Page 17 of Gracefully Yours

She gnawed on her bottom lip. “You could say that.”

And, well… maybe I wasn’t the only one who’d done something I shouldn’t have last night. But Hunter… he looked at her like she hung the moon in the sky. It was so obvious, any of us could see it. Except Gabbi. She seemed clueless to how he really felt.

My eyes widened. “Oh my god. Did you sleep with him?”

“Charlotte! Shh!” Gabbi looked around, like she was terrified someone would have heard us. “I don’t want anyone to know yet. It just happened.”

And there was my opening. My chance to tell her what happened. Except… Something held me back. What was it? I couldn’t quite describe thereasonI said what I did. Why I lied. But I pasted on my best pout, hoping she wouldn’t see right through me, or the way I couldn’t bring my eyes to meet Daniel’s.

“Everyone’s got a man except me. I’m still holding on to my v-card, for goodness sakes, and Angelina’s married, Noelle’s practically engaged, and now you’re dating, too?” Even if I’d lost my virginity last night, the rest of it was true. And she didn’t need to know that part.

Gabbi frowned. “Well… We’re not exactly datingyet.” She mussed with her hair, the curls that seemed to hold so much better in her hair than my long, straight blonde locks. “It’s… complicated.”

“Well…un-complicate it.”

Take your own advice, Charlotte. My brain barked at me.

“I can’t. Benjamin doesn’t want us together, and Hunter doesn’t want to ruin the relationship with his brother. Especially not during the wedding.”

“But what do you think Angelina would think?” I squeezed her wrist. “I think she’d be happy for you. Better than that, she’d probably be ecstatic if you ended up as sisters-in-law. Think about it! Married to brothers.”

The best friend’s brother trope had always been one of my favorites, even if I tried not to analyze that too deeply. I had three best friends, but only one of them had a brother.

And we weren’t goingthere.

Gabbi waved off my comment. “Don’t get ahead of yourself there, Char. No one said anything about marriage.” Looping my arm through hers, she looked around the dance floor. “Where’s that man of yours, anyway?”

Oh god.I blushed. “He’s not my man. He’s just…” As if it was fate, my eyes connected with Daniel’s. “He’s my best friend.”

The best friend you let kiss you last night. Who practically memorized your skin with his mouth.I tried not to let my skin flush. Even outside in the idyllic French countryside setting, I was warm recalling what exactly we’d done.

“And?” Gabbi was staring at me like I’d just grown two heads.

Maybe I had. That would certainly help explain why I’d made such reckless choices this weekend.

“And that’s that. A fairytale is just that, Gabbi. A fairytale. It’s never going to happen between us.”

Even if we’d tumbled into bed together last night. That was all it would ever be. One night.

Anything more would jeopardize our friendship. Because I knew myself, and I knew I’d get attached, and if I fell in love, and he didn’t feel the same… All our years of friendship would be gone, just like that.Poof.

“Sure, whatever you need to tell yourself.”

Maybe we were all just experts at lying to ourselves.I frowned. That seemed to be a common theme here.

“If you’re convincing yourself that this thing with you and Hunter is casual, maybe that’s whatyou’retelling yourself, too.”

Gabbi looked down, still holding the glass of water for Angelina. “Shit. Where’d she go?”

I was happy about the topic change, so I looked around the room. “Maybe Benjamin kidnapped her and took her to the gardens? They’re really beautiful, aren’t they?”

Gabbi’s cheeks flushed, the rosy color seeping through her tan skin. “Yeah. Yeah, they are.”

I could only hope that one day I’d have my fairytale ending, the perfect wedding with the perfect man. But Daniel… he didn’t feel that way about me, so there would be no happy ending to our story. Just two best friends who hooked up and wouldn’t talk about it again.

That was just the way it was going to have to be.

CHAPTER3

---