"A whole cake? You're getting a whole cake?" She didn't bother to answer me; she just took out her phone and made a call.
On the other side of my living room, my phone was vibrating like crazy. I looked at the time and saw that it was almost time for the wedding. If I'm right, the bridal party should be making their way down the aisle. If only Vanessa would leave me alone for two seconds, I could just look up some pictures. Just a few pictures to cure my curiosity. I reached for my phone when out of nowhere, Vanessa grabbed it and put it in her pocket.
"Nice try."
I laughed out loud and asked her if she would like some green tea. Hopefully, it will calm my nerves or maybe even let Vanessa hand me my phone back.
"Thank you," she said as she gave me my green tea. "No sugar? No agave?" She made a disapproving face.
"No, Vanessa." I smiled. She had such a sweet tooth.
"Not even one sugar cube?"
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't you just order a whole cheesecake?"
"Still..." She shrugged.
"Thank you for this. If you weren't here, I'd be torturing myself with this whole wedding thing."
"Don't worry about it, sweetie. That's what friends are for." She jumped up. "Damn, girl, just how many alerts did you set up for this wedding. My ass is vibrating like crazy." She pulled out my phone. She swiped the front. Her eyes opened wide. "Oh, shit."
"What?"
The doorbell rang.
"That's the cake. It's all paid for. Hurry up and get it because we need to eat a slice or two for this." She was still engrossed in the phone.
"Well, at least let me cover the tip money." I grabbed a few singles off my bedroom counter before sauntering to the door.
I swung the door open, a big grin on my face for the cake I was about to devour. Instead, I felt blue fire heat wash over me as I stood face-to-face with Blake in his tuxedo.
Chapter 21
"Hey there, stranger." His lazy smile melted my heart, but I wasn't going to be swayed that easily.
I took two steps back and shook my head. Surely, I'm dreaming. I poked my head out of the doorway and looked up and down the halls. I was expecting to see the bride.
"I'm alone," he stated, an amused smirk playing at the corner of his lips.
I ran to my window and looked down. There was no limo, just his regular car and his driver.
"Where's the cake?" Vanessa asked. She turned and saw Blake. "Oh shit."
"You must be the beautiful Vanessa." He strode inside with as much elegance as royalty and extended his hand to shake hers.
"Yes, I am, but I better be going." Just then, the delivery guy came in with the cake. "Yes! I thought that I was going to miss this cake." Vanessa was grinning with so much relief, she almost looked manic.
I laughed, as I always tend to do around Vanessa, but then my eyes darted back to Blake and my laughter faltered nervously.
Before I knew it, Vanessa was shoving my smartphone back into my hand and whispering in my ear, "Be careful. And call me later?" She turned and gave Blake a small nod. "Nice meeting you. If you fuck over my friend, there wouldn't be enough money in the world that would stop me from getting to you. Do we understand each other?"
My chest warmed with love for her, even more than I thought was possible. The way she just handled Blake made him seem so much more human to me; I only wished I'd be able to talk to him with as much sass. Instead, it felt like every time I looked at him my heart would burst out of my chest. More than anything, one thought kept racing through my mind: What is he doing here?
Blake arched an eyebrow, the rest of his face impassive. He rewarded her with a small nod, and Vanessa took that as her cue to leave.
After Vanessa had left, Blake locked the door and leaned against it casually. His eyes were still fixated on me, with a mixture of hunger and raw emotion. I wanted to reach out to him, to touch him, but I held back. He didn't deserve my affection. Not until I heard what he had to say anyway.
I crossed my arms over my chest protectively, which only made the smirk tug at his lip even more. It was infuriating. It was sexy. It made me miss the time we'd lost out on and him even more. "Well? What are you doing here?" I asked, trying my best to hide how pleased I was to find him here--and trying to silence my confusion long enough to hear him speak.
"I was in the church trying to tie my bow tie, and I couldn't do it."
"Well, it is a pretty complicated knot."
Blake's luminous green eyes shone bright and he grinned. It was his first real smile all day, and my heart pattered. "Good to see you've still got your humor," he mused.
I shot him a pointed look, and was about to open my mouth to snap that I actually wanted to know what he was doing here, but he spoke again.