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Dyllan laughed, and it sounded like the most beautiful noise to her ears. It was a deep rumble that filled her with joy. His smile was sensational. Deep lines at his eyes told her that at some point in his life, he’d laughed a lot.
What happened to you, Dyllan?
Lowering her hands, she placed her hand back on his arm as if it belonged there when they were close. “You should laugh more.”
Dyllan’s face immediately dropped as he cleared his throat. “I don’t have much to laugh about these days.”
“Come on, there has to be something. I mean, look at our group of friends. You can’t tell me that Travis and Lila don’t give you things to laugh at all the time.”
Dyllan rolled his eyes. “They are something.”
“Brody and Kade’s wedding should make you smile, and you just married Zach and Mandy. It’s pretty amazing that you’ve helped so many of your friends start their lives together.”
“I guess.” Dyllan shrugged, staring ahead at the shelves of bottles behind the bar.
“There’s no, I guess, Dyllan.” Skylar tugged on his arm, forcing his attention to hers. “It’s amazing and wonderful, and I think you’re a pretty special guy to be able to do that for them. Not just because you’re the mayor but because you’re truly a good man who cares about his friends.”
“You get all that about me? Even after all the shit I’ve put you through the last couple of days?” Dyllan raised an eyebrow at her.
“Like I told you, you’re a teddy bear compared to what I’ve had to deal with,” she chuckled.
“So, what made you get into weddings?” Dyllan asked, picking up a coaster and twirling it in his fingers.
“Oh, I don’t know, it wasn’t anything overly romantic or wonderful. I started in general event planning and just sort of fell into weddings because that’s where the demand was. I met my partner Ashley while I was going to school for event planning, and we opened our business together.” Skylar dropped her hand from Dyllan’s arm and turned back to her drink.
Just thinking about Ashley was like a bucket of ice being dumped over her head because that led to thoughts of Adam, and that was never good.
“So, is she holding down the fort while you’re out here with us?” Dyllan asked, seemingly not aware of her shift in mood.
“She’s still in Vancouver, but we aren’t in business together anymore.” Skylar looked down at her hands as she wrung them in her lap.
“What happened?” Dyllan turned to her, placing his arm on the bar top. He’d rolled up the sleeves of his button-down shirt to his elbow, exposing the bright images of his tattoos. Fire raced up his forearm, swirling around a phoenix. She didn’t get to investigate too much more before he placed a finger under her chin, drawing her gaze to his handsome, bearded face. “Skylar, what happened with you and Ashley?”
“She slept with my fiancé,” she whispered.
Desire turned to rage in his eyes, red tinging his cheeks as he stared deeply into her eyes.
“You were engaged?” His voice was rough and deep, washing away any lingering cold or hurt.
“Yes.”
“And he slept with your business partner?” The pure masculinity in his voice turned her on, but if he directed that anger at her, it would be terrifying.
“Yes,” she whispered. Her heart rate picked up as the hold on her chin grew firmer, his look more determined.
“Fucker.” The words spit out of his mouth, but he never broke contact with her. His finger still on her chin, coffee-coloured eyes staring back at her.
“Yes.” Caught up in the moment, the ability to form more than the word left her vocabulary. The rest of the bar faded away. There was no music, no conversations. The ringing and pinging of the casino noises faded away. All that existed was them at that moment.
“What did you do?” His voice was barely a whisper, but in their own little world they created, that was all she needed.
“I left. They took over my business, and I was left on my own. When Kade called me to do her wedding, it was the first job I’d had in months.”
“What do you mean, they took it over?” He tilted his head as he asked.
“Adam’s a wedding photographer. With him and Ashley together, they could buy out my portion of the company. I couldn’t afford to do that on my own, and dissolving the company wasn’t an option with all the contracts and weddings we had planned, so they bought me out. I’d been living off that money, but Vancouver is expensive, and rent alone was eating through what I had. If Kade hadn’t called, I’d be without a place to live quicker than I would like to admit.”
Dyllan stared at her for a moment longer before sliding his hand behind her head and drawing her face closer to him.
