Page 22 of Set In Stone

I have to tell her before it’s toolate.

A glance at the clock told me that she would probably wake soon. Deciding that I would tell her over breakfast, I grabbed a towel to wipe the sweat off my face andneck.

I felt Krystina’s presence before I saw her. Slowly turning around, my angel came into view. She was wearing one of my t-shirts and her beautiful legs were bare. My gaze traveled up the long length of them until I reached her face. Her eyes penetrated mine and raked over my features. I knew what she saw. It was what I saw in the mirror every morning – eyes haunted from a past I couldn’tescape.

“Good morning, angel,” I greetedlightly.

“I’m all about taking out my frustrations on a punching bag, but I think you were trying to kill it. You’re up really early. Everything okay?” she asked groggily with a yawn as she came towardsme.

Appearing to not care about the fact that I was covered in sweat, she wrapped her arms around my waist and rested her head against my chest. I brought my hand up to stroke her hair, appreciating the soft feel of her luscious brown curls between myfingers.

“Everything is just fine,” I lied. I couldn’t help it. Her embrace was like heaven and I didn’t want to ruin it. “Are you hungry? I can make us omelets if you’dlike.”

“Mmm, that sounds good,” she said and looked up at me with a sleepy-eyed smile. “But you know me. I need coffeefirst.”

I leaned down and planted a kiss on the tip of hernose.

“Why am I not surprised?” I joked and squeezed her tighter tome.

We stayed that way for another few moments, a silence settling between us. I knew she was thinking about the numerous times my dreams pulled her from her sleep throughout the night. I could tell she was worried by the way she clung to me, as if she were hanging on for dear life. I hated that I was the cause for herconcern.

Because of that, I couldn’t lay anything else on her today. After weeks of tension, we were finally in a good place. I just wanted to stay there for a little whilelonger.

Later. I’ll tell herlater.

9

krystina

It was nearingfour o’clock on Saturday afternoon. Allyson and I had been shopping for hours. Surprisingly, we both found dresses for the grand opening of Matteo’s restaurant in record time. I settled on a floor-length dress of royal blue chiffon. My neck and collarbone would be exposed enough to show off the triskelion necklace Alexander bought for me after we first got together. I hadn’t worn it in a while and I knew he’d be pleased to see it on me. Allyson found a yellow silk dress that hugged her curves in all the right places and complimented her golden hairbeautifully.

By eleven that morning, our dresses had been charged to Alexander’s account at Bergdorf Goodman on Fifth. Afterward, we hit up Murphy’s for an early lunch and to catch up on each other’s latest gossip. By one o’clock, our appetites for both food and girl-talk had been appeased and we were on our way. We had been browsing wedding dress boutiques eversince.

“What about thisone?”

I looked up to see Allyson holding out a long white satin dress that was full of lace and frills. The train on the wedding gown had to be at least a mile long. Why she continued to gravitate toward flounce and extravagant beadwork was beyond me. The last thing I wanted to look like was a bedazzled cupcake. I wanted a more classic look. Plain. Simple. With a shake of my head, I pressed my lips together andfrowned.

“There’s too much going on. I’m looking for something simpler,” I toldher.

“Krys, this is about as simple as it gets!” she exasperated loudly. “You’re engaged to a billionaire. I don’t think simple is going towork.”

“I already told you. Alex and I decided to go with a small wedding. Neither one of us wants an extravagant affair,Ally.”

“What does your mother say aboutthat?”

I rolled myeyes.

“I haven’t told her yet. She’s still trying to come to terms with the fact that I’mengaged.”

“I figured as much,” Allyson laughed. “I went down to the main office for the apartment building this past Tuesday to pay the rent, only to discover that Frank already paid it. I think your mom still has hopes of you moving back in withme.”

Isighed.

“I’m sorry, Ally. I’ll talk to my stepfather aboutit.”

“I’m not sure if it will do much good, at least until the wedding day and you actually say the words ‘until death do us part’. Speaking of which, how small of a wedding are you talking abouthere?”

Grateful for the opportunity to stop talking about my mother, I casually walked over to the row of bridesmaids dresses. I tossed Allyson a small, yet knowing,smile.

---