Twenty minutes later I got a text from Mimi:
Did Simon tell you Neil’s bringing someone?
He did. What did Ryan say?
He won’t say anything, just that he’s bringing a date.
That’s all that Simon will say too. She better not be pretty.
Of course she’ll be pretty.
I know. This could be bad, you know . . .
Count on it. Besides, it’s already bad—the guy’s name is Barry Derry, for God’s sake.
Scary . . .
Quiet.
? ? ?
Simon should have been back Thursday night, but his flight into New York was delayed, making him miss his connection to San Francisco. He was rebooked on a flight Friday morning, but he’d be cutting the wedding rehearsal close indeed. He’d texted me to let me know he was on his way to the airport, and then he’d texted me for the address of the church. Then another text needing the address of the restaurant the rehearsal dinner was being held in.
Jillian was stopping by the office this morning to finish up a few things. I’d tried to talk her out of working the day before her wedding, but she’d insisted she only needed a few minutes to tie up a few loose ends. Then she’d leave for the bridal luncheon, which I was missing to head a last-minute meeting with Mr. Camden.
I was in my office frantically printing out the reports I needed for my meeting when Jillian breezed by. “I’m out of here, Caroline. See you tonight?”
“I’ll be there.”
“Think Simon will make it back in time? Benjamin can have someone else stand in tonight, if we need to.”
“He’ll be here. Last I heard from him, he was sitting on the plane waiting to take off.”
At that, my phone beeped again. Simon, wanting to know if he was supposed to make some kind of speech tonight. Boys. I typed back no, said good-bye to Jillian, and grabbed the last of the reports off the printer, just as the receptionist called over the intercom to let me know that the Camden team was here and being shown into the conference room.
As Monica came to help me take everything in, my phone beeped again.
I handed it to her. “Can you take this while I’m in the meeting? And if Simon needs his shoes tied or his shirt buttoned or anything else, please tell him to— Never mind. Just tell him I’m busy, and I’ll see him when he gets in tonight.” I tried to smile, smoothing my shirt so I didn’t appear frazzled. Sometimes it really was perception equals reality.
I am calm.
I am calm.
I am calm.
“No problem, I’ll take care of it. Everything else you need is already in the conference room; just let me know if you need anything else.”
As we walked toward the meeting, my phone beeped again. Stifling a growl, I looked over at her. She looked at the text and frowned.
“Shoes tied? Shirt buttoned?” I asked, nodding a greeting to Camden’s team through the window in the conference room door.
“Um, not exactly. He wants to know if you can pick up his tux at lunch today?”
I am calm.
I am calm.
I am calm.
chapter six
I sat in the back of the cab, drumming my knee and trying not to look at my watch again. I’d make the rehearsal, but I hated cutting it so close. By the time I’d finished up everything I needed to at work to make sure I could truly take the weekend off, it was only an hour before the rehearsal began and I still hadn’t changed. Luckily I’d brought my dress to the office and quickly changed there.
Could I pick up his tux at lunch, ha! I didn’t even eat lunch, but no matter. Monica the wonder intern was nice enough to run the errand, bringing the tux back to the office with a smile. She was the best. Simon, I’d deal with later.
I made it to the rehearsal with a few moments to spare, and as I made my way in I got a text from Simon. He was on the way. I cringed when I thought about how exhausted he was going to be after flying halfway around the world. But it wasn’t his fault his flight was delayed, and I made a mental note to go easy on him about the tux.
Greeting some of the other bridesmaids and mingling with Jillian’s family, I made my way inside the church to where she and Benjamin were chatting with the minister. Damn, that man was stunning.
Dark suit, tanned skin, that little bit of salt starting to edge out the pepper at his temples, and those eyes that were full of fun. This was the guy you wanted your guy to become one day. He winked as he greeted me, knowing full well that when he went full charm we all turned to mush.
“Hi, Benjamin,” I said, already on my way to Mushtown.
“Caroline, you’re looking lovely tonight.” He tucked me into his side with a grin, and I could feel the blood rise to my cheeks. Now I was a blushing mush. “So where is that idiot best man of mine?”
“Here! Idiot is here!” I heard, and in rushed Simon. Hair still damp from the shower, clad in his own dark suit and tie, he hurried to my side. “Hey, old man, let go of my girl.”
