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.