Page 24 of Insta-Hubby
We both say nothing. But the look in her eye tells me something.
It is the unspoken confirmation that she’s mine.
“Come on,” she says, “we have a wedding to get to.”
Anna
He kissedme sweetly in the back of the limo on the way to the wedding. He held my hand during the ceremony. When the pastor announcedyou may now kiss the bride, Liam put both of his hands into mine and held them, so surely, as though he was trying to tell me something.
I am getting swept up in him, and I don’t know this man at all.
But I feel like Ido.
After the ceremony, Liam brings me across the hall into the room where the cocktail hour is being held. The venue is large, but there is only one wedding happening right now. We make our way over to the bar, where Liam orders us two drinks.
“I love a good signature cocktail,” I say. “Sometimes when I’m at work the brides ask me my opinion on different aspects of the wedding, but I never disagree with anything they ever say. I just have to smile and nod and pretend to like everything.”
“What’s the most outlandish signature cocktail you’ve heard of?” he asks, taking a sip of his pineapple mojito.
“Hm, that’s a good one. Definitely the toasted marshmallow espresso martinis I heard about.”
“Wait, you think that’s outlandish?” he says, putting his drink down, a sexy grin spreading across his face. “That sounds fuckinggood.”
“I didn’t say it wouldn’t be good,” I say, “but it is a bit outlandish, isn’t it?”
“I don’t care how crazy and over the top that is, it sounds delicious.”
“Outlandish doesn’t mean bad necessarily,” I say, taking a sip of my drink and looking around the venue.
“Listen,” he says, lowering his voice, “my dad’s over there. He’s gonna come over, so just act natural. Act like you actually like me.”
He throws me a cute smile and puts his arm around my shoulder.
Oh, that feels nice.
I train my eyes on the man walking over to us. I recognize him from the photograph in Liam’s apartment.
His father seems nice. He has kind eyes, and a smattering of salt-and-pepper hair, and he looks old, but not frail at all.
“Liam,” he says, putting out his hand when he gets to us, “I’m glad you made it tonight. The vows were lovely, weren’t they?”
“The absolutely were,” he agrees, pulling me in closer. “Dad, I’d like you to meet Anna. She’s my girlfriend. We’ve been together for about three months.”
His words come out somewhat wooden, surprisingly. Gone is his cool-guy edge, his confidence. He’s just a man right now, trying to please his father.
I look up at Liam’s dad, and put my hand out to shake his.
“Very nice to meet you Anna,” he says. “Where has my son been hiding you?”
“Oh, you know how it is with his line of work,” I say, tilting my chin up to Liam and swatting him playfully on the chest. “All those other girls? He has appearances to keep up.”
“I know,” his father says, smiling kindly at me. “I’ve been telling him for years to get off the internet, stop giving all those followers a false impression of him. And to stop showing off for the camera.”
“Dad, I’m a ham, I can’t help it,” Liam says, pushing his hand through his hair. “I like being in the spotlight a bit. Plus, the girls love me.”
“See, this is what I’m talking about,” I say, knocking my hip into him gently. “Mr. Harmon, please tell your son that I’m the only girl he should be sending pictures to.”
“Hey, it’s not all for selfish reasons. Someone has to post all the good guacamole recipes,” Liam says, putting his arm around me tighter.