Shaking Benjamin’s hand, he dropped a kiss on Jillian’s cheek, then turned to me, taking me in. He reached out, hands spanning my waist, and pulled me into him. His gaze met mine, my hands resting on his chest. His face was sun kissed from the days spent on the ocean, with the tiniest of freckles here and there. Fucking gorgeous man. And the best part? The way he looked at me. Like I was the prettiest girl in the room.
“Hey, babe.”
The man was a poet.
“Hey.”
I was too.
He leaned down, eyes staying with mine until a second after his lips touched mine. His kiss was soft, featherlight. His mouth brushed against mine once, then twice, then by the third time, more than his lips got involved. His tongue darted out to gently nudge at the seam of my lips, and when they parted for him, it flicked out to taste me.
Were we in a church? I was clueless, because in that moment all I felt, all I knew was Simon. His hands restless on my waist, the planes of his strong body anywhere it was pressed against mine, the scent of his shampoo and the ever-loving Downy filling my nostrils, and his mouth bearing down on mine.
I heard coughing, and as he broke our kiss to rest his forehead against mine, I saw Jillian arching her eyebrow at us.
“Simon,” I whispered, within our bubble.
“Yes?”
“I missed you too,” I said, giving him one more quick kiss.
Grinning, he spun me so I was next to him, and we turned back to Jillian and Benjamin. And the small crowd that was watching us.
“What? I missed my girl.” He tucked me farther into his side and I smiled up at him. “Now, what are we rehearsing?” he asked.
? ? ?
The rehearsal went well, the dinner even better. Jillian and Benjamin had picked a beautiful restaurant, renting a private room with a rooftop terrace. Wine and champagne flowed, families mixed and mingled; it was a festive mood. Serving heavy appetizers instead of a formal sit-down encouraged everyone to get to know each other as they moved from table to table.
Simon and I stuck close to each other most of the evening, when I wasn’t assisting Jillian with last-minute details. While there were several other bridesmaids and a maid of honor, Jillian trusted me implicitly to be her eyes and ears on All Things Wedding. Which is why I was the one with the sewing kit and the hemorrhoid cream in my purse.
For puffy eyes.
In between meeting second cousins and business partners on both sides, Simon managed to steal me away for secret kisses and whispered dirty talk in every nook and cranny of that restaurant.
“What’s got into you?” I asked, breathless after a fevered kiss on the terrace. I’d come out to get some air when I was cornered against the glass railing by a handsy Wallbanger.
“Into you, now that’s sounds like a wonderful idea,” he murmured, turning me so I was facing the city. Caging me in with his arms, he pressed his body into mine. I leaned my head back onto his shoulder as he teased me with wet kisses up and down my neck.
I sighed, letting my hands reach back and tangle into his hair. “Behave yourself, mister.”
“Not a chance.” He thrust gently but insistently into my backside. My eyes popped open, as my insides went on instant clench. “I missed you. How long do we need to stay here?”
“Um, I don’t think we should leave until Jillian and Benjamin are ready. I think that’d be—wow!” My head dropped back farther as he swept one hand up from my waist to just below my breasts.
“Shouldn’t or can’t?”
I struggled to think, to stay focused.
“Uh, well, maybe we could, mmm—” I was powerless, his hands getting more sure as they began to nudge my skirt higher on my thighs. “Okay, now I think we should leave. This is crazy.”
“Atta girl.” He had me saying good-byes in less than a minute, into the elevator in three minutes, and had me in the back of a cab five minutes after that.
And when I say had me, boy, did he try.
? ? ?
After successfully fending off Simon’s attempts to get under my skirt in the cab, and then under my skirt while walking up our apartment stairs in front of him, I gave up all ownership of what was below my belly button when he bent me over the back of the sofa inside my apartment and removed my panties. With his teeth.
With his mother-loving teeth! I can’t even!
I’d read this particular scene in many romance novels; I’d never experienced it in real life. I always wondered how exactly that would happen. Did he take a big bite of the part over your hip? Use one canine to peel it off from the front? Sexy novels only mentioned teeth, so would lips be cheating? And speaking of cheating, if he used his hands to assist, but the teeth were the primary method for panty removal, would that be legal?
Romance novels, schmomance novels, here’s how Wallbanger does it.
Hands went inside my skirt from either side as soon as we cleared the front door. As he guided me backward through the darkened apartment, his mouth was on my neck and his hands inside my bra, when the back of my thighs met the sofa.