Seduction, page 7
I smiled. When I said Justin hated children ringbearers, I meant he just hated all children. “I’d love it if you planned my baby shower, Justin.”
“Good. Besides, your maid of honor was flaky and I don’t trust her to throw you a good one. You need me.”
He just had to add the sass to his previous compliment. “Melissa and I were going through some stuff. She’ll be there for me now. But of course I need you.”
“You really do. Regardless of Miss Flaky, it’s now my duty. And that’s all you need to know about that. Because obviously it’s going to be a surprise. And it’s going to be beyond fabulous.”
That sounded fun. I smiled to myself. So far these negotiations had been easy. I was just nodding along. “And what’s the third thing?”
“My favorite of the three. I get to come to the bachelorette party.”
“Why would you want to come to the bachelorette party? You don’t even like Daphne.”
“Because I need a break!”
“Okay…”
“And who said I didn’t like her?” he asked.
“Um…you. A bunch of times. You keep calling her a barbarian. And the devil.”
He waved his hand through the air. “I’m just frazzled. I’m sure she’s lovely. So I can come to the bachelorette party?”
Honestly that was kind of up to Daphne. Or one of her bridesmaids that was throwing it for her. And as James had so kindly pointed out…Daphne hadn’t actually asked me to be a bridesmaid. But I wasn’t really good at negotiating anything. I had no practice. So instead I just nodded. “Of course. We have a deal.” I stuck out my hand.
Instead of shaking it, he grabbed it and lifted it up to his lips, placing a kiss on the back of my hand. “Good.” He dropped my hand with a flourish and stood up a little straighter. “Now let’s plan this thing. Just because it’s a shotgun wedding doesn’t mean it can’t be beautiful. How far along is she?”
“It’s not a shotgun wedding.”
“Don’t even with me, honey. If this Daphne woman isn’t a barbarian, then she must be pregnant. It’s the only thing holding me together. Because that means I get to plan two baby showers. Just added a fourth thing. You’ll have to let her know the contingencies at your earliest convenience.”
I just shrugged. Daphne wasn’t pregnant. But at this rate, she was probably going to have to promise her firstborn to Justin in order for him to pull all this off. “Sounds good, Justin.”
He spread out an array of color palettes, bridal magazines, pictures of designer gowns, pulled out miniature tables to depict seating arrangements, and somehow managed to get sparkles all over the dining room table.
“Shouldn’t we wait for Daphne?” I asked.
“No. I don’t like her.”
I gave him a pointed stare. “We just talked about this.”
“I’m joking. Ha. Ha. Oh, James, you’re here too! Yay!” Justin stood up just as James walked into the room. “And yay for gray sweatpants season,” he added. “I’m a lucky man.”
I looked down at the sweatpants James had pulled on. He should have known better when Justin was around. I commented on them enough. Seriously…you could see every outline. Everything. I bit the inside of my lip.
Justin gave James a big hug and kissed both his cheeks. And then he giggled. “Your scruff tickles my lips. Best shave that for the wedding, yes?” He patted James’ cheek. And then the patting turned into more of a gentle stroking.
James just laughed. “For the pictures or for you?”
“Both.”
“It’s good to see you, Justin. Where are Daphne and Rob?”
“Who cares,” Justin said. “This is a great threesome right here. Come, sit next to me.” He sat down and patted the seat next to him. And when James didn’t move, Justin crossed his legs as he waited, drumming his fingers on his knee.
“Did you say something about breakfast, Penny?” James asked, ignoring the offer to cozy up next to Justin.
“Yeah, I almost forgot. The plates are in the kitchen. Could you grab mine for me?” I turned back to Justin. “Did you want a waffle too?”
He gasped and put his hand to his chest. “Do I look like I eat carbs? How do you think I fit into this number?”
His suit was indeed very fitted. I wasn’t sure anything was worth giving up carbs for though. What was life without hot bread?
