by Olivia Devon
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Knots - Jinx and Wyatt’s Wedding
a Manhattan Lux novella
Olivia Devon
Contents
About This Book
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Also by Olivia Devon
About the Author
About This Book
Jinx Yoshida and Wyatt Calvert are finally getting married. Of course, with these two nothing can ever go smoothly, and the couple find their wedding plans going haywire just days before the big event. Thankfully they’ve got great friends to help them save the day.
How did Jinx get her nickname? (And how does she feel about it.) Meet the twins parents! Meet the mysterious red-head that Jack has a thing for! Bryce, Leo, Jack, Malcolm, Aiko, and Mama Mimi all appear as well as new characters you’ll be seeing more of in the future!
Fun! Chaos! Food! And no Commercial Breaks!*
*Inside joke. Read the book.
Chapter One
“I’m having seconds thoughts about this.” Wyatt whispered into his cellphone and glanced furtively over his shoulder. His fiancée, Jinx, was in the bathroom, presumably taking a shower, but still, he didn’t want to take any chances that she might overhear him.
“You asshole.” Aiko, Jinx’s identical twin sister swore at him from the other end of the line. “I knew you were going to do this.”
“I just don’t think it’s such a good idea.”
“You don’t think.” Aiko’s tone was mocking. “Yeah, no shit. Men never think.”
“I’m sorry,” Wyatt said.
“Sorry is not going to cut it dude. You promised.”
“I did,” he said solemnly. “But maybe I shouldn’t have. You know what she’s like. She’s such a control freak, this will never work–”
“No,” Aiko said. “It will. Listen, she and I shared a womb. I know her better than anyone, so you’re going to have to trust me on this. Now man up, and do whatever you need to, to get rid of her.”
Wyatt heard the shower water stop and soft sounds of movement from the other side of the door.
“I have to go,” he hissed into the phone.
“Wyatt, you better come through on this–”
“I’ll think of something!” Wyatt shoved his cellphone under his pillow, lay back down, and Jinx exited the bathroom just as he was closing his eyes. Maybe if he feigned sleep it might buy him a few minutes to think up a plan.
The bed jerked, but he ignored it.
“Hey,” Jinx said, kicking the bed again. “Get up, sleepyhead, we’ve got a ton to do today.”
Wyatt moaned and slapped a hand over his eyes.
Something big and hard hit the bed. He spread his fingers and peered through the gap to see what it was.
Oh, my leg. She’d thrown his prosthesis at him.
“Come, on,” Jinx said, wandering over to his side of the bed. “Put your boots on, and get moving, cowboy.” She looked delicious. Standing there glowering at him, her hair dripping wet, naked body wrapped in a pink fluffy towel.
“Mmmm, how about we just stay here? You gimme a peek at what’s under there?” Wyatt waggled his eyebrows and tugged at the edge of the towel.
“Knock it off.” Slapping his hand away, she disappeared into the closet to change, raising her voice so she could continue the lecture. “The wedding is this weekend, and we still don’t have a baker lined up. We’re lucky I was able to find anyone to even consider us this late in the game.”
“I still say we should just get a bunch of cupcakes,” Wyatt said. “Nobody really likes wedding cake anyway. Stuff’s gross. Dry and greasy, too many sugar flowers–”
“Wyatt! You will not get out of this again!” She stomped out of the closet, fully dressed and holding a pair of his denims. “You’ve had me reschedule this twice already, and it just can’t wait any longer. Now get dressed and bring your appetite, we’ve got a lot of cake to taste today.”
Shit. Shit. Shit. How the hell am I going to get out of this? He racked his brain for ideas, reaching for his prosthetic leg with deliberate sloth, to buy himself just a bit more time–
There was a retching sound in the hallway and the sound of wheels squeaking.
“Fantastic.” Jinx groaned and rushed out of the bedroom, high heeled boots clicking rapidly on the hardwood floor. “Clyde! Jeez. What have I told you? You don’t have to drink all the water at once silly, it’s not going to disappear. Little sips. Little.”
