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Laughter ripped throughout the suite, and Farrah scrunched her nose with a smile. “Very funny. You know what I mean.”
“I know.” This time, Kris was the one who squeezed Farrah’s arm. “Thank you for being here. All of you.” She gazed around at the other women in the room—her mom; Courtney, her maid of honor; Olivia and Farrah, whom she’d met in Shanghai a lifetime ago and who had, against all odds, stayed two of her closest friends despite time and distance, and Skylar, her soon-to-be sister-in-law, who gazed back at her with a ginormous smile and shimmering eyes.
“Of course we’re here. Like we would miss this.” Courtney’s dark blue eyes lit up with a mixture of love and mischief. “Besides, after your bachelorette party—”
A chorus of groans interrupted her.
“Oh, God. Don’t remind me.” Olivia covered her eyes. “I’ll never be able to look at a lollipop the same way.”
Kris’s wild bachelorette getaway at an adults-only resort in Jamaica was unforgettable for sure—except for all the moments theyhadforgotten after blacking out from too much alcohol.
Then there were the moments Kriswishedshe’d forgotten, like The Beach Incident. And the Lollipop Incident. And the—
“I was going to say, after your bachelorette party, we, uh, want to make sure your wedding goes off without a hitch.” Courtney cleared her throat. “Anyway, we love you and wish you all the happiness and great sex in the world, minus the lollipops.”
Gemma coughed delicately.
“Sorry, Mrs. C,” Courtney added.
“Do I want to know about the—”
“No,” Kris and her bridesmaids replied at the same time.
Gemma shook her head. “That’s probably for the best.”
“Trust me,” Kris said. “It is.”
After a few more minutes of shooting the breeze and fussing with their hair and makeup, Courtney announced it was time to head down.
This is it.
Kris’s hand trembled as she picked up her wedding bouquet. Her nerves increased twofold, zinging through her body like out-of-control Ping-Pong balls.
They stayed with her as she, her mom, and her bridesmaids made their way to the castle’s grand hall, where the ceremony was being held. Her father, the ring bearer (Nate’s cousin), the flower girl (Kris’s cousin on her father’s side), and Janet, the wedding planner, were already waiting by the closed doors leading into the hall.
Gemma gave her husband a quick kiss and Kris another loving squeeze before she slipped into the hall so she could take her seat in the first row as the mother of the bride.
“Look at you.” Roger clasped Kris’s hands while Janet shuffled them into the order of procession. “My daughter, getting married. I can’t believe it.”
“Don’t cry, Daddy,” Kris warned, her throat tight. “I can’t take that chance. My mascara isn’t waterproof.”
He laughed, though the sound came out more watery than usual. “Understood.” He kissed her cheek. “I love you.”
The tightness increased. “I love you, too.”
Then someone flung the doors open, the chords of the wedding march soared in the great hall, and the wedding party filed out one by one until it was Kris’s turn.
She took a deep breath and stepped into the hall, grateful for her father’s strength by her side. Five hundred pairs of eyes locked onto her as she walked down the long, white-carpeted aisle, but Kris ignored them, her gaze drawn to the only man who mattered.
Nate stood at the altar next to Elijah, his best man. Nate’s golden-brown hair gleamed beneath the lights, and he filled out his black Tom Ford tuxedo so well it should be illegal. His eyes blazed with so much love and adoration Kris couldn’t breathe.
Just like that, her nerves disappeared.
Farrah was right. Kris could only see the man she loved—and she couldn’t believe she’d ever been nervous about marrying him.
When she reached the altar, he flashed that slow, sexy smile of his—the one reserved just for her—and Kris’s bones turned liquid.
And after they said their vows, and the minister proclaimed them husband and wife, and Nate kissed her senseless to a resounding chorus of claps and catcalls, Kris knew, deep within her bones, that everything had turned out exactly the way it was meant to.
