The Wedding Engagement

Chapter Sixteen

The springtime sun warmed Liv’s face as she sat at the edge of the Fairy Pools with Brodie, Ben, and Elise. Closing her eyes for a moment, she tuned in to the gentle sound of the waterfalls cascading into the far end of the pool.

Liv rubbed a towel over her wet hair, then wrapped it around her wet-suit-clad form. “Are you sure you don’t want to go in, Elise? It’s really refreshing.”

Elise glanced at the clear pool next to them, the stones and pebbles at the bottom perfectly visible—as if the water were glass. “It does look lovely,” she said. “But I’m such a wimp when it comes to cold water. My bad circulation goes mental and last time I tried open-water swimming the pain in my hands and feet made me faint.” She screwed her face up. “But don’t you guys tell anyone that; I’m still really embarrassed about it.”

Ben laughed. “Don’t worry, Elise. I’m with you, and I don’t even have bad circulation. I just hate being cold.”

Brodie nudged Ben’s shoulder, smiling. “But you work at a ski resort.”

Ben grinned. “Yeah, but I’m all cozy with a coffee inside the center, not out on the slopes like Sam and Maya.”

Brodie laughed, his blue eyes lighting up. Liv secretly rooted for him in her head. Come on, Ben. Fall in love with Brodie, you know you want to.

Brodie stretched in his wet suit, and Liv was sure she caught Ben’s eye being drawn to the flex of Brodie’s biceps. Yas.

A splash in the pool caused her to turn her head toward where Sam and Maya had been left swimming alone, after she and Brodie had gotten out. The splash had resulted from Arran jumping in from a ledge just above the pools. He surfaced, laughing as he ran a hand over the wet tendrils of his hair, the water running down his beautiful face. His eyes sparkled as he turned to Nico. “Come on in, mate! The water’s fine.”

Nico shot him a smile. He was the only other one, apart from Elise and Ben, who wasn’t wearing a wet suit and was still dressed in his shorts, T-shirt, and hoodie. “Not yet. I’m biding my time.”

“What for?” Arran asked, sculling through the water on his back.

Nico glanced over at the only other group left at this particular pool, who had just gotten out of the water and were toweling off. “You’ll see.”

Distracted, Liv couldn’t tear her eyes off Arran as he glided through the water, his long limbs effortlessly graceful in his strokes. She was grateful for the opportunity to watch him from their side of the pool—safely out of his eyeline.

Then, as he reached the shallower edge, he stood, droplets of water flowing down his wet suit and accentuating the way it hugged his lean and muscular form. Liv’s eyes patrolled every ridge and contour, tracing the outlines and imprinting them on her brain so that whenever she closed her eyes, the image of his tight body would be right there behind her eyelids. Then her gaze was drawn lower, to where the fabric defined the bulge between his legs. Fire erupted in her belly, rippling out in hot waves that made her core pulse and her nipples tighten. The water was cold; therefore, logic would dictate that anything on display would be smaller than it might normally appear. So, the fact that that bulge already looked pretty big meant that under normal circumstances… blimey .

Arran picked that very moment, just while she was having inappropriate thoughts about his endowment, to glance up and into her eyes. Her mouth went dry.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Elise muttered from next to her.

“What is it?” Liv asked, guiltily snatching her eyes off Arran.

Elise had her hand placed against the side of her face, shielding her vision from the pools. “Nico’s at it again.”

Liv turned back to look at the ledge Nico had been sitting on and did a double take. He was now fully naked, muscles rippling, one large hand cupping between his legs to keep the show from being X-rated. The arm in use for his self-censorship was the one housing a full sleeve of ink, with a tattoo running from the ball of his shoulder right down to his wrist.

“Please tell me that other group has gone,” Elise whispered, her voice pained.

Liv looked over and confirmed that to be the case. “It’s okay. We’re the only ones here.”

Elise sighed with relief.

Nico jumped in with an almighty splash, finally alerting Arran to what had been going on behind him, as Nico grabbed his legs and dunked him under.

