He cared because he was worried about her being with Josh. Obviously. But why? Clearly Josh wasn’t going to physically harm her. And yeah, she might get her heart broken, but that was what Skype calls and ice cream and puppies were for. Why was Andrew this adamant about her not getting closer to Josh?
“Do you want to spend some time together later?” Andrew asked. “I’d love that. I can get away and we can…go for a walk or something.” He leaned in, suddenly looking strangely earnest. “I’d love a chance to talk more. I think…there are some things that we need to talk about.”
That was weird.
She looked at Josh. He met her eyes directly. “Your choice,” he said. “I’m going wherever you’re going.”
“I don’t want to keep you from the burlesque show if you want to go,” she said.
“There’s nothing I want to do more than be with you,” he said, and she could see the sincerity in his eyes. “If you want to go back to the plantation, just say the word.”
So she wasn’t really choosing one guy over the other. Josh would come back to the plantation with her. That was probably the best decision. She sighed. “Okay, I should probably go back,” she told Josh apologetically. “The club sounds so fun, but Andrew’s right. I am here for the wedding stuff.”
There was a flash of what could have been hurt in Josh’s eyes. She was supposed to have returned to New Orleans for Mardi Gras for him. And she would have—of that she was certain—if she hadn’t been coming for the wedding. But, well, she had come for the wedding. Too.
“We’ll go to the burlesque show next time,” Josh said, no sign of hurt evident now.
She loved the sound of next time. She smiled and nodded. “Okay.”
He held out a hand to help her down from her stool. She took it at the same time Andrew grasped her elbow for the same reason and she ended up sliding to her feet awkwardly, in spite of being held on both sides.
Okay, this was all just weird.
Andrew dropped his hold on her after she had straightened and grabbed her purse, but Josh linked his fingers with hers as they started for the door to Trahan’s.
“Hey, I’m going to the Stiletto with Ellie and Kennedy,” Owen called to Josh.
Josh nodded. “Figured.”
Owen grinned and gave him a thumbs-up.
“Owen likes burlesque?” Tori asked.
“Owen likes anyplace he can drink and flirt,” Josh said with a laugh. “And now that he’s got someone to drive him home, he’s happy.”
They stepped out onto the sidewalk and waited for the other Iowans to join them.
A brass band was playing up the block and Tori took a step to the corner to look down and try to catch a glimpse. The band was at the end of the street and was coming in their direction. But it was more than a band. It looked like a parade. At the front was a cop on a motorcycle leading the way and clearing a path. Right behind the bike was the band and behind them were what were clearly a bride and groom, carrying parasols and dancing. Following them was a crowd of people, waving white hankies and dancing in the street.
“A wedding parade?” Tori asked Josh as he moved in beside her.
He nodded. “A wedding second line. Huge tradition here. Usually they parade from the wedding venue to the reception.”
She smiled at the festive group as they got closer.
“They have second lines for other things too,” Josh said. “But the weddings are the ones you’ll see most often.”
The parade got to their corner and Tori and Josh watched them pass. She was unable to keep from grinning.
“Now that is how someone should look on their wedding day,” she said, watching the bride and groom dance down the street with their friends and family. “Full of joy and ready to show it off to everyone.”
“Agreed.”
She looked up at Josh. His voice was a little husky. She smiled. “Why aren’t Andrew and Paisley doing one of these?”
He shrugged. “It’s not for everyone, I guess.”
“Well,” she said with a deep breath. “This is totally my style. My mom and dad would hate it, but yeah—” She nodded. “I would love it.”
“Me too.” He reached up and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “And it probably goes without saying that my family would be all in.”
She laughed. “Very true.”
The rest of their group joined them as the second line passed their corner. Josh gave a brief history of the tradition to everyone and then they headed across Jackson Square to Café du Monde for beignets before walking to the bus that would take them back to Buckworth.
It was a quieter drive back. Everyone was busy eating beignets, and the group was clearly tired after the big day. But they all seemed happy. Josh was driving this time, so Tori sat in the seat behind the driver’s seat and rested her head on the window, watching the scenery pass by. Andrew, thankfully, sat back near his parents where they could chat and Tori was mostly left alone.
The drive back was just over an hour and by the time they pulled into the grounds of the plantation, Tori really just wanted to take a shower and maybe cuddle up in that big bed in her room. Without pajamas on. With a big, hot bartender-swamp boat tour captain.
But Paisley was on the porch when Tori stepped off the bus.
And she wasn’t, apparently, dying to see Andrew. She came straight for Tori, grabbed her hand, and tugged her into the house and into the torture chamber otherwise known as Hair and Makeup Practice for Tomorrow.
12
Josh watched Paisley drag Tori into the house.
It was almost as if she’d been lying in wait.
As he climbed the steps to the huge front porch, he noticed a half-full glass of lemonade with a lipstick print on the rim next to a white wicker chair.
Yep, she’d been lying in wait. But not for Andrew.
Josh sighed and headed inside. He paused in the foyer, not really sure what to do or where to go.
Andrew and his groomsman had headed off to the back of the house, his parents and their friends had started up the steps, and Tori was God knew where.