Thanks for having my back buddy. Wyatt thought. Clyde’s unintentional diversion had given him a few more seconds, and an idea.
“Just puked up a little water, thank God,” Jinx said as she walked back into the room. “I cleaned it up. So we can–” She frowned when she saw he hadn’t moved from the bed. “You’re still not dressed!”
Wyatt rose, hopped a few times toward the end of the bed, then grabbed his side and moaned. He crumpled to the floor in a heap.
“Oh my god!” Jinx flew to him, adding her strength to his until he’d straightened enough to fall back down onto the bed. “What is it?”
“Kidneys,” he croaked. “Kidney stones.”
“What?” Jinx stared at him, open mouthed, incredulity mixed with annoyance. “Today?”
“I didn’t plan it babe,” Wyatt said, doubling over and puffing hard like a woman giving birth. He’d nursed Bryce through kidney stones once and figured he knew enough to fake it. Bryce had basically just moaned for a few hours, puked once, went to the bathroom and came out feeling a whole lot better. Cinch. But it had taken all day, and that’s about how much time Aiko needed him for.
Jinx loomed over him, eyes narrowed, arms crossed over her chest. “I don’t believe this,” she said. “I don’t believe you.”
Wyatt hollered and double over again, did his best impression of Bryce passing a boulder through his pee-hole and looked up at her with what he hoped was an expression that would inspire pity.
It worked.
Jinx winced, sat next to him and rubbed his back. Wyatt yelped and twisted away (Bryce had done that too).
“Oh my god,” she said. “You’re really hurting. I’m so sorry honey.”
“It’s okay,” he said, panting between breaths. “The pain kind of comes in waves.”
“You are a little warm,” Jinx said, laying her palm on his forehead. “I should’ve known. You weren’t yourself last night.”
What? He thought. Aw c’mon, because after three hours of looking at wedding stuff together on Pinterest I wanted to play video games? That’s so unfair!
But he couldn’t plead his case without giving up the ruse, so he shut his mouth and moaned again.
“Do I need to take you to the hospital or the doctor or something?” Jinx asked.
“Nope,” he said, kneading his side and leaning back up against his pillow. “Nothing to do, just gotta ride it out. You’ll have to pick a cake without me.”
“But I don’t want to,” she said. “That’s why I moved our appointments twice. I want you to go with me.”
“It’s okay babe. I trust your judgment. Whatever you want–” Wyatt felt his cellphone buzz under his pillow and he moaned again, trying to mask the sound. “Just go,” he gasped, pushing at her feeb
ly. “I don’t need an audience for this. Just go get cake.”
She fussed over him for another minute or so, fluffing pillows and getting him a glass of water. But Wyatt kept moaning and shooing her away, and eventually her desire to have an actual wedding cake at her wedding won out over her instinct to stay and tend to him.
As soon as he heard the apartment door close he fished out his cellphone and looked at Aiko’s text.
Aiko: Is she gone yet?
Wyatt: Yeah, just left.
Aiko: Good, we’re coming over.
Wyatt: Who’s we?
There was no response, so Wyatt strapped his leg on and wandered into the kitchen for coffee. Seconds later there was a knock at the door, the dogs exploded into howls and barks of excitement, and Wyatt wove his way through them to let Aiko in.
But it wasn’t just Aiko. Two of his best friends in all the world, novelist Bryce Harrington, and billionaire businessman Jack Calvert strode in after her.
“Oh, hell,” said Wyatt, “Half the gang’s here? We considering this official Calvert Consulting business then?”
“If that’s what it takes to fix it, sure.” Jack smiled and claimed a stool at the kitchen counter. “So, Aiko, what’s the plan? I’m sure you’ve already been scheming.”
“And how!” Aiko stalked into the kitchen, helped herself to a glass of orange juice, and turned back to them.
