4. Micah
CHAPTER 4
Micah
I stand as Aspen comes back to the table, her pretty face pale and her eyes slightly damp. She looks like hell.
Oh, still beautiful beyond words but there’s something different, fragile about her.
My fingers itch to touch her and it takes all my control not to tug her down onto my lap. Which is not fucking professional at all! What the hell is wrong with me?
I spent the last three months dreaming about that day in that stupid closet. Her soft, pale skin under my hands. Her sweet heat enveloping me as she rolls her thick, full hips on my hips, grinding down, her head thrown back and my hands wrapped in her long hair, tugging the silky strands and pulling her head further so I can suck on her slender throat.
My dick stirs in my pants and I sigh internally. Of course the fucker picks now to wake up. He’s been asleep for so long that I thought he was dead. I tried jerking off in the shower every time I had that dream about her but it never worked. I never got all the way to orgasm. I just couldn’t forget her.
Now I’m hard as a fucking rock while she sits there, chewing a stick of gum and apparently trying not to hurl at the mere sight of me.
I don’t think we’re having a repeat performance, that’s for sure!
“Are you alright?” I whisper to her as she fiddles with her briefcase.
“I’m fine,” she mutters, not even bothering to look at me. “What are you doing here? I thought you were in Sarah’s wedding party.”
I shrug and smirk. “Nope! Just doing a little intel.”
Her head lifts and her sapphire eyes fix on me like she could shoot laser beams and kill me dead. “You were spying on me. And you deliberately lied to me about why you were there.”
Shaking my head, I lean back in my seat, smirking. “I did not. You just assumed it.”
Harmony’s head ping-pongs back and forth between the two of us. “Do you two know each other?”
Aspen smiles sickly. “You know how it goes. Small towns. We all kind of know each other.”
She sighs happily. “That’s wonderful. That will make working together so much easier.”
“I don’t know why we need to work together. I can handle this all on my own.”
Jasper cocks his head. “You didn’t handle the last crises on your own. That storm was huge. And you didn’t even see it coming. And this one could be much worse. The paparazzi is going to be nuts around here. We need all the help we can get. I think this is the best way to handle things. Fair for everyone.”
Aspen’s slim shoulders sink but she doesn’t fold. Instead, her head comes up and her sapphire eyes sparkle at me. “It will be fine,” she says, her full mouth tight.
“Great! Let’s start working on this thing. We’ve got a lot to do if we want to have the wedding in such a short amount of time.”
“Why do y’all need it so fast? Surely you can do it anytime that you want?” I consult a calendar that I always carry with me. Organization seems to be mega-important to planners. I have a physical calendar and a calendar on my phone. I’m not missing a damn thing.
Harmony shakes her bright red head. “Nope. This is my only time off before I go on tour. I want to be Mrs. Before I hit the stage the next time. Besides there’s the anniversary thing. This is special to us.”
Nodding, I grumble under my breath. It just seems so fast. I want it to be perfect and speed sometimes leads to bad decisions. Men often let a bridezilla go crazy and that shit ain’t happening with me here. I usually don’t make bad choices. Anymore. My eyes slide to the willowy goddess sitting at the table.
Case in point sitting beside me. And look how well that’s going.
“Now. I’ve got some floral designs to show you and then we’ve got all the desserts and food to talk about. This meeting needs to cover a lot of things.”
Aspen pulls out her designs and hands them over and Harmony hums happily. “These are so wonderful. I love them.”
But I grunts when I take a look at the papers. “This one won’t work at all. Jasper has already said that he hates hydrangeas and his mother is allergic to them. You want the mother of the groom to be sneezing through the whole ceremony?”
She glares at me, shoving that design away. “It’s fine. I’ve got a lot more to look at.”
She looks like she could happily incinerate me and that happy smile on her face isn’t fooling me in the slightest.
But it just makes me smile harder. I went through hell the last three months, missing her and dreaming about her and if I can upset her as much as she’s upset me…I’ll happily be a dick. Call me an asshole. I like to spread the misery.
“So how about this one?”
I shake my head again before Jasper can even say it. “Nope! No red roses. Jasper thinks that they’re too…well, they’re everywhere and he wants something unique. For his beautiful, special bride.”
