“No, I’ve been a little busy,” she teased. “You can tell him. I officially waive my rights or give you permission to tell Camden the truth.”
An uneasy pang settled in my gut. I had definitely been hoping for the cowardly way out. Now I was going to have to tell him. “I don’t think what you just said would hold up in a court of law.”
She shook her head. “It doesn’t have to. You are officially off duty. The rest of the night is all yours. Dan’s waiting for me out front. I have to get going.” Then she took her bouquet, placing it in my hands. “If I had tossed the bouquet, there’s only one person that I would have wanted to catch it. Now, go and get your man.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
I went back into the ballroom, still carrying Sadie’s flowers. Camden found me. “Isn’t that the bridal bouquet?” he asked.
“Yep.”
“What are you doing with it?” Another guy might have been panicked that I was carrying it, like I was trying to make some kind of declaration about my future plans, but he was just genuinely curious.
“Dan and Sadie left.” I was still a bit in shock that they’d gone early. It made sense, but most brides I’d met wanted to soak up every single moment of their special day.
“Do you know what that means?” Camden asked. He took the bouquet and put it on the nearest table. Then he took me by both hands and began pulling me toward a darkened corner of the room.
“What?”
“It means we can spend the rest of the night doing whatever we want.” The growly intent in his voice made my stomach flutter.
“Not the rest of the night,” I told him. “I’ve got a plane to catch soon. But we can hang out until then.” I knew leaving was necessary so that I could go help Desiree, but I was kind of kicking myself that I was going to miss out on spending more time with him.
“Good enough.”
“What did you have in mind?” I asked as he got us away from prying eyes, behind a column of flowers on the edge of the ballroom.
He wrapped his arms around me. “You have amazingly soft and delicious lips and I’d like to explore them very carefully and very thoroughly.”
My heart jumped up into my throat, pulsing hard. “I’m amenable to your plan,” I managed to say.
I should tell him. Now. This was the perfect opportunity. We’d still have time to discuss everything before I got on a plane back to the mainland. I again found myself wishing that we hadn’t changed our flights so that I’d have another night here in paradise with him. He was tracing the outline of my face with his fingers and I opened my mouth several times, intending to say the words I needed to say. The ones Sadie had given me permission to share.
“There’s something you should know. About me,” I told him.
Then his fingertips were running across my lips and I forgot how thinking worked.
“Are you secretly married?” he asked.
“What? No!”
“Then I can’t think of anything else that we need to talk about right this second. I have other things in mind.” His mouth followed the same path his fingers did, and burning shivers swept through me.
“Did you want to say something?” he teased, and I just shook my head. Nope, not me. No, sir.
Then his lips were on mine and I nearly groaned in relief at the contact I’d been dying for.
I didn’t know how long we’d stood in that corner as Camden did exactly what he promised, a long and extensive exploration of my mouth while we were pressed desperately against each other, before I heard yelling.
Breaking off, my lips swollen and my head spinning, I tried to focus on what was happening.
“Dan! I’m here! Dan!”
“Lilith,” Camden muttered in disbelief.
She was running through the ballroom in a wedding dress, being tailed by two security guards, yelling as she ran. “I want to have children with you! We can work things out! Dan! Where are you?”
I stood there in total disbelief, watching as the livestream cameras captured every moment. Oh, this was bad.
One of the guards caught up with her, picking her up by the waist and carrying her out of the room. I wondered what had gotten into her. While she’d seemed angry and determined before, nothing about her had said that she was unhinged.
“Well,” I said, “I guess we were just part of something called making a scene. Sadie’s not going to be happy.”
“Neither is Dan. They’re definitely going to have a conversation about this. I’m kind of glad they’re gone.” He looked around and said, “I’m going to go see what’s happening. Make sure that she isn’t let back in here.”