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Chapter 38 (Lou-Lou)
I smooth my red dress over my hips, step into my heels, and turn around to face them. “Is it too much? Too inappropriate? I can change.”
Shelby looks at me like I've sprouted another head. “Absolutely not. Don't you dare.”
Alyssa zips up her own dress. “The bullet might not have killed him, but I'm pretty sure that dress will.” She looks down at her feet. “God, I hate looking like the goodyear blimp.”
“You don't,” Shelby and I shout. “Not even close.”
She might not think so, but she looks stu
I turn back around and finish applying my makeup. "That green dress really brings out those hazel eyes of yours."
She stands beside me in front of the mirror. “Bitch.”
There's laughter in her tone and I can't help but laugh with her. Never in a million years would I have thought I'd be laughing with this girl over an inside joke, let alone be friends with her...but now?
I can't imagine not having her in my life.
Shelby clears her throat. “You girls ready to go? Tyrone just texted me and said they're all waiting for us to arrive.”
She grabs her purse and Alyssa and I exchange a glance. It's really not fair for one girl to be so strikingly beautiful and put together all the time.
Alyssa curses and looks down at her feet again and my lips turn up in a snarl.
Shelby looks at us like we're nuts. “What the heck did I just miss?”
“We hate you a little right now,” Alyssa tells her and I nod. “Oh yeah. Big time.”
Shelby opens her mouth but clamps it shut, looking beyond confused.
“You're too pretty, too poised, and too perfect all the time...makes us look bad,” Alyssa says with a wink.
I gesture between us. “Yeah, in case you haven't noticed...we're a little...” I let my voice trail off so she can fill in her own blanks.
“Trust me, I'm far from perfect. And I definitely wasn't always so put together,” she says when we walk out into the hallway.
Her lips curve into a smile that's part i
Alyssa and I exchange another glance...because we know all too well.
There are two sides to every story...
The party is nearly in full swing by the time we arrive and I have to remind myself to relax and breathe. Being in a room full of people will always make me a bit nervous, but one look at a pair of dark, smoldering eyes from across the room makes a different part of my brain go haywire.
“Sweet Jesus,” Shelby utters at the same time Alyssa says, “Yeah, I'm pretty sure bad guys aren't supposed to look that good.”
I can hear my heart beating erratically over the music with every step he takes toward me.
Everything around me becomes a blur, because when Ricardo and I are in a room together...everyone else ceases to exist.
My mouth goes dry when my eyes travel down and I take in his appearance.
His black on black three-piece suit is immaculate, there's not a hair out of place on that gorgeous head of his, and the stubble lining his strong jaw is just as sexy as ever....but it's that cocky smirk and the damn near menacing confidence exuding from him that causes my knees to start buckling.
And those eyes of his.
Those penetrating eyes that haven't left mine. Only to stop and scan every single inch of my body from head to toe with a bloodthirsty stare that makes my mouth water.
Ricardo's the epitome of lethal, and if I was smart, I'd stay away and admire from afar like all the other women in the room. Hell, make that the world.
But that threatening nature of his? That's part of the appeal. That sheer intensity about him is what makes my blood pump and causes my heart to race out of control.
I know what a hazard he is to people and all about the boundaries he doesn't have.
I know what lines he wouldn't cross...none. Because they don't exist in his world when it comes to getting what he wants.
I know that 99.9% of the people in this room are in danger of not making it out alive if they so much as breathe in my direction or dare to look at me the wrong way.
And I don't care.
I know the heart inside this monster. Because that heart is mine...and it beats for me and me only. Every part of it. The good and the bad.
Ricardo and I were two souls who were never destined to be together.
We were never supposed to find each other in the dark...but we did.
And if I had to live my life all over again—every single brutal, agonizing detail...just to find him again...
I would.
He makes his way across the room until he's standing in front of me...and then before I can even greet him, I'm being lifted in the air and his lips are on mine—staking his claim in a room full of people I've never met before, killing me slowly in a kiss so sensual and provocative, it should be outlawed.
“Hi,” he whispers when he finally breaks away and puts me down.
I almost stagger back I'm so dizzy, but his arms latch onto me, steadying me.
“Hi,” I say back, my voice sounding breathless.
When he bites his lip and peruses my body again, he doesn't just light my nerve endings on fire...he blows each and every one of them up.
His jaw sets and his gaze darkens. “That dress.”
“Would you rather I take it off?”
A low growl erupts from somewhere deep within his throat. “I'd rather not ruin Tyrone and Shelby's big night with a mass homicide.”
“Yeah, me too,” Tyrone says before he pulls me into a hug and whispers, “Told you that dress was his kryptonite. I'd invest in one hell of a dry cleaner if I were you.”
“I'll see what I can do.”
He's about to respond, but when he sees Shelby his words fall by the wayside. He tugs her on his lap and gives her a kiss so passionate the entire room starts howling and cheering.
Ricardo's fingertips graze the small of my back as he leads me to the bar.
Ricardo orders himself a drink but I decline, given I'm already drunk on him and it's hard enough to plant my feet on the ground in his presence.
I prop myself up on a stool and his fingers lightly trickle along my thigh, leaving goosebumps in their wake.
“What are you thinking about?”
When my flushed cheeks and neck are his answer, he tilts his head back and laughs. “I meant outside of the bedroom.”
I lean forward, intentionally giving him a peek down my dress. “We can do it outside of the bedroom, I'm not picky.”
He groans and looks around the room. “Christ, you're go
I pluck a cherry from the bin and suck on it. “But what a lovely way to go, huh?”
Something crosses over his features then, something I don't understand and I'm not quite sure what to make of it.
Before I can prompt him about it, he holds his hand out to me. “Our song is playing.”
My ears finally tune in to what's going on around me and I hear the familiar chords of I'll Stand by You gearing up.
He presses his body to mine and we begin swaying to the music. I've never loved a song more in my entire life and every single word strikes me right through the heart.
“I'd do it all again,” I tell him, because I need him to know. “If I had to live my life over again, I'd do it just to end up right here with you.”
That look crosses over his face again and I see his Adam's apple bob.