Aspen grits her teeth beside me and I swear I can hear her teeth click together angrily.
“I see. Well, all of this could have been sent to me and I would have made sure that none of it was included.”
I tug her pictures over and shuffle through them. “No, no, no. Hmmm…no.” I reach over and pull out my own briefcase, putting the pictures of her flowers into her hands and pulling out my own. “How about this design? Silver-gray roses and babies breath along with some dark greenery and soft pink tulips.”
Aspen’s mouth falls open as she eyes the design and Harmony and Jasper clap their hands. “Looks perfect! I love it!”
Harmony turns to Jasper and kisses him lightly. “I wasn’t sure about this but now I’m thinking that two heads are better than one, honeybear!”
“I think so too, sweet pea.”
I have to fight the urge to gag. Ugh! Too much baby talk. Grown adults should not talk like babies to each other.
I glance over at Aspen and she looks like I feel. A little nauseous. Of course she looked like that when she saw me too.
“How about the menu, guys? I was thinking some nice seafood. We are in Massachusetts. Our seafood is legendary this close to the ocean.” My eyes narrow when her face turns a little green even as she seems so excited about the menu. Something’s wrong with her. Is she sick?
Jasper shakes his head again when Harmony squeals and claps her hands together, hollering, “Yes!”
“No! My mother is highly allergic to shellfish. She will blow up like a puffer fish.”
Aspen’s shoulders droop and she sighs. “How about some nice pasta and chicken parmesan? Everybody loves Italian food.”
Harmony sighs. “I suppose that will be alright. We can have a pasta with no meat and then with the chicken parmesan for our vegan guests. I’m sure you can find something suitable,” she says happily. Then she glances at her watch and yips.
“Oh my god! Jasper, we’ve got to go! We’ve got that meeting with the minister in ten minutes.”
They both stand up and tear out the door, chattering happily. As soon as they leave, Aspen turns to me. “You lied to me!” She shoves her papers into her briefcase and then stands up, vibrating with anger.
“I did not. I just left out a few things when I talked to you before.”
“You did a helluva lot more than talk, buddy,” she mutters under her breath. She stalks away and I watch her hips sway sassily. She looks so damn beautiful and for some reason, I’ve missed seeing the woman and I don’t want to let her go like this. Even though there’s something different about her.
My eyes narrow on her lush figure which seems…even more voluptuous than I remember it. Maybe I’m remembering things wrong. Not that I’m complaining. I can’t tear my eyes off her backside. She’s a vision and my dick is practically leaping for joy in my pants. The fucker wants access to all those luscious curves again. I sigh and push at my zipper, hoping to get the fucker under control.
I stand up and stride after her, chasing her down even though watching her walk away, her ass swaying was hypnotizing as hell. I could watch that sight all day long. If only she wasn’t running away from me!
“Sweetheart! Stop for a minute and talk to me. Have you been sick? You look a little under the weather.”
I push through the glass door and find her standing there, staring at me, her eyes narrowed into slits. I stagger back a step.
“What do you mean, I look sick? Maybe that’s just because I had to see you again!”
Smirking, I tug her arm to pull her out of the way of some strangers walking past. They watch us both, eyes wide as she bristles angrily.
“I mean…maybe tired is a better word. You still look beautiful.”
Her brow lifts and she snorts. “How nice to know! I’m sorry I’m not gorgeous enough this morning. I’ve had the flu and I can’t seem to kick it.”
I reach for her and try to pull her closer so that I can get a better look. “Are you sure you should be out? Maybe I should take over on this and let you get some rest?”
Jerking her arm out of my hands, she glares at me. “Oh, you’d like that, wouldn’t you? Not happening, buster! I’ll be at the next meeting and the next and you can just suck eggs if you don’t like it!”
She stomps off and leaves me standing there, chuckling to myself.
It takes me a minute to sober up and then I remember what I’m here for. I am here for Jasper. To make sure that these two women don’t make his special day a disaster like men have had to deal with for recorded history. Women walk all over a man when they’re planning their “special” day. It’s a man’s day too.
So I’m gonna just file away these feelings for another day and forget about them. I’ve got a job to do and I can’t let a pretty woman take over and destroy my client.
Not anymore. No woman will make a laughingstock out of me ever again.