A riptide of affection washed through the room. A moment given to this all-consuming feeling.
Then Raven dug into her bag. “Here we go. The last and most important piece. Part your lips.” Raven leaned in close to apply color to my lips.
She sat back and looked down at me. “God, you’re so beautiful. With or without makeup. Inside and out. I’m so happy you and Cash found each other again.”
That refusal churned inside me, and I stood, unsure if it was the mimosas or their care that made me wobbly.
The fact I was marrying the man of my dreams, and it was only adream.
But I could barely get my legs to cooperate as I moved over to the bed where Piper had laid out the dress.
Emery dumped the bag of undergarments onto the bed and Charleigh removed the lid to the shoes.
“Strip and don’t get shy with us.” Raven laughed as she said it.
Amusement rippled through me, and I shook my head as I unbuttoned the blouse they insisted I put on so I didn’t ruin the end effect.
I stripped down to nothing.
“I already washed everything so it’d be ready for you,” Emery assured me as I slipped into the strapless bodysuit.
It was lace and satin and probably the sexiest thing I’d ever worn.
Okay, there was no probably to it.
I bit down on my bottom lip, then Piper and Emery unzipped the dress and helped me into it while Charleigh held out the shoes.
They zipped me up, then Raven got behind me and turned me toward the mirror.
A gasp wheeled out, and my fingertips trailed over the bodice of the fitted dress.
“Told you,” Raven whispered near my ear. “Gorgeous. Stunning. Beautiful. All of you.”
My throat felt thick. “Thank you so much for doing this for me. I would never have thought to…”
I choked off, wishing for the right words to express how they made me feel.
As if I belonged. As if I were something more than the shell that I’d been formed into.
Not because of the dress I wore or the makeup that had been applied.
But because they had taken their time.
Raven reached out and looped her pinky with mine. “Besties, remember?”
“I…” I couldn’t even get the words out around the ball in my throat.
Emery did the same on the other side, and Piper looped her arm around my waist from behind and set her chin on my shoulder, while Charleigh grabbed another small bag.
A jewelry store bag.
“We thought you might need this.”
Hands trembling, I pulled out a jewelry box. I opened it to a man’s ring. It was a matte black metal. Rugged and unpretentious like the man.
Emotion rushed.
Coming up on all sides.
