Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 107204 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 536(@200wpm)___ 429(@250wpm)___ 357(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107204 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 536(@200wpm)___ 429(@250wpm)___ 357(@300wpm)
I laughed. “Noted.”
Noah scattered off to let the others know of the bomb had been defused.
I turned back to Yara and shook my head. She smiled at me.
“You look,” we said at the same time.
A small laugh fell from both of our mouths. “You first,” I said.
“You look like royalty,” she told me. “And you smell delicious, too.”
I smirked. “Thank you.”
“Now,” she said, stepping back and doing a spin. “How do I look?”
My heart skipped as I took her in. “Like every dream come true.”
Her eyes fluttered from my words. “Thank you, Alex.” She moved in closer and straightened my bow tie. She softly spoke words that fucked with my mind. “I can’t believe it, actually.”
“Believe what?”
“That anyone has ever let you go.”
“Goldie?”
“Yes?”
“Sometimes I think about kissing you even when we’re not pretending.”
She stepped back, taken aback by my words. I couldn’t tell if that was a good or a bad thing.
Before she could reply, Noah came rushing over with a notebook and a program. “Here you go, Yara! So you can get started.”
She shook her head, clearing the moment we were about to share and smiled. “I better get to work.” With that, she was off to work to save the day.
The ceremony was beautiful, and Yara was magnificent. As she read through the script she wrote fifteen minutes before showtime, I couldn’t look away from her. She looked remarkable standing before everyone, and the sunbeams fell against her as if they were crafted solo for her.
While everyone else’s eyes were on the bride, mine fell on Yara. On her lips, on her words.
Yara spoke like poetry. Her words weren’t just words, but they were something more. Something uniquely crafted and dipped in profound understanding. She spoke about love in a way that made it seem like her heart had never been shattered.
Something was special about someone who could do that—still have such a purity to them when life gave them the opposite.
“Now, I haven’t had the privilege to spend much time with this beautiful couple, but sometimes you don’t have to spend much time to understand when two people were meant to be. Mandy and Noah, your love moved hundreds of people to show up here today to witness it. Your love inspires others to search out happily ever afters. Your love creates more love within this world. I hope you remember these words as you go on this journey toward forever. Marriage isn’t about the ability to keep falling in love with one another, it’s about the steady steps that come after the love has been formed. It’s about choosing each other day in and day out, even when your foundation is rocked. It’s about reaching out to one another and holding on tight so that when one is unstable, the other is able to grab them and bring them back to their steady steps. As you move forward together as husband and wife, remember to keep taking those forward movements after the I do’s. Take those steps on the good days and take extra ones on the hard nights. This is the beginning of your walk into your future. Oh, and I hope it’s the most beautiful future you’ll ever live, and I pray your footsteps leave a trail of hundreds of beautiful memories along the way.”
I didn’t know how to explain it, but her words…
Her words had heartbeats.
They were an order of operation that made each breath I took a little bit easier. I felt every syllable within every fiber of my being. Her words made me slow down and remember what love could be, how it could move. How it could feel. Her words reminded me that it still existed within me—love. I thought it had vanished from me through the years. But somehow, love was still there—even though I thought I’d never discover it again. It hid in the quiet corners of my soul, broken and bruised, but it was still there. And Yara brought it out of the shadows and into the light.
As I stood there, watching my best friend say “I do,” my heart turned back on because Yara Kingsley somehow found the key to unlock it.
Everything about her made me want more.
The way she smiled.
Glimmer.
The way she talked.
Glimmer.
The way she stood.
Glimmer.
The way she laughed.
Glimmer.
After she finished the ceremony, she smiled my way and every piece of me wanted to taste her lips and to feel her smile against mine.
Glimmer, glimmer, glimmer.
Everything about Yara was a glimmer. She was the beautiful micro-moments in every single moment that existed. I wasn’t simply falling for her, no.
I was crashing.
After the ceremony, everyone enjoyed themselves at the most remarkable reception I’d ever attended. Noah and Mandy did not leave a single stone unturned when it came to the details of their black-tie event. Hundreds of string lights and lanterns. Colorful floor lighting all around the venue space. Ice sculptures. Food trucks. Violinists. Probably thousands of flowers. No stone was left unturned for the event, and every penny spent seemed worth it. Everyone was having the times of their lives.