by Abby Knox
“I’m planning on losing it tonight, that’s for damn sure. I heard nothing but good things about those Boudreauxs. I’m sure there’s a brother or a cousin I can have, am I right?”
GiGi soon grew tired of all of Chastity’s speculating and blurted it all out. “Listen, Chas,” she said, her words slurred by one too many shots of Fireball whiskey. “All the groomsmen are Boudreauxs, somewhere in their lineage, and all Boudreauxs are all wolves. Like, literally shapeshifting wolves. And they all know we are panthers. Well, you’re a wildcat, but you can explain that to whichever Boudreaux brother or friend you decide to get busy with tonight, that that’s more of a Baton Rouge DuChamps trait. The Boudreauxs are not put off by the felines, I can tell you that much.”
But when the group of women descended on Bobby’s Tavern in Freret, there was no sign of the golden god. GiGi texted him.
Everything OK?
Connecting flight from Houston canceled. Driving right now. Can’t stand one more night without you, babe.
Her heart fell to her feet, but his words lifted it again a little bit. Drive like the wind, and no more texting while driving!
Aye-aye, captain.
She regretted having to tell Rosemary she was cutting out of the party a bit early, but she couldn’t take another second without Vann. Besides, she had a shit ton of work to do on the cake if it was going to be ready by Saturday.
At about 1 a.m., he texted her again. I’m at Bobby’s, where are you?
She couldn’t see to text him back because of the tears. She called him back.
“Oh my god, Hi. I’m at the cafe. I decided to call it a night and get some work done on the cake.”
She could hear cheers and drunken debauchery happening in the background.
“I wish you’d told me, because now I’m at the party and I can’t leave because Ash wants me to stay.”
“It’s OK, just be with Ash and then get some rest. You’ve been traveling all day.”
“What all do you have left to do?”
She sighed and looked around at the rows of buttered and floured cake pans. “Well, I’m going to bake the cakes and start on sculpting all the teeny tiny flowers. Tomorrow night I start on the chocolate and sugar work. The frosting was all made ahead and frozen weeks ago.”
“That is too much for you. Where’s your sous chef?”
“Dude, she ran the cafe for me tonight, I can’t keep a pregnant lady here after hours.”
“You’re doing too much. Let me send over some of my staff; they’d love to learn from the master of cakes.”
“I’m used to multitasking, unlike a certain gorgeous blond rock star chef I used to know.”
He laughed. “I can multitask.”
“Vann, about the only multitasking you can handle is kissing me while squeezing my tits at the same time.”
He roared. “Because I’m ADD and you’re the only woman who has ever given me the ability to concentrate. Let me help you.”
“It’s OK, I got this.”
“I’ll check on you in a few.”
At about 3 a.m., there was a tap on the back door of the cafe. In wafted her Viking god, carrying a bag of tacos. She didn’t know which to attack first. She did not have to decide, because Vann scooped her up in the way that only Vann could. They kissed deeply for a long time, and she tried to hold back the tears. She was still a little drunk, and still a little sad she had not seen him at the party, and still very sad for the nearly three months they had spent apart.
She was also so tired she could barely speak. “Come on, sit down and eat some tacos.”
Happy and exhausted, she ate tacos sitting on his lap on her office sofa while listening to him tell her stories from the trip home from Seoul. She finished two tacos before she just could not lift another, and rested her head on Vann’s shoulder, just to close her eyes for a moment.
Chapter 14
Vann
His girl. She was finally back in his arms and sleeping just like she should be. Like she should have been these past several weeks. Vann watched her sleep on her apartment futon and was kicking himself. Why had he not asked her to come with him? That was a mistake he would not allow to happen again.
When Vann had noticed that GiGi had fallen slap-out asleep on his shoulder, he decided she had had enough. He had carried her and rode with her in the back of an Uber, brought her upstairs to her apartment, helped her shower, then wrapped her up in a blanket on the bed. He turned off both of their phones, nestled up behind to spoon her and they both slept the rest of the early morning hours.
He decided right then and there that she was never going to put herself through this ever again. Not when he could do something about it. She would argue, but that was that. He was going to help her hire more people and she was going to go with him on his next shoot, wherever that may be.
When he woke up, he decided to let her sleep. Vann sneaked out of bed and finally took a look around her home in the daylight. It was like a hurricane had hit. Piles of unfolded clean clothes everywhere. Dishes in the sink. Dust bunnies about to stage a revolution. Shit, this woman needed help in more ways than one. So, Vann spent the next couple of hours tidying up. And then he raided her meager pantry and whipped up breakfast. Peanut butter toast and scrambled eggs and coffee. For a chef, her kitchen was not well stocked.
He waited for her to wake up, but enjoyed watching her sleep. He brushed her dark wavy hair away from her face. She sighed in her sleep and snuggled deeper into the pillow. This gave him an idea.
“Oh, Vann…” she said with a sigh, as she began to wake up at the sensation of him removing her panties.
He parted her thighs and inhaled her sweet spice. “Good morning, love.”
“Hmmm…I’m so sleepy…”
“Good,” he said. “Go back to sleep and I’ll stop.”