Josh went to their room—yes, he was thinking of it as theirs and not just Tori’s now—and stood in the middle of the polished hardwood floor, looking around.
It was too early to go to bed. Plus he had plans for a certain brunette before he would be even close to ready to sleep. He wasn’t that into television. He didn’t have computer access or any books with him. And he wasn’t really an indoors kind of guy anyway.
He could wander around the property, he supposed. He’d never explored this plantation, but knew that it was one that had multiple buildings on the grounds including original slave cabins that could be toured. There was also an elaborate garden and hedge maze behind the house and a riding stable. The Richardson family, the last to purchase the planation and live in the main house, still owned the plantation and felt it was important to educate about that period of history and the slave experience, as well as remembering the people who had helped build up the plantation. The family still grew sugarcane in the northern fields and at least three descendants still lived in houses on the property.
Or he could go for a run, he thought as his gaze fell on his tennis shoes next to his bag. That sounded good. Though he’d been out in the fresh air all day, he felt strangely restless.
Ten minutes later he was heading down the path at the back of the house. He’d resisted the urge to try to find Tori and see what she was up to. But he thought about her the entire time he ran. Especially when he passed the big barn. And by the time he got back to the house, he really needed to see her.
He still wasn’t sure what the absolutely perfect grand gesture for Tori was, but he had found something she was going to love and that was good for right now.
Josh took a quick shower and then went to find her. It had been almost two hours since they’d gotten back from New Orleans. Surely she’d be ready to be done with whatever Paisley had her doing. He didn�
�t even need to know what that was to know Tori would be over it.
The sound of female laughter greeted him as he stepped off the staircase, and he took an immediate left, heading for one of the small living rooms. One of the parlors, if he was being completely accurate.
He stopped outside the door and peeked around the corner. The room was full of women sitting around tables covered with makeup and various mirrors, brushes, and tools. There was a woman at the other end of the room from the doorway addressing the group as she made up Paisley’s face. All of the women were alternating between watching her and then looking at themselves in the mirrors and trying to replicate what she was doing. A bunch of Paisley’s friends being required to look into mirrors? He could probably walk right in, grab Tori, and walk back out without anyone noticing.
Thankfully, Tori was sitting at one of the tables toward the back of the room, closest to the door. He could only see her from the side, but he was happy to see she looked miserable. Well, he wasn’t happy she was miserable, but it would make talking her into sneaking out easier. He just needed to get her attention. Still, he didn’t want to interrupt the session. In part, because he didn’t want to piss Paisley off. But he also didn’t want to risk calling attention to he and Tori slipping off. Because he didn’t want to be interrupted. If he pulled Tori out of the room and Paisley got irritated, she might tell Andrew. And Andrew might come looking for them.
Andrew had had enough of Tori’s attention today.
“Tori,” Josh tried to whisper. But there was no way she was going to hear him.
He thought quickly and headed back upstairs. In the bottom of his bag were three strands of Mardi Gras beads. He wasn’t sure how or when they’d gotten in there, but he’d noticed them when he’d changed clothes. He was back down outside of the parlor door five minutes later.
He waited until the woman at the front turned away and then he tossed a strand of beads at Tori’s leg.
He missed.
The beads hit the hardwood floor and slid under Tori’s table. No one seemed to notice. Josh blew out a breath and tossed the next strand. This time he hit Tori’s shoe, but she simply moved her foot, apparently thinking someone at the table had inadvertently bumped her.
Josh rolled his eyes. This really should be easier. Or he could just wait for her to be done. But he wanted to save her from this. Or maybe he just wanted to see if she’d let him save her from this. He hadn’t loved that she’d chosen returning to Buckworth with Andrew over staying in New Orleans with Josh and his family. But he understood it. This was her friend’s wedding and she needed to be a part of it. And yes, Josh was going to keep insisting to himself that her coming back here with Andrew was all about the wedding and not about Andrew himself. She’d wanted to go to the burlesque club with them more than she’d wanted to come back to the plantation. He was sure of it. Ninety-five percent sure, anyway.
There was something about Andrew that made Josh twitchy, he wasn’t going to lie.
At least, not to himself. To Tori? Yeah, he wasn’t going to tell her that.
He took a deep breath and with absolute focus on his target—Tori’s left lower leg—and a soft underhanded toss, he threw the last strand of beads.
This time he hit her exactly where he’d intended and she looked down. Frowning she bent to pick up the beads—all three strands now lying around her chair and under the table—then pivoted in her seat. Her eyes widened when she saw him in the doorway. He grinned and put his finger to his lips. Then he beckoned for her to come to him.
She glanced toward the front of the room, then back to him. She shook her head quickly.
He nodded. “Please,” he mouthed.
She frowned, looked to the makeover instructor again, then back to Josh. “Five minutes,” she mouthed to him.
No. Dammit. It was completely irrational, but he wanted her now and he wanted her to choose him over all of this hoopla. That she didn’t even like.
Aware that he was acting like a toddler, he frowned back at her and shook his head. “Now,” he mouthed.
