I laughed.

  “Ready?” Matt asked.

  No…

  He ducked down behind me and put his head under my skirt. Holy shit, what the hell was he doing? Bee’s bet about there being two fights at this wedding was suddenly looking much more likely. James was going to kill Matt before the end of the night.

  Matt grabbed my thighs and stood up.

  I screamed as he lifted me in the air. I was sitting up on his shoulders and my head almost hit the top of the tent. I looked down and Matt’s head was still hidden beneath my skirt. Jesus. I grabbed the fabric and lifted it over his head, hoping I wasn’t showing all the guests my underwear.

  “Hold on,” Matt said, his fingers tightening on my thighs.

  What?

  He started dancing past the tables, moving his shoulders way too much. I grabbed onto his neck with one hand and buried my fingers in his hair with the other.

  He twirled in a circle and I had to dodge one of the many chandeliers hanging from the top of the tent.

  I didn’t mean to pull on his hair, but he was trying to kill me, and I didn’t know what else to hold on to.

  He looked up. “I like when you’re rough with me, Penny.” He winked at me before spinning us in a circle again.

  I leaned forward, wrapping my arms under his neck so I wouldn’t tumble off his back. “Put me down!” I said with a laugh.

  “Okay, I’ll be honest, I have no idea how to get you down now.”

  “Matt!”

  “And I really like the way the lace of your thong scratches the back of my neck.”

  I swatted the back of his head.

  He laughed and knelt down in the middle of the dance floor. “You can dismount me now, you kinky girl.”

  He was ridiculous. I leaned forward and kind of hopped off his shoulders. I looked behind me and his head was still under my skirt. I pulled my dress back in place.

  “What are you doing?” I asked.

  He was grinning up at me, still on his knees. “I’m a dead man, aren’t I?” he said.

  “Yeah. You are.” But I put my hand out for him anyway to help him to his feet.

  Before Matt grabbed it, James came over and grabbed my hand instead. And then he grabbed Matt by the lapels of his tuxedo jacket and pulled him to his feet.

  “If I ever see you with head up my wife’s skirt ever again, you’re dead.” He shoved Matt backward.

  Whoa. It was all in good fun. I stepped in front of James. “Matt was just messing around. Let’s go sit down.” I was not going to cause a scene at Rob’s wedding.

  I pulled James off the center of the dance floor and tried to get him to sit down at Table 1. At least…I thought Table 1 was our table. I was rather distracted by the ice sculpture in the middle of it. Was that Rob and Daphne naked? In ice? I had so many questions. First and foremost…had they posed for that?

  But James grabbed my hand, led me right past our table, and ducked out of the tent.

  “James…we’re part of the wedding party, we can’t just…”

  He pushed my back against one of the bars constructing the tent. There was a hunger in his eyes. And I was pretty sure it had nothing to do with the crab cakes we’d missed out on.

  “James, we can’t miss Rob and Daphne coming in…”

  He pushed my skirt up, moved my thong to the side, and slid two fingers inside of me. Jesus.

  “Your pussy is mine,” he said.

  I gripped the back of his neck.

  He moved his fingers slowly in and out of me before picking up the pace.

  I tried not to moan. I could hear the DJ announcing the next people in the wedding party. I could hear the guests cheering. And if I could hear them, they’d be able to hear me too. Hell, anyone could just walk out here and…

  Just that second I saw Porter turn the corner. He saw us and immediately turned his back to us. But he didn’t walk away. He stood there with his arms crossed, making sure no one else would see us.

  “James, Porter is…”

  “You think this is the first time Porter has caught me with my hand up your skirt?”

  I knew for a fact that it wasn’t.

  “You’re soaking wet, baby. You love when people watch us.”

  I moaned and clapped my hand over my mouth.

  “Half of me wants to go down on you right in the middle of the dance floor. To show everyone that you’re mine.” He pumped his hand faster.

  God. I let my hand fall from my mouth.

