I hesitated. Ines’s mom was an extension of my mom. They had a little sisterhood, all of Gary’s exes, and they were closer to each other than any of their subsequent husbands. Hell, half of them were filming a reality show together right now.
But my mother would find out about Ryan soon enough. Her phone blew up any time a high-earning player in any pro league went off the market. She’d make time in her schedule to attend the wedding. Whenever that was. And she’d definitely be there when all of this ended, all too eager to train me in the ways of the pro sports divorcée.
“Sure,” I said weakly.
Her mom was sweet and she’d always been kind to me. Even if she’d sworn for years that Ines was just a quirky free spirit who didn’t like living by society’s rules, and not a kid who needed someone to accept and support her neurodivergent brain. But I could put that grudge aside for a minute.
I stepped into my shoes and struck the exact pose Wren had shown me. “Tell her I say hi.”
“She’s going to be so happy,” Ines said. “She always likes hearing about you.”
Among the many unhelpful comments from Ines’s mother were often ones about how she wished she’d had a daughter like me. Yep, she’d say that shit right in front of her living, breathing, brilliant daughter. It always made me want to spill a cold drink down her shirt.
Since I didn’t want to make a face I’d have to explain to her, I glanced at my phone while she sent off the photos. “Ryan’s going to be here in a minute,” I said, shooting off a response that he didn’t have to come up to the apartment. “Could you help medown the stairs? I keep having visions of my skirt getting stuck on a loose floorboard or something and ripping the whole thing.”
“You should be more concerned about falling down the stairs and snapping your neck than the state of your dress,” she said, returning to her cool solemnity.
“Right, well, that too.” I grabbed my clutch and shuffled toward the door. I couldn’t move very fast in this dress. A knock sounded. I stared at it and sighed. “I told you not to come up,” I shouted.
“And as you can tell, I didn’t listen,” Ryan shouted back.
Ines abandoned me to open the door, revealing Ryan in a devastating tuxedo. I’d seen him in skintight football gear and swim trunks, and there was no doubt in my mind that this was better. So much better. He looked crisp and precise in a way that was all Ryan, but something about him tonight exuded raw power. The man was a danger to society. I honestly didn’t know what would happen when we went out in public. Swooning, fainting, underwear thrown at his feet. All possible. Likely, even.
Hell, I might get in on it too.
“Jesus Christ,” he muttered, running a hand over his mouth. “You look?—”
“Like citrus,” Ines said. “The only thing missing is the lime.”
I lifted my skirt just enough to show off my strappy heels encrusted with light green rhinestones. Peridot, Wren had called them. “Nope, I’m fully committed to the bit.”
“No scurvy here,” Ines said. “Because of the Vitamin C. From the fruit.”
Ryan braced his hands on either side of the doorframe and nodded to himself for a second. His jaw was sharp enough that I was certain I’d cut my hand if I reached out and touched him.
He cleared his throat. “Bowen’s downstairs,” he said, extending a hand but keeping his gaze low. “We should go.”
Okay, so not a fan of the yellow. Got it.
Maybe I should’ve shown it to him when we picked it up the other day. I didn’t think he’d care much one way or another. It wasn’t like he’d expect me to blend in with all the other silk ball gowns. He knew me better than that.
His gaze shifted to my neck. “I instructed Wren to select jewelry for you.”
I fluttered my hand at the base of my throat. “Yeah. She did. But it seemed like too much. The earrings weren’t my style and the necklace looked like something out of a heist movie. I didn’t want you to spend all the money just to have some witty bandits cut the power and yank it off me in the dark.”
“Next time,” he said, “tell Wren you’d like to see something different.”
“Please.” I waved a hand at my skirt. “The last thing I need is more sparkle. It would’ve been a waste of money.”
Ryan tucked my hair over one ear and frowned at the diamond studs there. They were the nicest things I had, and good-sized stones too, a birthday gift I was positive my stepmother had picked out. My father never would’ve gone for something so simple or elegant.
But more to the point, he never would’ve sent me a birthday gift.
“Next time, waste the money,” he said, a few strands of my hair twisted around his finger. “I’ll be disappointed if you don’t.”
“You want me to just…buy jewelry.”
He nodded as he rubbed my hair between his index finger and thumb. “Yes.”
