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Adelaide’s eyes rounded. “Oh yeah, he seems like a real jokester.” She extricated herself from her dad’s arm, then tucked her arm in mine and began walking. I had no choice but to follow her, Callum with me since we were attached. “Anyway, I spied the rest of TSC near the hors d’oeuvres. Rodrigo was stacking crab cakes on his plate six deep. I grabbed one before he cleaned us out of them, and they were exquisite. Chef’s kiss and all that jazz.”
“Oh. Well—”
“Look!” She pointed to the area near the floor-to-ceiling windows. “There they are.”
Heads came up as we approached. Iris with a tall, impressively wide man in a spectacular suit, Rodrigo and a beautiful woman with a sheet of black hair, Adam between an adorable woman with apple cheeks and wavy brunette hair and a silver fox I recognized as Dominic Cantrell, rock legend. All of them watched with rapt attention as we joined them.
Adam was the first to speak. “Fuck. I don’t believe my eyes. Is this real life?”
Iris stepped forward and pecked me on the cheek. “What my rude friend means is hello, we’re happy as hell to see you, Wren.” She motioned to the man behind her. “This is Ronan Walsh, my man. Ronan, say hello to Wren.”
The man, who made Callum seem small, reached out a hand, which I shook. “Nice to meet ya, Wren.” Holy granola, he had an Irish accent. Swoon.
Callum tugged me away from him, and I swore he growled under his breath, even as he tipped his chin to Ronan.
Next, I met Rodrigo’s girlfriend, Hope, who was something of a world-famous DJ. Plus, she was insanely hot. Then Adam kissed my cheek and whispered, “Hi, cutie,” to which Callum responded by shoving his shoulder. Adam didn’t look upset for even a second, but that was probably because he’d been intentionally pushing buttons. He threw his handsome head back and laughed his ass off. Callum’s mouth twitched.
Adelaide was still mixing it up with Iris like they were old friends when I was introduced to Claire, the woman with the apple cheeks and wavy brown hair, and her husband, Dominic, who was even more intimidating up close. Until he looked at his wife, then everything about him softened. There was a definite age gap between them, but it didn’t seem to affect the deep love they had for one another. Just meeting them minutes ago, it was already obvious.
Swoon again.
Callum and I were talking to Dominic and Claire about their baby, Georgia—well, I was talking, he was holding me as close to his side as humanly possible without slicing himself open and inserting me beneath his skin—when Rodrigo drifted over and draped an arm over Claire’s shoulders.
She nudged his ribs with her elbow. “What’s up, boo?”
He grinned and nudged her back. “I’m here to ask Wren a question.”
“Is it inappropriate?” Claire asked.
“Have you met my girlfriend? She’ll kick my ass if I even think of asking an inappropriate question.”
Claire held her hand out, gesturing to me. “Then ask.”
I took a long pull of my drink in preparation.
Rodrigo’s eyes alighted on me. “What did you think of the tattoo?”
Just when I thought it was impossible, Callum held me tighter. I breathed easier, though. This was a question I could answer.
“It was a big surprise, but I really love it.”
Roddy grinned. “Yeah? ’Cause I went with your man when he got it and tried to talk him out of it.”
I tilted my head to lean on Callum’s arm. “I’m glad he didn’t listen.”
“What’s the tat?” Dominic asked.
My tongue darted out to moisten my lip. Claire, I was comfortable with. Dominic made me tongue-tied. Fortunately, Roddy spoke up for me.
“Cal’s got Wren’s name over his heart. It’s a pretty sick design, but yeah, it’s her name.”
Claire smiled at me, and her cheeks pinkened in the sweetest way. “If you both like it, that’s all that matters, right? Callum obviously knows you better than Rodrigo.”
Roddy crossed his arms, faux pouting, which was funny on his tattooed, muscle-bound frame. “Wren and I go way back. She almost took your best friend spot.”
Claire slapped his arm. “That’s not nice. We have matching tattoos. I think my spot is pretty firm.”
I laughed. “You have matching tattoos?”
