Page 117 of Revenge Is a Dish Best Served… Wearing Heels?

I was a girly-girl through and through, and his gifts were right up my alley.

"This man is crazy about you," Aria gushed.

Glancing at Annalise, I gauged her reaction, knowing she was the tougher sell.

"Well," she hummed, "it certainly appears that way.However, I hope he knows that all the gifts in the world don't mean anything unless he backs it up with his actions."

"Duh, we all know that," Aria said. "But could we at least give the man a chance?"

Annalise shot her a look. "AfterAstrid talks to those assholes tonight and finds out the truth once and for all."

For some reason, their bickering about what I should do—hello, shouldn't this all bemydecision?—amused me tonight when it usually irritated me. I had no idea why.

Maybe I was just too focused on the constant pulse of nerves cascading through my body. This couldn't be good for the baby.

After tonight, Ihadto make a decision... my final decision.

I'd either believe Tristan and move on from my pastwithhim, or I'd choose to go it alone and be a single mom without him.

Oh, God. No pressure or anything.

The doorman called, saying that Tristan was downstairs and should he send him up. "No, no, thank you. I'll come down."

The last thing I wanted was for my sisters to be all up in our business if Tristan entered my apartment. Annalise would grill him while Aria would pepper him with questions about all the gifts.

It was best to just go downstairs and cut him off before—

"We'll go down with you," Aria said.

"No. Please don't."

"But what about the pictures? You can't ask your doorman to take pictures, and you really need pictures to commemorate this night. Besides, look how beautiful you are. Youhaveto get a photo before there's like spillage or something."

How could I resist that paired with her pleading eyes?

So we made a big entourage, my glam squad plus my sisters, all of us making our way downstairs, picking up a few stragglers/rubberneckers in the elevator who were just plain curious to see what all the fuss was about.

All the hubbub momentarily distracted me, which I supposed was a good thing, but it all fell away the second we arrived in the lobby and I spotted him.

He had his back to me, looking at something out the window, slowly turning at the noise of our large group. Our eyes met, and my breath hitched at how damn handsome he was tonight.

I mean, he was always handsome, but there was something extra hypnotic about him at the moment. Had he grown taller? More attractive, even more chiseled?

Heat passed between us, and I took a shaky breath, taking in everything about him as he strode toward me—his perfectly tailored suit, his dark hair, that cut jaw, the breadth of his shoulders.

Something bumped into my back, making me nearly lose my balance. But I caught myself because I was a bad-ass in these new heels.

"Oops, sorry," Aria whispered.

Wait, had I just stopped walking in the middle of the room?

Tearing my eyes from Tristan, I realized I had, and like twenty people were behind me, spilling out from the large elevator into the traffic jam that I'd caused.

But then, Tristan was in front of me, taking my hands, steadying me, drinking me in with what I could only describe as hungry eyes, making me lose sight of everything going on around me.

His hands were warm and strong as he gripped mine, his eyes roaming from the top of my head to the tips of my toes.

"My God, you're a vision in this dress. Absolutely stunning. I'm the luckiest man in the world to be escorting you tonight."