Chapter 22
Twenty-Two
SUMMER
Victoria’s bridal shower is . . . extravagant.
Giant photos of Victoria and Carson with fake smiles hang on the walls.
The biggest may even be taller than Killian.
Balloon arches, themed tableware, fruit displays, and a giant cake make me second-guess whether I’m attending the bridal shower or the wedding reception.
Ambient lighting from fairy lights and candles casts unintentionally seductive shadows, although that may just be the aftermath of last night with Noah.
Despite the elaborate decor, there’s not a single floral arrangement. For someone as devoted to gardening as Victoria, this seems like an obvious oversight.
I haven’t known Victoria for long, and I can’t say I know much about her except that she terrifies me, but somehow, this party doesn’t seem like her at all.
The only saving grace is that the shower is co-ed, and Noah is here.
Although his presence may actually be causing more problems for me because I can’t concentrate on anything else.
Images of him on his knees in front of me, beneath me in his car, flash through my mind every time I catch a glimpse of him.
I’ve had to avoid him all night to prevent my clothes from falling off.
Victoria opens a mountain of gifts alone while Carson chats with a circle of men I assume are his groomsmen, all with varying degrees of receding hairlines, one hand in a pocket and another holding a drink. Carson certainly found his people.
“Summer! I’m so glad you could make it!” Christine is double-fisting drinks, one of which I’m pretty sure belongs to her husband. Pretty sure.
“Of course! Thank you for inviting me.”
I would’ve been fine without attending, but I know Noah is happy to have me here. Next to Victoria, he passes her another gift while Killian and Aries make guesses on the contents and harass her for unwrapping them too slowly.
“I just passed on Victoria’s invitation.” She sips from one drink, then the other.
Christine is a terrible liar.
“Whoever decorated did a great job.”
“Carson’s mother. Isn’t it so nice?” But by her strained smile, I can tell we share the same impression of the party. “Everyone wants an overbearing mother-in-law who ignores everything you want in pursuit of her own vision, right?”
I sputter into my sparkling water.
She pats my arm. “You don’t have to worry about me doing that to you, sweetheart. When you marry my son, I promise I’ll be on my best behavior.”
My cheeks warm at her assumption that Noah and I will get married someday.
As if he can somehow hear our conversation over the din of the party, he smiles and winks at me.
Victoria finishes opening her gifts, shouts a thank you to everyone, and announces she needs the restroom. Killian chats animatedly about something to Aries, whose gaze follows Victoria out of the room. Noah heads in our direction, and my heart skips.
He tugs me toward him by the hip, and his minty scent envelops me. The smell of him alone is enough to make my thighs clench, a reminder of what we did in his car. “You getting ideas for our bridal shower?”
Clearly, he’s joking, but my brain short-circuits regardless. Our bridal shower. Which implies a wedding. Which implies marriage.
My whole body is officially on fire. “Um. Uh . . . I . . .”
Forming coherent sentences is a skill I no longer possess.
“You two are just so cute.” Christine beams at us until she grabs Noah’s arm. “Oh, honey, will you come help your father? He found something to fix in the kitchen, and I’m worried Carson’s parents will sue us for property damage if he keeps at it.”
“No problem.” To me, he asks, “You want to come with, sweets?”
That nickname again. The silly, ridiculous nickname that makes me melt every time.
“Let her off the leash, Noah,” a booming voice shouts, though he’s only ten feet away.
Killian perches on the arm of the couch and pats the space beside him for me to join him and Aries.
I can’t trust myself around Noah right now, even with witnesses. Having potential onlookers to our adult activities apparently isn’t enough to deter me. I should keep my distance before I throw myself at him again.
“I’d better get to know my future brother-in-law,” I joke, nodding at Killian.
But the joke doesn’t land the way I expect. Christine gasps, eyes bugging out, and Noah’s face lights up like I just told him he won the lottery.
“Are you two engaged?” Christine nearly screeches.
“No!” I cut in.
“Not yet.” Noah winks. “She still needs to pick out a ring.”
He guides Christine to find his father while she volleys a barrage of questions at him about our future engagement. Over his shoulder, he smiles at me.
What the hell was I thinking?
“Yoo-hoo, Summer!” Killian calls in a falsetto voice, waggling his fingers at me. “Come join us.”
I take the seat beside him. Across from me, Aries leans back on the opposite sofa like he lives here.
He holds a glass of a mysterious dark liquid, a small rectangular box in his lap.
