Page 99 of Payback
My jaw drops as I mock piercing a dagger through my heart. “I thought you like my fake out proposals?”
She laughs and shakes her head. “I find them amusing, but only if it’s going to be real one of these days.”
Oh, my beautiful, Lis. You have no idea.
We deliver the coffee to Kindred Spirits Boutique and then jump in my car to take the long way toward a location that I’ve been to with Allie before. She’s holding my hand over the console, completely clueless about the fact that I’m killing time so everyone can get into place.
When I park in front of the familiar hotel, she finally realises where I’ve taken her.
“I remember this place!”
I mock gasp. “You do?”
She looks at me in confusion. “This is where my aunt Fiona was married. This is where we met.”
“Huh, I’d almost forgotten,” I state, sliding out of the car and doing a horrible job of hiding my smile as I pass my keys off to the valet.
I walk around and grab her hand as she narrows her eyes at me. “What are we doing here?”
I roll my eyes. “Mooi, I told you it’s a surprise.”
We walk through the door and into the posh lobby. The marble floors shine in the daylight streaming through the large windows. I point to the floor and then toward the elevator. “This is where I first noticed you are a grown woman who still likes to skip.”
She laughs and gives me a light shove. “Only when I’m really happy.”
My brows lift with amusement. “You’ve been happy a lot lately.”
Her smile turns soft and warm, sending a jolt of emotion straight to my heart. “I have indeed.”
We hang a left toward the doors of the ballroom where her aunt had her reception. We walk through the deserted space and muse over the annoying things her aunt said to us that night as I pull her toward the double-door exit that leads to the fountains out back.
“If you’re planning to get me drenched in those fountains again, you’re damn lucky it’s warm outside today,” Allie says, squeezing my hand in warning. “And I hope this means you booked us a room.”
I chuckle and bring her hand up to my lips to press a chaste kiss on her knuckle. “I know you like getting wet, mooi.”
She bites her lip and I hit her with a wink before pushing through the doors that lead to the concrete courtyard where the fountains go off at the top of every hour. It’s a good fifteen minutes until they’ll go off again, so people are walking around the area without a care in the world. I pause us at the top of the steps and gaze out at the space where I first fell in love with her.
“You know I fell in love with you out here, right?” I ask seriously and exhale the heady feeling that’s tightening in my chest. I wrap my arms around her waist and pull her against me to feel the warmth of her body on mine.
She splays her hands out around my arms and looks up at me with wide, wondering eyes. “I still say you fell in lust.”
I shrug my shoulders. “It was something I’d never felt before, I know that much.”
She nods thoughtfully and looks out at the space. “I don’t know how you managed to make me smile that night, but you did. I was a mess, yet you somehow made everything fade away.”
I kiss her forehead and inhale her scent. “I’ll always be here for you, mooi.”
“I know that,” she replies with a sad look in her eyes. “And I’ll never lie to you again.”
“I know you won’t,” I reassure her and lean down to take her lips with mine.
This is a thing between us right now. Allie still struggles to let go of her guilt over the video. But she doesn’t realise that I would forgive her a thousand times over because of how happy she makes me.She also doesn’t know that I’m lying like crazy to her right now.
Suddenly, Frank Sinatra’s “Strangers in the Night” echoes through the empty courtyard. We pull apart and look down the steps to where the sound is blaring from the speakers in the bushes surrounding the smooth concrete. The passersby pause and look around nervously, their eyes landing on a couple in the back corner. The couple step out of the bushes and into full sight, dressed in colourful ballroom dancing outfits. The man takes the woman in his arms and they begin waltzing around the large, flat surface.
“Are we interrupting something?” Allie asks, her eyes confused by the sight of people dodging to get out of the way of the dancers.
I shrug my shoulders, and we both turn our attention back to the couple who move with seasoned training. They are obviously professionals, and they don’t seem bothered by the crowd of people lining the edges of the courtyard to watch their performance.
