Madeline and Pat returned to the marquee, having cleared the last of the plates away, and Kiki glanced around to check everyone else was present. She lifted Charlie to sit sideways in her lap, and turned her chair to shift it closer to Matty, who sat on her other side. He gave her a sweet smile and bent his head to rest it on her knee.
A soft tinkle filled the air as Aaron stood and tapped his glass with a spoon. All eyes turned towards him and an expectant quiet settled around the table. A lock of blond hair tumbled over his forehead as he shuffled the prompt cards in his hands. He raised his head to look at Mia and Daniel, and Kiki felt her heart flutter as his mega-watt smile lit up his whole face.
‘You’ll be thrilled to know I have not one, but two speeches to give today.’ A chorus of jokey groans and boos rose up, and Aaron ducked his head as a bread roll flew through the air from Luke’s end of the table. He held up a hand. ‘I know, I know, but I’ll try and keep it short and sweet.’
He scanned the blue cards and his expression sobered. ‘There was a time not so long ago when I feared I might lose my best friend.’ His eyes flicked to Daniel, and Kiki could see his Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed hard. ‘Daniel, I feel like I didn’t do enough to help you when I should have. I walked away when things got bad, and I’ll carry the shame of that with me.’
Daniel reached up to grasp his arm, his voice gruff as he said, ‘No, mate. I wasn’t ready to accept anyone’s help. Let it go.’
Aaron nodded. ‘I’ll try. Luckily, a wonderful woman succeeded where I failed.’ He turned his eyes to Mia. ‘From the first moment I walked into your kitchen, I knew everything would be okay. I saw the connection the two of you had, I think, even before either of you were really aware of it, and I can’t tell you how happy I am to see you moving forward together. You make an incredible team and I don’t think there’s a person around this table who doesn’t know you’ll make a success of your marriage. The work you’ve put into renovating the house, converting the barns, creating a solid foundation for your future, is awe-inspiring.’
He paused to turn over a card and Richard raised his glass. ‘Hear, hear,’ he said and the toast rippled around the table. Kiki caught her sister’s eye and raised her own drink in tribute and they shared a wobbly smile.
‘You’ll be relieved to know I’m almost finished…’ A cheer went up and Aaron gave a laughing shake of his head. ‘With this first speech,’ he added.
‘I want to dance!’ Charlie piped up, and Kiki shushed her with a little squeeze.
Aaron mock-sighed. ‘Everyone’s a critic. I don’t have much more to say other than to wish you both every happiness for the future. Butterfly Cove wouldn’t be what it is without the two of you at its heart.’ He raised his glass. ‘To the bride and groom.’
The children were too settled on her lap for Kiki to stand along with the others, but she joined in the rising chorus of the toast. ‘To the bride and groom!’
She watched Mia and Daniel exchange a tender kiss, which went on long enough to raise the colour in her sister’s cheeks. They broke apart with a laughing gasp, and then Mia turned to Kiki with a glint in her eye. She held out her arms to her niece. ‘Come and give your Aunty Mia a cuddle.’ Charlie scrambled down, disturbing Matty, who sat upright in his seat. With the startling lack of loyalty only children were capable of, he shifted his chair so he could snuggle into Mia’s side.
Kiki pouted, then winked at her children, who grinned back, but stayed put. The light tinkling sound of Aaron rattling his spoon against a glass quieted the table once again. ‘Oh, this is going to be good,’ she heard her sister mutter. A feeling of trepidation crept up Kiki’s spine as she saw the cards Aaron held were now yellow instead of blue.
He looked up from them, his eyes meeting hers, and began to speak. ‘A few weeks ago, a friend and I had something of a falling out.’ Kiki’s face flushed with heat, and a shiver sent goose bumps racing over her skin.
Keeping his focus fixed on her, Aaron continued his speech. ‘That friend told me I needed to speak to someone about my issues. I took that advice, only I didn’t just speak to one person. I spoke to all of them. Kerry was my first serious girlfriend. When I asked her why she left me, she said…’ He paused to glance down at the first card. ‘Because I knew you didn’t really love me, but you were too nice to say anything.’
