Chapter 14 Emilia
EMILIA
“C’mon you guys,” Carter whined. “Eric mixed enough for all of us, so get over here and drink with us!”
I was a little worried that Carter might still be in hair-trigger mode after the incident with Kristen and Drew, but he seemed to have forgotten it.
Maybe our faux engagement really had been all that was needed to calm him down.
Or maybe his attention span was so short that he had literally forgotten about it.
It wouldn’t surprise me if both answers were partially true.
But whatever the reason, things were back on steady footing, which was great to see.
We were at the bar in Roux, one of the resort’s restaurants, where Eric the TikTok famous bartender was churning out a variety of options for their signature cocktail for the wedding.
I glanced at Drew and he shrugged.
“Why not?” he asked.
Well, because we were being paid to be professional, not party with our guests.
“Do it,” Dorian encouraged from behind a wall of people. “It’s fun. One little drink.” Said the spider to the fly… I found myself thinking even as I started walking over. If I refused to join in the fun, I’d stand out too much from the pack. Better to blend in, as usual.
Drew was already belly up to the bar. He held out a tall glass that was too pretty to drink, with a deep pink liquid settled along the bottom that faded to a light blush at the top, with a raspberry on a skewer dropped in.
“This is a Raspberry Fizz,” Eric explained as I took it. “It’s prosecco, Triple sec, and fresh muddled raspberries.”
I took a sip. “Oh wow, this is amazing.”
“Agreed,” Kristen said. She was already halfway finished with hers. “I definitely want this one. We know how I feel about pink.”
“Hold up,” Carter put his hand on top of her drink. “Let’s make this interesting. Who’s in for a couple rounds of ‘never have I ever’?”
Nope, this was getting way too informal, especially with cameras watching us.
“Yes, let’s!” Kristen squealed.
It felt a little like we were court jesters being forced to dance for the king and queen. Drew shrugged as if he recognized the same thing.
“One round,” Drew said. “That’s it.”
“I’ll mix up something different if you’re doing a drinking game,” Eric said. “Something that gets the job done.” I wasn’t sure what he meant by that, but it did not sound like a good thing.
The cameras pushed closer as he mixed.
“Do you really think this is a good idea?” I whispered to Drew.
“No it’s absolutely awful, but what choice do we have? Carter’s happy now and the last thing I want is to set him off again. I’m already on thin ice. We’re drinking.”
Eric handed over tumblers of an ominous dark liquid over ice.
“Let the game begin!” Carter raised his drink in the air. “Whoever is wearing the coolest shoes asks the first question.”
We all looked down at our feet and unanimously pointed at Kristen, whose stilettoes looked like pale pink ballet toe shoes, complete with ribbons winding up her legs.
“Thanks, Christian Louboutin!” She stuck her leg out and wiggled her foot. “Okay, first question is …” She paused to think. “Never have I ever gone skinny dipping!”
We all glanced at each other, and no surprise, we all raised our glasses to drink. I nearly choked when I tasted it.
“What is this?” I asked in between coughs.
“I call it a Pepper Jolly.”
“Do I want to know what’s in it?”
“Probably not.” Eric winked at me.
“Let’s go clockwise,” Carter said, clearly the gamemaster. “Emilia, you’re next.”
“Um,” I hadn’t played the game since college, where the questions were normally very NSFW. “Never have I ever … slid into someone’s DMs.”
Both Kristen and Carter sipped, but Drew and I didn’t.
“Damn, K! I thought I’d be the only one,” Carter whined.
“It was one time, and he blew me off,” she laughed. “And you did it too, so shut up!”
Not shocking that our two Insta-celebrities had used their star power to direct message people they were hot for, but totally surprising that Drew hadn’t. Then again, he was such a technophobe. Did he even have social media?
“Drew, you go,” Carter said.
“Never have I ever snooped on someone else’s phone.”
His eyes rested on me. Was he referencing our meet ugly in the lobby, when we accidentally grabbed each other’s phones?
“It wasn’t snooping,” I insisted, wagging a finger at him. “I was clarifying ownership.”
“Uh-oh, lover’s quarrel,” Carter laughed.
I was about to set the record straight but then I remembered that we were supposed to be a blissfully in love couple.
“I’m not drinking, because it wasn’t snooping,” I sniffed. I glanced around and noticed that no one had. “The rule is if no one drinks, the question asker has to. Bottoms up, Drew.”
