Page 55 of Tempt My Heart

“Anytime. Anything, for you.”

Her cheeks felt hot and she knew she was probably a thousand shades of red at that moment. They pulled up outside of her apartment and he handed her the cinnamon buns and coffee through his window before kissing her goodbye.

She headed inside and the familiarity of her surroundings made her shoulders relax as she took the stairs up and into the apartment she shared with her friends.

It smelled like cakes, a sure sign that Freya was stressed if she was baking.

Her keys jingled slightly as she closed the door behind her and Freya and Jesse’s heads immediately popped up like cocker spaniels greeting their owner at the door and Ali couldn’t hold in her laughter, even as it turned into body-wracking sobs.

Their arms came around her, squishing the cinnamon buns to her chest, and they held her until the tears started to slow.

“Been a day, huh,” Jesse murmured and Ali nodded, not quite able to talk yet without bursting into more tears. “Are those cinnamon buns?”

She laughed wetly and the bag crackled as they squeezed her harder between them.

ChapterTwenty-Seven

Freya let out a whistle as Ali stood for her friends, showing them the dress and Freya’s handiwork with her hair and makeup.

“I’m so jealous,” Freya said, eyeing the dress Christopher had tailored and rush-delivered as promised. It was a shimmery gold that worked with her freckled skin rather than washing it out, and wrapped around her in an off-the-shoulder V of layers that almost floated.

“Seriously,” Jesse said as she stood. “Boy did good.”

Ali snorted, even though she was right. Christopherhaddone beyond good with the dress. She felt like a flame with her red hair and golden dress. “I’m kind of scared to wear it in case I ruin it, and this is just for the rehearsal. God forbid I wear the same dress for the ceremony too.”

“Something that beautiful shouldn’t be left in a closet,” Freya scolded and Ali laughed.

“Very true.”

“Are you nervous?”

Surprisingly, she wasn’t. Unlike the engagement party, she was there with Christopher forrealand, admittedly, the dress did wild things for her confidence. “No,” she settled on. “Not anymore.”

Her friends smiled up at her and it felt strange but right, seeing them sitting on the bed in Christopher’s spare room. Like they fitted in there in the same way she did.

“Has he seen it yet?” Jesse asked with a quirk of her eyebrows.

“No.” She tugged on the end of her loose, beachy waves and dropped her hand immediately when Freya looked likely to murder her. “He’ll be seeing it for the first time when we head downstairs.”

Jesse clapped. “I was so hoping you’d say that.” They looked at her questioningly and she smirked. “Last time you wore a knockout dress he closed down an entire store to eat you out. I’m just curious how he’ll react to this one.”

She rolled her eyes but stood and opened the door. “Well, let’s go find out then.”

It had been weird at first, staying with Christopher while her friends were back at their apartment, but they had visited a couple of times during the week and even though she’d missed them, she’d kind of enjoyed being there with Christopher.

They walked down the stairs to where their luggage was already packed. It was a short drive to the airport, where the private charter plane had been commissioned to take them directly to Napa before the rehearsal dinner that evening. They were meeting Rose, David and Maia, Rose’s best friend, there.

Ali had let Jared know that they would be leaving that day and she would meet him as soon as she had the photos he wanted in exchange for the physical copy of her video. He’d agreed, and she’d tried to put him out of her mind after updating Denver.

Christopher waited at the bottom of the stairs with Denver’s now-familiar figure. Christopher’s back was to her but he turned when Denver spotted her and nudged him.

His face went slack and she knew she was blushing but for once, she didn’t care. She felt beautiful. His eyes were wide and his lips parted and even Denver was looking at him in surprise when Christopher continued to gape as she came to a stop in front of him.

“Hi,” she said, slightly breathless as he swallowed hard and ran his eyes over her legs, up over the cleavage she had on display, to her mouth. He didn’t say a word the entire time, and when he stepped forward she didn’t care about ruining her makeup as he crushed his mouth to hers.

“Hi,” he said when he pulled away, eyes alight. “You look amazing.”

“Thank you,” she said. “So do you. You look nice as well, Denver.” He gave her a wry grin and she tried not to laugh. “Are we ready to go?”

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