Page 68 of False Promises

I popped the p as I said, “Yep.”

“One, two, three. Okay, look.”

I parted my eyelids, admiring the vision of her, twirling on herself.

Savannah took my breath away.

“Wow.” My brain couldn’t come up with anything else to say.

The taffeta of her scarlet dress molded to her curves like a second skin. The plunging neckline acted like a magnet to my eyes. The slit almost reaching her hips upped the sexiness factor by a thousand percent.

Savannah looked phenomenal.

In one movement, I rose to my feet and curled an arm around her.

“Wow, you look exquisite. No doubt I’ll be the luckiest man tonight.”

She leveled her face with mine. “I’m glad you recognize it.”

Her lips tilted up with the kind of smile that vibrated through me and made me believe we could maybe be happy in the long run. And that someday I could love her. With a capital L. Down the road. When my heart was ready to take a leap of faith.

I leaned in to fuse my lips with hers, loving their taste.

Something hit me, and I released her, stepping back with a frown.

“Wait, you’re not wearing the dress. Why? Did something happen to it?”

Savannah sighed and shook her head, giving me a sorrowful, tight-lipped smile.

Moving forward, she knitted her fingers through mine.

“No. I spent so much time admiring myself in the mirror wearing it the other night that it didn’t feel brand new anymore. I really wanted a new gown for tonight. So, I picked the one you bought for me a while back. It still had the tags on.”

She shrugged.

What the hell. She fucking shrugged.

“I… We… Are you joking right now?”

“Nah. To be honest, I don’t like it that much. The way it clings to my ass…I don’t know…it makes it look bigger. Come on, Carter, you can’t say I don’t look like royalty tonight.”

She twirled on herself again, her smile blinding. As if to prove her point.

An uncomfortable chain knotted around my stomach.

In one swift movement, I backed away from her and raked my fingers through my hair.

My pulse spiked.

Was it fury or frustration running in my veins? Burning everything in its tracks?

I clenched my hands.

Nah, I couldn’t tell.

Were all women this complicated?

My mom wasn’t the best mother to me, but she was a good wife. She didn’t make my father’s life hell-worthy. No, they loved each other and surprised the other with small gestures, always kissing in the kitchen when they thought my brother and I weren’t looking.