“No,” she said. “I’ll go back to sleep and you can keep doing that. Oh god. What time is it? I have to go to work.”
“No, you don’t. I called my assistant, you’ve got extra help for the rehearsal dinner. All you have to do today is fuck me and then go to the wedding rehearsal.”
He tongued apart her labia and found her tight little clit. She sighed. “I could kill you for taking that all upon yourself, but I don’t have words right now. Just keep massaging me like that until I fall back asleep.”
Vann replied, “I don’t think you’ll be able to fall back asleep. I’m gonna have you screaming my name in about a minute.”
He devoured her slowly. She was just as nice and warm as he had imagined she would be upon waking from a deep sleep. She ran her hands through his hair as he worked her core into a needful rhythm, and soon she was arching her body toward him.
“Oh my god. I missed this so much.”
“Same,” he murmured.
“You feel amazing, Vann.”
“You taste fucking delicious, GiGi. I missed being between your legs so bad.”
He continued working her over with his mouth, gripping her thighs like he had been missing a part of his own body. She had completely wrecked him. There was no going back to his old life. She was his and wherever she went, he would be with her. Hell, he would give up television and sell his restaurant chain if it meant he could spend more time with GiGi.
And then he decided to do something even beyond the wickedness of making her promise not to touch herself in his absence. Just as she was bucking and writhing, on the verge of coming, he stopped.
“Oh god, Vann. Come on. Please.”
“I have one question for you.”
“Anything, just please finish me off.”
“First tell me: have you touched yourself while I’ve been gone?”
“You cannot be serious right now.”
“I’m deadly serious, angel face. Tell me your answer.”
She writhed and moaned and finally shouted, “You asked me not to. So, no! Every night when I finally collapsed in bed I had to stop myself. It drove me crazy and made me mi
ss you even worse.”
“Good girl.”
“Please stop fucking with me!” she begged.
She was rewarded for putting up with his antics. He attacked her again with a quickness, and soon she was screaming his name, as he promised she would.
As she climaxed, she reached for him and he gladly fell into her arms, sharing the taste of her as he sank his shaft inside of her.
“Babe, maybe it’s been too long, but you feel different,” she said, panting with him as his thrusts picked up speed.
He smiled and kissed her again. “There’s a reason for that. And that particular reason is why you’ll probably end up pregnant very soon. I want to start our life together as soon as possible and I never want to be apart like that again. But say the word and I’ll pull out before I come.”
The surprise on her sweet face turned to a smile and she put her hand on his cheek. “No. Stay.”
Vann was so happy to hear this, his whole body was ready to crawl inside this woman. His thrusting grew in depth and fierceness and intense happiness, so much so that he had worked GiGi back up into another frenzy. Her legs clamped around him, begging him to go deeper. He threw one of her legs over his shoulder and penetrated as deep as he possibly could, until her eyes closed in ecstasy and her body bucked against him. There was a loud crack, like wood against wood, and a thud. They came in unison, each of them releasing a primal cry that shook the windows.
Neither of them noticed that they had broken her futon until after they had thoroughly ruined each other two more times that day.
GiGi
“Oh shit,” she said, when eventually Vann had gotten up to fetch them some water. “We missed Auntie Betsy’s brunch this morning!”
Vann scoffed as he clattered around the kitchen. “Who schedules the wedding party for some stupid shit like that on the morning after the bachelor- and bachelorette parties?”
GiGi shrugged. “Auntie Betsy, that’s who. I am a little bummed I’m going to miss out on Lety’s beignets, though.”
Vann was digging through the kitchen drawers for utensils and pulling things from the fridge. He said, “Beignets are beignets. Overrated.”
GiGi’s eye nearly popped out of her head as she pulled the blankets up over her breasts, as if to shield herself from the scandalous statement. “How can you say that? Beignets are a gift from heaven, and Lety got the recipe straight from God herself.”
He laughed. Praise Baby Jesus, she had missed hearing him laugh.
“What are you doing in there, anyway? I’m dying of thirst over here,” she said, craning her neck to see what he was up to.
When Vann returned to the busted futon, he was carrying a tray in his hands, and had a devilish grin on his face.
“What is that?”
He set the tray down in front of her. “Something a bit better than beignets.”
“That’s the wedding cake! What did you do? You can’t just—“
But he shushed her with his lips. “It’s the scraps. I found them in your fridge at the restaurant. And a bowl of your leftover buttercream.”
“Oh, sorry. I should know better than to assume you would cut into the wedding cake,” she said sheepishly. “But this should be good, I hope.”
He was curious. “Haven’t you tried it?”
She shook her head. “No, oddly enough, I haven’t.”
He picked up a chuck of lemon raspberry cake and fed it to her. “Now,” he said, “nobody should serve anything they didn’t taste themselves.”
It was good. Better than good. She closed her eyes. It was the best cake she’d ever tasted.
When she opened her eyes, Vann’s hand was wrapped around a piping bag full of icing.
