Come to Me Softly (Closer to You #2)(56)
Author: A.L. Jackson

Watching them I chuckled. Obviously, Megan was trashed, her eyes all glazed over and her words slurring. Aly returned the wishes, her face alight as she pulled back and waggled her hand right in front of Megan’s face. “Look what I have,” Aly sang.

Megan grabbed her hand and studied it closely. “Holy shit.” Her jaw dropped and she turned her wide blue eyes on me. “Did you rob a bank or something?”

Self-conscious laughter rolled from my tongue, and I shifted, rubbing at my chin, but I couldn’t stop from smiling at Aly’s best friend.

Okay, so it wasn’t the biggest rock in the world.

It also wasn’t the smallest.

The second I saw it, I knew it belonged on Aly’s finger. The entire platinum band was covered with beveled inset diamonds, four rows of them that wrapped around to create the band. A huge rock sat prominent in the middle, set above the others.

Classic and beautiful.

Just like Aly.

“Only the best for my girl,” I said, watching the reaction take hold on Aly’s face, the way she looked at me as if she somehow saw me the same way I saw her.

Megan’s palms slid to Aly’s belly. Something reverent played out on her face, her words a whispered awe. “I can’t believe my best friend is getting married and having a baby. It’s just . . . crazy. And I get to be an auntie.” Then her stark blue eyes grew wide, slammed with a thought. “Oh my God, think of all the work we have to do . . . have you picked a date yet? Before or after the baby?” She rambled on faster than I had time to make sense of her words, asking Aly about all our plans, what our budget was, where we wanted to have it, and a ton of other shit that made my head spin.

But I definitely got the gist.

A tingle of apprehension slithered down my spine and twisted somewhere in my stomach.

We sure as hell hadn’t gotten that far. So what if I thought a quick trip to Vegas and the best f**king suite I could get for my girl sounded like a little piece of heaven? Making her permanently mine, without all the bullshit that normally went along with it?

Sounded like a solid plan to me.

Redness flushed up Aly’s neck and settled as an ethereal glow on her cheeks, all this excitement and a jumble of elation and disquieted nerves playing out on her face.

Abject terror filled Christopher’s eyes when he turned to stare across at me, the two of us frozen by just the thought of all the horrors involved in planning a wedding. Then his mouth twisted up in overt satisfaction and I was pretty damn sure the ass**le was picturing me in a suit.

He pointed at me. “Dude, you are screwed. You surrendered your balls the second you put that ring on Aly’s finger.”

“Hey,” Aly shot out. She scowled. “Do you have to be a jerk every second of your life?”

“What?” Christopher’s shoulders rose to his ears, like he was innocent of all the ass**le. “Just telling it like it is.”

I scratched my head, fighting the chuckle brewing somewhere deep in my chest, fighting my impulse to agree with Christopher.

Because there was no doubt the girl owned me.

And there was no doubt I was going to be dealing with all the wedding bullshit.

But for Aly . . .

I looked at her as she beamed up at me from over her shoulder, radiating joy and happiness. She knocked the breath from me every time I stopped to take her in.

Anything.

I would do anything for this girl.

Truth was, I wouldn’t even take the time to consider it bullshit. I’d do it with a grin on my face and a f**king skip in my step because it meant I got to make her mine.

Knowing laughter spilled from Christopher when he caught my expression.

I just shook my head, wrapping Aly back up in my arms.

Aly turned to Megan, all her hair getting up in my face when she rested her head on my shoulder.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself, Megan.” Aly squeezed my hands splayed protectively across her stomach. “This guy barely got up the nerve to propose an hour ago, so we haven’t had a chance to talk about the details yet.” It whipped from her tongue like a tease, and from behind, I could feel the force of her smile. “You should probably cool it before you send my man running.”

I rocked her, tucked her close, my mouth tracing a path at the hollow under her ear. “Not running anywhere, baby.”

Megan stepped around Aly and hiked up on her toes to throw her arms around my neck. One of my arms released Aly so I could hug her back in an awkward one-sided embrace that the three of us seemed to be partaking in.

She crushed me in her hold. “I’m so glad you came back to her,” she whispered almost urgently, like she was sharing her darkest secret with me as she slanted an eye in Aly’s direction. “You two deserve each other . . . to be together this way.”

God, I wanted that. To actually deserve her. To be good enough to even stand in her presence.

Guess I was one lucky bastard that she was giving me her all.

Megan staggered back. “I think I need another drink.”

My brow rose. Pretty sure she most definitely did not.

“Can I get either of you anything?” she asked.

Aly shook her head. “No, thanks. I’ll grab us something in a minute. I haven’t really gotten the chance to say hi to anyone else. I’d better make my rounds.”

Megan nodded and backed away. “All right . . .” She pointed between the two of us. “Don’t you dare leave without finding me and saying good-bye.”

“Of course not,” Aly promised, giving Megan’s hand a quick squeeze before she released her.

Christopher wandered off behind her, and Aly spun around in my arms.

She touched my face. Worry struck across her features when she looked up at me, like our connection was alive, something that existed on another level, and she’d just experienced every single one of the questions that had run through my mind in the last ten minutes. Every fluctuation of my mood and every roil of my spirit.

And God, the girl was just that way, in tune with me, like she knew everything I continued to bury beneath all the shit that would forever plague my life.

That scared me a little bit, too.

She stepped closer to me. She slid her delicate arms around my waist and made herself all comfy against my chest. “Are you okay with all of this?” Her whisper was tinged with fear.

Again, Aly was already ahead of me, and she tipped her head back further to accept the gentle kiss I brushed across her forehead. “I’m fine, baby . . . don’t mind being here at all.”