Page 184 of Theirs to Tempt: The Marriage Claim

I blink. “I just told you.”

“No. You told me what you found out in Vegas.” She lifts her glass. “What was Vegas like?”

“That doesn’t matter.”

“Then it should be easy to answer.”

I hate her a little.

She knows it.

I look beyond the patio railing toward the passing traffic. “Wonderful.”

The word hurts.

Piper says nothing.

“We took a helicopter ride, ate tacos at this ridiculous place I loved. Lucian taught me baccarat.” My throat tightens. “And I found the cupcake dispenser at the Royal Sterling.”

“The cupcake dispenser?”

I nod as she nearly swoons.

We both laugh, and then she looks at me more seriously. “And how was your…” She clears her throat. “Private time.”

Heat moves into my face.

“Oh.” She nods. “Like that, was it?”

In protest, I raise my hand. “I didn’t say anything.”

“Your eyebrows did.”

She reaches for a cracker. “Continue.”

I take a drink because there is no graceful way to say it.

“It was…” Stunning, amazing, hot, dizzying.

She waits.

But everything that happened in Vegas is mine.

For one short, spectacular stretch of time, I believed I’d found my happily ever after.

I look away and take a long drink, hoping to find my composure at the bottom of the glass.

If I hadn’t experienced all of that, maybe my life would be simpler.

“Oh God. Sophie…” Piper sets down her glass. “Did you fall in love with them?”

My chest constricts. “How can I possibly love men who did that to me?”

She says nothing.

I hate her knowing look. “What aren’t you saying?”

“Nothing.”