Page 79
Kit, always quick to catch on, smirked and said, “Well, I mean, duh. Doesn’t everyone?”
And then they all laughed when Imani muttered, “Sure as shit seems like it.”
“To Eve! Who found the beautiful butch of her dreams and is getting her happily ever after!” Michael said, his eyes shining with love and no small measure of pride as he held his champagne flute aloft.
Lydia whooped and held up her glass as Shannon and Bonnie cheered and did the same. “Love you, Eve,” she said as they all leaned in to clink their glasses together.
“Love you,” Eve said, her smile bright. She winked at Michael and added, “Couldn’t have done it without you.”
Lydia sniggered when Michael playfully responded, “Oh, I know.” Whatever he was about to say next was interrupted by three sharp raps on the door of the small room just down the hall from the main dining room that they’d turned into Eve’s bridal suite, and her pulse jumped as she turned to look at the door.
She’d enjoyed the last few hours of sipping champagne and hanging out with Eve without the chaos that inevitably followed Jack and Kit wherever they went. Not to say Michael didn’t bring his own brand of energy to the room, but it was more controlled without the spark of the dangerous duo’s lively personalities. But they’d all been dressed and ready for close to half an hour now, and she knew it was only a matter of time before it was their turn with the photographers.
Though, in all honesty, there was only one photographer she wanted to see, and there was no containing the smile that lit her face when Zann called, “Can I come in? Is everyone decent?”
“Yep!” Michael yelled.
Zann’s playfully disappointed “Damn,” as she opened the door made everyone laugh, and Lydia’s heart fluttered as warm brown eyes found hers across the room.
“Smitten!” Michael coughed loudly.
“Absolutely,” Zann retorted without a hint of embarrassment as she winked at Lydia.
Lydia held her breath as Zann’s gaze slid slowly over her, taking in the sight of her in her flirty, knee-length, dark teal dress, and took advantage of the moment to drink her in, as well. Zann was always arrestingly beautiful, but there was something about seeing her in a pair of tailored navy slacks and a matching waistcoat over a pressed white dress shirt that was left open at the collar with her sleeves crisply rolled to mid-forearm to show off her strong forearms and the watch Aspen had given her, that did things to her.
Zann’s eyes returned to hers, and she licked her lips, consciously resisting the urge to squeeze her legs together as desire rippled low in her belly at the heat that smoldered in Zann’s gaze.
“Eyyy, let’s go!” a new, but strangely familiar voice called. “You said you’d be fast, Zee. What happened?” An unfamiliar woman peeked past Zann to survey the room, and Lydia realized who she was when she grinned at her and said, “Hey, Wikipedia!”
Lydia laughed and lifted a hand in a little wave. “Hello, Imani. It’s so nice to properly meet you.”
“Wikipedia?” Eve asked.
“When I was jokingly threatening to look her up on the internet yesterday—”
“Jokingly, my ass,” Zann muttered.
“—she told me that her Wikipedia page would be the most reliable source of information,” Imani continued as if Zann hadn’t spoken, though the smack she gave her shoulder said she’d heard her.
“I mean, that makes sense,” Eve said. “I’m sure TAG’s legal team keeps tabs on it. I know my agent has an alert set on mine so she’ll know right away if anyone tries to change it.”
“Oh my god, you, too?” Imani groaned.
“Is that a bad thing?” Eve asked as she set her mostly-empty champagne flute on the small table beside her chair.
Lydia smirked. “Who else have you met with one?”
“Me,” Zann said, smirking impishly as she held up a hand.
Imani rolled her eyes. “And the border collie twins.”
Michael barked out a laugh. “That is, without a doubt, the most accurate description of Kit and Jack that I’ve ever heard.”
Lydia inclined her head in agreement with Michael. Kit and Jack were both a little too rambunctious to ever be considered a so-called “golden retriever” partner, but beneath that, they were loyal, sweet, incredibly intelligent, and had boundless stores of energy, just like a border collie.
Imani grinned. “Right? Like, we have a nephew who’s bouncy like that, but I don’t think I’ve ever met an adult with that much energy before. They’re, like, walking advertisements for Ritalin.”
“A good run and a puzzle to hyper-fixate on is usually enough to control the crazy,” Michael shared.
