Page 168 of Dirty Like Zane
He replied almost instantaneously, atleast.
Zane:we’ll bethere
I showed the message to Katie and she smiled a littleawkwardly.
Fuck.This party was all fucked-up. I could feel it. Something was way off, and it wasn’t my fault, but now I was gonna have to help fix it. I just hoped Katie’s feelings weren’t hurt when it all fellapart…
I sighed to myself and opened thedoor.
Andstared.
Okay…
So maybe it wasn’t fallingapart?
The room was full of people. Like, many dozens of people. Way more than I thought were coming to thisthing.
I’d stopped short, and Katie nudged me into the room. I stood aside to let her in, but she hooked her arm through mine and we walked intogether.
And…wow.
Apparently they didn’t need my helpplanning.
Everyone was on their feet, staring at us. I could see catering staff standing by at the edges of the room in crisp uniforms, and some of Dirty’s security team in the shadows. Antique furniture, tables laid out with food, and twinkly lights all over theplace…
And the room was awfully…pink.
Pink flowers everywhere. Shiny pink balloons in giant bunches in the corners of the ceiling. There was even a huge pink disco ball over the dancefloor.
Was Katie having a girl or something? Could they find out the gender thissoon…?
It was weirdly quiet, as everyone just stood staring at us with the lights twinkling in their eyes. Then Jessa materialized next to us with a weird, hopeful look and a gorgeous grin on her face. Though she wasn’t looking atKatie.
She was smiling that smile atme.
Come to think of it, where the fuck was her brother? Like, the guy who’d knocked Katieup?
I turned to look at Katie, who gave me the same hopeful-expectant-giddysmile.
“Surprise?” she kinda whispered at me. Then she hugged me, and Jessa hugged us both with her long supermodelarms.
“Oh.” I heard the word slip out of my mouth, but then I went kinda blank. Then other people were piling in, huggingme.
And then there was Zane, patiently waiting to get his arms aroundme.
“You’re here,” I said stupidly when the crowd parted to let himthrough.
In asuit.
I blinked at him. My rock star husband was wearing a suit. Or at least, part of a suit. Black dress pants, black dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up and a black suede vest, all perfectly tailored to his gorgeousbody.
“You look gorgeous,” I gushed, as he enveloped me in his arms. “Shit, am I dressed right for this? What’s happening?” I clung to him, thinking over my outfit. Cute blue cocktail dress, but nothing as special as what he was wearing. “It’s not mybirthday…”
“No,” he whispered into my ear. “But it’s as close to our wedding anniversary as I could get everyone together. Sorry it’s a month late.” I peered up into his blue eyes. “Welcome to our wedding reception,Maggie.”
“What?” I peeked out over his shoulder at the beautiful room and all our beautiful friends, smiling atme.
“We never had one,” he said simply. “Thought you might like one, here athome.”