A sympathetic chuckle rose from the group. Kiki raised a hand to cover her mouth. He couldn’t have…
Aaron looked up. ‘She has a point. I couldn’t even bring myself to tell her I really hated Sylvia Plath.’ Daniel snorted with laughter as Aaron turned to the next card. ‘After Kerry came Lisa, and I asked her the same thing. Her response was ‘You never let me in. You knew everything about me, but there was this wall between us. A sweet, stubborn, implacable wall and I knew you’d break my heart against it.’’ He gave a self-deprecating shake of his head. ‘Wow, I’m a catch, huh?’
Oh, Aaron. Kiki forgot all her good intentions and drew her lower lip between her teeth. What must it have taken to not only put himself through this, but to stand up in front of the people he was closest to and share it. The list went on, Aaron reading out point after point of criticism from his ex-girlfriends. None of them had anything bad to say about him, but they were all in the same vein—he had never let them feel really close to him. Her heart ached for him.
Aaron paused to take a sip from his glass. ‘You’ll be relieved to know there’s only a couple more to go. My final girlfriend was Natalie. We were together last summer, which is one of the reasons I was distracted from other things.’ His gaze travelled down the table to meet Luke’s. ‘I should have been there for you, Spud.’
Luke smiled and waved his comment off. ‘Forget it. This litany of relationship disasters is doing my soul the world of good. At least I didn’t keep sticking my hand back in the fire.’ A soft gasp sounded behind Kiki, but she forced herself not to look round and risk drawing attention to where Nee was sitting.
Aaron grinned. ‘I’m here to help. Anyway, back to Natalie. She’s doing great, by the way, recently engaged to a mutual acquaintance who I’m sure will make her very happy. I asked her the same question about why she’d left me and she said, ‘You were wonderful, and I’ll always be grateful for the help you gave me. You changed my life, but once I stopped needing you and started wanting you it was like you weren’t there any more.’’
He looked straight at Kiki and there was no trace of humour in his expression. ‘She was right. I never trusted she wanted me for who I was and not what I could do to help her. Same as all of them. I never let myself be truly vulnerable with them, because that way they could never hurt me when the inevitable happened and they left me.’
Kiki couldn’t stay quiet any longer. ‘Aaron, you don’t need to do this…’
He raised a finger to his lips and smiled at her. ‘Yes, I do, Kiki. For myself as much as any point I’m clumsily trying to make to you. There’s just one more card, I promise.’ She closed her eyes briefly and nodded, but regretted it the moment he spoke again.
‘Last, but not least, is the woman who’s been a constant in my life longer than anyone else, my stepmother, Cathy.’
‘Don’t do this, Aaron,’ Luke said, his voice rough with emotion.
Aaron looked at him and Kiki could see the moisture gleaming in his eyes. ‘It’s all right, Spud, I promise.’ He glanced around the table. ‘I asked Cathy a slightly different question. What it was isn’t as important as her answer, because she made me realise that, when things happen, when things go wrong, it’s not necessarily my fault. That not everything is about me.’
He left his place at the table and came to crouch in front of Kiki’s chair. ‘I’m sorry for not being braver, for squandering the most precious thing anyone has offered me. I was too afraid to let you in, because what I feel for you is too big, too all-encompassing, and it scares me to death. I thought being near you would be enough and I was wrong. It’ll never be enough.
’
Kiki could do nothing to stop the tears spilling down her cheeks, and he reached out to catch one on his fingertip. ‘I know you have to leave, darling. I also know you’re not leaving me. I’ll be waiting for you, for all three of you, if it’s not too late to say that. If I haven’t made too much of a mess of things between us.’
‘It’s not too late,’ she whispered. ‘I’m not…’ He didn’t let her finish, as he leaned forward to brush his mouth over hers.
‘I love you, Kiki. Be mine.’ He turned and held his arms out to where the children were sitting with Mia. ‘You, and Matty and Charlie. Be mine. Be my family.’
Matty hurled himself from his chair and into Aaron’s arms, Charlie right behind him. Aaron held them tight, eyes fixed on Kiki’s over their heads. So much love, so much hope brimmed in his gaze.
