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I smile, a swell of tenderness surging up inside me to see him talking to our unborn baby. “Just wait until she’s born and she never listens to you. It’ll drive you mad.”
Calvin is utterly dismissive of this possibility. “Of course she’ll listen to me.” Smiling faintly as if he’s not about to bait me, he says, “She is her mother’s daughter, after all.”
I groan and grab his pillow to hit him with. “I’m too tired for you. Go away.”
He laughs and takes the pillow, replacing it on his side of the bed. “It’s time to wake up. I let you sleep as long as I reasonably could, but Charity is here and she’s not happy. Remember that talk we had about sticky first impressions and the importance of nailing it before I met your mom? This probably wasn’t the best way for us to be introduced.”
I dart up in bed, wide-eyed. “Charity’s here early?”
Calvin shakes his head. “I’m afraid you’re late. Everyone is already here, I just couldn’t bring myself to wake you up so I decided to let you sleep for a bit.”
I gasp, rolling off the bed and touching my hair. “What? Oh, Calvin, why did you do that?” I run into the bathroom and see my hair is a bit of a mess. Not a complete catastrophe, but as expected, I look like someone who just woke up from a nap. “Oh, my pretty hair. Monique worked so hard on it.”
“You look beautiful,” Calvin says dismissively, coming up behind me and encircling my waist with his strong arms. “It’s just a party.Ourparty, in fact. You can be as late as you please.”
“The one time you’re considerate,” I say, shaking my head.
His eyes glitter with amusement. “If it makes you feel better, I’ll promise to never do it again.”
I sigh at him, peeling his arms off me and making my way out of the bedroom. “Did Marie have dinner?” I ask him as we enter the hallway. “I didn’t feed her earlier, I was going to do it before everyone got here.”
“Yes, I made sure to feed Marie.”
“Your friends must think I’m a lazy bum, napping instead of greeting them.”
“They think no such thing. Relax, everything is fine. Well, not Charity, she’s in a bad mood, but now you’re here, so I’m sure she’ll cheer up.”
The lights have been dimmed for our engagement party, the room decked out in shades of silver and midnight blue. I never even talked with the party planner, so I guess Calvin picked the shade.
He’s dressed in a midnight blue suit to match me with silver accents.
That reminds me, I forgot to slip on the glittery Jimmy Choo pumps he put out for me to wear with this dress. I’m barefoot—that explains why I’m so comfortable—so I turn around and quickly make my way back to the bedroom.
When I come back out with my glitter silver heels on, I look around the room. Calvin is standing over where an intimate lounge area has been set up. There’s a couch that isn’t ours under a canopy of dark blue chiffon. Beside it is an end table with champagne chilling in a gold ice bucket.
A handsome man with dark hair and unforgiving eyes sits on the couch, taking up every bit of it. There are three cushions, but he sits in the middle and his aura takes up so much space, no one bothers to sit next to him.
At least, that’s what I think at first, but then a girl in a tight purple dress flits over and sits on his lap.
Oh.
Okay.
We’re lapsitting.
That’s cool.
The funny thing is, it’s like his thigh is a rock and he didn’t even notice her slight weight. He doesn’t move, doesn’t look at her. His gaze never so much as flickers away from Calvin’s despite the knockout wiggling her ass on top of him.
I see Arson nearby. I don’t have to ask—the man who swallowed half of the room with his presence is definitely Nick.
Calvin is talking to him, holding Nick’s attention entirely despite the best attempts of the cute little blonde on his lap. Her long wavy hair falls down her back, nearly covering more of her body than her dress is. She’s smiling and trying so hard for his attention. She leans in to playfully kiss him on the cheek, and he puts a massive hand on her face and pushes her away.
Oh.
Yikes. I guess he wasn’t interested.
Dejected, she gets up and goes over to talk with another girl I hadn’t noticed.
