Page 42 of By His Vow
She turns her hairdryer off and gently swings her hair around as she stands.
I roll my eyes at her. Even after all these years of friendship, her dedication to her curly hair astounds me. It’s probably why she’s still single. She doesn’t have time for a man; she’s too busy twisting, twirling, and scrunching among many, many other things.
Her eyes light up when they land on me before a wide smile spreads across her lips.
“What?” I ask nervously before moving into her room and flopping onto her messy bed.
It’s a mistake. The second my back hits her memory foam mattress, all my body wants to do is sleep.
Thankfully, what Lori shows me two seconds later perks me back up.
“This,” she says, holding her cell above me so I can clearly see the photograph I was just thinking about. “Care to explain why Kingston Callahan has his lips on you after being here first thing this morning?”
I groan, feeling nowhere near prepared to explain this whole shitshow. I can barely think about it without wanting to crawl into a dark closet and completely shut down.
“You fucked him, didn’t you?”
“What?” I gasp, pushing myself up in the middle of her bed and snatching her cell so I can look closer. “No, I have not fucked him.”
“But you want to. I always fucking knew you?—”
“Lori, I do not want to fuck him.” Liar. “He is the most irritating man I have ever met in my entire life.”
She raises a knowing brow.
“I don’t,” I repeat, aware that I’m not convincing her of anything.
I stare at the image of us. The lighting is perfect with the evening spring sun illuminating us in the middle of the sidewalk.
He looks…well, fucking model-worthy, like always, and I look… pretty damn good, actually. I’m wearing my sexiest skirt—total coincidence that it was the next thing in my closet this morning and not chosen for any specific reason. Nope. No reason at all.
He has one hand on my waist, holding my body against his, and the other is cupping my jaw as he presses his lips against my skin. But neither of those things is a surprise. I was there; I felt his burning touch as if he were a naked flame. What shocks me are his eyes.
They’re closed.
It gives the kiss a whole new level of tenderness, of intimacy.
I swallow thickly, unable to rip my eyes away. No wonder we drew such a crowd. I’m enthralled, and I was there.
“Then you’d better have a good explanation for that, because from what I can see?—”
“We’re getting married,” I blurt, unable to keep it in any longer.
Lori’s jaw drops and she stumbles back as if my words physically struck her.
“Y-You’re...you’re getting m-married?” she asks in utter disbelief.
Putting her cell to sleep, I throw it to the end of the bed and push to my feet.
“I need alcohol for this conversation.”
“You don’t fucking say,” she mutters, immediately following me from her room and down to the kitchen. “Vodka is in the freezer.”
Pulling the door open, I grab the bottle as she places two shot glasses on the counter.
I twist the top and slosh the ice-cold liquid into the glasses.
“Bottoms up, baby,” I say, wincing the second I hear his voice in my mind as I say “baby.”