“So, Kira.”
Celia drawled out my name from across the table. “How did you two meet?” she
asked with a spark to her eyes as she waved her champagne glass between Brant
and me.
Brant
immediately stopped chatting. “Oh, uh,” both Brant and I said at the same time.
I pressed my lips together and placed my hand on his. “I’ll let you tell them,
sweetheart.” I’d never called anyone sweetheart in my life, but for some
reason it felt right. And I received the heart-melting smiles of the wives
around the table—except for Miranda whose smile was obviously so fake I would
have assumed she had Botox injections right before dinner.
“Well,”
Brant laughed nervously. “Um, I’ll tell just the highlights, but it really—”
“Oh, come
on, we’re all friends here!” Sidney laughed with a spark to her eyes. The light
caught her diamond engagement ring and instantly I panicked that I didn’t have
one. Or a wedding band, for that matter. Under the table, I quickly removed the
ring given to me for graduation by my grandmother and slipped it onto my left
ring finger. Glancing over, I realized Brant didn’t have one either. I wasn’t
sure what to do, or if he had come up for a reason for that. If I was wearing
my grandmother’s ring, it would look strange for whatever reason he might come
up with, so I quickly moved it back.
Brant
glanced at me and I couldn’t help but let out a small nervous laugh. What if
they found out we didn’t even know each other’s names until the day before?
“It all
started with red traffic lights,” Brant started as he gave me a small smile. It
seemed cheesy, but that darn dimple reeled me in. My nervous energy
somersaulted while my heart swooned. Instantly, I realized he was fantastic at
commanding everyone’s attention at the table.
There was
more than just small curiosity about what he would say. I wanted to know his
version of what had happened that night. Where had he been going to begin with?
Was he really that taken with me?
I knew I
had been a one-night stand, but there was that instant—when I had left my phone
number—that hope had swelled it might be more than just that between us. When I
finally realized he wouldn’t be calling me back, any thoughts of something more
with him had vanished from my mind. Well, to be honest, it hadn’t disappeared
from my fantasies. Yet there I was pretending to be his wife.
Maybe
instead of fighting the dinner, which was already happening, I should have
actually been enjoying myself. I picked up my glass of champagne and took a
healthy drink. The alcohol warmed my belly and I allowed myself to be swept up
by the night and my new husband. My conscience had a gag around her mouth and
was locked away in a closet. At least for the time being.
“Ohh this
is going to be good,” Celia said as she shimmied her shoulders and sat up to
listen.
“Well, it
was late on a Friday night and I was hitting each and every light on Main
Street. From the corner of my eye, I saw the woman in the car next to me take
her top off,” Brant said as he looked at me and winked. My mouth popped open
and I hoped he wasn’t going to tell them everything about our night.
Anna bumped
my shoulder, her eyes wide as she laughed at Brant’s description. I shook my
head, playing along.
“Ohh, the
X-rated version!” Celia shouted, and took a drink from her glass. The men
around the table were either laughing or their ears were perked up just as much
as their wives’.
I blushed and covered my face with my hands,
laughing. I held up my hand. “I had a top on underneath,” I added in my
defense.
Brant
laughed as he smiled at me. “She did. It wasn’t much of a top, but from what I
saw it was perfect.” The spark in his eye as he retold our story made
everything tingle inside me.
I tilted my
head, smiling, my heart melting all at the same time. I realized how sweet it
all felt. How sharing “our” story, small as it was, was endearing. This part
was not made up. This really was our story and I loved hearing him retell it,
especially since I had replayed it in my mind so many times in the past six
months.
“Anyway,
she had shimmied out of her pants at one point and put something else on. I
almost got into several accidents trying to see what I could.” Brant laughed
and then continued. “I followed her—”
“Oh, now
you sound like a stalker,” Anna joked, while winking at me.
Brant
chuckled as he looked over to me, and I licked my lips, wanting to kiss that
dimple of his. “Yeah, I kind of felt like one, actually. But you—” He pointed
to me as his eyes sparkled, and then shook his head as he continued. “She did
yell out the club she was going to.”
I nodded.
“I did, so it was kind of my fault for enticing a stalker,” I joked as I took
another drink of champagne, allowing the alcohol to help me enjoy the moment a
little more.
“Anyway, we
danced all night and…the rest is history.” Brant leaned over and kissed me on
the cheek. Everything inside me, especially the warmth of the champagne, made
me want to turn my head and enjoy the sweetness of his lips on mine.
“I think we
just got the G-rated version,” Sidney called out, looking around the table. The
other couples laughed and agreed with her.
I chuckled
and leaned against Brant. He wrapped his arm around me and then bent down. His
lips touched mine enough to linger, and the feeling went straight through me.
Right then I felt like I never wanted the night to end.
Forget SEALS, Marines, Fighter Pilots – I have the most dangerous job in the world. And I love it.
About Susannah Nix
About Kristen Proby:
Sunny Shelly Reads 