Counting the hours.
I'm counting too.
"All right, gorgeous." The makeup artist's voice breaks through my reverie. "Time for the dress."
The room shifts. The chatter doesn't stop, but there's a new energy now. Anticipation building, the morning pivoting toward its purpose.
I stand. My fingers find the tie of my silk robe, and I let the fabric fall away.
Beneath, Eve's lingerie is a work of art—ivory silk and delicate lace, the pale blue ribbon accents a whisper against my skin. My “something blue” already in place. Eve makes a small sound of satisfaction from across the room.
"God, I'm good," she murmurs, and Kat laughs.
Serena's team moves into action with choreographed precision. The gown is lifted from its hanger, carefully, reverently, and carried toward me. Clara holds the skirt while Yuki guides me to step into the pool of ivory silk.
And then the dress rises.
The fabric whispers against my legs, my hips, cool and whisper smooth. The pleated bodice wraps my curves, soft asymmetrical draping that manages to be both elegant and sensual. Yuki's hands work the dozens of buttons at my back, each one a small pearl, while Sofia adjusts the fall of the skirt.
But it's the sleeves that steal my breath.
Sheer illusion lace slides up my arms, and with it, the cascading pearls. Tiny, luminous, flowing down from shoulderto wrist like elegant rainfall. They're cool against my skin. Delicate. Each one catching light as I move.
Pearls. Always pearls with Nick and me.
My mind goes to him again. To the first strand of pearls he gave me, the ones he wound around my wrists, binding me to him in ways that went far beyond his dark appetites. To every gift since. Every symbol of what we've become to each other.
I imagine his hands where Yuki's are now. Not careful. Not reverent. Urgent. Possessive. The way he undressed me the last time we made love, his mouth hot against my throat, his fingers making quick work of buttons and clasps and everything between us. The way he'll undress me tonight.
Heat pools low in my belly. I'm dressing for him. Every layer, every detail, designed in anticipation of the way his eyes will darken when he sees me. The sharp intake of breath I know will come. The hunger that will flare in his face, barely leashed, before he masters it for the sake of three hundred witnesses.
But tonight, there will be no witnesses. No control.
Just him and me and everything we've earned.
"Avery?"
Tasha's voice pulls me back. She's standing before me now, a dark red velvet box in her hands, her eyes bright with emotion.
"The finishing touch."
She opens the lid.
The pearl and diamond infinity necklace gleams against the velvet. The double strands of pearls. The infinity symbol at the center, diamonds catching fire in the light.
My throat tightens, emotion nearly overwhelming me. It’s not sadness. It’s the sweet, affirming warmth of being claimed by someone who chose me completely.
"Here, I'll do it." Someone appears behind me to move my hair out of the way while Tasha carefully lifts the necklace free. Herfingers are warm against my nape as she works the clasp. "Your man certainly has good taste."
"I know." My voice comes out smaller than I intended. "Have you ever seen anything so beautiful?"
She adjusts the necklace, the infinity symbol settling just above the hollow of my throat. The metal warms against my pulse, and for a moment I close my eyes, feeling him right here with me. The weight of his gaze. The feeling of being the center of his whole world.
"I wasn't talking about the necklace, girlfriend. But yeah, it's spectacular."
She comes around to look at me, her expression beaming. "You look beautiful. This is what everyone needs today," she says, gesturing to the hubbub of activity around us. "The chance to celebrate you. To see how happy you are. You deserve both, Ave. You deserve everything good in life."
"Thank you," I whisper. "For being here. For just being you."
