4. Kiss The Biker
Kiss The Biker
Sheridan
It’s hard to wrap my head around all the changes in my life in the last thirty-some-odd hours.
From moving everything I own into my car and parking it at an airport, to hopping on a private jet, now sipping on a mixed drink in a mansion that Fiona’s boyfriend…
the billionaire owns, the world got strange and kind of fun fast.
Until I have to head home, I’m just going to pretend this is my real life.
Yeah, right. The closest I get to mixed drinks in a mansion is lemonade from a concentrate mixed with some of Jimbo’s moonshine on that shack’s front porch. Though it will need to be in the driver’s seat of my car for the near future.
Stop. For the next couple of weeks, this is your reality. Enjoy it. Let the future worry about itself.
Fiona stands up in the middle of the living room…this is a living room, right? I’ve never seen so many couches in one space surrounding a massive coffee table.
She raises a hand, and the room gets quiet. No small feat with this many women in one spot. “Thank you all for coming to help plan Dylan’s wedding reception.”
The room explodes in cheers and wolf whistles.
“We all know her love story started with a dare and a kiss—”
“Wait, are you telling me all it takes is randomly walking up and kissing a biker to find the man you want to spend your life with?” Winnie lifts her glass. “Sign me up to start kissing some bikers.”
“It wasn’t totally like that.” Dylan blushes.
“It really was,” Cordelia says from next to her. “They’d literally just walk up and kiss each other for the longest time.”
“Are they all as fine as Rogue? ‘Cause sign me up!” Savie raises a knitting needle.
“Well, most of them are.” Greer leans over to her. “You should meet my friend Bram.”
“This isn’t a matchmaking event,” Piper almost whispers.
“We all know you don’t need a man.” Savie turns to her. “Wait, why are you here and not with your new boyfriend?”
Oh, good question.
Piper looks down and blushes.
“Ladies, we’re here to plan Dylan's reception.”
“No way. We need the details. Who is this new guy of Piper’s?” Winnie leans forward with a grin on her face.
“Valen Linckester.” Garnet reaches for the pitcher of mixed drinks on the coffee table to refill her glass.
“WHAT? Say that again.”
Garnet stops filling her glass and turns to Winnie. “Valen Linckester.”
Cordelia starts laughing.
Have these people gone nuts? Probably. That’s why they’re my friends.
“Valen Linckester,” Winnie sputters. “You’re dating a Linckester. Well…that was…unexpected.”
“He’s a very nice man.”
Cordelia stops laughing.
Winnie shakes her head. “There isn’t such a thing as a nice Linckester. They don’t exist. They haven’t existed for the hundreds of years that family has silently ruled part of the world.”
“Ruled the world?” Piper’s jaw drops right along with the rest of ours. “What do you mean by that? I know that he’s rich, and with wealth comes power, but…Valen is a good man.”
Winnie looks around the room at all of our faces, assessing us. “I never said anything about him being good. I said he wasn’t nice. That man doesn’t have a nice bone in his body.”
“Like my husband?” Dahlia whispers.
“No. Not like your husband. More like Fiona’s guy…except on steroids. But we aren’t here to talk about a billionaire and his peculiar family. We’re here to talk about Dylan’s wedding and maybe Greer’s. She kissed a biker, too.”
“Kissing a biker doesn’t mean they’re going to marry you.” Greer huffs even as she smiles down at her abdomen.
“I’m definitely going to kiss the first biker I run into.” Savie’s grin is positively wicked.
“I’m game for it.” Winnie winks. “Just in solidarity. I’m not looking for anything long-term. Anyone else in on the Kissing Pact?”
“What Kissing Pact?” Knight says from the door with Daria at his side.
Savie doesn’t miss a beat. “We’re planning on kissing a biker to see if we end up marrying them. I don’t know if they have any lady bikers, but if they do, are you in?”
We is a generous term…there’s no way I want to marry a biker, or anyone for that matter.