  “Every inch of you is mine.” He reached up with his fingers, hitting a spot that had me so close to the edge.

  “Yes!”

  “Say it, Penny.”

  “Every inch of me is yours.”

  “Good girl.” He removed his hand right before I came.

  My throat made a weird squeaking noise. “James…”

  He slid his fingers into his mouth as he stared down at me, the hunger still in his eyes.

  God.

  He licked off every drop, the intensity in his eyes only growing.

  “I was so close,” I said. I lifted my skirt slightly, trying to tempt him to come back to me.

  He leaned forward and grabbed the hem of my skirt.

  Thank God.

  “You tortured me,” he whispered, his breath hot in my ear. “Now I get to torture you.” He dropped my skirt back into place.

  I was so frustrated that I could scream. “I didn’t ask for Matt to do that.”

  “You also didn’t slap him and tell him to stop.”

  I just stared at him. “But…James…”

  “You can beg me to let you come later when you’re on your knees choking on my cock.”

  Holy shit.

  “But right now they’re about to announce Rob and Daphne coming in. And like you said…we can’t miss it.”

  He walked backward and ducked under the flap of the tent, leaving me panting out here all alone.

  Screw that. I wouldn’t be the one begging him later. He’d be the one begging me.

  Chapter 32

  Saturday

  I ate another forkful of the plate of mini crab cakes that had magically arrived in place of the first course.

  I knew James had arranged it. Which was incredibly sweet. But he hadn’t been sweet ten minutes ago when he finger fucked me until I was two seconds away from coming and then stopped. I licked the side of my fork. It was really fun to do. Because I was pretty sure the fork was made of pure gold. All the silverware was. And so was the little tray underneath the inappropriate ice sculpture.

  James lowered his eyebrows as he stared at me.

  “Girl, I get it,” Kristen said. Who for some reason was seated next to me. “You suck Professor Hunter’s cock on the regular. Stop rubbing it in.”

  I was so shocked by what she’d said that I dropped my fork onto my plate. I opened my mouth to say something salty back to her, but I stopped when I saw Tim’s arm around her shoulders. He’d had zero reaction to what Kristen had just said. How was he not fuming?

  “You must be Tim,” I said and reached across her plate to shake his hand. “It’s so nice to finally meet you.”

  “The pleasure is all mine,” Tim said. But instead of shaking my hand, he pulled it to his lips and gently kissed the back of it.

  “I have to say, the two of you make a perfect couple,” I said as I quickly pulled my hand away from his lips. I wasn’t sure if they actually made a perfect couple or not. But I sure wanted Tim to start being more possessive of Kristen. Kind of like the way James was possessive of me. Driving me slowly insane.

  Tim touched his chest. “Why thank you, you gorgeous specimen.”

  “You’re very welcome. Seriously, you two look perfect together.”

  Kristen raised her eyebrow at me.

  “We really do, huh?” Tim said, pulling Kristen closer to his side.

  My work here was done. Hopefully he’d hold her closer for the rest of the night. “Mhm. Absolutely.” I took another big bite of crab cakes.

  James put his hand on my thigh. “Aren’t you going to thank me?” he asked.

  “For what?” I looked up at him. “For sexually torturing me?” I whispered and took another slow bite, licking the side of my lips.

  He lowered his eyebrows.

  I’d recognize the heat in his gaze anywhere. He wanted me. Well, good. I wanted him too. I bit my bottom lip as my gaze dropped to his mouth.

  “I have to make a speech any minute,” he said. “So eat your crab cakes and stop giving me sex eyes.”

  “Are you sure you’re not just aroused by the ice sculpture?”

  James laughed. “I’m sure.”

  I took another very seductive bite.

  James groaned and adjusted his tuxedo pants.

  I smiled to myself when I saw that there was a tent in his pants. I hoped he did have a huge erection when he stood up to give his best man toast. Wait…no. I didn’t want that. Because Kristen would be staring at him.

  “Dead kittens,” I said, because it was the first unsexy thing that popped into my head.

