Randomly Ever After Read Online Free PDF Page A

and somehow had red garters attached to the thing, with red stockings.
    “I can’t wear that!” I screeched as I pulled my t-shirt off, exposing my ratty old nude-colored bra that was about as sexy as a root canal.
    “And you won’t,” she replied in an even tone, like a schoolmarm handling her charge with extraordinary patience. “This is Liam’s favorite, and there’s no way I’m giving it up.”
    I scooted out of my skirt, unlaced my shoes, and we stared at each other. Charlotte reached out and put her hands on my shoulders, brushing my hair aside.
    “I think you’ll be fine, but I’m bigger in the chest than you— ”  
    The door flew open and there stood a very rushed Joe Ross, holding his bass in one hand, a bottle of water in another, and his phone balanced between his shoulder and his neck.
    “Trevor’s not in the — OH WOW!” he exclaimed, the water bottle dropping to the floor, his phone nearly following but some quick acrobatics saved it.
    “Do you mind?” Charlotte said evenly, not bothering to remove her hands from me. I took her cue. Joe was the least of my worries.
    His eyes combed over us both appreciatively.
    “Get out, Joe!” I snapped.
    “Do you have any idea,” he said slowly as he backed out of the room, “how many porn movies start just like this?” His breath came out in little gasps, like he was panting.  
    “Out!” I broke free from Charlot t e, shoved him with one arm and slammed the door shut with the other.
    Click.
    We rolled our eyes at each other.
    “Men,” we said in unison.
    Five minutes later and I looked fabulous. Perfect. Dressed to kill.
    And by the end of the evening, I was ready to.

Sam
    Amy had disappeared, the show started in ten minutes, and I needed her. O ur new ritual included a long, slow kiss and without it I felt shaky. Weird.
    Incomplete.
    Unfinished.
    “ Ten minutes!’ Darla hollered out, instantly upping the sound of all the techs and assistants, the rush of microphone tests, the push of chairs and equipment grinding against the floor and walls. All the noise made me explode inside, like a thousand little balloons popped at once, filling me with a combination of dread and excitement to the Nth degree, heightened by the package in my pocket and the song in my heart.  
    This was real.
    This was happening .
    I was making it happen. The ring was tiny. Too small, I worried. Nothing I could afford would ever be big enough to show her how much I loved her.  
    This quarter carat stone and the song I’d embedded in my head, my fingers, and my soul would have to be enough.
    Six years was way too long to know I loved her and not be bound together forever.
    Besides—and I couldn’t tell her this—living together made me feel like I was getting away with something I shouldn’t. Like I was wimping out. While I didn’t believe most of the religious crap my mom and dad had forced in me most of my life, I did have a moral code that said a beautiful, intelligent, loving woman like Amy deserved a man who would commit before God and the law to be with her forever.
    To cleave.
    To join.
    And if that made me a sappy weirdo, then I’d accept the title. Liam’s words rang through my head: “Once that ring’s on her finger, you’re done. Forever. Are you sure?”
    “As sure as you are about Charlotte,” I’d answered.
    His grin had split his face in half. “Then you’re a lucky man.”
    A lucky man.
    A luck y man who needed to find his anchor.
    I prowled through the halls like a man on a hunt, slipping and squirming past the throng of techies who were doing the final few minutes of prep. Looking for her long, brown hair I spotted a ton of chicks who had that, but none were my woman.
    And then.
    And wow.
    I saw her, completely changed. Long hair cascaded down her back in a s himmery glow, backlit by a stage lamp that made her seem ethereal. She wore a black dress that nipped in at the waist, showing off those generous hips, her ample ass, the one I