Not Yet Yours

Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Liam

O nce Cullen and Max have signed the register and Harriet and I have added our signatures as witnesses of the marriage under theirs, we have some photographs taken inside of the church and then we leave, Harriet with her hand in my arm. Her touch makes my skin tingle and I have to keep reminding myself that she’s only linking my arm because it’s the plan – the best man and the maid of honor walking out of the wedding ceremony together is pretty standard.

We leave the church and go for more photographs and then we finally reach the hotel where the reception is taking place. The drinks from the bar are already flowing and people are milling about talking and laughing together. The room falls quiet when the bride and groom are announced and Cullen and Max walk into silence followed by a cheer so loud that I see Max physically jump. The next hour or so passes by in a blur of food and greetings and chatting and then it’s time for my speech. I get up, take the microphone, and smile out at the guests.

“Firstly, I’d like to thank you all on behalf of my brother and his new wife for coming today and for all the presents and cards. But especially the presents,” I start, which gets a laugh. “Wait. Did I mention the presents?” Another laugh and I start to relax into my speech. “Most importantly, I’d like to thank Max for putting up with my brother. Cullen, you’ve got a good one here. Don’t you ever let her go.”

“I don’t intend to,” Cullen replies, and he wraps his arm around Max’s shoulders, pulling her in, and kisses her on the cheek. She happily lets him.

“I get asked a lot if I’m jealous of my little brother and the truth is, of course I am. I mean look at his bride. Who wouldn’t be a tad jealous? But I think they actually mean am I jealous because Cullen got married before me. And here’s the thing. Anyone who knows me well would laugh at the idea of that because getting married and settling down has never really been on my radar, much to my mom’s dismay,” I say. Another ripple of laughter goes through the room and my mom rolls her eyes but she’s laughing too.

I pause for a moment and then I make a decision that feels right, and I start to talk again.

“You know, I had this whole speech planned out where I would talk about how good Cullen and Max are together and how they are the sort of couple that have a love that dreams are made of and that they are the sort of couple that teenagers would refer to as end game. But here’s the truth – you all are friends or family of the happy couple, and you know all of that. So instead, I’m going to make this short and simply raise a glass to Cullen and Max,” I say.

I raise my glass and everyone in the room stands up and follows suit.

“To Cullen and Max,” they echo.

I sit down and everyone else does too. Amongst the rustling of clothes and the squeaking of the chair legs people take their seats once more, Max looks at me and grins.

“Thank you,” she mouths, and I grin back and give her a thumbs up. I know what that’s about. Before the wedding I was winding her up, telling her all about the various things I was going to say or do during my speech, things that I knew would have embarrassed her. I had no intention of doing it, and deep down, I think she knew that too, it was just funny keeping her thinking that I might have been going to do it.

After a moment, it’s Harriet’s turn to make her speech and she stands up to a light smattering of applause. She smiles and launches into a lovely speech about her friendship with Max and how as her best friend, she has always wanted the best for Max and now she has it. To be honest, as much as I try to focus on the words Harriet is saying, instead, I find myself focusing on her mouth, the way it moves when she talks, and the full redness of her lips. And what it would feel like to have those lips on mine and then around my cock.

Before too much longer, the speeches are over, and the cake is cut, handed out, and eaten. The lights are now dimmed, the bar is still open, and the music pounds through the place. I’m sure I’m not alone in saying this is the part of a wedding that I actually enjoy.

The DJ calls for our attention and then invites the bride and groom up to the dance floor for their first dance as a married couple which gets a huge cheer. The song starts and Cullen and Max sway together, moving across the floor. I watch them and then I feel eyes on me, and I glance along the table to find Harriet looking at me. She doesn’t look away when I look back at her. Instead, she smiles, and I smile back at her.

After a minute of the dance, Cullen waves his hands toward us all, wanting everyone to get up and dance. I look at Harriet again and raise an eyebrow and she nods. I get up and offer her my hand which she takes, and I lead her onto the dance floor. I take one of her hands in mine and wrap the other one around her waist and we begin to move to the music. This close to her, I can smell the sweet smell of her perfume and I can hear her humming along to the music.