Arran surfaced, laughing as he clocked Nico’s nakedness. “Old habits die hard.”

Nico grinned, running a hand through his wet hair, the tattooed muscles of his arm flexing under his inked sleeve. Liv could swear she could see Elise peeking out at him between her fingers.

“Well, that’s quite the spectacle,” Ben said in an approving tone.

“I wouldn’t know,” Elise replied in a prim voice. “I’m not looking.”

“I am,” said Ben with a smile.

“Me too,” said Brodie, earning him a curious glance from Ben. And perhaps one tinged with a little jealousy?

Liv laughed. “Well, you’re about to see more. Because it’s time for them to get out.” She leaned over to call to the four friends in the pool. “Guys, it’s time to head back if we want to get ready for dinner.”

“Okay, thanks,” Maya replied from where she was holding on to Sam’s shoulders as he pulled her around the pool.

Nico went to hoist himself up onto the side, Arran following. Liv could tell that Nico’s perfectly formed gluteals were on display from the murmurs of appreciation from Ben and Brodie and the stony silence from Elise, though she couldn’t tell by sight because her gaze was too distracted by Arran as he pushed himself up onto the ledge, water droplets clinging to the skintight fabric that hugged the stretch and flex of his muscles. In one lithe movement he swung his legs up to stand, the sight of his appealingly taut arse delighting her vision. She imagined herself sinking her teeth into it, then shook her head to chastise that thought out of her head.

Arran must have had some psychic way of knowing when she was having dirty thoughts about him because he chose that moment to turn and look over his shoulder into her eyes, sending a shock wave throughout her entire body. For a second she thought he gave her the tiniest of smiles, but then Nico threw a towel at him and he caught it, breaking both their gaze and the moment.

—

“Can you pass me my makeup bag?” Maya called to Liv.

Liv tossed it across the room and Maya caught it with one hand.

“Nice catch, Miss M,” Liv said, impressed at her friend’s reflexes.

“Why, thank you, Miss O.” Maya turned to appraise her, giving a low whistle. “Wow. Looking gorgeous.”

Liv gave her a wink. “I can scrub up when I want to.” Her little black dress served her well, being dressy enough for a nice meal but casual enough that she didn’t appear overdressed. The length trod a very fine line regarding what was decent in terms of tomorrow’s washing being on display, but as long as it wasn’t too windy out and she avoided bending too far, then it was all good. Tonight she would pair it with red heels and her red coat, which she thought of as her Little Red Riding Hood coat.

Maya winked back. “You’re a sexy mofo, so you are. Have you got your contacts in? Your eyes look even bigger than usual. They’re beautiful. I feel like you’re hypnotizing me with your green-goddess eyeballs.”

Liv laughed. “That sounds weird. Like I’ve got an eyeball on the end of a string and I’m swinging it like one of those hypnotizing pocket watches.”

“Ew,” Maya said, screwing up her face. “Not quite as sexy a sentiment.”

“Indeed,” Liv replied as she climbed onto the bed and lifted her Kindle to continue reading her romance novel, allowing Maya to get back to applying her makeup.

“Thanks for letting me get ready in your room, guys,” Maya said. “When Arran and Nico turned up with that hip flask full of whiskey at my and Sam’s door, I figured the environment would not be conducive to the application of eyeliner.”

Elise emerged from their en suite. “No problem.” She settled into a seat at the desk to do her hair. “This is lovely. It reminds me of us getting ready together before we went out to the pub when we were teenagers.”

Maya was pulling the universal open-mouthed application-of-eyeliner face. “Ah yes. When Elise used to buy drinks for the underage Liv and Maya. It was cool having an older friend.”

Liv smiled as she flicked the page on her e-book. “Those were the days.”

Elise glanced at her in the mirror. “What’re you reading?”

“A romance,” Liv told her. “It’s about a couple who hate each other.”

Elise frowned. “How is it a romance if they hate each other?”

