I want to eat him up.
He grabs us each a glass of champagne and we start to wander about the room, chatting and laughing with the other guests. I’m introduced to friends of Nate’s from his fighting days, all of whom are funny and nice, and clearly uncomfortable in their suits. Finally, we make our way back to Nat and Luke.
“Who’s the guy with Luke?” I ask Will.
“Oh, you haven’t met Mark yet. That’s his brother. He’s usually in Alaska working.” He leads me to the threesome and introduces me to Luke’s handsome brother.
Holy shit, I didn’t think it was possible to be hotter than Luke Williams.
I was wrong.
What is up with the water these women drank when they were pregnant? Seriously, it’s crazy.
“Hi, Meg, nice to meet you.” Mark offers me a cocky grin as he shakes my hand. “Too bad Will’s already snatched you up.”
“Watch it, dude. You’ve been back all of two days. Don’t make me kill you.” Will growls good-naturedly.
Mark just grins at him. “You’d miss me.”
Suddenly, Jules is walking briskly to me, her eyes wide and worried. “Um, Meg, we need to talk.”
“Why?”
But before she can say anything, I hear it. Lonely Soul starts to play, the song I wrote with Leo.
And it’s Leo singing it.
“Luke, who did you hire for this?” I ask, my eyes pinned to Jules’. I already know.
“Nash,” he replies, his voice confused. “Why, you don’t like them?”
I close my eyes and take a deep breath. Holy fucking shit.
Natalie gasps, and Will wraps his fingers around my arm, pulling me around to face him. “What is it?”
“Meg, I’m sorry. I didn’t know.” Jules runs her hand down my back. “I really didn’t.”
This is Jules’ wedding. She’s one of my oldest and dearest friends. I will be fine. I will do what I need to do to get through tonight, and it will be fine.
I paste a smile on my face and hug her tightly. “It’s fine, sweetie.”
“What did I do wrong?” Luke asks.
“Nothing.” I shake my head and smile over at him. “Nash is a fantastic band.”
“What am I missing?” Will murmurs down to me. I sigh.
“Leo Nash is my Leo, Will.”
“What?” he asks, frowning. Natalie curses under her breath. Jules is still worried, biting her lip.
“I’m fine.” I look around at the group of people who have come to mean so much to me. They have become like family to me. “Honestly, this is great. The guests will love them.”
Will is watching me closely, questions in his eyes, and I feel like shit for not telling him the whole story before. But it was too painful to admit to him that Leo left me here while he went and became a big rock star.
That he just forgot about me.
“Luke, how did you manage to get Nash?” Jules asks him.
Luke shrugs. “They’re doing the soundtrack for the new movie I’m producing. They just wrapped up a tour, and are taking some time off, so I asked if they would do this event before their vacation, and they agreed.”
“You’re so sweet,” Nat murmurs and kisses him.
“Maybe I should have checked with you guys, though. I didn’t think you knew any rock stars.”
I shrug. “We used to.”
Everyone is watching me. “Stop. I’m fine. What’s next? Dinner? When do we get cake?”
“Yeah, when do we get cake?” Will asks, making us all laugh, but his eyes are still serious and pinned on me.
“After dinner,” Jules replies dryly. “Which I think they’re about to serve.”
The band stops playing, and a DJ takes over while we have dinner and go through the motions of the cake cutting and the toasts.
Natalie stands and takes the mic offered to her and smiles shyly to the room at-large.
“My husband is usually the one to speak to large audiences, but I’m happy to talk to you all about my best friend.” She looks over at Jules and smiles widely.
“Are you going to embarrass me?” Jules asks.
“Maybe,” Nat winks. “See, she can never break up with me because I know too much.” We all laugh and Nat sobers.
“I don’t remember a time in my life that Jules and her family weren’t in it. You have shared everything that has ever mattered with me, even the birth of my baby. When Jules and Nate got together,” Natalie turns to the audience and smiles. Will takes my hand in his and kisses my knuckles. “I was astonished to watch the change in her. Jules is a kick-ass girl. She’s not big on public displays of affection, which she reminds me of almost daily.”
“Seriously, you guys are gross,” Jules rolls her eyes, but I can see the tears threatening to spill over.
“But Nate brought out that soft side of her. He makes her better. And I think she does the same for him. I just couldn’t have found anyone more suited to you, my friend, if I tried.” Nat raises her glass and we all follow suit.
“So, to my new brother-in-law Nate, and my sister of the heart, his Julianne. May your love continue to grow every day.”