Page 14 of A Different Husband

We each took a piece and then twined our arms. It killed me to see the trepidation there in Court’s eyes. Had she married Beckett, she would have been right to assume he would take their advice and smash the cake in her face, despite the promise not to. Then again, I couldn’t see the asshole respecting her enough to agree not to do it in the first place.

Very gently, I moved the piece of cake until it just touched her pretty, peach lips. Her relieved smile was everything as sheopened up and took a nibble. She fed me in much the same way. A hint of vanilla and almond hit my tongue first. I closed my eyes and groaned.

“You picked the best things, sweetheart.” Our eyes met the minute mine popped back open and the smile on her face was everything. My heart skipped a whole fucking beat under the weight of that look.

“Thank you,” She whispered to me.

I shook my head slightly and leaned in to kiss her lips that still had a tiny bit of frosting at the corner. “Told you I’d be respectful, but I never promised not to clean you up the fun way.” As our mouths met, my tongue slipped out just enough to swipe away the tiny little hint of frosting that was left behind. “So fucking sweet, Court.”

Her eyes sparkled with something I couldn’t quite put my finger on as I pulled back from our brief kiss. “Flynn.” The way she whispered my name sent a jolt of lust through me and suddenly there was nowhere else I wanted to be than the honeymoon suite with my new wife. Unfortunately for me, there was almost zero chance that my new, still very heartbroken wife, would want to sleep with me so I pulled back and we untangled our arms and turned to grin at the crowd as someone from the catering company began to pass out slices of cake to everyone.

“Is it bad that I wish they’d eat their cake and leave?” Courtney asked. I gently bumped into her side and grinned down at her.

“Honestly, I wished they all would disappear when we had our first dance.”

“What are you two conspiring about over here?” I turned to see my younger sister, Mina. Her hair was down and straight around her shoulders. She wore a beautiful dress, but it was covered up by a shrug or shaw or whatever they were called. She looked like an old lady trying to cover up and keep warm.

“Mina, are you having fun?” Her shoulders bounced in answer before my sister’s eyes turned to my new wife.

“You got the better Robeson,” She told Courtney. “I hope you realize that and treat my brother accordingly.”

“I would never treat Flynn poorly.”

“Not on purpose,” Mina stated. I growled because it was my wedding day and she didn’t get to make my wife feel bad. Courtney placed her hand on my chest and smiled up at me.

“She’s your sister. Let her say her peace.”

“She’s my little sister. It isn’t her job to protect me from my wife.”

Mina cocked her head to the side and took in the way Courtney and I stood united. Then she offered us both a genuine smile. “Never mind. I don’t think anyone has reason to worry.” She didn’t wait around for a response. My little sister turned on her heel and left. No one else seemed to notice as she all but fled our reception.

“She seems sad lately. Do you know what’s bothering her?”

I shook my head. “No, but remind me once all this is over because I am going to start digging into it.”

“Good. If you find out someone hurt her, I want in on the revenge.”

My deep chuckle made my wife giggle up at me. “Sure thing my little Nemesis.”

“I’m not your enemy,” Courtney scoffed.

“Nemesis, the Goddess of Vengeance, sweetheart.”

“Oh, well, I won’t complain if you want to compare me to a goddess.” Her teasing tone made me smile. In truth, I worried about the wedding, but dreaded the reception because I thought it would all be too much for Courtney to handle.

“You seem to be doing okay.” It was a risky topic of discussion, but it felt wrong to ignore the elephant in the room if it was crushing her.

“I came to the same realization as your sister recently.” Her quiet admission nearly floored me.

“You think you’ll hurt me?”

“What?” She gasped and turned to face me. Her hand never left the spot where it rested in the center of my chest. “No!” That one word was a very vehement denial. “My realization was that you are the better Robeson man. If the roles were reversed, would you have sent me to marry Beckett?”

“Hell no!” I didn’t even take the time to think over my response. “He’s a fucking idiot for doing it.”

“Exactly.” Her slender fingers tapped my chest again and the diamonds from her wedding band caught the light and shined brightly. I took her hand in mine and examined the ring. Most married women wore two, their wedding and engagement band. Courtney’s engagement band had come from Beckett. In a weird way, it made me happy to see that she had taken that one off and refused to put it back on.

“I can get you an engagement band to go with this,” I said as my finger tapped the ring.

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