Page 27 of Satisfying the King

Our hearts would always be connected.

Joined forever.

But not together.

7

Giselle

“What do you want to do?” Eve asked with a small yawn. We’d just put all the kids down for a nap. Which they eagerly laid down for. They were all tuckered out. We’d had a long morning of visiting the horses and then playing in the pool.

“Nothing,” I said in the middle of a yawn. “I don’t know why water makes me so tired.”

She nodded and grabbed my arm. “I know. The kids did all the work, splashing around.”

I agreed with her, “Yeah, all the men did was stare at us in our bikinis.”

She gave me a side hug and giggled. “I know. Did you see how many times they—adjusted themselves?” She pulled my arm, and we started walking toward the living room.

I laughed and rolled my eyes. “I did. One was worse than the next. You’d think they’d never seen us naked before.”

She laughed and nodded as we stepped into the living room. The room where we’d had our—group—encounter. I felt my nipples harden when I gazed at the square ottoman in the middle of the room.

“Oh, they’ve definitely seen us naked, that’s for sure.” Eve laughed and turned on the large TV. Then she sat down on the couch. I joined her after I set the baby monitors down on the side table.

Eve picked an eighties movie and started it.

“Oh, I love this one.” I pulled a nice, cozy blanket down from the top of the couch and covered myself up. Then I lifted the side up. “Wanna share?” I asked my best friend and smiled at her.

“Obviously.” She laughed and pulled the blanket over to cover herself, too. “I should get up and make popcorn,” she yawned, “but I’m too freaking tired.”

I nodded and sighed. “I know. It’s too much effort. Maybe after I nap for a few minutes.”

Eve pushed herself closer to me. “That sounds like a great idea.”

The heat from her body was making me even more tired. And as we watched a movie about a high school senior who loved pink—and made her own clothes out of crappy scraps, namely a prom dress out of her mom’s old dress—my eyes started to close.

“Giselle,” Eve whispered beside me and gave me a nudge.

“What?”

She nodded her head toward the TV. “This movie always reminds me of you.”

That woke me up, and I laughed right the heck out loud. “What? Why? Because she and I both live on the wrong side of the tracks?”

Eve set her head on my shoulder. “Yeah, and you’re a fantastic seamstress. And you fell in love with a piece of crap, but you didn’t let him ruin your life.”

The smile on my face fell, and a sudden sense of impending doom settled over me.

“Oh, my gosh. I’m so damn stupid. I’m sorry. What did I say?” Eve asked after she pushed off my shoulder and looked at me.

I opened my mouth and thought about whether to tell her the truth.

Or not.

My heart really, really wanted to.

And my brain sent out warning bells—not to.

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