Checked Into Love (Bachelorette Party Book 2)

by Rochelle Paige

  “I’m not very good at pretending,” she lowered her voice since the other women had gotten close enough to be within listening distance.

  “Really?” I rolled my eyes at her as I dropped my voice to a low murmur. “You’re the woman who threw a fake bachelorette party to get the inside information you needed to land Andrew as a client. Convincing those puck bunnies that you’re my very serious girlfriend should be a breeze.”

  “Oh, you heard about that, did you?”

  “Yeah, and I’d love nothing more than a private showing of one of those suck for a buck shirts I heard about.” My eyes swept lower as I pictured her dressed in nothing but it.

  “Aren’t you Alec Rourke and Jason Campbell? From the Cavaliers?” The shrill exclamation interrupted the fantasy Cecily I was imagining.

  “We sure are,” Alec answered them.

  “Can we get your autographs?” one of them asked in a high, girlish voice. She bent at the waist as she stared at Alec, her fingers toying with the low neckline of her tight shirt, making it obvious where she wanted us to sign our names.

  “And maybe buy you a drink?” another one added, sidling closer to me.

  “Do they let just anyone into the VIP section nowadays?” Cecily grumbled. I hid my smirk, pleased to notice that she was reacting to the girls approaching us in the same way I’d responded to the sight of Alec sitting next to her earlier.

  The girls finally acknowledged Cecily’s presence, only to insult her. “You don’t own Alec and Jason.”

  I really hated it when girls I’d never met before acted like they knew me. I was ready to let loose on them, but Cecily slid her hand onto my thigh and squeezed.

  “How do you know I don’t own them? I’m the one sitting with them, aren’t I?”

  “Oh, please,” the girl scoffed. “Guys like them are looking to have fun.” Her eyes drifted over Cecily, with her hair pinned up and her blouse with only its top button undone. She arched her back, sticking her boobs out further, and swept her hand down to show off her club attire. “And I’m clearly way more fun than some stuck up bitch like you.”

  “Oh hell no,” I growled, but Alec gave me a small head shake as he leaned back in his chair like a show was about to begin.

  “No, what you are is way sluttier than me.” Cecily paused to take a sip of her martini. She frowned when she set her almost empty glass back down on the table, and then she leaned over my lap so the waitress could see her as she made a swirling motion and pointed down to her drink to let her know to bring her another one with our beers.

  My dick was so fucking hard it hurt as it pressed against my zipper. My fiery little redhead had one hell of a temper, and it turned me on.

  She shifted back onto the booth next to me and rested her head against my shoulder again. She gave the girls a surprised look when she glanced back up at them. “Oh, are you still here? I guess you didn’t get my point. Being slutty doesn’t make you more fun than me, just easier.”

  “Who the hell do you think you are to talk to me like that?” the girl shrieked, her friends nodding in agreement behind her.

  “The maid of honor for the owner of The Box’s wedding, godmother to the baby he’s expecting with my best friend, a childhood friend of Alec, and”—she shot a glare at the girl who’d offered to buy me a drink—“Jason’s girlfriend.”

  “She’s probably telling the truth,” the other girl said to the one Cecily was staring daggers at. “I haven’t heard about him hooking up with anyone before. The only reason a guy like him would do that is if he’s got a serious girlfriend already.”

  I felt Cecily’s body relax next to mine, and I wanted to bang my head against the wall when she sent me a curious look. But the satisfied grin tilting her lips upwards was worth the momentary twinge of embarrassment at her learning how much of an impact she’d had on me with a few short hours of conversation. Or it could have been that I was getting used to people telling her about my lack of a sex life since Luka and Aubrey already spilled those beans last weekend. She’d flat out told me she wasn’t sure she believed them, but these girls had no reason to lie for me. It seemed like Cecily realized my friends had been telling the truth about me—and she liked it a fuck of a lot.

  “Listen to your friend before I get you banned from this bar.”

  All three girls finally starting to look worried, and Cecily went in for the kill.

