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As soon as the bridal party enters the reception, I make my way straight to Clara. She swirls around in my arms and kisses me on the nose.
“I hope you were able to come up with a lot of ideas for tonight.”
I groan as I touch my forehead to hers, bringing her against me so she can feel what she’s playing with. She wiggles, and I grab her waist keeping her still. “I suggest you stay still unless you’re ready to leave now.”
The DJ announces the newlyweds and everyone claps during their first dance as a married couple. As the song winds down the DJ requests the rest of the bridal party to join them on the dance floor.
The man Clara walked down the aisle with turns toward us, but I shake my head at him and lead her onto the dance floor instead.
“That was pretty alpha behavior of you,” Clara says, not bothering to hide her amusement.
“I was just making sure he knew you were mine.”
Clara’s smile dims.
I pull her closer to me and whisper in her ear. “What’s wrong? I hope you don’t mind me being a jealous asshole. It’s not that I don’t trust you. I just don’t trust anyone else.”
She shakes her head, but refuses to meet my eyes. “Honestly, the jealousy thing is pretty hot.”
“Then what is it?”
“I’m just hoping you’ll be ok that I might get a little jealous once in a while too.”
I put my finger to her lips. “You can feel whatever way you want. But, I want to make you feel that you have nothing to be jealous of, ever. I want you to trust me, and know I’ll never hurt you.”
“I do trust you. That’s one thing I thought about after you left last night. You’ve never given me a reason not to trust you. But, I just want to make sure we’re making the right decision because we’ll be working together soon.”
“I know. When I got home I spoke with my brothers about it.”
“And?” She stares at me with what can only be classified as curiosity.
“They’re worried. As they should be, but it’s a risk I’m willing to take if you are too.”
She studies me for a moment. “I’m willing.”
I tug her close, spinning her around the dancefloor until we stop, and we rock, our foreheads resting against one another.
Clara’s eyes are closed, and I run my fingers over the soft skin of her shoulder.
“What the hell is he doing here?” Maureen hisses, breaking us apart.
Chapter 19
Clara
“I can’t believe you brought him here after I told you not to.” I don’t think I’ve ever seen Maureen so pissed off in all my life.
Ben maneuvers me so his arm is around my shoulder and we’re both facing Maureen and her new husband. Ben pushes a hand out toward Charlie. It’s not the first time they’ve met since Ben has come to a few of the wedding functions with me over the past few weeks “Hi, nice to see you again. Congratulations.”
Charlie doesn’t hesitate before taking Ben’s hand. I give Charlie a sad smile. He’s always been a decent guy to me and my stepsister’s going to destroy him.
Maureen yanks Charlie away. “Don’t shake his hand. He needs to leave. I’m calling security.”
“Now, honey. He seems like a nice guy and he’s with Clara. He's been at all the functions. Why kick him out now? Let's not cause unnecessary drama on our wedding day. Everything’s turned out perfect. Let's not mess it up.”
“It’s not me who’s messing up our wedding. It’s my attention-seeking-whore of a stepsister and her paid-to-date man hooker.”
Ben’s arm flexes around me. His jaw tightens. Maureen’s pushing his buttons to atomic bomb level. “Maureen we won’t bother you. We’ll leave if you want us to, but do not talk about Clara like that again.”
“And just so you know, he’s a dancer not an escort,” I add in, defending my man.
“Leave, why would you leave?” my dad asks, his arm around Maureen’s mother’s waist.
“Dad.” I step out of Ben’s hold to hug him. I give my stepmother an awkward pat on the back. “We’re not leaving.” I let out a fake little laugh, hoping Maureen will play along while our parents are near.
“Clara can stay, but he has to leave.” She points her finger in distaste at Ben.
So she’s not going to play nice.
“Why would you kick your sister's date out?” my dad gives Ben the good ol’ once over, like any good father would. They met a couple times at the other events for the wedding, but never had the chance to talk with Maureen and her mom claiming his attention.
Like always.
“Because this isn’t Clara’s date. She’s supposed to be dancing with Charlie’s groomsman, Dirk. I asked her not to bring Ben to the wedding and now I’m asking him to leave before there’s more drama.”
