Page 307 of Nobody's Girl

I laugh and send Ally, ‘She’s a smooth one, isn’t she?’

Laura takes Linda by the arm gently. “Can I get you to come help me at the buffet table? I want your opinion on something,” Laura tells her as she moves her away from Eden.

Eden turns to look at Ally. “How nice. Laura and Linda look like they’ll get along just fine.”

Ally and I look at each other and laugh. Eden looks confused. “You really are clueless, aren’t you, sweetheart?” Ally asks him.

Eden narrows his eyes at her. “I thought you had those jealousies under control?”

“Oh, I do. I really do,” she tells him.

She turns to me. “Let’s go find something to eat,” she tells me as she takes my hand and Eden’s, pulling us to a table away from the sexy Linda Banks and her short dress.

We take a table close to the stage. It’s quiet right now as the band is on a break. I welcome the peace and quiet.

“I’ll go get us something from the buffet. You two stay here,” Eden directs us.

I hold out a chair for my Ally to sit in, then sit down next to her. “How do you like the house, Kyle?”

Her hair is shiny. Light reflects off it and I find it mesmerizing. I take a lock and twirl it with my finger as I answer, “Are you kidding, Ally? I love it. How could I not love it?”

She smiles. “Good, I’m glad to hear that.”

Her dress fits her just right for a flowy dress, hugging her breasts, then flowing out. I sigh and say, “You have to stay here with us for a while. I’m not ready to let you go yet.”

“We can stay for a while, I guess. You know we aren’t running you off from our house, right?”

I look into her gorgeous eyes. “You aren’t?”

“Not at all. We just wanted you to have a place in Austin for when you start school. You’re always welcome, wherever I am.”

Even in your bed? Stop it, boy!

“I am?”

“Yes, of course. You are a guardian, after all,” she says.

Is that all I am to her?

I take her hand and place it on my thigh, lightly running my fingertips over the top of it. “You know, the only reason I’m okay with you being with someone other than myself is because he treats you so well. I want you to let me know if he doesn’t, because I’ll set him straight.”

She rolls her eyes. “God, Kyle, you are intense this evening.”

I take her by the chin and make her look at me. “Maybe it’s the ceremony or something. This is our second one, you know. When the wizard guy asked if I would take care of you to the end, it made me feel different this time. I don’t know what it is. I made a commitment to you for the rest of my life before. It’s a commitment I can’t ever go back on, not that I want to. It feels permanent, unlike anything else I’ve ever experienced. We’ll be together through it all, you and I. In the end, we will leave this world together.”

Ally stares deep into my eyes. “You are also committed to my husband. Don’t forget that part too.”

Oh yeah, him!

I move her hand back to her own lap. “I know that, Alyssa. I won’t let anything happen to him either. Galchobar told us if one of you dies, the other will follow within a day. He said that most likely I’ll follow quickly after you. If something happens to him, then it will be the end of us all.”

Her eyes dance and she says, “I hope someday you decide to make a commitment to Laura as well.”

I look back up at her. “I don’t have to marry her. Do I, Ally?”

Her dark brows furrow as she frowns. “Kyle, do you not love her?”

“I do, but we haven’t been together long enough for me to know if I want to live the rest of my life with her,” I say. “She’s great. Please don’t get me wrong, Al. I just don’t know yet, especially with this happening. I don’t want her to feel like we have to be together, like that, just because of our positions with you guys.”