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Knowing Charlotte wants to look at me fills me with a sense of well-being I never knew I needed.
I throw her a wink, and she suppresses a smile as she turns her attention back to my mom, who’s picking dirt off the heel of her shoe.
Scanning the crowd for Gwyneth, I catch Max’s eye over the heads of the guests between us.
He frowns.
28
CHARLOTTE
“H
ey, this is supposed to be a happy occasion.” At the sound of Elliot’s voice, I almost poke myself in the eye with a tissue.
I thought I was dabbing my face in relative private, having hung around in my seat after the ceremony. Most of the other guests have either made their way over to predinner drinks in the tent or are hanging out chatting by the pond-slash-lake.
“It was beautiful,” I tell Elliot. He’d been sitting in the front row with family. I’m obviously nearer the back. “Having the dog be the ring bearer was such a cute touch.”
The rings were in a box hanging from the collar of Summer’s scruffy hound, Elsa, who was led up the aisle by one of the bridesmaids. “And Summer seems very sweet.”
“Yeah, she’s great.” Elliot slides into the seat next to me. “And so good for Owen. He was getting pretty uptight and burned out till he met her.”
We’re now the only ones left on the chairs. I drop my damp tissue into my purse and stand up. “We shouldn’t sit here talking like this. It might look suspicious.”
He gets up and pushes his hands into the pockets of the linen pants that fit so well around his ass… and crotch. “No one’s going to think it’s strange that two people who’ve worked closely together on a project are talking.”
He tips his head and smiles at me like I’m the most fascinating thing he’s had the fortune to gaze upon. It’s a look I’ve never seen in anyone’s eyes before. I already adored him, but that look makes me adore him even more.
“How about we go for a walk?” he suggests.
“Shouldn’t you be mingling with everyone else?”
“Well, I thought this would be the perfect time to take a stroll. Everyone’s milling around in that weird nothing period between the wedding and dinner.” He bends down, closer to my ear. “No one would miss us.”
“You’re not talking about taking a stroll to your bedroom, are you? Because there’s no way we’d get away without someone noticing.”
“I hadn’t thought about that. But now that you mention it…” He looks furtively from side to side. “There’s no one up at the house other than a few caterers, so that would actually be the perfect pla?—”
I swing my bag at his arm to shut him up. “Stop it.”
“Scared you might say yes?” His eyebrows appear over the top of his glasses.
He might have a point.
Since our last night in Plainsville and the morning—Lord let’s not forget the morning—I’ve been desperate to feel this man’s flesh against mine again. In a bed, in a shower, in the janitor’s closet at work—I want to do it with him everywhere. I don’t care about location. But I do care very much, very deeply, very soul-rockingly intensely about Elliot.
“Whether I want to or not, I’m not going up to your room with you.”
“Let’s compromise on a walk then.” He jerks his head to the other side of the lake-like pond where the edge of the property blurs into a thick line of trees.
“That’s actually not a bad idea. Might be cooler over there.”
“You do look like you got some sun,” Elliot says, running a finger over my shoulder.
The goosebumps erupting under his touch spread down my side to the small of my back. A few minutes alone in the woods seems like the perfect plan.
Elliot slips off his jacket and hangs it on the back of a chair. “I’ll leave this here. Too warm to wear it when I don’t absolutely have to.”
