Page 17 of D’Vaughn and Kris Plan a Wedding

“Buenas tardes, señor,” she responded in perfectly accented but slightly stilted Spanish.

Mateo’s eyes brightened and he bowed his head slightly. After shooting me a second wink, he continued on inside. I faced D’Vaughn, a grin still present on my face.

“You didn’t tell me you were bilingual.”

Shaking her head, she held up a finger. “You didn’t ask.” She lifted a second finger. “I’m not. Estoy aprendiendo. Slowly.”

Taking a step back, I gave her an exaggerated once-over. “Check you out!”

Covering her face with her free hand, she laughed lightly before sighing. “So, what did you want to talk to me about?”

“Oh yeah.” Gently, I took the vase from her and set it on the ground beside the bench before gesturing for her to have a seat and doing the same. “We didn’t really get a chance to go over everything yesterday—”

“That was definitely by design,” she murmured in a low voice.

I nodded. “Oh, absolutely. The more we fumble, the better the show. We already know what it is. But before I take you inside and introduce you to my family, I wanted to run some things by you and get your consent.”

The c-word caught her attention and she straightened, giving me an expectant look. “Okay,” she said cautiously, “go ahead.”

“This is going to sound like a cheesy-ass line and clichéd as fuck but it’s the truth. My family is incredibly affectionate. We’re touching all the time and it’s only magnified when we’re in romantic relationships. For them to believe that you and I are truly engaged and in love, I’m going to have to be all over you. That’s where the consent comes in. If that makes you uncomfortable, I don’t have to, but it makes our job that much harder.” It was something I’d been thinking about since we’d parted ways the day before. I was looking forward to playing the part with her and couldn’t wait until I could wrap my arms around her. The hugs had been nice, but I was more interested in finding out if her skin was as soft as it looked. Something told me it was.

D’Vaughn’s eyes were wary, even as her face remained expressionless. “Okay...what exactly does ‘being all over me’ mean?”

“Basic relationship lovey-dovey stuff. Hugging, kissing, caressing, holding hands, etc. All of that.”

I shrugged as if it were no big deal, as if I wasn’t ready and willing to slip into go-mode with her, and watched her face carefully, making sure her words lined up with her reactions. If she said it was fine but her face protested, I’d nip it. Like I’d told her, it would make this thing ten times more difficult if we didn’t “look the part,” but it would be counterproductive if she cringed every time I touched her. Surprisingly, she dipped her chin twice.

“Okay.”

“Are you sure?” She hadn’t hesitated but I didn’t want her to feel pressured, plus, I couldn’t deny that the fact of her being closeted had weighed heavily on my mind, factoring in my concerns. Were public displays of affection even something she’d done before?

She quirked an eyebrow at me, as if she could hear my thoughts, and somehow managed to challenge me with just a look. Tossing my head back, I laughed. Fine. All I could do was trust her words since I didn’t know her to be able to predict her actions.

“Aight, man. Cool.”

Her lips quirked and when she pursed them, I knew she was fighting a smile. I surprised myself with how much I wanted to see it. She wore a brown lip stain that was a couple shades darker than her warm-brown hue but matched the short-sleeve top and biker shorts she wore perfectly. The yellow flower studs in her ears were the same shade as the canvas tennis shoes on her feet, and her twistout was especially wavy. It was almost effortless, how she managed to look sexy in the simplest way.

Yeah...it wouldn’t be hard to appear into her at all.

“Let’s head inside.”

I started to stand, but a short tug on my shirt brought my movements to a halt. D’Vaughn’s eyes held a measure of uncertainty that made my eyebrows furrow.

“What’s up? Second thoughts?”

She jerked her neck back as if I’d asked an outrageous question. “What? No! I just—” She took a breath and blew it out through her nose slowly. When she spoke, her tone was more measured. “Can we...practice?”

A slow grin took over my face and I settled back onto the bench, draping my arm across the back as I leaned toward her.

Who was being cliché now?

“You want to ‘practice kissing’ me, huh?”

Lifting a hand, she shielded her eyes from me as she groaned. “Oh my gosh,” she muttered. “Why are you saying it like that?”

“How am I saying it?” Pushing the tip of my tongue through my teeth, I lowered my lids and peered at her. She still had a hold on my shirt, and I could feel the faint heat from her hand on my abdomen. I pulled her other hand away from her face, trying to meet her gaze with my own.

Eyes quickly flicking over to Felix before flitting around the porch, D’Vaughn shook her head again as her cheeks flushed. “I just don’t want our first kiss to be in front of a crowd of people. I saw how many cars are parked on the street; y’all are having a party party. What if you can’t kiss? Then I’ll have to pretend in front of a gang of peo—”