My Best Friend's Mardi Gras Wedding

by Erin Nicholas

  He turned as she came around the edge of the stall, and he watched as she scanned the hay and found what he’d brought her to see.

  “Oh my God!” She stepped forward and hit her knees beside the mama cat and her six kittens.

  Josh felt satisfaction and lust and love—yes, love—flood him as he propped his shoulder against the wooden post beside him and settled in to watch.

  Tori started talking with the mother cat softly, letting the cat sniff her fingers, and reaching out slowly to touch the mother’s head first.

  “She’s clearly used to having people around,” Tori said, smiling up at him.

  “I talked to the groom a little bit earlier,” Josh said of the man who told him he’d been caring for the horses and stables here for over twenty years. “She’s basically a house cat but just out here in the barn.”

  Tori turned her attention back to the cat. “She’s clearly well cared for.”

  “I thought you’d like this.”

  “I love it.” She gave him a smile that made his heart turn over in his chest. “Thank you.”

  “Anything for that smile, Iowa,” he told her, noting his voice was gruff.

  She looked touched by that and…something else. Something he couldn’t quite name. Then she sat down in the hay and reached out for the kittens.

  And just like that, he knew that he’d lost being center of her attention for at least a little while. But he didn’t mind. He joined her on the hay and they spent the next thirty minutes holding and petting kittens.

  He loved animals. Kittens were cute. No one could debate that. But there was nothing like watching Tori with animals. He’d heard her talk about them. He’d heard her stories and seen her face as she told them. But this was even better.

  If he could talk her into moving to Louisiana, he was going to have to buy her a farm because he was going to need to keep her supplied with four-legged friends. For her, but also because of what it did to him. He really liked the way this woman made him feel.

  “Is this one the runt?” he asked Tori, holding up the kitten he had cradled in his hand.

  Tori looked over. She sat cross-legged and had two in her lap, one on her shoulder, and another in her hands.

  She smiled. “Yep. But she seems to be doing okay. They’re about four weeks old and they’re all healthy. She’s clearly been feeding.”

  Josh looked down at the purring ball of fluff in his hands, running a finger over the extra soft fur on the top of her head. Of course, Tori had checked them all out as they’d played. He winced as one of the kittens climbed his sleeve and sank her claws into his shoulder. He reached up and gingerly unhooked her from his shirt. “Now, come on, pretty girl,” he said to the kitten. “Holes in the shirt I can deal with, but maybe not holes in me.” She mewed at him, staring back with her big blue eyes. She was really cute. “Okay, see, then you say something sweet like that.” He sighed and put her back on his shoulder. She nuzzled his ear and he patted her head. “Yes, I forgive you.”

  “Okay, that’s it.” Tori set all of the kittens to the side and stood.

  “That’s…what?” Josh asked.

  She brushed hay off of her skirt. Then she reached for the ties on the top of her shoulders that were keeping the straps of her dress up. She pulled one loose and the front of her dress fell down, revealing the top curve of one breast.

  “I am very in favor of…whatever this is,” Josh said, his body throbbing with need instantaneously.

  She gave him a soft smile and his cock got even harder. “I want you, Josh. I’ve wanted you since the first minute we met. Sex with you was amazing. But you and kittens? You saved me from wedding makeovers with Paisley…with kittens. I’ve never wanted anything like I want you right now.” She pulled the other tie loose and her dress fell to her waist. She wasn’t wearing a bra. “Right here.”

  He peeled the kitten off of his shoulder again and set her and her runt sister back in the hay with their mom. “I didn’t bring you down here to see the kittens so you’d get naked.”

  “Which is all the more reason that I really want to get naked with you.”

  “Here?” He got to his feet, his cock swelling and his chest tight. “You sure?”

  She looked around. “Oh yeah.” She pushed her dress to the barn floor and stood in front of him in tiny white panties and white sandals. “I’m totally good here. This is my turf.”

