Page 71 of Devotion: Isn't What It Seems (Love Isn't What It Seems 1)

“This young woman,” He motioned to me. “...won a trip to Italy by sending her manuscript to a publishing house. Of course, she was underage so she had her sister and me forge signatures allowing her to publish smut and pretend we were her parents on her trip to Italy.”

“Nobody bought it, by the way,” I told him laughing.

“Maybe, but let me tell you, I almost landed myself in an Italian jail cell for this little minx.” I heard a few gasps and shook my head glancing over at Lachlan who was smiling. “My little sister decided to celebrate our last night in Italy in style. She got on a bar, danced her heart out, and started a riot.”

Lachlan's baritone laugh sounded through the room. “No!” he exclaimed. “Not Mrs. McLaren!”

“Oh, yes!” Brandon corrected. “She might have been shy and reserved but she sure knew how to dance and get a party started. So in honor of that wild minx,” Brandon looked behind him and gave a nod. “The first dance of Mr. and Mrs. McLaren. This time on the dance floor, not on top of a bar.”

Everybody laughed and Lachlan put his hands on my hips and pulled me forward, his breath a heated caress across my cheek as he bent to speak against my ear. The light tunes by David Gray played from his song “This Year's Love.”

Lachlan stroked along my skin and it felt like the softest touch. I placed my hand in his and fought the wild rush of sensations generated by his touch and his scent.

I raised my arms and cupped his nape with one hand, while placing the other on the muscled warmth of his shoulder. He was so much taller than me. He shifted position, his jaw rubbed against my temple and my heart began to thud fast as a jackhammer.

A deep murmur against my skin, his lips brushing against my temple. “I love you, Eve McLaren.”

My heart stopped and then skipped a beat. Combination of his words and lyrics of This Year's Love by David Gray made this moment perfect.

I leaned closer to him while his hand stroked down my back, pressing me closer to him. He was all hot and hard heat, pure muscle, and strength.

“This is a perfect song for us,” I whispered softly.

My heart fluttered and whispered silent hopes of prayers for our love because it felt so right. He was my missing puzzle piece. I described these moments thousands of times in my books but never believed them. Until now.

The song was over too fast and Brandon came up to us smiling.

“You thought I was going to spill the beans, didn’t you?” he asked, chuckling.

“I got the sense there was more to the story,” Lachlan commented, his arm around me, his warmth encircling me.

“Just a little bit more,” Elise, who joined Brandon alongside Ainslee and Callen, added by jumping into the conversation

“Oh, do tell,” Ainslee got all curious.

I shook my head at Elise. “It’s too much information,” I mumbled.

Elise chuckled. “So, we were in Italy for two weeks, and on the last night before our flight, Eve snuck out. She’d wanted to make it to the nightclub the entire trip. She claimed our trip wasn’t completed unless we visited aEuropean nightclub. But she was still a minor. So there we were, our last night in Italy, and we were going from club to club looking for her. My feet were killing me and Brandon suggested we stop at this off the wall bar and grab a drink. And what did we find there? Eve dancing on the bar to a Timbaland song in fuck-you boots and a shirt that barely concealed anything. There were other girls there too but she sure was the center of the show.”

Ainslee exclaimed in shock. “No!”

She looked at me as if seeing me for the first time. I shrugged my shoulder. “Oh c’mon, you’ve never danced on top of the bar?”

“No, I have not,” she responded, and quickly added, all excited. “We’ll have to do that when you get back from your honeymoon.”

Lachlan grumbled. “Ainslee, my wife will not be dancing on top of the bar with you.”

“You just want her to dance on top of the bar for you alone,” she retorted dryly.

“Damn straight,” he told her and I laughed.

“You got it,” I whispered teasingly in his ear, which earned me a big smile from him.

“Anyhow, you might want to think twice about having Eve dancing on the bar,” my sister interrupted. “Music pumped and she moved with such sensual and wild grace, she got the whole bar of wild men lusting after her. Most men were ready to grab her and strip her naked right there. Brandon had to literally fight them all off and run off dragging us behind him as police sirens approached.”

“We didn’t know why they were approaching,” I told her, feeling a bit nostalgic. “It was the best trip I ever had.”

“Oh, Lachlan hasn’t told you where he is taking you for your honeymoon yet?” Ainslee asked me. “That destination might be even better.”

I looked at my husband curiously. A playful smile lingered on his lips but his grey eyes were hot on me. Heat rushed through my body and my heartbeat sped up. He had such an impact on my heart and body, I wondered again what was about him that caused such a reaction from me. It seemed surreal he was my husband. I’m his wife. I never thought I’d be having a future and now I was looking forward to one with him.

“No, he hasn’t told me where we are going,” I answered Ainslee, my eyes still locked on my husband. “I love surprises though.”

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