Mine To Honor (Southern Wedding Series Book 7) (Southern Weddings)
Mine To Honor: Chapter 24

Soft bells fill my dream until they become just a touch louder. My eyes, heavy with sleep, open slowly. I’m on my stomach with my face toward my nightstand. “Wait, is that my alarm?” I hear a grumble from beside me and get up on my elbows. “Oh my God.” I turn from my stomach to my back. “That’s my alarm.”

“Why is it still ringing?” I look over at Eva, who is lying on her side, looking at me, this time with one eye open. “Do you need instructions on how to shut it off?”

“Eva.” I twist my body to turn it off. “It’s six thirty.”

“Thanks for the news flash,” she huffs, closing her eye.

“Eva,” I call her name again and this time she opens both eyes in time to glare at me, “it’s six thirty.”

“Should I alert the presses?” she asks, confused and then I lean over her. Her hand touches my bare chest and my cock is more awake than he was two minutes ago. And for everyone who knows, you wake up with a boner, but her warm hands on me make it even harder and more painful. “Oof,” she groans, “what the hell are you doing?”

I grab the monitor from her side of the screen and look down at it, seeing Cici in her crib still sleeping. “Eva.”

“I swear to God, if you call my name one more time,” she growls between clenched teeth.

“She’s still sleeping.” I point at the monitor.

“Shocking,” she mumbles, “I wonder what that feels like.”

“Did she sleep all night?” I ask, wondering if I was just so exhausted, I didn’t hear her. It’s at that moment when her eyes go big.

“No.” She gets up to a sitting position and snatches the monitor from my hand. “Oh my God.” She looks down at it. “Did you get up with her?” Only when I pinch my eyebrows together does Eva smile. “I think she slept all night.” She lifts her hand up to the side and I high-five her.

Grabbing my phone, I pull up the sleep app and gasp, “I slept over ten hours.” I hold up my hand, waiting for her to give me a high-five this time.

“So this is what it feels like to be refreshed,” Eva declares, throwing the covers off her and getting up. My eyes move from her eyes down to her lips, and it’s no time at all before they roam down to her tits. Her nipples tease me as they tent her tank top, my tongue comes out to lick my lips at the same time we hear the first signs of movements from Cici. “I’ll get her.” Eva almost jumps up, making her tits bounce, and I internally groan or moan. Either way, I wish her tits were bouncing in my face so I could take her nipple into my mouth. Or better yet, I wish my dick was sliding between them while her mouth takes my dick.

“I’ll get her bottle!” I shout to her retreating back. Getting out of bed, I look down at my cock who might be blue with all this non-sex that I’m having. I hear Eva from the monitor ask Cici if she slept all right before going downstairs.

I press two buttons, one for the bottle and the other for the coffee cup, both finishing almost simultaneously. I screw the top on the bottle while I start another cup of coffee, waiting for them to come down for breakfast. Last night as soon as I got into bed, I wanted to take that barrier pillow and toss it toward the bedroom door, but I also knew she was secretly freaking out about what happened between us during the night. Truth be told, she wasn’t the only one. I spent the better part of the day sitting at my desk, tapping the pen on the notepad, trying my hardest not to call her. Because it was so natural to call her when these things happened. Who else could tell me what was going on, what I should do next? If I should call her or not. If I should play it cool or just ignore it and pretend it didn’t happen. I depended on myself, and I decided to play it cool. But the minute I walked into the house, all I wanted to do was go over and kiss her lips. Even if it was just a small kiss on the lips, it was the only thing I wanted. However, I also know her better than she knows herself, and I knew that if I did that, she would shut me out.

“What are you looking for?” I hear Eva’s voice coming from the stairs. Looking over, I see her walking down the last step, Cici in her arms, with her cheek still red from lying on it. Her eyes look all over the place until I finally talk.

“Well, look who it is.” I walk toward them, Cici’s head snaps, and her face fills with a big smile as she waits for me to be close enough before leaning to me. “Good morning, my girl.” I kiss her cheek, feeling the warmth from her bed. “Did you sleep almost twelve hours?” I ask and she just hits my chest with her hand. “I made you a bottle,” I tell her, walking over to the counter, “and I made your aunt some coffee.”

