Page 58 of Love and Other Trials
She lifted her head, looking like the sexiest, sweatiest mess this side of Biloxi. “Dax, you are the best.”
He kissed her softly, so sweetly he was sure both their hearts rolled over. “Ah, Elizabeth. What you do to me.”
She laid another kiss over the center of his chest, and he closed his eyes, savoring the warmth, the woman, and the magic between them.
When he heard a pounding on the door, he groaned. “That can’t be good.”
Ariel was already rolling off him and pulling on her clothes. “What time is it?”
He turned to make out the digital clock and winced. “Almost eleven.”
Another groan sounded from his girl, and he felt her pain as he put his clothes back on as well.
“You don’t need to get dressed.” She started for the bedroom door. “I’ll go see who it is.”
“Like I’m leaving you to face it alone.”
He followed her out into the living room. Sherlock was at the front door, staring at it, his tail sticking straight up. Yeah, he knew they had a problem. “Last chance, honey. I can say you’re asleep.”
Ariel only grabbed the doorknob and opened the door. Tricia and Terry stood on the steps with two other blond women. All were clenching their hands, worrying their lips.
“What’s the matter?” Ariel asked, stepping outside as he joined her.
Tricia looked at Terry before turning back to them. “Oh, Ariel. We don’t know what to do.”
She put a hand on her sister’s arm. “Where’s Tiffany?” she asked, her voice filled with alarm.
Dax could feel his stomach churn.
Terry gave a strangled cry. “We don’t know! Ariel, she’s disappeared.”
Dax thought about going inside and putting the garlic wreath around his neck.
THIRTEEN
Tiffany was missing!
“How did this happen?” she nearly shouted before pulling herself back from the cliff.
Sherlock barked at her agitation, and Dax rubbed her back in a show of comfort she appreciated and needed.
“We don’t know.” Terry pressed her forehead to Ariel’s shoulder, hanging on for dear life. “We were all drinking in the lodge and talking about how much Mom hates us. Alison and Presley’s moms hate them too.”
She sent Tiffany’s pale sorority sisters a brief smile. They were leaning against each other, looking like an Oreo cookie stuck together with their black and white sundresses.
“My mother offered to pay for a nose job as my wedding present.” Alison gripped Presley’s hand as she whispered that horrible secret through clenched teeth. “Usually, my story makes Tiffany feel better—she loves ourmy mother is worse than your mothergame. We’ve played it since college. But it didn’t help this time. She just kept crying and saying this wasn’t supposed to happen. That everything was ruined.”
Tricia came closer to Ariel, her eye makeup smudged from crying. “Tiffany went to the bathroom and didn’t come back, so I finally went to check on her. She’d had a lot of her new silver Patron, and I got worried she might be sick. But she wasn’t there. I thought maybe she’d gone back to the cottage, but she wasn’t there either.”
“So Tricia texted her and ran back to find us,” Terry picked up, finally releasing the grip she had on Ariel’s shoulders. “We’ve all texted her and called her, but she’s not responding.”
Not good. Tiffany always had her phone on. She texted like some people breathed.
“She’s not with Marshall and the boys?” Ariel asked to cover all bases.
“God, no!” Terry exclaimed. “But we did run by there and check before coming here.”
“No one’s seen her in the lobby of the hotel either.” Tricia grabbed her hand before she could ask if they’d checked if she was with Mother, which seemed unlikely. “Oh, and her car is gone.”