  “I’m going to hazard a wild guess, based on the fact that you’re in here dressed like that and knew exactly who Alec and Jason are—you like dick that comes with a hockey stick. I’ve got no problem with that, but I will take your access to it away unless you walk away.” Her voice hardened, right along with my already hard dick. “Right now. Spread the word, ladies. Jason Campbell is off limits because he’s mine.”

  6

  Cee-Cee

  The harsh tone signaling a text notification from my phone woke me up. Groaning, I rolled over and reached out for it blindly. If the light was streaming through my windows already, it was going to hurt my eyes. In fact, just moving hurt my entire head. I’d had one too many martinis last night. Or maybe two too many based on how I felt.

  Once I managed to find my phone, I yanked the covers over my head and cracked my eyelids open.

  Jason: How’s my girlfriend this morning?

  “Ugh,” I groaned as the argument with those girls came rushing back to me. It was possible I’d been a little too convincing with my girlfriend act. I had my newly discovered jealousy to blame for it.

  “You’ve been on one date with him. One,” I reminded myself. Although, if I wanted to get creative, I could think of it as four dates. There was the night we’d met, then I’d let him drive me home from Josie and Andrew’s party, our date at Guthrie’s, and drinks with Alec at The Box.

  “No, no, no. That’s just the dick drought talking.”

  Me: Your pretend girlfriend is feeling the pain this morning. You should have stopped me after the second or third martini. My fake boyfriend is falling down on the job.

  Jason: We can’t have that, now can we? I promise to do better from now on.

  Gah! He was so damn sweet. Who knew the hot and kind combo was my kryptonite all this time? “Not me,” I muttered, thinking of all the douchebags I’d dated before him.

  My buzzer went off, and I dropped my phone on my mattress as I crawled out of bed and stumbled to the door to make the sound stop.

  “Hello?” I croaked into it.

  “There’s a delivery for you,” the weekend doorman informed me.

  “Send it up.”

  Flipping the lock, I opened the door and braced myself against it while I waited.

  “Girl, you look like death warmed over,” Shayla whispered after she stepped off the elevator and made her way towards me.

  “I feel like it, too.”

  “The change-up in your drink order today suddenly makes more sense.” She handed me a to-go cup. I sniffed at it, wrinkling my nose at the unfamiliar scent. “It’s milk thistle tea with honey. I have friends who swear by it when they’re hungover.”

  I took a tentative sip and was surprised to discover it didn’t taste too bad.

  She shoved a red gift bag stuffed with white tissue paper at me. “Pretty please open this in front of me. I’m dying to see what’s inside.”

  I handed her the cup back so my hands were free to tug the tissue out of the bag. When I spotted the contents, a giggle slipped past my lips. Shayla snagged the side of the bag with one finger and peeked inside.

  “Pedialyte, an apple, and a bag of cotton candy? I don’t get it.”

  “I was drinking cotton candy martinis last night.”

  She handed me the cup back. “I still don’t get it, but at least I have another hundred-dollar tip from your hot guy.”

  The cotton candy, I understood. It was Jason showing me again that he paid attention to the details when it came to me. The Pedialyte and apple were a mystery, though. Luckily, it was something I could sol
ve easily.

  Me: The last time I drank Pedialyte, I was five or six years old.

  Jason: It has more sodium and less sugar than sports drinks. Today’s a busy day for you, so I figured you could use something that’ll help you re-hydrate quickly.

  Jason: It also has a shit ton of vitamins

  Me: I guess having an athlete for my fake boyfriend has its advantages.

  And wasn’t that just a shocker, considering I’d planned to never date one again.

  Me: And the apple?

  Jason: The potassium will help with the headache.

  Me: Aren’t you supposed to eat bananas for potassium?

  Jason: They work too… but they bruise easily. And I didn’t want you to take me sending you a banana the wrong way.

  Me: Hmmm, I can see where that might send a different kind of message.

  Me: Kind of like if I sent you some peaches. Or a pie.

