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Licking her lips, Abi swayed against me, a dazed expression on her beautiful face. “Babe, this is Hayat.”
Hayat skimmed her gaze over me, assessing me for a long moment before she smirked. “Nice to finally meet you, Professor.”
“Stop it,” Abi hissed at her, shaking her head.
Ali and Evan were quickly introduced, before joining my sister at the table. Samara greeted them warmly, but Lucy gave me a brief hug and a tight smile in greeting, while her husband squeezed my hand hard when he shook mine, his eyes narrowed to slits.
“How old are you? What’s your net worth? What makes you think you can keep Abi happy?” he tossed at me, rapid-fire.
“Uncle Harris,” Abi muttered.
“Dad,” Hayat warned at the same time.
“I’m thirty-five, thirty-six soon. I don’t keep track of all the zeros in my bank accounts, but last time I checked, I had a little over three hundred billion total. That doesn’t include all my assets, though.” I flexed my fingers on Abi’s hip. “Honestly, I don’t think I can keep Abi happy. I know I can.”
“So there,” Abi said, sticking out her tongue playfully at the man. “We talked about this. You and Dad both agreed not to be dickheads tonight.”
Hayat nudged her father toward the table. “Oh look, there’s alcohol. And they have your favorite bourbon. Hey, Sammy. That dress is fabulous on you. The girls are banging, babe.”
Sammy laughed, the sound easing some of my tension where she and my mother were concerned. “Hayat, I’ve missed you. This is Elias, my better half. That’s my brother Ryan and his wife, Nova. Papa,” she said softly, pulling his attention to her. “This is Hayat. She’s a friend.”
Dad’s eyes swung to Hayat, brightening. “Hello, giant, beautiful Hayat.”
She grinned as he lifted her hand to his lips. “It’s a pleasure, Mr. Vitucci. Mrs. Vitucci.”
Anya smiled. “Anya, please, myshka. We’re all family here.” She stood to greet Lucy and Harris. “Thank you for joining us tonight.”
“Abi didn’t leave us much of a choice,” Harris grumbled but shook her hand. “Hayat, I’m warning you now. If you know I’m going to hate the guy you decide to marry, elope.”
Hayat took a seat across from Sammy. “You’ll never like anyone, Dad. But don’t worry, I have no plans to get married.”
“Sorry about him,” Abi murmured, leaning in for another kiss. “But he was just the opening act.”
“You love me?” I asked against her ear.
She shivered. “More than anything.”
I nipped at her ear, hearing her breath catch. “You’re happy?”
“Very.”
“You won’t ever leave me?” I flexed my fingers on her hip again, trying to keep my touch gentle, when all I wanted to do was lock her in place.
Her hand covered mine, her fingertips caressing my knuckles as if she knew how much I struggled. “I promise.”
“Then that’s all that matters.”
She booped me on the nose. “You’re so adorable when you’re pretending not to be nervous. But I promise to make it up to you when we get back to the hotel later.”
A throat clearing loudly behind us had my hands lifting from Abi’s ass to her waist as I turned to face my in-laws. I’d already deleted the marriage license. No trace of it remained. But she was my wife, regardless. A little bit of paper proclaiming her as mine wasn’t going to stand in my way.
Kin St. Charles had her fingers wrapped around her husband’s pinkie and the fakest smile I’d ever seen on her lovely face. “Hi. Vaughn?” She glanced over to where Ryan sat sipping his glass of bourbon, ignoring everyone but Anya and Nova. “Is he a twin? Jesus, I can tell Luca and Lyric apart easier than those two.”
“Mom, Lyric has more ink, and Luca has about thirty pounds of extra muscle. Of course it’s easy to determine which is which,” Abi chided her mom. “And no, Vaughn and Ryan aren’t twins.”
“Ah, yeah, I see the difference now.” Kin nodded, but her blue eyes kept going from me to my brother.
Abi tipped her head closer to me. “She’s already writing a new song about this. Twenty bucks, it has a T-Swift vibe.”
