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“You okay?” her voice asks beside me, small and sweet.
I blow out a breath. “Would you be?”
She looks offended, like I took a shot—which I did. It’s not fair to her, and she’s going to have to face her family with what we’ve done, too. But it’s different for her. She didn’t betray her brother by wearing his wedding attire and taking attention from what’s supposed to be his week.
“Sorry,” I mutter. “You don’t deserve that.”
She pulls my arm from around her waist, and for a second, I feel a little lost.
But then she grabs my hand and drags me out of the room. We keep walking through the restaurant until we’re out in front of it, and she pulls me a few paces away from the door. She stops and stands in front of me, and she takes my jaw between her palms so I’m forced to look into her eyes.
“Listen to me, Spencer Nash. This is you and me now, okay? I know you’re struggling, but I’m putting a stop right here, right now, to you taking it out on me. I’m struggling, too, and maybe instead of being snippy with each other, we can try facing this thing head-on. Maybe you blame me, or maybe you’re mad at me, but this is your family’s first impression of me, and they all hate me. If you could just, I don’t know…maybe try not to be such a dick to them, then maybe they can find something about me they don’t hate so we can get through the next year without completely avoiding them.”
I stare down into her eyes. Hers are flashing with anger and frustration, and I feel bad that I put her in that position.
“They don’t hate you,” I say quietly. The fact that she thinks they do tears at my chest.
“Huh?” She drops her hands from my jaw, and I grab onto her waist and haul her into me.
I’m met with an oof of surprise.
“They don’t hate you,” I repeat. “I told you, my mom only teases the people she likes. My dad, well, he’s my dad. He doesn’t know you yet, but soon enough he’ll find a way to try to get something out of you. Free wine for life or something. And my brothers, they just think this is so far out of left field for me that they’re being protective. Gray might be a little angry, but he’ll get over it, and once Linc and Ash get to know you, they’ll love you. Ash might love you too much, which is why I ran across the room the second I saw him go near you.”
“Too much?” she repeats. “Why would you care if it’s too much?”
My chest tightens as the urge to kiss her pulses over me.
What the hell is that?
I’ve never felt that urge with her before, though I snuck a look at the wedding photos, and we definitely shared a kiss there.
And now…I can’t help but want to know what it’s like to kiss her again.
“Because I care. Okay?” I lower my head and brush my nose along hers, and then I drop my lips to hers for the briefest brush of a kiss.
Her eyes are wide when I pull back and look at her. “Oh, uh…okay, then,” she stutters.
I can’t help when my lips tip up in a small smile.
I sort of like taking her off guard. And I sort of like being taken off guard by her, too—something she did the second she took my hand and pulled me out here to confront me with my behavior and set the tone for maybe the entire basis of this marriage, sham or not.
“Should we go back in?” she asks quietly.
“Do we have to?”
She chuckles, and she pulls out of my grasp, taking my hand in hers again. “Yes, we have to.”
I twist my lips in disappointment but follow her through the restaurant toward the party.
When we return, Asher’s standing by the door. He wiggles his eyebrows at me, and he looks ridiculous with the wiggling eyebrows and the purple velour thing he has going on. “You feeling all relaxed after your little boink sesh?”
“Fuck off, Asher,” I say to him for the second time this evening.
His response is to burst into laughter, and I just roll my eyes at him as I head toward my mom, who feels like a safe space for Grace, and take a seat to get this dinner under way.
Chapter 22: Spencer Nash
Your Husband Was Released
