The Wedding (The Casanova Club Book 14) Read online

The rumble in his chest against my back drove me wild. “More.”

  His fingers slipped out of me to stroke my pussy. I trembled. Wyatt read the signs and continued, his strokes growing longer as he applied more pressure until I couldn’t take it any longer. My muscles tensed and a cry escaped me as I came. Wyatt spread my juices around before patting my pussy and then stroking his cock.

  Then he was leaning over me. His cock was pressing against my slit. I pushed back against him and he eased his way inside me, filling me up, daring me to take all of him.

  I wanted to.

  I gripped the cushion beneath me as the pressure built. It was glorious. If I closed my eyes, I could imagine we were in his white bedroom filled with pine furniture and minimal decor. It was a safe haven there. A place where we’d shared many moments like this one.

  “I’m not going to last, Piper,” Wyatt breathed. His hips slowed to a stop. My pussy tightened around him and I rocked myself back and forth, gently fucking him.

  I loved the power I held over him. It was equal to what he held over me. I peered over my shoulder at him. “Don’t worry. We have all day. And a lot of lost time to make up for.”

  Wyatt gripped my hips. He pulled me down over his cock. I let out a cry of pleasure as he buried himself in deep. His strokes were deep and slow. As he fucked me, his hands explored my body, lingering at my hips and on my waist. He pressed his thumbs into the dimples on my back and ran his index finger up my spine. He spread my ass and thighs and pushed in deeper until he broke.

  I sighed deliriously when he pulled out and shot hot lashes of come up my back. I listened to his heavy breathing and his tight moans, and I wondered how good it would feel to let him come inside me.

  Perhaps that was how our first night as husband and wife would end.

  Chapter 6

  Piper

  Janie plucked the business card out of my hand and peered at the elegant font scrawled on the back. Her eyes narrowed as she tried to pick out the numbers on the bottom right corner.

  “I can’t tell if that’s a three or an eight,” she muttered. Her lips pressed into a firm line of annoyance. “You know, they really shouldn’t use fancy fonts for things like this. Don’t they realize the information is useless if their customers can’t fucking read it?”

  I stole the card back. “How about we try it once with a three and then again with an eight? How hard can it be?”

  Janie hung back with her arms crossed across her chest. She looked both ways down the busy New York City street and pouted as I punched in the first combination in the keypad lock to the very luxurious bridal shop Jackson Lee had sent us to. Our limo was parked at the curb at our backs, and Janie and I were each already two glasses of champagne into our afternoon.

  Well, afternoon was a bit of a stretch. It was eleven fifteen in the morning. My bridal appointment was at eleven-thirty. I’d arrived as requested, with a strapless bra, panties I was comfortable in with a bridal consultant seeing, and shoes the appropriate height of what I planned on wearing to the wedding.

  When Janie saw the flats in my hands, she’d been horrified. I explained a ranch was no place for high heels. It hadn’t done anything to quench her disappointment, which only intensified when she realized she was also going to be wearing flats. She’d thank me later after walking across uneven terrain in the fields.

  The second combination I tried, with the number eight instead of three, did the trick. A little light blinked green and I heard the door unlatch. I pushed through, and Janie followed, and when the door closed behind us, the rush of sounds on the street muted like someone had smothered it with a massive pillow.

  We were standing at the bottom of a narrow stairway. The stairs and the walls were white, and the wall along the staircase was covered in thick white frames of various sizes and shapes, showing off bridal images. As we walked, Janie tapped the frames, telling me which dresses she liked the most. She almost always opted for ones that were sparkly and princess-like.

  At the top of the stairs, we emerged in a beautiful sitting room with a reception desk. The woman sitting behind the desk was in her mid-fifties, wore all black, and looked up as soon as we hit the top of the stairs. She hurried out from behind her desk to clasp my hands in hers and then Janie’s.

  “Ladies.” She smiled pleasantly at both of us. She had very white teeth and wore a lot of heavy-duty jewelry. “Welcome to The Bridal Gallery. My name is Sharon. Please, let me take you to your room and introduce you to your consultant.”

