Page 8 of Baking with Bryan

“Guess you’ll have to wait and find out.” I see the questions in her eyes.

Knock Knock.

“I’m coming,” I yell.

She bends, gathering her top, and the moment is lost.

Scowling, I turn and trudge toward the front door, adjusting to hide my hard-on. I wrench the door open and pause, shocked to see my cousinandhis fiancée on my porch.

“What’s going on?”

“We’re getting married.” They say excitedly.

“Yes. I know you’ve been engaged for a few weeks now,” I drawl.

December throws her head back, and the copper and brown curls try to escape her white beret.

“No, we’re going to get married next week. We don’t want to wait.”

“What?” I croak.

“Let us in, and we’ll tell you about it. Nor’s here too, right?” He walks by, and I shoot him an annoyed look.

“She’s using the bathroom right now,” I mutter.

December studies me a heartbeat too long before she follows my cousin inside, and they strip out of their outer layers.

“Perfect. We’re going to need your help to pull this off. We plan on telling everyone it’s a Christmas get-together, but they’ll be coming to our wedding,” E explains.

I shake my head, trying to redirect my train of thought when the only thing I want to do is show them out and drag Nora into bed. The minute I make up my mind, the universe blocks me.

“We didn’t interrupt anything, did we?” December asks with a knowing smirk.

“Just dinner and a baking lesson,” I mumble.

“Oh?” She swipes at her lips.

I raise an eyebrow, and she does it again.

Shit.The light bulb goes off, and I cough and discreetly swipe the peach-flavored lip gloss off my lips.

December snickers.

The timer beeps, and I use it to escape. “I’m going to pull the lasagna out now.”

“We didn’t mean to crash your bestie time. We just knew if we wanted to pull this off, we needed to get going on things. You’re the best man, of course.” E follows me into the kitchen.

“Why do it this way?”

“Our parents have been waiting to officially unite our families since they were in high school, dreaming about our futures. Can you imagine how insane they’d go over wedding planning?” He grimaces. “No thanks. Besides, we’re both the babies, the last wedding to go down until the grandchildren grow up. It’s pressure neither of us wants.”

I laugh, thinking of the insanity. “It’d be a scene from Steel Magnolias. You know that old movie our moms loved to watch?”

“That’s exactly why we’re taking it out of their hands. Neither of us wanted anything big or flashy, anyway.”

“Where do you plan to hold this?” I shut off the alarm and grab the silicon potholders off their hook.

“The condo in the backyard. We’ve already placed an order for a tent with heaters and outdoor rugs.”

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