Page 30 of The Wedding Engagement

“Yeah. Especially Sam; that was how he fell in with Catriona. She exploited all those vulnerabilities.” She shivered. “Thankgoodness Maya the great showed up in town and chased the nasty demon away.”

There she went again, deflecting all the sympathy onto Sam. He kissed the top of her head, appreciating the way she nestled into his side in response. “It was just as hard for you, Liv. You’re allowed some sympathy too.” She stayed silent, and he wondered if he’d overstepped the mark. But he felt he had to have one last try. “It might have affected you guys in different ways, but it still happened to you. Maybe it was just more obvious with Sam, because he fell into the same trap as your mum.”

She still didn’t answer, and Arran’s heart rate picked up with the fear that he’d upset her. Pushed her away.

Then she cleared her throat, her voice small. “Maybe.”

He wanted to probe further, but he stopped himself. There was a risk that he was doing it for his own benefit, from a place of selfish need for her to open up to him, and that wasn’t fair to her. She needed to confide in her own time. He kept his mouth shut.

Eventually, she spoke again. “If Jess asked you to get back with her, would you say yes?”

The question caught him off guard. “If you’d asked me that last year, or even a few months ago, I would have said yes.”

“And now?”

He paused to rub his chest. “It’s kind of confusing. I feel pretty fed up about her skipping her time with Jayce, and…I miss her being around. But it’s like I miss the idea of her and how we used to be a family with Jayce. I don’t think I actually missheranymore.” He paused. “I’m sure that makes no sense.”

Liv shifted and he absorbed the delicious friction of her cheek against his chest. It went some way to distract from the hollow feeling inside there, and he wished he could feel it without a layer of cotton between them.

“I understand,” she said.

She always understands.“I suppose everything would be easier if she came back, for me and for Jayce. But she’s with…Rory now.” He took a breath. “And I realize that it wasn’t right between us. The relationship had moved on since we’d gotten engaged, and that’s the risk when you have a long engagement so young. Sometimes you outgrow each other. So, really, you were right.”

She lifted her head to meet his gaze and the green of her eyes was like jade in the soft light cast by the fairy lights inside the fort. “Right about what?”

He couldn’t resist tucking a wave of hair behind her ear. “About it being a good job that Jess ended it when she did. Before the wedding was much better timing than after. Then we would’ve had a messy and expensive divorce to sort out. I just couldn’t see that at the time because I was so hurt.”

Liv gave him a soft smile that he felt might possibly heal all his ills. “I think that’s a good way to look at it.”

Arran kissed her forehead, appreciating the soft feel of her creamy skin beneath his lips, and fighting the urge to slide them down her cheek and onto her mouth. “Come here, Aggie.” He pulled her into a cuddle. “It’s you who helped me to look at it like that. Thank you.”

She hugged him close and he breathed her in, appreciating the way her small form fit perfectly against him despite the fact that he was a good deal taller. Her soft hair spooled around his neck, tickling his skin, and he imagined it trailing down his naked body as she kissed her way down his torso. He tightened his arms around her, and she pressed her breasts against his chest—sending a jolt of electricity straight to his cock. He was almost sure he could feel the hardness of her nipples through her T-shirt.

His mind went back to the evening he’d stopped at her place to drop off her present and she’d questioned how he knew that she had killer abs. He’d been close to admitting that it was because he’dbeen staring at her body through her transparent T-shirt when Jayce had soaked her in the bathroom, and he’d liked what he’d seen. But his phone buzzing had interrupted them.

He remembered how it’d felt when she’d unexpectedly thrown her arms around him, and the heat between them. Did she feel it too? He was sure he caught glimpses that she felt the same. But something was holding her back. Was it that they’d known each other forever and she didn’t fancy him enough to take it further? He didn’t feel like that was the case; their connection was too strong. Perhaps it was that she was about to become his son’s teacher, a conflict of interest. Or that she didn’t want to risk their friendship when they were so close.

He couldn’t help thinking there was more to it. Something she kept hidden. Something he wished she would confide in him.

All he could think about lately was her. But perhaps what he wanted and what he needed were two entirely different things. The fallout from his breakup with Jess had been huge, and it would be wrong of him to take a chance on ruining his close friendship with Liv if he wasn’t emotionally ready—plus when he didn’t know the full extent of what was holding her back.

The stakes were too high to lose Liv. She was far too important to him. If his time with Jess had taught him anything, it was that he had to be wary of high-stakes relationships. The mother of his child had moved on and left him. There was no way he could let the same thing happen with his best friend. Especially when Jayce would be affected.

He kissed the top of her head, absorbing the cute sigh she released against his chest, and wishing they could stay cuddled in this cozy fort forever.Us against the world.

Chapter

Eight

“Here you go, sweetheart,” Angussaid, pouring Liv some tea from a flowery teapot that seemed tiny in his large, calloused hands. The overtly feminine nature of the pot made Angus appear even more masculine, which was a difficult task when he was already a stocky, six-foot hulk of a bloke.

“Thanks,” Liv said, pouring in a bit of milk and taking a sip. She shot him an impressed look. “Not bad. You’re moving away from builder’s tea to Olivia Holland tea very nicely.”

Angus gave her a two-fingered salute. “Thank you, ma’am. I’m learning from the best.”

Liv’s mum joined them at the kitchen table, giving Angus a kiss on the cheek as she accepted her mug from him. “Thanks, love.”

The doorbell rang and Angus left to answer it, and when he returned to the kitchen, he had Sam and Maya in tow. They exchanged hugs and kisses with her, Tara, and Angus, and all took a seat around the table with mugs of tea.

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