  We followed her in.

  My jaw nearly hit the floor when we walked through the showroom of dresses. They hung along every wall and decorated mannequins strategically placed throughout the space. There were a few other brides standing on podiums with their shopping party sitting on sofas behind them. My gaze slid from gown to gown, lingering briefly on one tucked into the far corner. It was simple with long lines and dainty straps, and the whole thing was made of lace. It wasn’t white, per se, but more of an off-white cream color that spoke to me more than the crispness of stark white.

  Sharon delivered us to a large fitting room and told us my consultant would join us shortly. Janie and I sat down in the two chairs in the room and I crossed one leg over the other and proceeded to bounce the dangling foot nervously.

  “What’s Wyatt up to while you’re shopping?” Janie asked.

  “He’s getting fitted for his suit.”

  “Ah. Of course.” Janie flashed me a smile. “Are you excited?”

  “Excited doesn’t even come close to capturing how I’m feeling right now,” I admitted. “I can’t wait to marry him, Janie. Really. This whole year was so painful. But so full of love. And now that it’s over, I have so much clarity. It was Wyatt all along. Since those first few days on his ranch.”

  Janie’s smile was contagious. “I’m so happy for you, Pipes.”

  I turned to face her. “Janie, I wanted to thank you for everything you did for me this year. You were always there when I needed you. I don’t think I’ve been a very good friend to you this year. I think I kind of took advantage of you. Every time I called, I was just unloading baggage and I never shouldered any of your burdens.”

  Janie rolled her eyes. “Forget about it. Honestly, I had a good year. I missed my best friend, but it all worked out in the end, right? I mean, it would be better if Wyatt had a hot brother or something, but—”

  “Janie.”

  “Sorry. Off topic. But you know what I’m saying. I got you into this mess. Of course, I was going to be there when the going got tough. I love you, Pipes. More than anything. And I’m so fucking glad you chose Wyatt instead of the money.”

  “Me too,” I said softly.

  “Have you seen your parents yet?”

  “No.” That was something I was a bit worried about. I hadn’t spoken to them since the end of December, and at that time, I’d been so sure I was taking the money. There’d been no doubt in my heart at all. But all of that changed as soon as I saw Wyatt. “Wyatt and I are going for dinner with them tonight along with Phillip, of course.”

  “How does he feel about it?”

  “Wyatt? Good. He’s unshakeable, Janie. Truly. I don’t think anything could ever scare him as much as the idea of not ending up with me did.”

  Janie practically melted in her seat as she clamped her hands over her heart. “Oh God. The romance. The sweetness. It’s adorable and sickening all at once.”

  I laughed. “Can’t say the same about me, though. I’m nervous to be in a room all together at once. I don’t think it will go badly. It’s just… I don’t know. It’s a big step.”

  “You got the hardest part out of the way already, babe. They know you didn’t take the money. And they were fine with that, right?”

  I nodded weakly. Truth be told I wasn’t entirely sure how they were feeling about my decision. We hadn’t talked in length about it. I’d been too consumed with spending every second I had with my fiancé to take the time to properly explai
n how everything had gone down to my parents when we spoke over the phone. My mother hadn’t sounded surprised, which was a good sign.

  At least I hoped it was.

  “I think they’re fine with it,” I said. “But you can never be sure with them. I jerked them around enough last year. I’m ready to use this dinner as a clean slate. A fresh start, you know? No more lies. No more tricks. I just hope they like Wyatt.”

  Janie put her hand on my knee. “It will go great. Your parents love you. They want you to be happy, first and foremost. And Wyatt wants the same thing. Besides, what’s not to like about the guy? He’s charming as hell and super hot.”

  “Hey, that’s my future husband you’re talking about.”

  We both descended into a fit of giggles and struggled to get ourselves under control when the door opened and a lean, beautiful blonde woman walked into the room. She reminded me of a gazelle. Her features were all sharp and pinched together and she had beautiful hazel eyes dusted in shimmering blush shadow and lined with a black wing.

