to glance back at Charlotte and the bridal party, Vicente a solid presence by her side. No words needed to be spoken, her joy written in her smile. Charlotte came forward, touched her hand to Molly’s, then walked out the sliding doors on the lower floor of the house. Thea followed, then Kit and Sarah, all of them preceding the bride down the rose-petal-strewn pathway bordered by potted plants bursting with blooms.
They all got smiles, but an audible “oooh” filled the air at the guests’ first sight of Molly. Heart thumping for her friend, Sarah, too, was focused only on Molly as she, Charlotte, Thea, and Kit stepped aside to wait for her at the altar. Vicente walked with open pride by Molly’s side, the bride glowing with so much happiness that she was radiant.
Sighing a little at the beauty of the occasion, Sarah watched misty-eyed as Vicente and Molly reached the top of the aisle. David’s father left Molly with a kiss on the temple and a quiet word to Fox that had the lead singer giving a firm nod. Then the older man took a seat beside his wife—who was dabbing at her eyes with a handkerchief. Sarah’s own steadfastly—foolishly—romantic heart was making her eyes burn. She’d just swallowed back the tears that wanted to escape when she really looked at the groomsmen.
All four were dressed in classic charcoal-gray.
Sarah knew she should be looking only at the bride and groom, but she couldn’t keep her eyes off Abe. The last time she’d seen her ex-husband this dressed up had been on their wedding day. He looked even better now, the bluntly handsome lines of his face holding a new purpose and strength, and his body…
A heat wave crawled over her own flesh as, all gorgeous strength and intense eyes, Abe caught her gaze, held it. It was the wedding officiant’s voice that snapped Sarah into the moment. And though her heart skittered inside her chest, she turned her attention firmly back to the two people whose love they were here to celebrate.
It was a beautiful, sunlit wedding.
The vows the couple spoke to each other made a lump form in Sarah’s throat; they were so honest and passionate and loving. Molly smiled with her whole body throughout. And Fox’s eyes saw only Molly as she stood in front of him with her gown whispering lightly in the breeze. The lead singer looked astonished, awed, delighted—as if he couldn’t believe Molly was his.
But when he kissed her after the white-haired officiant pronounced them man and wife, there was no tentativeness. He claimed Molly’s mouth with such heat and possessiveness that people whooped and Noah put two fingers into his mouth and let out a wolf whistle.
Ending the kiss with a grin on his face, a blushing Molly laughing beside him, Fox lifted their linked hands into the air. “We are fucking married, people!”
A cheer reverberated through the crowd.
Color and scent filled the air as Molly and Fox walked back down the aisle, the guests showering them in the flower petals that had been left in small baskets placed below each seat.
Then it was time for Sarah to step up and walk out behind Kit and Noah.
The guests would wait for the wedding party to leave, then head to the big pavilion that had been set up at the last minute to ensure it attracted no unwanted attention. Up ahead, Charlotte had been joined by a gray-eyed man who was as big and as muscled as Abe. Gabriel. He was glancing down at Charlotte with a possessive smile; the other woman looked tiny next to his linebacker physique—and yet somehow they fit. There was simply a resonance there, a deep vein of trust.
As there was between Molly and Fox, Thea and David, Kit and Noah.
Abe offered her his arm.
Pulse beating like a rabbit’s, Sarah slid her arm through his and they walked behind the other couples. She tried not to inhale his scent, tried not to feel his muscles flexing under her touch, but it was impossible. The fresh, warm, and deeply masculine scent that was Abe’s seeped into her every cell, his body brushing hers with every step they took.
It would’ve been logical for her mind to fill with images of their own wedding day, but her brain was more interested in replaying their far more recent encounter.
The kitchen counter under her.
Abe pushing apart her thighs.
Hot, tangled breaths, his body driving into hers, his fingers digging into the soft curves