Rock Wedding(35)

She loved romantic dramas and at the start of their marriage, Abe had watched with her, Sarah’s body curled into his on the couch. She’d stopped asking him around the time she’d realized he was never going to take her on tour with him. Instead, she’d watched those movies alone in the big house in which she felt like a left-behind toy. And the tears she’d shed hadn’t been because of the movies.

But back at the start, when she’d still been hopeful of winning a small piece of his heart… Abe had held her, teased her, made her believe she, too, could have her own happy ending. That such endings weren’t just for beautiful people with perfect lives, but for the broken and scarred too.

Today, as she leaned against Abe’s strength, Sarah allowed herself to give in to the fantasy that they’d made it, that it hadn’t all gone so awfully wrong. What harm could it do? The instant the reception was over, they’d head their separate ways.





CHAPTER 13



ABE’S HAND WAS WARM and possessive on her lower back when they followed the rest of the wedding party back downstairs and to the pavilion. Molly and Fox would enter last; the rest of them all wanted to be there to cheer on the newlyweds—and Sarah was dead certain Fox wanted Molly to himself for a couple of minutes so he could kiss her boneless.

She gasped at her first glimpse inside the pavilion: waterfalls of fine white fabric pinned to the walls like curtains in a luxurious outdoor tent, the floor lined with a luscious carpet of silver and cherry red, flowers everywhere. Meanwhile, the tables were set with white tablecloths, the centerpieces little tea candles floating in glass bowls surrounded by bunches of white flowers.

It was pretty and fresh and romantic, and Sarah adored it. “I can see Molly in all the tiny touches,” she said to Abe as she took her seat at the head table, Abe holding out her chair. “No hard edges, just joy.”

Abe undid the button on his suit jacket before sitting down beside her. “Like you,” he said, his expression unexpectedly tender. “You’ve never had any hard edges.”

Flustered, the fantasy suddenly too much, she glanced away and to her left.

David was just taking his seat beside her, Thea on his other side, his mother beside Thea. Then came the two empty seats for Molly and Fox, with Vicente, Kit and Noah, Charlotte and Gabriel on the other side.

“Hey. Stop ignoring your official wedding escort.” Abe put his hand on her knee.

Sarah couldn’t take his teasing anymore; she kicked him under the table.

He nudged his hand an inch higher in punishment. And Sarah saw red. Hoping nothing showed on her face, she used the fact that David was distracted by something Thea was saying to reach across and run her hand over Abe’s cock.

Once, just once.

It was enough.

“Fuck.” He ducked his head to hide the curse word… then finally removed his hand from her knee.

And she missed the warmth, the contact. Him.

“That was mean.” He spoke against her ear. To anyone watching, it would appear as if he was just leaning in so they could speak without disturbing their neighbors.

“You started it,” she said, turning his earlier words back on him while trying to convince herself she’d made the right call.

He stretched one arm out along the back of her seat. “You’re having fun, admit it.”

“No.”

He tickled the back of her neck, well aware it was—weirdly—the most ticklish spot on her body.

“Abe.” Her voice came out strangled, and then she was laughing as she tried to tug away his hand without making a big deal of it.

Abe grinned, so gorgeous and sexy that she just wanted to kiss him.

“What’s so funny?” David’s question came right as Abe stopped teasing her in favor of simply bracing his arm on the back of her seat, his muscled strength brushing her back.

“Just checking if Sarah’s still ticklish.”

Sarah kicked him again as David’s lips curved into a deep smile. “I’m going to kill you,” she muttered to Abe.

His eyes glinted wicked promises at her.

Her breath caught, her face flushed. It was just as well that Charlotte said, “Time,” from the other side of the table right then.

The wedding party stood as one. There was no need to make an announcement. The guests followed their lead, all eyes going to the entrance of the pavilion… just as the air filled with the gritty sound of the hard rock love song Fox had written for Molly. The lead singer and his bride didn’t walk in. They danced in, Molly in Fox’s arms as he spun her around, then caught her back against his chest before they laughingly danced the rest of the way in with their hands linked.