Testing Recipes for Disaster (Emberwood #2)

Chapter 43- Lauren

W hen I promised Sam her wedding would be perfect, even if it killed me. And given the timeline of ten weeks, I didn’t know, then, if I was lying or not. Thankfully, I wasn’t. Because that ceremony was so beautiful, I didn’t think there had been a dry eye in the garden. Zin was always a bit of a master with words, but having her officiate the ceremony felt like some priestess of an ancient deity was giving a blessing for their marriage.

I watched Jer make his way back to me after chatting with the caterer for a while. The grin on his face when he sat down and explained that there was a new, maybe even better, job offer on the horizon made me forgive him for taking so long.

“Dance with me,” I demanded when we were finished eating.

“What is the magic word, Laur?”

“Now. Before I go ask Danny.”

“That was below the belt, Garrett.”

“I like what’s below your belt, Ash.”

“ Jesus .” He laughed. “You are going to make it very difficult for me to walk around.”

I bit my lip and pulled him to stand. We wove our way between tables and heaters to the patio they’d cleared to make a dance floor.

“Sorry,” I offered half-heartedly when he pulled me against him.

“Liar.”

I grinned into his chest and wrapped my arms around his neck. “You look like a fairy princess in this dress, you know.”

“Oh? I was kind of hoping for, like, a Queen of the Underworld vibe. But I’ll take fairy princess.”

He only responded with a kiss, just this side shy of being inappropriate.

“I want to have you out of this dress.”

“Can be arranged. But we can’t leave until they cut the cake. It’s kind of your main event, you know?”

“Nah. This is my main event,” he murmured, his lips brushing against the shell of my ear.

He twirled me around, my dress flaring in the most satisfying way, and pulled me back against his chest, maybe harder than before, his lips back at my ear.

“I am completely and ridiculously in love with you, Laur.”

I almost choked on the air when the words registered.

“You are?” I whispered, happy tears springing to my eyes for maybe the fifth time today.

“I am. You don’t have to—”

“I am so in love with you, you idiot.”

“Yeah?” he asked, pulling back so he could look at me. “That’s good. I think I might have had to sink through a hole in the ground if I’d read that one wrong,” he admitted, kissing me again.

“As soon as I get to try the cake that has occupied far too many minutes of conversation this week, we are getting out of here.”

He agreed readily and let me go when I insisted I needed to dance with Jesse before the end of the night. My brother won major points for turning my best friend into my sister, and I thought he should know.

THE SPEED WITH WHICH we left the wedding and got back to my house was almost cartoonish in nature.

“I want you to wear a suit every time we go out,” I said breathlessly, pulling at the knot on his tie.

“I want you to not wear a bra every time we go out,” he responded after working the straps of my dress over my arms and running his fingers over my nipples, tugging them lightly.

“I don’t think that’s an equal request.”

“I don’t care. I love your tits.”

He pushed me onto the bed and climbed over me, taking the shirt situation into his own hands and shedding it along with his undershirt. God, the likeness of his upper body should be chiseled in marble and put on display for everyone to enjoy.

“I also love your neck,” he added, nipping at me there. “Your shoulders.” More licking. “Your thighs.”

He used his giant hands to grip my thighs and push them apart so he could kiss his way up them, purposely skipping where I wanted his mouth to land.

“Your ass.” He pushed my legs up until my knees were below my chin so he could playfully smack my butt. “And you,” he said finally, coming back up to kiss my mouth, plunging his tongue inside.

His weight on me was so deliciously satisfying. I groaned at the loss of it when he rolled over, dragging me on top of him. His hands worked on his pants and boxers until he could push them off with his feet, and he pressed his now very hard length up against me. He grabbed some pillows for himself and put his hands behind his head like he was on the beach.

“What are you—”

“Take what you need, baby. Please. I want to see you.”

My brows quirked at the request—he was usually happy calling the shots when we were together, and I was good with that, but the look of want on his face had me feeling very good about this, too. I ground against him, relishing how his arms twitched like he wanted to reach out and grab me, but he was apparently committed to me running this show. I sank down on him slowly, loving how his breaths shortened and his lips parted slightly. I braced myself on his chest and found my rhythm.

“God damn it, Laur, you are so perfect. I love watching you. I love you.”

“Oh my god ,” I groaned, still so affected when he talked to me in that stupidly low sex-voice.

I found my release quickly and gasped when he flipped us again and made up for not having not used his hands before as he lost himself in me. He collapsed into me, and we both worked to catch our breath.

“I love you, too,” I said, realizing I hadn’t said it back just now. To be fair, my brain was otherwise occupied.

“So, so, perfect, baby,” he got out on an exhale.

He slipped out of me and rolled to the side, tugging me firmly against him and stroking paths down my back. It struck me, in that moment, how quickly life could change, and I started to understand why Sam and Jesse had said to hell with the traditional timeline and got married when they wanted. I hadn’t felt like that about anybody before, but now, I got it. How you could simply not wait another minute to be with someone. Even though he’d only said he loved me earlier tonight, nothing about it felt new or unfamiliar. It was like he put words to what he’d been showing me for a long time, and it felt like home.