Girl Crush(82)

“I can’t do that.”

His lips met my neck just behind my ear at that spot that drove me wild. The heat of his words on my skin sent bumps pebbling across my skin. “Of course you can.” The vibration from his throat caused me to shudder in a sensual way.

West knew how to get what he wanted from me, and this was it. But before I gave in, I’d get what I wanted. It didn’t take long for him to persuade me without my shorts on and his jeans unzipped and hanging just below his ass. The way he took me on the counter was powerful and just short of rough. When he finally brought me release, followed by his own, I agreed to let him plan our special day. I just hadn’t been prepared for him to keep it all a secret. And realized thirty minutes too late another opportunity had passed for me to get the keys to his car.



*

“Hey, whore.” Ronnie had been trying to catch me by phone for days, but I’d successfully managed to avoid her and pacified her with the occasional text message. She’d know instantly if I lied to her, and I couldn’t risk her asking questions. She’d finally caught me and showed up just before lunch on Friday.

“What are you doing here?” Shit. Shit. Shit. I couldn’t keep anything from her. She’d know just by looking at me that I didn’t have just one secret but two. That was the problem with having a friend who knows you better than you knew yourself. And then there was the whole eye twitch thing she swore by.

“Playing detective.” Her smirk reached her eyes, and they glimmered with mischief.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I tried to play coy, act like I had no clue what she referred to. At this rate, she’d have every bit of intel I had to offer in a matter of minutes. It was a good thing no one had ever given me a key to Fort Knox.

“What are you hiding, Gizzy?”

“I hate you.”

“You love me. Spill it.”

Again, I tried unsuccessfully. “I really don’t have a clue what you’re talking about.”

“Giselle…” She drew my name out like my mother used to do when I was a child, and I instantly reverted to my adolescence.

Sticking my tongue out at her did nothing other than confirm her suspicion.

Ronnie tilted her head to the side, raised her eyebrows, folded her arms under her perfectly perfect tits, and waited.

I looked down at the paperwork on my desk as though something on the pages pertained to me and required my attention. The words might as well have been in a foreign language. I didn’t speak legal mumbo jumbo.

“You and I both know Stearns and Wilkes pays you to look pretty, so quit trying to pretend you have a clue what’s on that contract and stick it in an envelope for whoever is picking it up.”

I’d already told her I hated her and stuck my tongue out. All that was left was the fuck you stare, and I gave it with all my might. To which she laughed.

“I can sit here all day, Gizzy. I have nothing but time, and you have no willpower.”

“You’re going to get me in so much trouble. Why can’t you just let this go?”

“It’s not who I am.” Ronnie leaned back in the chair she’d sat her happy ass in and crossed her long legs, settling in to wait.

“Ugh, fine.”

“You cave way too easily, Giz.”

The truth was I had been dying to talk to her anyhow. Now I could blame peer pressure for my slip. Sort of. “There’s something going on tomorrow when you guys come to the house.”

She sat back up, suddenly more interested than she had been while badgering me to tell her what I was hiding. “What kind of something?”

“Can’t you just let it go? This is Collier’s thing, and I don’t want to spoil it. And honestly, I don’t know much. He’s kept it a secret from me, too. And after this conversation, I know why.”

“Just tell me what it is, I don’t have to have details.”

“That’s good because other than my dress, I know nothing.”

Ronnie about knocked the chair in front of my desk over when she shot up out of it. “Your dress? For what?”

I held her stare but didn’t respond with anything other than a brow raise and cocking my head. Technically, if she guessed on her own, then I hadn’t told her. It was a loophole I willingly used.

“Oh my God, Giselle!” she shrieked like a banshee, causing me to cringe at the sheer volume of her cry. “We’re coming to your wedding tomorrow?” I continued to watch her and wait for her response to unfold. It would come in layers, one by one they peeled away. “West told us it was a pool party. We’re all coming in swimsuits.” Her chest heaved with exasperation. “I can’t attend a wedding in a bikini.” Her dark eyes roamed the room as she thought out loud.

It was coming, I was just waiting for her to get there. When her focus settled on me and then dropped to my belly, the lightbulb went off.

“Shotgun.”

I scrunched my mouth and nose up to indicate she’d hit the nail on the head.

“Holy shit, Gizzy. You really are pregnant.”

My head bobbed slowly confirming her suspicion.

“You’re getting married and announcing a baby in your backyard…tomorrow. And you let Collier plan this event? What the hell were you thinking?”