Liv grinned. “It’s a trope called enemies to lovers, and it’s the best one ever.”

Shaking her head, Elise took out her hair curler. “That makes no sense.”

“Course it does. I’m going to buy you some reading material so you can do some research .”

Elise laughed. “Okay, then. I’m normally into cozy crime, but I’ll give it a try. Aren’t they a little unrealistic, though?”

Liv raised her eyebrows. “And you think your whodunnit crime novels are realistic? Dead bodies all over a small town until there’s no population left, and the little old lady who owns the local café solves all the murders? Anyway, if I want realism, I’ll watch the news. Plus, men written by women are far superior to most real-life men.”

Maya raised her hand. “Except Sam.”

Liv pointed toward Maya. “Exception noted.” She paused. “And Arran.”

“And Harry,” Elise said, quietly.

An icy needle dug into Liv’s heart. “And Harry,” she added softly.

Elise shot her a smile in the mirror, then went back to adding some curls to her shiny blond hair. “That’s all the exceptions, though, as far as I can work out.”

“Nico too,” Maya said as she capped her eyeliner.

“Yeah,” Liv replied, at the same time that Elise said, “Nope.”

Maya laughed. “Come on, Elise. He’s a lovely guy. What’s your beef with him?”

Elise shrugged, sliding the tongs over her hair until a curl bounced up into place. “He’s a total pain in the arse. When we were at school everything fell into his lap with zero effort, while I had to work extra hard to be recognized for all the school prizes, which he still stole from me half the time.”

Liv raised her eyebrows. “Jealous rivalry between head girl and head boy?”

“You could say that.” Elise sighed. “But the problem is, the bar is lower for men. We’re held up to a higher standard so we have to work twice as hard for the same accolades. It’s not fair. One time we were paired on a science project and I had to cover for him when he didn’t turn in his fair share because he’d ditched study time for a hot date.” She rolled her eyes. “And he’s the same now, jacking in law to open a gym, where he no doubt swans around all day checking out the ladies. And only ever having short-term, no-strings relationships.” Her voice wobbled a little. “He doesn’t know what it’s like to have to juggle work and a child as a single parent.”

Liv’s heart squeezed painfully. She hadn’t quite put two and two together that for Elise, Nico represented all her struggles in life. The man who used to be her high school rival now had the “easy” life Elise wished desperately she could have. Though of course she wouldn’t change the fact that she was mother to wee Jack for the world. “I get that,” she told her gently.

Maya was nodding, a soft look on her face, and Liv could tell the penny had dropped for her too. “I’m sorry, Elise,” Maya said. She paused, seeming to tread carefully. “I think, though, from having gotten to know Nico pretty well now, that his life isn’t as easy as he makes out.”

Elise darted her gaze over to Maya and back again. “Oh yeah?”

Maya nodded. Elise opened her mouth as if to ask more; then she appeared to catch herself and closed it again, concentrating instead on creating more shiny blond curls. “He certainly seemed pretty easygoing today, when he stripped naked to jump into the Fairy Pools.” She huffed out a breath. “ Again. So those antics haven’t changed since school. At least the teachers weren’t there to witness it this time.”

Liv grinned. “Hope you averted your eyes during the stripping-off part, and the emerging-from-the-water-naked part, like Maya and I did.”

Maya shrugged, her face deadpan. “Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t.”

Liv eyed Elise for a moment, watching her cheeks stain pink and imagining her as the perfect heroine in an enemies-to-lovers romance. Starring opposite Nico. Ha! That’d really piss Elise off.

Elise cleared her throat. “When did Nico get that sleeve tattoo? It’s huge.”

“A few years back,” Liv replied, a smile playing on her face. “But I thought you weren’t looking.”

Elise’s cheeks were practically glowing now, and she fell silent, concentrating on her hair. Liv decided that her friend had likely had enough teasing for one day and went back to her book.

“Liv?” Elise asked.