“Coffee is fine for me. Another cup?” He handed James his empty cup.
Wow, he seriously downed that coffee. He was going to be very hyper during this wedding consultation. I hoped Daphne and Rob were prepared because they were in for… a lot.
Justin blew some of the sparkles off his binders and right into my face.
I coughed and waved my hand through the air.
“Sorry about that,” Justin said. “But everything in life is better with sparkles.”
Chapter 9
Saturday
Daphne bit her lip while she flipped through the pages of one of the binders. “I don’t know,” she finally said.
“We don’t have time for indecision,” Justin said. “We need a color scheme pronto.” He was holding a pen in his hand so tightly that his knuckles were turning white.
Daphne looked over at Rob.
“How about we go classic,” Rob said and grabbed her hand on the table. “Black and white.”
Daphne nodded.
“Oh, I love it,” Justin said. “You have amazing taste, Rob, you sexy man beast. It’s perfect. Classic elegance. And we don’t have to worry about things coordinating. Unless one of your groomsmen is colorblind and shows up in a navy tux.” Justin shook his head. “Speaking of which…let’s talk wedding party. How many people?”
“Let me think,” Rob said. He didn’t seem at all phased by Justin calling him a sexy man beast. They’d always gotten along well. I think Rob just took Justin’s flirtations as a joke. Since Rob always flirted with me as a joke. But I was pretty sure Justin was not joking.
“It’s going to be three groomsmen for me,” Rob said. “Yup. Three.”
I waited a beat for Rob to ask James to be his best man…but Rob didn’t offer any more information.
“Three is a nice, good number. I love doing things in threes. Especially when it involves two big, strong men.” He winked at James.
James coughed on a sip of coffee.
“And how about you?” Justin asked and turned to Daphne.
“Oh. Um…everything is so last minute. I don’t know if Alina or Kristen will be able to make it. Especially since they both just took vacation time for Alina’s wedding.”
“We don’t really have time for indecision,” Justin said. “I’m just going to put down three and we’ll figure it out, okay? Because you need to make sure the parties are even. You don’t want an uneven party. It looks ridiculous in pictures. And I don’t do ridiculous. I do perfection.”
“Okay,” Daphne said.
“Now most importantly…we need to pick a caterer, the DJ or band, find a dress, and book the venue.”
That was a lot more than one ‘most importantly’.
Daphne looked so overwhelmed.
“I was thinking…” I said. “Did you guys want a really big wedding, or maybe something simpler would be easier with such short notice?”
Daphne smiled at me. For the first time since she’d walked into the apartment, she looked a little relieved.
“Nonsense,” Rob said. “I’ve thrown a lot of parties in my lifetime and this one has to trump all the rest. It has to be epic. Huge.”
“Sensational!” Justin added. “It’s a wedding, Penny, not a backyard barbeque. Get on our level.”
James laughed.
I shot him a look, but he didn’t seem to be bothered, the humor still dancing in his eyes.
I pressed my lips together. I said simple. Not backyard barbeque. That was quite a leap. But what was so wrong with a backyard wedding? It sounded magical to me.
“Enough talk about lame simplicity,” Justin said. “Do you guys have a venue in mind that will fit our vision?”
“Hm.” Rob rested his chin in his hand as he thought.
“Well…the restaurant where Rob proposed said we could have it there,” Daphne said.
“Splendid. Which restaurant?”
“The Parrot Palace.”
Justin blinked. “The place with the signing birds?” He laughed, but when he saw that Rob wasn’t smiling, he coughed. “Good God, please no. I can’t. You can’t make me.”
“Do you know of any places that have openings?” I offered. “A nice backyard perhaps?”
“Penny I love you, but stop it with that nonsense. This is a classy affair. Not a clown rodeo.”
A clown rodeo? Where was he coming up with this stuff?
Justin started flipping through a binder, his face growing paler by the second. “Two weeks isn’t a lot of time. Are you guys certain it has to be so quickly?”
