4. Layken
CHAPTER FOUR
LAYKEN
I can’t remember the last time I felt this good.
This free.
Like I don’t have a care in the world tonight.
I’ll probably have to make a sacrifice to the porcelain gods in the morning for this feeling but for now, I’ll take it.
As the music slows, the girls couple up with their men, leaving me no doubt looking a bit awkward. I’m trying to decide if I care enough but right now, my brain is a little fuzzy. Honestly, it feels too good to give a shit what anyone else thinks.
“Hey.” I turn in my spot a too fast and spin right into Griffin. His hands fall to my hips. “Whoa. You okay?”
I smile up at his gloriously beautiful face.
“Mhmm. Never better. Good God how are you so pretty?”
He grins back at me. “I get it from my mother. You’re all alone out here. Did you want to dance?”
I run my hand through my hair that most likely looks like a rat’s nest but again, do I care?
Alcohol says nope.
Do I want to dance with Griffin?
Sure.
But this music feels like sex on the dance floor and I don’t really know Griffin enough for sex on the dance floor so instead, I offer, “Want to get a drink?”
His smile tells me he knows exactly why I didn’t say yes to that dance.
Or maybe he has gas.
Like I said…alcohol.
“Sure. Let’s do it.”
“Great!”
We saddle up to the bar and he pulls a stool out for me before ordering. Two shots of tequila are placed in front of us. We pick them up, tap them on the bar, clink them together, and say, “To love and friendship” just like Scarlett did earlier and then we shoot them back.
“Did you guys have fun today? While we were shopping?”
“We did.” He nods, his eyes never leaving mine.
“What did you do?”
“Sat around and talked about how obsessed you are with me.”
For just a moment I think he’s serious but as I watch him, his smile widens and he huffs out a soft laugh. “I’m kidding. We took the Ale Trail and visited a few breweries.”
“Ooh, that sounds like fun.”
“It looks like you’re having fun. Dancing agrees with you.” I see his lips move but I don’t hear what he says entirely.
“What?”
Smiling, he leans in closer, his cheek brushing against mine as he says in my ear, “I said dancing agrees with you. You were having fun out there.”
Nodding, I lean back a bit so I can see his face. “I think this trip was just what I needed.”
“Yeah?”
“Mhmm. No responsibility. No stress. Just…fun.”
“Fuck responsibility.” Griffin shakes his head. “Fuck it all.”
I slap my hand down on his thigh, not realizing just how rock hard his muscles really are. “That’s right. Fuck it. Another drink?”
He motions for the bartender to drop two more shots, which we take the same way we did the first except this time, I miss my mouth and a little tequila slips down my chin. Giggling, I wipe my face with the back of my hand. “Oops.”
“So now that you’re free from your job responsibilities, what do you want to do? Besides write porny books.”
I cock my head and give him a blank expression. “They’re not porny books and you know it.”
“I know. I’m kidding. But seriously, you have the time, so what are you scratching off your bucket list?”
“Hmm. My bucket list.” My brows pinch as I try hard to think about things I’ve never done in my life but far be it for me to come up with one fucking thing on that list. “I guess I don’t really have a bucket list. I’ve got more of a fuck-it list than a bucket list.”
He chuckles and this time I notice the small dimple in his right cheek and the way the lines around his eyes crinkle together when he smiles. It’s hot in that I’m-totally-drunk-and-would-probably-fuck-him-if-he-asked kind of way.
Oh shit!
I’ve never fucked a hockey player!
Would that be on a bucket list or a fuck-it list?
Griffin gives me a questioning glance, his brows coming together. “What are you thinking about in that cute little brain of yours?”
“Uh. Nothing.”
He laughs. “Why don’t I believe you?”
“Because you’re obsessed with me instead of the other way around, but you probably think I’m sitting here envisioning you naked…” I stick up my pointer finger. “Which I’m not, might I add.”
“But if you were…” he asks, humor dancing in his narrowed eyes. “How do I look? Good? Does my ass look alright?”
I perform a chef’s kiss and wink, appreciative that he’s nice enough to talk to me when he could be picking up any number of women tonight. “Perfection.”
“Good.” He smiles. “Good. Okay, so, you don’t have a bucket list. Maybe we need to help you create one. This is your time to do all the things you want to do.”
My brows shoot up in excitement. “Oooh yeah! That’s a good idea. I need to go do some things I’ve never done before.”
“Alright. Name one. We’ll go do it right now.”
“Now? Like right now?”
“Yeah. Why not? You have a hot date?”
“Well, I’m hanging out here with you, aren’t I?”
His sexy smile could melt my panties right off.
