She lowered her voice as she whispered in my ear, “Jesus – your guy is hot.”
Laughing, I untangled us as I held her hands and pushed her away a bit so I could see the entire ensemble. “Janice, you’re gorgeous,” I squeaked, try not to let tears come to my eyes.
“You picked the dress,” she grinned. Then she turned to James. “Thanks so much for coming.”
“James Little,” he said, shaking her hand warmly. “You look absolutely lovely, Janice. Congratulations.”
He turned slightly to me, asking in a loud stage whisper, “I thought we weren’t supposed to see the bride until the ceremony?”
Janice laughed with me. “This is pretty informal,” she explained. “I didn’t want to sneak off to a hidden room. That would make me nervous.”
“Do you need help with anything?” I asked.
She shook her head emphatically, then stopped as the lilies holding up her hair in a side clip waved slightly. “I’ve got to stop doing that. No, thanks, I’m good. The ceremony is in ten minutes, and it’s so short that Dad won’t even have time to get bored.”
I looked up to see James positively grinning as he said, “That was thoughtful of you, to design the ceremony with your dad in mind.”
“Have fun, you guys,” Janice said quickly, looking over her shoulder. “Cocktails are right after the ceremony, and dinner is at eight. Let’s get this shindig on the road!” She fluttered off in a swirl of white lace.
The feeling of his arm sliding around my waist was probably meant to be comforting, yet played havoc with my pulse rate. Every time James touched me it felt like things deep inside me were clicking into place. Being touched always made me feel more comfortable, but this was much more.
“Where would you like to sit?” he asked.
I had to choke back a smirk as I realized the only place I wanted to sit was in his lap, with both of his arms around me. “Let’s go take a look,” I said, taking his hand as we walked over to the area set up with chairs and a flowered arch.
Luckily everyone seemed to be busy with their own conversations, and left us alone for a bit.
The ceremony itself was indeed short and sweet, with Janice and Michael each reciting song lyrics to each other during their vows. They had taken their photos several hours ago, so the ceremony blended into the cocktail hour seamlessly.
James led me to our table so that we knew where it was and I could stash my purse on my chair. Then he seemed to be looking around the room for something. “So – where’s the gift table?” he asked.
“You didn’t have to get a gift,” I gasped.
“Of course I did,” he said, looking at me strangely. “Is it alright that I made the card out from both of us?”
I’m not sure why that made my heart tingle. “Sure, thank you. What is it?”
“We got them a thousand-dollar gift card to that huge new hardware store. I know a lot of people give fancy glassware and everything, but after the dust settles, they’re going to need practical things, like tools to bolt bookcases to the wall. Plus that place has lamps, patio furniture, all of the little things they’ll need.”
My mouth actually fell open, and I had to force it to close. “That’s unbelievably thoughtful.”
James leaned down to kiss the top of my hair, then walked over to the table, taking an envelope from his suit jacket and sliding it under a silver-wrapped box.
The physical therapist in me couldn’t help noticing that he was favoring his right leg, but fighting to keep himself as straight as possible. His limp was very slight, but I would be keeping an eye on him to see if it got worse.
The woman in me couldn’t help noticing that the way he moved was sexy as hell. There was no way to miss the way my cousins, the servers, and even a few of my aunts were openly ogling him.
James came back and took my hand. “Drink?”
“Sure.” Stretching over to whisper in his ear, I murmured, “There are a lot of women staring at the giant hunk in the room.”
“That’s nice. Who is he?” he asked, looking around.
I gave his bicep a playful smack. “You’ve got to be kidding. Did you not look in a mirror before you left your house?”
He smiled and shook his head as we reached the counter. It was an open bar, but I noticed that he slipped a twenty into the tip jar.
Once I had a glass of wine, and James had a whiskey, we began to circulate. He was an absolute genius for tossing out detailed compliments that honestly sounded like simple observations about people’s jewelry, watches, or something they said. He raved about my job, and how important it was that I was helping people.