Page 82 of The Brides Brother

"You?"

"Blazer… patterned."

"Just the way Rory likes it," he nodded, and I smiled.

I ended that call and returned my attention to my mom and saw her staring at me. All the life had come back to her face, and she looked so stunning.

“Was that your dad?” she asked, and I nodded as I rose to my feet.

“Did you want him to see you?”

“No,” she responded. “I told him not to ask; it would be a surprise.”

“No wonder,” I said and pressed a kiss to her cheek. A little while after, we decided to drive over to the Hamptons rather than flying, and so we got in the car and started on our way.

Just before we arrived, I got word that they were wrapping up at the chapel, so I went with my mom to the church. I had wanted to drop her off at home, but she was expected to be barraged by Aurora upon her return, especially since she wasn’t wearing funeral black but was instead in her gorgeous wedding dress.

Hence, we went straight to the church and met Evelyn in her finishing stage. She was taking photographs now as the hired workers cleaned up, and the entire place had been lit up by candles.

My mom gasped from beside me as we took it in, and my heart filled with pride. I spotted her then from the top rung of a ladder at an angle, taking what I guessed were sample shots with her camera. It was impossible for her to notice me, and so I simply informed my mom and went over. I tried to go as carefully as I could to surprise her but still ensure not to startle her.

I arrived, just as she was about to get down, and held on to the ladder to support her.

“Careful,” I said, and she nodded.

“Thank you.”

It took her a few seconds to realize the voice she had just heard, and then she froze.

I had to say that I loved that she wore shorts because, and since I was looking hard enough, I could see the creamy curve of her ass peeking out. She turned then, and I had a soft smile waiting for her. I could see the shock in her eyes even though she tried to play it cool, and then she returned to carefully descending.

I caught her the moment my arms could reach her sides, and just like that, she was pulled down to slide down my body before her feet finally touched the ground.

“Hi,” I greeted, and she nodded.

“Hi.”

She seemed a bit unsettled and not quite standing right, so I held onto her. My arms wrapped around her, my heart so warm it was hard to breathe, and then, unable to hold back, I leaned forward and kissed her. I kissed her like I hadn’t seen her in centuries when it was only a few hours, and from the corners of the space, I could hear very loud murmurs and even a cat call. She seemed startled then and tried to pull away, but when I wouldn’t let her, she simply melted into the kiss.

Eventually, we pulled apart, and she stared into my eyes, and I knew then that I couldn’t hold back.

“You’ve done a great job here,” I said. And she nodded once again, breathless, unable to speak.

“Sure you don’t want to go into event planning as well?” I teased her, and she smiled at this.

“No, they have to bend to their clients' every will. Here I am, bending to only how I want my photos to come out, and I love it that way.”

"True," I said and kept staring at her, unable to look away. She grew shy as usual, and then she briefly turned away. She was so self-conscious about our audience that I let her go. There was plenty of time afterward to speak.

"Time to change, I guess?" I asked, and she nodded.

"Yes. I'll be going back to the house as well to change."

“I’ll take you,” I offered. “But I’ll leave my mom here. My dad is on his way over. Granted, we should all be back with Aurora in about an hour. Mom wants to spend some time alone with him here with the candles.”

“Oh,” she said, concern on her face. “I think I'll stay a little while, then, to take some photos of that.”

“No,” I refused. “You can do that afterward. Right now, I’ll say we’ve both had a difficult day and we both need a shower.”

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