Eva looks over and smiles at me. “Thank you.” She grabs the cup and puts some milk in her coffee. “What are we having for breakfast?” She leans back against the counter. “How about some oatmeal with some fruit?” she asks as Cici spots her bottle and reaches for it with a whine.

“I’m going to come with you today when you drop her off at daycare,” I tell her as I turn Cici on her side so she can drink her milk.

“You don’t have to come with me,” Eva counters, going to the fridge.

“I won’t see her tonight,” I remind her as I sit on the couch with Cici on one arm, holding my coffee with the other hand.

“Where are you going?” Eva pulls out the oatmeal, looking over at me.

“I’m having dinner with the guys,” I remind her. “It’s Daniel’s bachelor party, remember?”

“Oh, that’s right,” she replies, not looking at me. “I forgot about that.”

“I can try to cancel,” I tell her, not really wanting to go out.

“No.” She shakes her head. “You have to go, you’re his groomsman.”

“He does have three more,” I tell her, getting up when Cici finishes her bottle. Walking back into the kitchen, I put her in her high chair and then buckle her in. I grab the baby snacks, handing her a rice cracker.

“Looks like it’s just the two of us,” Eva says, pouring hot water in the oatmeal before adding some blueberries. “Girls’ night.” She smiles down at her.

The two of us don’t really say anything to each other. There is a whole list of things I want to say, but I don’t think we have the time to go over them. Especially the part where I want to kiss the fuck out of her.

We rush out the door with me holding Cici and Eva following me. I follow the two of them to the daycare, parking beside her. I get out of my car before Eva even puts the car in park. Opening the back door, I smile at Cici. “Who’s the prettiest girl in all of the land?” I ask and she smiles as she kicks her legs.

I take her in my arms while grabbing the diaper bag, shutting the door right before Eva joins us. We start to walk in when we come face-to-face with a man who is walking out. He looks down, but when he looks up at Eva, his whole face lights up. “Hey, Eva,” he greets when we are in front of him.

I look over at Eva who smiles back at him. “Hi, Caine.”

“Hi, Cici.” He turns to Cici, totally ignoring me. “Is she feeling better?” He looks back at Eva while at the same time I seriously want to throat punch this guy. His eyes never leave Eva’s. “She looks much better,” he notes and I want to laugh because he hasn’t even really looked at her. His eyes have been trained on Eva since he saw her.

“Um, hi,” I finally interject, looking at Eva with a smile on my face, but it’s a fake smile. It’s as fake as can be because all I want to do is glare at him.

“Oh, sorry.” Eva laughs nervously from beside me. Shit, is she flirting with him? Do they talk? Did they meet here? Do they see each other every morning? The number of questions I have just keeps adding up. “This is Levi.”

“Her husband.” I extend my hand to her. He looks at me almost with a shocked expression before turning back to look at Eva, then quickly back at me. “I’ll take Cici inside, you two can catch up.” I look at Eva, who avoids looking at me. My stomach gets tight with knots as I walk around Caine and away from her. I’m so fucking pissed yet I have no reason to be, really. Or do I? I walk into the daycare and drop her off with Sylvia. I’m handing her over and I’m shocked to see Eva standing beside me.

“Are you okay?” she asks, her voice quiet.

“Yup,” I answer her, ignoring her as I wave to Cici. I ignore the way my heart is beating in my chest. How clammy my hands are, and especially how murderous I feel at this moment. I’ve never in my whole life felt this feeling. I take a second to look over at Eva. “See you later,” I say as fast as I can, the need to get away from her before I say something I’m going to regret is huge. She waves at Cici and walks out with me. I’ve never been so angry that my whole body tremored with anger. I’ve never been so out of my comfort zone that all I wanted to do was to just roar out my madness. I’ve never been so out of my comfort zone that I felt like my skin was crawling.

“Bye,” she says from the other side of my car and I think I grunt, I’m not sure. The only thing I do know is that I leave the parking lot while she is still standing there, making me feel even more like a dick. I get to work and I don’t know if everyone around me knows I’m pissed, but not one person asks me anything all day. Also, I’m not going to admit it, but I spend the whole day looking down at my phone every ten minutes, waiting for her to call. The minutes turn into hours, and then at the end of the day, I’m stuck going out to a dinner I don’t even want to go to.