Raising a shaking hand, she cupped his cheek. ‘We already are.’ He closed his eyes, an expression of sheer relief on his face as he leaned into her hand. This man, this gorgeous man, had placed his battered heart in her hands. She would keep it safe. Protect it with everything she had—with everything she was. He deserved nothing less.
Charlie lifted her head. ‘Can we have dancing now?’
Chapter Twenty-Three
Kiki made her way back from putting the bottle of champagne on ice in Mia and Daniel’s room. She’d added a bottle of sparkling apple juice to the bucket, in case they preferred something non-alcoholic. He didn’t make a big deal of it, but she knew Daniel was still very conscious of what he drank.
The evening was in full swing, the garden alive with voices, laughter, and the smell of steak and sausages wafting from the barbecue. Fairy lights glittered in the trees and around the edges of the marquees. Solar torches lining the flowerbeds began to flicker into life as dusk fell. Kiki rubbed her arms, grateful she’d found a thin cardigan to match her dress. It wasn’t cold, but she could feel the difference in temperature now the warmth of the sun had started to fade.
A lot of noise and giggling was coming from one of the smaller marquees and she paused, recognising Matty’s sweet laugh. The tent had been designed as a quieter chill-out space for guests wanting to get away from the music. Huge, square cushions covered the floor, with a couple of low tables scattered between them. Someone had closed the curtains which served as a door, and she pulled one aside to peak through.
Children littered the space, sprawled across the cushions on their bellies, chins propped in their hands as they faced in towards the centre of their circle. All eyes were fixed on her dad, who held a large picture book in his hands. Oblivious to anything but their rapt attention, George continued to read the story, putting on silly voices and pulling faces to make the children laugh and gasp as he led them on an adventure through the Labyrinth to face the dreaded Minotaur. Maggie sat on the cushion beside him, every bit as enthralled as the little ones.
A warm arm encircled Kiki’s waist, followed by the familiar scent of Aaron’s favourite aftershave. She tilted her head back to look up at him, and he kissed the tip of her nose. ‘I thought you’d had a change of heart for a moment.’
Releasing the curtain with a laugh, she turned in his arms to lean against him. ‘No chance of that, I’m afraid. You’re stuck with us. With me.’
He lifted her hair away from her nape as he ran his mouth along the top of her shoulder. ‘That’s good to know.’ He worked his way into her neck and she couldn’t suppress a shiver.
‘Behave.’ It might have had more effect on him had the word not ended on a breathy moan.
‘No chance.’ Flashing her a grin full of such promise it sent her insides fluttering, he took her hand and led her away from the busy garden to a quiet spot in the shade of the sprawling barns. The tang of salt from the sea filled her lungs as he pressed her into the sun-warmed wooden boards of the old building.
Curling the thick weight of her hair around his hand, he gave the faintest of tugs as he urged her to tilt her head. His lips returned to their lazy exploration, and she clutched at his shoulders when her knees threatened to give out. He spoke between kisses. ‘Madeline and Richard are taking the children home with them tonight, and Luke’s crashing in a spare room here.’
She laughed and squirmed as his mouth found a ticklish spot. ‘You’ve been busy.’
‘Mmm.’ He nuzzled her neck again. ‘As tonight’s all we’re going to have for a while, I want to make the most of the little bit of time we have together.’
They’d been so busy dancing and celebrating, Kiki hadn’t quite got around to mentioning her rather important change of plans. It wasn’t really her fault. Aaron had become very distracting since they’d resolved matters between them. His hand at her waist crept higher up her ribcage, proving her point. She eased away before her brain shorted out again in the flurry of new sensations. ‘Aaron, wait…’
His brows drew down, shadowing his features until she could barely make them out in the fading light. ‘I don’t mean to rush you. I’m not expecting anything from you tonight. I just want to take you home and hold you while I can.’
Her belly flip-flopped. People would say they were rushing into things, that it was too much, too soon, given her circumstances, but she didn’t care. Her heart knew this man, recognised him as the right one for her, and her body was in perfect agreement. It didn’t matter what had gone before, what indignities she’d suffered in the past. The slate had wiped clean with that first tender kiss.
