Page 28 of If the Suit Fits
Uncle Arty thinks I’m the problem? Noted.
But I paste on a smile and pray for alcohol. Lots and lots of alcohol. “I wish Drew and Karla a lifetime of happiness.”
“Oh my gosh, Melanie Hamilton!” Drew’s third cousin… twice removed, maybe? I don’t know. Makes a beeline across the mostly deserted dance floor and crushes me in a despicable hug. I hate it. I absolutely despise it. “When I say I wasshookto see you at the church!” She looks me up and down, her lips twitching with what I know is pity and scathing judgment. “Imagine having the balls to call off a wedding the day before it was supposed to go ahead, pocket the gifts and gift money anyway, break Drew’s heart, andstillshow up today?” She drags me in for another hug, whispering in my ear, “IwishI was that badass!”
I pocketed the gift money, too? Noted!
“So pleased to see you, Melanie.” Drew’s mother lays a chaste,didn’t-even-touch-my-skin, kiss on my cheek, then pulls back and does the same on the other side. Snooty, pointy-nosed bitch. “We appreciate you coming today.”
“Mmm.”I want to stab you with the cake-cutting knife. “It was my pleasure.”
“And we appreciate your discretion,” Drew’s father adds, one arm draped over his wife’s shoulders while he holds a flute of champagne in his free hand.Good news: he’s not going to hug me. “It was important for us all, don’t you think, that you could be here today to show your support for our son?”
“Uh-huh.”Fuck it.I channel my inner-Nick and revel in discomfort. “And the gifts from our wedding?” I look from one Taggart to the other. “I heard something about how I was the one who took those.” I take Mr. Taggart’s drink for myself. “My reality and your fictional recount do not align.”
“Oh, well…” The old man blusters. “No, but of course we couldn’t?—”
“Tell the truth?” I bring the booze up—fake confidence, just the way Nick encourages it—but while I sip, I scan thefilling room and desperately hope for my knight in two-thousand-dollar armor to appear.Annnnytime now. “I was willing to swallow my pride and look like a fool for this event. But to hear thatIwas the unfaithful one?” I look at Mrs. Taggart. “ThatIstole gifts and failed to acknowledge them?”
“Sweetheart…”
“You’re lucky I’m not Anna.” I lean closer, offering the empty glass back to the man who, in a different lifetime, would have been my father-in-law. “If Drew had the good fortune to be engaged to Anna, instead of me, to cheat on Anna,” I chuckle, “you wouldn’t be enjoying the reputation you currently do. My silence is to maintainmypeace. It’s not about protecting your social standing. Please remember that, because for every person who approaches me tonight to tell me of all my supposed indiscretions, my peace is being chipped away. Once there is none left, I no longer have a reason to shut my mouth.”
With a parting smile and an image of their smarmy, pale faces etched into my memory forever, I turn on my heels and prepare to leave, only to come up short, my heart thudding to a painful stop when Nick’s beautiful grin stretches wide, and his hand comes forward in offer. “Princess.” He lowers, just an inch or two, into a kind of bow. “Can I have this dance?”
“B-but there’s no music.” Stammering, I stumble forward a step and swing my gaze around, terrified of the eyes that may be on us. I mean, thereismusic. But it’s not for dancing. It’s for mingling. Oh God, I’m panicking, and he’s going to make me— “Nick, no.”
He snatches my hand and pulls me in until we clash, my breath escaping on an explosive exhale and my legs straddling hisstrong thigh. “There was no music when we danced in your yard.” He leads us the way he promised he would, attention-grabbing and yet entirely classy. It’s not about being the circus and performing for a crowd, but rather, being him, adoring me, and that alone draws attention. He dips me back, his eyes like molten lava and his touch, gentler than that of a true lover. Then he presses his lips to the side of my neck and hums until I have no choice but to fall into what he’s offering. “We dance to the beat of our love, Melanie. We fuck to the pulse in our hearts.” He nips at my neck and pulls me up again until I’m vertical, but dizzy. Standing, but faint. Then he drags me in until we’re touching from hip to chest, his fingers twining with mine and his right palm teasing the swell of my ass.
Damn, he’s good.
“I was thinking earlier,” he murmurs by my ear, his lips brushing my temple, “about how utterly fortunate I am to be the only man in this room who gets to keep you. To be the lucky fucker who’ll go home with you tonight while everyone else returns to their humdrum lives.”
“Humdrum?” A fiery blush burns me up from my face to my chest, and if I were to look, probably all the way to my belly, too. “Laying it on a little thick, don’t you think?”
“Never.” He holds me close, swaying totalking music, his focus entirely and completely on me. Though God knows, mine annoyingly scans the room.Who is watching us? What are they thinking? Why can’t I stop caring? And why, when I’m in this man’s arms, can’t I simply focus on him?
Because it’s not real.
His affections are as fake as the relationships surroundingus.
“How was the drive over?” His voice is a rumbling comfort, a vibrating staccato that echoes throughout my body. “As horrible as we’d expect?”
“Mmhm.” Giving up on everyone else’s opinions, I try something new. For the first time in my damn life, I close my eyes in a crowd of naysayers and lay my head on his chest instead. I burrow into his warmth and soak up what he’s offering. Like Cinderella at her ball, this will end for us tonight. Our clock will run out, and the fairytale he’s so skilled at weaving will go up in smoke. But that’s later. So why waste now? “It was the longest drive of my life,” I answer, just loud enough for him to hear. But my hushed words now aren’t about keeping secrets from everyone else. They’re about being here with him. Just us, because of all the people in this building, he’s the only one I’d actually throw water at if he was in flames.
I paid two thousand dollars for a date. But I’d like to think I’ll end the week with a friend.
“Karla wasn’t in the car,” I admit with a sly smile. “I don’t think she was brave enough to face me yet. But the rest of her wedding party was in there.”
“Lots of side eyes and bitching?”
“Like the world was ending, and they were certain their opinions would save it.” I untangle our fingers, only to slide my arms up and around the back of his neck. When I trail my nails through the hair at his nape, and his body turns to purring mush, I snuggle in closer. “They expressed their disappointment in Karla’s obligatory addition to her wedding party. How they thought she was entirely too gracious for including me and how my tattered reputation is my own fault.”
He snorts, his hands resting gently on my back. “Dumb bitches.”
“Mm. I was a little lost at first, but now I’m hearing the rumors. Did you know I was the one who cheated on him?”
“Yeah? You naughty girl.”
