Chapter 17 Emilia
EMILIA
Iknew I was whining but I didn’t care. Desperate times required desperate negotiating tactics.
I flattened my hands against the glass shower walls and peered in at Drew as he soaped himself up.
“Please?” I asked. “We’ll be so fast.”
He wagged his sudsy finger at me. “Liar! Once you get next to my dick you don’t let up. There is no such thing as a quickie with you. And how many times did you have your wicked way with me last night?”
“Not enough,” I pouted.
I decided to make him an offer he couldn’t refuse. I turned my back to him and pulled my t-shirt off, then stared at him over my shoulder.
“Yup, you’re still sexy as hell,” he laughed. “But I don’t have time, woman.”
“Oh yeah?” I decided to level up. I grabbed the waistband of my leggings and drew them down slowly, bending over at the waist so each agonizing inch down revealed my naked ass until I was fully nude.
I heard the shower door open behind me.
“One second,” he ordered. “That’s it. A quick kiss and then we’re done.”
“Yay!”
I stepped into the giant, steamy shower that was as big as a room in my house and slid my arms around Drew’s wet body. It felt like a homecoming, like my body temperature could immediately adjust to his.
“Okay. You’re right. I needed this,” he murmured as we embraced.
I could feel his dick pulsing against my body so I reached down to grip it.
“Emilia,” he huffed.
I smiled as his head dropped back, making it clear how utterly helpless and under my spell he was as I stroked him.
But then he was moving away from me, his face so pained you’d think I just stabbed him.
“I want to fuck you so bad, but I have meetings all day long. If I’m late to one the rest of the day is shot.”
He was speaking my language, unfortunately.
“Okay, I get it.”
Drew moved close to me to whisper in my ear.
“Yeah, and you will get it, tonight. Know this; I’m going to tease you just like you did to me, until you’re begging me for more.
I’ll bring you to the edge over and over and over, but stop each time, right before you’re about to break apart beneath me.
And I’ll keep it up all night, until you’re exhausted, and then I’ll let you come. Got it?”
I sucked in a breath and nodded. “Promise?”
He smacked my ass and the sound echoed around the cavernous bathroom.
“Count on it.”
We both sped through our morning routines, because it wasn’t like I had a free day, either. I was meeting Kristen and Nora for a day of pre-wedding activities that included hair trials and a bridesmaid dress fitting.
They were both waiting for me when I arrived at the super-high-end salon. From the way they were eyeing me, I wondered if I had a ‘just been fucked’ glow.
“Well, you look amazing,” Nora said as she took me in. “What’s different about you today?”
I winked at her when I spotted Kristen walking over. “Details later.”
“Hi, pretty lady,” Kristen said as she gave me a quick hug. “Thank you for being here today. Now you can meet the rest of my bridal party!”
She pointed to the group of women clustered around the champagne bottles.
“Yes, all nine of them,” Nora said, giving me a knowing look.
Our experience showed that the more bridesmaids in a wedding, the more chances for skirmishes.
I looked over again and spotted a couple that looked familiar, probably from the TV show she was on.
“I’ve been snapping a ton of photos of them,” Nora said as she raised up her camera. “What a fun group!”
A pretty brunette that I assumed was the hair stylist walked over to us. “Kristen? Can we chat before we get started?”
They walked away, leaving me and Nora by ourselves for a few minutes.
I glanced over at the smaller production team working through the set-up then looked Nora up and down.
“Did they mic you?” I asked her.
She shook her head. “Not yet, but they’re working on it.”
“Good. I need to tell you something.” I grabbed her hand and dragged her to an empty part of the salon.
“Yeah, you’re wearing that moony smile you get when you’re up to something,” Nora accused me. “Spill it.”
I looked around to make sure no one was near. “I slept with Drew last night.”
Her eyes went wide and her mouth dropped open. “Wait. What? How? Were you just being really method and getting into your role, or—”
I shushed her, looking around nervously. I’d already filled Nora in on the parameters of my fake engagement but neither one of us had anticipated this latest development.
“It just happened,” I admitted.
“What, you tripped and fell on his dick?”