  I giggled, and then winced when it sent pain radiating through my skull.

  Jason: Fuuuuuck.

  Me: Gotta run. Ttyl.

  Jason: Me, too. I suddenly have a banana problem that I need to take care of.

  With the way the sparks had been flying between us last night, I was pretty damn certain he’d had to take care of the same problem when he’d gotten home after dropping me off at my place. Not that I could say much since my libido had roared back to life with him around. Just thinking about him stroking one out to thoughts of me turned me on, even though I felt like shit.

  The chemistry between us was bound to make this weekend extremely interesting. The wedding was going to be small and intimate, held in Andrew’s parents’ backyard since it’s where he and Josie met—if you didn’t include the fake bachelorette party I’d thrown her where she’d caught Andrew’s attention—but the reception was going to be a big to-do at a local hotel. I wasn’t sure if my family being there was going to be enough of a deterrent for me to stop myself from dragging Jason back to my room after the reception. And that was saying a hell of a lot since my brothers were adept at scaring guys off.

  If I hadn’t gone away to boarding school, I never would have had a boyfriend growing up. I enjoyed my sense of freedom during my days there and for the four years I spent in college. It was part of why I’d accepted a job in Chicago after graduation. Then again, with the kind of guys I usually picked, it might have been better if I’d stuck closer to home so they could have kept me away from all my douchebag exes. I was curious to see what they thought of Jason. I had a funny feeling they might actually like the guy almost as much as I did, at least until they noticed my interest in him… only I hadn’t counted on Alec’s interfering ways.

  “Is Jason coming to the rehearsal dinner?” Alec asked later that evening. Of course he’d waited until we walked into the restaurant where the dinner was being held. He could have brought it up anytime during the rehearsal itself. But no, he had to wait until my parents and brothers were headed our way to open his troublemaking mouth.

  “Jason who?”

  Shit, my mom had supersonic hearing—something Alec damn well knew.

  “Nobody you’ve met.”

  “That’s not an answer.” My dad’s tone made it clear that he expected one.

  “He’s a teammate of Alec’s.”

  “Then why is Alec asking you if he’s going to be here tonight?” Steven, my oldest brother, wanted to know.

  “He’s a friend of mine, too.”

  “A friend, huh?” my other brother, Noah, asked suspiciously.

  “Yes, a friend,” I stressed.

  My mom gave me a brief reprieve by giving me a hug and offering Alec a knowing smile. “When will we be able to meet this friend of yours?”

  “A friend? That’s not what you were saying on Thursday night,” Alec interrupted, earning him a death glare from me. “You called him your boyfriend.”

  “I didn’t—” I sputtered.

  “I was sitting right there when you said it, Cee-Cee. Are you calling me a liar?”

  What I wanted to do was smack that smug grin off his face, but my mom would be pissed at me if I actually did it. “No, but you know darn well it wasn’t like that. I was trying to protect him from those puck bunnies.”

  “Why would some random guy need you to protect him?” Steven asked

  “Yeah, and what does being your boyfriend have to do with it?” Noah added.

  “It made sense since she looked pretty cozy snuggled up next to him when the girls walked up.”

  “Shut up,” I growled at Alec.

  He lifted his hands in front of him and backed up. “I was just trying to help.”

  “Who? Me or them?” I mouthed at him as we walked away.

  “Leave your sister alone,” my brothers’ wives chastised them in unison, grabbing their arms to drag them away.

  “Something you want to tell your mom and me?”

  “Not really,” I mumbled.

  My dad gave me that stare, the one none of us could ignore. I sighed heavily while my mom sent me a reassuring smile.

  “Jason is”—I searched for the right words to describe what was going on between the two of us, but it was hard to do when I wasn’t certain exactly what it was myself—“a guy I’m seeing.”

  “For how long?”

  “We met nine months ago, but—”

  “And we’re only hearing about him now?” my dad barked.

  My mom elbowed him in the side. “Stop interrupting and let her tell the story.”

