Chapter 19
DREW
“Are you nervous?” I asked Emilia as we walked up to Harrison and Gwen’s front door.
“Who, me? Nervous about meeting my fake fiancé’s nearest and dearest family and friends? Oh no, not at all!” She laughed. “Just to clarify, the only people who know we’re not a real couple are your brothers and father?”
“Correct,” I said. “If anyone else asks about us, stick with the plan. We can’t afford to have any leaks out there.”
“Got it,” she said with a nod. “So we’re doing the PDA thing?”
I paused before ringing the doorbell. “Oh, hell yes. So don’t be surprised if I do this.” I wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close. “Or this,” I put my finger under her chin and lifted it. “Or this.” I leaned down to give her a gentle kiss.
Even the briefest press of our lips was enough to wake up my entire body to the possibilities. Reluctantly, I pulled away. I was so consumed by the woman that it didn’t take much to get me going, and I wasn’t about to walk into the party with a hard on.
When I stepped back Emilia was still frozen with her eyes shut and her face upturned.
“What were you saying?” she joked. “I blacked out for a second.”
Unable to help myself, I kissed her again—then rang the doorbell. We did our best to break apart when we heard footsteps approaching.
“Hold on, you’re early?” my brother said as he opened the door. “How is this possible?”
I smirked at him as we walked into the foyer. “Coming for me already, huh? I’ll have you know that my beautiful fiancée is Google Maps in human form. She took me on back roads that I didn’t know existed. Cut off a good twenty minutes of drive time.”
Harrison held out his hand. “Harrison Ashford, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Maps.”
“Emilia.” She smiled at him. “Your home is lovely. Thank you for having me.”
“Where’s the best dog in the world?” I asked, craning my neck to try to spot their dog Monty.
“He takes his hosting duties way too seriously and would’ve insisted on kissing every guest on the mouth, so he’s with his dog walker for the night.”
A loud, distressed female voice echoed from another room.
Harrison grimaced in sympathy. “Sorry, you kind of walked into a crisis control center. We’ve got a disaster on our hands.
The plan was for us to do a cake reveal—a double-layer cake with the frosting between the layers colored either blue or pink—and it turns out our baker misunderstood the very clear instructions.
We have one small cake we’re going to cut into to reveal the icing color, and then we have a big sheet cake that everyone will get to eat.
The staff was getting it cut up and ready so they could serve the slices immediately after the reveal, and it turns out the baker didn’t put the reveal color in the big cake—the icing is white on the inside too. Gwen is beside herself.”
“Oh no,” Emilia frowned. “That’s a pretty huge mistake. Can I help?”
“Are you a magician?” Harrison asked with a sad smile.
“Because I’m not sure what can be done. The baker who made it is delivering a wedding cake and isn’t available today.
Gwen is a wonderful chef and baker but she doesn’t have the supplies or the bandwidth to doctor her own cake right before the party starts. ”
“I might have an idea,” Emilia said. “Is Gwen okay to chat with me for a minute?”
“Yeah, I think so,” Harrison replied. “This way.”
I followed my brother though his beautiful home and marveled about how much had changed in his life. The darkness that had hovered over him for so many years was gone, and he seemed freer. Happier. But then again, how could he not be with a beautiful wife and baby on the way?
When we walked into the kitchen I spotted an adorably pregnant Gwen holding onto the counter with her head bowed. Three servers huddled behind her anxiously.
“How hard was it to—” she paused when she saw she had a full audience. “Oh my gosh, hi, guys. Sorry I’m a mess; I need to figure out a cake emergency.”
She walked over to us, doing her best to smile.
“Gwen, this is Emilia Marino,” I explained, “and she’s got a solution for you.”
The women embraced like the shared cake trauma had bonded them before a word was spoken.
When they pulled apart Gwen clasped Emilia’s shoulders. “So nice to meet you! Do you happen to have a pound of buttercream frosting and food coloring in your purse?”
“Not quite,” Emilia laughed. “But I know someone who does. I’m not sure if Drew told you that I’m a wedding planner?