He rolled his eyes at me but then toasted me with the glass and took a sip.
“Now me,” Carter said loudly, to make sure all of the attention was on him. “Never have I ever role played in bed.”
Damn. We were going there? I glanced around and only Kristen and Carter drank. Drew caught my eye and shrugged.
Hold on. Was that … an invitation?
“Kristen, now you. And make it spicy!” Carter laughed.
Wait, what happened to us only doing one round? Apparently that plan had gone out the window. Damn, now I had to come up with another one for my turn.
“Okay, spicy it is. Never have I ever … faked an orgasm!”
Oh shit. This was a terrible idea. Obviously the guys didn’t drink, so they both stared at us.
The truth was, I had faked them. To end boring lovemaking, to stroke a guy’s ego, to pretend that I was more into it than I actually was.
I took a sip and the three of them freaked out.
“No!” Kristen howled. “Girl, you can’t! Don’t let a man’s fragility ruin your pleasure!”
“She’s got a point,” Carter said thoughtfully. “If you fake it, how will your partner ever learn what you like?”
Why did my eyes immediately slide to Drew?
“I mean, I’m assuming that happened a long time ago, because this guy would never leave you hanging.” Carter reached over to pretend to punch Drew in the stomach. I noticed he didn’t flinch.
“Oh, trust me, I have zero complaints about my man,” I said, hoping that I sounded convincing and that it wasn’t obvious how mortified I was that we were talking about how we fake-fuck in front of cameras. “He knows what he’s doing. Never leaves me hanging.”
Drew slid closer to me and wrapped his arm around my shoulder. “Let’s just say it’s a good thing I don’t have any close neighbors.”
Everyone laughed and I joined in, heavy on the cheesiness.
“Your turn,” Carter said to me. “Let’s keep the spice going!”
Who was I to disappoint the king?
“Never have I ever had sex on the beach,” I said.
I turned off my taste buds and took a big gulp of the not-so-jolly drink, as did Carter and Kristen, but to my great shock, not Drew.
“Whoa,” Carter howled. “You’ve got miles of beachfront right outside. Why not?”
“Seriously?” I asked him in a quiet voice.
“I appreciate comfort,” he said as explanation.
“I’d rather not get sand in my …” He glanced at the cameras.
“Well, you know. Besides, I don’t want to have to rush, or spend half the time looking around, wondering if we’re about to get caught.
” He locked eyes with me. “I want to give my partner my undivided attention—spread her out somewhere soft and warm and take my time making her feel incredible. Over and over again.” In spite of myself, I shivered.
“Yeah, but what about in a cabana?” Kristen asked, startling me. Drew looked away, and I finally remembered to take a breath.
“Okay, good point,” he said. “Guess I need to add that to my bucket list. Or should I say, we need to.”
He looked at me and winked, and I swear my face caught on fire.
“Nice,” Carter clapped. “Okay, I get to ask one more question: never have I ever sent filthy photos to someone.”
The three of them drank but I didn’t.
“I’ve been begging her,” Drew said, playing the part. “I’m not sure why she won’t.”
“Oh come on,” Kristen said. “You’re so gorgeous, why wouldn’t you want to show off the goods?”
I was even more aware of the cameras now.
“I don’t think I look good in photos,” I said quietly.
It was more honest than I would have been sober, and I immediately regretted being so vulnerable in front of, well, the world basically.
“Seriously?” Drew asked me softly. “Why in the world not? You’re perfect.”
I shrugged and stared at my feet.
“Not even like, a cleavage shot?” Carter asked, totally missing the vibe.
“I’m lame, sorry.” I forced a laugh, trying to keep it light and play it off.
“Well, that’s another thing the two of you will have to have fun with. Wow, this game has turned into a checklist for you guys!” Kristen said.
“Indeed it has,” Drew agreed as he moved closer to me. “I can’t wait to get started.”
I was convinced that I was now tomato red.
“Okay, game over,” Carter decreed. “Time for more sampling.”
“Wait!” Kristen said. “I have one more; never have I ever been the first person to tell someone I love them.”
Both Kristen and Carter polished off their drinks. Drew and I seemed to realize at the same moment that one of us would’ve had to say it first.
I panicked as our bride and groom seemed to figure it out as well.
“Hold on, did you guys get engaged without telling you that you love each other? How does that even work?” Carter laughed.
“Oh, uh, it’s actually a funny story,” I began, staring at Drew and praying that he was better at thinking on his feet than I was in this moment.