  She smiled at both me and Janie. “Piper?”

  I stood up and shook her hand. “Hi. That’s me.”

  “It’s nice to meet you. My name is Sherrie. You must be Janie.” She turned and shook Janie’s hand before clasping her hands in front of herself. “I have explicit instructions from Mr. Lee that no dress is off-limits. You can try on anything and everything. Budget is not an issue. But one thing I would recommend is to consider your venue and the feeling you want to capture. The dress can play a bigger role in that than brides expect. Do you have an idea of what you would like, Piper?”

  I licked my lips and looked at Janie, who nodded for me to answer. “Well, we’re getting married on a family ranch in Austin in a few weeks. I want something soft and elegant but still sexy. Something that shows off my shape but isn’t revealing. Does that make sense?”

  “It makes perfect sense.” Sherrie smiled. “Anything else? Material preferences or things you want to stay away from?”

  “Tulle,” I said quickly. “I don’t like tulle.”

  Janie pouted. “But it’s so pretty.”

  I shook my head. “No. No tulle. No satin, either. Nothing shiny. Or sparkly.”

  “So boring,” Janie muttered.

  “Shush,” I said, before turning back to Sherrie. “Actually, I think I’d like to see some lace options.”

  Sherrie flashed me a knowing smile. “An elegant bride in lace. Very country. Very beautiful. You sit tight. I’m going to pull some dresses and we’ll get started.”

  Sherrie left us to ourselves for about ten minutes before she returned with five beautiful gowns. She ushered Janie out of the room to wait for us on one of the sofas in the viewing room, and then she turned to me, a cocky little grin playing on her perfectly painted pink lips. “Piper, I don’t want to toot my own horn, but I think I already have the right dress for you right here in this group. I’m going to save it for last though so you can have the experience of trying on bridal dresses.”

  Sherrie was very good at her job. She helped me in and out of the first dress, which was a fit and flare lace gown with a simple belt of rhinestones around my rib cage. It was pretty, but it didn’t make me feel like a bride, which was what I told Sherrie.

  She nodded as she listened to my feedback. “All right. Well, if it doesn’t make you feel like a bride, it’s an automatic no. And it means I can eliminate one of these others because I know you won’t like it either. Next!”

  I slipped into the next dress. It was a softer material. It flowed around my ankles and fit more snugly up top. The lace was only on the hem and bodice. I ran my hands down the skirt. “It’s all right, I guess.”

  “Next!”

  Dress number three came off the hanger and I stepped into it. It was a ball gown and I suspected Sherrie had pulled it to please Janie. If I was being honest with myself, I didn’t hate it.

  “Let’s show this one to your friend,” Sherrie said. “She’s been waiting.”

  We left the fitting room and met Janie on the sofas. She twisted around to watch me walk toward her. I’d never seen a smile so big on her face before, and it, in turn, made me grin like a fool as I stepped onto the podium and faced the mirror.

  “It’s beautiful, Piper,” Janie said.

  I nodded and ran my fingers through the material of the skirt. “It is.”

  “But it’s not the one?” Janie asked.

  I frowned.

  Janie nodded. “I can tell. That’s okay. It’s pretty but I think it might be a bit too much. You know? It’s not you.”

  “I agree,” I said.

  Sherrie clapped her hands together. “All right. Let’s get you out of it then. I think this last one is going to be it.”

  When we were back in the fitting room, Sherrie had me put my back to the mirror as she got me out of the ball gown and helped me step into the last dress she’d pulled. As she pulled it up over my hips, she began telling me about it. “Now, I know you said you don’t want tulle. But give this one a second. I think it will grow on you because it hits all the marks you said you wanted. It’s elegant. It’s a little bit sexy but not too much. It’s lacy and dreamy and…” She trailed off once she had it on me to concentrate on lacing up the back. “And the sample size fits you like a glove. How does it feel?”

