“I did. I don’t know what you were worried about earlier. That was a pretty awesome Christmas—and that’s just thinking about all the food. I wish your mom would come down and cook for us more often. It was fantastic.”
“She does that every year.”
Emily leaned forward to fiddle with the dials on the radio. “Every year, huh? I could get use to that.”
Reaching over, I placed my hand on her thigh. “You’d better get used to it, since we’ll be spending every other Christmas there.”
“I know,” she squealed. “I still can’t believe they paid for our honeymoon. That’s completely crazy.”
“It is. I love the idea of going on a cruise.”
“Me too. You know, I really mean it when I say I had a great time today, and that has nothing to do with the gift they gave us.”
“I know. Merry Christmas, Em.”
“Merry Christmas.”
The ride home didn’t take long since it was pretty late and the roads were empty. We hadn’t done much all day but I was still exhausted when we got home, and it felt great to curl up in bed with Emily. It wasn’t long before I heard the soft snores coming from where her head rested on my chest.
Taking our fight out of the equation, it had been a pretty good day. Actually, it was the perfect day.
I fell asleep with the thought that it was only the first of many more to come.
A laugh sounded from across the room and I looked up from the project I was working on for Monday morning. Everyone else had gone back to class about three weeks ago but with the internship, I’d been hard at work for the last six weeks. Things had been going really well, and even with having to be at work for the most part, Emily and I had still managed to spend a ton of time together. It felt good to have the nights to ourselves.
I was watching Emily and our moms discussing wedding plans at the kitchen table. They had come over to help her start searching for venues. Something you apparently had to do far in advance. All I knew was that they’d brought a checklist of things that needed to be done and how far out from the wedding they needed to be completed, with a little book to keep track of everything. It seemed crazy to me, but this was Emily’s day, so if she wanted to start planning now, then we’d start planning now . . . even if we still had a little over a year to go. Both of our moms kept warning us how fast that time would fly by.
Seeing Emily so happy made me happy—it also kept me out of trouble for the little shit she could get mad at. I was expecting plenty of that—enough that I might be in the doghouse for days. Watching my mom help the woman of my dreams plan the most important day of our lives meant the world to me.
Mom had taken to Emily from the beginning. Every guy worries about bringing the one home to Mom, afraid she won’t live up to expectation. There are always those horror stories of engagements that crashed and burned because the mom decided that the fiancée wasn’t good enough for their son. My mom was not like that at all, and only shown Emily more love since we’d gotten engaged, treating her like one of her own children. Their gift at Christmas still amazed me. Mom treated Emily even better than she did Jessica and me, which was karma, I suppose. Jessica was the youngest and got away with everything. I remember sitting back and trying to figure out how she did it. Then one day I realized she’d been learning from my mistakes. Life was so screwed up sometimes.
I heard another laugh come from the table. This time it was Emily’s. Her excitement was almost palpable.
“What do you think of light pink and lilac for the dresses, with bows on the back?” Emily asked.
“Li—what?” What the hell was she talking about?
Turning my head, all three of them were looking at me expectantly.
“It’s a shade of purple,” Mom chimed in.
“Um . . .” Pink and purple did not sound like colors Emily would choose, and bows? That was something I couldn’t imagine. But if I said anything and it was what she wanted, I was going to be in so much trouble.
I hated loaded questions.
Emily stood, eyes narrowed. “You don’t like it?”
Shit. “Well it’s . . . it’s . . . umm . . . it’s—”
“Well?” Emily had her hands on her hips, staring me down.
Damn. I had no idea what the right answer was. The collar of my shirt felt a little too tight. This was one of those trivial things, but with the party at the frat house tonight looming over my head, I wasn’t really interesting in an argument. Deciding a neutral answer was best, I went with it.
“I think if you like it, then that is all that matters.” Then I shut up and waited for her reaction. Her mouth turned down in a frown. Great. I thought that answer would work. I felt my body tense, waiting for the blow.
Then all three of them burst out laughing at me. “You don’t think I would actually choose pink and purple, do you?” she said between fits of laughter.
“Oh, honey, you should have seen your face,” Mom said, wiping at her eyes.
Julie, Emily’s mom, was doing her best to calm down. “Can you really see Emily in b—b—bows?” She started laughing all over again.
“This is only ’cause I’m outnumbered,” I said.
“Nah.” Mom, waved her hand in a gesture of dismissal. “With the way you and your father pick on me, you deserve it.”
I rolled my eyes, but gave her a smile. “Thanks, Mom.”
“Anytime, sweetie.”
Pointing at Emily, I said, “And you’re no better.”
“I know.”
After a few more cracks at me, which sent them into more fits of laughter, they went back to wedding planning. At one point, Emily brought over a picture of a beautiful silver dress she wanted for the bridesmaids. It was exactly what I would expect her to pick.
“If you’d shown me this in the beginning, I would’ve been able to answer you right away. This looks perfect.”
“I know, but where’s the fun in that?” She smiled and went back to the kitchen.