  “I hadn’t seen him again until the bachelorette party last weekend.”

  “This Jason guy let you slip from his fingers so easily back then?” Oddly enough, my dad sounded just as angry by that as he had been about the possibility of me seeing someone for nine months and never saying a word about it.

  “There was a misunderstanding back then,” I admitted softly, shifting uncomfortably as I realized that I’d have to own up to the mistake I’d made or else they’d run Jason through the wringer when they met him at the wedding. “One for which I was at fault. I saw something and assumed the worst. Didn’t ask any questions. Just walked away without giving him a chance to explain. The same night he saw me again, he figured out what had gone wrong back then and made it right. Proved to me how wrong I’d been. He didn’t waste any time doing it, either.”

  “Ahhh,” my mom sighed, understanding lighting her eyes. “It’s probably for the best. You weren’t ready back then because you were still hurting from what Sam did to you. But now? You seem lighter… happier than I’ve seen you in a long time. Those months gave you time to heal your heart. Without it, you would have held part of yourself back, and it would have been a self-fulfilling prophecy—destroying your relationship.”

  “I wouldn’t call it a relationship quite yet, Mom. We’ve only been out a couple times.”

  “Good, it’ll give your brothers and me the chance to check this guy out for ourselves, before you get in too deep. Like we should have done with Sam.” My dad rubbed his hands together in anticipation, making me groan.

  My mom gave me a reassuring smile before she led him to their table, but I wasn’t consoled by it. Not in the least. Protecting Jason from my dad and brothers was a full-time job by itself, and I already had enough on my plate during the wedding as Josie’s maid of honor. And there was one person to blame for the position I found myself in.

  “I can’t believe you threw me under the bus with my family like that,” I hissed to Alec, stopping at his seat while on the way to mine.

  He leaned towards me, tilting his chair until it was on its back two legs as he smirked up at me. “What can I say? I needed backup. Without your brothers around, it’s up to me to have your back. But with them here, I can let them step up so I’m not stuck in the middle of what’s going on between the two of you.”

  “Nobody asked you to get in the middle of this in the first place!”

  “Too late. I already had a fucking awkward conversation with Jason.” His eyes lit up mi
schievously. “But at least it wasn’t too bad since you somehow managed to pussy-whip him without actually giving him any that night at the bar.”

  It wasn’t the right time or place, but Alec had it coming so I yanked on his chair and pulled him off balance.

  “What the fuck, Cee-Cee?” he cried out, sprawled at my feet on the floor.

  “You want to act like one of my brothers, then I’m going to treat you like I do them.”

  “Shit,” he grumbled. “Maybe I should be more worried about Jason than I am you, with your temper and all.”

  I smirked down at him. “I think he’ll be safe since I don’t think of him in a brotherly way. Quite the opposite, in fact.”

  “Eww, I think I just lost my appetite.”

  I held out my hand to help him up. “It only seems fair that you don’t enjoy your dinner tonight since you pretty much guaranteed that I won’t have the opportunity to appreciate mine tomorrow.”

  7

  Jason

  My phone rang, and I was surprised to see Cecily’s face flash on my screen—a picture I’d snagged when she’d been joking with Alec the other night at The Box. It was after she’d scared those girls off, and Alec was sharing stories of some of the more aggressive puck bunnies he’d encountered since he started to play professionally. My jaw had dropped when he’d told us about some chick who’d shown up at a party empty handed and actually had the audacity to say she’d brought her tight pussy when someone asked what her contribution to the party was. But Cecily had thrown her head back and roared with laughter. She’d looked fucking amazing, and I’d wanted to carry that image of her with me so I’d snapped a covert picture without her knowing.

  The wedding was due to start in about an hour. If she was calling me in the middle of all the chaos leading up to the ceremony, then it had to be important. “Hey, baby. Is everything okay?”

  “I don’t have a lot of time to talk.” Her voice sounded almost breathless, like she was running while talking—or how she’d sound after I made her come hard for me. “I meant to call you earlier, but the day got away from me.”