“How are you holding up?” Brody asks, leaning close, his voice low enough that it’s just for me. His forearm rests next to mine on the table, and his body heats me through the narrow space between us.
“Better than expected. Worse than I’m pretending.”
“You’re doing incredible,” he says.
“You know why married people live longer?” Corey blurts out, drawing all our attention.
Jakob sighs. “Here we go.”
“Why?” I ask.
“They don’t. It only feels longer.”
A laugh slips out at the terrible joke.
Jakob gives Corey a flat look. “You came to a wedding and chose to hate on marriage.”
Corey raises his glass. “Timing’s everything.”
Brody claps Corey on the back. “Come on. Drinks and more food. The waiter’s been avoiding us since you asked if the canapés were keto.”
Then it’s just me and Jakob at the tall table, surrounded by candlelight and fairy lights and the low hum of a hundred conversations. His scent floods me with toasted coconut and pine. Rich, earthy, layered with a sweetness underneath.
He pushes a blond curl off his forehead, and it falls right back. He picks up his flute of wine, and those steady brown eyes find mine. I push my glasses up my nose.
“Funny how things turn out sometimes,” he says, and onsometimes, his vowels stretch with a warmth that isn’t American. A softness underneath. New Zealand accent, which is faint, surfacing only on certain words, and I love it instantly.
“You’re telling me.” I lean against the table, closing the distance between us without fully deciding to. “So, what about you? Brody, I’ve been stalking through my window. Corey, I accidentally kidnapped. You’re still a mystery.”
He chuckles. “Met Brody at a food expo years ago. He was doing a live demo that caught fire, and we’ve been inseparable ever since. I handle operations, finances, bookings, fires, the boring stuff. Corey’s fitness brand online is growing fast, so there are two businesses now.”
“That sounds exhausting, and I had no idea Corey was doing fitness videos. I’ll have to check them out.”
“You should.” He studies me for a long pause. “Brody told me about your past,” he says. “The book. The boyfriend. Shitty on both counts.”
“Yeah. And here I am, still faking it because I can’t get my life together.”
His laugh is low and seductive, which shouldn’t leave me tingling all over, yet it does. “You think anyone in this room has their life together? They just won’t admit it. You’re honest about it, Claire. That’s not weakness.” His voice drops. “And if your asshole ex were truly settled with his new Omega, he wouldn’t be staring at you every few seconds right now.”
My eyes bulge. “He’s not staring, is he?”
“He hasn’t stopped.”
I stretch casually, glancing over my shoulder. Louis is at the bridal table, his Omega at his side, yet he’s staring directly at mewith a jaw so tight I can see the muscle jumping from across the room.
“Oh my God, he’s furious.” A grin splits my face. “That makes me so happy. Is that petty?”
His eyes glint, that gorgeous smile of his with lips that make me wonder what it’d be like to kiss him. “Want to make it worse?”
“Yes!” I answer immediately with too much excitement.
He offers his hand, palm up, and I take it.
Jakob leads me toward the dance floor now that Betty and her husband have finished their first dance and the other guests are beginning to spill onto the polished wood. He positions us directly in Louis’s line of sight.
He notices us immediately. His gaze catches on Jakob, then drops to the hand settling at my waist.
A small, shameful thrill slips through me.