Page 34 of One Day Like This (Excess All Areas 1)

The buzz began to fill him. The one he needed to work, fight, or fuck out of his system. Dressed in a suit, the former was impossible. The only person he wanted to fight was the brother of the groom, which was not cool at a wedding. And the woman he wanted to fuck was the root cause of all his emotional turmoil.

It wasn’t fair to act on his feelings. Music came first. It needed his focus and attention. The bride had beaten him down the aisle because he’d been on the phone with a venue operator to line up a New Year’s Eve gig and was late to the ceremony.

Iz needed a guy who’d be there, without fail, not one who would leave her watching the door for his arrival.

Izabel kept her eyes on him as she walked by, her hand on Harry’s arm. It made sense they left together, as best man and maid of honour, but Matt ground his teeth as Harry grinned in his direction.

Yeah, fighting away the tension he felt was looking better every moment.

After the ceremony concluded, Matt waited for his turn to peel out of the row and found Izabel waiting for him just outside the door. The nervous smile she gave made him want to pull her into his arms.

“Hey, Matt. You scrubbed up well.” Her voice wavered as he spoke. He knew she hated conflict, and he could only imagine how hard it had been to wait for him when they’d not spoken since the previous evening.

Ah, fuck it.

He opened his arms and she stepped into them. “You look lovely, Iz.” He ran his fingertips softly along her exposed skin.

“Lilac isn’t really my colour,” she muttered, her face pressed against his shoulder.

“I thought it was more lavender. Perhaps with a hint of mauve.”

He felt her chuckle rather than hearing it.

Izabel shifted slightly so she faced him. “I’m sorry. About last night.”

“It is what it is. There’s nothing either of us can do to change it. But I guess we both understand what happened better.”

Izabel shrugged. “Doesn’t fix anything though, does it?”

Matt tucked an errant piece of hair behind her ear, the little gold bee she always wore glittering in the sunshine. “No.”

She turned her head into his hand. “Can we pretend it fixed everything? Just for a little while longer. You said you wanted forty-eight hours to see what it could have been like.” She placed a kiss on his palm.

Matt ran his thumb along her lower lip, and then, in defiance of his best instincts of self-preservation, he leaned forward and kissed her softly. He traced his tongue along her lip, enjoying the sweet flavour of her. Her body leaned into his, pliantly, almost submissively. Matt wrapped his arms around her, pulling her body flush to his as he savoured her sigh.

“Umm. Not everybody needs to see this, and Izzie, we’re needed for pictures.” Harry’s voice pierced the moment.

“What did I say I’d do to you if you kept calling her Izzie?” Matt said, his eyes still firmly on Izabel’s face, his thumbs brushing her cheeks.

In his peripheral vision, he saw Harry take a few steps back. “Izabel, we need to go for photographs.”

“Better. Go,” he said, releasing Izabel from his hold. “Because it’s looking like an incredibly beautiful day.”

She took a step towards Harry then stopped.

“That’s funny, because I was stumbling over what to say next.” And her words and smile told him she’d understood his message all wrapped up in Elbow’s “One Day Like This” lyrics.

One day like this.

It was all they had, because soon they would be back in Manchester, which right now, felt like a world away.

What felt like an impossibly long hour later, Izabel looked for him amongst the wooden tables sat outside on the lawn, overlooking Bowness and the lake. From his spot at the table farthest away from the hotel doors, he watched her share a smile with people as she passed, or pose for the occasional candid photograph.

Her smile softened as she reached him, and he tugged her to stand between his legs. “Sorry I was late to the service, and late picking you up yesterday. Seems to be a theme. Being late.”

“Maybe you should set alarms on your phone.” Cheekily, she reached for his pint and took a sip.

“I should. Are you going to finish my pint off again?”

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