  He stripped his shirt off and tossed it at her feet. “You better put this on.”

  “You want me to put clothes on?” But she picked it up and pulled it over her head. Then she reached underneath and slid her panties down her legs, kicking them so they landed at his feet.

  He leaned over and swept them up, tucking them into his jeans pocket. Then unbuttoned and unzipped those jeans as he stepped forward. He knew she’d already figured out why she needed the shirt, but he said, “Don’t want your back getting all scratched up.” Then he cupped her naked butt in his hands and lifted her. He walked forward until her back was against the stall behind her. “Or splinters in your sweet ass,” he said, pressing into her, his cock against her hot center. “When I take you hard up against the wood.”

  “Yes. Oh my God, yes. Please make me get wet every time I walk by a barn stall.”

  Well, not something he’d ever thought about doing, but okay. He chuckled. “Can do.”

  “But, we should go around the corner,” she said, breathlessly.

  “Around…what?”

  “I’ve thought about barn sex before, but I didn’t think about having an audience.” Her gaze dropped to the floor behind him.

  And the kittens.

  Right.

  He lifted her and turned them both, carrying them into the next stall. Then he pressed her into that wood and took her mouth in a hot kiss. She wiggled against him, gripping his hips with her knees, giving him that little moan that fired his blood and made him need her like air.

  He curled his fingers into her ass and ground against her.

  She reached between them and pushed his jeans and boxers out of the way. She wrapped her hand around him and he groaned, arching instinctively into her fist.

  “This is going to be so good,” she said, eagerly.

  It was sex in a barn. But…yeah, it was going to be so good.

  “Condom in my left pocket.”

  “My right hand is full.”

  She squeezed him and Josh had to grit his teeth. “Babe, we can do this two ways. Me balls deep with a condom on, or me coming all over your sweet hand and then getting you off another way. I’m good with either.”

  Tori jerked her hand away. “Oh no. I want you inside.”

  He was torn between laughing and swearing. “Condom. Please,” he said tightly.

  She dug in his pocket, pulled it out, ripped it open, and rolled it on.

  He gave a sigh of relief even as anticipation tightened his balls to holy-fuck levels. He pulled her hips forward as he thrust, sliding deep and true.

  Balls. Deep.

  Tori gasped and sighed and then tightened her arms around his neck. “Yes, Josh.”

  He tried to move his hands so they were more behind her lower back between her and the hard wood, but it was difficult to hold her that way.

  She wiggled. “Josh.”

  “Hang on.” He tried to get just one hand between her back and the stall and keep one under her ass. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

  “You’re not.”

  “But I haven’t started really…doing it yet.”

  “I’m good. I’m fine. Please start doing it,” she said with a soft laugh.

  “I just want to be sure to be gentle. And you make me want to…go crazy.”

  “Josh,” she pulled back and looked at him. “I’ve had my foot broken by a horse in a barn, I dislocated my shoulder falling out of a barn loft rescuing an owl, I’ve been bitten by…well, a lot of animals…in barns, and I’ve had my hand—”

  He kissed her, cutting that description of
f, and pulled out then thrust in again.

  She gripped his shoulders and her pussy tightened around him.

  When he released her lips he said, “Okay, you’re a tough girl.”

  “I am. I can take anything you can dish out in this barn, Josh.”

  “Sounds like a challenge.”

  “Totally.”

  He growled. And then he gave her exactly what she was asking for.

  He cupped her ass and thrust deep, pounding into her over and over.

  She held on tight, encouraging him with gasps and groans. He felt her pussy tightening around him, the sweet friction and wet heat, heaven on earth.

  “You with me, Tor—”

  She came before he could even finish the question. Her inner muscles clenched hard and she called out his name. He pounded in and out again a dozen times and then felt his orgasm rip from his balls. He groaned her name, holding her tight, emptying himself inside the condom.

  Afterward, he held her against the stall, breathing hard. She was wrapped around him and gave no indication of wanting to let go.