“Yes,” Rob said.
Justin flipped more pages. “All the best venues in the city are booked months if not years in advance. I don’t know…”
James cleared his throat. “Are you two dead set on getting married in the city?”
Daphne glanced over at Rob. “No, not necessarily.”
“That opens things up a bit. I bet we could find a venue in Jersey.” Justin made a face. “No, not Jersey. I can’t do Jersey. It’s just as bad as a backyard. I’ll look desperate.”
“How about Penny and my country club?” James said.
Oh my gosh. Of course! It was perfect! “The Hunter Creek Country Club is so beautiful,” I said. “You guys could get married on the golf course somewhere. It’s very scenic.”
“Where is it located?” Justin asked.
“In Newark, Delaware.”
“Delaware?! How am I supposed to plan a wedding in Delaware?!” He slammed a binder shut. “Wait, do they have catering?”
“Yes,” James said.
“Getting a caterer tied into a venue at this point is a must. And I’m guessing you can call in a favor. And a country club is always an elegant choice. We can make the distance work. Call them immediately.”
James looked over at Rob and Daphne. “Would that work for you guys?”
“It doesn’t matter what they think! It’s our only option!” Justin shrieked.
Daphne looked relieved. “Actually, that sounds perfect. Rob and I went to dinner there about a month ago after walking around the University of New Castle campus. It really is beautiful. I can picture it there.” She smiled at Rob.
Justin clapped his hands. “James, call them now. Do it. Do it!” he screamed when James didn’t immediately pull out his phone.
“Give me a minute,” James said. He stood up, pulled his phone out of his pocket, and left the room.
“Back to business,” Justin said. “Where were we…crap, flowers. What kind of flowers do you like?” An alarm on his phone started going off. “Gah!” He ended the alarm. “I have to go. This is insanity. But I’m going to leave all this here. Look through every inch of material and make decisions. We can meet up again tomorrow morning, okay? Oh, and you have an appointment at the same place Penny got her wedding dress today at 4 pm okay? And right after that you have an appointment for bridesmaid dresses, so figure out your bridal party ASAP. This is dire.”
Daphne nodded. “Thank you so much, Justin. Seriously, I can’t thank you enough.”
“Going to your bachelorette party and getting double my normal fee is thanks enough. Gotta run!” He actually ran - sprinted right out of the dining room and I heard the door slam closed a second later.
“Double the normal fee? Bachelorette party? What?” Daphne asked.
“He had a few contingencies. Don’t worry, I negotiated him down.” Not. Whatever. It was fine. Justin wasn’t asking too much. This was insanity. In two weeks they’d be walking down the aisle. I smiled. Sometimes insanity was really fun.
Rob laughed. “I love that guy. He’s hilarious. Do I get to come wedding dress shopping with you?”
“No,” Daphne and I said at the same time. She smiled at me. “Do you think you could come with me, Penny? And we could call Bee too. It would be fun to do it with you two.”
“Of course. I’ll call her right now.”
“Thank you so much.”
I excused myself from the table and walked into the kitchen.
James was leaning against the kitchen island eating another waffle.
“Are you hiding in here?” I asked with a laugh.
“That depends. Is Justin gone yet?”
“Yeah, he just left.”
“He was hyper today.”
“You riled him up with your choice of attire.” My eyes landed on the outline of James’ junk in his gray sweatpants.
“I don’t think you can see anything…”
I outlined his length with my finger. “We’ve been over this before. You can see everything.
He laughed. “So that was why Justin was so hyped up?”
“That and I’m pretty sure he’d already had a lot of coffee before he even got here. And he’s really perturbed by the whole two weeks thing.”
James nodded. “There’s another wedding at the country club that day, so we can’t use the main ballroom. It’s a pretty small wedding though, so the kitchen will be able to accommodate Rob’s wedding too. Fingers crossed it’s nice outside and we can do an outdoor thing. So we have a venue and catering. What’s left?”