“Well fill me in please because I’m still not sure I understand,” said Bryce, leaning against the counter. “Jinx is the consummate planner. What she’s done with Glow and Lux? It’s amazing. I would think she’d approach wedding planning with the same enthusiasm.”
“She did,” Aiko said, setting her glass on the counter. “Had most of the details in place months ago. She didn’t have a cake nailed down yet, but that’s Wyatt’s fault.”
“That is not–” Wyatt began but then twisted his mouth into a grimace. “Jack kept having emergencies, and I–”
“Oh no, no.” Jack held up a hand. “Don’t blame it on me buddy. You could’ve delegated or rescheduled or something. Your cake responsibilities are your own.”
“Moving on,” Bryce prompted with a wave of his hand. “What’s the problem then?”
“Well.” Aiko leaned back, crossed her arms over her chest. “Monday I intercepted a call at Glow from the venue. They double booked for the date of the wedding. The other booking is a Senator’s daughter. No way they are going to bump her, so Jinx and Wyatt got the boot.”
“Shit,” said Bryce. “So that leaves us mere days to find another location.”
“Yeah well, that’s not gonna happen. I’ve been looking, and there’s nothing.” Aiko jerked a thumb at Wyatt. “These idiots decided to choose the busiest time of year for weddings. There is literally nothing we can get on such short notice, and even if there were, we still have a problem with the food.”
“What about the food?” Jack asked.
“We don’t have any,” said Wyatt. “I had lunch yesterday with an old buddy of mine at Department of Health, I happened to mention the caterer that Jinx had found, and he felt it was important to let me know they were going to be shut down soon for egregious health violations.”
“Egregious?” said Bryce. “That’s a serious word.”
“Yeah he used some other serious words too. Gross ones, like droppings and fecal matter.”
“Oh my God,” said Jack, sneering with disgust. “Well this is great, so we need a venue and a caterer. Let’s me think–”
“Oh we need a hell of a lot more than that,” said Aiko. “See when Wyatt came to me about the caterer, my twin senses started tingling. I told him to keep that shit to himself, so I could do a little checking around.”
“Checking around?” Jack asked. “On what?”
“On my sister’s plans for her dream wedding.” Aiko fished her cell phone out of her back pocket, tapped it on, and scrolled, reading from a list. “In the past week, unbeknownst to sister dearest, she’s not only lost her venue and her caterer, but her florist broke her arm, her officiant was indicted on some nasty embezzlement charges, and three of the musicians from the string quartet contracted a mysterious virus while on a recent tour in Indonesia and will be in quarantine for two more weeks.”
“Shit,” said Bryce.
“Worst of all,” said Aiko. “The dress came in yesterday at the boutique. I know because I had a bad feeling, called them before they called her, and I went down there to get a look.”
“And?” said Jack.
“And it’s a good thing I saw it first. Two sizes too small, and it looks like a lace factory barfed on it. Weird mermaid train I know she never would’ve gone for. The boutique fucked up. They were apologetic, but that doesn’t change the fact that she has no dress now.”
The doorbell rang and Wyatt crossed to answer it, opening the door to let in Malcolm and two other people.
“I don’t understand,” said Bryce, shaking his head. “How does so much go wrong for one person? This is so unbelievable, if I wrote this in one of my novels my fans would call me out for it.”
“Her nickname’s not Jinx for nothing,” said Aiko. “She attracts this kind of shit on the regular.”
“That’s not true.” A tall slender man with thick black rimmed glasses and salt and pepper hair, stood just inside the doorway. Mr. Yoshida, Jinx’s and Aiko’s father let his suitcase fall to the floor with a thump and crossed his arms over his chest, an amusing echo of his daughter’s current posture. “You gave her that nickname when you were both young.”
“Yeah Daddy,” Aiko said glowering back at her father. “Because it fits!”
