Page 72 of D’Vaughn and Kris Plan a Wedding

“Do you happen to know where our parents went?” I asked, interrupting her midsentence. They’d been gone for over twenty minutes and I was suddenly ready to leave as soon as possible.

Jae looked up from the green foam blocks in her hands and blinked in surprise.

“Oh!” she exclaimed, blinking in surprise. “I showed them some portfolios of past work and I guess they got caught up. I’ll go get them.”

She placed the items on the table and left out of the room, once again leaving me and Kris alone. Standing, I picked up one of the boutonnieres from the center of the table to distract myself from the rumblings in my mind and between my legs.

“Why painfully?”

The question had come out of nowhere, aggressively breaking into my thoughts. I looked up from the flowers in my hand to find Kris’s eyes on me.

“What do you mean?” I knew exactly what she meant. Simply put, I was not built for confrontation.

“You said that you loved me. Painfully. Why painfully?”

Dang. I hadn’t thought I’d have to explain that part.

“Um...” I placed the tiny arrangement on the tabletop and picked up an arrangement of lilies, stalling for who knows what.

Kris saw right through me, walking the few steps toward me and pulling the arrangement out of my hand. She turned, leaning against the table as she maneuvered me to stand between her legs. With her hands on my waist, she grabbed my gaze and held it with her own.

“Damn,” she chuckled. “Is it that bad?”

Cringing, I shook my head even though the answer was a resounding yes.

“What? No! Of course not!”

Her eyes widened and the teasing smile disappeared. “Aw shit.”

“Oh gosh,” I muttered. I was fucking it up by being ridiculous. Blowing out a fortifying breath through my nose, I squared my shoulders. “Loving you is a little painful, Kris. Mostly because I don’t know what to do with these emotions, but also because it feels too big for its britches.”

The side of her mouth tilted up. I quickly averted my eyes. Her entire everything was distracting in the most pleasurable way. No wonder all of those people online stalked her pages for the next post.

“There’s an egg timer on us and it’s not stopping for nothing and nobody. Trying not to think about what I’m supposed to do with all of these...feelings when the show is over hurts. And trying to figure out what’s next hurts even worse. Falling for you seemed like the easiest thing I’ve ever done, but sustaining it is a beast I can’t defeat.” The words all fell out of my mouth in a tumble, with me not daring to even glance at her in my peripheral until I’d said them all. It was my truth, and though I hoped nothing I’d said hurt her, it was all I had to give right then.

“Wow,” she breathed, the awe in her tone shocking me enough to swing my head back toward her. Her eyes were wide and amazed. Or were they amazing?

They were both.

I was so freaking gone.

“Wow what?” I questioned.

“I don’t know. I guess I didn’t expect all of...that.”

Instantly, I started to step back, wanting to put some distance between us before she shredded me with her dismissal of my feelings.

“Yo, chill out,” she admonished, gripping the skirt of my dress and using it to pull me back into the bubble she’d created for us. “Don’t jump mad before I have a chance to finish what I’m saying.”

To that, all I had was silence. I did what I was good at and worried on my bottom lip to keep from saying anything else. Her thumb was at my mouth within seconds, massaging the flesh until I released it.

“Now,” she began, seemingly satisfied that I wasn’t going to bite my lip again, “that was deeper than I anticipated, and I guess I have myself to blame for that. I could tell you were a thinker when I met you, so it tracks that you would go full deep-end the moment that things got serious between us. Look—” she released my waist and grabbed my hands, linking our fingers as she held them between us “—you don’t have to go into this being pessimistic. Yeah, we both knew how long the show was going to be, but never did we say this was a show-only situation. I know that isn’t what I want. What about you?” Her brows rose as she waited for a response. I shook my head.

“Good. So how about we just dead that in the water right now? Let’s go ahead and make it plain that the end of Instant I Do doesn’t have any bearing on what D’Vaughn and Kris have going on. We’re doing this with or without the show. Is that cool with you?”

I nodded again because it was almost exactly what I wanted to hear. Almost. So, so close.

She smiled. It was big and indulgent and put all her teeth on display. That hurt too.