Page 21 of Rio
“Sit,” Dani insists.She’s super excited.Effervescent.I wonder if she’s had too many cocktails.
“Let’s get some champagne,” Dex suggests.“And, dinner tonight is on me.”
“Thank you.”I smile sweetly as I peruse the drinks menu, then select the most expensive bottle of champagne.“Are we celebrating something?”It feels like it.
“Dex wants to make amends,” Dani enthuses.She’s fizzing with excitement.I start to worry and I wonder if he’s drugged her and brought her here to allay any suspicions he thinks I might have.
You can never trust the Knights.Dex might have duped Dani, but he can’t dupe me.None of them can.
Dex chortles.“You’ve only seen the bad side of the Knights, Raquel, and I want to put things right.My father’s actions don’t reflect how the rest of us feel, or operate.”
I cock my head, my gaze ping-ponging between them.Something hangs in the air, with the way these two are looking at each other, and the way they’re looking at me.Expectantly.
“What is it?”I ask slowly, because honestly, I’m expecting more drama.Dani’s with a Knight.It’s expected.
Dani smiles at Dex.He smiles back.I feel like a third wheel.Then she holds out her hand.
“We’re engaged!”she squeals.My gaze falls to sparkling emerald ring, and I slump back in my chair, the weight of her words a punch to my gut.
“You were engaged before,” I say, trying to sound more enthusiastic than I feel.That is a nice ring.So much better than the other one.
“We were, but this time it’s for real.”Dani’s eyes shine like diamonds.She’s insanely excited and deliriously happy.Almost as if she’s lost her mind.
“Forrealreal?”I’m watching their faces, trying to look for clues, forwhatthis is.Forwhythis is.She divorced him recently, and they hadn’t even been married that long.I fear that my best friend has lost her mind.
“For real, this time,” Dex says.They both hold hands on the table.
“But you divorced him.You went to the Dominican—”
“I know, I know!This is why I wanted to come and tell you in person.It’s been a crazy few months, and I’ve got so much to tell you.”
“I can imagine,” I murmur under my breath, because Dani looks so happy.So ridiculously, over-the-moon happy.But my in-built warning system alerts me, and never lets me forget what’s happened.Or the family Dex comes from.
She starts telling me, both of them talking and finishing each other’s sentences.I find it so aggravating.They tell me the entire story.I’ve heard bits of it before.How Dex followed Dani to Brazil.How he discovered she had plans to marry Oscar Ramos, and how he was so thankful he got there just in time to stop her from going through with her crazy idea.
“Then I went and got my girl back,” Dex says, looking at Dani lovingly.
“We’ve been inseparable since.Dexter loves me, and I love him.”
“She’s the only one for me,” says Dex.
I don’t know how I’m going to survive this evening.It’s not like the girlie dinners Dani and I have.With Dex in the mix, it’s something else entirely.“A marriage born from a fake marriage of convenience,” I say flatly.
They gaze at one another, and I seriously consider getting up and leaving them to enjoy their intimate dinner for two.
“Don’t be like that, hon.”Dani seems desperate for me to like Dex, and she’s probably wondering why I’m not more excited about her news.
“I get it,” Dex says carefully.“Raquel has every right to be cautious.”
I wonder if he knows about me and Rio.I wonder if Rio has told him.
“No, no,” I say quickly, putting a hand to my chest, trying to push through the tangled mess of feelings.“Iamhappy, it’s just, sounexpected.”Dani’s earlier exuberance fades.She’s not silly.She knows me, and her excitement fizzles out at my reaction.
Now I feel bad.
“Dani.”I get up from my seat and move to her.She stands up and I give her a great big hug.“Congratulations.“I’m so thrilled for you.I want you to be truly happy.”I read her eyes, trying to extract clues from them, like I need proof of her happiness.“You’re happy, aren’t you?”
“Raquel!”She hugs me again, laughing as though I’ve delivered the funniest one liner.“I’m so hopelessly, ridiculously, madly in love and so so so happy.This time it’s for real.”
