Slowly, my sister cuts off a piece and puts it in her mouth. Her eyes close as she lets out a little moan of delight.
“This might be the best cake that I’ve ever eaten,” she says.
I turn to Cam and see that his cheeks are red over his beard. “You’re hired. I’m going to send you the cake that we want. Let me know if you’re able to make it. If not, we’ll come up with something new.”
I look to Sienna to confirm, and she nods.
“Connor came through on that,” she says once Cam leaves.
“I’m pretty sure he has ulterior motives, but I don’t care as long as he sticks to the plan.”
His words from this afternoon echo in my mind.
Considering I’ll be the groom, I have every right to know what my wedding will look like.
He said it’s so easily, like it’s already a done deal. Like I’m going to marry him. He hasn’t even proposed, he hasn’t even apologized. We have hashed nothing out. We haven’t even talked about why he left. But suddenly he’s talking about us getting married.
Thinking about it is just making me angry.
“Can we not talk about Connor?” I ask Sienna. “Let’s just focus on you and make this a fun night.”
Understanding colors her eyes and she nods. “Let me know if working with him is too much and I’ll do all the work.”
“It’s not too much, I’m fine. Besides, it’s my duty as the maid of honor.”
The conversation turns to the last time the cousins were all together. It was during the summer when the family planned a trip to London, England. Caleb reminds us all that we forgot Mia on the bus and Mia teases him by reminding us all that Caleb had fallen in love with the receptionist at the hotel.
The bar fills up even more, and we decide that since we will be leaving in a few days, this is the perfect time for us to flirt and find a vacation fling. Not me, though. Because try as I might, I can’t bring myself to flirt with any man who’s here.
Sienna and I lean against the bar and watch as our cousins and Sadie flirt with people.
“Twenty bucks says Caleb is going to strike out,” Sienna says, watching Caleb flirt with a blonde. He appears to be coming on a little too strong.
“I’m not going to make a losing bet,” I say.
“What about Sadie?” We look at our sister and see her flirting with a tall, red-haired man. He’s cute, definitely vacation fling worthy. From what we can see, he’s not being gross and he’s keeping a respectable distance between them. Sadie has her hand resting on top of her glass, protecting her drink.
Mia is leaning against a wall as a dark-haired boy leans in towards her. But she’s smiling and looking happy, and the boy looks to be about her age, so we leave her be. I’m looking around the bar for Julia when my eyes swing over a man in the corner watching me.
At first, I think it’s a creep, but I immediately realize it’s not. When I look back, I see that it’s Connor. He’s sitting in a corner, which allows him a view of the entire bar. He’s leaning back in his chair, his legs spread out in front of him, fingers covering his mouth as he watches me across the dark bar.
There’s a possessive gleam in his eyes that I can feel even from across the room.
“I know we don’t like the man but damn there’s something about him, something about the way that he looks at you,” Sienna says quietly next to me. She also noticed Connor.
I know exactly what she means. Connor looks at me like I already belong to him, no matter where I am or who I’m with. I’ll never be able to shake him off. I’m his and nothing is going to change that.
And that just pisses me off. Because what do you mean that I’m yours if you’re going to leave me without a second glance?
I drink the shot of tequila that’s sitting in front of me.
“You know what, I’m single,” I say. “I’m going to flirt with some guys.”
Cam is standing next to us and happens to hear me. He laughs lightly and looks at Sienna. “Is she always like this?”
“You have no idea,” my sister says.
“Rude,” I say. If anything, they should be questioning Connor.
