“Archie Comics! I read those,” Elle exclaims.
“Betty was the one I liked. She was a cutie and kind of sexy. Fourteen-year- old me imagined pulling on her pigtails while I screwed her.”
“Naughty boy,” Elle says finishing off the wine she didn’t spill. “I bet Betty gave good head too.”
When I laugh it’s my turn to spill my wine, but alas my glass is empty. “Damn, Elle, you and your filthy mouth! And meanwhile Veronica was hanging with that rich gay dude . . . was it Reggie? Well honestly, he reminds me of a teenage version of your ex.”
“Me too! And not just in looks! Truthfully I’d screw Archie, or even Jughead before I’d do Reggie, knowing what I know now.”
I tip my head at her. “You’d do Jughead? The dude that wore a crown?”
She giggles. “On second thought, maybe not.”
A waiter comes by, and after taking our glasses he gives us fresh ones. I raise my glass to her. “Here’s to more laughs and spills tonight.”
She lifts hers. “Here, here.”
“I’ve got to say, I thought it was tacky when your ex gave me his business card. Is he always like that?”
“Always working? I bet you thought I was exaggerating. Well, I promise you, I wasn’t.”
“Wow. That sucks.”
She nods. “It does. I did’t care how much money he was making. I mean I work hard, but I want to have fun, too. Otherwise what’s the point?”
“Exactly.”
“You know that’s how I ended up with the house. He got it cheap because it needed a ton of repairs. He lied to the old lady who sold it to him and said he’d move his “family” in when all along he planned to tear it down and build a McMansion. When the neighbors found out about it they fought him hard with the city council.”
“Good for them,” I say. “Those kind of developers are despicable.”
“Yeah . . . and he doesn’t know that I gave them ammunition to fight him. I love that house and I hated what he did to that sweet old lady. Eventually he gave up fighting them and let me have the house in the divorce instead of a bigger chunk of his money.”
“So you won and the neighborhood won, too.”
She nods. “And the best part is the neighbors all love me for it.”
“You’re a clever woman, Ms. Elle Jacoby.”
She stands up straighter and her smile lights up the courtyard. “Thank you.”
Elle looks off to the far side of the gathering, apparently making sure her ex isn’t close by. “So Stella’s fiancé, I mean husband, told her that Daniel and Veronica met at work.”
“Really? DD and Pinchy?”
She blinks at me rapidly. “Excuse me?”
“Those are my new nicknames for them.”
I love watching her laugh as I explain the references. This time it takes her almost a minute to recover.
She presses her hand over her stomach after she’s caught her breath. “Pinchy evidently is a mortgage broker.”
I nod. “She looks like one.”
She steps close to me and kisses me on the cheek while squeezing my shoulder. “I can’t believe you! I was dreading tonight and I’m having the best time.”
“I told you I loved weddings. The material to work with is endless.”
So whomever is paying for this shindig is loaded. Dinner is big portions of steak and lobster. I pity the pale-faced vegetarian girl sitting across from me with her tragic steaming plate of vegetables. This is probably the best wedding food I’ve ever had. The wine is also flowing freely so we’re feeling no pain.
Elle was nervous about giving her speech but she does a super job, telling cute, single-girl stories from her and Stella’s party years that segue to her being overjoyed that Stella has found her prince. She looks relieved when she sits back down at our table.
I lean in close to her. “You did great!”
She glances over at me with big eyes. “You really think so? You aren’t just saying that?” she whispers.
“I swear. And may I also say that you are by far the prettiest girl here.”
She turns to look at me and studies me silently with her lips pressed together and her eyebrows scrunched. Why is she suddenly so serious?
“What?” I ask.
“I don’t know. You’re different tonight. What’s up?”
That damn girl-radar. She’s onto me. I stumble to recover. I don’t want to give up my game just yet.
“Nothing’s up. I’m just having fun. This is a great wedding!” I give her a goofy grin, and after watching me for another long second she takes a sip of wine and settles back in her chair.
