46. Anders
ANDERS
"She’s coming." I raise my chin up to Ryder in the dining room.
"About time," he says. His nose is glued to his phone.
"Hey Lilith, can we talk to you for a minute?"
Lilith turns to the empty hall behind her, then back to me. "I’ve got like ten minutes before Callie’s back with the extra zipper we need."
"Perfect, this won’t take long." I usher her to the table where Ryder and Oliver are hunched over the plans.
"Perfect because I don’t have it." There’s a pencil in her hair, a tape measure around her neck, and dark circles under her eyes big enough to get her cast as an extra on a zombie show.
"That’s exactly what we wanted to talk about. With you being so busy, we’ve made some arrangements for the hen party." Oliver pushes the schedule across the table to her.
Lilith’s forehead furrows. "That’s what I don’t get—why is it called a hen party?
It’s demeaning. So much about this is demeaning, ya know?
We’re not livestock. Like, why doesn’t Thayer just send Rocky a bunch of goats and call it a day?
" Her hands are waving around, and she taps at the paper.
"Oh, this is much better than what I have planned. "
"And what is it you have planned?"
"For Emily not to walk down the aisle naked. Really, I was thinking I’d order pizza and throw together a slideshow of Emily growing up. Not that I have time to do that now. No, this is good. Do this. I’ll continue to threaten her with a stripper because it’s fun to watch her panic."
I raise my eyebrows at her.
"It’s in good fun. I love that girl. There’s only a handful of people I would do this for." She swirls the tape measure around her neck while her eyes focus on the paper in her hand.
"Lilith?" Callie’s voice echoes through the manor.
"This is good." Lilith drops the paper on the table and takes Oliver’s pen. "Here’s my email; send me a copy. There’s just four of us, including Emily. I haven’t gotten it out of her whether Easton’s girlfriend is coming. Five if your sister’s coming, Oliver."
"Lilith?" Callie’s voice is far away.
"Coming!" Lilith screams, standing in the doorway. "Oh, we should invite Callie, too. I hope Sutton comes. I want to thank her for lending her team to our dress mission."
"She’s in negotiations with our father. But if we keep it to what’s on the plan, I don’t think it will be a problem. There will be a hell of a lot more security on the property. I’ll talk to Emily about it."
"Shouldn’t you talk to Thayer about it?" Lilith cocks her head at Oliver.
"Lil?" Callie calls from even farther away.
"Coming." Lilith vanishes down the hallway.
Ryder closes the dining-room door behind Lilith. "I’ll finish the rest of the order—"
"And I’ll confirm with Esmeralda. I gave her a heads-up earlier." I gather the pages from around the table.
"I’ll chat with Thayer." Oliver stands.
"That’s it. I’ve gotten the last of the pictures to Sutton’s assistant,” Oliver says and tosses his laptop onto the sofa next to him.
"Hey," Emily says, coming into the room. She flops onto the sofa between Oliver and me.
Ryder locks the door while I toss the clipboard upside down on the side table.
I throw my arm around her; her head rests on my shoulder, and I want to stay this way.
"Thank you for being here." Her chest heaves.
"Are you doing okay, Em?" I press a kiss to the top of her head.
"Now I am."
"I’ve got you."
"It’s hard to lie to your best friend. Lil’s got it in her brain that she wants to help me name my scone belly."
"I see. And what names has she come up with?"
"Lily, Lilith, Lily-bell, Lilyanna, and Rosie."
"I see a theme, other than Rosie," I say.
"It’s her dog's name. She wants me to name my scone belly after her dog."
"Well, it is a scone belly," Oliver quips.
"Not helping," I say to him over the top of her head.
"It’s your scone belly, and you get to name it,” I say.
"And Thayer’s." Her shoulders rise and lower.
"He’s not even bought any ingredients for the said scone. Let alone done the baking." Oliver puts his hand on her knee.
"I know this is . . . what it is. But it’s starting to get to me." She takes her phone out of her back pocket, placing it on Oliver’s computer. "I talked to Easton. He’s still upset. Even more so that I didn’t tell him the wedding was so soon."
I swallow. “Sorry, we might have mentioned it to one of the guys. Is he coming?"
"No, he can’t get a boat to their island fast enough to take him to an airport. It has doubly pissed him off. But he says he’ll get over it. Or rather, Haley’s telling him to get over it. I’m glad he has her. Or he’d be fuming forever." Emily rubs her temples.
