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She could do whatever she needed so long as she remembered he was here. And that she didn’t need to be anything but herself around him. He reached around to cut up more of the steak.
“We were starting to think you weren’t going to come,” the woman across from them said with a fake smile. She was dripping in diamonds. Kind of overkill, really. “But even you wouldn’t miss your own sister’s wedding, would you? Although it must be hard to see her with Geoffrey.”
“I don’t have any feelings for Geoffrey. He’s free to marry whomever he wants,” she replied.
“Your mother must be so happy to have you back,” a dark-haired woman said. “You haven’t been home to see her in years. I don’t know how she’s coped.”
Butch stiffened. If they thought he was going to sit by and let them talk badly to Lara, then they better think again.
“Now, Alice,” the man sitting to the dark-haired woman said. “Lara has been busy. These young people don’t always think of others. But she’s back now and we should give her a chance.”
Lara sucked in a breath but didn’t say anything. Butch frowned.
“Actually, Lara is the most thoughtful person I know,” he said, stopping them all in their tracks. “She spends all her time thinking of others. Why would she want to return here when all people ever do is talk about her?”
“That’s not true,” diamond lady said. “We never gossip.”
“Right. You all spend most of your time stabbing each other in the back. Then being nice as pie to each other’s faces. Where I come from, if we have a problem with someone else, we just tell them straight up and deal with the outcome like decent people do.”
“Did you just say that my wife isn’t a decent person?” asked the man sitting next to Alice.
“Oh no,” he said cheerfully. “I said it about all of you.”
“How rude,” Alice said. “Who do you think you are, coming in here and maligning us? You know nothing about us, and yet you think to tell us how we should and shouldn’t act. You’re an outsider. Your opinion is worthless.”
Lara sucked in a breath. “Actually, his opinion is the opposite of worthless. And Butch is my date tonight. So, I’d thank you to keep a civil tongue while talking to him. I know I can’t ask you to do that while you talk about him behind his back. But then, a leopard never changes its spots, does it?”
They all gaped at Lara.
“Damn, so sexy, baby,” he whispered in her ear.
“I can see your time away did not improve your manners,” a man with a full head of white hair said.
“I can see it didn’t improve any of yours either,” she stated.
“Ignore them, baby. Here, eat something. You must be hungry.” He held a piece of meat to her lips, but she shook her head.
“Probably just as well,” a woman on their left said. She was rail thin and wearing a fur jacket. She had to be roasting hot in this weather, but she didn’t look uncomfortable. “You don’t want to ruin your . . . figure.”
“No chance of that,” Butch said, staring down at Lara with admiration. “Because she is perfection just the way she is.”
She leaned into him and the smile she gave him was worth putting up with these assholes. They all seemed to get the idea that he wasn’t going to let them say anything derogatory to her and started talking about other things.
“Don’t you want any dinner, baby?” he asked. “You didn’t eat much breakfast. Did you get any lunch?”
“We had some snacks, but I couldn’t eat much. I’m really not hungry. Nervous stomach.”
He didn’t like that her stomach was so affected by stress. She hadn’t eaten the other day either.
The wait staff came around to check on everyone and he let them take the meal. He didn’t feel like eating either.
“Do you need me to get up?” she asked as dessert came out. A chocolate tart. Better not let that go to waste. “This can’t be very comfortable for you.”
“Stop. You’re good where you are, and if you weren’t, then I’d tell you.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck. “Okay, I’m sorry.”
“Shh,” someone scolded. “The speeches are starting.”
He spooned up some of the tart and held it to her mouth, but she shook her head. He gave her a stern look before he ate it.
Delicious.
Bending down, he kissed her. Long and slow. She murmured in pleasure.
“Like the taste of chocolate, baby?”
“Oh yes,” she murmured. She took the next mouthful he gave her.
“Would the two of you have some respect?” the older guy said. “Chandler is about to start his speech.”
And when Chandler spoke, it seemed like everyone became a robot. They were all staring at him with the same looks on their faces. Like he was a god.