Pinchy comes over to our table to say something to the woman sitting directly across from us. The woman nods and Pinchy heads back to the wedding party’s table.
“I wonder if she’s really smart,” Elle says with a pensive look on her face.
“Why do you care?” I ask.
She shrugs. “Oh, I don’t really, but Daniel always made me feel like I didn’t work hard and that I wasn’t smart enough.”
“You?” I ask, not hiding my disbelief at the dickwad’s gall.
She drinks more wine and I’m worried we’re about to head down emo road. When she isn’t looking I move her glass over behind mine.
“He also thought something was wrong with me because I liked sex so much.”
“Well, I think something was wrong with him because he didn’t,” I reply.
“He implied once it was low class.”
“Chalk up number forty-seven on the idiot tally.”
“The final straw was that he kept putting off having kids even though he understood how much I wanted them. He knew about my insecurities from my childhood, and told me he didn’t think I could handle a baby.”
My fingers curl into fists and I feel my pulse pounding in my forehead.
She looks over at me with an alarmed expression. “What, Paul?”
“You need to stop, okay? Because right now I’m amped up enough to beat the shit out of him and then he won’t be Dashing Daniel anymore unless he has deep pockets for plastic surgery.”
She gasps and shakes her head.
Resting my hands on her shoulders, I rub my thumbs over her soft skin. “Please change the subject, okay?”
She blinks rapidly and then her eyes dart around nervously before she leans into me. “I’ve got it. Did you hear what outrageous thing the Bruins did to the Tommy Trojan sculpture yesterday?”
I grin and gesture for her to bring it on.
That’s my girl.
Lots of wine at weddings can lead to some clueless dancing and this wedding is no exception. While out on the dance floor I’ve finally discovered the second thing DD doesn’t do well, after being a crap husband . . . is dancing. He looks like he has a Paul Bunyan-sized stick up his ass. I take great pleasure in watching him embarrass himself.
It’s a different story on our side of the dance floor. I know I’m a good dancer, and Elle’s an even better one, so her sexy moves inspire me to be my best. I catch people watching us move together. Yeah, take notes people. This is how it’s done.
When the music finally slows, I’m so charged up that my nerve endings are sparking. There’s an awkward moment when Elle asks if I’d rather sit the slow stuff out but I answer her by pulling her into my arms.
I shake my head at her slowly as we start to sway. “You’re not getting away from me.”
“Who said I wanted to?”
The corners of my mouth turn up. I’m liking this. There’s a feeling in the air, a current of possibilities as Billie Holiday serenades us under the golden light. I’m just buzzed enough to feel reckless but not wrecked, and I’ve got the most beautiful woman in my arms. I’m liking this a lot.
She trails her fingers up the buttons of my dress shirt and tugs on my collar which pulls the shirt open where I’ve undone a few buttons. “Hey, where’s your bowtie?”
I nod back toward our table. “In my jacket pocket. Why?
Are you missing it?”
“Nope. Not one bit . . . I like your sleeves rolled up. You and your sexy, strong arms.”
“You know I wasn’t teasing earlier, right? You’re the most beautiful woman here.”
She grins. “Well, except for the bride of course.”
“Bride, what bride?”
She pushes me on the shoulder and gives me a side look. “If I didn’t know you better, I’d swear you were working on getting laid tonight.”
“Hmmm,” I say as I slowly spin her around. “What if that wasn’t all I wanted?”
“You know you don’t have to work it so hard with me, right? Just say the word . . .”
“What fun is it if you haven’t worked for it . . . earned it?”
“Earned? Let’s not even go there . . . I owe you so much. Everything really.”
Leaning into me, she rests her head on my chest and I hold her tighter as we take small steps.
