Chapter 24
TWENTY-FOUR
You can’t always push forward. Give yourself space and time. Wait for the right moment.
Ginny follows me into the kitchen. “I’m sorry. I thought you’d told her by now.”
“It’s okay,” I say. Dakota’s cleaning up, tossing empty beer cans in the trash, and basically just avoiding my gaze. “I’m so sorry you found out this way.”
“How could you not tell me about this?” When she finally looks up, I see just how hurt she is by her expression, and I feel twice as awful.
“I was going to tell you, but I was so humiliated over the entire thing. I didn’t even plan to tell Ginny, but she coerced it out of me.”
“It’s my sweet and innocent face,” she says. “People always want to tell me their secrets.”
“I don’t understand why you were so humiliated?” Dakota tosses a bottle into the trash with a clang.
“Because I went too far. Adam wanted a date for the night, and instead, I made him pretend to be engaged to me. He was horrified, and I was humiliated that he was so horrified at the idea.”
“But now look at you two,” she says and smiles.
I nod. “Yeah, it worked out, but I really thought that I ruined everything. Even thinking about it now, I feel so stupid. I mean, really, who does that? I’m a mess.”
“Hey, that’s my best friend you’re talking about.”
“I’m really sorry.”
“I’ve always got your back, you know? There is nothing you can tell me that would change that.”
“Same. You’re my family.”
“Awww,” Ginny says.
Heath walks in and glances around the room. His gaze stops on Ginny. “Ready for bed, baby doll?”
She goes with him, and then Mav appears. “I’m hitting the sheets. Thanks for today, guys.”
“I should go to bed, too.” Dakota hugs me. “Love you. See you in the morning.”
I squeeze her extra hard.
It’s a maze finding my way back to Adam’s and my room. I crack the door open and peek inside to make sure it’s the right one. He’s lying on the bed, totally naked. His dick is hard and pointing up, making his intentions very clear. He smirks at me. “Lost again?”
I walk all the way in and shut the door. “I was afraid I was going to walk in on your sister and Heath.”
He makes a face. “Almost lost my hard-on.”
My gaze goes back to it. Yeah, I don’t think so.
“Everything okay?” He sits up as I approach.
“I think so.”
His arms circle around my waist and he pulls me on top of him. Calloused hands slide under my shirt, gliding up my sides. He unhooks my bra and then removes it with my shirt. I got a little too much sun today and I have tan lines from my bikini top.
He takes one nipple into his mouth and palms the other. I fist his hair in my hands, tugging the thick strands.
My body lights up as he kisses and worships each breast, then trails down my stomach. He flips us so I’m on my back, removes my shorts and panties. I groan when his mouth finds the aching spot between my legs. He sucks on my clit until I cry out, coming so hard I feel like I might die.
My hands are still in his hair, and I tug him up. His cock nudges my entrance, and my body quivers. That small movement sends me over the edge again, and I hold on to him as the second orgasm rips through me.
When I open my eyes, he’s staring down at me. It isn’t the cocky, I just got you off by barely touching you, look I expect. There’s something much more in his expression.
“I have an IUD,” I say when my brain functions enough to realize that expression is probably frustration. I’ve gotten off twice, and he’s still hard and thick against my leg.
He nods but still doesn’t move.
“Everything okay?”
“Yeah.” He nudges just the tip inside, and we groan together. “Everything is perfect.”
The next morning, we pile into Maverick’s SUV for the second time in two days. He has a big smile on his face and sings quietly along with the radio. Charli’s asleep in his lap. Dakota brought her class notes with her to study for a test she has tomorrow. She’s studiously reading them over.
Ginny and Heath are quiet in the third-row seats, and I’m leaning against Adam, half asleep, between him and Rhett. The latter is passed out cold, arms crossed over his chest, hat covering his eyes.
The trip went too fast, but I’m glad we went. If Maverick’s birthdays feel anything like my own, it was worth it.
We stop halfway to eat and stretch our legs.
“My charger’s toast,” Mav says. “I’m going to run into the store and grab another. I’ll meet you guys at the restaurant.”
We split up, the guys go with Mav, and Dakota, Ginny, and I walk down to grab a table for us. There’s a fifteen-minute wait if we want to sit together, so we put our name on the list and continue down to see the little shops in the outdoor strip mall.
“I don’t want to go back,” I say. “Rehearsals are going to kick my ass this week.”
“You’ve been rehearsing for weeks,” Ginny says.
“Yeah, but we’re completely off-book this week, and there’s always at least one person who doesn’t know their lines and throws us all off.”
“Dr. Rossen asked me to come by tomorrow and teach the new people how to do stage makeup,” Ginny says.
“Do you want me to do your makeup for the show?” She’s a wizard with a makeup brush and helped me, and several others, for our Christmas production.
She did such a good job, they asked her to be an unofficial stage assistant this semester.