“No, it doesn’t. Statistically your sister is not any more or less lucky than anyone else on the planet. Now the only factor I can see that shifts those figures is when we add you to the equation. If you want to argue that you’re the anomaly that changes her luck, I’ll consider it a distinct possibility, otherwise I’m–”
“Okay, okay.” Ms. Yoshida, a small woman with wispy blonde hair and smiling green eyes, put a hand on her husband’s chest and extended her other towards her daughter. “Haven’t even said hello yet, and you two are sparring. I’m going to need a drink if this continues.”
“Did someone say drink?” Mimi Calvert, Wyatt’s mother stepped through the still open apartment doorway, dragging a suitcase behind her. “I’ll join you in a drink, Louise, that plane ride was hell!”
“Mama Mimi!” Aiko exclaimed her smile breaking wide. “Save me from these horrible people. None of them know how to have fun!”
“Hey Mom.” Wyatt embraced his mother, took her bag, and shut the apartment door.
“Mimi!” Louise grinned and crossed to the other woman for a hug. “It’s so lovely to see you again.”
“Aiko?” Jack said, turning away from the chatter and hugging. “It’s clear you’ve already begun to set a plan in motion. Care to fill us in?”
“She has a plan alright,” Wyatt interjected. “Worst plan I’ve ever heard in my life.”
“It’s not!” Aiko protested.
“Please.” Jack held his hands up, silencing them both. “Explain.”
“We’re going to fix this for her. We’re going to give Jinx the wedding she wants, the wedding of her dreams, the one that’s plastered to the vision board in her office and all over her Pinterest.”
“Alright, and how do you propose we do that, in less than a week, at the height of what you said is the busiest wedding season of the year?”
“Oh that’s simple,” said Aiko, and all eyes turned to her. “Any crisis is easily solved as long as you throw enough money at it.”
Jack sighed and Aiko waggled her eyebrows.
“I have a feeling the money in question is mine,” Jack said.
“Definitely. Lots of it.” Aiko stretched out both palms and made grabby hands. “You gimme the money, and I’ll make this happen.”
“Fine.” Jack smirked and arched an eyebrow. “Whatever you need.”
“Good, because I’m gonna need you to call in some favors too. Big ones. But, nothing you can’t handle. And hey, you can consider it a wedding gift.”
Jack nodded and wiped both hands over his face, groaning softly.
“What else?” asked Bryce. “What can I do to help?”
“Well,” said Aiko. Smiling sweetly, she turned to Bryce. “You can give me your house.”
“Come again?” Bryce asked, his tone guarded.
“The secret house you just finished building in the Hamptons. The one on 10 acres, with twenty-two bedrooms and that same number of bathrooms, and the amazing wrap-around deck with fantastic ocean views. That house.”
“Hmmm.” Bryce knit his brow and crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m not sure–”
“No?” Aiko cut him off. “Don’t know what I’m talking about? Well you do have a lot of houses. This is the one with the extensive English garden designed by an award winning landscape artist, and the helicopter pad and–”
Bryce cleared his throat. “Right. Was kind of keeping that secret for a reason, you know. Paparazzi. Privacy.”
“Don’t worry,” Aiko said lightly, gesturing to the room. “Your secret’s safe with us.”
“Sure.” Bryce smirked and scrubbed the back of his neck, resigning himself to the situation. “So uh, what about the house then?”
“Give it to me,” Aiko said. “I need it for a wedding.”
Chapter Two
She’d been to three different bakeries in as many hours, and still Jinx was no closer to finding a cake artist for the wedding than she had been this morning. She’d called Wyatt twice to check on him but he hadn’t answered. She hoped that meant he was sleeping and not lying on the floor in a pool of blood. When she had that thought, she’d called her sister, thinking that since she lived down the hall, Aiko could just pop in and check on him. But Aiko wasn’t answering, either, and at this point Jinx knew by the growing sense of anxiety, irritation and dread in her gut that she’d had too much sugar, and was possibly just a teensy bit overstressed about this whole wedding thing.