  “Good,” I said.

  “Let’s go see Janie.”

  And so we went.

  I’d made it halfway to my best friend before she started crying. It startled me, especially since I hadn’t seen my own reflection yet, and I hurried to get to her. Sherrie still didn’t let me face the mirror. Instead, she held me by the shoulders as I stood on the podium and she asked Janie what she thought.

  “It’s perfect, Piper. Truly.” Janie sniffled and wiped at the corners of her eyes.

  Butterflies took flight in my stomach as Sherrie began turning me around. Her voice was filled with enthusiasm. “Okay, Piper. Take a look.”

  The bride in the mirror blinked back at me in surprise.

  She was beautiful.

  My voice died in my throat as I stared at my reflection. Janie was giggling as she inched to the very edge of the sofa. “What do you think, Pipes?”

  “I think… I think it’s perfect,” I whispered. My throat tightened. The reflection blurred as tears threatened to spill over.

  Janie was on her feet and coming toward me. She was still crying and even Sherrie was tearing up a little bit. “I think this is the one,” Janie whispered.

  I nodded. Words didn’t come out.

  “Will Wyatt like it?” Janie asked.

  “He’ll love it,” I managed to say through tears of sheer joy. I’d never seen anything so beautiful, and I couldn’t believe I was lucky enough to get to wear it when I walked down the aisle to marry my cowboy.

  Chapter 7

  Joshua

  The snow had been falling since early this morning. It covered the property outside, painting the landscape in bright clean white. Now, in the dark, with the Christmas lights still strung up around my house, the snow glittered, winked, and danced, as if it knew something was wrong and its light show could cheer me up.

  It could not.

  I set down my paintbrush and stood from my stool to arch my back, crack my neck, and roll my shoulders.

  I’d been painting all day. My wrists and fingers ached and had cramped up several times over but I couldn’t walk away from the canvas. I was on a deadline. This had to be done before the wedding.

  Piper’s wedding.

  It still hurt to think such a thing.

  I so badly wanted to be the man planning the wedding with her. I wanted to be the man she’d picked out of that lineup. The man she saw the rest of her life with, children, adventures, travel, old age.

  But I was not. Wyatt was.

  I’d never been so envious of another person in my entire life.

  The first forty-eight hours had been the roughest. I’d taken Cooper up on his off
er to head down to the bar in the Casanova Club immediately after we’d all been rejected. I’d drowned my sorrows in tequila and little else and wallowed in self-pity for as long as it seemed socially acceptable before retiring to my room and proceeding to pour liquor down my gullet until I couldn’t walk straight.

  Then I slept, suffered through the worst of all hangovers the next day, slept some more, and woke up the following morning ready to get the hell out of New York City and away from anything and everything that reminded me of Piper James.

  Which was basically everything.

  If I saw a beautiful woman, I thought of Piper. If I saw the color red, I thought of Piper. It was maddening. Home seemed like the only safe place I could retreat to while I dealt with the confusion and pain raging inside me.

  At the beginning of the year, when Piper first came to me, I’d been so sure that she and I had something special. And even now, I knew it had been. But it hadn’t been special enough. Whatever she shared with Wyatt was stronger. And that was a hard pill to swallow because I couldn’t fathom how anyone could have something better than what I had with her.

  Then again, a year was a long time. A lot could change. And it had. Where I spent the year pining for her and dreaming about how good it would be to have her back, she’d been moving on and spending time with the other men. Each passing day only put more distance between her and me. How could I have expected this to go any differently?

  I’d resolved yesterday afternoon that I’d been a fool. I let my expectations get way ahead of me. I should have kept a level head. Should have considered the fact that my chances with her were slim. Then maybe this wouldn’t hurt so bad and I wouldn’t be sitting here painting a picture to give to her as a wedding gift when deep down in my gut, I wished more than anything that man was me.

  I let out a tired sigh and paced to the window.

  It was done now. She’d made her choice. All that was left for me to do was move on.

  And I would. Somehow.