Page 6 of The Wedding Engagement

“That this is a bit mortifying, and I wish it hadn’t happened.”

Arran’s heart thudded and sank like a stone. “Ah, I see.” All the potential sexy scenarios running through his mind swirled and faded away as if being flushed down the toilet. Damn it. At least he hadn’t run his mouth off and ended up embarrassing himself—and her. As the cold trickle of disappointment doused his emotions and his rational brain took over from his lust-driven one, he realized that even if Liv were interested in him in a romantic manner, there was no way he’d risk losing her friendship. He’d always been on friendly terms with Liv, but over the past several months, she had grown to become one of his closest friends. If he started something with her and it went south, like it had with Jess, then their relationship would be destroyed. And the idea of not having Liv in his life at all was too painful to contemplate. Plus it would drive a wedge between him and Sam.

She looked sad, her eyes down at her feet, and his protective instinct rose.

“Hey.” He gave her another little nudge. “Don’t sweat it. At least we get to hang out tonight, right?”

She lifted those beautiful big green eyes and gave him a smile. “Yeah. Good point.” She clinked her bottle with his again and they both took a drink. Liv sighed. “And to think I wore my sexy black underwear for nothing.”

Arran gripped his beer bottle so hard it was lucky the thing didn’t smash in his hand. She was wearing sexy black underwear underneath that hot little black dress? Was it lacy? Sheer? The kind that he could touch and suck the sensitive parts of her through? Scanning her body, he imagined with impressive clarity what she would look like standing in front of him in her underwear. Unfortunately, the process gave him a semi—standing in a public bar, in front of his best friend. He surreptitiously tugged at the front of his jeans.

Liv seemed oblivious. “Where’s Jayce, by the way?”

He took a deep breath. “With my parents.”

“Cool.” She shifted from one foot to the other.

He gave her a rueful smile. “In hindsight, I don’t know why we didn’t guess it was each other. TheDoctor Whothing…the eighties-movies geeks thing.”

She smiled. “I’m sure there are other people in Glenavie who like that stuff.”

He pursed his lips, giving an exaggerated slow shake of his head. “Uh-uh. Those are our things.”

She let out a laugh that tinkled with pleasure at his sentiment. “Anyway, there’s no way I would’ve guessed it was you because I never thought you’d be on the app in a million years, Mr. I Don’t Want to Date Ever Again.”

He huffed out a breath. “Yeah, well. This just cements that sentiment.”

Her face fell, and he kicked himself for, yet again, inadvertently making her think that he was in any way disappointed with her company. “Sorry, I didn’t mean that the way it sounded.”

She smiled again, but it contained a tinge of sadness, and he hated seeing her sad.

Arran grabbed his phone from his pocket, knowing what would cheer her up and make her more comfortable, plus take his mind off any more R-rated scenarios. “Wanna see some photos we took this afternoon of me and Jayce playing dress-up as Disney princesses?”

Her eyes widened. “Yes, please.”

He grinned, putting his arm around his friend’s shoulders and pulling her in to look at the screen, trying desperately to ignore the resulting temptation swamping him, which now seemed to be here to stay.

Chapter

Three

“You’re talking absolute bollocks,” Mayasaid, giving Liv a hard stare across the kitchen table.

Liv raised her eyebrows in response. “I amnot.” It was rare for her to argue with someone, but this was a very important subject. “I’m telling you,” she continued. “The jam should go on first, andthenthe cream.” She lifted her scone and took a big jammy, creamy bite. “That’s how they do it down in Cornwall.”

“But in Devon, they do cream first,” Maya replied, taking a bite of her own scone and getting jam on her nose in the process.

“Ha!” Liv pointed at her with a grin. “Your nose is jammed. The downside of the jam-on-top method.”

Maya shot her a mock-stern look, then tried to lick the jam off her nose. But her tongue wouldn’t reach so she sat there for a moment, stretching the tip of her tongue desperately toward her nose while Liv tried and then failed to hold in a snort of laughter. Maya gave up and, with a smile, wiped the jam off with her finger—licking it instead.

Elise gave them both a wry smile from the head of the table. “The real question is, how do we do it here in the Highlands?”

“Jam first!” Liv shouted, as Maya yelled, “Cream first!”

Pursing her lips, Elise sipped her tea. “This is a very important debate, which I fear shall not be settled today.”

Maya sniffed, sipping the tea, then shot Liv a smile. “This isn’t up to your usual standard—methinks you might be distracted by pining for a certain gentleman?”

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