Page 103 of Lightning Angel
“Everything alright?” He approached her in long strides.
“Yes.” She grinned. “My mom wants to see you.”
Tristan’s face relaxed into a smile. “I see things went well?”
“Of course.” She grabbed his hand and pulled him inside with her, and turned to her mother. “Mom, this is my boyfriend, Tristan Knight. Tristan, my mom.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. White.” Tristan stepped forward and offered a handshake.
“Likewise, Tristan. Please, call me Tiffany.” Tiffany accepted his hand. “Knight as in… could you possibly be connected to Dr. Knight?”
“That would be my father,” Tristan said with a chuckle and withdrew his hand.
“Oh, no wonder. You did strike me as a little familiar. You look like your father.” Tiffany offered him a motherly smile that thawed Alexa’s heart even more. “I can tell you mean so much to my Alexa.”
Tristan glanced at Alexa. “And her to me.”
Alexa blushed and dropped her gaze. She peered at her mother who watched them with adoring, glassy eyes. Jude was right, after all. Her mother was utterly happy for her.
Then she remembered something; Alexa didn’t want Jude to know she visited her mother. Why? She had no idea, but she didn’t want him to know. So she made her mother promise to keep this visit between just the three of them and Cassie, the only other one who knew. Daphne was counted too, but her mother didn’t have toknow.
With the promise to keep in touch and to talk Cassie into giving their mother a chance, Alexa hugged her mother and walked out of the office with Tristan, hand in hand.
She felt so free at heart that she couldn’t help but heave a sigh as they walked out of the building. The burden she had been carrying for years since her parents’ divorce was now lifted. This new turn in her life, it was beautiful.
“Are you happy?” Tristan watched her with a smile.
“I feel blissful.” She let out another contented sigh. “Thank—”
She stopped short and swept in front of him, making him stop walking. This was all his doing;hebrought her back to her mother. He deserved better thanks.
Alexa stood on her toes and kissed his cheek.
Tristan froze. He stared down at her in undisguised awe as she pulled back. She hadn’t been straightforward in their relationship with affections before, other than the hugs, so the stupor her kiss put him in was very much obvious to her.
She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “You don’t like it when I thank you, but I can’t help it every time, so I decided to remedy it. My kisses are going to be the token of my thanks to you from now on.” She shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant, and added, “You won’t saynoto my kisses; at least I’m sure of that.”
She met his gaze and his eyes smoldered with such intensity that nearly dazed her. Tristan leaned down, making Alexa’s heart accelerate, and brushed his lips against her cheek in a feather-light graze.
“I’ll keep earning your thanks, then.”
18
Sparkling Night
Alexa stared at the beauty her sister had transformed her into, staring back from the mirror. She haven’t had a serious makeover or dressed up in the past few months, so her reflection looked almost foreign to her.
Her floor-length gown mirrored the deep hues of the night sky, a rich navy blue, clinging elegantly to her figure before cascading into a flowy skirt. Delicate lace adorned the bodice and the gown’s fitted silhouette accentuated her curves. The off-shoulder neckline revealed a subtle glimpse of her collarbones, where a silver chain with blue stones replaced her cross pendant.
Cassie curled her hair into gentle waves, pinning them in twists to the side of her head, and let the rest cascade over her shoulder.
“Aw, look at you, Alexa.” Cassie rested her chin on her shoulder from behind. “Dressed up for prom.”
“As if this is my first time.” Alexa forced her eyes to roll.
Last year, an upper-class student invited her to go with him, then asked her out on a date, which provoked Jude to jealousy. That had led to their first kiss and then a relationship.
She clenched her jaw at the memory and tried not to think about it.