Chapter 5
Love makes it all worthwhile. Take the chance.
Violet opened her eyes as her phone’s alarm went off. For a moment she wondered where she was…until everything about last night came rushing back.
Tripp, naked and gorgeous, inside her…making her come. Going down on her. Making her come again. There had been So. Many. Orgasms. Oh god. Ooooh, god.
She jolted up in bed.
He wasn’t there, but she could hear the shower running in the nearby en suite.
“Okay, you’ve got this,” she muttered to herself as she silenced her phone again. She had shit to do this morning for her best friend’s wedding. She absolutely couldn’t spiral over this. They were adults. They’d made a consensual decision. It was fine. Everything was fine.
She couldn’t find her underwear, so she just sacrificed them as she hurriedly zipped up her dress. As she did, she got a text from Oliver and quickly responded even as she knocked on the bathroom door.
“Hey, come on in,” Tripp called out. “Water pressure’s great and I think we can make you come again.”
Oooh, she was so tempted. So. Very. Tempted.
But no! She didn’t step inside, couldn’t risk seeing that gorgeous man all naked and wet.
Nope. So she remained out in the bedroom.
“Ah, I can’t. Gotta bunch of stuff to do this morning.
But last night was great, thank you.” A one off, unfortunately. It couldn’t happen again.
It absolutely couldn’t.
“Please don’t thank me for sex,” he said with a laugh. “You were fucking on fire, Violet. You were incredible.”
She felt her cheeks heat up but forced herself to have some self-control. “Listen… I’ve got a lot to handle this morning, and I think it’s better if we don’t talk about this again, okay?”
“Nah. We’re gonna talk about it later.”
“Tripp!”
“Nope. Not doing this now. Go handle your business but you and I aren’t done.”
“There is no we.”
“Wrong, there really is.” His voice was annoyingly calm.
“Tripp!”
“Keep saying my name like that and I’m hauling you in here with me.” His words were a rumbled growl.
And she only had so much self-control at this point. “I’m leaving now. Do not say a word to anyone about this!” When he didn’t respond, she grabbed her purse, then ducked out into the hall.
Luckily, no one was around, and she was able to make it to her room without being discovered. Because there was no way she was up to answering any questions from anyone about why she was still running around in last night’s dress.
***
“Is anyone else getting freaked out that Sarah isn’t here yet?” Juniper asked from one of the tufted chairs in the bride’s waiting room at the historic church.
“She’s on her way,” Violet lied. She knew Sarah hadn’t bailed. No way. But her bestie wasn’t answering her texts or calls. She’d dealt with worse than this though, so she’d just have to find her.
“Yes, and please, stop biting your nails.” Oliver swatted at Juniper’s hand, only to earn a glare from the other bridesmaid.
“She’s always late.” Maya was stretched out on a settee, a plate of fruit in her lap as she relaxed. “Stop worrying.”
“Maya’s right. Would you like another drink?” Violet asked. She was definitely worried.
“Oh my god, V. You don’t have to do that wedding planner stuff with me. I’m just worried about our girl, that’s all,” Juniper said.
Okay, she was right. Violet took a deep breath, ready to tell them she was actually worried, when Tripp stepped into the room with a half-assed knock on the door.
She tried not to be so affected by him, but she was only human. And she’d seen just how good that man looked without his clothes on. Knew exactly what he felt like, and how good he was with his hands, mouth, and…other parts she should not be thinking about right now. “Hey, everything okay?”
“Ah, yeah, just need your help with something.” His voice was light, but she could see the concern in his eyes. Oh, this was bad.
“Of course. All right, everyone relax. I’ll be back with Sarah in just a bit, and we should be ready to roll in thirty minutes.”
Maya simply gave her a Zen-like smile, but it was clear that Juniper wasn’t fooled by Violet. She’d deal with that later.
“What’s going on? Where is your sister?” she demanded once it was just the two of them in the hallway.
He blinked, then seemed to shake himself. “I have no idea where Sarah is, but Ian has locked himself in the bathroom trying to get away from a naked Belinda.”
She stared at him for only a moment, then hurried down the hallway, her heels clicking away as they both hurried toward the groom’s waiting room, which was on the opposite end of the hallway.
Inside, all of Ian’s brothers were on the far side of the room with their backs turned to the crying, naked woman. Okay, so Tripp hadn’t been exaggerating. Not that she’d expected it, but still. What in the absolute hell was going on?
