Page 29 of Promise Me Forever

“The guy I was dancing with was someone I met at your wedding. I assume you didn’t recognize him?”

“Well, it wasn’t a great shot, and he did look familiar, but I couldn’t put a name to the face. Or the ass, which was especially fine, I thought.”

“I thought you only had eyes for Tucker’s ass?”

“No, I only havehandsfor Tucker’s ass. My eyes are still free agents. So, who was he?”

I have no idea if the name will mean anything to her. I still have no clue whether he was an actual wedding guest. Just because he pretended to be Charlie doesn’t mean he was a gate-crasher. I pretended to be Scarlet, and I was the damn maid of honor.

“He was, and in fact still is, Drake James.”

“Wait,” she says, blinking in confusion. “Drake James as in James and James, the place where you work? As in Nathan James’s brother, Dalton James’s son, and Amber James’s brother-in-law?”

“I have no idea about the last two, but it’s a definite yes to the first. Do you know him? Did you invite him to the wedding?”

“Nope, sorry sweetie. I kinda know Amber, in a charity committee–lunch kind of way. She’s married to the oldest brother, Elijah. And I’m sure I’ve been at functions at the same time as him. But no, he wasn’t invited as far as I know. I mean, I’m not worried about that—he’s not the kind of guy you’d object to turning up. It’s not like he was going to steal the silver. It’s odd, but in more of a funny-anecdote way than a call-the-cops way. Why is this an NDA, babes? What else happened?”

I bury my face in my hands and don’t know whether to laugh or cry. Am I pissed at him for lying about being a wedding guest? No, I’m not. He never actually said he was. In fact, he told me he was only pretending to be Charlie. I don’t feel like he was being malicious. I do, however, feel completely bewildered. When I emerge from my hand cave, my cheeks are on fire, and the look on Emily’s face pushes me over the edge into laughter.

“No!” she exclaims, her eyes huge. “You didn’t? Did you? Drake fucking James? At my wedding? Oh my god, Amelia. I couldn’t be more proud. Tell me everything, right now. No, wait—we need more wine. This is definitely a two-bottle conversation.” She pulls out her phone and within seconds has ordered pizza and extra booze to be delivered. Looks like we’re having a party.

“Right. Go,” she instructs. “Leave out nothing. I’m a boring married woman now. I have to live vicariously through my girl friends’ sex lives.”

“That’s not true—I can tell from the way you’re glowing. You’re getting plenty of first-class bedroom action.”

“Okay, I am. But still… Spill it.”

It feels so good to talk to her about all of this and to laugh about it. She’s not only my friend, she’s also a creature from Drake’s world. She bridges the gap between us.

“Well, I didn’t…” I clear my throat and continue. “We didn’t you-know-what, actuallyatyour wedding. We dancedand talked, and then we went back to his hotel. He lives in the penthouse at the Grand Regent.” Emily doesn’t even blink an eye at this, which kind of proves my point about the world she comes from.

“And?” she asks, making a get-on-with-it gesture with her hands. “That can’t be all I get. What happened?”

“Everything happened. Nudity happened. Kissing happened. Orgasms happened. Absolutely mind-blowingly awesome sex happened. The best I’ve ever had. It was… pretty freaking amazing.”

We both giggle, and for a moment it feels like we’re eighteen again, lying awake in our dorm room and talking about boys. Or in my case, just the one boy. “I’ve always found the James brothers insanely hot,” she says, draining the last of her red and staring at the empty glass in disappointment. “Every single one of ’em. Heck, even the dad is hot. One of my sister’s friends had a fling with Nathan years ago, but that isn’t saying much—a lot of people had a fling with Nathan before he settled down. Drake, though? From what I hear, he’s always been a bit of a mystery. More of an enigma, living away and all. He was with someone years ago—one of the Gallagher girls, I think. Maybe Mimi or Tiffy…”

“Mimi? Tiffy? Are they actual women or characters in a fifties sitcom?”

“Don’t judge—they can’t help it if they’re the waspiest wasps in the waspdom. It was Tiffy, I think. Yeah. They were, like, pre-engaged, you know? Then after the mom died, there was some drama and they split. Later, he disappeared off to Chicago, and that’s pretty much when my gossip ends. Wow. I just can’t believe it. Drake James, hot damn. How have things been at work? Does your new boss know that you screwed his brother?”

“Ah. Well… So. That’s the thing.” You’d think I would have come to grips with the situation by now, but the absurdity of itall continues to blow my mind. “As it turns out, Nathan isn’t my new boss. Drake is.”

She looks suitably horrified, and her hand flies up to cover her mouth as she gapes at me. “What? Noooooo! And you had no idea?”

“Not a clue. He was just this cute guy I met at a wedding. My first and only one-night stand. You can imagine my shock when I rolled up for work on Monday and there he was, still hot as sin, staring at me like I had two heads.”

Emily makes sympathetic noise and asks a flurry of questions about what happened next. I tell her all about my fear that they would fire me and the deal Drake and I made to erase all memories of that night from our minds.

“But is that working?” she asks after checking her phone and telling me pizza is fifteen minutes away. “I mean, if your night together was as vagina-melting as you say it was, can you just forget all about it?”

“Well, it’s been over a week now, and neither of us has mentioned it at all. But truthfully, Em, no, it’s not working. At least not for me. Every time I see him, my vagina does indeed melt, and it reminds me of exactly what it’s missing. But I just have to keep trying even harder to ignore it, because I can’t risk everything by listening to my vagina. This job and my mom’s health are a lot more important to me than sex.”

“Even spectacularly good sex?”

“Even that. I don’t ever want to be dependent on a man again, Emily. Not after what happened with Chad. I worked hard to get back into the working world, and this job was a real break for me. I’m not going to mess it up just because the man is…”

“Irresistible?”

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