Page 87 of Somewhere Only We Know
“Of course she did. She probably had Bryce help.”
“He was on our group chat. Requested strippers. Naturally I had to decline.”
The volume on the TV turns down at the same time Sully’s snoring gets louder. I look over my shoulder to see her sprawled on her dog bed and snort-laugh before turning back to Nate.
“Naturally,” Nate whispers sarcastically.
“Did you know–” I’m cut off by a yawn, “that…”
“Sleep, Bee.” Nate tells me and kisses me on the top of my head.
I wake up an hour later.On the couch. Alone. I hear voices coming from my front room and in my sleep-ridden brain, nothing is clicking. I could use so much more sleep with my husband, but the universe apparently has other plans. Stretching from my spot, I slowly sit up, yawning as I do. I get up and quietly pad into the front room.
“Hey,” I say slowly when I see Nate with my sister and chosen family. He smiles at me and I walk over to him, sitting in his lap. “Why are you guys here?”
“So, J, when I said we were celebrating you two getting married…I meant tonight.” Sophie beams from where she’s sitting on the floor.
It’s then I noticed that they’re all dressed in going out clothes that she’s serious.
“But we were going to make dinner,” I pout and Nate kisses the side of my head.
“You two are cute,” Sarah observes. “But you can also make dinner another night.”
I narrow my eyes at my husband’s publicist. “Like you wouldn’t be upset about your plans being derailed.”
Sarah opens her mouth to object when Nate and Riley burst out in laughter.
“Who says I can’t eat wherever we’re going?” Nate asks as he whispers in my ear.
My body heats all over and the sound of everyone’s chuckles hits me in the back of the head. “You’re terrible.” I tell him and lick and tug his earlobe between my teeth, then turn back to the group. “We’re in. Give us like thirty minutes to get ready.” I slide off Nate’s lap and head for the stairs. “Kam, will you take Sully out?”
“As long as you wear something white!” she shouts from the couch.
Nate and I walk into my bedroom and head for the closet. Making room for his things wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be.
“Something white?” I huff as I go through the dresses I have.
“It’s a good thing I have clothes over here.” Nate says from his side of the closet. I turn my head and see him standing with his hands on his hips as he looks at his selection.
The plush carpet mutes my steps as I walk up behind him and wrap my arms around his waist. The lavender scent from the laundry detergent, mixed with Nate’s already intoxicating patchouli scent, does something insane to my hormones.
“What if we just tell them to leave?” I whine.
“You are such a homebody, Bee.” Nate laughs and turns in my arms. The motion has my arms resting low on his hips and I look up at him with, what’s hopefully, my version ofpuppy dog eyes. “Don’t give me that look. Think of this as a hard launch to the world knowing that we’re married.”
“Normal people would just change their status on Facebook,” I tell him.
His blinding white teeth show in a smile that has me feeling delirious. “Well, we’re not normal people.”
“Let’s go, you two!” Someone yells from downstairs.
I drop my head on Nate’s chest and groan. His arms wrap around my shoulders and he drops his lips to the top of my head before he releases me and turns me back to my clothes. I end up settling on a silver mini dress with a strappy back. Thank goodness for my lack of boobs otherwise this dress would show everything. I mean, it still shows a lot, but in a tasteful way. On an impulse shopping day over the summer, I saw these silver heels with a butterfly disguised as the strap that lays over my foot. I never pictured myself wearing them so soon, but the silver lining is that my toenails are painted.
I head into the bedroom and toss the dress on the bed, then head to the bathroom to do something with my hair. It’s been in a bun since we filmed the podcast and anyone with curly hair knows that once it’s in a bun there is no way to style it correctly. So I settle on a slick back ponytail and style my curls that way. I quickly wash my face and get started on some simple makeup that will last through the night.
When I’m satisfied with my hair and makeup, I head back into my bedroom and find some pasties that will hopefully conceal what the cold will expose. Unzipping my jacket, I place the pasties on and head to the bathroom.
“Baby, will you put lotion on my back?” I ask and turn, giving him said naked back.