“Belinda, what is going on right now?” she demanded.
“This should have been my wedding day!” she wailed, standing in front of the shut door with her hands and feet spread eagle like an absolute lunatic.
Oh sweet flying flamingos. Violet looked away from her at the brothers who were standing like rigid soldiers facing a firing squad.
“We tried to give her our coats,” Aldo said. “She refused them.”
“Yeah, we’re trying to give her space.” This from Matteo. “But we didn’t want to abandon Ian either.”
Violet pressed a hand to her temple, massaged, and took a deep breath as she turned to Tripp.
“Can you go find Sarah?” she whispered. “And don’t tell anyone else about this yet.
” Adding more people wasn’t going to help this situation, so she was going to try to keep this contained.
Damage control was priority one. Or maybe two, since they hadn’t located the bride yet.
Tripp nodded and took off. She turned back to the wailing woman even as she tried to avoid staring directly at her.
“Belinda. Why do you think today was supposed to be your day?” Calm usually worked in situations like this. “Talk to me. Clearly something is going on with you and I want to help.”
“Because I met Ian first! We dated—”
“We didn’t date!” Ian shouted from the bathroom, his voice slightly muffled. “I met you for coffee because you said you had questions about investing. That’s all! We never dated.”
“Okay, Ian. I’ve got this,” Violet called out.
“Sarah gets everything,” Belinda continued to wail, clearly drunk again.
“First, she landed Franklin, then she moves on so quickly to Ian when he should have been mine. Why is she so lucky in love? In everything! Perfect, perfect Sarah!” She screamed, hitting the back of her head against the door once. “Her whole life is this big charming…”
Violet tuned out the tirade and started texting Sarah and Belinda’s mom because she knew when something was too big for her to handle. This was family stuff and clearly Belinda needed help. Probably rehab if her out-of-control drinking was any indication.
“Belinda—”
“No. It’s my turn to talk!”
Violet massaged her temple again, but nearly sagged in relief as Ellen, Sarah’s mom, and Birdie, Belinda’s mom, strode into the room.
Birdie stalked forward, a long coat in hand, her expression full of horror. “Belinda Anne—”
“Nooo!” Belinda clutched onto the doorframe with a scream.
“Okay guys, you can leave now.” Violet ushered Ian’s brothers out as the two older women handled the ranting bridesmaid.
“It’s just not fair,” Belinda cried softly as the women finally got her to stop holding onto the doorframe and into the long coat.
Violet wondered where her clothes were—had she just shown up here naked? If so, she had more questions, but none of it mattered except getting Belinda gone and finding Sarah.
Birdie mouthed “sorry” to Violet as they eventually ushered the sobbing woman from the room.
“Ian? You in there?” Violet called out once it was just her. She really hoped Tripp found Sarah soon.
“You alone?” he called out.
“Yeah, just me.”
The door swung open and to her surprise, Sarah popped her head out.
“Sarah!” Violet pulled her into a gentle hug. “I’ve been looking for you.”
“I know, I know.” Her cheeks were flushed as she slid her arm around Ian in his rumpled tux. “We decided to sneak in a quickie but lost track of time. I was trying to get out of here when his brothers and then Belinda showed up. Holy, what a nightmare she’s been.”
“We thought it might set her off even more if she knew Sarah was in here,” Ian added.
“So you guys are good then?” Violet asked. “Ready to get this thing started?”
Tripp stepped back into the room before they answered. “Found her,” he said with a grin.
“Thank you so much. Your help has been invaluable,” she murmured before turning back to Sarah and Ian. “Sarah, you come with me. Ian, you and your brothers need to go get in place now.”
“I feel like I should salute you sometimes,” Ian muttered.
“I wouldn’t hate it.” She looked at Tripp. “You go with him,” she ordered.
And oh, she really, really had to ignore that heated look in Tripp’s gaze as he half-saluted her. Because she couldn’t tell Sarah about the night before. It would be too weird. And it was her wedding day.
So she turned to her friend of forever and cupped her face in her hands. “Let’s get you married.”
Sarah covered her hands and smiled. “Thank you for everything. I know this wedding has been a lot.”
“This wedding has been the absolute best I’ve ever helped plan. And you deserve to marry that man, so let’s do this.”
She would deal with Tripp and her inconvenient feelings for him later.