"Ha-ha. You know I meant I love you as a friend." She glances at something behind me and breaks into a broad smile. "Hi, honey, are you here to help me get Nick fixed up?"
Dane Dixon stops beside my chair and pushes his hands into his trouser pockets. "Rika, I thought we agreed you wouldn't be Nick's ambusher."
"It's ambassador, not ambusher." Rika gives her husband a wry look. "Honestly, Dane, you've been right there with us in the Save Nick Hunter campaign."
Save me? I'm not that bad off. Am I?
When I look at Dane, he bows his head and clears his throat.
Oh yes, he has thrown in with those meddling women for sure.
"Even Rick is on board," Rika says. "Maddie talked him into it, but now he thinks it's a fabulous idea."
"What is a fabulous idea?" I ask.
"You'll find out."
I glance at Dane. "Did you know your wife loves me?"
He chuckles. "I know everything about Rika."
Siobhan returns to our table and eyes the three of us with an odd expression. "Looks like I missed something."
"Yes, you did," I say as I push up out of my chair and claim her hand. "Rika loves me, and Dane is plotting revenge."
"No, I am not," Dane says.
Siobhan leans into me. "Do I need to fight for my man?"
I palm her arse. "Only if it involves mud wrestling in the nude."
"What about Jell-O wrestling?"
"If it's in the nude, I'm fine with any type of contact sport."
Dane smiles and shakes his head at us, then he and Rika walk away.
"We scared them off," I tell Siobhan.
She slips an arm around me. "Can we go inside now? To your bedroom?"
"Absolutely. I'm too knackered to pull off a good shag, though."
"That's okay. I'd love to just snuggle with you."
"I'd love that too."
We make our way past the gazebo, pausing to inform the bride and groom that we're leaving. Rick and Maddie don't care. They're about to sneak off themselves. Siobhan and I accompany them to the car that's waiting to whisk them away to a posh hotel in London for a two-night stay, then on Monday, they'll get whisked even farther away—to Elusion Island in the Caribbean, where they met. After a night there, they'll fly to Sir Dexter Armstrong-Hill's private island for the remainder of their honeymoon.
Dexter won't be there, though. Somehow, my brother convinced a recluse to go on a book tour to promote the first of eight new novels the cheeky codger has written.
I like Dexter. We get on well, which Rick says means I will be just like Dex when I'm his age. We do share a similar sense of humor.
After seeing the happy couple off, Siobhan and I take a taxi to my parents' house and snuggle together on the bed I slept in until I was eighteen. It feels strange to have her in my childhood room, but it also feels…right.
She lays an arm over my belly. "Do you have an apartment or house of your own?"
"Yes, I have a house in Cockshire."