Sweetest Sin: Bad Boy Bundle (43 page)

***

Pouring myself into this dress was the least fun I'd had in a long time. The side zipper was the worst part because I couldn't wrap my arms around me at the right angles to pull the flaps together and work the zipper up.

"You okay in here?" Tim said from the other side of the door.

"Um, yea."

I went back to struggling with the zipper, hoping he would go away.

A few seconds later, he tapped at the door again. "I'll help you with yours if you help me with mine?"

Despite my best efforts to stifle a laugh, it came roaring out anyway. I walked up to the door and flung it open. Tim, standing half dressed in a suit. I swallowed to keep from drooling. Half dressed because his shirt was untucked, the bow tie hung loose around his neck and the collar was just a mess.

"I can't get the zipper," I confessed. I hoped he wouldn't take this opportunity to talk to me about the motorcycle.
Please, just let me get through the rest of this weekend without mentioning the motorcycle.

He nodded and spun me around to grab the zipper.

I sucked in my stomach and held my arms out. He tugged and poked, nearly knocking me off my feet, but finally the zipper climbed as far as he could reach.

"All right, turn around." He said.

"What?"

"Well, walk or something. How do you test these things out in the store?"

"Test these things out? Did you just ask how we test dresses out in a store?"

His face was set on serious. He wasn't laughing.

"Yea, like to make sure the zippers aren't faulty or something."

"Oh, Tim," I took in a deep breath and smiled.

"You're about to call me stupid aren't you?"

"No. Not at all. Just.... We test them out by dancing. Come here and let me fix that bow tie."

He stepped up and puffed out his chest to tuck in his shirt. I straightened out his jacket sleeves and then tried to button his collar. He stretched his neck up and held his breath as I folded his collar.

"Well, it's no wonder you had trouble." I said.

"How do you mean?"

"This bow tie is way too small for you."

"Ugh," he took a deep breath and grabbed the bow tie from my hand. "Well, we're already late. Let's just go."

He started for the door and we headed down the stairs. Everyone stood in a circle. Every arm crossed at the elbow and all eyes on us.

I sighed and tried my best to duck behind everyone into a back corner.

"Right, well, if we could get started. Is everyone here now?"

"Everyone but the groom," my father said.

"Where's he?"

"He said he was caught up in a meeting," said Marti. "He'll be here tomorrow."

"Okay, well, we can get moving on this and get everyone else set up, but then tomorrow you'll need to show him where to go and everything. Do we have someone who can stand in for him?"

Eyes flew about the room. All the men in the room shook their heads.

"No, everyone here is in the wedding," said Marti.

"Okay. Then we'll just have to work without a decoy. So, this is where the wedding party is going to gather before the march." He turned to the French double doors leading out to the back yard and swung them open untrue grandiose fashion. "Let's get the order set up."

The pastor started sorting through people. Lining everyone up and pairing guys and girls together for the march.

Tim and Grams stayed behind.

I was paired with Aaron. He stunk from being doused in too much cologne. Shorter and skinnier than Tim, it was clear that they had different parents. I held my breath and offered up the most polite smile I could and turned to listen to the pastor.

"So we march," the pastor instructed.

He started playing music and everyone started walking. A few seconds later, he interrupted everyone and pointed at Tim.

"Wait, who are you? Are you in the party?"

"No."

"Okay, come stand in for the groom."

"No thanks."

"Come on, it'll be easy and that way you can help explain everything to the groom tomorrow. Just get up and walk with me outside."

Tim sighed and glanced around at the rest of us. Finally he shook his head and took in a deep breath and walked outside. Minutes later, the pastor came back in and we started marching again.

What probably should have taken twenty minutes to rehearse took closer to two hours. I was beginning to think none of these people had ever walked before. Even Aaron kept tripping over his own feet. Every time he did, he jerked my elbow and came very close to knocking me off my feet.

"Okay, everyone. I think we've run through this as many times as we can and I'm sure we are all getting tired and hungry. So I will give you a quick minute to ask any last minute questions that you might have and then we will stop for the night and eat."

Everyone glanced around at each other and shook their heads. The pastor finally nodded his head and motioned back toward the house where Grams had a feast ready and waiting for us. I smiled at the signal the night would soon be over. Being restricted to only shallow breaths made me lightheaded. My stomach growled at the food.

I just hoped I could partake. Grams's cooking was always so good. And I was famished.

***

I wasted no time loosening my collar and attacking the table for food. I wanted to grab a plate and run before the rest of the wedding party could rampage through everything. Thankfully, they were all so busy congratulating each other outside that I had plenty of time to dig into my favorites.

With plate in tow, I scooted out the front door and headed toward the porch swing.

It seemed anywhere I went, privacy was simply going to be too much for me to ask. Minutes after I sat down, more people followed and sat down on the porch. Soon after that, Angela walked out with a plate. She glanced around and headed toward the gazebo. While everyone was engrossed in their own conversation, I decided to sneak off and join Angela.

"Hey," I whispered.

"Hi." She slid her plate off her lap and onto the bench next to her.

"You okay?" I sat down across from her and began shoveling food into my mouth.

"Yea, I'm fine. Jeez that rehearsal took forever. Didn't it?"

"You'd think we were all a bunch of idiots."

"I think Marti does think that way."

