Deceiving The Groom by Lisa Shadow Page A

her nightgown and brush and strode to the door.
    “What are you doing?”
    “I’m having my god-damn shower.” She yelled over her shoulder.
    “Wait.” Geoff rose from the seat and raised his hands. “Fine. I’ll talk to her.”
    Claire turned around. “You swear?”
    “Yep, as soon as we finish up here, I’ll go home and speak to her in person.”
    “You’re an ass.” She turned back to the door and muttered. “When we’re done here…”
    Geoff grabbed her arm. “Hey, you should know better than anyone how stubborn she is.”
    “At least I tried.” Claire ran her gaze over him with disgust.
    “Trust me. I’ll do it in person, you have my word. And haven’t I been helping you, remember the lawyer?”
    Claire sighed and shut the door, plonking her things back down. “Say what you have to say.”
    “I want to know if you did what I said? The license, your mail?”
    Claire stared at a hole in the floorboards. “It’s done.”
    “Good, that’s good. See we’re almost done, almost there.”
    Claire chewed her cheek. Geoff stepped closer until Claire could see his shoes next to her feet. “There’s just one other thing you need to do.”
    “What?”
    “Get him to ask you to move in.”
    Claire’s head snapped up so quickly her neck spasmed. “No. Are you crazy? I told you I’m not seeing him anymore.”
    Geoff’s eyes darkened. “Now this is important Claire, it’s part of building the case.”
    “I won’t.”
    “Claire —”
    “No, Geoff. If he’d remembered after Vegas, you would’ve gone after him with what little we had then, so be satisfied. I’m done.”
    Geoff’s eyes narrowed. “We’re in this way too deep to back out now.”
    Claire moved around him and collected her things, then stormed to the bathroom locking the door behind her. Geoff’s promise could not be locked out.
     
    Claire sat on her bed and tore the page off her sketchpad and scrunched it, then threw it onto the growing pile of paper balls. Everything she sketched was hideous. It wasn’t her imagination. Her designs were cold, severe, and completely soulless.
    She had been dreaming of wedding dresses since she was a girl. Had envisioned her own since she saw her first picture of a bride. How did she end up forced to make the choice in a sleazy, overpriced, twenty-four-hour bridal store? 
    God, talk about hitting bottom. She’d gone there then burrowed a little deeper. Nothing would ever feel as low as seeing Liam so plied with alcohol corralling him to the bridal store, getting him to buy a dress, and then play bride and groom. She swallowed. Correction, there was something lower—seeing him pass out with a comical thump right after the “I do.” Claire set the pad down. There’d be no designing today. In fact the whole concept of weddings was like putting the shreds of her dreams into a liquidizer. She supposed tricking a man who didn’t love you into a wedding could kind of do that to you.
    Only two days until opening, yet she’d stayed at home today.
    Better than risking bumping into Liam again.
    A rap sounded on the door. She flopped her legs over the edge of the bed and shoved her feet into slippers, wrapping her dressing gown tightly around her. So what if she was in her pajamas at four in the afternoon?
    She tugged the door open expecting to see Geoff. “What?”
    Liam stood in the doorway, the bag in his laden arms slipped. His gaze flickered over her all the way down to her fuzzy slippers. His smile would’ve been more effective as a grimace. “That bad huh?”
    Claire’s chest tightened at the sight of him. She’d really thought he got the message. The guilt simmering in the pit of her stomach rose and threatened to spew out in a barrage of confession. She bit the inside of her cheek. “What’s that bad?”
    “Whatever happened in Vegas.”
    She almost choked on the admissions forming in her throat. “I don’t think this is a good idea. You should go.”
    Liam shifted, holding the