He’s dressed nicer than anyone here, even the future bride and groom.
I actually can’t think of a time I’ve seen Aries in jeans.
His casual attire consists of a pair of slacks, loafers, and a button-up.
Wait, no, I did see him in leather once with a motorcycle helmet tucked under his arm.
Those are his only two styles, it seems: business casual or biker.
“The family loves you.” Killian grins down at me.
“I don’t know about everyone.”
He chuckles. “You talking about Vee? Yeah, seems like you made it on her shit list.”
Aries tips his glass up in a toast. “Welcome to the club.”
“She’ll come around. She’s just protective,” Killian reassures me. “She once punched a kid in the face for calling me, and I quote, a stupid dummy.”
Aries takes a sip from his drink and grimaces. “I had a black eye for a week.”
I snort. “I actually think she and I could be friends if she’d give me a chance. She’s scary, but I like how tough she is. I could use a friend like that.”
“Once she knows you won’t hurt Noah, she’ll like you,” Aries tells me. “You’re easy to like. And Noah’s never looked at anyone the way he looks at you. Prove to Victoria you deserve him, and she’ll be on board.”
Noah’s never looked at anyone the way he looks at you. Aries is Noah’s best friend, so that must be true. Warmth spills through my veins. I hope it is.
He’s right. I need to prove to Victoria that I deserve Noah. “How do I do that?”
“Well, you already shot him.” Killian grimaces. “So that’s pretty hard to come back from.”
I groan, burying my face in my hands. “I’m screwed.”
“Just go tell her,” Aries says. Something light lands on my lap. The small rectangular box. “She just wants to know you actually care. That you’ll protect Noah when she’s not around. Stand up for yourself. She’ll respect that. And take that to her while you’re at it. She forgot to open it.”
“Okay. Sure.” I stand, mind still scrambling to keep up with all the advice Aries is tossing at me.
Even with how standoffish Victoria has been to me since we met, I can’t help but feel bad for her. Opening gifts without her fiancé, attending a bridal shower that might as well be a stranger’s, and marrying into a family with an overbearing mother-in-law.
No wonder she’s been miserable since we met.
“Thanks.” I smile at Aries and Killian before following in the direction Victoria went.
“Good luck,” Killian calls at my back.
“Careful of her right hook!” Aries warns.
Carson’s parents’ home is cavernous and hard to navigate. I pass a few empty bathrooms and stumble into a messy bedroom with baseball memorabilia plastered on the walls. His childhood bedroom perfectly preserved from his teenage years.
Except the clothes strewn across the floor, the messy bedsheets, and the flashing light from a gaming console suggest that the room is still very much lived in.
Wait . . . does Carson live here? Since he and Victoria are engaged, I assumed they’d be living together, but judging by the chaos of this room, Carson hasn’t moved out of his parents’ home.
Quickly, I shut the door and scurry away before someone catches me snooping.
The noise from the party is nearly muted this deep into the home. When I reach a room at the end of the hall, a muffled sound makes me press my ear to the door.
A sniffle. A stifled sob. Someone is crying.
Before I can think better of it, I shove the door open.
Sunlight streams through the window of the pristine, stale guest bedroom, a woman with blonde hair in a severe ponytail perches on the end of the bed, face buried in a pillow.
As soon as Victoria spots me, she tosses the pillow against the headboard, swipes at her cheeks, and glares. “What do you want?”
“Sorry. You . . . uh, forgot to open a gift.”
She snatches the box from my hand and tears into it. Inside the box is a packet of primrose seeds.
“Those are pretty.” In reality, I have no idea what a primrose looks like.
“My favorite flower,” she murmurs.
“It’s from Aries,” I tell her. In the few moments I’ve been around Victoria and Aries, they’ve had this underlying animosity toward each other.
But maybe I’ve been reading the feelings between them all wrong.
Victoria waves a dismissive hand. “It’s just a coincidence. He probably grabbed the first packet he saw. He had to get me something, so might as well keep it under five dollars.”
I don’t think that’s true, but I don’t bother arguing. “Did Carson get you a wedding gift?”
With a quirked brow, Victoria holds up her hand to show off an audacious ring that doesn’t suit her quiet elegance.
“How did he propose?”
“In a pizza restaurant.” Annoyance drips from every word as she stuffs the packet of seeds back in the box. “With garlic breath.”
Silence falls between us. “Oh. That’s—”