It Must Be Your Love: The Sullivans by Bella Andre Page B

things official.
    With the crowd still laughing as they sat down, Ford turned to whisper to Mia, “You’re beautiful.”
    With her eyes still on the bride and groom, she leaned toward him and whispered back, “And you’re a sneaky dirtbag.”
    Only through sheer force of will did Ford keep himself from laughing out loud. Because just sitting next to Mia Sullivan made him feel happier than anything else could.

Chapter Eleven
     
     
    “Dear friends and family, we’re so glad you could be with us here today to celebrate the love between Marcus and Nicola.”
    As Mary Sullivan addressed the wedding guests, Mia worked to fight back the tears that were already starting to come. The problem was that just watching Nicola walk down the aisle had been enough to get her choked up, and when Marcus had been too impatient to stop himself from running down the aisle to steal his bride away from her father...well, could there be any more beautiful example of just how much he loved her?
    Mia had never been a crier, not when she’d learned as a little girl that if she wanted her brothers to include her in their adventures, she’d better suck it up when she fell off stuff and got hurt. But she’d decided long ago that at family weddings, she was allowed to break her no-crying rule. They were always highly emotional experiences for her, and by the time the bride made her appearance and the vows were spoken, Mia was inevitably lost in emotion.
    Today, it wasn’t the crying she objected to. It was letting any part of her guard down around Ford. Because being in a heightened emotional state was a terrible place to be with him sitting next to her.
    She should be stone cold around him. Or she should remember to be angry so that she kept her walls up. Both of those reactions would have made sense.
    Anything made sense right now but feeling like it was too much , too good , too right to be sitting this close to him.
    No. She needed to stop focusing on Ford. Today was about Marcus and Nicola. If she couldn’t help but cry, c’est la vie . The important thing was that her tears wouldn’t have a single thing to do with the man who’d had the nerve to sneak into the barn and squeeze in next to her in the already crowded pew. Heck, by now, she felt like she was practically sitting on his lap...and she refused to admit to herself just how downright sexy that thought was.
    Focus, Mia!
    With laser precision, she trained her gaze on her cousin, knowing Marcus had never looked happier. She was so happy for him, especially considering how much of his own life he’d put on hold when her Uncle Jack had passed away and Marcus had taken over the reins of the family to help raise his seven younger brothers and sisters. Every single person in the barn could see the way he looked at his bride, like she was absolutely everything to him.
    It was an expression she regularly saw on the faces of her cousins and her brother when they looked at the women they’d fallen for. But, she found herself thinking for the very first time, hadn’t she recently seen that look in a more personal way? But where?
    Suddenly it hit her: It was exactly how Ford had looked when he first saw her walk into the tower on Friday morning!
    Oh God...she couldn’t be right about this, had to be spinning out from one drink too many on Friday night with the girls, and not enough sleep, and a stressful work week, and all the emotion in the barn.
    And yet, before she could stop herself, pure shock at the thought that it might be true had her turning to look directly at Ford for the first time since he’d slid in beside her.
    Do you really feel that way about me?
    As if he’d been able to read her mind, his dark eyes immediately held hers. The heat—and emotion—in them held her completely still while she could have sworn he answered back.
    Always.
    Somehow, Mia managed to drag her gaze away. She forced herself to keep breathing slowly and evenly until she got her heart rate back to