  Several minutes passed. Finally they could hear the tiny mews from the next stall over their ragged breathing.

  Josh pulled back and looked into Tori’s face. He grinned. “I’m going to take that as feline applause.”

  She laughed. “It was definitely applause worthy.”

  He kissed. Long, and deep, and hot, and sweet. Then he put her on her feet.

  With her eyes on his, she pulled his shirt up and over her head, and handed it to him. He drank in the sight of her sweet, naked body before ducking his head through the shirt. She slipped around the edge of the stall to retrieve her dress.

  He re-tucked and re-zipped. And waited.

  He could hear her talking softly to the kittens and he smiled and shook his head. She was something. Something he was never going to find again.

  He had to figure out an appropriately huge gesture to show her how he felt.

  When she finally came back out of the stall, she had her dress and shoes back on.

  But not her underwear. Those were in his pocket. And he was keeping them.

  Tori stepped up next to him, gave him a huge smile, and slipped her hand into his.

  She sighed. “Kittens.”

  “And hot barn stall sex.”

  “Not necessarily in that order.”

  He gave her a look. “You sure? I have the feeling it would take a lot to top kittens for you.”

  She laughed. “It would. But you did.”

  And he felt stupidly proud of that.

  Liquid eyeliner was one of the cruelest inventions ever.

  Who the fuck had come up with it? And why did women buy it? Why weren’t they writing letters to Congress and protesting in the streets? This industry needed to be shut down.

  Tori stared into the mirror. The women who were able to apply it beautifully on the first try were witches. It was that simple.

  Feeling frustration welling up, she pulled another makeup remover from the plastic tub by the sink. She wiped her eyes clean. Again. And tossed the remover cloth on the counter with the other eight. Her eyes were bloodshot, the lids were now bright red, she’d lost a few lashes, and worse than looking like she was having an intense allergic reaction to something was the fact that she was going to have to admit that she shouldn’t have ducked out of the makeup session early.

  Of course, it had been worth it. So worth it.

  She was tired today. She and Josh had come back from the barn and had sex twice more before falling asleep. They’d also talked about their day in New Orleans. He’d told her some history of the plantation. She’d told him about the first time her dad had taken her to their shed and showed her the mother cat having kittens in her little red wagon.

  Being tired today was worth every bit of that.

  But Paisley was going to kill her if she came down looking like this.

  Her phone lit up from where she had it propped against the mirror. She’d been watching YouTube tutorials. And ignoring the five missed calls from Andrew. Three last night and two this morning.

  Make that three this morning.

  Tori didn’t reach for the phone. She just stared at the screen that said ANDREW, until it stopped and went black again. She wasn’t sure why she was avoiding him. He was probably nervous about today and needed to talk to his best friend.

  But she didn’t want to answer. She didn’t want to listen to his voicemails. Yeah, there were five of those too.

  A little notification popped up and again she corrected the number. Six. Six voicemails.

  She was avoiding her best friend on his wedding day. What was that?

  But she knew. She was mad at him. He’d been trying to talk her out of being crazy about Josh. He’d gotten into her head. He’d made her pull back.

  She knew he wasn’t wrong. She did do this. The overreacting thing. But with Josh it just felt so damned good. In the past, when she’d put her feelings out there, the other person hadn’t wanted it. But Josh wanted her. She could feel it in everything he did and said. Even how he looked at her.

  Sure, it might be just for fun. Or just for sex. Or the combination of the two that they had going. But even if that was all it was, even if this was temporary, even if this was going to break her heart, it was going to be absolutely worth it.

  But she didn’t want to talk to Andrew about it. That made her stomach hurt a little. Andrew had always been there for her. He’d protected her. He’d buffered things for her. He’d been on her side.

  Now it didn’t feel like he was on her side. In the past, he’d been doing it to keep her from being embarrassed. She wasn’t embarrassed with Josh. There was nothing about Josh or being with him that made her feel anything but good. Happy. Hot. Sexy. Interesting. Fun. Why was Andrew trying to talk her out of that?