  James frowned. “What?”

  “Just tons of them. Dozens of dead kittens.” I frowned. Gross.

  “Why are we talking about dead kittens?

  I leaned closer to him. “I don’t want Kristen to see what you’re packing. I’ll stop torturing you now, I swear. Just undo…that.” I gestured toward his pants.

  “By thinking of dead kittens?” he asked.

  I nodded.

  He took a deep breath and sighed. He looked up at the ceiling of the tent. And for some reason staring at the tent thankfully made the tent in his pants start to disappear.

  “It worked,” I said.

  “Mhm.” He took a sip of his drink.

  “Was it the kittens thing?”

  “No.” He leaned closer to me so no one could hear. “I was thinking about Kristen staring at my junk.”

  I smiled at him. “Thank you,” I mouthed to him.

  He put his arm behind my back, pulling me closer to him. “You have nothing to worry about with her. You act like you don’t know how pretty you are. When I tell you on a daily basis. I want you and only you.”

  “Then have me.”

  He leaned back, letting his arm fall from my shoulders. “Dead kittens,” he mumbled and stared up at the lights that were strung around the top of the tent.

  I smiled to myself. I loved James’ domineering side. But I loved his sweet side just as much.

  Justin popped up out of nowhere behind James. “James,” he whispered.

  James jumped in his seat. Apparently he hadn’t seen Justin approach either.

  “It’s time for your speech.” Justin rubbed his shoulders. “Are you ready? Do you need anything at all?” He kept rubbing his shoulders.

  Dude, I just got Kristen out of the way, and now I had to get Justin to stop hitting on James too. And I kinda wanted him to give me James’ pants back while we were on the topic of inappropriate things.

  “Yeah, no, I’m good,” James said and gave him a weird look.

  Justin sighed and removed his hands. “Okay then. I’ll let you get to it. And remember the grand speech finale.”

  The grand speech finale? What was Justin talking about?

  The light music faded completely as James stood up and tapped his knife to the side of a champagne glass.

  The room hushed as all the guests turned to him. It reminded me of what Bee had said earlier. How sexy it was when a man could control a room like that. She was damn right. I crossed my legs under the table.

  James looked over at the sweetheart table where just Rob and Daphne were sitting. “Rob took his sweet time asking me to be his best man,” James said with a laugh.

  I smiled up at him.

  “And honestly? I would have been a little offended if he’d asked anyone else. Rob has been by my side through so much. The good. And the bad. And I’m sorry that there’s been so much bad.” He nodded to Rob.

  Rob smiled. “I forgive you.”

  James smiled back. “I think usually little brothers say this to their big brothers. But Rob, I don’t know what I would have done without you by my side growing up. You always had my back. 100%, without any question. Even in fights with our friends.” He nodded toward Matt and Mason. “And God knows I was usually in the wrong.”

  I knew that James had lost touch with Mason and Matt after college. I wondered if that was what he was referring to. I was so glad they all found their way back to each other.

  “And you always make me laugh, especially when I need it. I gotta say…I’m used to having your undivided attention. And I’m a little jealous that I have to share you now.”

  Daphne laughed.

  “But seriously…you and Daphne? I see the way you look at her. And the way she looks at you. I’ve always wanted the best for you. And I’m glad you took your damn time to settle down. Because Daphne is the best. She understands you. And she’ll pick up the slack when I’m not always a good brother.”

  Daphne smiled again, but there were tears in her eyes now.

  “Welcome to the family, Daphne.” He looked back at Rob. “I love you, man,” James said. “And I love that you found love. Because if I’ve learned anything over the past couple years…nothing is more important than that.”

  “I love you too, big bro,” Rob said and lifted his glass in the air.

  “Now what eloquent thing did you say when you were the best man at my wedding?” James pretended to think. “Oh, right. I can’t wait to be an uncle to all the kids you’re certainly going to have because you never wear a condom.” James winked at Rob.

  Rob laughed.

