Текст книги "Avoiding Temptation"

Автор книги: K. A. Linde

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Текущая страница: 11 (всего у книги 27 страниц)

They made it all the way up the stairs and closed the door before she burst open at the seams.

“Parker is the mastermind behind this whole project?” she shouted at him. “She’s the reason you decided to do this? It’s all her?” Her hands were flying as she spoke, and she couldn’t keep her temper under control.

“What do you want me to tell the cameras, Lexi? Do you want me to tell them that I fucked everything up with my girlfriend, so I did this, trying to make it right by her?” he demanded.

“It would be a better fucking story than telling the fucking cameras that it was Parker who made you decide to do this! You want to know why that would be a better story?” she asked, striding right up to him.

“Why, Lexi?” he asked, his green eyes narrowed and fiery.

“Because it would have been the truth!”

“I didn’t lie.”

“Are you fucking serious? Because it’s news to me that Parker was the reason for any of this!”

“Parker has been doing a lot of the work. I’ve been the Bridges name and have offered my two cents on the business side. She knows the medical side. It’s her baby.”

“Only because she lost the other one,” she said before she could stop herself.

Ramsey glared—actually glared at her. “Don’t talk about that,” he said calmly.

It was a scary calm, one that was bordering on madness. She had touched on the topic that he couldn’t possibly discuss with a level head, and she knew it. She was pushing him for no good reason, pushing just because she was angry and wanted the fight in that moment. She wasn’t even playing fair.

“I don’t like her. You said she would be gone if I wanted. You said that she didn’t have to be in our lives anymore. I don’t want her in our lives anymore,” she told him flatly.

“I said that before I signed the contract for the medical wing,” he said, some of the fire in his eyes leaving.

“Another broken promise,” Lexi said, shaking her head.

“Look, I have to work with her now, and I’m doing all of this shit for you. I can’t just push Parker away when we’re in the middle of getting this company off the ground. But it changes absolutely nothing in our relationship whatsoever.”

Lexi looked away. Sometimes, it felt like it changed a lot more than he would ever admit.

“And what about you?”

“What about me?” she snapped. Her temper clearly hadn’t run its course yet.

“I have to work with Parker, but you don’t have to be around Jack, and you still are. So, why are you still around him?”

“Yeah, I don’t work with Jack, which means I don’t have to be around him every fucking minute of every day. It means I don’t have to tell the press that he’s the reason for my next big project,” she said, raising her voice as she spoke. “It means there is distance between us.”

“Don’t be hypocritical!”

“Hypocritical?” Lexi cried.

“Yes! Just because you’re not around him all the time doesn’t make it any better.”

“Jack Howard is not my problem anymore. He is married to your sister and has been nothing but a good friend to me since that happened!”

“No one is that good of a friend when he stares at you like he does.”

“Are you just trying to make me mad? Are you just trying to push me away?” she asked, walking away from him.

“Lexi, get your ass over here,” he growled. “Right now.”

“No,” she said stubbornly.

Ramsey took two big strides to close the distance between them before crashing his mouth down on hers. She didn’t want to enjoy this. She wanted to be angry. She wanted to slap him and tell him to get his shit together or she was out the door. Of course, she wasn’t going to leave, not really. It was an irrational anger coursing through her from months of pent-up frustration about Parker being around Ramsey, months of wondering if something was going to happen, months of keeping her mouth closed.

Then, she hadn’t been able to keep it closed any longer.

His hands were on her in an instant, yanking her dress over her head, unclasping her strapless bra, and grasping her breasts in his hands. Her hands went to his belt buckle. She wanted him out of these clothes. She didn’t want him in anything that matched Parker ever again.

Once she was finished with his pants, she grabbed his tie and jerked his face back toward her. “Did y’all plan this?” she demanded.

“Plan what?”

“Matching. You matched.”

Ramsey looked at her in shock, and it was enough to tell her that they hadn’t planned it. Fuck. She thought that would make her feel better, but it didn’t. It made her want to curse the universe for her bad luck.

“We need to get you out of this now,” she said, going to work at the buttons of his shirt.

“No time,” he grunted.

Ramsey pushed her toward the side of the couch and bent her at the waist. Her thong fell to the floor at his insistence. She heard the zipper of his pants, and then they fell to the floor as well. He held her down, facing forward, before thrusting into her.

Lexi cried out. She was already heated from their conversation, but he wasn’t being gentle. He was as angry as she was, and that made for a deadly combination. With one hand on her shoulder and one on her hip, Ramsey pulled back and slammed back into her over and over and over again. He had never been this rough with her before.