“Oh, I like that one,” my mom’s voice popped up from the table. Taking my glasses off, I simply sat and stared at them, contentment settling over my body, making me feel like I could conquer the world if I wanted to. Now that they were done picking on me, I could sit back and appreciate how well our families got along. In my opinion, life was pretty damn good.
Emily gave me a beaming smile, before turning her attention back to the stuff they had laid out in front of her. Picking up my glasses, I went back to the folder in my lap. My assessment was due to my boss Monday morning so I’d need to work hard so that we could still go to my frat house for the party.
Over the next few hours I tried to get a bit more work done, but it was hard to concentrate. Everything about tonight’s party was making me nervous. One of my frat brothers called to make sure we would be there because they had a special surprise for us. There was no way I could miss this one. I’d avoided going to the house since we’d gotten engaged. It actually hadn’t been that hard, especially with all of the studying Emily had been doing, plus all of the problems Josh and Lauren had. We’d all had way too much on our plates.
But I just knew they were going to have some shit arranged tonight to celebrate our engagement. The problem was, not all of it would be good. There would be a lot of jokes before they got to the actual celebration, and I’d seen what had happened to the other guys who’d gotten engaged over the years. The guys were brutal about it. They loved to use every “ball and chain” joke they could find.
But even knowing how bad it could get, Emily still wanted to go. I just wasn’t sure if Emily’s temper could handle the teasing. And adding alcohol into the mix could only make it worse. There was just too much that could go wrong tonight. I wanted nothing more than to stay home and think about the plans I had for tomorrow.
Tomorrow was the anniversary of our first date. The night that had led us down the path we were on. Yet, the party could ruin it all. I had to hope that Emily took it all in stride, or realiz
ed that none of it was actually my fault.
For both our sakes.
That night, after my mom and her mom had gone home, I walked into the bedroom where Emily was getting ready for the party.
“Are you sure you want to go? I mean, I don’t mind if you’d rather stay home.” It seemed low, but I was going to do everything I could to keep her from listening to the shit they would dish out—even if I had to go by myself and make excuses for her. I just had a feeling that whatever stupid pranks my frat brothers would pull would send her into a tizzy. They wouldn’t bother me in the least—I’d seen most of them at this point—but little things like that just set Emily off sometimes.
“Yes, I’m sure. It can’t be that bad.”
“Oh yes it can. I’ve told you some of the stories and trust me when I tell you, I wasn’t keeping anything from you.”
“Yeah, it sounds more like you’d rather not spend the night with me there.” The rigid stiffness of her spine was all I needed to see. She was getting pissed and upset at the same time.
Walking over to where she was standing in front of the mirror, I touched her shoulders, turning her around to face me. The cleavage peeking out of her blue top was enough to send any man to his knees. I knew I didn’t have to worry about anything happening to Emily. She could most definitely take care of herself. It seemed to be only with me that she was willing to show the sensitive side of her personality, the side she hid from the rest of the world. But it wasn’t just her I was worried about—I didn’t necessarily want my frat brothers to become acquainted with her temper.
“Em, you know that’s not true. I’m just afraid their bullshit antics are going to get you all riled up. They do this stuff for fun—not because they actually mean it.”
“I know, but I want to go.”
My eyebrows lifted to my forehead and waited. I knew her better than that.
“Fine.” She leaned up on her toes and pressed her lips to mine. “I promise I will be on my best behavior. Now can we get ready and get out of here?”
With a sigh, I turned and went back out to the living room to wait. When she said “we” needed to get ready, what she really meant was “me.” The slight quivering of my stomach didn’t put me at ease either. No matter what she promised, her temper had a mind of its own. The only thing I was counting on was the fact that Caleb and Angie would be there as well. At least that way, if Emily really lost her shit, Angie would be on hand to help talk her down from the ledge. As much as I loved Emily, her temper could definitely be a problem, although, I had to admit that over the last year of us being together, it was taking her a lot longer to freak-out. But when she did, it wasn’t pretty.
Pacing wasn’t going to help so I sat down on the couch, resting my head on the back. I closed my eyes and tried to hope for the best. Nick came out of his room a few minutes later.
“Hey, man, what’s up?” The couch next to me sunk with his weight.
“Em still thinks it’s a good idea to go tonight.”
“What is she, crazy? She does know about all of the bullshit they are going to try and pull tonight, right?” Opening one eye, I looked over at him to see his eyes practically bulging out of his head. Everyone—and I mean everyone—knew how Emily could get, and even with that knowledge I had a feeling my frat brothers were still going to screw around. In their minds they were messing with me, not her.
“Yeah, I told her. She seems to think it won’t make her mad.”
“Umm, she gets pissed at less here.” He reached over and clasped my shoulder. “I’m picking Morgan up in a few minutes. Good luck, dude. I think you’re going to need it.”
“Probably. Thanks, man. Have fun tonight.” Groaning, I sat up and watched him walk out the door.
“Yeah, you too.”
“Almost ready,” Emily called down the hall.
Rubbing my hands over my face, I let the sense of dread wash over me for a minute, before plastering a smile on my face. It was what it was. Hopefully their shit wouldn’t get too outrageous.