"He’ll understand in the end," I say.
"I hope so. I’m so stressed out, and I’m only handling my family and being a human dress form. I can’t imagine having to do all the wedding planning."
"Thayer hasn’t asked for your help?" Oliver asks.
"No, he said he would do it. And I’m trusting that he’s doing it." Emily moves her fingers from her temples to her forehead.
"Do you have a headache?" I run my fingers slightly around the top of her head.
"Stress. I always get a headache when I’m stressed."
"I remember. Turn,” I say.
She rotates to Oliver, and I start at the nape of her neck, working along her spine and down her shoulders.
"So good," she says and drops her chin to her chest.
"Are you drooling, Em?" Oliver asks, his fingers running through her hair.
"How did you get to be so good? Oh, your sister’s a masseuse."
I nod, though she can’t see me. "Deep breaths."
Oliver helps get her arms out of the sleeves of her dress, leaving it hanging around her waist. And having her soft skin beneath my fingers has my dick hardening.
I massage her for a good ten minutes. Her breathing changes, and I slow the speed of my hands.
The room’s gone silent. Ryder and Oliver are mesmerized by the contented sounds she’s been making.
“That was so good, thank you. I feel better.” She twists her neck from one side to the other.
I ease away off the edge of the sofa and kneel on the floor between her legs. She leans over, placing her arms around my neck. Her blue eyes flash at me as our lips crash together. She tastes of raspberries and sugar.
When our lips break apart, her breath’s in short pants. "We have to be quick. My day of being a mannequin isn’t over." She bites at her lip, and she reaches for my belt.
“No. Just you,” I say.
Ryder flips the shutters. "You need to be quiet, Em." He moves to where I’d been sitting on the sofa. Her dress bunches around her waist. And my fingers get her panties out of the way.
"Damn, you’re soaked for us already, what a good girl." My shoulder pushes against her legs, opening her wide. Our time is limited, but I intend to make good use of it. I work my tongue around her clit, and her hips jump with surprise.
“Don’t make a sound, Em,” Oliver says.
I feast on her and push one, then another finger into her pussy. She grinds against my hand and face. And damn, I love that she’s not afraid to take what she wants.
I’m not paying any attention to the other guys until I know she’s about to come.
I glance up. Oliver’s lips are sealed with hers.
When her climax hits, he captures her cries with his mouth.
I run my finger over her pussy one more time, enjoying the shiver it sends through her.
I smirk at the small suction bruise I left on the inside of her thigh.
I admire my handiwork and pull her panties back up.
Pressing a kiss to the center of the triangle of fabric, before pulling her dress down and sliding away.
Her hair is a mess, her makeup smeared, and her lips are swollen. In two words, she’s well-fucked. The same thing the lot of us are going to be if Lilith sees her looking this way.
"That bad?" She blinks at me and runs her fingers through her hair.
"Beautiful as always, love, but . . . let’s sneak you upstairs. I’ll check to make sure the coast is clear." Oliver throws the lock and eases out of the room while Ryder opens the shutters. He’s not gone a minute before the door opens and he strides in with Thayer.
"New plan. We leave, he stays," Oliver says.
I stand, and when I get to Thayer, I stop. "I never like it when someone takes credit for my work, Zambrano."
Thayer’s eyes are on Emily. Her shoes are off, her feet tucked at her side on the sofa, and her arms crossed over her newly re-covered chest.
"Yes, well, cheaters never win, do they?"
I don’t want to like him. Every cell in my body has a beef with the guy. But he’s doing everything to help Emily. And it has me swaying away from hate.
Emily pops off the sofa and takes a book from the shelves of old leatherbound novels on the wall. She gives me a soft look and curls up on the sofa. "I won’t be long."
Thayer growls, and I pull the door shut.
The three of us are barely away from the door when Lilith rounds the corner. "Where’s Emily?"
"She and Thayer are having a meeting about the wedding," I say.
Emily moans from behind the closed door. It’s loud and not what she sounds like when she’s having sex at all.
"What sort of meeting? Is he checking her gallbladder? Holy hell. Well, I’ll get her later. How are the logistics for the bachelorette party coming along?"
"Good." I glance back to the den where I left my notes.
Lilith’s eyes follow mine. "If you left your clipboard in there, I’d get it later. Those noises are terrifying." She shivers and hustles to the ballroom.