I pull up to the restaurant, and I’m tempted to text and ask her how Cici’s day was at daycare, but I don’t. Nope, that would be the normal thing to do. Nothing between Eva and I is normal, especially not after that fucking kiss. Especially not after I made her come for me. I toss my keys to the valet guy before walking into the restaurant. The lounge music hits me right away as I look at the hostess who is smiling at me, wearing her hair perfect with her tits on full display, partially covered with a rhinestone bra. Her tits are so fake she can float if she falls overboard. “Welcome.”

“Hi,” I greet, looking around, “I’m here for Daniel.”

“Of course.” She looks me up and down before she smiles her seductive smile at me. “If you would follow me.” She turns, and once she’s in front of me, she sways her hips side to side, the black minidress barely covering her ass. We walk past tables until she walks up two steps to where a party room sits. It’s four feet from the floor closed in by glass so we can watch what is going on outside. “If you need anything,” she practically pants, “I’m Audrey.”

“Yup.” I walk past her and into the room where the guys are waiting.

“There he is,” Daniel says, getting up from the couch on the side, “the other groomsman.” He claps his hands, coming over to me. He holds out his hand to me, shaking it and pulling me into him. “Fuck, it’s been so long,” he states and I nod at him. We met about five years ago when we were working on a project together. He’s a lawyer for one of the companies we audited. “Glad you could make it.”

“Fuck that,” Todd says from beside him, “he’s the one who told us about this place.” Everyone laughs and I look around. The room has couches all along the walls with a square table in the middle of the room, with food all over it. I know that before long there will be about twenty to thirty men who are showing up for this shit.

“Hey, I’ve never been here. I said I knew someone who came here.” I hold my hand up in defense while a server walks in from the corner of the room. She’s dressed pretty much like the woman in front, except her skirt is even shorter and her bra just holds up her tits, they are fully out.

She comes up to us, handing Daniel his drink before smiling my way. “I’m Dahlia,” she introduces, “I’ll be your server. Can I get you something to drink?”

“I’ll have a scotch and soda,” I tell her before turning back to Daniel. “So how’s the groom-to-be? You ready?” I put my hands in my pockets as people start to walk in and come over to us. It takes me a full ten minutes before it dawns on me that I fucking hate this. It takes me thirty more minutes before my drink comes, and I head over to one of the tables to grab a plate with some food. I look around, thinking back, when was the last time I went out to a bar? Was it only a month ago? Has it only been a month, yet feels like a lifetime ago? Did I always fucking hate it? Did it suck as much as it does today? Did I know it sucked or did I just pretend I was fine? Did I know how unhappy I was before, now that every single day I rushed to get home? Did I know my life was a shallow place whereas now a little girl holds a piece of my heart in her tiny hand and I know I would spend all my life protecting her. Fuck, what a difference a month makes.

I spend the night basically shooting the shit with the guys, not even caring there are lap dances going on around us. I ignore all the women who come to my table, trying to get me to partake in the shenanigans the other men are doing. Well, not all the men, literally the married men are all sitting on the sidelines watching. I can’t even believe this is me now. Whereas before I would be the one making fun of the person I am now. I bring the glass to my lips and take a sip, my wedding band on display. The later it gets, the louder the music gets and the smokier the room gets. I decide I fucking hate this life and never, ever want to do this again. Getting up, I look and see that it’s after one in the morning. “Time for me to head out,” I announce to the guys. “I’ll catch Daniel after.” I look over at Daniel, who looks like he wants the floor to open up to swallow and spit him out. He’s trying to look away and bear another lap dance they paid for him to have.

I walk out of the smoky dark cloud into the crisp night, handing the valet guy my stub. Pulling out my phone, I see she hasn’t texted me. Nothing. It’s been radio silence all fucking day, and I hate it.

My mood doesn’t get better as I make my way home. In fact, I get more annoyed when I pull in and park beside her. The minute I walk in, it’s almost as if my body does a sigh of relief. I kick off my shoes and make my way up the stairs, trying not to make any noise. I think about going and checking on Cici, but instead I walk into the bedroom.

I’m slipping off my jacket when I hear the rustle of the covers. I stop midmovement, and when I hear her speak, the tightness in my stomach is there for a whole different reason. “I didn’t think you would come home.”