Damien's POVI flop around on the loveseat in the hotel suite, trying to get comfortable. Taking a shower right after hitting the gym usually meant sprawling in a heap of arms and legs for a much needed nap, or just chilling in my downtime. But I'm so damn restless I can't help it. I flip through TV channels and stop at CNN, a blue eyed reporter chattering on about the Duchess of Sussex, I half-listen, because those eyes remind me of Lisa, and I wonder what she'd be up to by now. There's a frantic knock at the door, and I wait a heartbeat before striding over. It can't be room service, can it? " It's me, Damien." Lisa's voice sounds from behind the door. " Milady, what could possibly…" The joke dies in my throat, the dead weight dropping to the bottom of my stomach when I see her glum expression. Her eyes are glassy with unshed tears. My gaze shifts to Willow, perched on Lisa's arm with a solemn look on her face. " Could you let m
Lisa's POVDammit. What do I mean bodyguard? I just didn't ask Damien to be my bodyguard, did I? It was more of any intimate cuddle before I fell asleep on his sinfully comfy bed, but I didn't need to open my eyes this morning to know it graduated to a snug, tight spooning. Legs tangled together. My ass against his crotch. Recollections of our conversation flowed into my head, and I had to pinch my lips shut to keep myself for groaning aloud and waking Damien. I so desperately wanted to witness Selena get married, so much that I came up with the most embarrassingly rom-com worthy idea ever. So Damien won't have to worry about me. So I won't let the ghost of my husband make me cower under my blankets and not attend the wedding. You're a flower I'll give anything to keep in my greenhouse. How cheesy. But the words licked through me like slow fire, leaving me all warm and fuzzy inside. Apparently soaking in mineral waters at the wellness center did nothing to soothe
Lisa's POVI am at the seafood restaurant Glenn opted at six minutes past nine p.m, and another six minutes later I am picking my way through other tables to get to him. He rises when he sees me approach, and flashes a saucer-wide smile. " I'm glad you made it, pretty one." He kisses my hand, then proceeds to pull back a chair for me. " You look especially ravishing." " You don't look so bad yourself, Glenn." He cut quite a dash in a blazer that bespoke wealth, (Armani maybe), worn over a silken moss green shirt, his hair slicked back with some probably pricey tonic in a way that drew enormous attention to his chiselled handsome face. Some other day before Damien I might have been affected by that face. Damien. He lives rent-free in my head. Which brings to mind the reason I'm here. I wasn't coerced into meeting Glenn or anything. Sitting across from me, eyes crinkled with a genuine smile, I almost feel pity, no, sympathy for Glenn. His money and looks can get hi
Lisa's POVIn the elevator, I hold on to Damien's bicep and tug off my heels as gracefully as a drunken giraffe whose head spins faster than a ferry wheel. I should have been a tangled mess of arms and legs and fabric already on the floor if Damien's hand hadn't shot out in time to steady me. " You should've ditched these monstrosities ages ago." His lips have a slight twitch to them as he pokes my shoes with his toes. But his eyes are smiling. Teasing. He picks them up, lets them dangle from his fingers alongside my sling purse. The atmosphere shakes a little. Or maybe that's my skull rattling around in my head. " I didn't know I had extra feet on." The elevator pings, and the doors open. We step into the hallway that already tilts precariously beneath me. I hold the side of my head. " Why's the entire place so swirly… Hey! Now I'm flying." My heart skips what seems like twice a dozen beats when Damien scoops me up into a full br
Lisa's POV The wedding party gathers around a gazebo across from the hotel's manicured lawn, a ten foot diameter wood dais with a cone-shaped roof supported by four round columns, framed against the backdrop of a blue sky awash with late Friday afternoon sun, friends and family of Wade, and a sprinkle of Selena's acquaintances who had recently arrived and are now settled into the hotel for tomorrow's event. We didn't exactly know any family aside from Mom. But it will be a miracle if she's truly here. She was barely present at my own wedding. I scan the cluster of well dressed men and women for a familiar face. Leigh, in a soft cream slip dress that showed off her toned limbs, stands dwarfed near Matt as they both converse with a brownskinned, middle aged and expensively dressed couple holding champagne flutes by the stem, alongside a slender woman I suddenly feel I've met before. It isn't until I see Wade approach from the corner of my eyes that I finally realize the rese
Damien's POV Within hours after the rehearsals, everyone's already streaming into the chandelier-lit, spacious dining room, drifting towards their respective places at the tables. I locate with ease the eight person round table reserved for bridesmaids and groomsmen near the window overlooking the grounds, thanks to Matt's muscle-bound giant form. He is gently pulling back a seat for Leigh to lower her butt onto. " Damien, hi," Tiffany greets, bubbly as champagne, immediately I stride up to them, stunning in a low cut red dress. " Good to see you." I air kiss both of her cheeks while at the same time scanning the table for Lisa. Glenn sits with a scowl between Leigh and Jeremy, absentmindedly eye-sweeping the surrounding people and decor. He catches me staring, and holds my gaze for a beat before looking away, scowl deepening. He reminds me of a miffed dog. I suppress a laugh. Earlier I had the utmost pleasure of shuffling around the name cards at the table, sit
Selena's POV "Hey gorgeous. Look at me, will you?" I adjust the trailing fabric of my figure-hugging strapless white lace wedding dress, drop one shoulder, and aim my seductive moue at Harry's lens, lips partly open, sex and sin in my expression if not in my heart. Clicking his digital camera shutter, Harry, a fashion photographer at JK magazine, prances around in patent leather shoes, snapping shots from different angles. I twist around to look over my shoulder, lashes lowered. The lace of my dress shimmers with a thousand stones sewn into it. I miss this. Those days in the fashion industry as a rising model. The shoots in Italy, New York City and Paris. Striking a sexy pose before cameras. The thrill. I could, always can, enchant the male species through a single, seductive photo. I was wanted. Admired. Desired. That was the moment of my life I felt most powerful. But I was still painfully naive. " Darling, what's on your mind?" My head jerks up.
Damien's POV I tug at the pink tie Selena must have insisted to match the bridesmaids' dresses ( and Jeremy said made us look like sissies) to allow me a less constricted throat, waiting for the bridesmaids in the foyer at the entrance to the dining room for the wedding reception, alongside Jeremy, Matt, Glenn and Wade, after completing a torturous, wedding photo session. The atmosphere was terribly glum for a wedding. The guests, even the hotel staff too, seemed to lose a substantial, exuberant part of their spirit. Well, a guest being mysteriously poisoned in one of their hotel suites is bad for business. The others had needed a great deal of convincing to allay fears for their own safety, at least after the wedding is over. In spite of all this, the groom is awfully chipper. This certainly is what it feels like to finally marry the woman of your dreams. " I wonder what's taking them so long." Glenn inserts a finger inside his collar to adjust the pink neck garment. " Even