“Everything else.”
He nodded. “We should leave them to it then. It’s beautiful out. Let’s go for a walk in the park.”
“James, we have to help.”
“You saw what happened in there,” James said. “Rob didn’t ask me to be his best man. Hell, he didn’t even ask me to be a groomsman. I don’t think they need our help.”
I thought I’d imagined James looking a little jealous about the possibility of Rob asking Matt. But I definitely didn’t imagine the hurt in his voice right now.
“I’m sure he’s just going to ask you privately.”
James shrugged. “Who cares.”
“You care.”
“No, not really.”
I just stared at him. He clearly cared. “You’re being silly. Rob said he was going to have three people in his wedding party. That’s you, Matt, and Mason. You’re in it.”
James shrugged again.
“They’re just busy with all the details.” That was it. They were just too preoccupied to ask us to be in their wedding party. “You know what? You’re right. Let’s leave them alone with those binders for a bit and take that walk around Central Park.” That’s what we would have been doing if we were alone today. And I always craved alone time with him.
“That sounds great.” He pulled me in for a kiss.
I smiled up at him. “But I have to go dress shopping with Daphne at 4.”
“Did she ask you to be a bridesmaid?”
“No, but she asked if I’d go look at dresses with her.”
“They’re being very tight-lipped about their wedding parties.”
“Come on, let’s give them some time alone. They just need a moment to talk about it together before they ask us.” I pulled James toward the door. “We’ll be back in a bit!” I called to Rob and Daphne.
“Don’t fuck on our dining room table,” James said under his breath.
I laughed and pulled him out of our apartment.
***
It was a gorgeous day. Summer way trying to end quickly this year. Some trees were already starting to drop leaves. I remembered Justin’s chant about droughts. This summer had been pretty dry. Maybe Rob and Daphne would get beautiful autumn colors in their wedding photos after all.
“The country club was a great idea,” I said. “It’s going to be beautiful this time of year.”
James squeezed my hand. “It’s definitely beautiful this time of year. Especially out on the golf course.”
I felt my cheeks blushing. I knew what he was referring to. He’d taken me there in the fall. Our first real date. We’d done unspeakable things on that golf course. “Is it weird for them to get married there? Where we…you know.”
“I’m sure they can put up an arch somewhere away from the mini-waterfall.”
“And the willow tree,” I added.
He smiled and stopped on the path, pulling me into him. “And the willow tree. I definitely didn’t forget about that.”
“How could you possibly?” He’d backed me up until my back hit the bark of the tree. The golf course had been deserted, but there’d still been this thrill around the possibility of getting caught. He’d had me screaming his name in minutes.
“Maybe after the ceremony we can sneak off and recreate a few things,” he said. “I could definitely go for a round two against the tree.”
“Pretty sure we’ll be taking pictures after the ceremony.”
“We’re not in the wedding party, Penny.”
“Rob is definitely going to ask you. He was your best man and you’ll be his.”
“Not necessarily.”
“You’re being very cute right now.”
“I’m not being cute,” James said.
“You’re being a little cute.”
His hands left my waist and cradled my face. And then he kissed me, his tongue sliding past my lips. Completely unraveling me. He kissed me like I was the only thing keeping him alive. Right there on the walking path. It was anything but cute. It was scandalous and had me digging my fingers into his back. God, what I’d do to be back on that golf course right now.
“I’m thinking of so many ways to seduce you right now,” he whispered against my lips. “I’m really liking this five months of seduction thing.”
“You’re not supposed to be coming up with ideas. Since I’m seducing you.” Although, I hadn’t thought of what to do today. Which was ridiculous because it was only the second day. But all I could think about right this moment was grabbing lunch. Maybe I could do something with food. Or sparkles, since they were still all over me. “Are you hungry?”
“We just ate breakfast.”
“I’m eating for two. I could really go for some pickles. What about you?”
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