Page 51 of Devour

“Yeah,” I slowly replied. I almost asked why and then… “Really?” I smiled.

“Yep,” Owen confirmed with a wide grin.

“Of course, yes. Might be a bit of paperwork on my end, though. Or getting ordained using one of these churches on the internet.” I dismissed all that with a quick wave of my hand. “I’ll figure it out. Answer is yes, I’d be honored, and congratulations.”

“Who we congratulating?”

Not that anyone would think Rhory could know somehow, but as soon as the topic switched to Rhory, I shut down my thoughts like a vault. He sat down next to me, then turned his attention across the table to Asher and Owen.

“You two are finally getting hitched,” Rhory concluded with a smile.

“You say that as if we’ve been courting for almost a decade,” Asher teased.

Despite our ups and downs, Asher still remained one of my best friends. Not above glaring at him as if I could strangle him—as a friend.

Rhory didn’t pause long enough to let the comment settle, and went right into offering his congratulations as well. “Any idea when this is all happening?”

“Within the next year, most likely,” Owen said with a wide smile. “Been four years already, and it just felt like the right time. No reason for us to wait, really.”

Oh, I loved them both, but I could knock their heads together. This wasn’t cute, and they weren’t subtle, either.

“We’re also not young forever.” Rhory smiled right at me while he said it.

* * *

RHORY

Sigh. Nothing could beat hubby in a suit. Maybe him naked, but the likelihood of seeing him in a suit would be much higher. Once again, I would save this image for the mental bank of instances hubby looked devastatingly hot. Unfortunately for me, no wine fountain at this shindig and hubs claimed he learned his lesson at the last wedding. Double sigh.

I did learn my lesson. We got a room this time.

Uh-huh. Sometimes I think you secretly enjoy feeding the rumors.

Anyway, the wedding went off without a hitch. Seeing Ash’s family again gave me the warm fuzzies, especially how happy and supportive they all were. Maybe I would always be weirdly sentimental about that stuff because I’d been flying solo for… well, for as long as I could remember. Tried to not let that bother me when nothing could be done about it.

So, here we were, at another wedding. Ash and Owen did not go the extended engagement and lavish affair route. Instead, a crowd of at least half as many attended the event at a cozy and rustic venue (some kind of orchard or farm). We were still in summer on the calendar, but the scenery had turned autumnal this far north. Very nice backdrop, if I could say so myself.

The only downside of a small wedding meant fewer tables, and we were stuck with people we didn’t know. Which sort of made sense since Ash and Owen were together at their own table, and Ember sat with the rest of her family. Hubby and I were together, at least.

“So… you were the officiant.”

One of the other guests at our table, who sat on the other side of me, consistently tried to engage us in conversation. His efforts were damn funny to witness.

“Yes.” Hubs went back for his glass of wine, and phew, was he cranky.

He’d arrived in an excellent mood, and happy for his friends. We both had. But whoever made the seating chart deemed it necessary to seat us with all dudes. All hot dudes. All hot dudes who liked other dudes, and all of whom were thinking about getting laid tonight. Not their fault, though. People always wanted to fuck at weddings. One of those universal truths among cultures. From what I could tell by poking around in their minds, everyone else at the table knew each other. Even more interesting, over half had dated or had sex with two or more of the people at our table—which made Eli and me a novelty.

“And how long have you two known Asher?”

“Since college.” And another sip of wine.

Despite what anyone at this table might think, hubby was not anti-social. Maybe not as carefree, but socializing was a major aspect of his job.

“How about the two of you?” Finally, we entered the line of questioning this guy had been building up to all evening.

“Also, since college.”

Oh, hubby, that was not what he meant at all, but I’ll back you up, anyway.

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