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I nodded my head and walked away.

If I’m lucky she’ll get lost.

CHAPTER
FIFTY-TWO

HEATHER

I splashed some cold water
on my face and forced myself not to cry.
Fucking Lynda. What was Josh about to say? Damn it.
I needed to find a way to talk to him, and I
needed to do it without that bitch seeing.
Maybe I could have Brian keep her occupied.
I was doing him a favor by letting him escort me
to the wedding. His father worked with Ari’s and kept getting on
him about not having a date for the wedding. Little did his dad
know, Brian wanted to keep his real relationship a
secret.

I looked up at myself in the
mirror and let out a long, loud sigh.
Christ, I look like shit.

Just then, I heard someone come into the
bathroom. When I turned to grab some towels, I came face to face
with Lynda.

“Well, fancy seeing you again so soon!” Lynda
said in her chipper fake-ass voice.

Ugh.
I dislike this girl very much.

“Hey Lynda, I was just freshening up. I’ve
got to get back to Brian. I’ll talk to you soon.”

“Oh yeah, sure. Hey, did Josh tell you our
good news?”

I stopped dead in my tracks and turned to
look at her.

“Um, no, I guess he didn’t.”

“Oh well, we really haven’t told anyone.
We’ve been talking about marriage.”

I felt sick to my stomach. All I wanted to do
was run into a stall and throw up.

“He asked you to marry him?” I said, a little
too shocked.

“Yes…well not officially with the ring and
all, but yeah, we pretty much have started talking and planning it.
I’m beyond the moon.”

“Don’t you think y’all should date a little
longer before you talk about something like marriage?”

Lynda just laughed. “Gesh, Heather, you sound
like my parents. Don’t get all elementary school teacher on me.
Josh and I are great together, and the sex is pretty fucking
awesome.”

Oh god.

“I need to go, Lynda. I’m sure Ari and Jeff
are planning on leaving soon. It was a pleasure talking to
you.”

I turned and walked out of the bathroom. I
headed back over to where Ellie and Ari were talking to Jeff,
Gunner, and Josh. Josh looked up at me, and his smile faded. I was
sure I looked awful and I felt even worse.

Ellie took one look at me and stopped
talking.

“Heather, are you okay?”

“Actually, I’m not doing so well. I think I’m
going to head home. Ari and Jeff, congratulations, y’all, I love
you both, and I hope you have a wonderful honeymoon.”

I hugged Ari and Jeff, and then Gunner and
Ellie. I looked at Josh, who looked confused as hell. I saw him
look behind me, and I guessed the troll bitch was walking up.

“Hey baby, miss me?” she said as she walked
past me up to Josh.

She went to kiss him, but he turned his head
to the side, so she kissed his cheek instead. He never took his
eyes off of me. I was so confused. He was looking at me like he
wanted to tell me something, but he held Lynda in his arms.

“Okay, well, I’m going to go find Brian and
get him to walk me out.”

“I can walk you out,” Josh said.

“No, Josh, it’s best if you let her date walk
her out. Don’t you agree, Heather?”

I couldn’t even answer her. I turned around
and walked away.

My heart was beating a mile a minute by the
time I found Brian. I asked him to walk me to my car. By the time I
got in, he was a little concerned, but I assured him I was okay. I
drove about two blocks before I pulled over and cried my eyes
out.

He’s going to marry
her?
I almost couldn’t believe it. The way
he was looking at me tonight was the exact same way he had looked
at me the day I begged him to make love to me at Ari and Jeff’s
house. His eyes looked like they were filled with.

No, I’m dreaming
again.
It was so obvious that Josh had
moved on.

“You lost me…”

The moment I’d slept with
Jerry I’d ruined any chance with Josh.
I
lost him.

Just then, my cell phone rang. I pulled it
out of my purse and looked at the caller ID.

Josh.

My hands started
shaking.
Should I answer it?
I hit ignore and threw my phone back in my purse.
As I put my head on the steering wheel, I started to cry even
harder.

He’s getting married.

