Page 21 of Forever Yours
“You and Grey fucking on a table leads us into our next topic?” Annabelle questioned.
Devlin started to laugh, needing to set her glass of wine down. “I do love you two. Okay, Pru, I’ll bite. What does your next topic have to do with, as AB put so delicately, you and Grey getting handsy in the kitchen?”
“Well, I realized I never asked either of you, I just assumed, but would you please be in our wedding?”
Annabelle squealed and Devlin was glad she wasn’t holding her wine because she jumped at the sound. “Yes!”
“Me too,” Devlin said.
“Oh good, I’m glad it’s official. Annabelle, if you could be my maid of honor and Devlin my bridesmaid?”
A flash ran through Devlin’s mind about the opposite wedding party and Annabelle must’ve thought the same because she asked, “Who did Grey choose?”
“Don’t worry, AB. Gabe is the Best Man.”
Clearly not assuaged by Prudence’s words, she asked again, “But who is his other groomsman?”
Prudence’s eyes shifted. “He asked Sebastian.”
“Are you serious? He’s weaseled his way intomyfriend group and now I must deal with him at your wedding, too?”
“I’ll be the one dealing with him,” Devlin broke in. “I promise you won’t have to worry about it.”
Devlin’s mind went to who shewouldbe worrying about. The image of Gabe dressed in a tuxedo and reaching under her dress to pull down a garter came unbidden into her mind. The fact that she was wearing white in her vision was not lost on her.What the actual fuck, Watkins?
“It’ll be fine,” Prudence was saying. “I don’t think the wedding will be until later in the summer and I’m hoping it’ll be outdoors, so you should be able to keep as much distance between you and Sebastian as you want.”
“Is me on a beach in Fiji enough distance?”
“C’mon, Annabelle,” Devlin started, needing to break away from her daydreams of Gabe. “This is verging on ridiculous. You and Sebastian need to do it and get it out of your systems. Just give into it.”
Annabelle almost dropped her tumbler. “You have got to be kidding me right now, Devlin. I might throw up at the…the…thoughtof touching that man. He’s wholly incapable of love or any other emotion other than pure selfishness.”
Prudence raised her eyebrows. “She never said anything about love. Just a quick fuck so you can both move on.”
“You’ve both gone absolutely mental. There’s no way in hell we could function if we…” Annabelle faked a gag and stood. “I need to use the bathroom.”
Devlin smirked at Annabelle muttering “Off your fucking rockers” as she walked out of the room.
She knew Annabelle and Sebastain had history from before they worked together at the paper. “I know those two had at least one run in when you guys lived in Atlanta, but I feel like she’s not telling us the whole story.”
“Me neither. She won’t even talk about some things when I ask.” Prudence turned their conversation back to the subject from earlier. “Is everything really okay? I don’t want my dumb stunt to come between us.”
“Believe it or not, I didn’t have a bad time and if anything, it may have helped us get over being awkward together when we see each other next time, which will probably be for wedding preparations.”
“Really?”
“He was funny and thoughtful and—”
Annabelle walked back into the room, interrupting the apologies. “Okay, Pru. I’ll do everything I can—minus fornicating with that devil—to make sure your wedding is as beautiful as it should be.”
“You’re always the picture of grace,” Prudence told Annabelle, “and I knew this wouldn’t be any different. I’ll let you both know when I’m ready to start planning. I don’t have any idea what I want our wedding to look like.”
The image of Gabe reaching under her dress popped back into her head.Gabe’s calloused hand was rough on her thigh. They were hot from dancing and a bead of sweat showed on his brow as he locked his eyes with hers and inched his hand higher and higher, well past where the garter was.“I don’t believe it,” she almost shouted, trying to erase the picture from her mind. “You’ve never imagined what your wedding would look like?”
“When I was younger, I wanted a big princess dress, a long veil and a whole lot of lace. But now? None of it seems important as long as I’m getting married to Grey. Nothing else matters until those papers are signed. I don’t care about chicken or fish, or fonts, or table assignments.”
“That’s what we’re here for,” Annabelle said. “You’re Hollywood’s darling—the only woman who could snag the most sought-after actor and get him to give up being a bachelor, not to mention all his fame, for his small-town love.” She paused. “At least that’s how the stories go. They want a fairytale wedding to rival Grace Kelly or Princess Di.”