“I’m not much for cake. But I love frosting. And if my nose is correct, you’ve made white chocolate buttercream. Don’t tell me, let me guess. Here, get rid of that blanket.”
He yanked the blankets away, exposing her breasts. GiGi felt the heat building again. They had banged three times today already and she was ready to go again. Whatever it would take to keep him here.
He twisted the piping bag and with the metal tip, dripped some of the icing onto her nipple. GiGi gasped in surprise, and moaned when her lover latched on to suck off the sugary stuff.
“You’re crazy and I love it,” she sighed.
“Lie back,” he instructed.
“No argument here,” she purred. Vann proceeded to twist and grip the bag again. She felt the cool icing tickling her ribcage and she smiled as he used his teeth and tongue to clean her off. “Hey, I want some of that.”
Vann’s set the bag down and teased his fingertips over her lips. One by one she took his fingers into her mouth and licked off the icing. “It’s good,” she said. “I’m gonna have to throw these sheets away after the butter stains but this is pretty hot.”
“I’ve been thinking about nothing else since the moment you said you were making the cake. I’ve been waiting almost four months to eat icing off your body. But I’m glad I had to wait because I have one more thing…”
He said up and picked up the piping bag one more time. This time he twisted it tightly and gripped it in both hands to trace something along her thigh with precision.
“What are you doing, decorating me? I thought you didn’t like cake decorating,” she teased.
He laughed. “Just hang on, and may I remind you that you are far more delicious a canvas to work on than cake?”
“You’re quite a charmer.”
He finished and said, “Done.”
She sat up and looked down at her leg. All up her thigh were three clearly piped cursive words, framed in beaded icing border fancy enough for a wedding cake. It read, “Marry me, angel?”
Chapter 15
Vann
Vann decided to leave the rehearsal dinner early to check on preparations for the next day. He said goodnight to her with a kiss as she walked him outside of the cafe.
“Don’t work too late tonight. You need your rest for the wedding tomorrow.”
“I won’t,” she said.
It had been a while since Vann had set foot in his own titular restaurant, but as expected, everything was under control. Vann had one less thing to stress about on the day of the wedding. Not that he had anything to stress about ever, as he hadn’t picked up a knife himself since he’d cooked for GiGi. He gave last-minute instructions to the staff and left. This whole event would be a piece of cake. After all, he had the resources to hire enough people that he barely had to do anything but give his head chef the menu.
It was only 10 p.m., so Vann went for a walk. It was a beautiful night. The humidity was mercifully mild and he didn’t feel like he was walking through a swamp with every step.
In this familiar neighborhood where he had started his first restaurant, nobody stopped to ask him for an autograph. These were all locals who knew him and simply said, “Hey, brother.”
Vann decided to make the walk extra long tonight and go check on GiGi. Even though he’d begged her not to, he knew she would be freaking out right now over the cake.
Walking back toward her cafe, he was having this feeling of total contentment that he had never felt before in his hometown. He owed everything to this city and yet he could not deny himself the opportunity to leave and see the world. But being home for the wedding was changing something in him. Or maybe GiGi was changing something in him. He liked being close to his pack, and not just at the full moon, where he was safe to undergo the shape-shift. He felt like perhaps he could settle down here and make a life with GiGi. If that’s what she wanted.
As he rounded the corner, he could sense something wasn’t right. He felt it in the air as he approached her cafe.
Chapter 16
GiGi
Her fingers were cramped as she sculpted her ninetieth ivy leaf out of royal icing. She still had to do sugar butterflies on top of the buildings—her last-minute idea that would put the whole thing over the top.
Yester
day, GiGi had determined that if she managed her time she should be done with this by 11 p.m. tonight, giving her plenty of time to sleep and be fresh as a daisy in the morning.
The rehearsal dinner had run long, the speeches went long, and she finally had to excuse herself at 10 p.m. with apologies to go back to the kitchen to take care of the cake. As she sculpted away, she thought bitterly how nice it would be to have a huge staff at her disposal to meet her deadlines. Why had she insisted on keeping Vann and his staff away from the cake? She had glanced over at Vann during the rehearsal dinner and he looked gloriously relaxed. He was drinking his vodka tonics and howling with laughter with all his buddies, his tie loosened and his top buttons undone exposing his sun-kissed tan, which he no doubt got somewhere on a beach last week.
She knew she couldn’t be mad at him. He had done nothing wrong. But her reptile brain kept making comparisons. That’s just what it did. Her competitive, perfectionist nature would not allow her mind to simply be in the zone.
Pretty soon she decided to take a break to look everything over. She had the whole base assembled and iced, and it perfectly resembled Bourbon Street, down to street signs made of candy and translucent windows made of gelatin that would be lit up from the inside. The only thing left was making the little chocolate people and the bride and groom on top of the wedding float.
GiGi went into the pantry to get the chocolate molds she needed. That was odd, she thought. The molds were not where they were supposed to be. These molds she had specially commissioned for this project. These molds that had set her back a pretty penny. And yet they were not there. She swore she had left them on the shelf right there in the pantry, but there was no sign of them. She opened cabinets and pulled out drawers. Oh shit. This was bad.
