Rock Wedding (Rock Kiss #4) - Nalini Singh Page 0,42

yea or nay now or forever hold your peace, the other woman had written. Best news: Dad’s well enough that I should be home in a week—though I have organized some home help for him and Mom. Over their objections, I might add. Two more stubborn people you’ll never meet.

Sarah’s smile grew deeper—Lola had inherited that trait in spades.

Kiddo blew off college to come hang with his grandpa and grandma for a few days, her friend had added. That really perked everyone up. Can’t even read him the riot act now, though I am booting his ass back to college tomorrow. Anyway, I didn’t want to interrupt your work day with a call, so ring me when you get home.

Sarah made the call then and there.

“Hey, you!” Lola said into the receiver in her big, ebullient voice.

“Hey back,” Sarah replied with a smile. She and Lola had met at an event designed to introduce small LA businesspeople to one another; Sarah had heard Lola laugh and turned with a smile to see who was making such a joyous sound. They’d hit it off right away regardless of the twelve-year age gap between them—and despite Jeremy’s attempts to disparage Lola as “loud and cheap,” Sarah had never stopped nurturing their friendship.

Never again would she focus only on a man. She’d made that mistake with Abe. Oh, he’d never once tried to get between her and any friends she wanted to make. No, it had been Sarah. She’d thought if she concentrated all her energy on Abe, if she gave him her everything, he’d love her.

As far as awful ideas went, it had been one of her worst.

Dropping her purse on the vanity after kicking off her shoes, she settled on the bed for a long talk with her best friend. Flossie padded in to curl up in the sunshine by the window, happy to nap while Sarah chatted with Lola. But though Sarah and Lola normally had no secrets from one another, Sarah couldn’t tell her friend about Abe. Not yet. Not when she could still feel his touch on her skin, still hear the deep, rough murmur of his voice in her ear as he rocked into her body, his own body a wall of heat against her.

She felt too raw inside to expose her emotions to the light.

It was forty minutes later, Flossie still snoozing, that she and Lola finally hung up, having made plans to catch up once Lola was back home.

Sarah stood, was raising a hand to lower the zipper on her sleeveless and beautifully tailored red dress, when the gate buzzer went off, making Flossie bounce up from her position in the sunshine and bolt downstairs. Sarah walked out of her bedroom in a less frantic fashion and headed down the hall to look through the tall, narrow window at the top of the staircase. She could see the gate from this spot, and what she saw today was a familiar black SUV.

Blood rushed to heat her skin, her pulse a hard drumbeat.

Stepping back from the window, she just stood in place for half a minute, arguing with herself. As she did so, her eyes fell on the roses Abe had sent the morning after the wedding, roses she’d deliberately placed on a hallway table rather than inside her bedroom. The blooms were startlingly healthy and joyously red. When she’d first seen them, the bouquet had turned her mushy for a little bit—until she’d reminded herself that Abe was her ex for a reason.

The buzz came again. Flossie barked, as if wondering where she was.

“Don’t be a coward, Sarah.” Smoothing her hands down the front of her dress, she walked downstairs to the control panel in the hallway and pushed the button that would open the gate. She waited to make sure the gate closed automatically behind him.

Abe didn’t appear to have a paparazzi tail, but you never knew with a rock star, especially one as successful and as loved by women as Abe. He was good for the paparazzi’s bottom line even when he was sober. The only good thing about the current situation was that Sarah had never really registered on the paparazzi’s radar even during their marriage—likely because Abe was so rarely photographed with her.

Her hand curled up against her heart.

It still hurt that he’d never been proud of her as Fox clearly was of Molly. The lead singer had been snapped hand-in-hand with his now-wife countless times while the two went about