  And so did I. I was so shocked when Rob had said that at our wedding. It was completely inappropriate. Payback was supposed to be a bitch, but Rob just kept laughing.

  “Ow ow!” Bee yelled.

  Mason and Matt both whistled at the same time and then started laughing.

  And Daphne looked very, very pale.

  I exhaled slowly as I looked from her pale face to her untouched glass of champagne. Damn it. I had for sure lost the best. She was already pregnant. The Hunter brothers really should wear condoms more often if they didn’t want millions of kids running around.

  James sat down to the applause of the guests.

  I leaned over and kissed his cheek. “Very eloquent speech.”

  He laughed. “Right?”

  There was a loud popping noise and I almost screamed again. But then I saw it was just all the waiters popping more champagne. Well…not popping. They’d just cut off the tops of the bottles with freaking swords.

  What the actual hell?

  “What is all this weird stuff?” James said with a laugh. “I’m pretty sure Justin gave Rob a list of all the craziest things they could do at their wedding, and Rob said yes to all of it.”

  “Sounds about right. I guess this was the grand speech finale?”

  James shrugged.

  I plopped another mini crab cake in my mouth and rested my head on his shoulder.

  “Barehanding the food now?” he asked with a smile.

  “I’m a barbarian.”

  He kissed the top of my head and barehanded another crab cake to feed me. As I ate the last bite, I swirled my tongue around his thumb.

  “Fuck,” he groaned.

  I tuned out the next few speeches as I just stared up at James.

  He’d promised to get me alone under the willow tree. Was now a good time? I almost asked him to sneak away but the main course had just come out and there was bacon wrapped something involved, so I wasn’t moving an inch.

  You’re welcome, little dude, I said to myself and put my hand on my stomach.

  I looked over at James. He was smiling at me.

  “What?”

  “Are you talking to her again?”

  “Him. I’m right about this one.”

  “This one?” He raised his eyebrow.

  I sighed and put my fork down. It was time to admit defeat. “I think that Daphne is…”

  “Ladies and gentlemen, may I please have your attention!” Rob said, cutting me off from having to concede. “We have so much to celebrate tonight.” He grabbed Daphne’s hand and pulled her to her feet. “My beautiful new wife.” He kissed her cheek.

  A little color went back to her face.

  “And a beautiful family.” He lifted his glass in the air.

  Well…I mean…he could have just been referring to all of us sitting at Table 1. Maybe. Possibly. Probably not.

  Bee leaned around the ice sculpture so she could see me. “Shotgun wedding,” she mouthed silently at me from across the table.

  Yeah, I know. Gah! I really hated losing bets.

  Rob wrapped his arm around Daphne, the biggest smile on his face. “A family of three,” he said and put his hand on Daphne’s stomach.

  “We’re pregnant!” Daphne shouted.

  Son of a bitch. I pressed my lips together at the thought. I didn’t mean that. Daphne was lovely. And I was super happy for them.

  “Huzzah!” Rob yelled and threw his glass on the ground.

  Everyone around him started throwing their glasses and yelling “huzzah” at the top of their lungs.

  Daphne threw one of the plates like a frisbee across the tent. It shattered into a million pieces and then more people started throwing glasses and plates down on the ground.

  Bee took one more bite off her plate and then lifted it in the air. “Huzzah!” she slammed it on the ground and then everyone at our table started doing it too.

  A glass shattered dangerously close to my foot. And I was pretty sure Kristen had done it intentionally. I leaned into James so I wouldn’t get cut.

  And then a bunch of confetti started raining down from the top of the tent.

  I coughed and waved my hand in front of my face.

  James smiled down at me.

  “Don’t even say it,” I said and pushed confetti off my shoulder. “Maybe that was the grand speech finale? The glass seems like a hazard for dancing if you ask me.” But there were already a bunch of waiters rushing out with brooms.

  “You’re changing the subject when what we should really be discussing is…I win.”

  I laughed. “I said not to say it.”

 

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