CHAPTER
FIFTY-THREE

ARI

Thank God it was time to go. If I had to talk
to another person and say thank you, I was going to go off on
someone.

I looked over at Jeff while he shook someone
else’s hand, giving him his fake-ass smile. I let out a little
laugh. I looked over to my right and saw Emma and Grace walking up.
I started to head toward them when Lynda stepped in front of
me.

“Before ya say goodnight to Grams, I was
wondering if you could do me a favor?”

No, bitch.

“I can try.”

“Can you apologize to Heather for me?”

I felt the heat rushing into
my face.
I’ll kill this girl if she hurt
Heather.

“For what?”

“Well, I’m not sure what happened, but I
think Josh must have upset her. When they came back from
McDonald’s, she was clearly hurt when they were walking in. Then,
when I ran into her in the bathroom, she was crying. I know Josh
can be a bit of an ass at times, and I know they’ve had a different
kind of friendship.”

“Um, okay. Well I’m sure Heather will be
fine. Thanks for your concern. I’ll let her know what you said the
next time I talk to her.”

Just then, Emma and Grace walked up. Emma
hugged Lynda and talked to her while Grace gave me her
congratulations.

I kept looking over at
Lynda. There was something about the bitch I didn’t trust. Heather
seemed fine when she brought me my cheeseburger, but was clearly
upset after running in to Lynda in the bathroom.
I don’t trust that bitch as far as I can throw
her skinny ass.

Jeff and I said good-bye to, I swore all 150
people at the wedding.

We made our way out to his truck, and after
my mother and Grace helped me to get my dress inside the truck we
took off.

“So, where are we going, Mr. Johnson?” I
asked as I wiggled my eyebrows up and down.

“The W.”

“Oh wow, the W
and
Paris? I do believe
you are going to start off this marriage by spoiling
me.”

“That is my every intention, Mrs. Johnson.”
Jeff said with a smile.

***

After we got to the hotel and checked in, we
were standing outside our room. Jeff had told the bellhop to just
leave the bags, and he would bring them in later.

Standing at the door of our room, Jeff turned
toward me and cupped my face with his hands.

“I will always do whatever I can to make you
and our baby happy. Do you believe me, Ari?”

My heart was in my
throat.
How can he say something so simple
and make me all crazy?

“Yes, I believe you, Jeff.”

Reaching down, he scooped me up into his arms
as he tried to open the door and hold on to me. I started to laugh
when I felt he was losing his grip on me.

“Shit! This dress is making you slip.”

“The dress, huh? You haven’t been working out
that much lately. Maybe you’re losing your brute strength,” I said
with a giggle.

“Oh yeah?” He set me down for a second, and
then picked me up again, throwing me over his shoulder. I let out a
small scream.

“Baby, you need to be quiet, or they’ll kick
us out!”

He smacked me on the ass, which caused me to
yell out again.

Once he got the door open, he reached down,
grabbed the two suitcases, and carried us all into the room.

He dropped the bags and then slowly, oh so
slowly, helped me down. I instantly felt his hard-on and all I
wanted to do was rip off his clothes.

“Show off,” I said with a smile.

“All for you, baby, all for you.”

I turned and looked our room.

“Holy hell.” It was breath-taking. With its
totally modern look, it was so different from the Driskill. All I
saw were windows with a view of downtown Austin.

“Oh my gosh, the view from up here is
amazing.” I continued looking around the room, and the next thing I
saw was the large curved sofa and the LCD TV.

“That TV is huge!”

Jeff laughed.

“Well, I don’t plan on turning it on…at
all.”

I smiled at him.

“Me either…well until I wear your ass out,
and then I’ll watch HGTV while you sleep.”

Jeff threw his head back and laughed. “That’s
not going to happen. Come here, let me show you the bathroom.”

When we walked into the
bathroom, I swore it was like I was walking into a spa. The walls
were all gray, and everything else was white. It had modern white
sinks and a large bath-tub.
Oh my god, the
bathtub.
I just wanted to soak in it. It
was tucked near the corner and looked out over the river. It was
beautiful.

