Hammer's Fall (The Breakers' Bad Boys)(45)

“What’s wrong?”

Damn, he read her so well it was scary.

“Oh, just ran into two women in the bathroom that were talking about you.” Out of the corner of her eye she saw Chantal and Suzie leaving the bathroom. “The blonde thinks she can get you in bed tonight. I had to dissuade her of that erroneous notion.”

“Damn straight,” he said pulling her against him. “Why the hell would I want her when I have you?”

“Damn straight,” she said, mimicking him.

He chuckled as he leaned down to brush his lips against hers. “I love that my naughty little fairy defended my honor, though. Come on, let’s get this dinner over with so I can dance with my girl.”

Taking her hand, he led her into the reception hall where the dinner would be served. Kalista looked around the room and barely held back a wince. The room had been decorated with an abundance of white, purple, and light green, making it look like Paris had exploded all over the place. She knew that Bethany would go overboard, but this was ridiculous. Large vases of flowers sat in the middle of every table, and the walls of the room had been draped with fabric in Bethany’s chosen colors. Over on a side table was a wedding cake made up of several towers that was too ostentatious to be called elegant.

He looked around the room at a loss for what to say. “This is…”

“Revolting?” She offered the word with a smile.

“I was going to say scary, but revolting works, too.”

They walked over to the table that held all of the place cards, and Kalista frowned when she saw they were seated at the same table as her parents.

“Fuck that. We aren’t sitting with them.”

Because she agreed with him, she let him lead her over to the bar where they could grab drinks and wait for people to take their seats. When the majority of people were seated she and Jared walked over to a table of people around their age with a few empty chairs.

“Are these seats taken?”

“No, please join us,” one of the women said with a flirtatious smile.

Hammer politely smiled at the woman, then held out the seat beside the woman for Kali to sit down. Kali shot him a smirk and he pressed a kiss to her forehead before his sat down next to her, safely out of range from the woman who had tried to flirt with him.

When they introduced themselves to the group, the men openly gaped at Hammer. “Man, I saw you fight in Vegas two years ago. You were awesome!” one of the men said.

“Thanks. I’m retired now. I opened a gym in Breakers, and now I spend my time running things there and keeping my girlfriend here out of trouble.” He laughed when Kali’s elbow made contact with his side.

“So, how do you know the wedding party?” another woman asked.

“Bethany is my cousin,” Kalista said, “But we’re sitting over here because we are avoiding my parents.”

“They don’t like me,” Hammer added cheerfully. “Don’t think I’m good enough for her or something.” He winked at Kali, loving how the pretty blush spread over her cheeks.

The woman who had tried to flirt with him now cast a sympathetic glance at Kali. “Bethany is…an interesting woman.”

“She’s a raging bitch, if you ask me,” one of the men said with a laugh. “We all work with Aeron, which is why we are stuck over here in the corner. I don’t mind, though. I can’t stand your cousin, sorry.”

Kali just smiled before taking a sip of her glass of wine. Hammer leaned back as he took a pull from the bottle of beer he had ordered from the bar. He was glad that Kali seemed to relax as she spoke to the friendly people at the table. The meal was more enjoyable than he had thought it was going to be. Three of the men asked him questions about his time fighting, while Kali spoke to the two women at the table. He was pleased when Kali had simply laughed when the woman sitting next to his woman apologized for admiring him.

“Trust me, I know every woman looks at him like that,” Kalista had whispered back.

Hammer took that as a sign that she was more confident in their relationship now that he had told her he loved her. Hell, he felt the same way now that he knew she loved him and that she was truly his. Knowing that she loved him as much as he loved her set them on equal footing, and there was no way he was going to fuck this up. Still, that didn’t mean he wouldn’t punch out one of the guys at their table if the prick didn’t stop peeking at Kali’s cleavage every time she fucking moved.

“Kalista, how nice to see you,” David said as he walked up to their table with his date. The woman on his arm was a tall brunette who eyed Hammer like he was her favorite treat. He was used to women eye-fucking him. He usually ignored it, but in this case it was pretty damn funny that David’s new girlfriend seemed to prefer him just like Kali did.