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“What’s that supposed to mean?” she snaps back.
“It means you’re late. Get your arse in the function room with the other guests,” he replies.
“Dalton, are you looking for a punch to the face? Have a little respect,” I grind out.
Daisy rolls her eyes, waving her hand in the air, completely unperturbed by his rudeness. “Ignore him, it’s probably the Just For Men he used last night to cover the greys, must’ve poisoned his mind a little, right arsehole?”
With that she throws Dalton a sweet smile, the sound of her heels clicking against the marble floor echoing around the reception hall as she strides off.
“She’s–”
“Be very careful of what comes out of your mouth next,” I say, raising a brow.
“Never mind,” Dalton mumbles. “Shall we go?”
“Yeah.”
The second we step into the function room, I search the crowd, taking in the decadent display of cream roses dripping from the ceiling in long garlands twined with fairy lights, crystals and white feathers. Every seat has a cream silk bow tied at the back, a small bouquet of lilies, tucked between the knots. There has been no expense spared, and the decorations in this room alone must’ve cost thousands of pounds. I can only imagine what the ballroom is going to look like. It’s a huge space that will hold the reception party. I’m pretty sure Robert spent a cool million on this wedding. Which, for a man like him, is nothing.
A harpist plays, the soft notes lifting up into air, entertaining the two hundred guests that are seated either side of the aisle whilst they all wait for the bride to arrive. At the front of the hall, Sterling and Robert stand slightly off to the side of a huge arch of cream roses that the wedding officiant is standing beneath. According to my background checks he’s a retired captain of a naval ship, and an old friend of Robert’s.
“Drix!” a sweet voice shouts, and my attention is drawn to Toby who is standing in the aisle, about three rows back from Robert and Sterling. He grins at me when I wave, my eyes searching for Lia, who is partially obscured from my line of vision by the guests standing behind her.
“Get ready to be blown away, Drix,” Dalton mutters as we approach, a smile in his voice.
To my left, I spot Ben and his father Walter, acknowledging them both with a nod as we pass. Walter smiles but Ben barely notices, his attention fixed on the woman who broke his heart. She sits on the other side of the aisle next to her husband several rows back, her own gaze fixed ahead of her.
Man, that’s gotta hurt.
Unlike most traditional weddings where it’s a free for all in terms of where people sit during the ceremony, so long as the bride guests are on the left of the aisle and the groom on the right, Robert made sure that each seat was labelled very clearly with his guests’ names. The nearer to front you are, the more valued in his eyes you are as a guest, no matter which side of the aisle you’re placed. As members of the founding families we have prime position at the front of the hall. It pleases me that Lia and Toby have been invited to sit beside Daisy and I. If Robert had put them at the back, away from us, then there would’ve been hell to pay.
“Just try not to trip over your dick when you see her,” Dalton continues when I don’t respond to his earlier statement.
“Funny,” I mutter as he chuckles, taking his seat next to his father on the opposite side of the aisle.
“Hey, Drix,” Toby says, grinning up at me.
“Hey, buddy,” I reply, ruffling his hair before finally laying eyes on Lia.
My steps falter, struck dumb momentarily at just how fucking incredible she looks. Even as Daisy takes Toby’s hand and moves aside so I can sit down next to Lia, I can’t seem to move my feet. My gaze roves over her beautiful face, her pretty eyes accented with soft green eyeshadow and black mascara, her plump lips shiny with clear lip gloss.
“Hello,” she says as she smiles up at me, her fingers rising to her cheek as she brushes a tendril of hair off her face, tucking it behind her ear. She’s wearing it down, curled in soft waves. It falls just below her shoulders, and I have this sudden urge to run my fingers through the strands.
“Lia, you’re stunning,” I say, my gaze following the slope of her bare shoulders, resting on her beautiful cleavage that’s encased in a blood-red bustier covered in tiny black crystals that scatter across the red layered chiffon of her floor length dress. The dress code for the wedding was decadent elegance, and she sure meets that requirement and then some. There’s a certain kind of synchronicity in the fact that her dress happens to match my red tie, the Hammer family crest embroidered onto it.
“You should probably sit,” Daisy giggles, dragging my attention back to her as a string quartet begins to play, heralding the entrance of the bride.
Edging past Daisy and Toby, I sit beside Lia, pressing a kiss to her cheek, my lips coasting toward her ear. “I wish I was alone with you,” I say, my cock thickening at the thought.
“The feeling’s mutual,” she whispers back.
“This is going to be a long fucking day,” I grumble, momentarily forgetting that there’s an important conversation that needs to take place between us. That thought is like a bucket of ice-water over my head, and all thoughts of making love to Lia leave my mind, replaced instead with a churning sickness in my stomach.
Concentrating on the here and now, I wrap Lia’s hand in mine, my thumb running over the ring I gave her. Focussing on Sterling and Robert, a woman begins to sing. Her voice is familiar to me for some reason.
“Wow,” Lia breathes, her arms covering in a scatter of goosebumps as she reacts to the sound.
She’s not the only one entranced by the ethereal voice, the whole room falls into stunned silence, but that is nothing in comparison to Sterling’s reaction.