We both laughed. I shook my head and chomped down on another spoonful of some sort of salad. "Well, after tomorrow, at least we'll be done with them. Right? Never have to see any of these people again."

"Easy for you to say."

"What do you mean?"

"That's my sister. After tomorrow, she's going to be leaving to go on her honeymoon. And guess who she's going to ask to watch over her house while she's gone? Not to mention holiday gatherings and stuff. I'm never going to be rid of her."

"Ha! But at least at your own wedding you can torment her the way she's tormenting you."

Angela shook her head. "No way."

"No way you aren't going to torment her?"

"No way I'm never getting married."

"What? I thought that's what all girls wanted. The perfect big wedding with the perfect dress, and the perfect cake, and the perfect photographs that hide the perfect arguments behind the scenes."

"Not me. Weddings are awful. I mean, what's the point? So you can have a piece of paper that tells the world you've made a commitment and you want the government to honor that commitment if you die? Wills do the same thing and cost less."

"You've put a lot of thought into that?" I said, not quite believing her. I've heard women say similar things in the past. They always changed their minds.

It was as if they thought they could change my mind. Once we were dating for more than a few months, they wanted a commitment of forever and assumed I wanted the same thing. And some of them might have even just been lying from the very beginning. I never was really sure.

But somehow I thought Angela might have been telling the truth.

I looked her over. Her long legs shaking tenderly against the chill in the air. She tried her best to cross one knee over the other, but didn't seem to have enough room.

"Are you going to eat?" I asked, staring at the plate of untouched food next to her.

She looked down at the plate and shrugged. “I don't think I can.”

"Why not? Are you sick?"

"No. I just. It's nothing, never mind."

I really hated it when girls told me
never mind
even as their cheeks turned pink. Like they assumed I couldn't understand their complexities just because I think with a penis. "No. Not never mind. Why grab the food if you aren't going to eat it?"

She glanced around and then stared down at her fingertips. "I can barely breathe in this dress."

I nodded. And put my plate down.

"Why don't you change out of it then?"

"Are you kidding? If I go upstairs right now, Marti will have my head."

"So you'd rather just pass out from not eating and lack of oxygen?" I took off my suit jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders. Then I slipped my hands up her waist to that pesky side zipper and started to work it down.

She took in a deep breath and smiled as I massaged the zipper down. "Oh my God," she groaned. "You have no idea how good that feels. That's better than sex."

I nearly spit from laughing so hard.

"But, is it better than the ride home after sex?"

I should have kept my mouth shut. Why did I say that? She closed her eyes tight and her cheeks flushed immediately.

"Oh my God," she whined. "Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my
God
."

"It's. I'm," I tried. I couldn't make the words come out. Not the right words, anyway.

She buried her face in her hands and stared at her knees. I grabbed my plate of food and rubbed her shoulder. "I don't know why you're so embarrassed," I said. "That was fucking hot."

"What?" She sat back up and glared at me. "How was that hot?"

"I don't know. I mean, I've never heard of anyone doing that before. That's got to be some kind of record or something."

Her smile seemed to lean to one side and she grabbed her food and relaxed. "I guess. It just sucked because I spent the whole time thinking you were going to crash if I started squeezing you too tight or something."

"Yea, I can understand that. But you didn't."

"Only because you pulled over."

"Mm," I groaned and popped a deviled egg between my lips. I wiped the creamy yolk mixture against the roof of my mouth and closed my eyes as I relived the moment. Reaching between her legs to her throbbing clit and rubbing until she finished.

"Damn," I whispered. My cock stiffened and tightened my pants. Of all the times, this would happen after I gave away my jacket and had no means of hiding it.

"What? What's wrong?" She was too focused on her own plate of food to even notice.

I adjusted my seat and cleared my throat. "Nothing."

"Hey, you two," Marti's raspy voice bellowed out from the front porch. "Have you seen my useless sister? We're getting ready to do pictures and I can't find her anywhere."

"Ugh," Angela whined and sank down into her seat. "I forgot about the stupid pictures.

"So, don't go," I said.

"Do you know how impossible she's going to be if I don't go?"

I smiled and shook my head. "She's impossible either way. Is it really possible to be even more impossible than impossible?"

***

I gazed at Tim in shock and confusion. I wasn't even sure if I knew exactly what he said. But I smiled anyway.

"Angela!" Marti screamed at the top of her lungs.

I clenched my eyes shut and prayed she couldn't see me. At least Tim's black jacket covered my bare arms, giving the moon nothing to reflect off of.

"Angela!" she screamed again.

"I might as well go," I whispered. "She's just going to keep screaming until I go. And if she finds me out here ignoring her, I'll never live it down."

"Come on," Tim said and grabbed my hand.

He ducked and crawled out of the other side of the gazebo and led me into the trees.

"Oh my God. What are you doing?" I laughed. But I followed anyway. It was weird and it made no sense, but somehow running away from under my sister's thumb made me feel exhilarated.

"Hang on. Just wait here," he said as he pushed me back against a tree. Tim turned to face me. Is eyes darted around the tree to watch my hunter. He held his breath while I drank in his cologne.

The smile crawled across his face and I knew he felt triumphant.

I took in a deep breath and released it slowly. The moonlight reflected off the tiny hairs on his neck as they stood at attention.