Page 29 of The Wedding Engagement

“What?” He laughed at the idea of good-as-gold Liv doing such a thing. “Olivia Agnes Holland. I am shocked and appalled at your thieving ways.” He sniffed, snapping his head around to look straight ahead and folding his arms in mock disapproval. “I’m not sure I can hang out with you anymore, now I know you’re a criminal mastermind.”

“Stop,” she said, covering her face in a cute manner. “I’m still embarrassed about it. In the morning I felt so guilty that I took it back and pretended it had fallen into my bag by accident.”

Arran snorted. “I take back the mastermind part. That’s the shittiest excuse ever. Did they buy it?”

“Nope,” she said from behind her hands. “But they were too polite to say anything. The person I spoke to just smiled and said to pop it back onto the table.”

“C’mere,” he said, putting his arm across her shoulders, aware that he shouldn’t be doing so when he was fast losing control of his emotions where she was concerned. “I forgive you, Agnes.” She felt so good nestled against him.

“Stop taking the piss out of my middle name,” she replied, looking up from where she was tucked into his side and making his heart pump harder.

“Sorry, Aggie,” he said, absorbing the sparkle in her eyes. “Won’t happen again.”

“Shut up,” she replied, leaning her head against his shoulder. “We can’t all have cool middle names like you.”

He shrugged. “Mine’s just my dad’s name. Unoriginal.”

“Yeah, but it gives you the initials triple A. Arran Abeo Adebayo. That’s frickin’ cool.”

He lifted his hand to dust his shoulder. “Yup. That’s me all over.”

Liv chuckled. He loved the sound of her laugh. It was sweet with a spicy edge.

He tightened his arm around her. “So where does the name Agnes come from? Someone in your family?”

“Yeah,” she said, her breath tickling his neck. “My granny, on my dad’s side. And Sam’s is after our mum’s dad.”

“My neighbor’s name is Agnes.”

“The one you grocery shop for?”

“Yeah. She may be practically housebound, but she’s a feisty one.” He grinned. “Reminds me of you. Though she isn’t a common pot-plant thief.”

She gave him a playful nudge and he picked up her hand, running his thumb over her fingers and appreciating the flow of heat that the touch of her skin created. He wanted to get her to open up a little. She was always asking about him and he felt he needed to even up the balance—he craved a piece of her in return. “Can I ask you something?”

“Yeah,” she said, resting her head on his chest.God, that feels good.

He took a breath. “Do you think about him much? Your dad, I mean.”

Her hold on his fingers tightened almost imperceptibly. “Sometimes.”

Arran leaned his head on hers, taking the opportunity tobreathe in her scent. She smelled comforting and yet exhilarating. “You don’t talk about him.”

“There’s not much to say. He was a gaslighting, narcissistic arsehole.”

He gave her a squeeze. “Do you ever hear from him?”

“Nope.” She turned his hand over to trace the lines on his palm, sending fire crackling over his skin. “Not for ages. He used to message every now and again, I think because his girlfriend, Georgie, made him. But clearly her influence wore off because there’s been nothing for a couple of years.”

“I’m sorry,” he said, pulling her closer. Being dumped by his fiancée was nothing compared to the pain of being dumped by a parent. Why hadn’t he asked her about this stuff before? Too busy feeling all sorry for himself like the crybaby Liv had jokingly told him he was.

She shrugged against his side. “Don’t feel sorry for me. Feel sorry for Georgie. She’s the one who’s got to live with the bastard. Mum always says the poor woman did us a favor.” She sighed. “But I’m sure she’s suffering in the exact same way he made Mum suffer. A narcissist never changes its spots.”

A queasy feeling rose in his gut. “Sam told me he was a pathological liar.”

“Oh yeah, and then some,” she said quickly. “He’d argue the sky wasn’t blue until he was blue in the face himself. He called Mum crazy, paranoid, jealous, you name it, when she found more and more evidence that he was cheating. And he never admitted it, not even when he packed his bags and left for Jersey with Georgie.”

Arran swallowed, his mouth dry. This was more than Liv had divulged before. “He was some piece of work. It must have made you and Sam feel like shit.”

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