Page 140 of Wild Card

“I-I-I, we, stop being so arrogant!”

“Actually, I am the one who made the call.” Ford steps to Rowan’s side. “Saw it coming and made the suggestion to Cruz to have options on hand.”

“Made the suggestion?”

“Babe, Talon borrowed a dog to get to you. It wasn’t too far off-base this was coming.”

Willow’s face flames and I chuckle at the impending rant.

“Ford Whitman, I like you. You’ve always been cool to me, but what you did was presumptuous, audacious, daring, brazen, and frankly ass backward.”

“Damn, she pulled out theaudaciouson that one. Presley would be proud.” Ember giggles.

“I wouldn’t call it ass-backward, but the rest is correct,” Rowan says wispily, peering at Ford with adoration. “He knows me pretty well. Even though we hadn’t met, he knew I’d want you to be a part of my special day.”

“Did you think I’d say no?” Willow calms her tone.

Rowan shrugs. “I hoped not, but Talon said you had a lot happening and I didn’t want to overwhelm you.”

“Don’t listen to him. I can handle myself fine. He’s overprotective.”

“Hardly overprotective with your current schedule and all that’s coming up.”

Willow spins, propping her hands on her hips. “I’ll have you know…”

Anything else she says is drowned out by the ringing in my ears. The sharp movement made the dress sway and the slit reveals almost her entire leg. The inside of her thigh has small marks similar to her neck and my blood rushes south.

“Good God, these men are savages.” Cruz hums approvingly. “Hope you can control yourself before the wedding.”

“What are you talking about?” Willow follows the direction of his finger and lets out a cry. “Talon!”

“No promises with that dress. Need to find something different,” I tell Cruz, Shayla, and Ember.

“Both dresses fit perfectly. She can think about it and let me know,” Shayla chirps, disregarding my tone.

“Let me rephrase, neither of the choices work.”

Willow lets out a strangled cry and stomps down the platform to stand in front of me. Her pupils are wide, the shade of emerald sharp.

“You are lucky it’s your birthday and I’m happy, or else you’d be pissing me off.”

“Baby, I’m lucky for a lot of reasons that have nothing to do with my birthday. And you pissed off isn’t a threat.”

“Don’t be sweet. Shut your bossy mouth and let me enjoy this.”

I dip down to kiss her forehead and swat her ass. “Get dressed, we apparently have somewhere to be.”

She jumps, rushing to the dressing room. “I got wrapped up and lost track of time.”

“Not a problem, we knew your time was limited,” Rowan calls to her, watching me with bright eyes.

“Do you know what today is all about?”

Ford’s smirk is my confirmation.

“You all know?”

“Your woman fucking rocks.” He almost sounds jealous.

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