Her eyes narrowed and she pointed at her face. It was only partially made up. He couldn’t tell the details but it looked like she had half of her face done in one color and the other half in another, along with eyeshadow and eyelashes on only one eye. He shrugged. “Don’t care,” he mouthed.
She sighed and turned back to face the table. But just when Josh thought he really was going to have to stomp into that room and throw her over his shoulder again—not that he minded that move—she reached for something in the middle of the table and bumped her glass of champagne. Somehow the glass tipped toward her rather than away, dumping what had to have been fifty-bucks worth of expensive champagne into her lap.
“Oh my gosh!” she exclaimed, shooting to her feet.
Everyone in the room stopped talking and peering into mirrors and turned to look at her. “Are you okay?” Paisley asked.
“Yes. Yes. I’m just all…wet and sticky,” Tori said. “I’d better…go.”
The part of Josh’s brain that was, and always would be, a thirteen-year-old boy smirked at the “wet and sticky” line, but he’d pulled himself together by the time Tori got to the door and slipped into the hallway.
“What’s going on?” she asked him in a low whisper as she pulled him partway down the hall away from the door.
“I’m rescuing you,” he said.
She stopped and lifted a brow. “You’re rescuing me?”
“Yeah, you’re sick of all of that, aren’t you?” He jerked a thumb in the general direction of the parlor.
“Well, yes, but I kind of rescued myself in there, didn’t I?” she asked, fighting a small smile.
Josh thought about it, then grinned. “Yeah, I guess you did. But I gave you a good excuse.”
“I haven’t heard the excuse yet,” she said. “How do I know it’s good?”
He moved in closer and ran a hand up her arm to her shoulder, then to the back of her neck. He pulled her forward and she took the tiny step that brought her right up against him. “It’s really good,” he said huskily, taking in all the details of her face, from her natural long lashes to the fake ones on the right, the makeup covering her skin, the remnants of some lipstick she must have wiped off. And most especially the way her pupils dilated when she was standing this close to him.
She swallowed. “Now my expectations are really high.”
“Good.” He grinned, then reached up and peeled the fake eyelashes from her upper lid. He rolled it into a little ball and then tossed it into the base of the potted plant to his left. “I like the lighter shade better,” he said, running the pad of his thumb over her cheek.
Tori’s hands flew to her face. “Oh, geez, I must look ridiculous.”
“You look beautiful. And I don’t care about this.” He ran his thumb over the eyelid that had plum eyeshadow on it. He removed some of it, but not all. This was the good stuff. It wasn’t coming off without eye makeup remover. “Plum is not your color.”
She laughed softly. “Hey, Josh?”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks for the rescue.”
“Any time.” And he meant that.
“Now get me out of this hallway and away from all the buffing and blending and brushing.”
He laughed too. “Hey, that does make me wonder…you didn’t even get all of the eye makeup stuff done? What the hell have you all been doing in there?”
She rolled her half-made-up eyes. “There was this whole skin care preparation routine we had to do before we even started. We’re all getting a basket of products delivered to our rooms tonight to use in the morning before our makeup.” She looked up at him seriously. “I lost at least two layers of dermis in there. I swear.”
He nodded solemnly. “That’s terrible. You definitely needed rescuing.”
“I really did. Where have you been?”
“I took a run.”
“Oh?” She stepped back and looked him up and down. �
��I appreciate it.”
He reached out and pinched her on the ass. “Let’s go. I found something while I was out.”
“Oh. So we’re not going upstairs early tonight? Either?”
He shook his head, as if exasperated—which he wasn’t, at all. “I had no idea what a nympho you were.”
She grinned. “Me either.”
He liked that. A lot.
He grabbed her hand. “Come on. Let me show you this. You’re going to love it. Then we’ll go upstairs.”
“Okay.” She sighed, pretending to be put out.
It wouldn’t last. He knew her and this was going to be huge.
As he led her out to the back of the house, through the hedge maze, and down the path toward the barn, he realized that he loved thinking he knew her.
“They have a barn?” she asked as the big building came into view outside of the maze.
“Yep. And it’s not just for looks,” he said.
“What do they have?” Her voice gave away her excitement.
“Horses mostly,” he said. “They offer horseback riding to guests and visitors. They have a few carriages and a couple of hayracks.”
“We do hayrack rides back home,” she said.
“They’ve got a couple of dogs too,” Josh told her, loving the way her walking pace had picked up. He didn’t think she was even aware of it.
“Oh my gosh.” She sighed. “Yes, I need a dog break.”
Yes. He knew it. And there was even more. Josh led her to the side door one of the groundskeepers had showed him earlier when he’d wandered into the barn. He held the door open for her. The barn looked—and smelled—like a barn, and Josh noted with a grin that Tori took a big breath as she stepped inside. The combination of wood, hay, dirt, and animals was a sharp contrast to the air in the mansion that smelled like wood polish and flowers and baked goods. He loved that she preferred this. It wasn’t like the bayou smelled what most people would call good. But Tori just might not mind.
“Right over here.” Josh led her to the third stall on the right. He got in front of her because he wanted to see her face.
My Best Friend's Mardi Gras Wedding Page 22