She glanced up, now feeling guilty about ribbing Elise and worried that she’d hurt her friend’s feelings. “Yeah?” she said, about to apologize.

“Are you feeling okay?” Elise asked softly, looking at her via the reflection in the mirror. “After your dad showed up last weekend?”

“Yeah. I’m good,” she said quickly, trying to cover her discomfort. “We’ve not heard from him again, so hopefully he’s fucked off somewhere.” Probably back to hell to hang out with his best mate, the devil. She took a breath, blinking. “Anyway. I assume I don’t need to remind you both about the first rule of the sten weekend?”

Maya and Elise glanced at each other before saying in unison, “We don’t talk about Dave.”

Liv nodded, forcing a smile onto her face. “And the second rule?”

The two of them smiled back. “We don’t talk about Dave.”

“Excellent,” Liv said, shifting her eyes back onto her book and trying to get Dave out of her mind.

There were a couple of seconds’ silence before Maya broke it. “Thanks again for organizing this. I’ve loved everything about it so far.”

Elise set down her hair equipment and ran her fingers through her freshly curled hair. Liv almost wanted to cross the room and join in, the blond tendrils looked so temptingly soft.

“I hope you like the restaurant,” Elise said as she got to her feet. “I’ll feel terrible otherwise.” She was wearing skintight shiny black trousers and a sparkly silver tank top, with little black ankle boots.

Maya stood to join her, and Liv put down her book, slipped on her red heels, and moved around the bed to follow the two of them out of the room.

“Of course I’ll love it,” Maya told Elise, linking arms with her. “You’ve got excellent foodie taste. In any case, with this company I’d love it if we went to McDonald’s.” She led them out of the room, her soft black jumpsuit swishing around her stilettoed feet.

“Aw, man,” Liv replied as her tummy rumbled. “I could really go for a Big Mac right now.”

Elise laughed, turning her head to flash her a smile as they headed toward the stairs. “I’m afraid this place doesn’t do Big Macs.”

“Why is it even called a Big Mac?” Maya asked as they descended the stairs. “It’s Mc Donald’s, not Mac Donald’s. So really, it should be a Big Mc.”

Liv chuckled. “Good point, Miss M.” She glanced down as she stepped onto the landing behind Maya and Elise. “Bloody hell, Elise. Are you wearing space pants?”

Elise shot her a puzzled look. “Space pants?”

“Yeah.” Liv grinned. “Because your arse is out of this world.”

Maya broke down laughing as they rounded the corner to where the blokes were sitting having a drink in the living room. Elise joined in and Liv’s chest warmed as she took in how Elise’s eyes lit up. It was something she observed much more rarely in her friend since Harry’s death.

Sam was studying them curiously, a smile on his face, and the warmth in Liv’s heart swelled at the look of adoration he gave Maya as he appraised her evening ensemble. She signaled to the women to take a drink and Maya nodded, as Sam stood to kiss her cheek.

Elise turned and said, “Yes, please,” then started after Liv as if coming to help, but Liv shook her head and shooed her away to go sit and relax.

As Liv glanced up before heading to the kitchen area, she was sure she caught Nico doing a double take as his gaze was drawn to Elise’s out-of-this-world arse. Suppressing a laugh, she kept her head down as she rounded the kitchen island and grabbed three glasses.

She poured prosecco into the glasses and placed the bottle in the fridge. Then, smiling to herself, she took hold of the full glasses and looked up—straight into the honey color of Arran’s eyes. He was unabashedly staring at her from the living area.

For a second, she was thrown. His hair was loose and he was wearing a pair of slim-fit dark gray checked trousers paired with a soft wool charcoal jumper. The dark tones of his outfit seemed to reflect the brooding expression on his face, and all in all, the spectacle of him was heart-racingly, panty-meltingly sexy.

