When We're Thirty by Casey Dembowski (beautiful books to read .TXT) 📕

Will’s corner calmed a worry Hannah hadn’t even consciously known she’d had. With everything going on with her parents, she’d still had Kate and Stephanie and Riley, and even Madison. But Will seemed alone so much of the time.

She scanned the room again. Their friends and family—Kate and Patrick, Eddie, Stephanie and Charlotte, Madison and Jon, and Daniel—stood in a cluster in the den. Her parents weren’t there. They’d RSVP’d no—Hannah had seen the card herself—but she’d expected them to change their minds. Maybe they had. It was still early, and traffic getting into New York was probably a bitch right then. They would come. They couldn’t miss the closest thing she would have to a wedding reception.

“Our guests of honor, there you are.” Hannah turned at the sound of Jonathan’s voice, so formal compared to Grayson’s. What had caused these men to go in such different directions?

Will straightened at his father’s approach and linked his hand with Hannah’s. “Hi, Dad.”

“Can I steal you two away? I’d like to introduce you to a few people from the board.”

Will nodded like it was a death sentence. But it couldn’t be that bad. She didn’t believe for a second that Jonathan was sanctioning their marriage. She hadn’t come close to forgiving him, but for Will’s sake, and for the sake of his future at Wellington Thorne, she would spend a few minutes schmoozing with Jonathan’s peers.

“COME WITH ME.” WILL tugged at her hand, and after excusing herself from the most boring conversation she’d ever had with the touchy-feely Mr. Johnson, Hannah let Will lead her through the party. He took her past the den and into a hallway with a series of rooms. She knew the first one on the left was Jon and Madison’s. The sounds of the party were muffled there, even so close to the den. Will pulled her into one of the rooms, flipping on the light as he did so.

“Sorry, I just needed to do this.” He kissed her hard, his arms drawing her to him. They fell back against the closed door, Will’s lips never breaking from hers.

She pushed his jacket off and untucked his shirt. Slipping out of her shoes, she wrapped a leg around him, feeling the intensity of this moment through her whole body.

Will trailed kisses down her neck and into her cleavage, sending waves of excitement rushing through her body. She undid his belt and then the button on his pants, weaving her hand into the waistband of his boxers. He gasped as her hand slid down his perfectly sculpted hip bones.

“Knock, knock, lovebirds. I know you’re in there.”

Hannah and Will broke apart at the sound of Kate’s voice and the repeated knocking on the door. Kate jiggled the handle, but Hannah knew she wouldn’t come in. Kate and Hannah had been roommates for long enough to know exactly what was going on behind the door. Hannah giggled as Will straightened his clothing, giving the door the evil eye.

“Come back later?” Hannah asked, stepping back into her shoes.

“If you don’t come with me now, Randy will be the next person to knock on this door,” Kate said. Hannah could hear her tapping her foot impatiently. “Your guests are waiting for cake.”

“One second,” Will said, his voice resigned.

“Do I look okay?” Hannah asked, smoothing out her dress. Will’s clothing suffered most of the damage. Her dress was pretty unflappable, but she had a hard-enough time getting her hair to stay in an updo when she wasn’t making out against doors.

Will tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, his fingers lingering on her cheek. “You look beautiful, Hannah.”

Her insides stirred at the soft inflection on her name. She inclined her head into his hand for the briefest of moments before linking their hands. “Let’s go cut our cake, husband.”

Chapter 30Hannah

“Can you straighten it a bit?” Madison asked.

They sat next to each other on one of the lounge ottomans in the former study. There was a lot of dancing after the cake cutting, but the energy keeping Hannah from noticing the ache in every part of her body, especially in her knee, had dissipated.

Hannah extended her leg and felt Madison’s hands come up under her dress and settle on her knee. That was all Jonathan and his guests needed to see—Jon’s fiancée feeling up Will’s wife.

“It’s not swollen,” Madison said. “We’ll work it out in the morning if it still hurts, okay?”

She nodded and leaned her head against Madison’s shoulder. “Thanks.”

The number of guests had dwindled exceedingly, but more than enough socialites were mixed among their family and friends. Eddie stood near the fireplace with a small crowd, most likely telling the story of Will and Hannah’s wedding day by the way Kate kept interjecting. Stephanie and Charlotte were in the dining room, tangled in each other’s arms, swaying to the ballad that played lightly over an unseen speaker system. No one else danced, but Charlanie didn’t seem to care.

Madison nudged Hannah and pointed to a spot across the room. Hannah followed her finger and smiled. Jon, Will, and Daniel were laughing and toasting with another shot.

“Great, he’ll be snoring tonight,” Hannah said, despite knowing her cheeks were flush from her second glass of wine.

“The boys can share a room,” Madison said. “We’ll steal Kate and Charlanie and have a girls’ night with pillow fights, wine, rom-coms, and whatever you want.”

“That’s called a bachelorette party.”

“Not like we had the chance to give you one.”

“Ouch. You’re a mean drunk.”

“Sorry,” Madison said with a shrug.

Grayson and his wife, Maggie, walked by, their teenage son beside them. Hannah watched them until they rounded a corner and were out of sight.

Madison wrapped an arm around Hannah’s back. “I’m sorry your parents didn’t come.”

“It is what it is,” Hannah said, packing false confidence behind her words. She couldn’t get weepy in the middle of her own party.

“That’s big of you,” Madison said. “I would’ve dragged my parents here kicking and screaming.”

Hannah was sure she would’ve.