Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 84322 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 422(@200wpm)___ 337(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84322 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 422(@200wpm)___ 337(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
What was even better was it had been relatively easy to avoid Tyler and Azra. Any time we happened to land in the same spot on the dance floor, I’d shift, joining another group or bailing off the floor altogether. If they were at the bar, I wasn’t. If they were with the bride and groom, I was with the planner or my aunt.
I’d nearly made it.
It was almost midnight, the reception crowd winding down as little by little, the older guests were beginning to excuse themselves.
The bar was less crowded, the dance floor thinning out, too, and the newlyweds watched each other like they were ready to ditch the party and be alone.
I was almost in the clear without a single scar from the night.
But the band announced one last slow song, and though I’d been able to keep myself busy all night when the songs faded into slow melodies, I found myself completely unoccupied this time. There was nothing to do, nothing more to check, nowhere to escape to with the bar closing down and the evening coming to an end.
So, I could blame all of that — my lack of being needed elsewhere — for what I did next, but maybe it was just masochism. Maybe it was just blatant desire for self-torture that had me standing at the edge of the dance floor when Tyler took Azra into the very middle of it, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, resting her head on his chest as they swayed to the band’s soft and sweet version of “When A Man Loves A Woman.”
Azra wore a long, silky yellow dress that blazed off her dark skin in a way that was impossible not to marvel at. She’d caught more than just a few pairs of eyes that evening, and even now, with a dozen other couples dancing around them, they were somehow the center of attention.
At least, they were of mine.
Her tan, slender back was exposed, and Tyler’s large hands splayed in the middle of it, holding her close as they swayed. She leaned into him, holding tightly, a loving smile on her lips that were painted a deep, dark red. She was the center of Tyler’s universe in that moment, with his hands on her like that.
And yet somehow, I could feel his touch, too.
I closed my eyes, and I could feel his hands on my waist, on my hips, his mouth covering mine. I could taste his tongue, smell the faint scent of his cologne mixing with his natural aroma that had always intoxicated me. I rolled my fingers together at my sides, imagining they were in his hair, that his lips were on my neck again, that his body was pressed into mine — seeking, claiming, sieging.
I swallowed back the emotion building at the back of my throat, and then a stiff inhale found me as my eyes shot open.
And Tyler’s gaze was locked on me.
It was inexplainable, what I felt in that moment, with his dark eyes watching me from across the floor. His arms held another woman, but his gaze held me, and every ounce of strength I’d managed to harvest that evening fled away like bits of leaves on the breeze.
I couldn’t stand it anymore.
It was too heartbreaking, too soul aching to put myself through the torture of loving him, knowing I’d never have him, for any longer than I already had.
I felt my bottom lip quiver against the emotion I could barely fend off anymore as I turned away from Tyler, covering my mouth and searching for the newlyweds to bid them goodnight. But after a quick search, I could see they were already gone, and that was all the permission I needed to get the hell out of there.
I fled through what was left of the party, muttering excuse me as I darted between couples and families until I hit the edge of the tent. I stopped long enough to bend down and remove my kitten heels, and I held them in my shaking hand as the other gathered up the skirt of my dress.
It was just a few hundred feet down the beach to the house I was staying in, and the more I walked toward it, the more all the emotion I’d fought back caught up to me. Every cell in my body quivered, eyes blurring, heart squeezing so violently in my chest that I worried it’d break free of my rib cage and leave me altogether.
The band’s music faded behind me, the crashing waves taking its place, and I’d almost made it to freedom when I heard Tyler call my name.
“Jasmine,” he said again when I didn’t stop, and I trembled even harder, willing my feet to keep moving. “Jasmine, wait.”
It was as if that command was one of a god, the way I halted at the words. I closed my eyes, reveling in the cool sand beneath my feet, as if it was the only thing grounding me in that moment.