Page 18 of Dirty Like Brody
My brother had always dated around and never seemed intent on settling down; not until Katie suddenly came into his life. Meanwhile, I just knew I’d fall in love and get married and look as happy as my brother looked right now, and my husband would look at me the way he was looking at Katie. I’d be the perfect wife. I’d make my husband happy and he’d never even think ofleavingme.
That was my little girlfantasy.
Oh, and in that fantasy? My husband wasBrody.
As I watched him across the room with another woman by his side, a woman that—who knew?—maybe hewouldmarry, I realized I couldn’t even be upset about it. I had no right to be. Because I was the one who’d lethimgo.
He was right; Iranaway.
However… that didn’t mean that when I saw Amanda hop up on her tippy-toes to say something in his ear and lingeringly kiss his cheek, I totally kept my cool. No. In fact, Ilostit.
Bigtime.
As in my knees started to give out and I reached back, grabbing onto what I was sure was a sturdy but empty banquet table to sit my ass down—and sat my ass right inthecake.
The ladies around me gave a collect gasp… and wouldn’t it be just perfect if Brody chose that moment tolookover?
Yeah.Hedid.
Maggie grabbed my arm and hauled me up and I turned, mortified, to find a dent in the shape of my butt, dead-center in the cake. Some of it had slopped over the edge of the table and smushed down my leg. There was icing in my open-toedpumps.
At least—thank God—it wasn’tthecake. As in, theweddingcake.
This was just a simple, single-layer thing that had been set out alongside a mountain of other dainties, and in my Brody-induced daze, I’d failed to notice the catering staff setting up behind me. Nobody would even miss this cake, I toldmyself.
Thecake, I told myself, would be a multi-tiered deal that would be served tomorrow, after the ceremony, and would be so big there’s no way I could fail to see it and accidentally back my ass upintoit.
“Shit,” I said, because really, what else couldIsay?
“Look at me.” Maggie got in my face as the attention of the room converged on my icing-coated ass. “Don’t worry about it. You should be charging for that service. It’s a great ass.” Then she snickered and yanked me fromtheroom.
I did notlookback.
* * *
Since I had icingand cake smeared all down my leg and inside my Manolo Blahniks, I kicked off my shoes, did my best to wipe them out with some damp toilet paper and set them to dry. Then I got in the shower. I turned on the water and let it pummel my backside until my dress wascake-free.
It looked like the butter in the icing was going to leave grease stains, which was a damn shame, because I loved this dress. It was a gorgeous, pale coral—my favoritecolor.
I peeled it off and cleaned the rest of me off, lamenting my inability to get through a couple of hours in Brody Mason’s presence without doing something lame. It was as if, when I’d climbed into his truck at the airport, I’d travelled back in time… and regressed into a complete andutterdork.
I was just stepping out of the shower and wrapping myself in a towel when Roni strolled into the bathroom with a freshly-opened bottle of wine. Since Maggie had stagette party business to attend to, she’d tasked Roni with walking me back to our cabin to help me clean up. Though Roni’s idea of helping was pretty much helping herself to the fridge inmyroom.
“Why are you acting like a freak?” she asked, leaning back against the sink and taking a swigofwine.
“Huh? Oh. No reason. You know, sometimes I’mclumsy.”
“Right. How about a tall, blue-eyed reason who keeps trading fuck-me stares with you acrosstheroom.”
“What?” I feigned utter confusion. “Whatblue-eyed…?”
“‘Fuck me’… ‘No, fuck you’… ‘Uh-uh, not if I fuck you first’… Does any of this sound about right? I mean, I wasn’t exactly involved in the conversation. Just a witness. But I’m pretty sure that’s more or less howitwent.”
“Fuck-me stares…? I don’t even know what you’retalking—”
“Save it, Mayes,” she said. “Never bullshit a bullshitter.” Then she turned to fluff up her hair in the mirror. “Better move that ass. We’ve got a stagette to attend. Although if you wanna go fuck Brody, I found a closet at the lodge that would do and I can cover for you. Just don’t take too long. I wanna call dibs on one of the strippers, if they’re fuckable, before the other girls do. I’ve got some chocolate lube in my bag if youwantsome.”
I looked at her like she was loony. Which maybeshewas.
