Epilogue
Four months later
I looked down the long table and smiled at the sight of my friends laughing and talking together.
At the head of the table, Yancy was smiling tenderly at her fiancé, Charles. Their heads were tilted toward each other as they spoke quietly. Well, he would only be her fiancé for one more night. Tomorrow was their wedding day.
Seeing the way her face glowed with happiness made my heart feel three times bigger than it did before.
I felt a hand trail up my thigh beneath the table and I pressed my palm over the backs of his fingers before he reached the danger zone.
Twisting my head, I glared playfully at Landen. “Behave,” I whispered.
He smirked at me, his eyes twinkling with devilish intent. “I am behaving,” he replied, his hand twisting so his fingers brushed my inner thigh, perilously close to my panties.
“More like misbehaving,” I retorted, pressing my thighs together and trapping his fingers exactly where they were.
He chuckled but removed his hand from beneath the loose skirt of my dress, resting it over my left hand where it lay in my lap. “All right,” he agreed. “But only because I have you exactly where I want you.” His thumb tweaked the ring at the base of my finger.
I glanced around to make sure that none of my friends or their spouses were paying attention. Though Grier wasn’t married yet, she did bring a date tonight. He seemed nice enough and the two of them were talking and smiling. No one was paying us any mind.
“I told you I wanted to wait to announce it until after Yancy’s wedding,” I reminded him. “This is a special time and I’m not going to take any attention away from her.”
Landen kissed me lightly. “I agreed with you, remember?”
I arched my brows at him. “Yes, but you were also the one who put this enormous rock on my finger and whined when I said I wanted to take it off until after tomorrow.”
“I did not whine,” he argued. “I merely pointed out that it would be wrong for you to accept the ring then refuse to wear it.”
Unable to resist teasing him, I replied, “Oh, there was whining involved. And if I recall correctly, some pouting as well.”
His eyes sparkled and I knew I would pay for that comment later, but with a currency I never minded spending.
“No one has noticed yet. As long as you don’t wave your hand around tomorrow, you should be fine.”
I rolled my eyes. “As soon as the sunlight hits this ring, it’ll blind everyone in a ten-foot radius.”
“You don’t like it?” he asked pointedly, but I saw the flash of uncertainty in his eyes and I hated it.
I glanced down and shook my head. “No, I love it. I’m sorry, I was only teasing.” Lifting my head, I kissed him. “It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, aside from you.”
Landen stared down at me, the corner of his mouth lifting in that almost-smile I loved. “Flattery won’t get you out of your punishment for teasing me, you know.”
I shivered at the heat in his gaze.
As I’d promised, I’d moved in with Landen on my birthday. And that very night, after we’d christened his office, he’d given me the ring. Actually, he waited until I was boneless and nearly incoherent after four orgasms and slipped it onto my finger while I was lost in an exhausted fog. When my senses returned later and I’d reminded him that I wanted to be asked, he’d brought me to tears with a simple, “Please marry me, Chelsea.”
I was such a sucker.
That was just a few days ago. I hadn’t seen my friends since then and I hadn’t told them either. I wanted to keep it a secret for just a bit longer until Yancy was married. She’d had such a long, hard road until she found Charles that I didn’t want to do anything that might disrupt the joy of her upcoming wedding.
Next week, when she and Charles returned from their honeymoon would be soon enough.
Unless Landen gave it all away tonight by repeatedly grabbing my left hand and running his thumb over the ring he’d placed there.
“Hey.”
Lucy’s excited voice caught my attention. I turned my head toward the sound. She hovered behind my chair and reached out to snatch my left hand out of Landen’s grip.
“We’re going to the bar for a special shot. Grier knows the bartender and he made a special one just for Yancy.”
Before I could pull my fingers from her grip or even respond aloud, Lucy pulled me out of my chair and tugged me behind her toward the bar. The rest of my friends followed, the men watching us with various expressions of amusement on their faces.
It wasn’t until we reached the gleaming surface of the bar that Lucy seemed to realize that something on my hand was poking her palm.
“Damn, Chelsea. Where’d you get the ring you’re…” Her voice trailed off into silence when she lifted my left hand to eye level and spied the engagement ring on my finger. The oval center stone was at least two carats and twining platinum vines, dotted with diamonds, wrapped around my finger.
“Oh my God!” she screeched, tugging my hand so close that I could feel her warm breath on the backs of my fingers. “Why didn’t you tell us?!”
I tried to jerk my fingers from her grip, but she was freaking strong. “Lucy, I wanted to wait until—”
Grier bumped my hip with hers as she approached. “She wanted to wait until after Yancy got married, Lucy. She didn’t want to steal attention from the bride.”
Yancy appeared on my other side, her eyes locked on the ring. “Holy shit! That’s an enormous diamond!”
My face flushed and I glared over my shoulder at Landen. He was leaning back in his chair, his arm draped over the back of my empty seat, and he grinned at me.
Tanya came up behind Yancy, nearly six inches taller than the rest of us in her heels. After giving birth to her daughter a little over a month ago, she had immediately reverted back to her stilettos, claiming she missed them during her last trimester. “That is a beautiful ring, Chelsea.”
When the bartender appeared before us and started setting out shot glasses, Yancy cried, “Make that two each! My friend here just got engaged!”
Lucy finally released my hand and I faced Yancy. “I’m so sorry, Yancy. I didn’t want to spoil tonight or tomorrow.”
She stared at me with wide eyes and cocked her head to the side. “Why would it be spoiled? This was already a happy night but now it’s even more special.” She wrapped her arms around me. She swayed slightly on her heels and I knew she was already tipsy. “I’m so excited for you, Chelsea. How could I not be?”
I swallowed the lump in my throat at her words. Damn wine. I must have had more than I realized for me to be such a softie right now.
The bartender finished shaking the cocktail shaker and proceeded to pour out ten shots.
“What’s this called?” Yancy asked as she picked up one of the glasses.
“True Love,” Grier replied, making a face and gesturing toward the bartender. “It was Tamra’s choice for the name.”
Yancy grinned. “I like it.”
Grier handed each of us a shot before taking one for herself.
“To Yancy and Charles,” she said, lifting the glass.
“And the best friends I could ever hope for,” Yancy added.
We clinked our glasses together and drank them down. They were delicious, sweet and light but a little fizzy.
Yancy took responsibility for handing out the second round.
“To love,” she said, her eyes moving over to the table and settling on the handsome man who was smiling and waiting for her.
My own gaze drifted over to Landen, who was watching me with the same expression I’d often seen on Chris’ face when he looked at Lucy. Or Jordan’s face when he studied Tanya.
“To love,” I murmured, lifting my glass to him.
True love tasted like sunshine and sugar on my tongue as I drank it down. But it wasn’t as sweet as the kiss Landen gave me when I returned to my place at his side.
The End