When Emily came down the hall a few minutes later, I was tempted to suggest that we didn’t go to the party at all, and spend the night all tangled in the sheets together instead, but it wasn’t worth pissing her off again by saying it. The blue strapless top that matched her eyes almost perfectly, combined with the sleek stretch of the mini skirt, showing off the longest, sexiest legs in history, caused desire to rip through my veins, and all I wanted was to tear her out of the clothes.
Taking a step toward her, the smell of her perfume made my head spin. I knew I was never going to tire of the way she looked or smelled—even when we’d been married fifty years. I had to get control of myself.
“Ready?” she asked, a huge smile on her face. Her excitement had been building over the last few weeks, seemingly increased by the wedding planning earlier.
“Yep, let’s go.”
The party was in full swing when we got there. When I pulled up I saw Caleb’s car already parked in front of the house. Surprising really, since Angie was never ready on time. Getting out of the car, I immediately took Emily’s hand in mine, and walked up to the door. The minute it swung open I knew we might be in trouble.
Hanging right on the top of the banister was a banner. A guy in handcuffs was pictured with a ball and chain strapped to his leg. The guy’s face was covered with a picture of mine, while across the ball was written “Emily.”
Slowly, I peeked out of the corner of my eye to see how she reacted. This wasn’t even as bad as it might get. Actually, it was only the beginning. The sight of her eyes rolling heavenward, and the little perk up at the corner of her lips, made me relax a little bit, probably for the first time since I’d gotten up that morning.
“Really? That’s the best they can come up with? If you ask me, it’s pretty lame.”
I spun her to face me, drawing her into my body with one swift tug. Leaning down, I placed a sweet kiss on her lips. “You’re right, it is pretty lame.”
“You’re driving tonight?” she asked.
“For you, anything.” I mocked bowed. “Besides, I have some more work to do tomorrow.”
“I know, we won’t stay long. I just think you need to put in an appearance, especially considering we skipped every party after Lauren got hurt at the end of last year. And they did ask us to come tonight.”
I did need to show up tonight, but I wasn’t going to stay long. Getting drunk at the frat house wasn’t that interesting anymore. Although the rest of the brothers would end up absolutely wasted by the end of the night, many of them were also on the football team. In season, the team almost always stayed sober on the night before a game. We were the school’s favorite designated drivers.
“You’re right, it’s good we came. Now let’s go dance,” I said, grabbing her hand and pulling her toward the living room where a space had been cleared for a makeshift dance floor. Angie and Caleb were already in the middle of it.
Emily gave Angie a quick wave before heading into the kitchen to get God only knows what to drink, and I was sure she would soon return with a drink for Angie too. When the song ended, Caleb and Angie made their way over to where I was standing, waiting for Emily to come back. It wasn’t long before warm, tiny hands slipped around my waist, a shot glass in each hand.
“Thanks, sweetie,” Angie said, a tinge of laughter in her voice. Emily didn’t even offer Caleb a drink since she knew that he wouldn’t want one. Each of them threw back the shot like a pro. If they were starting out with shots, it wasn’t a good sign. Emily was a very happy drunk. It was just sometimes that happiness meant she spent the night sleeping on the bathroom floor.
Watching Emily as the liquor slid down her throat had me so turned on I couldn’t think straight, although, I doubted it was watching her do the shot—I’d been hard since I saw her walk out of the bedroom. How was I going to make it through the long night ahead of me?
“Nice,” Emily said as they finished the shot and clinked glasses. “Let
’s go have another.”
Angie agreed and took Emily’s hand as she led her back into the kitchen
“Hey, man, how’s it going?” Caleb asked, watching the girls walk away. “We’re pretty screwed if they’re starting with shots already, aren’t we?”
“Yep. Me more so than you. The brothers have special plans for tonight.”
“Yeah, I figured when I saw the banner at the top of the staircase.”
This time it was me who rolled my eyes. “That was pretty stupid, but I’m waiting for it to get worse.”
“Worse?”
“Yep, worse.”
“Em will freak.”
“I know. I tried to tell her, but she didn’t listen, so I’m not going to worry about it until something actually happens.” I ran my hand through my hair. “How’s the internship been so far?”
“Great. I like the firm. Not sure if I’d want to stay there after graduation, but I’m learning a ton. What about you?”
“It’s awesome. I hope they want to hire me at the end. I actually have a project due on Monday.”
A few minutes later, Emily and Angie emerged from the kitchen, smiles on their faces, their hands empty. At least they weren’t still drinking. Emily grabbed my hand on the way past, never stopping to tell me where she was taking me. “I wanna dance,” she said. We ended up in the middle of the dance floor, surrounded by a bunch of my sweaty frat brothers and, in some cases, their girlfriends too.
There were a few more moments where music filled the air, before the song changed and Porn Star Dancing by My Darkest Days came on. Emily turned and ground her ass into my already stiff cock. That didn’t stop me from moving with her. She was sexy as hell and any chance to run my hands all over her, I was going to take.
We continued to move to the music, when all of the noise surrounding us suddenly stopped. Emily was so into the music she didn’t notice . . . at least until she turned around so we could dance face to face.
Emily’s body stiffened in front of me.
“What the fuck?”
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