Her mouth dry and her heart pumping, she continued to lift the glasses and attempted to control her trembling fingers as she walked toward the sitting area, waiting for him to hurriedly break eye contact the way he’d been doing all weekend. But he didn’t. Instead, he ran his eyes leisurely down her little-black-dress-clad body all the way to her red-stilettoed feet, seeming to linger for a moment on the line of her legs. It was as if his gaze had a direct effect on her body—each place his eyes traveled burned with waves of liquid heat, all convening in a tsunami between her legs and making her core clench. He took a slow blink and met her eyes again, giving her a megawatt smile that nearly caused her to stumble.

Her pulse rocketed and she managed a quick smile back before she lost her nerve and dragged her eyes away, handing Elise a glass where she was sitting in an armchair, then crossing the room and passing one to Maya, who was on Sam’s lap. As she bent to deposit the glass in Maya’s hand, she realized that she had her back to Arran, who was on the adjacent two-seater with Nico, and that the view of tomorrow’s washing was right on the cusp.

She straightened again and chanced a glance over. Arran was watching her, his lips parted and a heated look in his eyes, which made her fingers tremble even harder as she held her glass. Nico was chatting to Brodie, who was sitting in a love seat next to them.

Sipping her drink to steady herself, she eyed the options for seats, realizing that they were all taken. She glanced over at the table, deciding that she could bring one of the dining chairs over.

But before she could execute that plan, Brodie met her eye and crooked his finger to beckon her.

She crossed over to him and he scooted right over to let her squeeze in on the small two-seater; she took a seat, facing Arran and Nico.

Their arms were quite constricted in the small seat, and so Brodie stretched his arm behind her, holding his beer in the other hand as he chatted to Nico and they included Liv in their conversation.

Smiling at something Nico was saying, she let her gaze drift over to Arran, and the smile dropped from her face as a shiver licked up her spine. His eyes were on her, dark and brooding, with his clenched fist resting against his mouth as he darted his gaze to Brodie’s arm about her shoulders. Her breath caught, and she couldn’t look away.

Arran slid his eyes down to her legs, and it was as if his gaze were his touch, his fingers caressing her bare skin and leaving gooseflesh in their wake. She crossed her legs, trying to adjust to the heat pooling between them. His jaw tightened as he watched the movement.

This was the dress she’d worn to their blind date. The one that he’d told her she looked beautiful in. She’d known that when she’d packed it, but being under the heat of his gaze was something else—something achingly good that she hadn’t experienced that first night. Or perhaps she had but hadn’t noticed—not being aware his appreciation existed until that day in her kitchen when he’d confessed it and when, for the first time, she’d felt an inkling that he might be attracted to her. Well, it was more than an inkling now. And it was red-hot . No man had ever made her feel like this with just his eyes. Being under Arran’s lingering gaze was like a sensual caress.

Nico turned to Arran to ask him something, and he dragged his eyes off her, dropping his hand and nodding in response to Nico. He returned his gaze to look her right in the eyes, electricity arcing between them.

“Okay, guys,” Elise said, cutting into the moment. “Drink up. We need to head out to make our reservation.”

Liv had to take a second before she stood, her legs feeling weakened from the impact of Arran’s gaze. She sank the rest of her drink in an attempt to douse her molten hot insides. Everyone hustled to get their coats on, and Liv slipped her arm through Elise’s as they left the house, feeling that she needed the support for her wobbly legs. They’d decided to walk to the restaurant because it was only five minutes away.

Her red coat was cozy in the chill of the air, and she cuddled into Elise’s fur jacket as they walked together, chatting about the Fairy Pools and what was on the menu at the restaurant as Liv tried to calm her lust-filled thoughts.

She glanced ahead to where Sam and Maya were walking in front, and with a jolt she realized that so far she’d been subconsciously gravitating toward Elise and the others in order to stay away from Sam and Maya. The uneasy third-wheel complex seemed to have taken up residence in her psyche ever since the anticlimax of her confrontation with her father.

Liv had noticed that Nico had hung back to walk behind them with Arran, and she had a sneaking suspicion that it might have something to do with the rear-end view of Elise’s sexy pants—her fur jacket was short enough that the display was still in full effect.