All I Ever Need Is You (The Sullivans #14)(41)

“Don’t apologize for doing your job.” But he gave her a look she knew too well, one that promised he wasn’t even close to done having fun with her yet. “And I won’t apologize when I steal you away from it all for a dance later.”

She opened her mouth to remind him that she was there to work and not party, but before she could get a word out, he pointed to her iPad. “Looks like a dozen new messages have come in for you in the last thirty seconds, so I’ll go take my seat.”

With a soft kiss on her cheek, he was heading off into the crowd and being heartily greeted by pretty much everyone, male and female.

Kerry knew she’d already been thinking about Adam Sullivan far too much. Far too happily, too, despite the fact that they could never be more than friends with really great benefits. And yet, as she took care of a dozen last-second details before the ceremony began, she didn’t do anything to squash the extra spring in her step or the extra-fast beat of her heart.

* * *

Adam made sure to take a seat where he could see his friends standing in front of the officiant and observe Kerry at the same time. She looked so professional, and utterly in control of every detail, as she stood just to the side of the last row of guests.

After the huge number of family weddings Adam had been to during the past couple of years, he knew a thing or two about them. Enough to know that putting on one this big was a massive undertaking. Odds were she was being given a dozen different updates from her staff and contractors through her headset, but she didn’t look the least bit stressed out.

And then, as the officiant began to lead the bride and groom into their vows, he watched her reach up to her ear and take out her earpiece.

He grinned, easily guessing that she didn’t want to miss even one word of the mushy stuff.

Adam was happy for his friends, but even though they were making major vows to each other today, they took a backseat to the chance to be with Kerry for a little while outside of one of their hotel suites. Considering she’d made it perfectly clear just hours ago that their relationship needed to stop growing outside of those hotels and work on the house she wanted him to revive, today’s wedding had gone from a waste of a perfectly good sunny weekend day to a total bonus.

And yet, over the next few minutes, the vows his friends had written for each other hit him harder than any wedding vows had in recent memory. Not only because the couple clearly dug each other and planned to do whatever it took to make their love last, but also because of the look on Kerry’s face as they pledged themselves to each other.

How many times had she heard people make similar vows to each other? Hundreds, at the very least, he figured.

And yet, as he watched her eyes tear up and her beautiful mouth wobble slightly at the corners when the couple sealed their vows with a kiss, the marriage vows clearly meant as much to her today as they must have the first time she’d heard them.

What, he suddenly wondered, would it be like for Kerry to hear those vows on her own wedding day? To say them herself to the man she was vowing to love, to cherish, to remain with forever? How much more would it mean to her to know that she had finally found the love she’d been waiting for?

Adam’s chest tightened.

It was hard to picture Kerry with another guy. Impossible, actually. Even harder than it was for him to picture himself as a groom in a tux in front of friends and family saying things about sickness and health.

Strange that he could see himself getting hitched more easily than he could see Kerry letting some other guy slip a ring on her finger.

Everyone around him jumped out of their seats to applaud the newly married couple as they walked down the aisle, and he lost sight of Kerry. By the time the crowd cleared out, she was gone. She had a show to run, and he planned to let her do her job. But though he normally avoided the dance floor at weddings—it was where the desperate single women always pounced—today it was the part he was most looking forward to.

Because it meant he’d get to hold Kerry in his arms for a few minutes.

The next couple of hours were perfectly orchestrated, and though he knew they must be flying by for his newly married friends, for Adam they dragged on and on, until the band finally started up and the happy couple took the floor for their first dance.

Adam didn’t waste one single second after it ended to take Kerry’s hand in his. “Our turn now.”

She looked momentarily surprised—and pleased—to find her hand in his. But though he sensed she wanted the dance as much as he did, she said, “Any other time, I’d love to. But I’m here to work today, not to party with the guests.”

“Looks like everything’s going great,” he said with a gesture to the very happy people all around them who were full of food and cake and champagne. “Besides, you want all of the bride and groom’s guests to be happy, don’t you?”

Figuring he’d already given her more than fair warning, with one deft move, he put her iPad on a nearby table, then sent her into a graceful spin. One that had her forgetting the rules for a moment as she laughed and came back, breathless, into his arms.

His friends looked over at them with big smiles, and when Kerry saw that they weren’t at all upset to see their wedding planner dancing with one of their guests, she finally relaxed.

He already knew she was the perfect fit in his arms, but this was a different dance than any they’d ever done before, and he wanted to savor every second of it. Her head on his shoulder, her delicious scent, the beautiful sound of her voice as she softly sang along with the classic crooner song, the softness of the skin at her wrist where he was gently rubbing his thumb along her pulse point.