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“I’m channeling Kate Middleton.” Alex snuck a peek at the right side of the church. She swallowed heavily and widened her eyes.

Freddie turned to eavesdrop.

“No need to worry, Lex.” Harry scratched a dark blond eyebrow. “Their cousin told me at the door—Olivia’s a definite no-show.”

Alex’s shoulders relaxed. “Really?”

“Whoo, Lex!” Freddie raised a fist in triumph. “You’ve scared that play-stealing clothes horse away for good!”

Harry nodded. “Up until this morning, Tom didn’t know if his sister was flying over. Apparently, she just started a theatre arts program for at-risk youth in the Bronx.”

Lucy snorted. “Poor kids have had a tough life already—why make them suffer more, dealing with that stuck-up bitch?”

Harry shrugged.

Alex raised her eyebrows. “Thank God you didn’t marry her.”

“Lucky escape, mate, lucky escape.” Freddie nodded.

Harry sighed. “Tell me about it.”

A parade of wealth and excess filled up the pews behind Tom. Trust-fund supported Chadwick-Smythe cousins, plastic surgery mavens, and men of bloated self-importance were joined by a clique of twenty-something women, all angular shoulders and protruding hip bones, draped in the latest designer creations. They perched delicately among the groom’s former school chums from Harrow.

Freddie laughed. “I bet when the vicar says ‘speak now or forever hold your peace’ most of Hackney and half of Chelsea will stand up. It’s funny how chlamydia brings people back together. Tom never did shy away from a casual shag.” He leaned over Harry. “Lucy, speaking of shags—”

“Check her out,” Lucy interrupted. “That blonde over there, the loud one with…” Lucy rounded her fingers into two large cups in front of her chest.

“The fake tan?” Alex stretched to look past Harry and Lucy. “That’s Caprice, Olivia’s friend. She used to be one of Tom’s regular booty calls.”

Harry nodded in agreement.

“Yikes. Is she drunk? In church?” Lucy narrowed her eyes. “Oh, Tom, your former fuck buddy is nasty. Her skin is orange.”

“It’s fighting with her tangerine frock,” Freddie joined in. “Orange is the new blechhh.”

Laughing, Lucy turned around, her attention drifting over Alex’s head. A smirk tightened her lips. “Well, well, well! Cutting it close, Mr. Keegan.”

Alex broke out into a grin worthy of a lottery win.

“Hey guys…Lex.” Mark paused, his eyes savouring every inch of the girlfriend he had been away from in Austria for the past six weeks. He swept his unruly hair off his forehead and slipped into the pew beside Alex, his hands reaching instinctively for her face. “God, I’ve missed you.”

His lips joined hers, breathing her in and delivering a firm kiss, his dark stubble—still damp with perspiration from his rush from the airport—tickling her skin.

Not as much as I’ve missed you!Alex was torn between discretion and the ache in her heart to kiss Mark’s face off. Her hands brushed down his neck, landing on his shoulders and pulling him closer. If only they were anywhere but there—their flat, his Lairds dressing room, even a restaurant bathroom—but she would have to wait. They both would; this kiss was just a restrained preview of what was to come later.

Freddie cleared his throat, hesitant to interrupt his friends’ clinch. “Any later, Keegs, and you’d have been walking Naomi down the aisle.”

Mark eased back from Alex’s lips and smiled, shrugging off his backpack and wrapping his left arm around her waist. “I almost didn’t make it. My flight left Salzburg an hour late, and then my Uber got stuck in traffic just south of London Fields. I walked the rest of the way here.” His eyes returned to Alex. “C’mere, gorgeous.” He held her cheek and kissed her softly, keeping their contact respectful and PG-rated.

“Is that the guy from that show?”

“It IS true—Tom and Naomi are friends with Mark Keegan.”

Whispers rose from across the aisle, the soon-to-be-wed groom no longer the main attraction.

“Psst, guys.” Lucy winced, catching a woman on the groom’s side holding up a phone, pointed in their direction. “You’ve got an audience.”

Mark grinned against Alex’s lips and pulled away. “What else is new?”

Hesitant to look away from her boyfriend, Alex glanced across the church. Several people pointed, a few uttered “Oh, my God” too loudly, but Alex didn’t care. The love of her life was here, clutching her tightly, his fingers playing with an escaped tendril of her hair. She turned back to Mark and straightened his purple tie. “I can’t believe you made it!”

“Neither can his fan club outside.” Simon rolled his eyes. “Or the paparazzi. Who invited them?”

Mark shrugged. “Sorry it took me so long. I had to sign for the girls, otherwise they’d freeze waiting out there.”

“Nice ego boost, though.” Harry smiled. “Fans wherever you go.”

“It’s fun, but they were a bit freaked. Two of the girls looked like they were gonna throw up, and one had an asthma attack. She had to dig out her puffer.”

Alex slipped her hand into Mark’s. “Being a Keeganite should come with a health warning.”

“You’ve always had a magical touch with the ladies.” Freddie laughed.

“But only one counts.” Mark tugged Alex closer.

The gentle strains of Ed Sheeran’s “Kiss Me” filled the room. The guests rose to their feet as one and looked to the church’s entrance where statuesque Naomi, dressed in a stunning silk gown, appeared with her father. Mr. Khan held her arm tightly, proud to walk his youngest daughter down the aisle. An excited giggle escaped her lips as she took her first step towards her groom.

Alex stole a peek at Tom. His blue-green eyes sparkled and his lips parted, breathless at the sight of his beautiful bride. Just two years earlier, he had been sleeping with a different woman most nights of the week, but here he was, committed to Naomi, starting a future together, ‘forsaking all others.’ Alex had never seen him so happy or entirely focused. She glanced tearily at Mark, and his eyes were already locked on her. He squeezed Alex’s hand and mouthed, “I love you.”