Anyway, I work with a bunch of bakers but there’s one in particular who owes me a favor, and her shop is only about fifteen minutes away from here.
We can drive the cake over, have them spilt the layers apart, scrape off the white frosting, throw the right color frosting in, then close it up and re-frost it. Easy peasy. What do you think?”
Gwen’s bottom lip trembled. “It’s so stupid to be emotional about cake, but I am. I wanted today to be perfect.”
“It will be, I promise,” Emilia reassured her. I could tell she’d engaged her nervous bride protocol, which also seemed to work on distraught, pregnant party hosts. “So what do you think?”
Harrison walked over. “I think it’s a fantastic solution if you two don’t mind missing a little bit of the party.”
I shook my head. “Of course we don’t. You two focus on your guests, we’ll take care of dessert.”
After Emilia made a quick call to confirm that the baker was at her shop and had time to squeeze us in, Gwen handed Emilia an envelope with a note containing the baby’s sex and made us promise not to spoil it, so we could all share the big reveal together.
We worked with the staff to get the cake boxed up and ready for the trip.
Emilia and I tag-teamed it out to my car and loaded it in the tiny back seat.
“I’m driving,” she said, holding her hand out.
“Excuse me?”
“Trying to navigate there is a pain in the ass, and we’re on a time crunch. It’s easier for me to just drive rather than trying to explain the directions.”
I paused. Allowing her behind the wheel of my custom Bugatti La Voiture Noire was a next level request.
“You do know that this car was made to my exact specifications. There’s no other car in the world like it.”
“I’m one-of-a-kind as well, so it’s a perfect combination. Besides, this is a party emergency.” She held out her hand. “Now gimme.”
I sighed. She did have a point.
“Fine.” I handed the key to her.
“I get to drive the Batmobile, yay,” she cheered. “How much does this thing go for anyway? A mil?”
I snorted in response. “Times ten, give or take.”
Emilia froze. “Wait. What?”
“It’s fine. I trust you.”
I gave her a quick overview of how the thing worked since it had a lot of differences from a regular car and we started our journey.
Twenty minutes later both us and the cake arrived at the bakery, in a drive that would have taken me easily half an hour. Watching her, you’d have thought Emilia was born behind the wheel. She really was magic. We eased the cake out of the back seat and walked it in together.
“You know, that was really fucking hot,” I said in a low voice, right before we got to the black and white striped awning.
“What?”
“You driving my car. You figured it out quickly, and you handled it like a boss. And it’s stick!”
She winked at me as she grabbed the door. “I know what to do when I grab something hard.”
Damn it. There was no way we could fuck in my car, but maybe I could find a room we could duck into back at Harrison’s?
Jeanie the baker was ready for us, with a big silver bowl of buttercream next to vials of food coloring. Emilia and I excused ourselves while she got to work.
There was no one in the anteroom between the kitchen and the front of the house so I pushed Emilia against the wall.
“Wha—?” She yelped her surprise.
“Shhh,” I cautioned. “I just need a little nibble. You’ve got me so fucking turned on.”
“From driving?” Emilia laughed.
“From everything,” I replied as I leaned closer to nip her neck. “The way you handled the mess with the cake, the way you drove my car, how you looked while doing it, this sexy dress,” I slid my hand beneath the hem to caress her thigh.
“Drew,” she scolded me, but she didn’t move away. “We can’t.”
I continued kissing and biting her neck while my hand inched up her thigh. She was right—we really couldn’t do anything here beyond some teasing, but if I could’ve guaranteed that no one would interrupt us I’d pin her to the wall and have her right here.
We heard a clatter from the back and sprang apart. No surprise, I was rock hard, and Emilia’s face was pink.
“When I get you home tonight…” I threatened with a smile.
Home. Yeah, knowing she was going home with me felt right.
“What are you gonna do?” Emilia teased.
“Everything. I’m going to strip you down and worship you in ways you can’t even comprehend. I’m going to take my—"
Jeanie popped her head out from behind the door. “Last chance; do you want to see the frosting color?”
