Page 86 of Nothing to the Wedding
“I’m really surprised you’ve chosen abstinence on your wedding night, Skippy.”
But her love laughed and wrapped both arms around her shoulders.“Until you remember I’m so good at it.”
“This isn’t a conversation I want to witness.”
What?They were just standing there, together, against each other, thinking about… The “so good at it” thing might mean something to them, but it was pretty easy to place what they were talking about.If Sam was the one in her place with his own partner… Yeah, moving on.
“Casanova, you’ll never guess what, Sam’s a Ballard fanboy.”
“Really?Don’t get many of those.”
Hmm, not entirely accurate.“Male fans might be few and far between, maybe, but women love the growling.Ballard’s good at the growling.Not as good as some, but… Sam knows Ryder too.”
“Then he has good taste in friends,” Zairn said.“Worked together?”
Sam’s head tilted.“What is it you think I do?”
“You’d be more likely to get an answer from Ryder on that,” Roxie said.“We can introduce Sam to Ballard though, maybe he could use a hand.”
“Tonight?You want your brother to work at our wedding?”
“Your best man is working.My best friend, in addition to getting married herself, is working.”She swept her arm in front of her, though the majority of the room and the guests were behind Zairn, the support at her back.“And this, talking to people, schmoozing, hosting, smiling at the masses, is a huge part of what we do on a daily basis.”
Huh, good point, she hadn’t put those pieces together like that until right then.It was so routine, it was completely natural.
“You were right about the getting married again,” Zairn said, more serious than before.Skippy rearing his head?“Next time we’ll do it the way you want.”
“You didn’t want this?”Sam asked.
“I did!I do!I’ve had an excellent day.Jane’s purview is exactly what I wanted.Z’s a go-getter, that’s what it is, he doesn’t like to be beaten.Everything’s a competition, even with himself.Always likes to think we can aim higher.”
That wasn’t why the suggestion came up though.Playing up to the image, the public perception, was necessary sometimes.
Knowing him, like she did, that wasn’t one-upmanship talking.No, her Casanova was pissed at himself.He pushed himself harder than anyone else.
“You said intimate,” Zairn said, “don’t think I forgot.”
“This day has been wonderful, perfect.”She pushed the crown of her head against him.“Intimate comes later.”
“I don’t need to be standing here for this,” Sam said.
She and Zairn talked about sex a lot.Hmm.Maybe she’d have pegged that.It wasn’t until her brother was right there pointing it out that she considered it may not be a normal thing to do around people.That was her girls’ fault too though.All of them had sex on the brain.Worked out for their guys, so who was complaining?No one else would go around correcting them, that was for sure.
Her brother was a grouch, plain and simple, that didn’t mean she couldn’t take a shot at lightening him up.Something she’d been doing since they were kids.He’d call it pestering, she liked to think of it more as a public service.God help any woman interested in getting with the grump.
“You know, you’re right,” she said, biting the corner of her lip.One way to ease his load would be to help him… eject that load, as it were.“Scroogey, we need to get Sam a girl.”
“You don’t,” her brother said.“I get my own girls.”
Didn’t look like he was doing a bang-up job of it, standing there at the edge of the pack making a point of distancing himself.
“Zairn would’ve said that once too, then fate delivered me to him.Stroke of luck.That’s me.I can be your stroke of luck.Just call me Cupid.”
“Please, don’t tax yourself,” he said, monotone.
“Are you coming to the club?”
“Haven’t decided.”