“I want in that tub.”

Jeff came around to stand in front of me.
Placing his finger under my chin, he lifted my head up to him. His
soft lush lips captured mine, and he kissed me so tenderly that I
thought for sure I would melt on the spot.

He pulled away slightly. “How careful do I
need to be with taking off this dress?”

I smiled at him and raised an eyebrow. “This
is a very expensive dress, Mr. Johnson. What if our daughter wants
to wear it someday when she gets married? How am I going to tell
her that her daddy put the rip in it because he wanted mommy naked
so he could have his wicked ways with her?”

Jeff smiled, and my knees
about gave out.
Holy shit, this man is
beautiful.
I looked him up and down. His
beautiful light brown hair was a tad bit messy, and those emerald
green eyes were just sparkling. When he smiled big like he was now,
I could see the dimple on his right cheek, and for some reason,
that turned me on even more.

“I’ll tell ya what, if I rip it, I promise to
buy our daughter the most expensive wedding gown that she wants. I
just want her momma out of this one.”

I turned around and looked over my shoulder
as Jeff slowly started to unzip the dress. I heard him suck in his
breath when he saw the back of my corset.

“Jesus, Ari…if this is what the back looks
like, I can’t wait to see the front.” He leaned in and kissed me
from one shoulder to the other.

My body shuddered.

Then, he placed his hands on my shoulders and
slowly pushed off the dress.

“So damn beautiful.”

I stepped out of the dress, moving to the
side of it. I heard Jeff pick up the dress, and I looked over my
shoulder to watch him lay it over the white ottoman. He was
handling it with so much care that I had to smile to myself.

I love him so damn much.

“Turn around, Arianna.”

Oh. My. God.
The sound of his voice ran through my body like a
bolt of lightning.
What the hell?
My heart starting pounding and I looked down at my
shaking hands. I balled my hands into fists, and then I placed them
both on my stomach.
Is it butterflies or
am feeling the baby?

I slowly turned around to face him. Jeff
sucked in a breath of air as he looked up and down my body. He took
two steps back, hit the ottoman, lost his balance, and then landed
right on his ass.

I started to laugh as he jumped back up.

“Wow, if I had known that I looked that good,
I would have taken that damn dress off hours ago,” I said as I
laughed my ass off.

Oh shit!
I started to jump up and down. I had to
pee.
Oh my god!
If
I pissed myself, I was blaming him. I pushed past Jeff and ran over
to the toilet. Now, it was Jeff’s turn to laugh.

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph…so much for
romance.

“That was classic, Ari. Damn, I love you,”
Jeff said as he walked over to the bath to run the water.

I finished, washed my hands, and took one
look at myself in the mirror. I did have a glow. I wondered if it
the pregnancy or just because I was so unbelievably happy?

Jeff walked up behind me and wrapped his arms
around my stomach. He gave me a small hug and then turned me
around.

“You take my breath away in all this silver,
baby, but I’m afraid I need to take it off as well.”

Jeff slowly got down on his knees as he
picked up my left foot and removed my shoe. Then, he removed my
other shoe. He slowly slid his hands up my right leg and unclipped
my stockings from the garter belt. He rolled it off my leg and set
it to the side and then repeated the same moves on my left leg.
Then, he reached up and unhooked the garter belt. I could feel the
rush of moisture hit my platinum-colored panties.

Shit, I’ve never wanted him as much as I do
right this very second.

He hooked his fingers on my panties and so
very slowly pulled them down. As he did, he placed gentle kisses
down my leg. I stepped out of my panties, and he tossed them to the
side.

When he looked right at my
stomach, I felt it doing flips like never before.
Oh god.

He placed his forehead and then one of his
hands on my stomach.

“Hey, baby boy or girl, it’s Daddy.”

Mother of all things good. Fucking take me
now!

“I love you, little baby of mine. Thank you
so much for letting Mommy have a sick-free day today little
bit.”