Page 18 of The Marriage Playbook

She put the phone back to her ear. “All right,” she said. “I’m with you.”

“Are you sure? Because if you need more proof I can take a picture of myself in the mirror.”

“That’s not going to be necessary.” She could only imagine what he’d be wearing after a day like this one—if he was wearing anything at all. That wasn’t something she needed to see.

And yet, a spark of curiosity lit up within her. He was a professional athlete, after all. He might be snarky and foul-tempered, but she knew how seriously he took his football career. What would he look like with his clothes off? Big shoulders, she was willing to bet. She was such a sucker for big shoulders, not to mention good pecs and a narrow waist and…

No, she definitely didn’t need to see him with his shirt off. That was a dangerous proposition.

“I just called to make sure you were holding up your end of things,” she told him.

“And how long am I going to have to stay in the house?” he asked. “I have to get to the gym if I’m going to get my place on the Stingers back. Even a few days off can have consequences.”

“I’m sure you have free weights in your house,” she said, and now she was imagining him lifting, imagining sweat on his muscles. She took a deep breath and released it slowly. She couldn’t allow herself to get carried away fantasizing over this man. How he had gotten such a grip on her imagination in the first place she wasn’t sure. Maybe it was just that she was planning his wedding.

Cara could admit that she had let herself get wrapped up in the wedding planning. What woman didn’t dream of putting on an extravagant wedding, especially one where she didn’t have to pay for anything? She had been given a massive budget for these proceedings, and very few constraints, so the whole thing was being done according to her own tastes. White roses, a string quartet, even the church where she had imagined she might get married someday…if she ever met the right guy, that was. Sometimes it was hard to imagine that would ever happen.

She would be standing at the back of the room when Liam got married, and if she wasn’t careful, it was going to feel like her dream wedding had jumped right out of her imagination and into being. But it wouldn’t be hers, and she couldn’t allow herself to forget that.

“Just hang in there,” she told Liam. “It’ll only be a few more days. Then everything will be ready to go, and you and Stephanie will be able to say your vows. We’ll reach out to the team, and with a little bit of luck you’ll be back on the field in no time.”

“I hope you’re right,” Liam murmured.

Cara said nothing. She hoped so too.

CHAPTER 10

CARA

The day of the wedding was overcast, and Cara was hard-pressed not to let it get to her.

It’s not my wedding, she reminded herself, as she had so often over the last several days. It doesn’t matter if it isn’t living up to my expectations. Yes, she would have liked to marry on a sunny day, but there was no reason today’s weather should be bothering her.

Maybe it’s just because I’m focusing on the optics. What it’s going to look like in pictures. Because that is my concern. She sighed and closed her eyes. Everything had been going so well thus far. All they had left to do was to get through today, and then the wedding would be behind them and they could turn their focus to football. She knew Liam would be easier to handle once he’d been allowed to do that. He cared so much more about football than he did about his public image.

In a way, there was something pure about that. She respected him for it. All he really wanted was to play the game he loved. She was pretty sure he would give up fame and fortune if he needed to, just to keep playing.

Not that he would like it.

She pulled her phone out of the pocket of her pantsuit. She was waiting for a message from Stephanie, who should already be on her way to the church.

Everything else was in place. Liam was waiting at the altar, along with the priest they’d secured for the occasion. There was no congregation. This was going to be handled privately, and then there would be a public announcement once it was all over. But there were flowers decorating the building—the white roses Cara had chosen—and Stephanie’s wedding gown, an elaborate lace and satin affair, was hanging in the church’s coat closet. She was going to have to get changed quickly. Cara hoped she’d have had the sense to do her hair before coming to the church, because there wasn’t going to be a lot of time for that sort of thing, and it was important for her to look good in the pictures.

She stepped into the bathroom and examined her own reflection. She had done her hair and makeup and put on a formal gown for the occasion, thinking she might step into the background of some of the photos and claim to have been here as Stephanie’s maid of honor. That would put a more legitimate face on the whole thing. She smoothed her hands over the lavender satin of her gown. Always a bridesmaid, never a bride.

What an odd thought that was. She wasn’t a bridesmaid at all. It was all for show.

Her phone rang. She gasped, fumbling, and almost dropped it. “Stephanie?”

“No, it’s me.” It was Alastair. “I’m in the stairwell behind the altar. Are you telling me she isn’t here yet?”

“She’s only five minutes late,” Cara said.

“But we haven’t heard from her yet?” Alastair pushed. “Are we sure she’s coming?”

“Of course she’s coming. She signed a contract,” Cara said, but Alastair had said out loud the thing that had been worrying her all day. What if Stephanie didn’t show up? This would get out; it was bound to. Between the florists and the priest and the people who had decorated the church and the dressmaker and Stephanie herself, there were too many people involved to hope that a secret could be kept here. That wasn’t an issue if there was a wedding, of course. They had always planned to reveal that vendors had been hired for the big day. But how could they explain all this without the marriage to back it up?

“I’ll call you back,” she told Alastair, her voice shaking.