I don’t know if this weird feeling comes over me because I’m in an unfamiliar place and surrounded by people I don’t know, or that we’re dressed like movie stars at a premier—but I feel like I’ve stepped into a different reality. I close my eyes and rest my chin on top of Elle’s head, trying to get my bearings. She holds onto me tighter as if she senses I need reinforcement.
I have a dreamlike image behind my closed eyes and I see myself running at a steady pace through an endless, dimly lit tunnel. I can feel my chest rise and fall, the pounding of my feet on the unpaved ground and my laser focus as I look ahead trying to see the end of the tunnel and finally find my destination.
My eyes pop open and I take a sharp breath. It all hits me hard. For two fucking years I’ve been running . . . running away from who I was but never certain where I was going. But right now I can feel the surge of relief from figuring out the answers to what I’ve been searching for. I’ve finally arrived where I’m supposed to be. It’s like that goddamned tunnel ended at the doorway to this ballroom and there was Elle, lit from behind like a vision, waiting for me.
I pull back from Elle, intending to ask her to come with me out to the patio so we can talk, but her attention has shifted to her ex and his girl as they dance not far from where we stand. She looks distressed.
“Elle, look at me,” I instruct as I skim my fingers across her lower back.
She glances at me briefly and then her focus moves back to DD and Pinchy.
I cup her chin in my hand. “Come on. He isn’t worth your attention, Elle. Stop looking at him.” I run my thumb across her chin and she sighs.
“Look at me.”
Her eyes grow wide as she studies me. “Yes?”
“Repeat after me . . . He is nothing, Paul is everything.”
She gives me a coy smile like she thinks I’m playing with her. “He is nothing. Paul is everything.”
I tip my head back and look down at her with narrow eyes. “Say it like you mean it.”
“He is nothing, and Paul is everything!” She smiles. “And for the record, I knew that already.”
I nod. “Good.”
“I was just remembering something I’d rather forget, but that’s all gone now.”
I watch her gaze move over my face, down to my chest, and then back up to my eyes.
“What?”
“The way you’re staring at me. I remember that look.”
“You do?”
“Yes. You look like you want to kiss me.”
I take a deep breath as I study her lips, imagining how they’ll taste. I bet they’ll be sweet as all hell. She breaks my concentration by biting her lower lip.
“Well?” she asks, her eyes searching mine.
I nod and take a deep breath. “I do.”
She blinks and tries to pull back but I hold onto her tighter.
Her eyes become stormy. “Please don’t tease me with this again, Paul. I don’t think I can take it.”
“Do I look like I’m teasing?”
She studies me and the longer I don’t back down the more she relaxes into my arms.
“You have to know that I’ve always wanted to kiss you . . . and I’m not talking about just the affectionate kind of kiss,” I whisper as I run my hand up the back of her neck until her head is cradled in my hand.
Her lips part as her gaze searches mine. “Really?”
I answer by pressing my lips against hers and the feeling is perfect. Once the kiss starts I immediately know that all bets are off. I just let go of the edge of the cliff and I’m flying.
Judging from Elle’s reaction, she’s flying with me. This is way different than that first kiss we shared on my bed. With this kiss we’re sharing each other’s secrets, and while people continue dancing around us, we’re in our own world.
Damn, how I love her in my arms. Her soft lips are full and lush, and move perfectly with mine. I feel her fingers slide up the base of my neck and bring me closer—every part of her is projecting heat as she presses against me: her breasts, the rest of her body, but most of all her lips. The intensity of her passion is wild, like any minute she’ll forget where we are and her hands will be all over me.
Maybe I’m okay with that. Who am I kidding, I’m more than okay with it—it’s exactly what I want.
When we finally pull apart to breathe she gives me the most blissful smile, like she’s coming down from an orgasmic kiss.
“Epic,” she says.
“Epic,” I agree.
I look up and notice the ex glaring at me. Giving him the most shit-eating, satisfied grin I’ve got, I run my grabby hands down over her curvy hips, then rest them just above her ass.