Knight glances down at Daria, giving her hand a squeeze—that’s interesting—“I think I’ll pass on kissing a biker. But I’m so in on the wedding planning.”
“Exactly. We need to focus.” Fiona lifts up a notebook. “Kissing Pacts later, wedding stuff now.”
“I’ve got the cake.” Cordelia chimes in. “Just tell me the colors, flavors, and styles, and it’ll be there.”
“We need a group cake tasting!” Greer shouts.
“I definitely agree with the pregnant lady!” Dylan nods. “We could do it at the club to get to know some of the people.”
“And work on the Kissing Pact!!!” Savie won’t let that go.
“Here, here for the cake tasting.” Garnet raises her glass. “I vote for champagne-and-raspberry-flavored cake.”
Now that I can agree with.
“Red velvet…”
****
This might count as the weirdest night of my life. Somehow, I’m in Fiona’s billionaire boyfriend’s mansion, washing dishes after laughing harder than I have in a very long time.
We didn’t get anything decided except that the cake tasting needs to have all the flavors, but did anyone really expect to accomplish anything in all that chaos? Tomorrow morning, I’ll sit down with Dahlia and see how I can help get stuff done.
Not that I’m the most organized person, but I can get things done when I set my mind to it.
“Here’s some more.” Savie sets a handful of wine glasses down carefully on the bar next to me. “I think there’s one more bunch to grab.” She leans up against the countertop and stares out at the kitchen. “What do you think it’s like to live here?”
By here, I don’t think she means Urbium. “The same as living anywhere else, I think. Problems don’t go away when you’re rich.”
“This is past rich.” Savie sighs.
“Rich doesn’t mean without problems.”
“True. Talking about problems, are you going to join the Kissing Pact?”
Wait, they were serious about that? Who just walks up to a guy, kisses him, then expects him to marry her? This has got to be a joke. “I don’t know. I’m not exactly looking to get married.” The only thing I really want right now is a place to live and a little more stability in my life.
Savie laughs. “Who knows when love comes into our lives. It can’t hurt to be a little wild.”
Wild? I don’t think Savie understands the meaning of the word. “Is Stella on her way? If anyone would be game to kiss a biker, it would be her.”
“Right, but we’d need to warn them. She’d scare the life out of them or eat them alive.”
That’s so Stella. “It would be fun to watch.”
“Sure would. Hopefully, she gets done with that horse show of hers early and can join in the festivities.”
That sounds like fun. Horse girls are a totally different breed. I mean, if a hundred-and-twenty-pound woman can control a thousand-pound beast, what man stands a chance against them?
“Oh, you don’t need to do the dishes.” Fiona walks in. “I’ll get them in the morning.”
“They’re almost done. No need to wake up to a messy kitchen.” Well, sort of messy. It’s so big that our glasses wouldn’t take up much space. But still, leaving all the work for her after she hosted us is wrong.
“Fea, where are you?” a man shouts from several rooms away.
The man who walks in makes my jaw drop. I’ve seen pictures of him on the internet, but in person, Massimo Vincenti is so much more handsome. Considering Fea is not only a stunning woman but a sweet one, it makes sense that a guy like Massimo Vincenti would fall for her.
Like no one else is in the room, he walks over to her and wraps his arms around Fea, leans down, and nuzzles her neck. “I’m tired. Let’s go to bed.”
That is HOT.
Fea lifts her soft eyes to us. “We have company.”
Massimo looks up at us, almost surprised. “So? They’re your friends. They can see themselves out when they’re ready to go.”
Fea's grin softens as her eyes get lazy. “I don’t know—”
Massimo scoops her up into his arms.
Fea’s giggle says it all. “Night, guys.”
“Night, Fea,” we chorus to her already departing back.
“That man is FINE.” Savie fans herself. “Do you think he really loves her?”
I know he’s in lust with her. Love, like in books, doesn’t really exist. “I think if he hurts her, he should watch out.”
“That’s for sure.” Savie nods. “You don’t hurt one of our friends. We know too many ways to get away with murder. Now about that Kissing Pact…”