Giddy energy zips through me.
He lifts his eyes over my head. “Will my ring bearers come out.”
Ring bearers?
I flip around and nearly tumble backward.
A Hispanic beauty with long dark, curly hair that looks a lot like my bestie steps on stage, holding one of her two-year-old triplets, followed by her hunk of a husband, holding the other two boys.
All three little munchkins with dark blue eyes and wild curls that have been tamed for the occasion are wearing ivory shorts and tiny color-coded jackets—navy-blue, forest green, and light blue with matching bow ties. They’re holding onto a small gift bag with tissue paper looped around their tiny arms. It’s totally adorable, but that’s not enough for me to let the betrayal slide.
I squint at my best friend, my lips pursed.
I was at her place earlier today. She could’ve given me a heads up.
She flashes me a row of pearly white teeth.
Myass she couldn’t make it.
After the birth of her babies, Ciara and her husband moved back to New York since the US division of Nikolaj’s sports gaming company was blowing up on this side of the pond. The thrill of having my bestie living in the same city has been incredible. She’s always been so good when I was dealing with shit and that didn’t change when I confessed all my family’s sins. My bestie still loves me.
This morning’s brunch at her place wasn’t only about celebrating the fact that my two crooked former business partners were arrested on Friday in China after stealing another passenger’s monogram suitcases, just to find out they contained an obscene amount of cocaine.
With a smile illuminating her gorgeous face, Ciara sashays toward us in a spectacular violet midi dress. She reaches into her ample cleavage and produces a small box. “With three curious little explorers, it was the only hiding spot I could think of.”
A watery laugh escapes me as I swipe under my eyes.
That move is so Ciara.
“I love my boys to death, but no way in hell was I going to entrust this precious gem to them. The bags they’re holding contain animal zoo crackers. They’re none the wiser.” She winks.
I giggle.
She hands Kaz the small black box with gold lettering.
Harry Winston.
Holy. Shit.
He opens the box, and my hands fly to cover my mouth, as my eyes zoom in on a sparkling rock.
Kaz plucks it out of the box and takes hold of my left hand. “I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you, Harley.” He slips on the dazzler of a ring.
Heat blooms across my chest. “It’s beautiful.”
“You like it?”
I extend my arm, admiring my eye-popping emerald cut engagement ring. “I freaking love it.” I don’t deserve this perfect life with Kaz, and I thank God, the Universe, and all the angels up above every day for him storming back into my life when I was at my lowest.
“I couldn’t have done it without your best friend,” he says.
I glance at her.
She blows me kisses with one hand.
Her little one stares at his mom and mimics her.
The other two boys follow his lead.