I laughed at her. “Okay, you’re right, there was more to it. We had a really nice evening together. He may actually be a better guy than I thought at first. A little. Maybe.”
“That’s not exactly a great endorsement,” she laughed at me.
“Okay, fine, he is better—but you know I don’t like admitting I was totally wrong in my first impression, okay?”
“What changed?” Nora asked me.
I paused as I considered how our relationship had evolved. “I saw the real him. Deep down, he’s got a huge heart. And empathy.”
“A billionaire with empathy? How is that possible?”
“Stop,” I swatted at her. “He’s been amazing about Winston, and he went to see Poppy with me last night.” I smiled at the thought of the two of them teasing each other. “He got the elder Marino seal of approval, which ain’t easy.”
“Oh damn,” Nora said, the admiration clear. “Even I had to put in some serious work to earn that. Okay then, maybe there is something to the guy?”
I shrugged. “I hope so.”
Nora watched me for a beat, and I braced myself for the sisterly insights.
“Just be careful. This is all moving super fast. You’ve got a freaking engagement ring on your finger, but that was just supposed to be a prop. Now you’re all moved in and sleeping with the guy?”
“I’m just having fun,” I insisted.
“And that’s great. You should be! Enjoy the ride, literal and metaphorical, until the end. But guard your heart. I don’t want to see you get hurt if it turns out he still sees this as some kind of game. You’re getting invested, but you need to make sure that his heart is in the right place.”
Nora was right There was a chance he saw this as nothing more than having some fun while we kept the charade going. Just because he wanted me now didn’t mean he saw this as something that might last.
“You’re right,” I finally admitted. “I’ll be careful.”
“Good,” Nora leaned close and gave me a quick squeeze. “Looks like they’re ready for us. Showtime!”
I let out a long sigh. My work day now included being TV-ready, which added a layer to my already tough job. But then again, Kristen wasn’t even close to being a bridezilla. I liked her, even if her other half could be a loose cannon.
I hovered in the wings because there wasn’t much for me to do in the scenario. But Kristen seemed to like having me along for the ride, to be her defender if other vendors gave her any trouble. Carter was off in a different part of the salon, getting an old-fashion straight razor shave.
It wasn’t necessary, but apparently, capturing the shiny blade coming down on his cheeks made for good TV and he loved being on camera, which made me wonder how much of a personality he had once the cameras weren’t pointed his way. Kristen saw something in him and that’s what mattered.
The salon had their shit together because they moved through all ten hairstyles in record time. One of the junior stylists even came over to me with a brush and hairspray, to tame down the back of my hair.
“Hey everyone,” I said in my tour guide voice, clapping my hands to try to break through the noise.
The chatter was at a fever pitch so I grabbed a champagne glass and spoon and tapped until the group finally quieted.
“Okay friends, we all need to get on the bus so we can head to our next stop,” I shouted. “We have to stay on schedule, folks! Let’s go.”
Thankfully the group listened and loaded up, and I breathed a sigh of relief as the bus pulled out.
“Ready?” Nora asked me.
“Onward,” I answered with a nod.
Our next location was the bridal dress shop where the bridesmaids were trying on their gowns for the first time.
Once again, I was there to supervise and hover in the wings.
Kristen’s gown was finished but she needed to do some last minute adjustments to the length of the veil.
The film crew was busy capturing Carter’s comical reactions to the bridesmaids’ fitting, so Kristen and I had a few quiet moments to ourselves while we waited for the seamstress.
She gazed at her beautiful veil, which was hanging from a high hook and sort of looked like an elegant ghost.
“Come look at this lace,” Kristen said to me.
I joined her as she studied the gossamer fabric.
“It’s stunning.”
She nodded. “And there’s a story to it. My great grandparents were from Ireland.
When my grandparents got married, my grandmother’s relatives in Limerick stitched violets for the trim of her veil.
They’re a symbol of faithfulness. The bad news is that the veil wasn’t stored properly, so it’s not usable anymore, but I still wanted to honor the tradition.
I tracked down some craftspeople in the same town and had them recreate it.