It had always been good, but this was…in a different ballpark.

She couldn’t think of anything, except him pounding inside her, her pussy clenching all around him, and the anger building in her heart.

“I’m so fucking pissed at you,” she growled.

“Good.”

He didn’t give up, even an inch, and she could feel her whole body giving in. She was so fucking pissed at him, but God, did she love this man.

“You’re going to come for me.”

“No, I’m not,” she said even though she knew that she was so close to the brink she was going to explode any second.

“Yes, you are. And I’m coming with you,” he said, reaching one hand down in front of her and stroking her clit with his finger as he continued to fuck her.

Her body started trembling. She couldn’t hold out. And he didn’t want her to.

The way she was feeling at that moment, she didn’t want to either. She wanted to feel him thrust up inside her as they came together. She wanted to forget their argument and just live in the here and now—knowing that they might be angry, but it would be okay. They could move on from this.

She felt her legs give out as soon as the orgasm ripped through her body. Lexi collapsed onto the couch as Ramsey let go of her shoulder and released deep into her. His weight shifted as he grabbed on to the couch for support.

As she lay there, panting, she looked up at him and managed to get out, “I love you, Ramsey.”

He smiled a lazy, heartfelt smile down at her. “I love you, too.”

“You what?” Lexi shrieked through the phone.

“Chica, chill the fuck out,” Chyna said.

“My party is this afternoon. What do you mean you have a photo shoot in New York?”

“It can’t be helped. Fashion week is less than a month away.”

“I don’t care about fashion week, Chyna. It’s your best friend’s engagement party.”

“I know,” she whined. “I tried to explain that to them, but they don’t really care. Plus, we already celebrated when we found out. It’s not the end of the world. I’ll fly you up here to go shopping for it. Oh! Better yet, let me talk to the designer about your dress. We could get it custom-made.”

Lexi shook her head. “You’re insane. Do you know how much a custom dress costs?”

She could almost see Chyna staring blankly. Money wasn’t an object for her. But Ramsey wouldn’t object to whatever Lexi wanted anyway. That still didn’t mean she wanted to spend ten or twenty grand on a wedding dress.

“Don’t worry so much. You’re going to come up for fashion week, right?” Chyna asked, deftly changing the subject.

“I haven’t talked to Ramsey about it.”

“Forget the old ball and chain, and come visit me.”

Lexi rolled her eyes. “Real nice of you to say…since you aren’t on your way here for my engagement party.”

“Anyway, what’s really going on? You’ve been quiet lately—besides you bitching at me about the party,” Chyna said.

“We still talk every day,” Lexi told her.

“I mean, almost every day. But you’ve been all scatterbrained, like something happened and you didn’t tell me. Oh, like that time you slept with Adam’s brother. Oh, or like any time with Jack. Does this have to do with a boy?” Chyna asked.

Lexi glanced around the apartment. Ramsey wasn’t anywhere in sight. She knew that he was busy with preparations for the party tonight. The man knew how to throw a party, that was for sure. She was glad that the Sunday night escapades were over, but he was pumped to throw something together for their engagement. She hoped that it didn’t turn out like the Sunday parties she had frequented when they had first started dating. The guest list certainly boasted enough of his friends to warrant it…but she didn’t think it would get like that.

Or at least, she hoped not.

Deciding that Ramsey wasn’t about to walk in on her at any minute, Lexi sighed.

“This should be good,” Chyna said with a giggle.

“Are you drunk?”

“Not yet.”

“Then, why do you take such perverse pleasure in my pain?”

“Because you torture yourself, chica. Dish the goods.”

Lexi grumbled under her breath about the directness of her best friend before speaking. “I told Jack that I got engaged.”

“Right. I assumed so. You’ve been engaged for, like, two months now. I figured everyone knew. Did he…flip out?”

Lexi shook her head even though she knew Chyna couldn’t see. “Yes and no. He just heard about the temporary hearing results. Bekah got everything she wanted. I think she’s going to try to ruin him in court.”

“Alexa…seriously, not your problem,” Chyna said softly.

“I know, I know. I’m not saying it is. I went there for, like, moral support when he was done. I barely got to talk to him about it because he had to meet with his attorney right after. As I was turning to go, he saw the engagement ring.”

“Eesh,” Chyna said. “Not the best way for him to find out. Why didn’t you just…tell him?”

“I don’t know,” she said truthfully.

