Page 43 of Hesi-Dating
"Easy there. Didn't mean to offend. It's just…She's the kind of girl you fuck but don't introduce to your mom."
"Don't make me punch you before the ceremony." She was so much more than her killer curves.
"Tell me you can separate fucking from being serious about a relationship."
"Why am I friends with you, Dylan? You're an asshole."
"I'm the asshole that'll ride shotgun in a gun fight with you."
True.
"You better be true to Ashley. You say the vows and mean it. Hate to be the one who'd have to shoot you."
"That woman's got me by the dick. I'll happily let her lead for the rest of my life." He grinned.
"Good. Otherwise, my best man speech will come off pretty lame."
I made my way back to Joley. For an hour I introduced her to people related to the bride and groom as they arrived for the ceremony. A familiar laugh had me freezing on the inside. My ex had arrived. She inherited her thin, tall frame with small facial features from her Norwegian grandparents. The buff wall of muscle on her arm still made me spitting mad at how he could ruin our friendship by screwing my wife.Ex-wife.
What the hell was that on Kara's finger? A gigantic diamond dwarfed her ring finger. How could Ray afford something that big on a firefighter's salary? Had to be fake…or he won the lottery.
Joley tightened her grip on my hand. She whispered, "We got this."
"She's engaged. Divorced for one month and she's engaged?"
ChapterFifteen
JOLEY
I tilted my head to the side and blinked up at Seth, silently demanding he look at me. Not that it worked. His jaw looked tight enough to break.
"You didn't know she was engaged?" I asked, hating how much his behavior was based in the pain this woman caused him. Unnecessary pain.
Unlike most men who'd lash out to displace the hurt, his face blanked. I was coming to learn he was a master at burying heavy emotion behind a stiff posture and stony face.
"Let's skip talking to her until after the wedding or even not at all." I went on tiptoe to push some hair off his forehead, feeling the heat from surreptitious stares. His friends were waiting for there to be drama.
I still didn't have his attention, and that looked bad to others.
"Look. At. Me," I ordered.
His gaze snapped to me. This man could clear emotion from his face like a champ but not his eyes. They stormed violently. If he was a poker player, he'd need to wear mirrored shades.
The air grew thick between us, and second by second his tension drained away, leaving whatever magnetic thing that drew us to each other. My breaths came shallowly. Desire rose inside me with the promise of tasting him. Finally. Did he want me to kiss me as badly as I wanted to kiss him?
I slid my hand up his neck into his hair and pulled his head down to me. My lips met his in a soft collision. He wrapped his arms around me while his tongue dove into my mouth, aggressive and seeking.
When I realized I needed air, we pulled away at the same time.
He looked both shocked and thankful. Slowly, he glanced around.
I didn't let go of him out of fear he might wobble. Yeah, that kiss had shaken me to the core. I suspected the same of him. Neither of us had been ready for that, least of all in the middle of a public event.
"You okay?" I touched his face, tracing the strong bones of his cheek.
"Uh…that was—" He started to glance back in the direction of his ex.
I caught his face and forced him to focus on me. "This—what you and I have—isn't her business. It's not something that she can have or take away. You don't star on her show anymore and she doesn't get to be on ours. Being here flaunting that new ring is going to get her attention, and you can be sure you're the target of her gloating. Don't give her the power to hurt you anymore."
