More Than Sorry

19: He Steals a Kiss

ZACH

"You're so wriggly." Eden shoots me a stern glare. "Hold still!"

"I can't help it."

Eden can give me that sexy angry school teacher look as much as she wants. I will do everything in my power to avoid her fingers as they smooth down the back of my tuxedo jacket to my trousers. I sure as hell don't want to walk into this work function with a raging hard-on.

"I must have helped out with more than a hundred weddings in my life," Eden grumbles. "Even little four-year-old pageboys don't wriggle around as much as you."

"Keep your hands off my butt, and I'll stand as still as you want."

Eden stands back, popping her hands on her hips but careful not to smoosh the delicate draping of the black gown perfectly hugging her curves. With her hair cinched back in a bun that looks effortless, but I know probably took hours to create, she looks like a damn goddess. A cranky one.

"Zach, tonight is important. You need to look your best," she huffs. "You are all wrinkly."

"Are you sure?" I tease. "Pretty sure the dry cleaner made sure this tux would never wrinkle. And I have recently learned that you may like my butt."

Eden makes a scoffing sound, and her eyes start darting around the street outside the art gallery. "As if. I've never noticed your stupid ass."

She's so adorable when she lies.

"No? Those gossipy ladies at your salon suggested you might have been gushing over how hot I am for a while now."

"I like the old Zach better," Eden grumbles. "The shy one who didn't sass me."

She steps towards me, reaching for my bow tie, but I capture her hands and press them against my chest.

"Eden, the bow tie is fine. Just like my tux is fine, and your dress and your hair and your makeup all look perfect. Don't be scared, beautiful girl. They're going to love you."

Eden's bottom lip catches in her teeth, and her worried eyes meet mine. "I don't want to embarrass you."

"You could never embarrass me. Come on, let's get this pretentious networking shitshow over with."

I crook out my arm, and she grabs it with both her hands and a big, bright smile. As we step through the gallery doors, my head swims, and the world feels wobbly. There's a huge crowd inside, but that familiar introvert fear of being crushed under the attention of too many people isn't the reason I'm feeling light-headed.

I'm just so damn happy... Fuck that. I'm ecstatic.

I can't help the smile that spreads across my face when I look down at Eden. She is everything. I press a gentle kiss to the top of her head, and she rewards me by beaming another grin. Sometimes, I still see a hint of hesitation in her gaze. It crushes me that she doesn't fully trust me again yet. But, mostly, Eden looks at me like maybe I'm not the worst thing that ever happened to her.

As if I was ever going to let this girl go.

I'm pretty sure Eden convinced herself that her speech in the coffee shop would send me running. All it did was convince me that I loved her more than I ever thought possible.

True, some of Eden's words had been hard to hear. Knowing how unhappy she had been, hearing that the girl usually brimming with self-confidence was crippled with any kind of self-doubt—that nearly killed me.

And when Eden said she didn't need a provider, I was devastated. My whole life, my father has drilled into me that my role as a man is to be a good husband and a good father, and you do that by working hard for your family.