Page 162 of Rather: The Therapist

“To Kofi and Rather,” everyone chanted.

To Priest and Rather. Inescapable thoughts ruined the beauty of the moment for me.

My intuition confidently revealed I wasn’t alone in my brief battle with delusion. So was he. I didn’t need the carefully curated seating chart to locate him. I felt his eyes on me. His gaze was sharp and relentless.

There was a smile on every face in the building except his. He was deep in thought. Deep in regret. Deep in feelings.

I sipped the champagne from the glass, desperate to quench my thirst. Priest was all-consuming. And, though I tried to tear my eyes from him, the task proved nearly impossible.

“We’re about to be served,” Kleigh informed me, rescuing me from the web Priest was spinning.

“Thank you.”

Mere seconds after Kleigh’s forewarning the first course was served, somewhat quieting everyone around us. We’d settled for a three-course meal because I wasn’t interested in the soup option and we had a long day ahead of us.

By the time the entree was in front of us, the maneuvering of Priest’s muscular frame drew my attention in his direction. He placed one foot in front of the other, peeling back another layer of my sanity with each step. His beauty was breathtaking.

Until he stood in front of us, my eyes didn’t leave him. They never departed from his. There was a fire brewing between my thighs. With any luck it would subside before I made it to the altar in less than twenty-four hours.

My breath hiked in my chest as his aroma swarmed my nostrils. Involuntarily, my jaw locked, fusing my mouth shut. I slid my open hands down my dress to discard the sweat. Tremors shook my body as if the temperature had lowered forty degrees in an instant. To some far away place, I wanted to disappear.

Please.

He lowered his frame to meet Kofi’s ear. Just inches away, he commanded me. All of me. And, naturally, I gave him all that he requested. My eyes. My energy. My sanity. My oxygen. It wasn’t until he straightened his spine and took off in the other direction that I could breathe again. See again. Think again. Smile again.

Momentarily, he halted near his assigned seat. Seconds later he was hand-in-hand with his date and the two were headed out of the ballroom. My heart fell from my chest onto the gold-trimmed plate of gourmet food.

“Bad Boys,” Rome protested.

“Boring,” Rugger teased. “Colombiana.”

“Aren’t you tired of watching that?”

“Tired of watching a master of the craft? I’m not.”

“It’s not your night, so you don’t get to choose, anyway,” Roulette stated as a matter of fact. “Tonight is all about Rather. What is it that you want to watch?”

My mind was somewhere else. My mind was with someone else. What the girls were watching at the impromptu sleepover somehow didn’t matter to me. Without a doubt, no one would be watching television. It would be watching us. There was too much catching up to do and too much to talk about. No one would care who was on the screen.

Where have you gone?

Priest’s whereabouts shouldn’t have been my concern, but the anguish in those dark eyes concerned me.

“Rather–” Range called out. “She’s talking to you, babe.”

We cut the final corner in the Mercedes Sprinter. I could hardly wait to remove my dress and trade it for the matching pajama set Rome had bought for us all.

“Sorry,” I breathed, “My mind is somewhere else. I don’t care what we put on. I’ll watch whatever you choose.”

“Does it have anything to do with that fine black brother of Kofi’s?” Roulette inquired.

Nodding, I admitted the obvious.

“He left early. I can’t help but wonder where he’s gone.”

“You don’t have to wonder too long, because if I’m not mistaken, he’s standing right outside of that sick ass Phantom.”

Royce’s words jolted me, throwing me from my seat and toward the window next to the seat in front of me. I was at the very back of the Sprinter with my legs stretched out further than my thoughts.

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