Adam by Foster Lori

Author:Foster, Lori
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781488086090
Publisher: HQN Books
Published: 2017-10-01T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 6

“YOU’RE MARRIED?”

He looked like she’d punched him in the solar plexus. She supposed she sort of had.

Chloe shook her head. “I bolted.”

“Sorry?”

“I ran. He said ‘I do.’ I said ‘I can’t’ and took off back down the aisle.”

“Okay. Well, that’s pretty big. So you’re dealing with something pretty big right now.”

“Oh, it gets bigger,” she assured him. “He’s in there.”

“What?”

“Patrick. My ex. He’s in there.”

“Are you serious? Why?”

“He’s the son of my dad’s law partner. Our families are inextricably linked by binding contracts, forever and ever amen.”

“Why would he—”

“Come? Because etiquette dictates he should. The same reason he was invited in the first place.”

Ben shook his head. “I’m not sure what to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything. I just thought you should know that you’re about to walk into this room with a pariah. People will stare and they will talk. And as my ‘boyfriend,’ you might not get out of this night unscathed.”

“You’re worried about me? Chloe, if ever there was a moment to think about yourself, this is it.”

She hadn’t even realized she was chewing at her thumbnail until Ben reached up and took her hand.

“Now c’mon. Let’s get this party started, Masterson.”

His support in this moment meant more than he realized. She tightened her grip on his hand, allowing herself to pretend, just for tonight, that Ben was actually more than a two-night-stand.

They were barely through the door when the onslaught began.

“Hey, Chloe!”

“Oh, hi. I didn’t know you were an usher.” She exchanged air kisses with the stocky, redheaded son of her father’s sister.

“Yep. I clean up pretty good, huh?”

“Ben, this is my cousin Keith. Keith, this is Ben. My boyfriend,” she added as an afterthought.

“Well, I knew he wasn’t your husband!” Keith laughed uproariously at his own joke.

But it was only the first salvo, a preview of what she’d have to endure all evening. Even though she’d been expecting it, it stung. The reassuring warmth of Ben’s hand reminded her she didn’t have to weather it alone. She managed a wan smile at her prick of a cousin.

“Come on, you two. Bride’s family is in the first row.” He looked up at Ben, then down at their clasped hands. “You’re gonna wanna hold on tight the closer we get to the front, isn’t that right, Chloe?”

Chloe was relieved to find that the second shot didn’t hurt as much. They followed Keith past a human-size vase of flowers and into the gorgeous, glass-walled room that would house her sister’s evening ceremony, with the city of Buffalo all lit up and blanketed in snow as a backdrop.

Everything was beautiful. Her mother would have made sure of that. From the shimmering blue ribbons on the chairs to the string quartet playing Pachelbel, Fiona Masterson’s style was stamped all over this wedding. Unfortunately, Chloe couldn’t appreciate the details, because from the moment they’d stepped foot in the aisle, the bride’s side of the room had erupted in whispers and covert glances, like a tsunami of gossip moving toward the front of the room.

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