“Alright then.” He nods. “Have you ever been to Napa’s summer market festival?”
“Nope.” I tell him with a quick shake of my head.
He gestures with his head toward the door and offers me his hand. “Then let’s go. The night is young and there’s more fun to be had.”
Nodding, I hop down from my stool, allowing him to help steady me. “Yeah. Let’s do it.” I raise my hands as high as I can get them and proclaim, “Bucket list, here I come!”
Griffin pays our tab and then we say goodbye to our friends, well, those of them who are within eyesight, and then bust our way out of the nightclub, letting the chill of the fresh air slap us in the face. Throughout the small town-square there are booths and tents set up with vendors of all types as the area celebrates…well, hell if I know, but there are lots of people so it’s pretty busy out here.
“Where should we go first?” Griffin asks as I try to focus on anything that I haven’t done before. I see a sign for chocolate covered bananas and for some reason that gives me the giggles. Reaching up to Griffin’s face, I turn him so he can see the same sign I’m reading.
“I’ve never eaten a chocolate covered banana.”
“That’s a weird thing to have never done, you know.”
I shrug my shoulder. “Well, it’s on my bucket list sooo…”
“Alright then,” he laughs. “Let’s do it. My treat.”
“You’re a treat, indeed, Ollenberg.”
We walk over to the tented booth and Griffin pays for two chocolate covered bananas.
“You’re having one too?”
“Of course. You don’t get to have all the fun.”
I beam back at him. “Okay!”
He hands me one and we clink them together toasting, “To love and friendship.” Giggling because it’s the only toast we know at this point, we put the bananas in our mouths. Griffin takes a bite out of his, and my eyes grow big and round as he chews.
With his mouth full he asks, “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Because you’re a man and you bit the penis!”
He nearly chokes on his bite. “What?”
“Shouldn’t you like, I don’t know, suck on it first?”
“Suck the banana?”
“Yeah. Suck it.”
“Suck it how?”
“You know…like an ice cream cone or something.”
“You suck ice cream cones?”
I giggle. “I mean a little, yes. Off the tip.”
“Fuck me,” he murmurs. With a little tip of his chin he says, “Show me.”
Huffing out a quick sigh, I push the tip of the banana into my mouth, running my tongue around it to taste more of that chocolate flavor. Griffin’s brows raise when I push the banana farther into my mouth, sucking on it a little harder before pulling it back out. His jaw drops and it’s then that I notice his pupils look completely blown as he watches me suck on the banana.
“Jesus fucking Christ,” he mumbles.
His words make me laugh. “So much better than biting the banana, Griffin. You have to get the whole experience.”
“Apparently, I do.” He throws his arm around my shoulders. “Come on, Hobbs. If I watch you suck that banana all night, it’s going to be a sticky walk home. Let’s keep going. What else have you never done?”
We spend the next couple of hours doing all the things I can think of that I’ve never done. Griffin couldn’t believe I had never been ice-skating but when I assured him I had not ever had the experience, he took me for a spin on the little rink in the center of town.
He only fell twice.
Some hockey player he is.
Together we sing songs like “Don’t Stop Believin’” and “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” as loudly as we can because I’ve never sung in public.
Bucket list item complete.
We paint rocks at one tent because neither of us had ever done that. When we’re done we hide them along our walk for someone else to find because apparently that’s a thing.
We taste a few other wines because hello? When in wine country. Besides, alcohol releases our inhibitions.
And now, after all that, we’re walking along the quieter side of town where several booths are shutting down.
“What time is it?” I ask Griffin.
He pulls his phone from his pocket. “Almost midnight.”
“It’s so early!” I throw out my arms and loudly shout, “DON’T SHUT DOWN PEOPLE! WE HAVE BUCKET LISTS TO FINISH!” Just as I’m spinning in a slow circle, my eyes spot a little white building with cute colored stained-glass windows. The images of flowers and rings and bells in the window shine through the lights from inside. “Ooh, what’s that place?”
Griffin reads the lit sign on the front. “Marry Me Manor. Free flowers with purchase.”
“Ooh free flowers?” I turn to Griffin. “Have you ever been married, Griffin?”
“Can’t say that I have,” he answers, shaking his head.
“Me either. But it’s on my bucket list!”
Everything is on my bucket list tonight apparently because…alcohol.
“Pfttt!” Griffin laughs. “Are you saying we should…”
I shrug. “I mean…fuck it, right? You’ve never done it.”
“True.” He nods, looking back at the white building.
I point to myself. “And I’ve never done it.”
“Also, true.”
“And we could both die tomorrow having never been married.”
He thinks about it for a minute and then shrugs. “That would be a serious disappointment.” He holds his hand up for me to high-five. “To love and friendship?”
