moved his thumb again. “And it is a wedding,” he murmured. “Aren’t bridesmaids supposed to hook up with the groomsmen?”
“I’m not a bridesmaid,” Sarah managed to get out, her self-control not totally in tatters.
“Close enough.”
“A toast to Foxy!” Noah held up a glass of champagne.
Threatening to punch the guitarist, Fox grinned nonetheless and dipped his head to kiss Molly, soft and sweet and with so much love that Sarah’s vision blurred.
“Hey.” Abe’s stroking turned into a comforting rub. “No crying.”
“It’s a wedding,” she sniffed, using a finger to wipe away the tears that had escaped. The other women were doing the same.
Feeling a deluge coming, she was about to dig in her clutch for a tissue when Abe handed her a pristine white handkerchief. “It was part of the getup,” he said, pointing at the pocket of his suit.
“Thanks.” Sarah dabbed at her eyes.
The Riveras arrived then, David’s two brothers included; more hugs and kisses were exchanged. Alicia and Vicente beamed as proudly as if it was their own child’s wedding.
Vicente’s hug of Fox was powerful, paternal. His words, however, were a growl. “You take care of my girl, Fox, or like a son or not, I’ll be over here with a baseball bat.”
“You’ll never need to do that, sir,” Fox promised.
The naked emotion in the lead singer’s eyes when he looked at his bride had Sarah’s eyes filling with tears once again.
“You always did cry at all the romantic parts in those movies you used to make me watch.” Abe’s rumbling voice against her ear, his body warm and supportive behind her… and the memories making her ache.
She loved romantic dramas and at the start of their marriage, Abe had watched with her, Sarah’s body curled into his on the couch. She’d stopped asking him around the time she’d realized he was never going to take her on tour with him. Instead, she’d watched those movies alone in the big house in which she felt like a left-behind toy. And the tears she’d shed hadn’t been because of the movies.
But back at the start, when she’d still been hopeful of winning a small piece of his heart… Abe had held her, teased her, made her believe she, too, could have her own happy ending. That such endings weren’t just for beautiful people with perfect lives, but for the broken and scarred too.
Today, as she leaned against Abe’s strength, Sarah allowed herself to give in to the fantasy that they’d made it, that it hadn’t all gone so awfully wrong. What harm could it do? The instant the reception was over, they’d head their separate ways.
CHAPTER 13
ABE’S HAND WAS WARM and possessive on her lower back when they followed the rest of the wedding party back downstairs and to the pavilion. Molly and Fox would enter last; the rest of them all wanted to be there to cheer on the newlyweds—and Sarah was dead certain Fox wanted Molly to himself for a couple of minutes so he could kiss her boneless.
She gasped at her first glimpse inside the pavilion: waterfalls of fine white fabric pinned to the walls like curtains in a luxurious outdoor tent, the floor lined with a luscious carpet of silver and cherry red, flowers everywhere. Meanwhile, the tables were set with white tablecloths, the centerpieces little tea candles floating in glass bowls surrounded by bunches of white flowers.
It was pretty and fresh and romantic, and Sarah adored it. “I can see Molly in all the tiny touches,” she said to Abe as she took her seat at the head table, Abe holding out her chair. “No hard edges, just joy.”
Abe undid the button on his suit jacket before sitting down beside her. “Like you,” he said, his expression unexpectedly tender. “You’ve never had any hard edges.”
Flustered, the fantasy suddenly too much, she glanced away and to her left.
David was just taking his seat beside her, Thea on his other side, his mother beside Thea. Then came the two empty seats for Molly and Fox, with Vicente, Kit and Noah, Charlotte and Gabriel on the other side.
“Hey. Stop ignoring your official wedding escort.” Abe put his hand on her knee.
Sarah couldn’t take his teasing anymore; she kicked him under the table.
He nudged his hand an inch higher in punishment. And Sarah saw red. Hoping nothing showed on her face, she used the fact that David was distracted by something Thea was saying to reach across and run her hand over Abe’s cock.
Once, just once.
It was enough.
“Fuck.” He