He chuckled and gave me a nod that seemed to signify that he could step up to cover. “So funny. We said it at the exact same time!”
“Aww,” Kristen said, placing her hand over her heart. “So cute!”
“Yup,” Drew replied. “We’d just had a wonderful day together.
Slept in, went to the beach, dozed under a big umbrella, swam a little.
Then we grabbed food cart tacos on the way home.
We were sitting on a picnic bench in the corner of a parking lot, both a little sweaty and tired but so fucking happy.
I said ‘I have something to tell you’ and Em said ‘me too, but I’m scared.
’ So I suggested that we both say it at the same time, on the count of three. Well, you can guess what we each said.”
“Gotta admit, that is cute,” Carter said.
Drew tightened his arm around me and pulled me closer so we were fully touching down one side. His body felt so strong and solid and there was so much of it, like he could pull me in and surround me completely. I wondered if he could feel the tremor that rolled through me.
“Folks, if I may interrupt,” Eric called out from behind us. “I mixed up another drink that I’m calling Love in Unison.”
Eric described what was in the drink and Drew and I untangled slowly.
I snuck away from the others, hoping no one would notice.
When I was out of earshot I leaned against the wall and took a deep breath.
I needed to keep reminding myself of the potential long-term benefit to putting up with all the cameras and Carter.
Drew was doing surprisingly okay and I had no idea what to think about how well Mr. Tall, Dark, and Grumpy was managing to lie on the fly. I was sweating, certain that at any second, someone would catch us in a lie and then it’d be all over for us.
I could see him looking around and I wasn’t sure if he was trying to find me so I raised my hand to catch his attention. The smile he gave me was doing things to my insides it should have no business doing. We were play acting. Nothing more.
There were cameras everywhere and I wouldn’t have been surprised if we had one or more designated for us from the moment we became a couple of interest. Drew said something to the production coordinator standing next to him, then started walking toward me with the same smile on his face.
I could have sworn he slowed his steps to draw them out.
Like some sort of predatory alpha hole intent on staking his claim on… me?
“Hi.” It came out in a squeak and I cleared my throat to say it again but before I could, he swept me into his arms and swung me around. I pointed at the mic on my collar and Drew grimaced then gave me a fast nod letting me know he knew, which meant I needed to go along with whatever he planned.
“I have an idea about what we should have for dinner, but first, I wanted to check to see how hungry you are. Are you … hungry?”
“Um, I guess?” I said, trying to play along but not sure what he was getting at.
Drew shifted closer, the heat from his body spreading up my legs and into other parts it had no business going.
I felt him reposition and realized he was angling us so that the cameras would capture whatever he was about to say next, with cinematic framing.
I glanced above us and noticed the faux tree branch covered in cherry blossoms.
So far, he was doing an excellent job picking his staging.
“So would you say that you’re starving?” Drew asked in a deep, rumbly voice that sent flames up my spine.
It wasn’t hard to embrace my inner actress in this scenario. Weirdly enough, it barely felt like acting. I bit my lip and stared up at him with bedroom eyes. “Oh, I am. I can wait until later to have a full feast, but I definitely need a taste right now.”
“Oh really?” Drew murmured, his eyes on my mouth.
I felt my breathing go shallow as my body woke up to what was happening.
I nodded and leaned a tiny bit closer to him, like I was teasing him.
Drew reached out to cup my cheek and just that was enough to make my legs feel rubbery.
“Okay, just a taste,” he whispered so softly that I had to lean even closer to catch it.
And then he pressed his lips to mine.
It wasn’t much more than a peck, a brief, closed mouth kiss, but the damn thing nearly made me see stars.
Drew kept his hand resting against my cheek, probably to add to the cinematic sweetness of our little show, and I had to fight to keep from letting out a little satisfied noise, like I’d just eaten something delicious.
Drew pulled away slowly, never breaking off eye contact.
“Let’s call that an appetizer,” he said with a sexy grin. “We’ll have the main course later.”
I was still a little dumbfounded by the kiss but I knew that I needed to keep up appearances for the cameras. We certainly didn’t want this to look like our first kiss.
“Maybe we need to make use of that storage room afterall?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at him.
“Ooh, I like how you think,” he rumbled.
“Mics off,” I instructed.
“Sorry, team,” Drew spoke directly into it. “This next bit is just for us.”
We both knew it was fiction, but not so deep down, I wished we were actually going to see it through.