Page 260 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 2
We stopped outside the hotel room door.
He pulled me in close and breathed me in. “We’re safe,” he said.
And I believed him. But I saw something else in his eyes this time when he said it. And as he held me a little tighter, like he didn’t want to let me go.
I blinked fast so I wouldn’t cry. For some reason all I could see was red. The blood sputtering out of his mouth and the fear in his eyes on our wedding night. I reached up and traced his lipswith my index finger, just to make sure the vision was all in my head.
He kissed my fingertips. “I’ll be waiting for you at the end of the aisle.”
I smiled up at him. “Promise?”
He kissed my fingertips again and then pulled me in close. “I promise.”
“Are you sure we can’t just drive down together?”
“Rob insisted that he wanted a bros’ morning.” James shrugged. “But Ian’s driving you guys down. It’s going to be fine.”
It was. It had to be. Because my heart couldn’t take another night like our wedding night. It had almost broken me. “I’ll see you tonight.”
“Until then.” He leaned down. And kissed me. And kissed me. Until my head was dizzy. His fingers dug into my back as he pulled me even closer. And then he stepped back. The corner of his mouth ticked up. “See you later, wife.”
“See you later, husband.”
I watched him walk down the hall toward the hotel room where all the groomsmen were. I tried to shake away the feeling of doom in my tummy and turned toward my hotel room. It was game time. I did not want to get caught sneaking in.
I tiptoed into the hotel room. There were a few people asleep on the bed. And a few more on the fold out couch.
The floor creaked and a mess of blonde hair popped up from the bed.
“Did you just get in?” Bee asked with a yawn. She winced and pressed her hand to her head, which I’m sure ached.
“No, I was here all night,” I said and pretended to yawn.
“Oh.” She shrugged. “Last night is a little blurry. I need Advil.” She pushed the covers away and climbed out of bed.
Daphne sat up with a yawn. “Where’d you sleep last night?” she asked.
“Here,” I lied.
She frowned. “No you didn’t. You ran off after the stripteases and never came back.”
“I don’t remember that.”
“Lies,” Daphne said with a laugh.
I laughed too. “Okay, you caught me. I really needed to see James. And I figured you were all too plastered to notice if I was gone.”
“Oh, well…yeah. Every one of us was drunk. Except for you. Because you’re the only pregnant one.” Daphne quickly looked away from me. “I gotta hop in the shower! We gotta get on theroad in less than an hour. Can you order brunch for us? There’s a menu on the nightstand.” She practically leapt out of bed and ran into the bathroom.
There was a whole lot about what she had said that was weird. But the thing that stuck out the most was that she was letting me order brunch. Without going over the menu a hundred times and being super anal about it. Which meant…she was definitely trying to get away from me. She’d started acting really weird when I said everyone else was drunk…
Oh my God…I sighed. She was pregnant, wasn’t she? Bee had totally believed my lie about being here last night and she was nursing a hangover. But Daphne called me out right away and seemed perfectly chipper this morning. I thought back to last night. I hadn’t ever actually seen her drinking anything. All I could picture was a glass of untouched champagne that Justin had forced into her hand. How had everyone seen it but me?
Damn it, I really didn’t want to lose this bet. Hopefully I was just imagining it. Who knew…maybe Daphne was just a champ at holding her liquor. And I really didn’t think this wedding was a shotgun thing. She and Rob were just head over heels in love. And pregnant.Gah, no!
But also…it was kind of perfect if they were. Their baby would be practically the same age as mine. They could grow up together and be best friends. I knew I was getting ahead of myself. I wasn’t even sure Daphne was pregnant. But…it kind of seemed like she was. I couldn’t believe I was going to lose another bet with James.
“What is with that Cheshire cat grin?” Bee asked and collapsed in the bed beside me.
