58. Taco bars are what dreams are made of
Chapter 58
Taco bars are what dreams are made of
Luca
J ust as I’m closing the safe in my closet, I hear her soft footsteps.
“You’re serious about me not knowing what’s engraved on them before the wedding, huh?”
I turn and smile at the sight of my future wife. The way she grins back tells me those dimples I didn’t know I have are on full display. Closing the distance between us, I grab her, lifting her so she can wrap her legs around my waist.
“I missed you, baby. How was your day?”
Her gray eyes sparkle. “I missed you, too. And my day was filled with wedding planning and trying on dresses. So. Many. Dresses. Luca.”
“Did you find one you like?”
“I found one that’s absolutely perfect. You’re going to love it.”
“You could wear one of my old shirts and I’d love it. But I can’t wait to see you in your dress.” Excitement races through me. How do people make it through long engagements? I’m ready to marry this woman right now. In my head, she’s already my wife .
“How are you feeling? Not too sore?” I’ve worried about her all day, no matter how many times she assured me over text that she’s fine.
She cups my cheeks in her hands. “Barely sore at all, and even if I was, it’s worth it.”
Her lips meet mine, and a low moan leaves her mouth.
“Think we have time for a quickie before dinner?” she asks.
“Hey, where are you two? Dinner’s ready!” Lil yells from somewhere outside my room.
“I’d say no,” I groan.
“Damn,” she says as I lower her to the ground. “We do have a few wedding questions for you.”
“Are we doing a taco bar?”
“Yes, we’re doing a taco bar. With like a million options.” She grins and winks at me. A taco bar was my only request.
“I swear to god, you two better not be naked,” Lil yells again, this time closer.
“Let’s put her out of her misery. You hungry, baby?”
“Yeah, but not for dinner,” she says over her shoulder. My eyes drop as she struts toward the door. God damn. I cannot get enough of that juicy ass.
“Minx.”
I follow Ari out of my room, but Lil stops me in the hallway.
“Luca, have you asked anyone to be your best man?”
“No.” I don’t have anyone to ask. I get along with the guys on the crew but I’m not particularly close to any of them other than Parker, and we’re not in best man territory. When it comes right down to it, I think Lil’s my best friend other than Ariana.
“Let me do it. Let me be maid of honor and best man because you’re both my best friends.”
“How would that work?” Admittedly, I haven’t been to a lot of weddings, but I’ve never heard of one person taking on both roles.
“Don’t worry about that, just please let me do it. ”
I like the idea, but don’t know how she could pull it off. “What’d Ariana say?” I ask, assuming they’ve already discussed it.
“Fuck, it was her idea,” Lil says with a laugh. “It sort of started as a joke, but it makes sense. You know I don’t say please often, but please, Luca.”
I pull my cousin in for a hug and am once again thankful for her being in my life—and Ariana’s. “Okay. I love it. Figure it out, make it work.”
Ariana pokes her head back around the corner. “Hey, come on. Trying on a billion dresses made me hungry.”
At dinner, Mia talks about the wedding plans they spent all day on. I spent way too much of my day debating whether or not to invite my parents. I have no one from back home I want to invite, and it reminds me how empty my life was before coming here. And how much my life has changed.
“Do you want me to have tuxes delivered here like I did dresses, or do you want to go to them?” Mia asks Marco.
“We can go to them unless you ladies want to approve?—”
Ariana cuts him off, holding up a hand. “Nope. You guys figure it out. I’m tapped out.”
Marco chuckles. “We’ll take care of it, sweetheart.”
“I need to find someone to officiate the ceremony tomorrow. I was so busy with everything else today I didn’t get to it,” Mia says.
“I told you I’m doing it, and I mean it,” Lil declares, with maybe the most serious look I’ve ever seen on her face.
Mia sighs. “Lil?—”
“Mom. I’m going to be the Best Maid of Honor. I’m going to stand up there with my two best friends and then marry them to each other.” Mia looks at me and then Ari. This is the first I’ve heard about Lil officiating the ceremony, but if Ariana’s happy, I’m happy.
“Okay, but you’re not doing the damn half-tux thing, Lilith.” Mia huffs and points a fork at Lil .
“Nah, I’m good with the dress we picked today. It has pockets.”
A few hours later, Ariana snuggles closer to me on the couch as we watch dumb videos on my phone and wait for Lil to get back from a snack run.
“That cake looks so good. What is that? I should add it to the list of test flavors to make.”
“You’re making the cake yourself?” I don’t know why I’m surprised by the news. God, I love my wild girl.
“Becca will help. And Lil. Kinda.” She yawns and shrugs a shoulder. “It’ll be a good distraction for me.”
I hold her tighter, hating that she needs to be distracted from the stalker bullshit. “What can I do?”
Tilting her chin, she smiles up at me. “Taste-test and help pick a flavor.”
Unable to resist, I press my lips against hers. “You got it, baby. It’s going to be hard, though. Everything you make is fucking fantastic.”
“Well you weren’t here for the chocolate cake I made a few years ago.”
“What was wrong with it?”
She gigglesnorts. “Lil and I got way too high and thought it would be a good idea to bake a chocolate cake. With every single variety of chocolate in the house. Mixed together. It was so rich. It was like this terrible chocolate bomb.”
“You two are ridiculous.”
“Yeah, but we’re fun,” she says with a grin.
“Who’s fun?” Lil asks as she walks into the room.
“You and me,” Ari answers, holding her hand up. Lil taps it with hers.
“Oh, well, yeah. Duh. We’re hella fun. Anyone who says otherwise is boring.”
“Night Lil, you know where to find us if you need us,” Ariana says with a yawn as we head into my room, which I’ve started to think of as our room.
“Fingers crossed I don’t.” Lil raises her hands to show us the crossed digits. “I’m a fucking grown-up, after all.”
“Hey, I’m a grown-up,” Ariana pouts. I chuckle and pull her close, kissing the top of her head.
“Debatable, but not because of your sleep issue. Okay, I’m going to go be a grown-up and watch Beauty and the Beast in bed.” Lil closes her door, and I close ours.
I start the shower, grinning when I see Ariana’s shampoo and body wash next to mine. Mango pineapple. That’s what her stuff all smells like. We touch and kiss under the water talking about that sex bucket list, then she leads me on a chase around the room. When I catch her, I take my time worshiping her body, making love to her slowly and bringing her to orgasm twice before she rides me and we come together. She collapses on top of me, limp from exhaustion.
When I can function again, I carry her to the bathroom and then back to bed after we clean up. She falls asleep on my chest with my arms wrapped around her and is still there hours later when Lil knocks on the door.
“I’m sorry, I tried to be a grown-up.”
“We’ll be there in a minute, Lil.”
I grab one of my shirts for Ariana, and we both get dressed sleepily before moving to Lil’s room.