Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 55641 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 278(@200wpm)___ 223(@250wpm)___ 185(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 55641 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 278(@200wpm)___ 223(@250wpm)___ 185(@300wpm)
But I couldn’t quite bring myself to regret the time I’d spent with them. Like last night. After we’d all had a slice of the birthday cake Reid had rushed out to get, we stayed out on the patio for hours, talking about anything and everything. And when I was finally too tired to stay up any longer, Jackson gave me a very thorough good night kiss. Then Reid did. Then Hunter.
The really strange thing was that it didn’t feel awkward kissing three men in a row. Or maybe it was more that they didn’t let it feel awkward. It had been one of the most amazing moments of my life, and certainly my best birthday.
Reid leaned in close. “What are you smiling about?”
“Just remembering last night.”
He smiled, too, and I knew he was remembering our kiss. It hadn’t been as fiery as Hunter’s, but it had been soft, gentle, and full of promise. I wished I could go back and relive all three kisses again.
The rehearsal dinner ended with a series of last-minute reminders from Claire, Matthew, and Aunt Denise.
Reid took my hand and led me out to the lobby. “Why don’t you stay here tonight?” he asked, not for the first time. “That way you can get a good night’s sleep on a real mattress and have enough time to get ready for the wedding tomorrow.”
“No way. I want to help.”
“We’ll get it done,” he said with a sigh. “Somehow. We always do.”
“But usually, you don’t have a needy young woman pulling at least one of you away from your work each day.”
Reid smiled. “It just so happens that I like needy young women. Or maybe it’s just this one.” He squeezed my hand.
The moment was so tender that I felt the need to break the tension. “Did you just agree that I’m needy?”
He grinned. “I plead the fifth.”
I smiled up at him. “Because you know, it really sounded like you just—” I stopped abruptly and stared at something over his shoulder.
Realizing something was wrong, he turned to look, too. “Shit,” he said softly.
Tanya and Jeff were over on a leather sofa in front of the fireplace. Tanya was stretched out on the couch, her head resting on the arm. Jeff hovered over her, kissing her throat.
The food I’d just eaten turned to lead in my stomach. Jeff was all over her. That much was evident to anyone in the vicinity. But moreover, he looked like he was totally into her. Like she was the only thing that mattered. Like she was the thing he was living for.
It’s not that I wanted Jeff to look at me like that. Not anymore. But I wanted somebody to, and I didn’t know if I’d ever get that. Maybe some people just didn’t.
“Let’s go, Penny.” Redi put his arm around my shoulders and tried to guide me away. At first, I couldn’t move. It was like my feet were bolted to the floor. But then I let him pull me along. I kept looking back at Jeff and Tanya, though. It felt impossible not to.
“Do you have your key?” Reid asked gently. It was only then that I realized that he’d led me back to my hotel room, not towards his car in the parking lot.
Rather than search for it, I handed him my tiny dress purse. He rummaged through it and got the door open. “Come on, sweetheart.”
He led me over to sit on the edge of the bed and brought me a glass of water. Then he knelt down in front of me and pulled off my heels. It felt strange, letting him take care of me as if I were a child, but it also felt right, too.
Next, he went to the closet and found a long-sleeve T-shirt and a pair of tan shorts that I’d worn over here before changing earlier in the week. “Maybe you’ll feel better if you put these on?”
I stared at the clothes in his hands like they were alien artifacts. When I made no move to take them, Reid sat down on the bed next to me and reached behind me. Undid my zipper, taking care not to let the two sides of the dress part. Then he pulled the T-shirt over my head.
I closed my eyes when his strong hands cupped my hair and pulled it free of the shirt, letting it cascade down. Then he tugged the shirt down, covering my arms.
Finally, I managed to do something on my own, and I pulled the straps of my dress down, and wiggled my arms into the long-sleeved shirt.
“That’s it,” Reid said encouragingly. He tugged the shirt down until it was covering my hips. Then he crouched down in front of me and slid it down my legs. Once it was completely off me, he hung it in the closet.