“Wow,” she muttered. “You look great.”
“So do you.” He glanced down, his lips curving like she’d amused him, then tipped his head. “In the library.”
“Right.” She blinked out of her stupor but slipped right back into it when Connor exited the house, Gertie at his side. The Saint Bernard mix was brushed and smooth, a grouping of white and pink roses attached to her collar with ribbon. Connor, dressed exactly like Donny, looked equally handsome. And so did Evan—turquoise eyes standing out like beacons. “Good Lord,” she said, stepping through the grass as she passed him. “You guys do scrub up nice.”
Lyon wandered out behind Evan, and Gloria nearly dropped.
“Wait,” she said. “We have a winner.” Evan’s son, with his father’s eyes and his mother’s cocoa skin tone, wore a pale suit and was simply gorgeous.
“Hey, Aunt Glo,” Lyon said with a shy smile. Shy? That was new. She figured he’d be going through a few varying levels of confidence but had no doubt he’d land somewhere around where Evan hovered: too confident to care what anyone thought.
“I’m off to see the bride,” Glo announced.
She hesitated a few minutes to watch as the men ambled to the seating area where guests were sitting, then to an elaborately carved arch that Ant, a friend of Donny’s and Connor’s, had carved with a chainsaw. It was absolutely gorgeous. Ant wasn’t bad either. He was hard to miss in a beat-up fedora in the third row, groom’s side.
She pulled open the side door to let herself in and ran into Asher. He grasped her elbow to steady her when she wobbled. A smile surrounded by stubble tilted his mouth. Gorgeous men may be dotting the lawn behind her, but there was only one gorgeous man for her. Sexy, smoking-hot rock god, Asher Knight.
He wore an identical groomsmen suit, but somehow wore it better than the others. The tousled dark hair, eyes that sparkled with flecks of gold in the sunlight, bracelets on his wrist, rings on his fingers…and oh, yes. Boots.
Of course he’d worn his boots.
She opened her mouth to say excuse me, but he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her into the kitchen. Then he lowered his face to hers and growled, “Why are you wearing red lipstick?”
“Because it matches the dress?” she said innocently, her hands on his muscular shoulders.
“I want to kiss you so bad.” His voice was low and gravelly and she realized that she’d made a terrible error with the lipstick. She wanted to kiss him, too.
“I can reapply,” she said.
“No time,” he growled some more. “After, Sarge. Take that off.”
“Don’t worry. Lipstick usually comes off on its own after cocktail hour.”
“I wasn’t talking about the lipstick.” His lips curved into a feral smile and he ran a finger along the bodice of her dress. “Gotta walk,” he called as he strode for the door.
She watched him do it, admiring the way his ass looked in those pants before smoothing a hand down her red dress. Low cut in the front, the V showed off her generous cleavage, and the waist nipped in, hugging her figure. Add to that an above-the-knee skirt and red strappy sandals, and she had just found the recipe for turning Asher Knight inside out.
And oh, she liked it.
On the walk through the mansion’s dining room and foyer, Gloria pulled herself together, and put the sexy rock god on the back shelf of her mind. She tapped lightly and Sofie opened the door, looking fun and fresh and drop-dead gorgeous.
“Sofie, you’re beautiful.”
“Thanks!” She beamed. Her wedding dress was a frothy, airy confection, with layers draping to just above her knees thanks to a round baby bump pushing out the front of the dress.
“You are supposed to have a flock of bridesmaids at your beck and call,” Gloria said. “Can I get you anything?”
She waved a hand. “No! I’m totally fine. I have something for you, and I didn’t want an audience when I gave it to you.”
“Something for me?”
“Yes,” she said, walking to her desk and bending over a drawer. “I’m sorry I didn’t give it to you sooner. It just sort of came to me last night.”
Gloria knotted her fingers together, feeling nervous even though she wasn’t sure why.
“I feel badly I didn’t include you in the wedding.” Her brows bent sincerely.
“It’s okay.” Because it was. Her feelings of being left out were just that, feelings.
“It’s not. We’ve gotten closer this year and I feel like we weren’t as close before. And I didn’t want to burden you with the expense of a dress and I knew since Asher was a groomsman that could get hairy since the two of you weren’t…you know.”
“Honestly, Sofe. You shouldn’t be thinking of this on your wedding day.” She was so insanely sweet, Gloria wanted to hug her, but Sofie had already rounded her desk.
“I want to, Glo. Your friendship means a lot to me.” Her pretty pink lips lifted.