Page 62 of D’Vaughn and Kris Plan a Wedding

You know what? On that note, let me go on home. Kris and I are going to have dinner together and discuss strategy at my place since we can’t be seen in public outside of the events scheduled for us. I’m not cooking. We’re ordering takeout. Ooh, wait! I wonder if it’s too late to ask if she can bring some of her dad’s chili con carne! That stuff is amazingly addictive.

Okay. I’m going for real. My final thought is that I’m looking forward to next week. I have no idea what our tasks might be and that makes me nervous, but with our family around us, I know that we can get through anything.

Chapter Ten

Kris

When I Dip You Dip

When D’Vaughn opened her door that evening, she wore high-waisted leggings that came up past her belly button, a fitted crop top, and her hair was gathered into a puffy bun on top of her head. I quickly realized that I hadn’t seen her dressed so casually in the few weeks that I’d known her, and that I’d apparently been missing out. D’Vaughn’s body was mouthwatering and my fingers itched to dance across her skin while I put my lips on her.

Not for the first time, I wondered if tonight was a mistake.

“You know we could’ve just had this conversation over the phone, right?” she said, as if she hadn’t asked me to bring over a very specific dish.

She turned on her heel after closing the door behind me, giving me an uninterrupted view of her jiggling cheeks moving freely in those leggings as she headed for the sofa. Internally, I let off a groan. I’d only insisted on coming over because I was feeling a way after the state I’d found her in at the fitting, but I hadn’t expected D’Vaughn’s curves to be displayed like this. She’d insisted that everything was fine, but I hadn’t been able to shake the feeling that something was off. Now, we were at her spot, and she was looking how she was looking not even a week after I’d declared that I was going to keep sex out of this thing.

It was going to be a long night.

“Yeah,” I agreed, “but we can’t get good video over the phone.” And I couldn’t see her, or touch her, or kiss her over the phone either.

Dropping down onto the sofa, she folded one leg underneath her and snapped her fingers. “I forgot about the dang cameras.”

Grinning, I handed her the plastic bag I’d brought with me, and crouched down to set up the mini tripod on her coffee table. I knew that she had the camera she’d been assigned, but I was already so used to carrying one around with me that I grabbed mine without thinking. “Yeah, I figured that. We eatin’ or talkin’ first?”

“Talking first. I don’t want to accidentally belch midsentence.”

Grinning, I finished turning on the small device. “You ready?” I glanced over my shoulder to see her lips pursed in a pout as she cradled the stacked containers inside the bag.

“If I have to be.”

I chuckled. “Stop playing, girl. You already know what’s up. Besides, this is the easy part.” We didn’t have to record every moment of our lives, but we were required to submit at least two hours of video every week, not including our filmed tasks.

Nodding, D’Vaughn sighed. Stretching forward, she placed the opened bag on the table, out of view of the camera, and sat back. “You’re right. Go ahead.”

With the press of a button, I started the camera and took a seat next to D’Vaughn.

“So, why don’t you tell me what I walked in on between you and your mother earlier?”

“It was nothing big,” she assured me, shaking her head. “Tanisha stopped by the shop for a quick minute, and Mama had an attitude about it. Niesha called Mama to the carpet, and then we hugged it out.”

As she recounted the entire story, I could feel my forehead wrinkle. When she finished, I could barely see through my narrowed eyes.

“Tanisha? The same Tanisha from the show?”

Smiling at some memory I wasn’t privy to, D’Vaughn nodded. “Yeah, that’s her.”

I remembered her well. I also remembered how she’d spent the majority of the night with her hand on D’Vaughn’s thigh as she whispered in her ear. Hearing her name brought a bristly, grassy feeling to the pit of my stomach, and I didn’t like it one bit. Canting my head to the side, I asked, “What was she doing at the shop? How did she even know you’d be there?”

“You know what?” D’Vaughn’s brows furrowed as if she’d just thought about it. “I don’t even know! She said a little birdie told her, but I never got a real answer.”

Seemingly tickled about the idea, she laughed. I didn’t join in because I didn’t see what was so funny. There was no way it was a coincidence that the woman who’d shown D’Vaughn the most attention during the meet-and-greet just so happened to show up at her dress fitting. I’d watched Instant I Do before, and bringing in ex–love interests to stir up drama was their MO. But if anything, I would’ve expected one of D’Vaughn’s unsympathetic-ass ex-girlfriends to pop up. Not a chick from the show who she clearly had some sort of chemistry with.

After a moment, she realized that I was sitting there somber-faced, and abruptly cut her amusement short.

“What a minute. What is this face for?”

“This is my thinking face.”