How that asshole could have given this woman up will baffle me the rest of my life. He’s the Grand Poobah of idiots. Seriously, when you look up idiot in the dictionary, his picture should be there.
Leaning closer to her, I press my lips to her ear and whisper, “Poor Pinchy, I think DD is jealous that you’re mine.”
She laughs so loud it’s kind of a shriek and then looks over at the ex and Pinchy, and back at me. “You’re right,” she says as she bites my earlobe and grabs my ass.
I love this girl.
“So am I yours? Really, Paul, or is this for show?”
I give her what I’m pretty sure is a smoldering look. “Let me get you home and show you. It’s time to blow this popsicle stand.”
She glances back at our table with an ecstatic grin. “Let me grab my purse.”
Something occurs to me and I turn to her. “Stella won’t write you off if we leave a little early?” Frankly I don’t give a shit about bailing early, but I don’t want Elle to lose her best friend.
She shakes her head and winks. “Nah, we talked in the bathroom after dinner. She said that with someone as hot as you, she couldn’t believe I’d lasted that long. We understand each other. Just give me a minute to tell her that we’re leaving.”
I nod and she dashes off. As I watch her disappear into the crowd by the main door I feel someone brush against me.
I turn to see her ex. Judging from his point of focus he was watching Elle hurry through the room too. He has a smirk on his face.
“Still a bitch in heat,” he mumbles.
Every muscle in my body tenses, and I spin around. My glare hardens as I stare him down.
“What was that?” I growl.
He sways and I can smell the sour stench of bourbon as I lean into him.
“You heard me. Take it to a motel, and if you’re smart, when you’re done you’ll leave her there.”
Raw adrenaline courses through me as my fingers curl into fists and my eyes focus on his lower jaw where I intend to pummel him first. Through a haze of rage I see Pinchy rush up beside him and grab his hand. My arm tenses as I hold back my punch.
I grit my teeth. “You know you’re going to pay for that,” I say to him with a snarl.
“What’s going on?” she whines.
“I’m going to beat the crap out of your pussy boyfriend,” I spit as I grab him a
nd my fingers curl around his throat.
He’s cursing and flailing which just pisses me off more. My fingers dig under his collar and twist until his bowtie is strangling him and I yank him forward. “Outside,” I growl.
I’ve dragged him several feet forward with Pinchy squealing behind me when I see Elle rushing toward me.
“What happened?” she asks as her fingers graze my forearm.
Twisting his collar tighter, I shake my head. “This ass has quite a mouth on him, I’m going to take him outside and teach him some manners.”
I see a fire flare up in Elle’s eyes as she bites her lip. What do you bet she thinks this is hot? The ex’s shock is wearing off and he’s growling and putting up a fight. I need to keep moving so I don’t lose my grip. Jerking him forward, I take another step.
Jumping in front of me, she presses her hands against my chest. “Did he slut shame me again?”
“Damn right. I may have to kill him.”
“Let go of me, asshole,” he sputters in a squeaky voice. His face is turning purple.
Elle’s face is flushed as she turns toward him, and before I even realize what’s happening she swings her leg back and full on kicks him in the shin.
Damn, those fancy shoes she’s wearing are pointed.
He yelps like a puppy.
When she leans into him, I tighten my grip. “You think you’re all that, but you can’t hold a candle to this man. He takes care of me in every way.” She arches her brow at him to make her point and turns and winks at me.
“Let him go, baby. He’s so not worth it.”
“You sure?” I ask, twisting my fist tighter as I brace for the regret I’ll feel letting him go.
She steps back and reaches her hand to me. “So sure. Come on, sexy, let’s get home.”
My heat of fury morphs into another kind of heat as I see the desire simmering through her.
I loosen my grip on his collar and shove him with enough force to send him stumbling backwards. We don’t even look to see if he falls as I grab her hand and move forward, picking up speed until we blast out of the ballroom, dodging guests as we go.
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