AllFreeNovel
Share Us
24
The Wedding Day
I wake before dawn.
Tyler’s still wrapped around me, and for the first time since we arrived, I’m awake and he’s still here.
It takes until I shift off the chaise to notice the pain in my ankle has gone down. I carefully put weight on it, pleased that it can bear almost all of me, and go to get dressed.
Excitement shivers through me as I leave the villa, pulling the door quietly shut, and head to the beach behind our villa, needing a moment to myself.
The sunrise turns the sky soft pinks and golds.
It’s early, and today is my wedding day.
The anticipation has my lungs nearly bursting. I can’t believe it’s here.
A man in black is walking barefoot down the beach, but otherwise it’s deserted.
A spike of pain shoots up my foot—not my ankle, I realize when I curse and drop to my knee. Just a shell in the sand, scratching enough to leave a tiny white line on the side of my big toe, next to my pedicure.
“You’re up early,” a rough, masculine voice says.
Harrison King is standing over me, wearing black shorts and nothing else save a faint sheen of sweat as if he’s been out for a run. The casual dress contrasts with his perfect cropped hair. His bone structure looks as if it could cut more than the shell I stepped on.
“So are you.”
He holds out a hand, and I take it, rising gingerly.
Whatever he does for fitness, he does it with admirable dedication. You don’t get in that kind of shape without rigor.
My gaze drops to an outline across his pec—not a tattoo, but a scar. He clears his throat, and I force my attention up.
“I heard about your adventures last night,” he says. “Admittedly, I’m surprised Tyler pulled out of the acquisition. The man has resolve.”
I start along the beach, the sand spreading my toes, and he falls into step next to me. “I’m sorry he lost the deal, but I’m relieved there will be no more lawyers on our wedding or honeymoon.”
“Deals aren’t made by lawyers. They’re made by humans. Good ones. Bad ones. Every kind in between.”
“What kind are you?” I hear myself ask. I’m thinking about Rae and the fact I didn’t tell her who Harrison was at the first opportunity.
Harrison turns to face me, the breeze blowing his shorts. The corners of his eyes crinkle, making their blue depths more piercing. “Haven’t you read a tabloid? I’m the rich, self-indulgent, fucked-up kind.”
Before I can decipher the emotion on his face, he turns and starts back down the beach.
* * *
“You’re probably wonderingwhy I called you here,” I say when everyone’s gathered around a long table at breakfast.
“You want to make sure no one’s late today,” Beck jokes, and Elle shoves him.
Dad, Haley, Sophie, and Mason are at the end. Beck’s got a shoulder slung over the back of his chair, Rae and Elle on either side of him. Pen’s chewing on a piece of pineapple. Harrison’s next to Tyler near my end of the table. Even Finn and the other two Wicked artists are here, which is the point.
Tyler shifts out of his chair and crosses to me, his dark brows pulled together. “Six, what’s going on?”
“I have an idea. Trust me.”
He nods before taking his seat again.