There had never been a right time. First, she had found out about the divorce, and then a series of unfortunate events had spiraled into existence. She just hadn’t been able to tell him. Maybe she had known all along on some level that it would hurt him, and she didn’t want to inflict any more pain on him than he was already receiving.

“Psh, chica, you know.”

“I don’t,” she denied.

“I know. You’re just acting dumb if you’re saying that you didn’t.”

“Why don’t you tell me then, Chyna?”

Chyna tsked Lexi through the line. “All right, play dumb.”

“Chyna…”

“Besides the glaringly obvious fact that you probably didn’t want your ex…something or other to know that you were engaged, you also clearly didn’t want to hurt him because you two are all buddy-buddy now. Since you’re buddy-buddy, that means you can never, ever let go of your relationship. I know you’re about to jump down my throat and tell me it’s changed—so help me God,” Chyna said, staving off Lexi’s imminent protests. “All I’m going to say is that Jack is probably in a lot of pain because of his divorce, and you didn’t want to make it worse. Whether or not I think he might deserve to be the one hurting this time…is beside the point.”

“You’re a real charmer, C,” Lexi said.

Though, Chyna was right. She was always right about these kinds of things—as irritating as it all was.

“Whatever, chica. The man needs a taste of his own medicine now and again.”

“He’s going through enough.”

“Listen to yourself. Same old Lexi,” Chyna said under her breath. “Stop defending him.”

“I’m not defending what he did in the past. I’m seeing him for the person he is now. Two years of marriage changed him, and I’ll be the first to admit it.”

“If it changed him so much, then why didn’t you tell him you got engaged?” Chyna asked.

“Okay, Jesus, I get your point. You just didn’t see him that day when he was telling me about the divorce papers or after he left the courtroom.”

“I’m not susceptible to those blue eyes.”

“Big words, C,” Lexi said with a laugh.

“Bitch.”

“Anyway, I know you need a lot less than a pair of blue eyes,” Lexi said.

“Not anymore.”

“What? You can change, and no one else can?” Lexi asked. She knew playing the hypocrite card was low, but it made people angry enough to see a point.

Chyna was silent for a minute. Lexi assumed she was brooding over there while trying to find a way out of the hole she had dug herself into.

“Fine. Whatever. What did he actually say when you told him?”

“A lot of stuff,” Lexi said, not wanting to remember. It still made her heart constrict. “He asked me if I was happy, and I told him I was. Then, he said that all he had ever wanted was for me to be happy, so I should leave.”

“Whoa. Did you leave?”

“Yeah.”

“That explains why you’ve been mopey then.”

“I haven’t been mopey. God!”

Chyna scoffed. “You’ve been annoying. You should have just told me. Now, get your ass up here for fashion week. I have to head out. Tell Ramsey I said hello.”

“I will, Chyna, but I still don’t know about fashion week.”

“I don’t want to hear it. I’ll see you then, chica. Bye!”

Lexi set her phone down with a sigh. Telling Chyna all about the stuff with Jack was a relief. She had been holding it back, trying to pretend like none of it had happened…trying to forget the horror on his face when he had seen the ring.

They hadn’t talked much since then. He was preparing with his attorney to attempt to mediate the divorce. It wasn’t required in Georgia courts, but it was strongly recommended that Jack try to negotiate outside of court. It saved on expenses for everyone, and it spared the judge’s time…and patience.

Lexi doubted it would be settled through mediation. Jack wasn’t going to accept Bekah’s accusation that he had cheated on her while they had been married. Just because he’d had a past history of bad behavior didn’t necessarily mean that it had happened presently. And since he was going to fight her on that to the grave, they would likely end up in court as soon as Bekah had all of her evidence and a date was set.

Lexi shook her head softly and then tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. As Chyna had said, none of that was her problem, and she really was trying to stay out of it. Ramsey had actually agreed not to invite Bekah to the party tonight, which meant it should be blissfully quiet.

A knock at the door jolted Lexi. She wasn’t expecting anyone. She strode forward just as Ramsey came barreling down the stairs.

“Door?” she asked as he rounded the corner.

“Yeah, I can get it.”

Lexi was already there, so she yanked open the door. Standing before her was an incredibly tall, buxom blonde with bright red lipstick and a tight black bodysuit.

“Lola!” Lexi said with a start. “I didn’t know we were expecting you.”

“Hello, darling. It’s so good to see you,” Lola said, bending forward and planting a red kiss on Lexi’s cheek.

“Lola, you’re early,” Ramsey said. He didn’t sound displeased.

