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I nod and she launches herself at me, wrapping her arms around my shoulders and tackling me back against the armchair.
I’m laughing snottily as she pulls herself off me and retreats back on the coffee table. “Does this mean I have my wedding planner back?” The smile drops off my face and Bee’s expression sours, too. “Shit, sorry. That was a stupid thing to say.”
“It’s okay. I, um… I actually forgot about the wedding. Wasn’t it supposed to be this week?”
“I pushed it back,” Bee admits. “I wanted to sort out things between us first. I didn’t want to walk down the aisle with a maid of honor who hated my guts.”
I stop short, completely taken aback. “I’m sorry—did you just say what I think you said?”
She gives me a cautious, self-conscious smile. “You can totally say no. I’ll completely understand. But I am asking.”
“Because you have no other friends?”
Aleksandr full-on snorts with laughter and Bee flips him the bird. “I have friends,” she insists. “Just none that are privy to all the skeletons in my closet.”
I stare at her incredulously. “And I am?”
“Well, let’s put it this way: there’s nothing I wouldn’t tell you.” She holds up her pinky finger. “Pinky promise.”
Smiling, I can’t resist looping my pinky through hers. “Oh, alright, screw it. I’ll be your damn maid of honor.”
Aleksandr takes that as his cue to sidle over to the lounge area and sit down. “Aw, look at you two. One big, happy family.”
I glare between Bee and Aleks harshly. “Let’s get one thing straight right now: I may be good with the two of you, but that does not mean I’m okay with Dmitri. I have no desire to speak to him and the feeling seems mutual. So let’s just keep it at that.”
Bee throws Aleksandr a worried, wordless glance.
“What?” I snap. “And considering the promise we just made, I’m expecting an honest answer.”
Bee pushes her hair back behind her ears. “You are carrying his baby. You can’t ignore him forever.”
I get to my feet and grin viciously. “Wanna bet?”
64
DMITRI
“Come on, baby,” she goads with a seductive smile. “Smile for me.”
I have to fight every instinct in my body to keep from scowling. I can’t believe she talked me into a fancy dinner at Sakura tonight.
Bee leans in and breathes in my ear as she drapes a hand around my neck. I have the urge to cringe away from her smoky breath, but there are a dozen pairs of eyes on us at the moment and at least half of them will report every tiny micro-expression back to Vittorio.
“Seriously,” she murmurs. “Everyone’s watching.”
I press my lips to her neck and she laughs girlishly. It’s amazing how she can keep her smile in place even when she’s irritated as hell. And she definitely is. I can tell from the way her nails dig into my arm. I can feel each talon through my shirt and jacket.
“You are impossible.” The inflection is flirty, but the words are anything but.
“I told you I didn’t want to come out tonight.”
She glides her hand down my arm. “Oh, suck it up, buttercup. If I can be seen in public with this hideous stomach—” She looks down and runs a palm lovingly over her fake belly. “—then you can handle one public dinner with your fiancée before we walk down the aisle.” Her smile falters for only a second. “Besides, Vittorio already pitched a hissy fit when I told him I’d pushed the wedding back by two weeks. He’s suspicious now and we need to convince him everything’s just fucking peachy between us.” She smiles a little wider, displaying her pearly white canines. “We need to play the happy couple.”
“Fine.” I swallow and adjust my collar. “How’s the wedding planning going?”
“Fine.”
She’s been holed up with Wren in the lower apartment for five days straight. Obviously, Wren’s stopped freezing Bee out. I would have asked how Bee managed to thaw out the ice princess if I wasn’t so intent on pretending like I didn’t give a fuck.
