Page 20 of Best In Class (Savannah's Best #7)
Luna
T he sun’s gone down, and the sky is a velvet bruise.
Savannah River glitters like spilled diamonds across dark silk.
Bar Julian is perched high above the city, where the rooftop breeze tangles your hair, if you have hair as long as Aurora’s or Stella’s. Since I don’t, I do just fine.
“I just had my hair done,” Aurora laments.
“You chose this place,” I remind her.
“That’s because the drinks here come garnished with edible flowers and just a little bit of magic.”
I huff out a laugh and roll my eyes.
The waiter comes along with our drinks. Something sparkly and floral (all those edible flowers) for Aurora, a mezcal margarita that smells like smoke for Stella, a glass of champagne for Nova, and a lowball of Macallan 12 neat for me.
It’s a lazy Friday evening after work. It’s been a long day with meetings—one where my heart beat faster because Dom was there.
The truth is that I feel like a teenager again. Bubbly!
The fuck? I need my head examined. Maybe book some emergency sessions with my therapist. The man is making me lose my mind!
And you’re loving it!
God help me, but I am .
There is something delicious about having Dom in the workplace. Of stealing a hurried kiss in my office. Of brushing my hand against his. Of feeling his eyes on me.
“Any news from Lia?” Stella muses, relaxing on the plush sofa.
We have commandeered a corner of the rooftop with a wraparound couch and a low table. I have my boots propped up on an empty chair. Aurora is curled up with her feet under her. Nova has her head on Stella’s shoulder.
Yeah, we’re all exhausted after what’s been a busy week at Savannah Lace.
“She says hi,” I tell her.
“Where is she again?” Nova queries.
“Charleston. She and Sebastian are at a Def Leppard concert. Pit seats.”
“That’s got such a ‘ we’re married and hot in our forties’ vibe,” Stella grins.
“She wore leather pants,” Aurora adds.
I raise my glass in a salute. “May we all have that kind of energy one day. ”
“Well,” Stella smirks, “some of us don’t have to wait for it. What’s with your face?”
“My face?” I ask, defensive and already caught.
“You look like you’ve been kissed stupid,” Nova says, narrowing her eyes.
“Actually”—Stella’s eyes glint with amusement—“she and Dom did have a moment earlier today.”
Aurora giggles. “Nina is going to pitch a fit that we’re turning her company into a dating service.”
“She told me that Dom and I are playing in slow-burning romcom,” I say, chagrined.
Nova straightens and tilts her head, mischief in her expression. “In her defense, y’all are getting it on at work.”
I glance down at the twist of lemon in my drink. “It’s a lot worse than that,” I confess.
They all wait.
“He asked me out…you know…on a date,” I explain.
They nod. Wait.
“I said yes.”
All three freeze like their group chat notifications just dinged at the same time.
Stella breathes, eyes wide. “You said yes?”
Aurora puts a dramatic hand to her chest. “To Dom?”
“No, a different emotionally stupid architect I’ve been quietly obsessed with since puberty,” I mutter.
Nova claps. “This is so exciting.” She’s practically vibrating.
The corners of Stella’s eyes twitched in silent exasperation. “ Thank the fuck God! Y’all have been sniffing each other’s behinds ever since he came back to Savannah.”
“I thought they were doing that since they were kids,” Aurora muses aloud.
“Y’all done fucking around?” I ask dryly.
“When is the date? Where are you going? What are you wearing?” Nova wants all the details.
“Tomorrow. Just dinner…well, and drinks. He’s picking me up at seven.” I drain my bourbon and set the glass down. “Why the hell did I say yes?”
Stella raises her drinks. “Since you gave him a BJ and he ate you out?—”
“ Stop ,” I screech, cutting Stella off.
They all laugh.
I’m not a prude. I talk about sex with great ease. I just can’t talk about sex with Dom. That’s…different. Personal. Private. But Stella nagged me so hard that I gave her the highlights of what happened in the B a girlie girl, which I’m not.
Aurora leans forward, lit up. “Give me a minute.” She texts furiously.
“What?” I ask.
“Gabe is with Dom and the other guys. I’ll ask him to find out.”
“No.” I gasp.
“He’ll be discreet,” she promises.
“But—”
Aurora’s smile curves slowly as she glances at her phone. “Oh, Dom is so cute.”
I lift both brows, skeptical and curious. “What?”
She looks up, eyes twinkling. “He’s taking you on a picnic. Apparently…like he used to?”
And just like that, my lungs forget how to work.
Back then, he didn’t have money, not really. Everything he made at the auto shop went straight to helping Miss Abigail keep their household running. And Dom never let me pay for anything. Not a soda. Not a movie ticket. Not even fries.
Stupid alpha male behavior.
But I understood and didn’t press. I spent time with him around the estate, at school, in my room, in his…we dated just fine.
But the romantic he was, he wanted to give me everything he could, everything he thought I deserved.
He’d ask Miss Abigail to pack up a basket—fried chicken, honey cornbread, deviled eggs, and chocolate chip cookies still warm in the napkin. Everything I loved, down to the last crumb. And then he’d row us across the lake on the Steele estate, to a hidden little cove no one else knew about.
Our spot.
There, on a threadbare quilt, under a canopy of trees and soft light, we’d eat and laugh and kiss like we had forever.
“I love you, Moonbeam,” he says as he alternatively feeds me a piece of cookie and then kisses me.
He remembers. My heart clenches, tender and aching.
“Oh my!” Nova’s eyes are just a teeny-tiny bit moist .
Stella sniffles. “The man has game.”
“Shorts and T-shirt it is,” I say huskily, past the lump in my throat.
“Hell to the no.” Aurora sets her drink down as if it’s time to conduct a surgical intervention. “You are not dressing yourself. I’m coming over tomorrow. We’re pulling looks. I have a Pinterest board called Picnic Outfits.”
“No,” I groan, horrified.
“Yes,” she insists.
“We’ll be at your place by five,” Stella announces.
Nova frowns thoughtfully. “You think two hours will be enough?”
I smack her arm playfully. She laughs.
“This will be fun.” Stella looks at me with eyes that promise to take care of me, no matter what. Of all of us, we’re the closest. We grew up together—held each other’s hands through some serious shit.
“I’m scared,” I breathe.
“Oh, hon?—"
“You should be,” Aurora cuts Stella off, fanning herself haughtily. “By the time I’m done with you, you’re going to look so good, Dom’s going to forget his name.”
Stella lifts her glass. “To not overthinking it.”
Nova clinks hers against it. “To having fun.”
I touch my glass to theirs. “To fools rushing in?”
What the fuck was I doing with my life?