“You forget how long setup takes, love. Two years out of the business, and already, you forget,” she said with a light reprimand. She walked over and squeezed Ramsey’s bicep. “Are you still working out? You look thin.”

“Two insults in one sentence, and I thought you might be different after two years of running the company alone.”

Lola waved her hand with her long red-lacquered nails in the air. “I’m a bitch. It comes with the territory.”

“Wait—setup?” Lexi asked, tilting her head. “I thought we were having the engagement party at a restaurant.”

Ramsey sheepishly looked at her. “Last-minute change. I was on the phone with Lola earlier, and she insisted it be at the club, but I knew you wouldn’t be into that. So, she wouldn’t take no for an answer, and we thought we would bring the party here. Keep it more low-key than typical parties, but bring it back. I mean, it was our first kiss.”

Lexi didn’t know what to say. On one hand, she didn’t mind him moving the location to their apartment, but she had been expecting to go out and have a good time. Fun would sure be had if they stayed here, but it was different.

“What about everyone else? The invitations already went out weeks ago,” she reminded him.

“I got it all taken care of.”

“Oh.”

“You’re not happy,” Ramsey said softly.

Lola sighed. “I will have people start bringing things in. If you choose to reschedule again, please let me know before we carry in the speakers. They’re heavy.”

She eyed Lexi dramatically before exiting.

“I just…I don’t mind that we’re having it here, but it’s this…” She sighed. How many times had they had this conversation? “When were you going to tell me?”

“I had planned on it before Lola got here. She was early,” he said, scratching the back of his head.

Lexi reminded herself that he was doing this for her, trying to make this the best it could be for her. She was not going to blow up at him. She was definitely not going to blow up at him. The last thing she wanted was an argument right before their engagement party.

“But…why didn’t you even ask me? It’s my engagement, too, you know?” she said, aiming for a level voice.

When Ramsey winced, she knew that she hadn’t achieved it.

“I know you hate surprises, so I was going to break it to you, but in a surprise kind of way…not by Lola showing up at our front step with massive speakers and too much lipstick,” he said.

“Okay.”

There wasn’t anything else to say. It was too late to change it back to the restaurant they had booked together weeks ago. And it wouldn’t do any good to be angry with Ramsey for trying once again to make her happy.

“Lexi…”

“I’m going to go get ready. Tell Lola to bring the speakers in,” she said, turning to walk up the stairs.

“Hey,” he said, catching her and drawing her into him. “I love you. I thought you would like this.”

Lexi smiled faintly. “I do like this. It’s thoughtful. It’ll be nice to have everyone at the house.”

“But you’re not happy.”

“I’m fine.”

“Fine means you’re pissed,” Ramsey observed.

“I’m…frustrated. It’s okay. It’ll pass. I should just go get ready,” she said.

Ramsey didn’t let go of her though. He pulled her tight to him and kissed her on the mouth softly. “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” she whispered against his lips.

“What are you wearing tonight?” he asked.

“It’s a surprise.” She gave him a devilish smirk before breaking out of his embrace and rushing up the stairs.

At least upstairs, away from his watchful eye, she could allow herself to be angry and frustrated, and she would be able to punch something. She didn’t think it was that hard to consult with her on things. Wasn’t the wedding supposed to be the girl’s thing? Not that she was a girlie-girl or anything. Not that she hadn’t freaked out at the meeting with the wedding planner. Not that Ramsey couldn’t see through her bravado from a mile off. Still, even if she wasn’t doing all the work or didn’t know what was needed to do all the work for the wedding, that didn’t mean she couldn’t be clued in.

Lexi plopped back onto the bed and closed her eyes. She really needed to start getting ready, but all she could think about was Lola sauntering into the apartment and Lexi feeling like an idiot for not knowing what was going on…again. She couldn’t have that talk another time about wanting to know everything that was going on. She had lost count on how many times it had already happened.

Ramsey still told her what he thought was important. He wasn’t hiding big secrets as far as she knew, but sometimes, even the smallest, teeny, tiniest omission felt massive. It gave her a headache.

Two hours later, guests began arriving.

Lexi was pretty frantic at this point. Her anger had turned into exhaustion, and she had accidentally fallen asleep on the bed.

Planning this event only a week and a half before Christmas really wasn’t the best idea. She had thankfully closed out the Bryant case, but her boss had promptly assigned her a new doozy to work on. Plus, she had Christmas shopping to get done and meetings with the wedding planner to finalize their fucking color palettes and shit. On top of all of that, Jack was getting divorced.