So I’ll be wearing a tribute to my grandparents when I … ”
She broke off as tears filled her eyes.
“Oh, Kristen, I’m sorry,” I said as I swooped in to give her a hug.
I thought about my own grandfather, and how devastating losing him would be.
“I can only imagine how hard this is,” I said.
“I miss him so much,” she sniffled as we pulled apart.
An idea occurred to me. It was pretty out there… but watching Kristen mourn her grandfather pushed me to at least give it a shot.
“Do you have many photos of your grandfather? Or videos?” I asked tentatively.
“Yeah, I’ve got tons,” she nodded as she wiped away her tears. “He was shockingly tech savvy for his age. He used to send me video notes all the time. Just silly stuff. He even got into sending me ‘fit videos.’”
“He worked out?”
Kristen laughed at me. “Not quite. ‘Fit’ like ‘outfit.’ He was a dapper dude. Hats and everything.”
“That’s actually perfect,” I said as the idea started to take shape.
“What is?” Kristen frowned at me.
“Stay with me, because this is going to sound weird at first,” I began.
“I worked with a couple a few years back who absolutely loved the movie Avatar. They went to see the movie on their first date and it became a theme for them. So much so that they incorporated it into their wedding. There were references to it on the invitation, and their cake toppers were the characters dressed in bridal outfits. Oh, and she walked down the aisle to the theme song from the movie.”
“Big, blue aliens,” Kristen said slowly. “Okay. That’s a choice.”
“I don’t ask questions, I just give my clients what they want,” I laughed.
“Anyway, they really wanted to do something unique with the theme and the groom came up with the idea to put on motion capture suits for their first dance and have the footage converted to create a livestream showing them as the characters. So when the guests looked at the screen with the feed, they saw the blue aliens dancing, not the bride and groom.”
“That’s … different.” Kristen was clearly trying to be diplomatic, but I could tell she had no clue where I was going with this.
I rushed to make the connection for her.
“What if we try something like that with you? We could feed the footage of your grandfather into the CGI tech and broadcast you dancing with your grandfather. The camera crew would record it, so when you look back on the wedding video, you’ll see yourself dancing with your grandfather. ”
She paused and stared off into space, processing the idea. “I wouldn’t have to wear one of those motion capture suits, right?”
“No, not at all, just the actor playing the role of your grandfather. Maybe we could even get a relative to wear it and dance with you?”
“I’m sorry, who’s going to be dancing with my wife?” Carter asked as he pulled Kristen to him.
I quickly explained the scenario to him.
“Eh, I don’t know, about that,” he said. “Those friggin’ outfits are weird and way too tight. I don’t want to look at the outline of some guy’s junk while he’s dancing with my wife.”
“Carter!” Kristen slapped him on the arm.
“I’m serious,” he whined. “Remember that zombie show you did where a bunch of the actors wore them? What was it called? Eat the Living or something? You saw how tight those things are. It’d totally ruin the vibe we’re trying to have. You see that, right, babe?”
“But honey,” Kristen’s voice trembled. “I love the idea of including my grandfather. I think if we did it right it could be really special.”
I could tell she was really latching onto the plan, so I needed to intervene to help Carter understand it.
“What if we set you and the other person up in a side room and just broadcast the footage, instead of having you dancing with a green suited person in front of your guests? Could that work?”
They both considered it.
“Yeah, I could see that being okay,” Carter said. “So the green suit dude would never show up in the main ballroom, right?”
“Exactly,” I agreed. “The only thing your guests would see is the broadcast on the screen, and it would look like Kristen and her grandfather dancing. Kristen, what do you think?”
“I love it,” she sniffled. “Carter? Yes?”
He planted a kiss on the top of her head. “Of course yes. I want all of your dreams to come true. This is our wedding and after-party. So, there needs to be parts of both of us in it.”
Despite their speed-run engagement, the moment was pretty touching and heartfelt even if I did want to correct him. It was a reception to celebrate their wedding. Not an after-party. Baby steps.
“I promise you, it’s going to be a beautiful moment,” I said.
Of course, the concept added another layer to my workload, but it was worth it.
Exceeding expectations was what I did best.