Page 76 of For the Promise

“Do you want a bottle of red or white?”

“Duh. A bottle of bubbly.”

“Why did I ask?” he mutters.

We’re nearly at the bar when Alan steps in our way.

I force a smile. “Congratulations, Alan. I hope you’ll be happy for many years.”

“I won’t allow you to disparage my wife.”

“Your wife? I thought I was your wife.”

Jaxon growls. “You’re my wife.”

Alan’s nostrils flare as he faces off with me. “You know who I mean. I won’t allow you to treat Stacey this way.”

“What way? What are you talking about?”

I have a sneaking suspicion the bride has been lying about me. Big surprise there. I had her pegged as a saint who never lies. Not. I bite my tongue before I laugh in Alan’s face. I don’t want to escalate the situation.

Alan grinds his teeth and his ears turn red. “Don’t act all innocent. You know what you did.”

“Um, no. I don’t.” This is technically not a lie. Since I didn’t disparage Stacey.

He steps closer but Jaxon pushes me behind him. “Stop. You don’t intimidatemy wife.You don’t get up all in her space and spin lies about her.”

My body gets all tingly at Jaxon’s words. A man hasn’t defended me since my dad died over two years ago. If you had asked me this morning what I think about a man defending me, I would have told you I can defend myself.

But now? My nipples are pebbled, and my panties are damp. I haven’t been this turned on while dressed in forever. As in it’s never happened before. Oh my. Jaxon is one sexy beast.

Alan stabs Jaxon in the chest with his finger. “What about how your wife treated my wife this morning? Stacey came back to our hotel room in tears.”

“If Stacey was in tears, I had nothing to do with it.”

Alan tries to push past Jaxon to get to me, but Jaxon maneuvers him away.

“You lied to her,” Alan says. “You told her to enjoy her marriage with a man who won’t be faithful to her.”

“I’m not hearing the lie in this statement.”

“I have never cheated on Stacey.”

I peek around Jaxon and lift a brow at Alan. “Really? This is me. The woman with photographic proof of your inability to keep your tiny dick in your pants.”

“I only cheated on you because you were a horrible lay. A dead fish would be better at sex than you.”

Jaxon growls before he steps forward. “Do not speak about my wife and sex again or you’ll regret it.”

“Oh yeah? What are you going to do, nerd? Hit me with a physics book?” Alan pretends to search for a book on Jaxon. “Your hands are empty. No nerdy books to be found.”

“I’m warning you one more time to shut the hell up before you regret it.”

Alan snorts. “I’m not afraid of you.”

Jaxon smirks. “You should be.”

And then – bam! – Jaxon punches Alan in the nose. Blood spurts everywhere as Alan screams in pain. It’s possible I’m cheering but only on the inside. If I had pompoms, it would be different.

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