But she couldn’t think about everything else as she put the finishing touches on her makeup. She had chosen soft colors to accent her naturally tan skin and dark hair. Her eyes were lined in black with thick mascara, and she added some gold shimmer powder to her eyelids with a faint touch of lip gloss to her lips. Her dark hair was down, nearly to her waist, in soft curls. Her bangs were swept off to the side, and when she turned, they fell down into her eyes seductively.

The dress she had chosen was virginal white, the most ironic color in her closet. Lexi practically never wore white. She thought she stood out more in deep purples and luscious reds and even bombshell blacks. But well…she figured if there was ever a year for her to wear white, it was this year.

The body-hugging material clung to her in all the right places, stopping at the tops of her thighs. The straps were thick as they wound over her shoulders and into an X, low across her back before tying off into a bow. While the neckline wasn’t as revealing as a lot of her outfits, it still warranted a double take in the sweetheart style. She paired it with a string of pearls and a pair of blue heels.

She couldn’t wait for everyone to see how she looked. She wished Chyna were here for it…but Lexi wouldn’t dwell on it. She just needed to hurry her ass up, so she could greet her guests.

Lexi took a deep breath and then took the stairs to the first floor. When she hit the landing, she stared in shock at her apartment. They hadn’t had a party at their house in the two years that they had lived together—not since Ramsey had given up the clubs.

It felt like a lifetime ago that this had been her life. She hadn’t realized how much would change after she got out of law school. Now, she had a full-time job, and Ramsey had the medical wing. She came home exhausted, and she only had more work to do. At least, she still had Chyna to force her to come visit and party, reminding her that she was only twenty-seven.

That was what made the transformation of their apartment all the more interesting. It had been two years, yet the place still looked the same—the lights, the DJ, the bar. And at the same time, it was clear that Ramsey had instructed them to change it up. It was more low-key. Guests could actually carry on a conversation. There wasn’t an insanely large group of people she had never seen before grinding in their living room. It was mostly Ramsey’s friends from work, the club, school, but intermixed were a few of her friends who had already shown up.

She knew that Ramsey was just trying to make her happy. And if he had suggested having the party at their place earlier, then maybe she wouldn’t be so frustrated.

“Honey, you look way too fuckable to be thinking that hard,” Brandon said as he slid his arm around her waist and drew her in for a hug.

“Pookie! It’s so good to see you.” Lexi pulled back to smack him on the shoulder. “I don’t look fuckable!”

“Lexi, Lexi, Lexi…” Brandon said, shaking his head. “You’re just testing my patience. You think I won’t throw you over my shoulder and prove my point?”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I think! Ramsey would follow you upstairs, and we both know how that ends.”

“Ah…I suppose I am still recovering from when I decided to sleep with Parker.”

Lexi wouldn’t cringe. All of the men in her life were connected in one way or another. Jack was married, erm…currently divorcing Ramsey’s sister. John worked with Ramsey on the Bridges medical wing. Brandon had dated Ramsey’s ex-girlfriend. At least, there were a few degrees of separation between Jack and John, but Christ…she didn’t believe in coincidence anymore.

“Brandon, you’re touching my girl,” Ramsey observed as he strode toward them.

Brandon made no move to let her go. Lexi just shook her head. Ramsey knew by now that Brandon stood no chance whatsoever with her, but he still didn’t like Brandon. And he probably never would.

She stepped out of Brandon’s embrace and took a step toward her fiancé. “You didn’t change,” she murmured.

He still looked delicious in a pair of dark jeans and a black sweater.

“When would I have had the time? You were upstairs the whole time.”

“Oh, right. I accidentally fell asleep.”

He laughed. “And here I thought, you were unhappy with me.”

She had been, but he looked visibly relieved that she hadn’t been upstairs, ignoring him this whole time. She didn’t want to break him out of a good mood even if she was still unsatisfied with how the day had progressed.

“Don’t think you’re off the hook,” she chastised lightly.

He smiled down at her with a knowing look. “I never am with you.”

Shit! She knew it was supposed to be sexual, but still, she felt bad. She had always been a forgive-and-forget kind of person, but since the blowup at Jack’s wedding, she had been holding on to her past tighter and tighter. Ramsey seemed to always be at the center of that. And his reminder of that, even if it was accidental, didn’t help matters.

And then, the party started.

Lexi was swept around the room, introduced to an array of people from Ramsey’s life. She smiled and laughed and joked, and somewhere in there, she breathed. She knew that an engagement party was supposed to be more low-key than the wedding itself, but it still scared her. This felt anything but low-key, and maybe that was because Chyna wasn’t here, and a lot of her friends from college and law school lived out of town. She couldn’t expect them to come into town twice.

