“Pleasure to meet you again, Quinn,” said Evelyn. She smelled of stuffy perfume that made my nostrils flare and I sneezed when she hugged me briefly before going inside for a “stiff drink.”
Dominic barely glanced at me before pulling out his phone to make a call and following her in.
Nice to see you, too, jerk!
“Hi baby,” said Lucy to Drayven, who had sauntered over to her. He lifted her up, and they kissed like they hadn’t seen each other in months.
“Quinn.” He nodded at me with a smile.
“Hi, Drayven. Been a while. Oh, and congratulations! For everything.” I said to him.
Weston caught up and stopped a few paces in front of me.
“Well, isn’t this a surprise?” he asked pointedly at Lucy. He had returned the aviators to his face so I couldn’t read the expression in his eyes.
“I didn’t know you were coming, idiot. Who invited you anyway?” She hissed at him.
“Apparently, the Myles’ attorneys. They wrote into the new contract that I must attend all family gatherings, including your wedding planning events, little sis.” He ruffled her hair like she was five. “Also, best man and all.”
Excuse me, did he just say best man?
“Hi.” He smirked at me.
“Uh, hel—hi.” I cleared my throat. Ugh. I sounded like a babbling fool. “Weston.” I tried again.
He took off his glasses, and I could see the amusement in his amber eyes. He used to love getting me worked up.
I couldn’t give him the satisfaction.
“Still doing as daddy says, I see.” I turned and started walking to the door. I tried to ignore the extreme pounding in my chest from seeing my old flame.
I could hear Drayven chuckle, and Lucy slapped him playfully.
“Come on, boys,” she said, “time to get this wedding planned!”
* * *
“Well,now that we’re all here. Allow me to make it very clear. This will be the wedding of the decade,” stated Dominic over the dinner table set for us in a private room at the winery.
“No, the century!” Chimed Evelyn. She took a long sip of her champagne.
“That’s right. Only the best for our dear Lucinda,” he raised a glass.
Weston scoffed on the far side of the table. He didn’t wait for everyone to lift their glass before taking a swig of his drink, just like his mother.
“And Drayven, the dragon slayer!” Lucy said, holding up her glass of lemonade. I glanced at Drayven, whose face had turned red with her statement.
“Did I miss something?” I asked, half laughing.
“Haven’t you heard, Maid of honor? Our Drayven here saved Lu’s life,” Weston said. He waved down one of the servers and shook his glass as if to say “another.” I rolled my eyes at him.
“It was nothing,” Drayven said, trying to move off the subject.
“He was my literal knight in shining armor,” Lucy gushed as she grabbed him by the bicep and squeezed.
Drayven clearly hated the attention on him. His cheeks turned pink.
“There was an attempted kidnapping the night of one of my parent’s parties,” Lucy explained. “A group out of Romania had been trying to assassinate a foreign dignitary in attendance and usedmeas a distraction.”