“Well get your pretty but out here so I can see!”
The second I stepped out Gwen’s mouth dropped open and her eyes brimmed with tears. And I knew for certain that I was spending the rest of my life in this dress.
“Told you that shop would be a bust.”
Gwen had walked out of the last empty handed. She’d decided to call it quits for the day, and we’d gone to my favorite little café for lunch. In all the years I’d lived in Seattle I had no idea this place existed until Ian brought me. Their quiche melted in my mouth, and I damn near spontaneously orgasmed when I tried their chocolate soufflé. This place was my Heaven, and I made a point to eat here as often as I could.
The kindhearted swung by to refill our mimosas for the third time. Gwen sucked half of hers back and licked her lips. “I wouldn’t say it was a complete bust. I might not have found anything, but at least you did, so it was good for something.”
I snorted into the raspberry torte I’d ordered for dessert and spoke through a full mouth. “Yeah, because that matters. I’m not the one getting married babe. What do I need a wedding dress for?”
“You never know,” she replied, smiling a manic, frightening Cameron Diaz smile.
Sitting my fork down, I stared across the table and asked, “What’s the deal with you, huh? You’re acting weird.”
“I’m not acting weird!” she chirped. Gwen wasn’t a chirper
“Are too. You’ve been like a freaking ray of sunshine all day long. You’re never in this good a mood. Usually you spend the first half of the time we spend together coming up with elaborate ways to murder Garrett and get away with it.”
“Can you blame me?” she asked in defense. “I mean, you’ve met the guy. He can be a pain in the ass.” She wasn’t wrong about t hat. Before the two of them had gone and fallen madly in love, they’d spent three years at each other’s throats. I might have been teasing about her wanting to kill him now, but back then I used to worry I’d get a call from the cops wanting to know if I could provide her with an alibi. “Who better to bitch about him to but my best friend?”
“Whatever,” I muttered, rolling my eyes as the smartest waitress in the world refilled my glass again. “No of that changes the fact you’re being weird, whether you’re willing to admit it or not.”
“I’m not being weird! I’m just in a good mood. Can’t I be in a good mood for ten flipping minutes without you accusing me of being up to something?”
My forehead wrinkled in confusion. “What the hell are you talking about? I never said you were up to something. I just said you were acting strange.”
Gwen’s eyes bugged out at the same time her face went pale.
“Wait… are you up to something?”
“No! I have to pee. I’ll be right back.” She shot from her chair and sprinted toward the restrooms at the back of the restaurant.
Not being weird my ass.
I was just about to pull my phone from my purse and text Tate and Gina to find out what was up, when the chair across from me squeaked across the floor.
“Ian?” I asked when I looked up to see my boyfriend had taken Gwen’s chair. “What are you doing here? I thought you said you had stuff to do today.”
Ian
I had to admit, for someone who was usually so confident, I was pretty fucking nervous right then.
That picture Gwen sent me an hour ago hadn’t done jack to calm my nerves. Corrine’s beauty took my breath away most days. But when I’d seen her in that dress I’d nearly had a heart attack. It should have looked ridiculous, pale pink with goddamn feathers and fringe… but she looked like an angel in it. I could imagine her walking down the aisle toward me in that dress. It was my girl in everyway… absolutely perfect.
The waitress I’d made an accomplice to my little plan came sauntering up with a beaming grin and two thumbs up. “She’s on her fourth mimosa, but I remember her from being in here before, and her tolerance is surprisingly high, so I don’t think you have anything to worry about.”
That was the understatement of the year. My girl could drink an Irishman under the table and walk away in four-inch heels without so much as tripping. That was only part of the reason she was so goddamn perfect for me. Another part was that attitude of hers. Most people saw me instantly coward. With my height and build I could pretty much intimidate anyone. But not Corrine. She never batted an eye. If I so much as raised my voice she’d dress me down worse than any CO I’d come across and my Southern Momma combined.
If anything, the damn woman scared me.
She was fierce and loyal and tender hearted, and she was funny as hell. Nobody could make me laugh the way she did. She soften my hard edges. She was my other half, and being with her made me a better person.
“Thanks,” I muttered, wiping my shaky palm along my brow. Christ, I was sweating like a whore in church. What was taking Gwen so damn long?
Just when I was starting to think I was going to have to go out there and crash their little party she cam rushing down the hall looking more than just a little frantic.
“It’s showtime!” she cried. “Now, just a heads up, she might be a little suspicious right now, so you might not want to leave her waiting too long.”
“What?” I barked in a way that made everyone around up nearly jump out of their skin. Oh, another person who wasn’t scared of me? Gwen. Yeah, her and Corrine were definitely cut from the same blunt, sharp-tongued cloth.
“It wasn’t my fault!” she cried, throwing her hands wide. “I’m too excited, okay? I might have been acting a little… off.”
“Fuck me,” I ranked a hand through my hair in agitation. “I knew I shouldn’t have told you I was doin’ this.”
“I’m sorry! Just… hurry. Before she calls and hounds Tate and Gina into spilling the beans.”
All of a sudden I felt like I was going to be sick. I’d been to some seriously dark places and seen the worst of humanity, but none of that scared the shit out of me as much as this. I was beginning to doubt myself. What if I wasn’t enough for her? What if I didn’t deserve her. And worst of all, what if she said no?”
“Shit. I… Maybe I should wait.”
“Ian.” Gwen placed a calming hand on my arm. “Are you starting to have second thoughts?”
Yeah. No. Maybe. Christ,” I grunted, squeezing my eyes closed and rubbing at my forehead. “I don’t know. What if… What if she says no?”
For some reason that made her smile like a Cheshire cat. “You’re scared she’ll say no?”
I wasn’t just scared. I was fucking terrified. “I know you said she’d say yes, but what if you’re wrong?”
“Oh, sweetie.” She moved in and wrapped her arms around my waist, squeezing as tight as she could before pulling away and looking up at me. “You know how you said men and women share more with the person they were in love with than even their closest friends? Well, when it comes to the people they love, best friends don’t hold back. And she’s gone for you, honey. Absolutely crazy, stupid, over the moon gone for you in a way I’ve never seen her with another man. So I swear to you, she’ll say yes.”
And just like that, I didn’t just feel better, I felt like I could concur the goddamn world.
“Now go get your girl.”
I didn’t have t be told twice.
Coming around the corner and into the main dining area, I spotted Corrine rummaging around in her purse, and pulled out the chair Gwen had vacated just a little while ago, and sat down.
“Ian?” she asked, confusion in her big beautiful eyes. “What are you doing here? I thought you said you had stuff to do today.”
“I do.”