Page 20 of The Wedding Engagement

Footsteps on the stairs announced Liv’s descent, and he called through to alert her that he was in the living room.

“Are you in the fort?” she asked, poking her head into the area.

“Yep,” he replied, patting the space next to him. “Come on in.”

She settled in next to him, lifting a slice of each pizza onto her plate. “I cannotwaitto scoff this.” She bit into the first slice, and a string of cheese connected her mouth and the remainder of the slice. She caught it, breaking the string and sucking it from her finger.

Arran glanced away, shifting uncomfortably as his jeans suddenly began to feel too tight. Spending more time alone with her had been a bad idea. But it was too late to go back on it now. Anyway, he was a grown man. He could control his emotions and his physical urges.

They demolished every last bite, wiping their faces and hands on some napkins and tossing them into the boxes.

Arran adjusted the cushions behind them so they could lie back comfortably. “Ugh. I’m so full I think I might die of a cheese overdose.”

Liv sighed. “A great way to go.”

He shifted to the side a little to look at her. “Agreed.”

Mirroring him, she smiled. “What would be another great way to go?”

“Hmm.” He thought for a moment, trying not to get lost in her eyes. “A chocolate overdose?”

“Yeah, maybe.” She pursed her lips and he had to work hard to keep his eyes off them. “But I might prefer a scone overdose. No wait, a tea and scone overdose.”

He laughed. “You guys are so obsessed with scones.”

“But they’re so light and fluffy and tasty,” she replied, widening her eyes in a manner that seemed to make them luminescent in the soft light.

“They are,” he said, losing the battle to keep his eyes off her mouth.

“What about a non-food-related way?” She paused, biting her lower lip. “A love overdose.”

Arran raised an eyebrow. “How would that work?” He hesitated, unable to stop his mind from wandering onto lust-related activities, especially when she was biting her lip like that. “You mean like having a heart attack after strenuous sex?”

She laughed hard, taking her glasses off to rub her eyes when they teared up. “Okay. I walked into that one.”

Smiling, he admired how her pretty features looked the same and yet so different without her glasses on. He liked how she looked either way. He just liked how she looked, full stop. Lifting a hand, he brushed a wave of hair from her face. “Whatdidyou mean?”

Her gaze meshed with his and it sent his heart tripping. “I was thinking about the woman in your painting. About how much her husband must worship her to commission her portrait.”

He smiled. “Yeah. He clearly doted on her. I could see it in his eyes when he described what he wanted.”

Liv swallowed. “What if you lived your whole life with your truelove. Then, one night, when you were both super old, you went to sleep together and never woke up?”

Arran frowned, studying the earnest look in her eyes. “Not gonna lie, that’s a little more morbid than I thought we were going with this.”

Smiling, she shook her head. “Sorry, I’m not explaining it properly. It’s like the couple’s souls are interlinked. And after a lifetime of so much love, death overcomes them simultaneously, so they pass peacefully, enveloped in their love like a warm blanket. And neither has to live on without the other.”

Thrown by the sentiment, he got caught in the green of her eyes, his breath catching in his throat. Growing old with Jess was a gift he’d assumed was his, but it hadn’t worked out that way. They’d gradually grown apart and he hadn’t even noticed, until she called off the wedding and then quickly moved on. A new boyfriend, who she was clearly infatuated with, because they’d moved in together after only a few weeks. The hollow feeling the rejection had created in his chest was still there, though time had made it less cavernous, filled to some extent by the love of his family and friends.

“I’m sure I sound dumb,” Liv said, putting her glasses back on.

“No,” he replied softly. “It’s not dumb at all. I get what you’re saying. And yes, it would be a good way to go.”

Her soft smile made his heart ache. He wanted to ask her more, but then Liv’s phone buzzed and the moment was lost.

Lifting it, she studied the screen, her frown melting away into a smile. “Maya says they’ve booked a date for the wedding, at Glenavie Castle! There was a cancellation.”

A bittersweet rush filled his chest. This time the previous year, it should’ve been him getting married. But his best mate’s finding the love of his life made up for the sadness of that. “The castle? Brilliant. That’s so lucky of them, by the way.”

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