Risking It All
Authors: Ambrielle Kirk
Risking It All
by Ambrielle Kirk
Copyright © Ambrielle Kirk, 2012
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.
This is a work of fiction. The characters, places, incidents, and dialogues in this book are of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or person, living or dead, is completely coincidental.
Dedication
TO MY HUSBAND
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Sneak Peek: Wolf’s Haven (Caedmon Wolves, 1)
“Crap! I’m gonna be late.”
Julissa Lorenzo pulled down the sun visor and lifted up the flap to look at her reflection in the mirror.
The humidity in the car had begun to ruin her curls.
She
huffed in exasperation and pulled the
b
obby pins
and ponytail holder
out of her
hair
.
Digging into her handbag, she grabbed her cell phone and checked the time.
“We must have been waiting an hour
to get through that road block.”
“Yeah…listen…,”
her boyfriend, Michael Gerard, held his hand up in an effort to shush her and turned the volume up on the
car stereo to his brand new
Mercedes-Benz.
The guy on the radio confirmed what they were suspecting.
“Looks like the cops are looking for a drug-trafficker that may be trying to f
lee the area,
”
Michael said.
“Oh, yeah? Well they picked the wrong day.
” Julissa rolled her eyes.
“
I was supposed to be at that
hotel like yesterday.” She
used her hands
to smooth her unruly hair back and pulled
the strands back
up into a ponytail.
“Well, it’s not like you didn’t
call
and
warn
her
. Didn’t she say that two other people were late? Stuck in traffic?” Michael turned down the volume to the car stereo,
and
merged right off the interstate. He sped under a red traffic lig
ht
.
“Jeez! I didn’t say kill us!” Julissa glared at her boyfriend of three years.
“Well, you’re the one over there having a panic attack. I doubt they will start the rehearsal without you. Aren’t you the matron of honor or something like that?”
“Maid of honor,” Julissa c
orrected.
“The matron of honor is always a married woman. That would be Myra, Christina’s sister.”
Julissa’s best friend, Christina, was getting married in
just
two days. This evening was the night of her final rehearsal. She and Christina had met in college seven years ago and the two had been inseparable ever since. They became room
mates their senior year
and were with each other through thick and thin, from turning a legal twenty one years old, shady ex-boyfriends, developing their careers, and discovering who they were as women. Now all the talk about the weddings they would have in the future
was now becoming reality…
at least for one of them.
Julissa was happy
for her friend and she couldn’
t have chosen to marry a better man for herself.
Christina met her fiancé, Richard, at a sports marketing convention in Houston, Texas two years ago. They both work
ed
in the advertising division of their respective employers
at the time
. He proposed a year into their relationship and it took them
less than
a year to plan the extravagant wedding that would take place this Saturday.
“I’ve got to run a few errands right around town. Do you mind if I come pick you up when you’re done?” Michael asked, stopping so abruptly under a red traffic light that both of them jerked forward in their seats.
“Of course. I figure we should be done in an hour or two. Don’t forget that she’s inviting the entire wedding
party and their guest
to dinner. So see if you can pick up a nice suit to wear
, okay?
”
“Just call me on your cell when you guys are done. And I purchased two suits earlier this week. One for Saturday and one for tomorrow
night’s dinner
.”
“Oh, gre
at.”
Michael was already on top of things.
That leaved one less thing for her to do between today and the wedding day.
Usually, he waited until the very last minute to do things, causing them to be very late o
r a no-show at many events
they were invited to.
Sometimes he even did it on purpose as a way to ditch going out to stay home and work in his office.
As
an investment portfolio m
anager at a finance company, Michael sometimes pulled sixty
hour work weeks, but was clearly the sole bread winner in their relation
ship. Making a little over one hundred grand
a year, he prided himself in sporting only the finer things in life.
He hadn’t changed that much in the
past three years.
Julissa couldn’t imagine life without Michael now if she wanted to.
She stole a si
deways glance at him as he thumbed
through his handheld Blackberry, with one hand on the steering wheel.
He was probably working on some deal that would earn him big bucks. That’s all
he seemed to care about
.
Money.
Michael was always taking risks. That was basically him in a nutshell, a risk-taker. It probably explained why he had the career he did and why he was so succes
sful at it. He always told her—no guts, no glory—
and he lived by the saying every
day. Besides, what woman could resist his good looks?
When Christina first met him, her first impression of him was “pretty boy”. Christina always joked about Michael being as equally good-looking as Julissa was. He possessed a shade of skin so light that he could pass for a white man with a tan and curly, black hair that felt like silk. He kept himself well-groomed and ins
isted that Julissa have all his
clothes and business suits dry-cleaned, except for his underwear, on a weekly basis. Rather than taking his underwear to the
cleaners, he wanted
a fresh pair of briefs for at least every day of each month. Before Julissa met M
ichael, she only thought women
had enough p
anties for each day of
the month.
Julissa had never met a man who prided so much in him
self, and
demanded that the
woman on his arm be equally polished and well-dressed.
Michael pulled into the parking lot of the five-star, twelve story hotel where the rehearsal, wedding, and reception were to be held. He pulled up in front
of the valet parking attendant and
parked
the car
.
“I’ll call you when we’re done…hopefully in less than two hours.” Julissa reached for her door knob.
“Yeah
sure. I could walk you in there…”
He didn’t look up from his Blackberry.
“That’s okay, I’m fine. J
ust keep your cell on this time, okay?” Julissa leaned over, kissed Michael on the right cheek, and before he could say anything else, she stepped out of the car, closed the door shut, and rushed towards the revolving glass doors of the hotel.
She ignored the double take she received from the male valet attendant and the doorman.
No one had to tell her where the location of the rehearsal would be held. She had been here with Christina numerous times helping her with the details for the wedding. Between Julissa, Christina, and the wedding planner, Devon, the three knew they had just planned the perfect event.
Christina’s
fiancé
’
had
insisted that he be involved in important matters regarding the wedding, but didn’t want to be bothered with tiny details
.
L
ike whether they should have use red roses, white roses, or a combination or red and white roses in the floral arrangements on the table or whether they should have name plates for people to seat themselves
. O
r whether they should have the attendants seat the guests
…
The poor guy got a headache early on in the wedding planning process, gave Christina a hefty budget, told her not to go over it, and let her have at it. Christina could not have been happier.
When Julissa
walked in the ballroom, she immediately spotted Chr
istina and
Devon, having a shouting match with each other.
Most of the wedding party stood
nearby, spread across the ballroom. Some were also snacking on the hors’ devours and refreshments set out on a table to the side.
She also spotted S
hanice, her
other be
st friend, near the food table.
Shanice was probably the most outgoing of the three and it showed. She was surrounded by a
few women
and most of Richard’s groomsmen. Half of the groomsmen were single eligible bachelors as confirmed by Richard himself, so Shanice was probably in heaven.
As she observed them, most
looked eager for the rehearsal to begin and, perhaps, be over with.
Julissa smiled as she
approached
Christina.
“Lissa! I
thought you’d never get here.”
“Hi, Christina. Hi, Devon. You two look like you want to bite
each other’s
heads off.”
“Girl!” Devon placed both hands on his hips. “I’m trying to tell Christina she needs to get it together. This wedding is right around the corner and the girl she hired to do the favors is not answering my calls.
I told Christina in the beginning when we interviewed the hussy, that she looked lazy as hell.
We should have had those favors…like yesterday!”