Deceiving Lies (Forgiving Lies 2)

Eli eyed me, clearly confused, and his eyes widened when he must have finally seen Mason.

“Years of undercover work together,” I answered Eli’s unspoken question. “We couldn’t sneak up on each other if we tried.”

“Ahh . . . him I don’t like.”

“What the hell did I do?” Mason asked as he joined us.

Eli looked up at him, and even though he was a good head shorter than Mason, I fully understood why Mason looked like he wanted to go hide again.

“Stay away from my sister,” Eli said in clear warning before walking toward the house.

“Is he for real?” Mason asked.

I just shrugged and drained my beer. “You should totally sleep with one eye open tonight.”

“Son of a bitch,” Mason groaned and followed me back into the house.

23

Rachel

I TOOK DEEP BREATHS IN AND OUT as I studied myself in the mirror. I wasn’t nervous about the lifelong commitment I was about to make. I wasn’t worried that Kash was getting cold feet. I just felt like I was going to hurl.

The parents had already come in and given hugs before going to take their seats, and Candice and Maddie were behind me in light gray dresses, talking animatedly as they checked each other’s hair. We’d spent the morning relaxing at Maddie’s apartment and watching movies as Mason’s mom did our hair. Then we’d run over to the hotel where Kash and I were going to be staying the next three nights, and checked in before leaving our bags in the room, so he and I could go straight there after the reception without having to worry about anything.

The day had been nice, and easy, and just what I’

d needed. But right now, I needed a bathroom. I needed a toilet, and I needed the girls to leave the room.

“Easy,” a deep voice commanded when I turned to find the bathroom. Eli’s hands gripped my wrists, and his thumbs pushed into the pulse point on each one. “Breathe in and out.”

I let the intensity that always seemed to roll off Eli pour over me, and surprisingly, the whole thumbs-on-the-inside-of-my-wrists was really helping.

“Good girl, keep breathing. Deep breaths,” he said, and suddenly he was at my ear. “You okay, sis?”

“I’m good, just got a little light-headed there for a minute.”

“You sure you weren’t about to take off out of here? You need to get away, just tell me. You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.”

I laughed shakily as more of the nausea left me. “No, nothing like that, Eli. I’m ready for this . . . so ready. I really just felt sick for a second.”

“Are you okay now?”

“Yeah, much better. Thank you.”

He kissed my forehead and stepped back. “Let me see if I can go find a Sprite or something around here. But you should get dressed soon. It’s supposed to start in ten minutes. Unless, you know, you need to run.”

“Eli, no.” I pushed him back and smiled at him. “I would love the drink, but not an escape.”

“All right, I’m just making sure.” He winked and slipped out the door.

He was back in no time, and I sipped at the carbonated drink slowly to help with the last of my uneasy stomach. As I did that, I stepped out of the loose clothes I’d been wearing, and Candice and Maddie helped me get ready.

I loved the lingerie we’d found a few weeks ago, and I couldn’t wait to see Kash’s reaction to it. I just didn’t know if I was going to last in the white corset that was covered in lace if my nausea came back. We’d just gotten on my favorite part of the lingerie when there was a knock at the door.

“Is Rachel decent?”

“No!” we all shouted back at Eli.