Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 112961 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 565(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 377(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112961 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 565(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 377(@300wpm)
Hooking the final fastener at the top, I give myself one brief indulgence, and cup a palm to the back of her neck as I lean around to gaze at her. Her cheeks are flushed, pupils wide and black.
Jesus, she’s as turned on as I am.
“Your chastity is assured,” I tell her. “Because I am not doing that again.”
Fizzy smiles and clears her throat before turning fully to give me an appreciative once-over. “You look hot.”
“Thank you. You…” I swallow when my voice comes out a bit strangled. “You look breathtaking.”
She reaches up, touching my bow tie. “I was hoping you’d arrive flustered over how to tie this so I could do it for you.”
With a grin, I reach up and tug the end, untying it in a smooth pull.
Fizzy’s answering smile is a bolt of sunlight.
“I figure you should do something in return after I fastened those seven thousand tiny buttons.”
The unintended innuendo hangs heavy in the air between us. She steps toward me, still smiling as she takes hold of the tie, tugging it to align the ends evenly around my neck. “I didn’t get the impression you were under duress.”
“I’ll send you the bill for my arthritis prescriptions.”
She hums and her smile lingers, softening. “Are you ready for today? It might be overwhelming.”
“I hope so. It’s been a while since I attended a fancy wedding.”
“Yours?”
I laugh. “No. I went as someone’s plus-one.”
“Did that night end with your chastity intact?”
I let out a hearty laugh. “Oh yes. She was a friend of a coworker and had recently relocated from Arizona. I knew from the moment I picked her up that something was off, but she insisted she was fine.”
“Oh boy.”
“Indeed. She cried during the ceremony—”
“Understandable.”
“Absolutely, but then also cried during dinner and the first dance. When I finally asked if she really was all right, she admitted that her husband had left her for his assistant, and that’s why she’d relocated to be closer to her parents.” Fizzy’s wince deepens as she focuses on the bow tie. “When the guests were invited to make toasts, she held her glass aloft and told the happy couple to enjoy the night because love is an illusion and men are incapable of keeping their dicks in their pants.”
“You realize I’m stealing this story, right?”
I nod. “So, it’s a low bar, but I’m guessing no matter what happens tonight, it will be better than that.”
Fizzy laughs. “Glass half-full, I like it. But you have no idea how huge my family is. Statistically speaking, that’s a lot of crazy.”
With her focus still on the bow tie, I take the opportunity to openly stare at her. “Evan did pull me aside and give me some inside scoop.”
Fizzy’s hands go still. “He did?”
“What to give, some of the things you’ve probably been doing this morning, like the tea ceremony—”
Her bursting laugh interrupts me. “Did he tell you that Peter would be on a wild scavenger hunt?”
I shake my head, mesmerized by the way her lips plump into a sweet pout when she thinks over her explanation. “In our community, the tea ceremony is a big deal. It usually happens in the morning, and the bride and groom are kept apart. The groom is given a list of tasks to prove his love for the bride before the family decides he’s worthy enough. It’s all a game, but Kailey’s three sisters were the ones to pull it all together and he had to do beer pong at seven this morning—”
“Actual beer?”
She nods, beaming. “Then they made him drink some kind of random fridge concoction—we were all gagging. He had to answer trivia about Kailey, and then dance and sing for everyone.”
“The singing and dancing in front of everyone—”
“Am I describing your literal nightmare?”
I begin to say yes but then, for a feverish pulse, I imagine an alternate universe where it is me at this ceremony, proving my worth to this woman right here. My hesitation melts. “No” comes out instead. “If I was in love, I’d do it all.”
“Carry ten gallons of water half a block using only leaky buckets?”
I reach up, dragging a strand of hair away from her bottom lip. “Of course.”
“Drink a fridge concoction?”
“Easy.”
“Easy?” She squints at me. “Hoisin, mayo, rice vinegar, almond milk, garlic paste, and mango juice.”
“You act like it’s cyanide.” I laugh. “You think a man who loves a woman won’t drink something minging to be able to see her walking down the aisle toward him?”
She looks up and meets my gaze. Her right eye has a spot of gold in it, like she looked up at the sun once and a tiny splinter of it became trapped there. I can see it shrink as her pupils dilate.
Fuck.
She blinks away. “Would you run three miles in the middle of the night for this hypothetical woman, too?”