn Gina for being so prompt. I should never have blurted Jenna’s name as my plus-one. “So where’s table four?”
“Right there,” Lainey says, sounding a bit worried, and I follow her pointed finger.
“No way,” I breathe, seeing a big placard saying “TABLE 4.” And it’s right in front of the top table. “Why would she do that?” I ask, cursing my cousin to wedded hell.
“Hopefully you’ll be on the far side,” Lainey says, trying to placate me.
“But then I have to look at her.”
“Okay, hopefully you’re nearer so your back’s to her.”
“But then I might catch something.”
Lainey bursts out laughing, holding on to my arm. “We can sneaky switch the place settings if we need to.” She’s off across the marquee, heading for the top table and walking the length of it, smiling, pointing at pretty flowers, and generally looking like she’s simply admiring the beautifully dressed surface. I smile like a loon and hurry over to join her, following her lead as I pretend to admire the decorations, too, when what I’m actually doing is scanning the name cards at each place setting. “Here,” Lainey says, pointing to one with Annabella’s name on it. “We need to move it as far away from table four as possible.” She swipes it up discreetly and carries on meandering the length of the table.
I follow, catching up with her. “The last place,” I instruct.
She arrives at the last place and stops. “Who’s Declan?”
“Oh, the groom’s brother. Move him.”
Lainey scopes the area quickly before swapping the cards and moseying on back down the table to Anabella’s original place and setting Declan’s name card down. “Done,” she declares, turning a smile onto me. “My reward?”
Dipping, I kiss her cheek. “Just for now,” I confirm, making her giggle. “Come on, let’s take our seats.”
Lainey’s plan worked a treat. Annabella wasn’t even in eyeshot throughout dinner, and the fact she was in the wrong place at the table was only noticed when she opened the gift at her setting during the speeches. She got some silver cufflinks. It was fucking hilarious. And Declan? He got some silver charm bracelet. It suits him. I’ve always thought he was a bit of a girl.
“This cheesecake is delicious,” Lainey breathes. I’ll have to take her word for it, since I ordered the Eton mess. She breaks a bit off with her fork and turns into me, grinning. “You have to try it. Open up.” Her spare hand rests on my knee, encouraging me to push my chair out to face her.
“You’re going to feed me? That’s a bit romantic, isn’t it?”
“You want to try it or not?” Redirecting the fork, she starts taking it to her own mouth, and my hand dashes out, seizing her wrist, my eyebrows high. Her eyes sparkle. “Open up,” she mouths, moving in closer.
My mouth falls open on demand, my eyes on hers as she slides the fork slowly into my mouth. Lainey mimics my motions, slowly opening her own mouth and closing when I take the cake. Then she pouts, waiting for my verdict. I can only hum my approval with my mouth full, and she smiles, before leaning into me, her face drawing closer and closer to mine until my whole body is on fire.
“You have a crumb here.” Her mouth meets the corner of mine and licks away the offending morsel. Attempting to stop myself from turning my mouth onto hers would be a waste of time and energy. And anyway, why do that when she’s this close? My lips find hers and we fall into a deep, fervent kiss, Lainey moving onto my lap, forcing me to tilt my head back. She encases me in her arms and works my mouth like she knows it inside out, and I forget everything. Where we are, what we’re doing, and the audience. Until I hear a throat clear. It’s not me who pulls away slightly though, my mouth quite happy where it is. It’s Lainey. She looks at me, licking her lips, as if trying to taste me still, and then we both turn to see who wants our attention.
“Hi,” Annabella says, large as life and as confident as I remember her.
“Hi,” I say curtly, increasing my hold around Lainey’s waist when she starts to lift from my lap. Oh no. She’s staying exactly where she is. It’ll stop me from diving at my bitch of an ex-wife and strangling her with one of the pretty organza bows on the back of the chairs. What the fuck does she want? I feel Lainey go rigid on my lap, and it just makes me even more pissed off. I was lost in the moment, and it would have been shitty enough if anyone would have disturbed me, but her?