Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 89083 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 445(@200wpm)___ 356(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89083 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 445(@200wpm)___ 356(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
“Seriously, stop.” I laugh.
“Come on! Don’t treat me like your innocent baby sister. I’m a grown woman, and I want all the dirty details.”
“No, you don’t.”
She sighs. “Okay, maybe I just want to live vicariously through you. Liam and I decided to do this stupid thing where we don’t do anything more than kiss the last month before the wedding, and I’m dying over here.”
I snort. “I thought you went up to your room to nap this afternoon.”
“By napping, I meant kissing,” she says. “Only kissing. And don’t get me wrong, the waiting is hot, but I might combust before our wedding night.”
I laugh. I was so down after getting that text, so down all through dinner, but it’s so easy to be happy around her. “I think you can make it a few more days.”
“Easy for you to say. You have Carter in your bed.” She grins. “Maybe the special moment will happen while you’re in the suite!”
A thrill races through me at the thought, and I realize I want to make it a plan. I shouldn’t, but . . . “Maybe.”
“Would you be okay with that?”
I want to tell her the truth about our relationship. Honestly, I assumed I would at some point, but . . . what a tangled web we weave. “I could see it happening,” I admit.
“Then let’s get you another drink!”
After a trip to the bar, my little sister and I dance until I’m breathless and my feet are aching. These shoes are hot but not very forgiving. When a favorite eighties song ends, I put a hand on her arm. “I’m going to the table. I need a drink.”
She grins and waggles her fingers in a little wave, already moving her hips to the beat of the next tune.
I swing by the bar to get a bottle of water before heading to our booth on the back side of the dance floor. I’m so focused on rehydrating that I don’t even notice I’m not alone until I settle into the booth and Rich swoops in to take the spot next to me.
“Hey, beautiful,” he murmurs. He slides in so close his thigh presses against mine.
I scoot in farther, and he follows. “Back off.” The words are low, breathless, and probably impossible to hear over the thumping house music.
He holds up both hands. “I’m here as a friend. I just needed to tell you something.”
“What?” I snap. I hate the way I feel when he’s close. Powerless. Trapped. Dirty.
He tilts his head from side to side, stretching his neck. “Why do you look at me like that? I came here because I care about you, but you’re looking at me like I’m a monster.”
“Where did you get that picture?”
“You already know the answer to that.”
“Did he give it to you, or did you take it off his phone after he died?”
“It? You think that’s the only one I have?”
The knots in my stomach are folding in on themselves. Again and again. Tighter and tighter. Pictures. Plural. “If you ever cared about me at all, you’ll delete them.”
His eyes flash. “No.”
“Then you are a monster. And there’s nothing you have to say that I want to hear.”
“Really? Not even if I know something about your boyfriend?”
I still. Shit. He knows. And if he knows, he’ll tell my parents. And if my parents know, they’ll flip out, and it’ll ruin Saanvi’s whole wedding weekend. I won’t let that happen.
“You deserve someone good, Teagan. You might not want that someone to be me, but it’s definitely not him.”
He doesn’t know. He’s just spewing his regular bullshit. I drain the rest of the water and avert my gaze to the dance floor, trying desperately to keep the relief off my face.
“I saw him with another woman tonight.”
“So?”
“Oh.” He arches a brow. “So you two have an open relationship, then? Interesting. Maybe Heath knew you better than you knew yourself.”
“Shut up,” I growl. My nails bite into my palms, and I force myself to relax my hands. I take a deep breath. “I’m sure whatever you saw wasn’t what you thought. Carter has a lot of friends. He’s lived here his whole life.”
“They weren’t talking to each other in the way friends talk. She practically jumped into his lap when she saw him, like she’d done it a hundred times.” He smiles slowly, like this is a poker game and he knows he’s laying out a winning hand. “And then they left. Together.”
I flinch as jealousy slams into me. I know Carter. This is what he’s like—the women, the flirting. At least it’s what he’s been like for a while now. I shouldn’t be surprised that a random woman threw herself at him. And he’s not really mine, so I have no right to feel this jealous at all.
I want to ask what exactly he saw, what she looks like, and where Carter is now. I want to go over to Jackson Brews and get between him and any woman who dares to get too close. But I can’t reveal those insecurities to Rich, and in truth, I have no right to feel this possessiveness rocking through me.