Page 4 of Finding the One (River Rain #7)

My insides froze solid.

So it sounded choked when I pushed out, “You… chucked it ?”

He looked from side to side. “Aye, lass. Day’s done.”

Was he mad?

Argh!

No, he was just a man .

Only a man would think that after the ceremony was finished, a wedding was finished.

Fucking men!

I curled my fingers into the lapel of his jacket and got so close, my breasts were brushing my arm, and I tilted up on the toes of my gold, Giuseppe Zanotti, high-heeled orchid mules.

“The…day…is…not… even close to done ,” I sniped.

“Heard the man say the husband-and-wife thing, babe.”

“We have…we have…” I spluttered and then pulled myself together.

“We have photos to get through. Hors d’oeuvres and cocktails.

Another fucking buffet. Toasts. Dances. Cake cutting.

I’ve written down how much I’m going to tip everyone at the end of the night.

” I got even closer, so my chest was pressed to his and my voice might have risen two octaves (or three) when I asked, “How am I going to know what to tip everybody?”

“Calm down, darling,” he whispered, his brogue sliding over me like velvet, something I didn’t have time to feel right then (or ever). “I’ll find it. We’ll sort it. No worries.”

“I’ve been working on that binder for a year ,” I informed him.

He put his hand to my waist and gave me a reassuring squeeze. “Blake, we’ll find it.”

“It has every little thing laid out for the day in fifteen-minute increments.”

He stood there staring down at me like he’d never seen me before.

This necessitated me grabbing him by the neck on either side and saying frantically, “Dair, I need that binder .”

He kept staring at me, and when I was about to scream, he turned his head, put his teeth to his lip, and let out a shrill whistle.

Everyone turned to look at us.

I slid my hands down to his chest and pushed in, gritting, “Oh my God, Dair, what on earth are you doing?”

I noticed movement at our sides and turned that way. My hands fell from Dair’s chest, but his hand at my waist slid around it as Gage, a friend of, well…everybody, and one of Rix’s ushers finished jogging up to us.

“Everything cool?” Gage asked.

“Ye remember that book I had when we were putting out all the grass?” Dair asked.

“Yup,” Gage answered.

“Ye see what I did with it?” Dair went on.

“Yup,” Gage told him.

“Can ye go and grab it?” Dair finished.

Gage smiled. “Yup.” He looked at me. “Lookin’ good, Blake.”

“You too, Gage,” I replied.

He jogged off again.

I turned to Dair. “Thank you.”

“Ye ken it’s gonna be okay,” he said.

“All right,” I began to educate him, “you probably never noticed this, but Alex isn’t good in this kind of situation.”

His brows knit.

“She doesn’t like to be the center of attention,” I explained. “She’s a people person but not this many people. It’s practically impossible for me to protect her from being inundated and overwhelmed in this scenario, when it’s a wedding, and she’s the bride.”

“Blake,” he said softly, and it was then I realized when I’d turned to him, I was now standing in the circle of his arm.

And I realized this because he tightened it to pull me closer.

Even though his hard body felt really nice, and I hadn’t had a man this close in forever, I didn’t have time for this.

I tested pushing away, but he only strengthened his hold. Thus, in order not to make another scene after his whistle, I stopped trying to get away.

“I have a plan and in that binder is the plan,” I kept on. “It’s intricate and I need to follow it so I can keep everyone busy with other stuff and Alex can enjoy her day and walk away from it with nothing but good memories, time with her man and time with the people who matter the most to her.”

“Gage’ll find that binder.”

“Okay, good,” I muttered, testing the pulling away thing again.

It didn’t work.

“And I’ll help ye keep it all sorted,” he went on.

My gaze flew to him, and instead of panicking about the idea his “help” might be anything but (the man didn’t even know that the end of the ceremony wasn’t the end of the wedding!), I assured, “I’ve got it. Just enjoy yourself.”

“I have noticed that about Alex, so I’m in to help ye make your sister’s special day as special as it can be.”

“Really, I’m good.”

He pulled me closer so our bodies were practically flush.

Something else was flushed.

My face.

Okay…

What was going on?

And now he was educating me. “Someone offers to help, ye accept.”

“You didn’t even know the ceremony wasn’t the end of the festivities,” I pointed out.

“Been to weddings before, lass. That isn’t lost on me. But I dinnae ken what more ye could do now. The food is cooked. The cake is on show. The DJ is set up and soon to be spinning. I didnae know ye had that plan for Alex, and now I’m in to make certain she’s covered.”

I didn’t have time to argue this, so I snapped, “Okay, fine.”

His lips curved. “Sweet as ever, I see,” he teased.

“I didn’t ask for your help,” I reminded him.

“Well, ye got it regardless,” he returned.

I was so done with this conversation.

“Can you let me go now?” I requested.

He turned his head and jerked up his chin, so I turned mine too and saw Gage heading our way with my binder.

Thank you, God.

“Aye, I can let you go,” Dair said, and did just that.

I began to hustle toward Gage.

But as I did, I heard him finish, “For now.”