“Oh, shut up,” she giggles, squirming until I set her down. We stand less than a foot apart, studying each other. Evie is no longer the almost nineteen-year-old I’d last known, but she’s still undeniably her. Bright blue eyes, brilliant smile. Her hair is shorter and a little darker, but it’s cute and stylish, framing her pretty face with its familiar delicate features.
“I still can’t believe you’re really here,” I breathe.
“I know.” She grabs my hand and drags me into the living room. “Come on. Gianna’s dying to see you again.”
A freaking goddess walks in from what I assume is the kitchen. She has long, dark hair, an adorable baby bump, and a radiant smile. “Hey, nice to see you again,” she says in a darling drawl. “I only got to talk to you for a minute at our wedding.”
Auburn’s wife is younger than him, but she walks with the confidence of a woman who bagged the most eligible billionaire bachelor in New York City. She grips both my hands and leans in for a cheek kiss.
“Thank you for having me. Are you sure I don’t need to get a hotel room?” I ask.
She rolls her green eyes. “Bitch, please. We could house an army in this apartment.”
I love her. She’s real, unlike so many of thewomen Auburn had been with prior to meeting Gianna.
Auburn follows us into his palatial penthouse apartment, nudges us toward the oversized red couch, and takes his wife’s hand. “You two catch up. I’ll help Gianna in the kitchen, and then we’ll make ourselves scarce.”
I watch them go before turning wide eyes back to Evie.
“Don’t say it,” she warns, like she can read my mind, even after all these years.
“I have to.”
“Don’t.”
Ignoring the warning, I wobble my eyebrows at her. “Your brother gives off some serious BDE, Evie. And I say that respectfully.”
My best friend claps her hands over her ears. “Don’t want to hear about my brother’s big dick energy. Don’t. Want. To. Hear. It.”
“That’s not the BDE I was talking about. I meant…” I pause dramatically and coo, “BigDaddyEnergy.”
“Honey, you have no idea,” Gianna chirps, striding into the room with a square black plate of chocolate chip cookies, and my face turns the approximate color of a ripe tomato.
“I, uhhhh. Shit, sorry.”
She sets down the tray and waves a dismissive hand. “Pssshht. Don’t worry about it. You think I don’t know I’m married to a total Zaddy?”
“Someone call my name?” Auburn asks with a smug smile as he brings out a tray of hot appetizers and sets it on the coffee table. It looks like it’s been assembled by a Michelin star chef.
“Are y’all hiding Gordon Ramsey in your kitchen?” I ask, pretending to peer around them.
Gianna rests her hands on her belly. “Some women nest when they’re pregnant. I cook.”
“She cooks like a queen,” Auburn says, grasping his wife’s chin and lifting her face to his for a soft kiss. I feel like an intruder viewing a very intimate moment. He’s looking at her as if she’s his entire world, and it reminds me of that last night on the island. With the man I’ve been trying to forget.
Evie groans. “Don’t you two get started. We have company.”
Gianna steps back, a self-satisfied smirk on her lips as she brushes her red lipstick from her husband’s mouth. “Go get the fruit board, Zaddy, and then we can leave.”
“Oh my gosh, this is too much already,” I say, wiggling my fingers at the vast amount of food.
“We just want you two to have a nice visit and not be bothered by having to worry about food and stuff. Juliette, I didn’t know if you drank red or white wine, so we have both.” She gestures to the bottles on the coffee table. “Evie knows where the wine fridge is, so help yourselves if you need more.”
Auburn returns with a black ceramic tray overflowing with enough fruit to feed the population of Rhode Island. Then he pulls a plump purple grape from the stem and licks it before popping it in his mouth and rolling it around. He lets out a low hum of approval, and the entire time, his heated blue eyes never leave his wife’s. Gianna’s face flushes a pretty pink, and Evie and I slowly turn our heads toward each other, eyebrows raised in question.
A knock on the door interrupts the moment, and Auburn gives Gianna a wink before literally strutting across the living room.
“What was all that with the grape?” Evie hisses to her sister-in-law.
