K. Bromberg - Slow Burn

Time is precious. Waste it wisely .

And I waste very little as I get dressed, not wanting the night to slip away too quickly since tomorrow is D-day. I’m not sure what he’s up to, but I’m secretly excited. As much as we’d agreed tonight was going to be low-key, a part of me is grateful that whatever Becks is doing, he’s trying to make my last night as a whole me special somehow.

Just as he’s tried to make every moment of the entire past few weeks count.

Or maybe I’m wrong. Is Becks really making things special just because of what’s happening tomorrow or is this just how Becks is in a relationship? Either way, I’m the lucky one on the receiving end of it.

When I’m finished, I go into the family room to find it empty and him nowhere in sight. “Becks?” I call, but there’s no answer.

I look in the kitchen and then turn the corner when the fading dusk through the open front door catches my eye. I walk toward it, curious what the heck is going on. When I step through it, my hand flies to my mouth to cover a gasp that can’t be muffled.

I have to do a double take to make sure of what I’m seeing is real.

Yep. Sure is.

Becks is standing beside a carriage, complete with horses and a coachman, a grin plastered on his face. “Your carriage awaits.”

I notice neighbors out on their lawns, admiring the sight as I walk toward him—more than flustered—trying to process what in the hell he’s doing. “What are you …” My words trail off as one of the horses neighs.

“If you’re going to fight the fight, City, you need to arrive in style.” I can see the pride in his eyes over thinking this up, and I immediately melt at his thoughtfulness.

“Princesses don’t wear boxing gloves,” I tease him as I take his outstretched hand, still in awe.

Becks tugs on my hand and pulls me into him so that our bodies connect. “This princess does.” He presses a soft kiss to my lips. “Hearts and heels, Montgomery. Hearts and heels.”

“Where are you taking me?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Becks taunts before brushing another teasing kiss on my lips like he’s been giving me here and there. I’m snuggled up next to him, his arm pulling me in close, as we cruise under an entirely different horsepower from what we’re used to.

The occasional silence between us is comfortable as we both get lost in our thoughts about tomorrow. My curiosity is also in major overdrive, considering my hospital bag sits in front of us, telling me we’re not returning home, but at the same time where we are going is unknown. Becks knows the suspense is killing me, and he’s quite enjoying watching me squirm.

The sky fades to black as we travel, passengers in nearby cars staring as they pass us, but I don’t notice the fast-paced Los Angeles world because I’m so busy noticing the man at my side.

Because this girl’s learned that slow and steady is most definitely the way to go.

“We’re here!” he announces unexpectedly as the carriage turns into the driveway of an unassuming business park. I glance around at the empty office buildings complete with industrial roll-up garage on one side and a small front office with an entry door right next to it.

“Becks?”

“No questions,” he says with a raise of his eyebrows and a devilish grin on his face. “Let’s go.”

Chapter 32

I narrow my eyes at Becks’s back as he rattles the key in the door, unlocking the dead bolt of the tinted glass door at the office side of one of the buildings.

“Are you starting a new company?” I attempt a guess for the twentieth time in the past three minutes.

“Will you shush and be patient?” Becks drops his hands, leaving the keys in the lock, and turns to take my face in both of them before pressing a chaste kiss to my lips, which does the job easy enough.

I just bite my bottom lip and nod my head to try to hold back the next guess, which is already on my tongue.

Becks turns back to the door, and the click of the lock sliding open breaks through the night around us. The only other sound is the clicking of hooves as the horses shuffle their antsy feet. He ushers me into the darkened office, his hand placed on the small of my back to urge me forward. We clear another doorway when all of a sudden I’m hit with a tsunami of sound and fluorescent lights.

“Happy boob voyage!” The room of people erupts in a chorus as I stumble backward into Becks, staggered from the sheer shock of the surprise. It takes a second for me to process the scene in front of me.

We are in some sort of warehouse where blow-up inflatables are skirting the perimeter of the space—huge slides and bounce houses—and one in particular that sits in the middle of the room makes me laugh and shake my head. It’s a huge blow-up boxing ring, complete with oversized inflatable gloves—in pink .

I laugh—my cheeks hurting from smiling so wide—but it’s once I finish looking at the large scale of the room that I’m able to focus on the details. My heart swells so full of love that even though Becks’s feet stamped my shadow out, it full on evaporates when I see everything in front of me.

Everyone that I could want to send me off is here: my parents, Rylee and Colton, Danny sans Maddie, Rylee’s parents, Lexi’s friends, colleagues from PRX, old college pals…. I’m stunned speechless at the sheer number of people standing here, all cheering and clapping at such an oxymoron of a party.

And all of them are wearing a bra somewhere, somehow on their person. Men have tie-dye bras on their heads, wrapped around their arms. Women have them over their clothing on their chest or wrapped around their waists so that the cups attempt to cover their butts.

I scan the crowd, unable to move as I take them all in, and then I meet Rylee’s eyes. Hers are full of tears as she stands there completely motionless amidst everyone else moving about. We step toward each other instantly and pull each other into a hug. We cling to each other, words spoken through actions and understood from the pure test of time between us.

“I was so worried you’d be angry at me for telling everyone,” she murmurs in my ears as we rock each other back and forth, “but I couldn’t let you think you were doing this alone.”

I pull back and look at my best friend, my go-to girl , and with tears filling my eyes, the smile comes so easily that I know this was meant to be. “Do you think I could ever be mad at you?” I bring my hands up to frame her face and wipe her tears away with my thumbs. “You’d never do something to hurt me.”

I pull her into me for one more quick squeeze and swipe away my own tears, unexpectedly completely okay with this party because it’s like a switch has been flipped in me all of a sudden. Between Becks over these past two weeks and Rylee and all of this love and support, I realize I feel like the old me again.

I finally got her back just when I need her the most.

“Now, quit crying.” I tell her, “It’s time to kiss these ta-tas good-bye in serious style!”

I hear her laugh as I release her only to be turned around by hands on my shoulders so that I face Colton. I burst out laughing when I find her tattooed bad boy with a lacy pink-and-black bra wrapped around his biceps.

“Colton! I think I want to keep that bra for when I get me some new tits,” I say as he wraps me in his arms for a big bear hug.

The timbre of his chuckle fills my ear. “Sorry, Had, but Ry promised me she’ll be wearing this later tonight. You get through this, and you and Ry are going on one hell of a shopping spree for bras, okay?”

I laugh at him as he releases me, but it fades off when I meet the intensity in his green eyes. “You’ve got this, Montgomery. And we’ve got you, okay?”