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“It’s so beautiful.” She sounded touched.
I went behind her and fastened it around her neck. “I just wanted you to have something from me.” I came around to face her, and I was suddenly embarrassed. My emotional boner was at full mast.
I was going to kill Cole for ever saying that to me.
She reached out and stroked my hot cheek. “James—I love it. I’ll never take it off.”
“It’s beautiful on you.” I smiled at her, pleased. “We should go. Happy occasions in my family don’t come around that often—we don’t want to miss any of it.”
The attendants in the lobby stopped and stared at us. “You look amazing, Miss Reynolds,” one of the girls called. Audrey smiled back at her shyly, pleased.
“I figured they’d be saying that to you,” she said.
“No one’s even bothering to look at me, babe,” I said. “You’re too stunning.”
Kai was waiting for us outside. It was a beautiful June day, the weather lustrous and bright. I held Audrey’s hand and led her to the car, careful of her long gown.
“If I may say so, Mr. Preston, Miss Reynolds is looking particularly lovely this afternoon,” Kai said stiffly.
I smiled at him. “You may say so, Kai,” I said, “and I agree.”
When I slid into the car next to her, I looked at her smooth skin in the sunlight, her hand clasped around the necklace I’d given her.
My whole world was centered around her now. Everything else—everything that had seemed crucial to me only last week—was muted in the distance. The thought had been creeping up on me, but now I knew it all at once, sitting and watching her like that.
She smiled. “What?”
“What do you want to do after next week?” I asked her bluntly. I hadn’t planned on asking it, but there it was.
“What do you mean?”
I tightened my grip on her hand. “What do you want to do when we get back from the Bahamas? About us.”
She looked down, and I could see how flustered she was. “I don’t… I don’t know what to say.”
“Do you want to keep seeing me?” I asked. My temples were pounding hard. Fuck. What if she said no? Why the f**k was I doing this to myself?
The thing was, women never said no to me. Never. As in not once. But that was for a different reason than the one I was looking for from Audrey.
“Of course I do,” she said, the words coming out of her all in a rush.
I felt relieved until she looked up at me, her eyes dark and sad. “I just don’t know if we should.”
“Because of your mother?” I asked.
She nodded miserably. “Yours, too.”
“What did she say to you yesterday?”
“Honestly, you don’t want to know right now.”
Anger flashed through me. “I don’t even care anymore,” I said flatly. I could pay Audrey’s mother off, and I would shield Audrey from mine.
If that was what she even wanted.
“I’m tired of them both. We’re adults. We can handle them.”
The car pulled up at Trinity Church; it was unfortunately close to my apartment. Now that I’d finally started it, I wasn’t ready to let the conversation end. I wanted to know where I stood. But we had to go in. The ceremony was going to start soon, and I had to go out back with my brother.
“We’ll finish this later.” I watched her until she nodded her as**sent.
“Audrey.” She looked up at me, her face a mask. “Smile.”
* * *
I deposited her with Cole and Jenny, who were both looking very fancy and freshly f**ked, in a pew toward the front of the church. I headed back toward the rectory, giving curt nods to my mother and father.
“There he is,” Todd said when I came around the corner. “I was hoping you weren’t going to jilt me.”
“Ha ha,” I said. I pushed all the bullshit in my head to the side and smiled at my brother. “This is your day. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
“Good,” he said. There were nine of us back here; Evie had wanted an insane number of bridesmaids so Todd had to ask as many cousins and friends as he could, just to match her.
“Are you ready?” I asked, slapping him on the back.
“I’m past ready,” he said. “I’ve been wanting to marry her since the day I met her. I just want her to be my wife, already. I can’t wait.”
“You get to be married forever,” I reminded him.
“I know. But when you finally figure out what you want, you’re pretty ready for forever. You know what I mean?”
* * *
The enormous church was packed with guests. “How many people are here?” I whispered to Todd. We were waiting in the front of the church for Evie and her bridesmaids to come out.