She gets college credit for coming to rehearsal and making sure we’re all prepared, and in turn, we all get to look fabulous.
“I would be an idiot to turn that down,” I say and bump my hip against hers. “But if you’ll just watch me do it once and make sure it looks okay, I think I can manage to do it for the shows.”
She nods, then stops abruptly. “Oh, look, it’s a wedding dress store.”
The three of us turn to see the white gowns in the storefront window.
“I can’t wait to get married,” she says dreamily. “I want a big dress with a really long train that takes two or three people to carry it. Or maybe I want to get married on the beach with a simple dress.”
“It’s all about the dress,” I say, looking longingly at the beautiful beadwork of one of the dresses.
“We should go in.” Dakota takes a step and opens the door. Her eyes light up with mischief. “I’ve always wanted to try on gaudy wedding dresses. It’ll be so much fun!”
Ginny and I don’t move.
“Come on. You two owe me. Reagan got fake engaged, and you two kept it from me.” She tilts her head to the side. “We’ll be quick, and I promise to put on the most hideous one I can find.”
“We’re supposed to meet the guys,” I say.
Ginny’s switched teams, pulling out her phone. “I’ll text Heath and let them know we put our name on the list and headed to look at the shops.” Her thumbs tap away on the screen as she texts him, and she steps into the bridal store.
I can’t think of a good excuse, so I follow them inside.
I’ve never given much thought to my own wedding. Things like that always led to thinking about how my mom probably wouldn’t be there. No helping me get ready or walking me down the aisle. But the second I put on the beaded dress from the window, I gasp at my reflection.
“Oh my god, Reagan,” Ginny says when I walk out. She’s in a tulle gown with a corset-style bodice. A saleslady is fussing over her, trying to add a veil, which Ginny waves off. “No veil.”
“Let’s see the veil,” I say.
The lady smiles at me and clips it into place.
“Definitely veil,” I say.
Dakota’s sitting on the bench. She put on the biggest, puffiest gown she could find and is now watching Ginny and me with rapt interest. “I agree.”
Ginny sighs. “You’re both right. I had this picture in my head of the gown and my look… this is none of that, but I love it all.”
I smile. She’ll probably be the first of us to get married. She’s the youngest at nineteen, but I have no doubt that she’s found her person. She and Heath are the most adorable couple I’ve ever known.
The saleslady moves over to me, pulling up the spaghetti straps and pinning it. I should stop her from going to all this effort since there’s no chance in hell I’m going to be buying this dress, but I can’t bring myself to say a word as I stare at myself in the mirror.
When she’s finished, Ginny moves over, and we giggle at the sight of us.
“Turn around. I want to take a picture.” Dakota holds her phone up, and we link arms and smile while she takes several.
“Those photos stay between us,” I warn as I spin around to get one last look before I have to take it off. Maybe someday I’ll get a chance to wear a dress like this.
“Yeah, uh Reagan, I don’t think that’s going to be possible.”
At Dakota’s words, I look up into the mirror to the front door of the store where the guys have just entered. Adam’s eyes are wide as our gazes lock.
“Oh my gosh.” I wrap my arms around my chest as if that could hide me. The saleslady must think I’m trying to keep the future groom from seeing my dress because she whisks past us to shoo them out of the store.
“Oh no. No, no, no, no,” I mutter. This cannot be happening.
“I’ve got this,” Dakota says. She whips off her dress, which she put on over her regular clothes, and shoves it into my hands. “Get changed. I’ll wait for you two outside.”
“You’re fine. It’s just a dress.” Ginny squeezes my hand.
“You’re not freaking out? Your boyfriend just caught you trying on wedding dresses.”
She shrugs. “Heath and I talk about our wedding all the time. Not that we’re planning on actually doing it anytime soon, but I think he’s beyond freaking out.”
“Well, your brother and I do not talk about it, and he’s definitely freaking out.
” I slap a hand to my forehead. “First, I faked an engagement, and now I’m in here trying on wedding dresses.
He’s going to think…” I can’t even finish the statement.
The thoughts I imagine going through his head are too awful.
We haven’t even said we love each other yet, and it looks like I’m planning our happily ever after.
“Breathe, Rea. It’s going to be fine.”
The group’s waiting outside. Adam’s leaning against the building. When he sees me approach, he pushes off and walks forward. I can’t read his expression at all.
“It isn’t what you think,” I blurt out before he can say anything. My heart is hammering in my chest. I cannot have screwed this up over something so dumb. “I don’t want to get married. I mean, maybe I do someday, but not today. Not even this year. Not even in five, probably. And we haven’t even—”
He takes my hand and squeezes gently. “Relax. Dakota told me. Although for a second there, I thought you were picking out a costume for your next premed function.” He interlaces our fingers, and we fall in with the group walking toward the restaurant.
I search his face to see if he’s being truthful or if he’s sweating and swaying like he might faint.
He smiles. “For the record, though, you looked beautiful.”