Page 79 of My Dark Prince
“Nope. She got hungry.”
“Don’t tell me she ate the Kindle?”
“She used it as a bookmark. For her paperback.”
Imagine my shock when the woman flipped the special edition open, wedged the Kindle between its pages, and slammed the book shut, discarding it on her coffee table.
Oliver offered ahmm, the clatter of a keyboard audible through the call. “People have quirks. That’s normal.”
I paced the length of Dallas and Romeo’s living room, enjoying the change of scenery from our mansion. “Then we drove to get Taco Bell.”
“Fast food is normal, too.” The keys paused their pitter patter. “Are you allowed to have it during your recovery?”
“That’s beside the point,Doctor Cohen.” I swung my head around, double checking the woman in question hadn’t re-entered the home. “Dallas used the car’s sunglasses compartment as a taco holder between lights.”
“Okay, now that’s pure genius. You can’t hold a taco and drive. It isn’t safe.” Ollie continued typing. “Where is she, anyway? Did she leave you unattended?”
“I’m not a child. I don’t needtendingto. She left her wallet in the car and went to grab it.” I waited a beat. “Ask me why.”
“I’d rather not.”
“She buys stuff on TV, Ol.” I tossed my free arm up, conjuring a smile from Luca as we swayed together. “She’s the only person I’ve ever met that buys stuff off infomercials.”
“That you know of.”
“Point is, I spent twenty minutes watching QVC with her, and Romeo is about to be the proud owner of a foot shaver, an ostrich travel pillow, and a Nicolas Cage pillowcase.”
“She’s your best friend,” Ollie insisted. “Her and Fae.”
I sighed. To be honest, I didn’t doubt it. Not really. Yeah, Dallas could be …much. But I could tell in an instant that she possessed a heart of gold. In fact, Ilovedher quirks. I wanted to live tweet every second with her, so I could share her awesomeness with the world. No one would believe it, but still.
Plus, it made sense that I’d befriend the spouses of Oliver’s best friends. I was stalling. Filling up our conversation with anything I could, so I wouldn’t break my promise to Seb. Every time Ollie called me, I got closer and closer to demanding answers.
“If you were a nipple clamp, where would you hide?” Dallas charged back into the living room, hands full of breastfeeding gear. “Asking for a friend. Me. I’m the friend.”
“Gotta go. Dallas is back. Love you always.” I hung up the phone and pointed at something beige and silicone wedged between her luxe couch cushions. “Over there?”
Dallas leaned over the back of the couch, staying on the kitchen side of her open floor plan. “Is that Ollie again?”
“Yup.”
“Don’t tell me he’s mad I took you out.” She snatched up the silicone, identified it as a bib, and discarded her haul onto the kitchen island. “God forbid I hurt a single hair on his precious wife’s head.”
“Fiancée,” I corrected, though a little zap of lightning shot through my belly at the wordwife.
You are going to be Mrs. Oliver von Bismarck.
Ten-year-old Briar Rose would’ve cried fat, happy tears.
Thirty-three-year-old Briar wanted to fast forward to the wedding, so she could jump his bones. No way would he deny me on our wedding night, memory or no memory. I’d never known Ollie to have such restraint.
Dallas paused her search for the nipple clamps. “You need to defy him more often.”
I frowned. “Do I not?”
Better question – before the accident, did I ever need to? I refused to be restricted.
“Doesn’t matter. In my humble opinion, you can never let your man get complacent.” Easy for her to say. She’d just told me the story of how her husband had taken an actual bullet for her. “God created man so he would be ignored. It’s literally in the bible.”