“To love and friendship!”
We step inside the small building and are smacked in the face with the scent of flowers. Who knows if they’re living or dead, but it smells very flowery in here, that’s for sure.
“Oh, look who is here!” a stout older woman says gleefully. She’s dressed in a pink floral dress with an overcoat that looks a lot like a bathrobe, but who’s judging? Her short white old lady hair reminds me of the Golden Girls as do the glasses hanging on a chain around her neck. “And just in time too! You’ll be our last wedding of the day!”
“Great. Do we get free flowers?” I ask her, gesturing to the window. “Because the sign said free flowers.”
“Of course, dear.” She shows us the group of bouquets lined up in a case in front of her. “Just choose your favorite color.”
“What’s your favorite color, Griffin?”
He studies the case and then says, “Uh, purple. I think.”
“Okay,” the woman nods with an approving smile. “Purple bouquet it is. A beautiful choice.”
Just to be clear none of the flowers in the bouquet are actually purple. They’re white but they’re tied together with a purple ribbon. In fact, all the bouquets are white but each have a different colored ribbon.
“How about rings, dears? Would you like rings?” She pulls out a few trays of jewelry for both men and women. “We have rings for twenty dollars and we have rings for much more.”
“Well, my girl here deserves the best, so whatever that is,” he says, pointing to a large diamond type of rock. “I’ll take it.”
I loop my arm through his and rest my head on his shoulder. “Aww, Griffin. You know just how to make me swoon.”
After he picks out a ring for me I choose one for him and then we’re signing a few papers before being led to a podium in a pretty pink room.
“Would you two like a wedding song? Something to come down the aisle to? I’m afraid the only song we have available right now is ummm…” she reads the file on her laptop and then glances at us. “’Tainted Love’.”
Griffin and I burst out laughing and give each other another high five. “‘Tainted Love’, it is.”
He pats my ass and says, “Get your ass down that aisle and come back to me.”
“You got it big daddy.”
I hop down the aisle holding my precious purple and totally free bouquet and await the beautiful music. Rather than walking majestically down the aisle to my groom, I dance because hello…“Tainted Love”. I even make sure to twerk a little on those two big down beats much to Griffin’s amusement. He applauds me the entire time until I’m standing right in front of him.
The Golden Girl lady—what’s her name again? Doesn’t matter—reads a few words from her laptop about love and weddings and then has us hold hands to take our vows. Rather than hold hands though, Griffin hooks his pinky with mine to say his I-do. That means it’s serious so I do the same thing.
“By the power invested in me I pronounce you Mr. and Mrs.…” She reads her file again. “Ollenberg.”
Griffin beams at me and exclaims, “Yeah baby! Mrs. Fuckin’ Ollenberg.”
Golden Girl laughs and says, “Go ahead and kiss your bride.”
Without another thought Griffin grabs my face and connects his lips to mine. We’re a little bit sloppy at first, but then he pulls back and stares at me for a second like he doesn’t understand how he got the candy but he likes the candy and wants more of it.
Also, I’m pretty sure I’m the candy.
“Again,” he says before he slides his hand into my hair, cradling the back of my head. He brings our lips together once more, only this time it’s so much more than a kiss.
His mouth opens against mine, his tongue darting into my mouth like he’s trying to swallow me whole. My entire body is engulfed in heat as he grips my hips, his warm fingertips pressing against the bare skin of my back. The tingling sensation weaving through my body makes me kiss him harder. Like I can’t get enough of him. I tilt my head, inviting him to get a better angle, and he takes full advantage, moaning against my mouth as his tongue swipes against my lips.
This is certainly no kiss-the-bride type of kiss. This is honeymoon night kind of kissing and phew! I’m enjoying every minute of it.
Golden Girl clears her throat just behind us and when we finally break apart, she holds up a key ring that says Marry Me Manor, a golden key attached to it, and says, “Perhaps you’d like to upgrade to the overnight package?”
Griffin’s already dark pupils stare at me, questioning what I want to do. “Wedding night?”
Feeling every bit of joy that has come from the past couple of hours I nod and loudly whisper, “I mean it’s not official till we fuck, right?”
“To wedding nights?” Griffin asks, raising his hand in the air.
I give him a hearty high-five. “To nights we won’t remember with friends we’ll never forget!”
Golden Girl takes our picture for our keepsake and then Griffin hands her his credit card to pay for our room. Once everything is signed and sealed, we’re holding hands and being led to a row of tiny bungalows behind Marry Me Manor. “There’s champagne and cookies in your room waiting for you. Enjoy.”
I clap my hands, squealing excitedly. “Ooh snacks!”