Chapter 25

“Stop being such a baby,” Dustin’s scoffed at himself. Flashbacks of the wedding hit him. Sure, he didn’t know these people, but he’d had a lot of fun last time he’d shown up at a gathering Nicolae had attended. He’d been nothing but well received by the people. And not a thing had changed since then except he’d been fool enough to listen to the prattling of a woman who had obvious issues with Nicolae’s culture. If he was going to let that frighten him away, he really didn’t deserve to be invited in the first place.

Dustin took a deep breath, reseated the bottles of wine in his arm—one red, one white—and tightened his grip on the sprig of Gerbera daisies. He could do this. He would, in fact, do it. If they didn’t like him then fine. At least then he’d know. The front door opened with a flourish and Christina grinned at him. “Do I have to come drag you in? Again?” She put a hand on her hip and tilted her head. “Because honestly? I could see it getting tedious.”