Page 10 of D’Vaughn and Kris Plan a Wedding

I managed one gulp of the cool liquid before a waiter appeared next to the table, delivering a basket of pita and a dish of hummus before asking if we were ready to order. There were already two menus on the table, so I grabbed one and instructed D’Vaughn to order first while I perused the restaurant’s offerings and settled on something to eat. After we ordered, the waiter took our menus and disappeared.

“So,” I began, dragging a triangle of pita through the hummus and popping it in my mouth after the silence stretched on long enough for things to become awkward, “this place seems nice.”

A measure of relief flashed in D’Vaughn’s eyes, and she glanced around the patio. The rooftop extension of the restaurant had no ceiling or walls—save for a seven-foot-wide trellis on the side that faced the street. The open-air concept allowed for a cool breeze to whisk over us, providing instant relief as the sun steadily moved overhead, its beams dodging the clouds to dance along our skin.

“I know, right! As much as I’m in this area, I can’t believe I’ve never been here before. A rooftop patio has a vibe I can always get with.” Her smile widened into a grin. “Especially when the weather is as amazing as it is today.”

Closing her eyes, she leaned her head back, a move that put her face in position for a persistent ray of light to cast upon her in an almost angelic way. Mere seconds passed as I stared at her, my eyes roving over the rounded jut of her chin, the smooth column of her neck, and the surprising peek of dark ink that danced along the edge of her collarbone that wasn’t covered by her top.

She looks amazing, I thought, smiling softly at the serenity on her face. The thought was so strong that I found myself uttering the words aloud.

Seemingly startled, she quickly dropped her chin, facing me as her eyes popped open. Her cheeks flushed as she bit her lip and lowered her gaze to the table for a brief moment before lifting her eyes to once again meet mine.

“Thank you,” she murmured, a small smile lifting her lips. “So do you.”

Quirking a brow, I rubbed my chin as I eyed her.

“You tryna flirt with me, beautiful?” I teased, tilting my head to the side. Eyes wide, her cheeks instantly bloomed, and she brought her hands to her face, pressing her palms against them. It hadn’t been my intent to fluster her—or...maybe it had—but I couldn’t suppress my grin even if I’d wanted to.

“Oh my gosh,” she mumbled, fanning her face. “I don’t know why I wasn’t prepared for this.”

“Prepared for what?” I asked. “I wouldn’t have pegged you for being this shy. That’s not the vibe you gave off the other night at all.” Diamond might have said that D’Vaughn avoided the spotlight, but throughout the night she was always engaged in conversation with someone.

Her brows knitted. “We barely spoke to each other...” Releasing a slow breath through her nose, D’Vaughn shook her head and took a sip of her water. “I’m not usually...”

She trailed off a second time after flicking her gaze to my left where I knew the cameraperson was slowly circling our table. I waited fruitlessly for her to continue, wondering if she was hesitant to speak because we were being filmed. Leaning forward, I prompted her. “It sounds like a ‘but’ was coming.”

Pursing her lips, D’Vaughn regarded me for a moment before shaking her head again. “That’s because there was. I was going to say that I’m not usually a shy person unless I’m around a group of people that I don’t know, so I don’t know what vibe you picked up on.” Wrinkling her nose, she shrugged. “But it’s obvious that doesn’t matter since God decided to be funny today.”

Curiosity lifted my brows, and I brought my left ankle up to my right knee, getting comfortable for what seemed like it was going to be an interesting story. “Care to explain that?”

Lifting a finger into the air, D’Vaughn indicated for me to wait. “Hold that thought.”

Bowing her head, she pressed her palms together and closed her eyes. Before I could say another word, her lips started moving and I could hear her faintly speaking.

“Lord, I see You got jokey jokes. Obviously, this is You getting me back for that fake prayer I did for the Jitter Cam, and to that I say, well played.”

When she opened her eyes and looked at me, she busted out laughing. That was the oddest prayer I’d ever heard in my life, and the tightening of my features surely displayed that. I knew my face looked crazy.

“Are you religious?” I asked when she composed herself.

D’Vaughn scrunched her nose before wobbling her head left and right. “Um, yes and no. I was born and raised in the church, and still go every Sunday. However, I consider myself to be more spiritual than religious. I mean—” she shrugged “—I regularly participate in certain religious practices, but I don’t subscribe much to the teachings of religious folks.”

My brows furrowed. “What exactly does that mean?”

“In a nutshell: men are flawed and because of that, I tend to leave them out of the relationship I have with my heavenly Father.”

Well, that was interesting. Despite both of my parents being raised Catholic, I came from a decidedly secular household where we were encouraged to defer to our morals over pleasing a higher power. Since my journey through life was unique to me, I didn’t judge anyone who lived theirs differently. However, I didn’t have to be deep in D’Vaughn’s faith to know how it treated people of our ilk. Part of me wanted to leave the subject alone. There were certain topics that were sensitive and had the potential to turn decent conversations into shouting matches, and religion was without a doubt top two on that list, and it wasn’t number two. However, despite the knowledge that traveling down this road could lead to a difficult few weeks ahead, I couldn’t move on to something else without asking the question bouncing around in my head.

“How do you reconcile your faith with your sexuality?” I found myself more than a little curious how she handled something I’d seen many struggle with, and whether it had anything to do with her coming on the show. Was this essentially her giving a big middle finger to the establishment?

D’Vaughn tilted her head, offering me a smile that brightened her entire face and immediately made me smile in response.

“The beauty in my faith is that I don’t have to reconcile anything. I know who I am and what I believe, and that is enough for me.”

Impressed, I sat back. That definitely answered my unasked question. “Wow. That’s awesome,” I commented genuinely, “and not something I’ve heard very often when having conversations like these over the years.”

Still smiling, D’Vaughn shrugged and reached for the pita. “Believe me, I get it.”