I wasn’t sure, but I did know that who Laurel was today, was the perfect kind of woman for me. The kind I’d always been searching for, but had never realized was there waiting the whole time.
Needing to tell her right then, not caring about the time, place, or who all was in attendance, I moved through the crowd, ignoring calls of Hey, Dillon, or Want a drink, Dillon, until I was behind her.
She was talking to Lisa when I put my hand on her arm and turned her around until she was looking up at me, startled.
“Dillon…” Laurel began, but I cut her off with a soul-searing kiss, filled with all of the emotion I could muster.
I was about to pull back and declare my love for her, when I heard Jazzy’s voice say breathlessly, “I’m here, I made it…”
Then the whole room went silent as Laurel put her hands on my chest and pushed, breaking us apart.
“What the actual fuck?” Jasmine asked, and I turned my head to find my twin glaring at me.
38
Laurel
Oh God.
Jasmine was still looking angrily at her brother and hadn’t spared me a glance yet. My heart was pounding, and my cheeks flushed with embarrassment.
“Jasmine,” Dillon said softly, “let’s go outside, this is Chloe and Reardon’s…”
“I know what this is,” she said, cutting him off, her coloring rising along with her temper. “This is bullshit.”
“Jazz…”
Dillon reached out to touch her shoulder, but she pulled back.
“I told you to treat her like a princess, not mess with her emotions,” Jasmine said, and my blood ran cold. “You know what that prick Travis did to her, so how could you even think of starting something with her? Jesus, Dillon.”
She’d told him to treat me like a princess? That’s why he was such a gentleman in Chicago? Opening doors, taking me to dinner, acting like what I said mattered?
He hadn’t actually changed his opinion of me, and Jasmine had already told him what happened in Houston. The way Travis had treated me. Dillon had let me bare my soul to him, acting as if it was all new information?
It was all a lie.
Emotion ran through me, wanting to explode out, but I shut it down, turned, and walked away.
I passed through the stares and sympathetic looks to where Mary and Lisa were waiting.
“Let’s get ready to cut the cake,” I told them, grateful that my voice sounded almost normal.
“Laurel,” Chloe said, coming up next to me. “They went outside. Honey, we don’t have to do this. The party has been great. Why don’t you go talk to…”
“No,” I said, a
little too sharply. So, I took a deep breath and looked at my friend. “No, this is your party, and I’m working. All we have left is to cut the cake and serve, then the party will be over and we’ll break down. That’s what I have to focus on right now.”
“Okay, honey,” Chloe said softly, her hand coming to rest on my shoulder. “It’s going to be okay. You know Jasmine has a temper, but she and Dillon will work this out. You’ll see.”
There was so much I wanted to say to that, to talk out with my friend, but I knew it wasn’t the time or place, and this wasn’t the way I wanted my first official job to end, so I nodded at her, then at Lisa and Mary.
“Let’s cut the cake.”
An hour later, the cake was eaten, the gifts were loaded in the car, and the guests were gone. Lisa, Mary, Shane and I were packing up and cleaning up, when Dillon came back into the room looking worn out and frustrated.
“Sorry about that,” he began, going to the nearest table and starting to clear the plates. “I finally got her to calm down, then we ran into Chloe and Reardon and she felt terrible, so I was out there talking to them…”