Page 61 of Of Course, Cutie

I turned to see Evan’s ex-girlfriend, Ava, walking through the door. She gave Burke an appreciative stare and tossed her blonde hair over her shoulder. I slid my arm around his waist to stake my claim. Not that Burke would even be mildly interested in someone like Ava. “Hi, Ava. It’s uh… been a while.” I smiled.

Ava let out her cute little tinkling laugh and batted her perfect eyelashes. “It has!” She studied my face and pursed her bright red lips. “You are so beautiful now!”

I raised an eyebrow. “Was I a hideous kid or something?”

Burke laughed and wrapped his arm around my shoulders. Ava’s eyes drifted back over to him. “Hi! I’m Ava, Sienna’s bestie from high school.” She extended her hand with a flirty smile.

Burke shook it. “I’m Burke. I’m Charlie’s.”

I laughed out loud and tugged him a little closer. “You’re just mine? I like that.” He smiled down at me and nodded.

“Wow!” Ava laughed and let her eyes flick up and down Burke’s body. “Nicely done, girl.” Then she turned and glanced around the reception hall that was slowly filling up. “I’m going to go say hi to people, but it was so good to see you!” She walked away with her hips swaying.

Burke watched her, and I glared at him and smacked his arm. “Fucking look away, asshole!”

He laughed out loud and kissed my nose. “I’m teasing you, cutie. It seemed like you were getting a little jealous there. I could feel you getting all tense and fired up.”

I continued to glare.

“Charlie, you know I’m crazy about you, and your brother’s ex-girlfriend is not my type.”

“I know, Burke, but if you ever look at another woman again, even jokingly, you know I’m not above punching you. The Cox kids don’t fuck around with assholes.”

Burke laughed again and followed me to our table. He’d laughed to the point of tears when I told him about punching Simon on Valentine’s Day. “That’s why I love you, cutie.” We took our seats next to Bea, and Tess brought Sophia over.

After dinner, it was time for speeches. I had a whole thing planned, but as Bea finished her words of congratulations for the happy couple, I could feel the lump growing in my throat. My words weren’t going to come out the way I wanted. Hell, I’d be lucky if I got through half of my speech.

My dad should have given the first damn speech. He should have made everyone laugh with an off-color joke and then said something wise to blow us all away.

But it was up to us now.

“Cheers to Evan and Sienna! You two are beautiful together!” Bea held up her champagne glass and handed me the microphone with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. She was barely holding it together, too.

I took a deep breath and stood, smoothing my black silk dress. Could I say anything to fill the void our family felt? I knew I couldn’t, so I decided to address it. “There’s a huge hole in this room tonight, and I think we can all feel it. Dad should be here, right?” I exchanged a sad smile with my brother and continued. “We all miss him like crazy. However, I think if he were here, Dad would tell you not to screw this up, Evan. So I’ll say it for him. Son, don’t screw the pooch.” I gave Evan the teasing stare I’d inherited from my father.

Evan laughed and wiped a tear.

“Luckily, you found a woman that will forgive you even when you do. You’re so damn lucky, Evan. Like we’re all in agreement that if you screw up too bad, we’ll keep Sienna and get rid of you.”

The room filled with appreciative laughs, and Evan smiled at me and then Sienna.

“But all jokes aside, I think dad would be proud of you tonight. He would love your bar, dude. He’d be proud of the way you take care of all the girls he left behind, even when you punch your little sister’s boyfriend in the face.” I gave Evan a pointed look as the room filled with chuckles again.

Evan laughed and shook his head and then glanced over at Burke and mouthed, “Sorry…”

“He’d be so proud that you fought for what you wanted and didn’t take the easy road. And he would love the way you love Sienna.” My voice hitched. Shit. I was going to start crying. “And I’m proud of you, too. I’m so grateful to have a big brother that’s got my back and tries to be everything he was raised to be.” A tear slipped down my cheek. I needed to wrap this up before I lost it. “Sienna, I love you. You know that. I’m so happy for you guys.” I passed the microphone to Evan’s best friend, Rob, and sank back into my chair.

Burke’s arm immediately wrapped around me and pulled me to his side. He pressed a soft kiss to the top of my head while I furiously wiped my tears away.

Rob stood and grimaced. “Well… I’m not sure how to follow that.”

The room filled with chuckles again, and I melted into Burke. He had me, and he was all that existed while I worked on composing myself.

After the speeches were over, the dancing started. Everyone stood and started talking and laughing, but I stayed there with my head against Burke’s shoulder, breathing in his warm scent and letting the waves of missing my father ripple through me.

My mom came over and took Tess out to the dance floor, and Burke tipped my chin up to give me a soft kiss. “That was a good speech, cutie.” He swiped a stray tear from my cheek with his thumb and then gave me a deeper kiss. “Come here, come dance with me.” Burke took my hand and led me to the dance floor.

He pulled me into his arms, and we swayed back and forth to some pop love song. When that song ended, Patience by Guns N’ Roses started to play. I glanced up and met Burke’s molten gaze. “It’s our song.” I smiled.

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