Page 144 of An Inevitable Marriage

We hadn’t had any meaningful conversations, those true and deep heart-to-hearts. I wanted that. I wanted to sit down and tell her how something she believed to be so bad had truly turned out to be one of the best things I’d ever done.

Maybe when the event’s excitement died down, I could ask Liam if we could take a trip to Portsmouth. If my mom met him and saw how much he cared about me, maybe she’d see reason.

“Hey, hey, no sad eyes,” Natalie said. “The makeup artist is long gone, and I cannot recreate her magic.”

Her tone was so serious I couldn’t help but laugh.

“No sad eyes.” I held up my hands. “I promise.”

“Good.” She stepped forward and brushed her fingers over the loose curls tumbling over my shoulders, then shifted her attention to the sparkly red bow clip pulling one side of my hair off my face. “See, he does think you’re a princess.”

My heart somersaulted. Liam didn’t just think it, he made me feel like one every day.

“Yeah,” I whispered. “How lucky am I?”

Natalie shook her head, eyes shining with a fresh batch of tears. “Oh no,he’sthe lucky one, Evie.”

Emotion crawled up my throat, and I quickly threw my arms around my best friend. Squeezing my eyes shut, I willed my own tears away while silently thanking the universe for giving me a friend and soul sister.

“All right, all right, no more mushiness.” She pulled away and bounced my curls. “The car is waiting, and I promised to get you to the ball on time.”

With that, she ushered me out of the apartment an into the waiting limo. The drive to Center415 was both too long and far too short, and when we rolled to a stop in front of the entrance, my heart beat so fast and erratically I feared an impending heart attack.

“Breathe.” Natalie reached over and squeezed my hand. “Tonight is going to be perfect.”

I didn’t have time to answer her. My door swung open, and instead of the driver peeking inside, Liam’s bright-blue eyes stared back at me. He held out his hand, and I didn’t hesitate. I touched my palm to his and allowed him to help me out of the limo.

The moment we faced each other, he snaked an arm around my waist and held me close to him. His free hand came up, fingers gently tilting my chin.

“You look magnificent,” he rasped. “I want to kiss you but don’t want to ruin your makeup.”

I grinned up at him like the lovesick fool I was. “The artist said my lip stain won’t come off.”

“Thank fuck.”

His mouth was on mine. He didn’t kiss me like he always did. This was sweet and tender, the kind of kiss that wrapped around your entire being and told you you were home.

I would’ve let him kiss me like that forever if it hadn’t been for the murmur of voices and wild clicking of cameras.

We slowly broke apart, and I chose to keep my gaze on Liam instead of the hundreds of people around us.

“You ready?” he asked.

I nodded. “I am.”

Liam turned around and said a quick thanks to Natalie, who was tucked into Zach’s side. Then he slipped my arm through the crook of his elbow. Those beautiful eyes met mine, and he winked before making the trek down the red carpet that led into the building.

Once we were inside, pride filled my chest as I took in the decor and how perfectly everything had come together. It was as if we’d stepped into a fairy tale. It was breathtakingly beautiful, surrounded by white and gold with pops of apricot and green.

Different chandeliers hung from the roof. Some spiraled down, while others clung to the ceiling in three-dimensional spheres. Between the lights were rows of roses and ivy leaves.

“Oh wow, Evie, this is amazing,” Natalie exclaimed from behind me.

“Couldn’t agree more,” Rafe said as he and Tristan joined us from I didn’t even know where.

Tristan let out a low whistle. “Buckle up. You’ll become a hot commodity once word gets out that Mrs. Maxwell isthisgood at events.”

My cheeks heated, and a little voice inside my head immediately wanted to yell they were saying it because they were my friends, but I told it to shut up. I’d own this. It was one of the things I was good at, like Natalie with her designing and my sister with her dancing.