Page 30 of That Wedding (That Boy 2)
This is why I love that boy.
And I love him even more when we get to his car. He kisses me quickly and deeply then picks me up and sets me on the hood. He's standing between my legs and leaning his torso tightly into mine. He grabs my legs, wraps them around his waist, and pulls me in closer. A couple of things cross my mind before I unzip his pants. It's really a good thing the parking lot is dark and deserted, and I'm really glad I wore a dress.
I call Lori while Phillip is in a meeting. "Do you think our past matters? Like does it freak you out that Danny slept with a lot of different girls?"
"Not really. His past is what makes him who he is. Plus, I figure he got it all out of his system. I don't think your past has to define you. I wasn't exactly a saint either."
"That's for sure, and that's a good way to look at it. You kinda threw me under the bus the other day. Phillip and Danny didn't know about Bradley."
"You hooked up with him off and on for two years! How did they not know that?"
"I never told them. I always said I was staying at the sorority house if I wasn't coming home. They don't know much about the hookups side of my past. Like the guys I was in relationships with, they knew about. The hookups. Not so much."
"Did he get mad?"
"No, we had stupid couple's counseling last night. He sorta brought up how he thought he knew everything about me, but he really doesn't. Then I think he started remembering Monday night, and it distracted him. While we were having our tastings, I told Phillip I wanted to cover him in whipped cream and chocolate and make him my dessert. He stopped and bought stuff on the way home, so I did. It was so fun. Phillip is so damn sexy. I can hardly stand it."
"Did you really? Didn't that make a mess?"
"It would have, if we would've been in bed."
"Where were you?"
"The kitchen. Like mostly the counter, well, then the floor. We cleaned it all up, but I still keep finding little random chocolate smudges. They make me laugh."
"Jade, I'm a little worried about you. Do you really think couple's counseling is stupid?"
"Yeah, didn't you?"
"No, not really. I kinda enjoyed it. It was fun learning about ways to be a better couple. He made us think about issues that we hadn't thought to discuss, and I was glad we did."
"You were always a better student than me."
"I studied harder, that's for sure. You hardly ever studied, but you got good grades. That used to piss me off," she says.
"I just have a really good short-term memory. I can't remember any of it now."
"Well, I think you should take counseling more seriously. You and Phillip need to be able to work through things, not just have whipped cream sex."
"Danny told me you solve your conflicts with sex."
"No, we don't. He just thinks we do. If we talk it out first, then I reward him with sex. The sex is all he remembers. I think he has a short-term memory too."
"You're a tricky girl."
She laughs. "So this weekend!! You ready to find the dress of your dreams?"
"I am. Do you really think we'll find a dress?"
"I know we will!"
Tonight, we're both sitting in bed. I'm on my ipad, flipping through wedding cake designs while Phillip is watching, well, I have no idea what he's watching.
He's on the Discovery channel, and every time I glance up, I see big, huge crocodiles eating something.
It's really disturbing me, so I try not to glance up, but, yuck, I accidentally do.
So it's really no wonder with all this wedding planning going on in my mind that my subconscious would play havoc with my dreams.
I walk out onto a stage as an announcer says, "And on today's journey through the dark recesses of Bridalville, we find our heroine, Princess Jadyn, on the search for the perfect wedding dessert."
I sit at a big golden banquet table, eating dessert after sinful dessert. An audience claps at me when I choose to have purple edible flowers flown in from Guam for my special day. "She's so creative," the announcer says.
Then it's my wedding day. Phillip pulls out my chair at our sweetheart table. We sit down, and I feel so lucky. Phillip is beaming at me. Our friends and families are at all the surrounding tables waiting to be served dinner.
Our amazing Kansas City strip steaks are being delivered. For some reason, we decided it would be very cool to have the steaks carved like an ice sculpture. The steaks are somehow standing on end, and they've been carved to look like a crocodile. Now you would think this might look a little scary, but at the time we picked it out, Phillip and I thought it was adorable because it looked like the crocodile was smiling at us and wishing us a happy life. He was a cute crocodile, like the one from Peter Pan.
But just as our guests are oohing and aahing over our creativeness and how real they look, the crocs come to life, jump up out of the wedding plates, and start to eat up all our guests. One by one, I watch my guests get swallowed up by their crocodile steaks. I start to scream!
Phillip wakes me up.
I tell him about my horrible dream. "What do you think it means?"
"Maybe you're afraid no one will come to the wedding. That we won't have any guests."
"No, that can't be it. These people were already at the reception, and who comes to the wedding and skips the reception? I mean, the reception is the best part."
"People that don't wanna get eaten by a crocodile, perhaps?"
"Smart ass. Well all I know is, I'm not getting the steak."
"I guess I might have to agree with that. Maybe we should call Amy in the morning and go with the filet medallions instead."
I look at Phillip. He has pillow head, and the side of his cheek has red lines across it from where he was sleeping on his hand. I grin at him and move my hands under the sheets. "You know, I think I'm so scared, I might not be able to go back to sleep. You might have to distract me."
He pulls me closer to him as I run my hands down his abs. "How am I supposed to do that?"
I press my lips against his yummy smelling neck, graze my tongue down the side of it, and rub my hand between his legs. "I bet you can think of something."
We're in New York, and Lori is quite prepared with a car to drive us around and a list of stores for us check out. She says, "Jade, if you can't find a dress here, you're doomed."
"Nothing like a little bit of pressure to start my day," I mutter back.
"You didn't get coffee yet, did you? You're always cranky without coffee. Did you eat breakfast?"
"Um, no." She sighs at me. "Don't give me that sigh. I'm going to try on wedding dresses! I needed to look perfect, so I spent a lot of time getting ready." I lean over and whisper in her ear, so the mom's can't hear. "Plus, Phillip would NOT let me out of bed. He's insatiable."
Lori giggles with me then asks the driver to stop at the next coffee shop. She comes back with a latte and a chocolate chip scone for me. I'm happily sipping coffee and thinking about how Phillip looked when I left this morning. All those sexy muscles lying there naked, twisted up sheets down by his feet. The way his eyes sparkled when he spoke. How I can't even remember what he said because I kept thinking how I just wanted to take my clothes off and pounce back on top of him. I think about what I would've done. How I would've run my hands across his broad shoulders. How I love the way his abs feel in my hands. How muscular his butt feels when he's.........
His mom interrupts my thoughts by shoving a file folder in front of me. Mrs. Diamond tells me they clipped out some photos of dresses they thought I should try on.
I thank them and flip through the photos, not really looking at them. My mind is back to sexy places.
We went to a few boutique stores. I tried on some dresses, but nothing wowed us.
Around noon, I'm introduced to a bridal consultant named Hillary. She's short, blonde, and extremely peppy. I like her enthusiasm right away.
Hillary says, "I'm going to steal the bride away for a little while. Enjoy some champagne, and
we'll be back out looking like a bride."
Hillary leads me back to a dressing room, where we sit down. "So tell me about the groom."
"His name is Phillip Mackenzie, and I've known him my whole life. He was my best friend growing up, my college roommate, and we got engaged a couple months ago on our first date."
"Wow, really? I've never met anyone that got engaged on their first date. So how about your budget?"
I tell her my dress budget. She nods and says, "Have you tried on any dresses?"
"I've tried on about thirty."
"And have you liked any of them? Do you have pictures of dresses you like?"
"I have a stack that people think I should try on. I don't want to waste our time though. I know that none of them are the one."
"Okay, why don't you tell me what you liked or didn't like about the dresses you've tried on."
"I hate hoop skirts. I don't want anything heavy. I wanna be able to move."
"Got it. Now describe to me how you want to look on your wedding day."
