Free After The One (The One Series Duet) by Danielle Allen Page B

“What’s so funny?”
    “Omar.” He shook his head as he chuckled again. “I asked him to be my best man and he said he would think about it because he had plans.”
    My eyes widened. “He has plans?” I asked, surprised. “I thought everyone was coming over here for New Year’s anyway.”
    Julian’s thumbs were flying as he typed out a response. His lips were turned up in a wicked grin. He hit send and then looked at me. “Those are the plans he’s talking about.”
    I giggled. “He’s ridiculous.”
    “He said he wants to decline the best man position just so he can walk down the aisle with Keisha.” He paused with a light snicker. “I told him if he won’t be the best man then he is getting demoted to ring bearer, and he said his day just freed up.”
    “Omar and Scott crushing on Keisha is hilarious to me. It’s like a bad rom-com.”
    Julian made a face. “Who says rom-com?” Tossing his phone to the side, he tickled me. “No seriously, who says that?”
    I laughed, scrambling to get away from him. Unfortunately, I wasn’t fast enough as he held me down and tickled my sides.
    “What was that you said again?” Julian taunted me as he held his fingers above me.
    I laughed preemptively as I struggled to get away from him. “Rom-com!” My throaty voice was high and pitchy as I defiantly answered his question.
    He licked his lips before they spread into the sexiest smile. His fingers quickly snuck under my shirt and danced across my skin. “Oh really?”
    “I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” I squealed my apology as I thrashed around.
    “What kind of movie is the whole Omar-Keisha-Scott thing?”
    “Romantic comedy!” I laughed so hard, tears were streaming from the corners of my eyes.
    Pulling me into his lap, he eyed me as I caught my breath.
    I smiled at his smile. “What?”
    “It’s good to be home.”
     

Chapter 5
     
     
    “Are you sure you’re up for this?” Julian asked me as I yawned for the third time on Friday night.
    The work week had flown by and I had gone nonstop the whole time. The case files I didn’t review on Tuesday night ended up costing me the rest of the week. I thought it was going to be something I could glance over in an hour for another lawyer, but because I hadn’t done it, my assignment got switched to review another case file. Unfortunately, my new assignment was for one of the partners and the ‘glance over’ was actually the task of getting the preliminary information necessary for a hearing. Although I didn’t stay at the office late to complete the assignment, I worked at home for a couple of hours while Julian handled the preparations for our Christmas celebration. The late nights and early mornings wore me out, but being able to kick off a long vacation by slipping on a sexy dress and going out with my sexy man made it worthwhile.
    Julian pulled into the valet parking line. “Say the word and we’ll reschedule.”
    I smiled sleepily at him and squeezed his hand. “This week has been exhausting, but I’m fine. I promise. Once we get in there, I’ll be good.”
    “We will be here for an hour, tops. You look incredible, by the way.” He squeezed my hand back. “Don’t move.”
    Julian slipped out of the car and gave the eager teenager instructions about his car and a stern look. I laughed to myself as he pointed at the kid one final time. When he made his way to my side of the car, he opened my door and grabbed my hand.
    “Thank you, love,” I said as I let him pull me out of my seat. Releasing his hand, I looked down and smoothed out the red peplum dress. Squaring my shoulders, I flashed him a bright smile. “See, I’m good.”
    Julian put his arm around my shoulders and I didn’t even care that he was smashing my curls down after I’d spent an extra twenty minutes trying to breathe life into them. I relished in the feeling of being tucked in the crevice of his arm. It made me happy.
    The doorman held the door open for us and Julian