  She looked at the voicemail notifications. Maybe this wasn’t about Josh. Maybe this was about Andrew.

  We need to talk before the ceremony.

  And now he was texting.

  She was surprised he hadn’t done that before now. Whatever this was, he wanted to literally talk about it.

  Yeah, this was bigger than her getting involved with Josh.

  Shit.

  She looked back in the mirror. She had one hour before photos and about two hours worth of work to do here. She didn’t have time for a conversation.

  But how could she not talk to him if he needed her?

  “Argh!” She threw the liquid eyeliner tube into the sink and blew out a breath. There had to be an option here. She’d slept past the makeup session with the other bridesmaids. And the hair session. And probably some other session she didn’t remember.

  She figured Paisley already had a voodoo doll of her and Tori expected to start feeling pain from it any minute.

  Then she stared into the mirror again. Maybe this was Paisley’s voodoo-doll revenge.

  “Tori?”

  She jumped as she heard Josh on the other side of the bathroom door. She’d left him sleeping in bed two hours ago. It had been the hardest getting-out-of-bed-morning she’d ever had. “Uh, hey. Good morning.”

  “Mornin’.”

  Gah, that husky drawl first thing in the morning made her tingly all over even through a wooden door.

  “Uh, you okay in there?” he asked.

  No. She wasn’t. At all. She went to the door and pulled it open. “Nope.”

  His eyes widened as he took in the sight of her. She was dressed in a silk bathrobe. Her hair was pinned up on one side, but for some reason she couldn’t get the other side up properly. And, of course, the eye situation.

  But she didn’t care how she looked at the moment. Because he was wearing only a pair of jeans that he hadn’t even buttoned up fully. His hair was short enough that it didn’t really get mussed and he always had the short beard, so he didn’t look morning-disheveled exactly, but he did still manage to exude an I-just-rolled-out-of-bed-and-would-love-to-take-you-back-th
ere vibe.

  “What’s going on?” he asked, propping a shoulder against the doorjamb.

  Tori sighed. She couldn’t jump on him. “Pictures are in an hour,” she told him. “And this”—she waved her hand up and down her body, indicating, well, everything about her appearance—“is not going well.”

  He bit his bottom lip, looking very much like he was trying not to grin.

  “You can laugh,” she told him. “It’s ridiculous. Everything about me and makeup is ridiculous.”

  He reached out, hooked a finger in the tie of the bathrobe, and pulled her close. Then he kissed her, cupping her face, and making her whole body ache even as she felt all the tension melt away.

  Worth. It.

  Whatever else happened.

  He let her go after a few delicious seconds. “We can fix this,” he told her.

  “This?”

  He started backing her into the bathroom. “Yeah.”

  “We can fix this?” she asked, waving a hand in front of her face as her butt hit the counter.

  He nodded. Then he lifted her up on the counter and stepped between her knees.

  “Uh, Josh.” Her heart was fluttering, and she was forcing herself to remember that she had to get ready for the wedding. Because she really just wanted to lose the robe and let Josh do…whatever he wanted. “I need to get my makeup on.” There, that almost sounded like she meant it.

  “I know.” He studied her face. Then he leaned in…reaching for something behind her. He straightened with a tube of concealer and a wedge sponge in his hand. He uncapped the tube, as if he actually knew what he was doing, and reached toward her face.

  Tori jerked back. “What are you doing?”

  “Applying your makeup,” he said simply. “Concealer first, set with powder, then foundation, then eyes.”

  She waited a second, waiting for him to laugh. He didn’t.

  “You know how to do makeup?”

  “I do.”

  She laughed. “Really? Just looking at a lot of girls with makeup on doesn’t really make you an expert, does it?”

  He gave her a little smile. “Tori, I know lots of things about girls.”

  “Yes, I’m aware.”