The song ends and something faster starts to play. Harriet and I release each other, and I turn around to head back to my seat. Harriet stops me with a hand on my arm.

“Umm where do you think you’re going?” she says. I open my mouth to tell her I’m going back to my seat but it’s clearly a rhetorical question because she pulls me back toward her. “You don’t honestly think that you are only going to dance with me once, right? And for half a song at that.”

“I’m not much of a dancer,” I say, but the fact that she wants me to dance with her isn’t lost on me and I feel like going and sitting down now would be like a rejection to her and that’s the last thing I want and so I force myself to move to the music.

I surprise myself because after a few minutes, I relax, and I find myself actually enjoying dancing with Harriet. My self-consciousness slips away when I realize that no one is watching me – everyone is just doing their own thing and having fun.

“You kept this one quiet, Liam,” a voice says as an arm wraps around my shoulders. It’s my Aunt Dorothy and her other arm is around Harriet’s shoulders. “Why didn’t you tell everyone you’re seeing someone.”

“Oh. We’re not… I mean I’m not…” I start but Harriet smiles at Dorothy and speaks over me.

“It’s still pretty new so we’re kind of keeping it quiet for now,” she says.

“Got it,” my Aunt Dorothy says and winks at Harriet. “Your secret is safe with me.”

“What was that?” I say when my Aunt Dorothy has drifted back out of earshot.

“Sorry. Did I overstep the mark?” Harriet says and I quickly shake my head.

“No, not at all,” I reassured her. “I just didn’t expect it.”

“It just seemed easier than trying to explain that we could have brought dates if we wanted to, but we chose not to. Or at least I did,” Harriet says with a mischievous smile.

“Yes, me too,” I say quickly. “But yeah. My Aunt Dorothy wouldn’t have understood that, and I would have gotten the lecture about settling down and so on.”

“Exactly,” Harriet says. “And she was always going to think we are together so why not play along? This way there’s less chance of her gossiping about it because she thinks she’s part of a secret.”

“Oh, you’re good,” I say, and Harriet does a little curtsy, and then we both laugh.

We keep dancing and laughing, stopping only to go to the bar when our drinks need topping up and when we go outside to escort the bride and groom to the car that’s taking them to the airport to go on their honeymoon. After that, we drink and dance and laugh and around two am, Harriet fans herself on the dance floor.

“I need some air. Do you want to walk out onto the grounds?” Harriet asks me, shouting to be heard over the music.

I nod, take her by the hand, and lead her through the dancing crowd and then through the tables and chairs. We go into the lobby of the hotel where the reception is being held and then out of the back doors and onto the grounds. The grounds seem to go on forever, all manicured green and flecks of colored flowers. The immediate area as we step outside is a seating area and it is decorated with fairy lights and white roses and just down from the seating area is a water feature with a dolphin rising from the center of it.

“It’s beautiful out here, isn’t it?” Harriet says as we sit down at one of the tables. A couple sits at one of the other tables having a cigarette, but otherwise, we’re alone out here.

“Yes,” I agree. “And so peaceful.”

“I can’t believe bloody Max dragged us to that park for her photos, I mean yeah, the park was nice, but she could have had the photos done here instead,” Harriet says, shaking her head.

“It does seem a bit silly,” I agree. “I mean surely when they chose this venue, they looked around out here.”

“Well, you would think so wouldn’t you,” Harriet says.

We go quiet for a moment, and I watch the fountain and then I feel Harriet’s eyes on me. I turn toward her and smile questioningly at her.

“Don’t mind me,” Harriet says. “I was just thinking how nice your eyes are. Such a striking shade of blue.”

“Is that so?” I say and Harriet nods.

“That’s funny because I was just thinking how nice your lips look,” I say.

I start to smile but Harriet looks at me and I can see she isn’t joking around anymore. On her face is an expression of lust that makes my cock start to go hard just looking at her.

“If you think they look good, you should know how they taste,” she says, her voice low and breathy.