Chapter 48
The past couple of days felt as though a lifetime had passed. All at once, it was as though it had gone quickly yet too slowly at the same time. This moment, especially, was slow. As I stood at the bottom of the staircase with Drake by my side, I was torn between wanting to go after Aurora to give her a hug and wanting to slap some sense into her. All in all, I was so exhausted and generally too affected by Drake”s presence to even correctly ascertain how I felt. So, all I could do was sigh and focus on putting one foot in front of the other. I needed lights and a quick charge of my current batteries before the next hour elapsed, so I turned toward him to excuse myself.
“I”ll go get ready,” I said, completely forgetting about what he had insinuated earlier.
He let me go, though, and it was only when I was nearly halfway up that I remembered. I turned to him then, my cheeks flushing, and he smiled as though he could completely read my mind.
“After,” he said. “We’ll have all the time we need then.”
He was absolutely right. I didn”t want to seem too eager, but it was extremely difficult to do when there was a man like that standing at the base of the stairs and looking at me in that way. All of a sudden, I was heady once again, and had to hold on to the railing. Soon, I arrived back in my room and received a call about updates from the current preparations being made.
“Almost done,” her text read. “We’re cleaning up now.”
I sighed happily and lightheartedly but still nervous as hell because what if Aurora hated this as well. I truly hoped it would cheer her up, but unless they fully explained to her the health challenge her mom was facing, a corner of her heart would continue to hold this resentment toward them for their seemingly disregard for everything she wants for the ceremony, and this couldn’t be farther from the truth.
I had been sweaty and gross all day, yet I had very limited time, so I quickly took a shower and wondered how Aurora”s fiancé was going to get her to come down to the church. Perhaps it would be easy to ask her to elope, kind of, with him as a surprise? I wondered if Drake had already handled it because I”d been so busy getting the place ready, I”d basically ignored this very basic need.
I sped through my shower, and as soon as I got out, wrapped myself in a towel and called him.
“Hello,” I greeted politely as he answered. I sounded kind of distant and stiff, but I didn’t yet know how to be casual with him.
“Hello,” he replied back, and I was sure he was mocking me.
I smiled, albeit weakly, and proceeded to ask my question.
“Is it planned out how David would get Aurora to the church? They should be headed over now.”
“I was just thinking about it,” he replied. “She is in an extremely sour mood right now, so the only person she will listen to is him.”
“I’ll call him now and arrange it. She should have already had the dress on, right?”
“Preferably,” I replied.
“Alright, I’ll keep it simple and tell him to dress up in a suit, go to her, and tell her that he got the dress she liked. That he wanted to at least give her the wedding of her dreams, so they should ride together to the church and do it secretly, without anyone else knowing.”
“She”ll agree to this?” I asked, seeing no problem with this but enjoying the banter between us. My entire body and mind felt stimulated, and I just wanted it to go on.
“Hopefully she”ll agree to it, but he”s our best shot. I”m not going to bother about it anyway because we’ve all done the hard work. This is his only task, and if he”s a damn good lawyer, as everyone says, then he should be able to handle this.”
Shaking my head, I couldn’t help but smile. He was so sassy and cute, and I just adored it.
“Alright,” I said then and tried to hang up the call, but he stopped me with more conversation.
“Are you ready?” he asked just as I stood before the mirror and pulled the towels from my hair and body.
I couldn’t believe he had touched me so intimately in every single place.
“You?” I asked as I grabbed my breast and shut my eyes, imagining it was him. I truly couldn’t wait till tonight because he had promised me that he’d take me apart in the shower, and I honestly couldn’t wait.
“Almost. Would have been faster but I kept thinking about you in there.”
“Maybe we should have just fucked then. Would have definitely sped me up.”
This made me smile. I should have just shied away, but I wanted to start cranking up the heat for our later evening plans.
“What exactly did you do? A-as you thought of me, I mean.”
The stuttering ruined it, so it couldn’t be sexy. I sighed then and shook my head at just how unnecessarily fidgeting I was.
“I rubbed it out,” he replied matter of factly. “Twice. The glass in my stall is fucking stained.”
My heart stuttered.
“That much?”
“It would have flooded your mouth.”
“Fuck,” I cursed, startling us both. We both went quiet for a while, and then I started to apologize.
“Uh- sorry about that.” I said, and then burst out laughing.
“Meet me downstairs soon,” he said. “I”ll be waiting with a car. Thirty minutes, okay?”
I nodded immediately and reluctantly ended the call.