Chapter Twenty-Five

Nina

I sat alone in the bedroom Tristan and I shared, my hands shaking as I thought about what I must do in mere minutes. Muffled voices from outside the door signaled it was nearly time. Inhaling deeply, I closed my eyes and tried to calm my nerves.

The door opened and Jordan peeked her head in. “It’s time, sweetie.”

I pressed my hands to my thighs and took another deep breath. “Okay. I’m ready.”

She came to my side and held my hand as I stood from the bed on wobbly legs. “Just wait until you see the flowers. They’re really beautiful.”

“The flowers?”

Jordan smiled weakly. “That’s what they say at times like this, don’t they?”

I saw how hard she was trying to be mature at that moment and appreciated it. “I feel like I’m in an episode of some TV melodrama. I know you want to say something snarky or crude, so go for it.”

Her shoulders relaxed, and she smiled broadly. “Thank God! I’ve been tiptoeing around for hours, unsure I should be myself. You’ve been so quiet since returning from Venice, so I wasn’t sure you were up for the full version of me.”

I smoothed the back of my dress and rolled my eyes. “You don’t have to pretend ever, Jordan. Venice was tough, but I got through it. I’m tougher than I look.”

She raised her eyebrows in faux surprise. “Tough, huh? Wait until you get out there and melt into a puddle of girliness when you see your soon-to-be husband.”

Jordan wasn’t wrong. On normal days, seeing Tristan in a suit he wore to work made my knees weak. Seeing him in a tux waiting for me at the altar might make me fall over. “Tell me. How’s he look?”

“Totally badass with that eye patch. Leave it to him to get a black leather one.”

“I meant in the tux, Jordan. How’s he look in the tux?”

As she buzzed around me tugging and fixing my wedding gown, she chuckled. “Like he was born to wear one. The guy looks more comfortable in a tux than other guys do in jeans and a T-shirt.”

Her words took me back to the first time I saw Tristan dressed in a tux and then to that night of the book signing at his hotel. She was right. He wore formality so well, but I knew who the man beneath the clothes was. I knew his passions and his fears, his darkness and his light.

I finally could say I knew Tristan Stone.

Jordan stood back from me and smiled at what she saw. “But when he sees you in this dress, oh, he is going to fall apart. You look stunning, honey.”

I looked down at the gown I’d marry my dream man in and nodded. “I hope so. That’s the point, right? It won’t be much of a honeymoon if the groom doesn’t like how the bride looks.”

My gown felt more incredible than anything I’d ever worn. White satin that hung like it had been created just for me, it was classy and gorgeous and everything I’d always dreamed I’d be. Now, as I stood in the bedroom I shared with the only man I’d ever truly loved, I finally was that woman in my dreams.

After smoothing my veil over the back of my head, she pulled the ends out near my elbows and let them fall against my arms. One last tuck of a stray hair behind my ear and she was done. “All set. You ready to become Mrs. Tristan Stone?”

I didn’t know why, but I began to tear up at those words. Mrs. Tristan Stone. They said the third time was a charm, didn’t they? Looking away, I said, “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I’m crying like a crazy woman.”

“It’s okay, Nina. This is a big deal. Just think of it this way, though. After all you and Tristan have been through, getting married is going to be like a walk in the park. Or more like a walk in the garden on a beautiful summer night.”

Jordan laughed at her joke about where the wedding was to be held, and I rolled my eyes. “Funny. And by the way, not to make you nervous or anything, but you look pretty incredible yourself in that dress. Maybe tonight’s the night Gage asks you out.”

She smoothed her hands down over her hips and slinked toward the door. “Oh, by the way, I can report that those muscles are real and there’s no sex with bugs.”

I thought about what she just said and laughed. “You’re terrible!”

Turning her head, she peered over her shoulder at me. “Nothing terrible about it.”

“How? Jordan, did you…?”

She winked and then shook her head. “Not yet, but he stopped by my apartment one night last week. We had a nice time together.”

“Take it easy on my bodyguard, okay? He saved my life.”

Jordan dropped the sexy act and nodded. “I would never do anything to hurt him, sweetie. It’s not everyday I have a chance with a hero.”




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