I stepped behind a baker’s rack filled with pans to hide my raging hard on. “My sister-in-law asked us to keep it a secret.”
“Okay,” she said with a mysterious smile. “Back to work!”
The minute the door swung shut I pressed against Emilia again. We made out like horny teenagers until we heard footsteps a short while later.
“You’re good to go!” Jeanie said triumphantly. “Boxed up and ready. I iced down the section that was cut so you can’t see the color inside.”
We went back to grab the doctored cake and when she opened the top of the box to show us I whistled my surprise.
“It looks good as new,” I praised. “What do we owe you?”
“Oh, not a penny!” Jeanie replied quickly. “Emilia has driven so much business my way that it’s the least I can do to thank her.”
Emilia frowned at her. “That feels wrong. Are you sure we can’t even give you a tip for such excellent work?”
“One hundred percent sure. I’m just glad I could help. Now get out of here and back to the party.”
Emilia gave Jeanie a hug and we began our reverse journey, this time with me in the driver’s seat.
By the time we got back to Harrison’s the party was well underway. Gwen teared up again when we showed her the cake, and Harrison clapped me on the back.
“Appreciate you, bro,” he said softly.
“You know you can always count on me.”
That had always been the case, in theory—but the Harrison he used to be would never have asked for help, and the Drew I used to be wouldn’t have thought to offer. We were all changing for the better.
I took Emilia’s hand and led her out to where the rest of the guests were gathered, half in the great room and half out on the patio where a DJ was set up. This wasn’t a staid little party, it had the makings of a really good time.
I was both surprised and not that the place was packed.
Ever since the wedding Harrison and Gwen had become major homebodies who liked to bring the fun to them.
They hosted friends for game nights, and movie nights, which meant that my formerly loner big brother was socializing more than he ever had before, all thanks to his lovely bride.
I glanced at Emilia. What sorts of changes was she bringing about in me?
Had I started changing without even realizing it?
I chuckled, silently acknowledging that allowing her to drive my damn car was a big deviation from the norm for me.
And overall, I had to admit that being with Emilia made my baseline mood brighter.
I found myself laughing more, probably also because of my other roommate who lived in my yard.
I just felt more … upbeat. Like she was my own personal ball of sunshine.
“Hey everybody?” Harrison said loudly. “It’s time for the big moment.”
Conversation came to a halt immediately. Not surprising—he’d always had a way of commanding attention. I glanced at Logan across the room. Same with him. We were a formidable trio.
Gwen snuggled up beside Harrison, beaming while a photographer snapped photos.
“Before we find out who this little one is going to be,” he placed a gentle hand on Gwen’s stomach, “we wanted to take a moment to thank all of you for being here. We’re so lucky to have a tribe like this.
Our families,” he paused to look around the room to acknowledge us.
“Our dear friends. Thank you for sharing this moment with us.”
He picked up the silver knife and handed it to Gwen.
Emilia leaned closer to me. “I’m so nervous!”
“Why?” I laughed at her.
“Because what’s about to happen is a big deal! Now they can decorate their nursery, and buy all of the cute little clothes in colors other than yellow and green.”
I watched her beaming at my brother and sister-in-law. Emilia’s joy for them was adorable.
Someone started a countdown, and they joined hands on the knife and pushed it into the cake.
They finished cutting and Harrison held up the slice with a line of bright pink through the center of it, his face awash with a mix of shock and joy.
“We’re having a baby girl!”
The crowd cheered as the DJ cued up an upbeat song.
“That’s Scarlet Rush,” Emilia informed me. “The song is called song ‘All for Her’! That’s so cute.”
I wondered if she knew about my brother and Gwen’s backstory with the singer—and how instrumental Gwen had been in healing the breach. Including the song in the reveal was a fun way to reference their shared history.
“A girl,” Emilia sighed. “What do you think?”
I watched my brother and Gwen hug it out. “There’s a lot of testosterone in this family. We were due for a change.”
None of us knew what the hell to do with a little girl, but it sure was going to be fun finding out.