Page 33 of Little Gray Dress

“Whoa,” he says, wide-eyed.

He’s wearing a pair of black slacks, a nice gray shirt, and a tie. His normally ruffled hair is now slicked over to the side and I’m only just noticing the tattoos showing below his rolled-up sleeves. Which, I’ll admit, is a little bit of an unexpected turn-on.

“Whoa to you too,” I say back to him, feeling more than awkward that everyone in the room is watching us. I haven’t felt this weird about a date since I went to prom in my senior year. If someone pulls out a camera I’ll just die.

He approaches me and quickly kisses my cheek. “I don’t know if I can compete with you, though. You are gorgeous.” I hear Lily awe sarcastically behind me and shoot her a look of death.

“Sounds good.” Evan claps his hands. “Looks like everyone, invited or not, is ready to go.” He ushers us all out of the front door and towards a black limo parked at the curb.

Liam is so close behind me that I can feel my heart nervously drop a little further into my stomach with each step. “So, how are we playing this?” he breathes into my ear, making my brain momentarily stall with any rational or pure thoughts. “Am I boyfriend status, or just a random friend date status?”

I step off the curb behind the limo and pull Liam with me. “Um… I’m not sure exactly what I’m expecting as an outcome quite yet, so I was hoping just random friend date status?”

“Maybe we see what happens? Let’s feel out the situation and see how it goes before we make any solid decisions.”

“Ok.” I nod my head and head towards the door.

“What are you two doing?” Evan asks me as we crawl into the limo.

“Whispering sweet nothings to each other?” Josh adds his two cents, getting a glare from me.

“Nothing, I just… uh—”

“I just wanted to tell her again how gorgeous she looked. My bad. So, introduce me to everyone.”

“Right. So this is Evan and Hannah, the bride and groom.”

Liam reaches out and shakes hands with both of them. “Congratulations to you both, and thank you for letting me escort the second most beautiful woman in the limo.” He nods to Hannah, who immediately projects her inner Southern Belle by blushing and fanning herself.

“And this is my best friend Lily and her husband, Josh.”

“Nice to meet you, Josh. You and Evan are both very lucky men.” He shakes both their hands with a smile before turning back to me, his eyes smiling with far too much enthusiasm.

“What do you do, Liam?” Evan, of course, is the first one to pile on the questions.

“I own Old Tex, the bar up the street. Just bought it about a month ago. It’s kind of a dive bar right now, but I’m hoping to turn it into something a little cooler than that.”

“Ah… And why are you helping my sister?”

“Evan!” I hiss at him, mortified that he’d act like a douche about this.

“Your sister…” He glances over at me with a smile. “She’s a sweet girl, a damsel in distress, you could say. How could I say no?”

“So, I guess I don’t understand the plan?” Evan asks. Clearly he was blowing smoke up my ass upstairs with the whole if it makes you happy line.

“So, you all know our arrangement?” Liam looks at me for a little insight.

“No,” I blurt out before noticing Evan’s eyebrows rise. “I mean yes, they know why you’re coming.” Please, Liam, don’t talk about how it’s in exchange for a favor though. Evan’s mind will go right to the gutter. I plead with him silently and hope he really is as good at reading people as he was the other night.

“We just don’t really know, why. Why did you agree to it?” Hannah follows up.

“Guys, this isn’t a Dateline interview. Can you give the guy a break? He’s here so maybe Jack, Greta and I can be a little more comfortable in the same room, that’s all.” I glare at Hannah and Evan who both shrug their shoulders.

“So, tell me about you two.” Liam smoothly changes the subject “How did all this come to be?”

It takes the entire ride to the wedding venue for Evan and Hannah to tell Liam their love story. Which gives me a chance to try and stop sweating from all the wrong areas.

“He is actually cute!” Lily grabs my arm the moment I leave the limo and walks me into the building, with Josh, Evan and Liam all chatting behind us. “I think he might really like you.”

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