Page 75 of Loving You

Jenna looked at the sky. “Lord, help me.”

“In conclusion,” Ellie said with a laugh, “thank you all, and I love you. Now, let’s do this final toast and start getting ready.”

And toast we did, but then Brenna looked around the room with a deep frown.

“What’s wrong, honey?” Jenna asked her youngest.

“I think I forgot the rest of the champagne in my room,” she said.

Between the six of us, the bottle we’d just opened was almost empty, so that wouldn’t do. We’d just gotten here and still had a couple hours of hair, makeup, and wedding-day fun ahead of us.

I finished the small amount I still had in my glass. “My venue, my duty to be the gofer. I’ll be right back.”

“Do you need the key to my room?” Brenna asked.

Snorting, I flipped my hair. “Nope. I’ve got a master key. Be afraid, beveryafraid.”

I left the suite with their laughter trailing out behind me, then practically skipped down the hall toward the front desk. We’d situated the suites for the brides and grooms on opposite ends of the main floor of our B&B, with the centerpiece of our giant staircase between the two hallways—just so we wouldn’t risk any grooms getting eyes on their brides.

But since Eric would soon arrive at the groom’s suite with his brothers and Brenna’s husband, I wished the suites were close enough that I could chance running into him. It’d only been a few hours since I’d last seen him—and he’d been naked at the time, which had beenglorious—but I already missed him.

What a sap this guy had turned me into.

“April,” a deep voice said from behind me as I stepped behind the desk and opened the cabinet where we kept the master keys.

I froze.

I’d only had a mini glass of champagne, but surely I was hallucinating. That couldn’t be…

I turned, my blood going cold as I realized that,yep, it was exactly who I thought it was. I’d know that voice anywhere.

“Cliff,” I breathed, my hand tightening around the key so hard it bit into my palm. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m here for you, baby,” he slurred, his voice so close to a whine it was gross.

I looked him over, realizing he was slouched and totally looked like he’d been indulging in some midday drinking. His eyes were red, his hair disheveled, and his neatly trimmed and trendy beard was scruffier than he’deverkept it before.

He looked like life had been kicking his ass lately—sucks to suck, loser—and it was obvious his appearance had more to do with that than his drinking.

Which, by the way, annoyed the shit out of me because I’d never been allowed to drink due to his concern over my figure, and now here he was, showing up fully in his cups to torture me.

Except… the whininess in his voice was actually a good sign. At some point, since I’d always been sober, I’d started categorizing his moods when he drank, and I knew them like the back of my hand.

Right now, Cliff wasn’t in a violent mood, he was in a poor-me mood.

I could work with that.

Realizing how much was at stake today, I rounded the front desk and motioned for Cliff to follow me into an alcove near my mom’s office. It wasn’t just important to get him to go quietly because we were hosting a Walker wedding, but also because the journalist fromBridal Lookwas due to show up any minute to take photos before the guests arrived.

Was I scared? Fuck yes.

Would I let that keep me from being strong enough to say or do whatever I had to so Cliff would go away? Hell no.

I wasn’t a scared doormat anymore. I’d grown. Gotten stronger. And I knew I wasn’t really alone with him, so if I needed help, there were about a dozen people within shouting distance who’d be here in a second if needed.

And the fact that he didn’t know any of that was my biggest card to play.

“Cliff, you seem really upset. What’s wrong?” The words—the placating tone—came out so easily I almost laughed.

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