Kiki stepped into him, rising on tiptoes to press her soft curves into all his interesting, hard places. ‘That’s disappointing to hear, because I have very high expectations of you tonight…’ She pressed a kiss to the underside of his jaw. ‘And tomorrow night, and all the rest of our nights to come. It’s time to put your money where your mouth is, Aaron, because I’m not going anywhere.’
He cupped her face, drawing her higher up as he lowered his face to meet hers. ‘What are you saying?’ he breathed against her mouth.
‘Neil signed the papers.’ She kissed him. ‘Dad sorted everything out so we don’t have to leave after all.’ She found his mouth again, and his arms banded around her back as he returned the kiss. His tongue traced the seam of her lips, and she welcomed him in with a sigh.
The rattle of footsteps on gravel broke them apart. Aaron eased them deeper into the shadows, and Kiki pressed her face into his shoulder as she fought the urge to giggle. Her mirth at the idea of being caught snogging at their age vanished at the sound of her younger sister’s voice.
‘Luke, please.’
The footsteps halted. ‘Leave it, Nee.’
Stones crunched again, softer this time. ‘I just want to talk.’
‘You’ve had the best part of twelve months to do that.’ Footsteps sounded again, followed by the heavy creak of the barn door.
‘Please wait, at least let me tell you I’m sorry.’ Nee sounded ready to cry.
‘That doesn’t help me. Just leave me alone.’ The bitterness in Luke’s voice stole Kiki’s breath, and she wished the ground would swallow them up so she didn’t have to bear witness to their pain.
‘Would it help if I told you I’d made a terrible mistake? That leaving you was the worst decision I’ve ever made in my life?’
‘Fuck, no,’ Luke snapped. ‘It doesn’t help at all.’ The door of the barn slammed, making Kiki jump. A flurry of steps on the gravel didn’t quite mask the sounds of her sister’s sobs as she ran away.
Kiki pressed her face deeper into Aaron’s shoulder, feeling like the worst kind of eavesdropper. His arms tightened around her back as he muttered a soft curse against the top of her head. It had been too much to hope that the weekend would pass without a confrontation between their younger siblings, but Kiki would have paid any money not to have heard it.
Both Luke and Nee would be horrified if they ever found out they’d been overheard, and there was a little part of Kiki selfish enough to want to push it away before it completely ruined what should
be a special night for her and Aaron. Her conscience pricked her and she lifted her face to try and read the expression on Aaron’s face. ‘Should we go after them?’
He brushed his lips against her temple. ‘We probably should, but I’m not sure they’d thank us for intervening.’ He kissed her again, his mouth catching the corner of hers. ‘And I’d much rather stay here with you.’
Kiki dropped her head back against the side of the barn with a soft thud. ‘Oh God, me, too. Does that make us awful people?’
Aaron leaned into her. ‘Awful,’ he agreed, softening the word with another kiss. ‘Terrible.’ Kiss. ‘The worst.’ Kiss. She couldn’t help but laugh, and he took advantage, claiming her mouth until every thought flew from her head other than her need for him. The problems between Luke and Nee would have to be faced by all of them, just not tonight. She and Aaron deserved tonight.
‘So, you’re staying here in Butterfly Cove?’ he asked when he finally let her up for air.
‘Hmm?’ She rested her head on his shoulder. A thousand tiny sparks flickered under her skin, culminating in her centre. Her hands traced the width of his chest, and down the flat plane of his stomach. All hers, to touch, and taste, and tease whenever she wanted. Her eyes rolled back in her head just at the thought of it.
He laughed, catching her hands before they strayed too far. ‘Focus, Kiki.’
She nestled into him. ‘I can’t, you’re too distracting. What was the question?’
His hand curled under her chin to tip her head up. ‘I asked if you’re staying here at the Cove.’
Hadn’t she already told him that? Kiki wound her arms around his neck and tugged his head back down towards hers. ‘Yes,’ she whispered against his mouth. ‘We’re staying right here with you for ever. Now take me home and distract me some more.’
If you loved this story from Sarah Bennett, then turn the page for an exclusive extract from Sunrise at Butterfly Cove, the heartwarming prequel to Wedding Bells at Butterfly Cove…
Wedding Bells at Butterfly Cove Page 23