“Mrs. Hayes, do you have a comment?” a woman shouted.
With a hair toss, Olivia smiled at the reporters, looking every bit the cool, confident woman I’d once known. “Actually, I do have a statement,” she said.
Olivia Sutton slipped her arms around my waist and gazed up at me like I was her own Prince Charming. “Lachlan Hayes and I have been quietly dating. And while our trip to the altar was fast, it wasn’t an impulsive mistake. We hope you’ll wish us well and give us the space to settle into our blissful newlywed life.”
Then.Oh,then…
Olivia rose up on tiptoe, glided her hands up my chest until they paused at my face. Her delicate fingers held my jaw, and she pulled my head toward hers. “Kiss me like you mean it,” she demanded.
I was a man who knew when to do as I was told.
So I pulled Olivia even closer, smiled as she gasped in surprise, then covered her lips with mine.
ChapterEleven
OLIVIA
In my head,I could hear the conversations I’d soon be having loud and clear.
Hi, Sylvie. Yes, it’s true I got married and didn’t invite you. Please don’t put a hit out on my husband.
Hattie, I can explain. I was so overcome with the romance of the weekend and so inspired by the love you and Miller model that I decided to get some of that sweeping love for myself.
Rosie, my sensitive sister, would you believe that I was blinded by the flashing lights of the casinos and accidentally stumbled into the wedding chapel and said “I do”?
Aunt Frannie, I know you’re mad, but please put away your taser. No, you cannot fry my new husband’s biscuits.
I spent the entire three-hour flight back home to Arkansas reviewing every possible scenario I might endure with my family. My sisters were going to lose their minds, and I couldn’t even begin to quantify what my grandmother would do when she got a hold of me.
I’d received at least ten calls and messages from every human being I’d ever met, from extended family to Celeste, to my high school computer science teacher who wanted Lachlan’s autograph. Aside from a text to my sisters letting them know I was okay and homebound, I didn’t answer any of them. And really, what would I have said? For once in my life, the planner didn’t have a plan. It was a dismal state to be in.
Lachlan snoozed most of the way home, seemingly unbothered. Meanwhile I’d written fifteen pages of ideas in a document titled “I Think I Just Ruined My Life.”
The plane groaned as the wheels lowered for landing.
“Nice nap?” I asked Lachlan later as we descended the stairs.
“How sweet of you to inquire, wife.” His ridiculousDungeons & Dragonssweatshirt tugged across his chest as he yawned. “I do hear that judgmental tone, and for your information, I feel better.”
“Great.”
“Good.” His phone dinged with a text. “Sylvie says they land at seven-thirty and to be prepared for a family meeting at my house at nine.” Lachlan took a second look at his screen. “She also says our firstborn must be named after her.”
There would be no little Sylvies, and this left us around three hours.
“How does your grandmother have my number?” Lachlan asked.
“She’s former CIA. Within seconds of meeting you, she probably had your social security number and underwear size.”
“Disturbing.”
“You have no idea.” But he was about to find out. “I left my car at my apartment. Can you take me home?”
“Home it is.” Lachlan grabbed the handle of my suitcase and maneuvered both bags outside. “But don’t get too handsy on the drive. We may be newlyweds, but road safety is priority one.” He slipped on a pair of black sunglasses and waved at two photographers crouched in the shrubbery.
Forty minutes later, from the passenger seat of Lachlan’s SUV, I stared at the massive house toward the back of the Sugar Creek golf course. “I asked you to take me home.”
Lachlan clicked the button to raise one of three garage doors. “I did.” The SUV ambled over the driveway and into the dimly lit garage. “Welcome home.”
