Page 49 of Tempted By Her

“To love,” we all said, touching our glasses together and then sipping the bubbly champagne.

Layne and Honor sat together in one of the chairs as if they wished they could meld together into one person. Ezra had her arm around Joy on the couch and I sat next to Joy, trying to give them space.

“I had so many ideas,” Layne said. “Helicopters, falcons, the works. And I was stressing the fuck out and one night, I had a nightmare.” She smiled at Honor. “And Honor woke me up and asked me what was wrong. I blurted out that I’d had a nightmare about taking her to the top of a mountain to propose and getting attacked by a bear. I had the ring in my nightstand so I didn’t lose it and I just yanked it out and said that planning was stressing me out too much so if she could just say yes now, I could go back to sleep.”

Joy’s mouth dropped open.

“And I said yes,” Honor said, smiling at Layne. “It was perfect. I didn’t need a mountain. I just needed you to give me the damn ring.”

I snorted as they kissed.

“I gave you the damn ring. Now where’s mine.”

Honor winked at her. “It’s coming.”

* * *

The champagne was delicious,and dinner was incredible, and the joy that surrounded Layne and Honor was contagious, but there was still something missing.

I wondered what Lark was doing. If she was having fun with Mia. How many drinks she’d had. When she was going to come home. If she would come home.

I left Layne and Honor’s earlier than I normally would have, but I told them I was tired. The truth was that I couldn’t handle being around two such happy couples. It had definitely gotten to me tonight when I could normally just go with the flow.

Lark wasn’t back yet when I walked into the apartment, so I snuggled with Clem on the couch with a new book. I’d gone a little overboard with buying holiday romances and I was still working through them. The disaster lesbian main character was really speaking to me, and the love interest was a butch wedding planner, so what more could you want?

I was almost halfway through the book when I heard some noise outside the door. At first I ignored it, figuring it was just one of the neighbors, but then I heard what sounded like someone trying to put their key in the lock.

Clementine followed me to the door where I looked through the peephole.

“Let me in,” an inebriated voice said. From what I could tell, Lark was standing outside with Mia trying to hold her up.

“Hello,” Lark said when I opened the door.

“Hey,” I said.

Mia’s face went a little red. “She had a few at my place, so I brought her back.”

“I can take it from here,” I told her, reaching for Lark, who stumbled into my arms with a giggle. Oh, she was wasted.

“Thanks,” Mia said. “We tried to get her to slow down.” She kept trying to explain, but I waved her off.

“It’s fine, not a big deal. Thanks for being a good friend.”

Mia smiled and then handed me Lark’s keys.

“See you later,” I said.

“Have a good night.” She headed down the stairs and I dragged Lark inside. It was a job to get her to her room. She kept petting my hair and singing.

“Lark, you are a lightweight,” I said as I dumped her onto her bed. She giggled and rolled on her side.

“Did you have fun tonight?” I asked as I pulled out some pajamas for her. I didn’t think she’d be able to get them on herself without assistance.

Lark squinted at me.

“You’re sooooooo hot,” she said.

“Thank you,” I said. “So are you.” Even with snot running out her nose. Even completely wasted like she was now. Lark was always hot.

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