Ramsey’s old roommates, Jason and Brad, were making jabs at him, and Lexi was deep in conversation with her old gymnastics captain, Krista, who lived in the metro-Atlanta area. She was pregnant with twins and already showing. It was crazy to see the small athletic woman who had barely any fat on her body to have a little baby bump. Lexi had thought it strange when Krista’s hair had been all one color, and now, she was having kids! At least, her hair was red with blonde underneath it now.

“I just can’t believe you’re marrying Ramsey Bridges,” Krista said, staring down at Lexi’s ring again.

Lexi laughed. “Yeah.”

“I mean, I seriously always thought that you and Jack…” Krista trailed off, glancing up to make sure Ramsey wasn’t looking over here. “And you mean that you and Jack are literally just friends?”

Lexi always forgot that Krista and Jack had been friends in college and that Krista was the person Jack had gone to when he had gotten Lexi on the gymnastics team after she had stopped talking to him.

“Just friends,” Lexi confirmed.

“Crazy. I mean, I guess no one expected me to end up with my college boyfriend. If I had, then I never would have met Matt, who I love something hard.”

“Exactly,” Lexi said, her gaze shifting to Ramsey.

Then, the front door opened.

Lexi wasn’t sure why she even noticed it over the noise of the party and the DJ playing party music, but it drew her attention. She felt like she was watching Gone with the Wind when Scarlett walked into the party wearing the iconic red dress after having been caught with Ashley. Her eyes landed on Parker at the front door, and Lexi held her breath. Of course Ramsey would invite her. They were business partners, but still…

Parker was dressed in a long-sleeved, cowl-necked sweater dress in a deep burgundy color and black boots. Her hair was piled high on her head, like she had been in a rush. Who was Lexi kidding? Parker was always in a rush. She was wringing her hands together as she sought out Ramsey in the crowd. Lexi knew that was what Parker was doing before they even locked eyes across the room.

“Who’s that?” Krista asked. “She kind of looks like you.”

Lexi breathed out through her nose. Of course she did. “That’s Parker. She runs the medical wing with Ramsey,” Lexi explained.

“Weird. You do know she looks like you, right?”

“Yes,” Lexi said as she watched Parker veer through the crowd right toward Ramsey. “I know.”

“Strange coincidence.”

Coincidence. Ha!

“Something like that,” Lexi said softly.

“Fuck, I would kill for a drink right now,” Krista said, eyeing the bar sadly. “And my husband won’t stop drinking. If I have to drive home, I might kill him before these babies pop out.”

“You will not,” Lexi said, laughing.

“I love him, but I want to kill him daily. You’ll understand when you get married,” Krista said, patting her shoulder.

Lexi glanced over at Ramsey and cocked her head to the side. “I’m pretty sure I already get it.”

“Lexi,” Ramsey said, motioning her over.

She took a deep breath and walked toward them. “Hey, Parker.”

“Hey,” she said shyly. “I, uh…brought you this.” She shoved a bottle of wine and a flat rectangular box into Lexi’s hand.

“Oh,” Lexi said, embarrassed. “Thank you.”

She hadn’t expected gifts. The engagement party Ramsey’s parents were planning was where she anticipated small gifts but not at the party they were throwing for their friends.

“It’s not much. I wasn’t sure what y’all wanted since you aren’t registered yet, but I kind of felt like I should bring something,” Parker said softly.

“Well, wow, um…thanks. We didn’t get any other presents.”

Parker’s cheeks turned bright pink. “Oh…really? I thought…isn’t that etiquette?”

Lexi shrugged.

Ramsey jumped in. “It is. Thank you,” he said with a smile, taking the wine out of Lexi’s hand.

“You can open it now, if you want. It’s not much, but I thought you could…I don’t know. It’s up to you,” Parker said.

“Go ahead, Lexi,” Ramsey said encouragingly.

“All right,” she said.

She untied the silver ribbon, tore back the white and silver paper, and popped the lid on the box. Inside was a wedding planner with individual tabs for each thing she would need to accomplish, and the front read, Lexi and Ramsey’s Wedding, in a swirly silver font.

Lexi smiled up at Parker, feeling completely genuine about it for the first time. The planner was truly a nice gift. “Thank you,” Lexi said graciously.

“I know that you hired Sherri, but I thought it’s never a bad idea to have your own planner. I didn’t know if you already had one.”

“I don’t. This will be a big help.”