Big Meat (A Recipe of Love Book 2)

by Paige Conners

  “Just as long as you know I’m only with you for your big meat Anthony. Now let’s get downstairs before that heifer eats all my ribs!” Lindsay jokes and smiles at me with mischief dancing in her gorgeous eyes.

  Epilogue

  Lindsay

  I do one last final sweep of the venue we finally agreed on for the wedding. The National Mechanics Bar and Grill is a perfect blend of rustic and steampunk that satisfied everyone’s needs and is big enough to hold the number of guests that ended up being invited to this little shindig. We ended up with more guests than we initially thought we would, but still kept it small at only two hundred and fifty.

  Frankie wanted purple and teal for her wedding colors and I had to approve of the funky decor she decided on. She was lucky with having a June wedding all the flowers she wanted were available. Every table had a square vase overflowing with every purple and white flower imaginable. There were calla lilies, freesia, tulips, roses, lavender and lilac everywhere you looked.

  It seems the farther along she gets in her pregnancy the less any of us are able to tell her no. She’s so hormonal we’re all terrified of her. She will be perfectly calm until something sets her off and then she either cries enough to float an ark or she will fly into rages that would make spoiled fashion models who throw phones proud. I often wonder if instead of being pregnant she is possessed by a demon. Once her rage passes, she goes back to being perfectly sweet like nothing ever happened. I, of course, have been secretly recording them to pick on her about later.

  I make a quick stop in the bathroom on my way back to Frankie and marvel over the funky sinks here. They have a steampunk theme and are brass pipes in weird configurations that you wouldn’t think would work but do. I admire them and the flowers that are even in here as I wash my hands before running down the hall to the office where Frankie is getting ready. On my way I send out a quick text letting Big Papa know he can start letting everyone in.

  We invited him as a guest, and he promised he would come inside and watch, but he didn’t trust anyone except himself and his guys to keep his girls safe. Joe recently got a little more celebrity by winning a reality TV cooking show. His social media went absolutely nuts after he won and let’s just say it was a good thing I still have control of it. He would have lost his mind and destroyed his reputation if he read some of the things that were sent to him. I have to remind myself to stay professional and not to lose it just because Frankie is my best friend.

  Our friends are handling almost every aspect of our wedding for us. Caro is doing the cake of course. Joe’s staff did the food. Angie and Andy are who hooked us up with the venue in the first place, they know one of the bartenders Mike. He definitely has sparked mine and Frankie’s curiosity, not because he’s incredibly hot, which he is, but his eyes show all the secrets he has in his life.

  I run into the office and gasp at the sight of Frankie in her gorgeous wedding dress. She’s wearing an almost Grecian knee-length dress she sewed herself. The dress is made out of an incredibly soft cotton blend fabric she found and had to have. The simple halter top of the dress manages to support her breasts which are enormous by this point and show off all of her amazing ink on her arms and back. The skirt falls in folds that drape elegantly over her large baby belly. I look down at her feet and laugh at her idea of wedding shoes which are her teal Chucks.

  Angie has clearly been working her magic on Frankie’s hair. Her normally straight hair is up in a pile of messy curls that looks sexy and carefree but probably took hours to achieve. Frankie’s eyes are artfully lined and her eyelashes look lacy and longer than ever. Her lips are shiny with clear gloss letting her dramatic eyes stay the focus. Joe will trip over his tongue when he sees her.

  I dash off a quick text to Andy making sure the guys are ready. I also text everyone else taking care of any other last minute details I need to before I check that my bright red lipstick is still perfect.

  “So what level of meltdown are you going to hit when I take your phone off of you?” Frankie asks innocently as she walks up behind me. Our eyes meet in the mirror as I make a face and stick my tongue out at her. I double check the last of my messages before handing my phone off to the smirking bitch that I love like no other. She in turn hands it to Willow who gives me a subtle nod as she puts it in her purse letting me know she will keep an eye on it for me.

  “Ready to go put your ball and chain on Joe?” I joke as we head up the hall to where we will wait to enter into the main area of the restaurant. I mist up when I see Big Tony waiting for us by the doorway. Stupid hormones are making my eyes leak all the time. He cried more than we did when he agreed to give away the bride. He has lost a ton of weight with eating right and working out more, he is down to about two hundred pounds which suits his 6’ frame perfectly. The grin that stretches across his face when he turns to face us makes me smile too.

  I hear the rock song that we picked instead of the traditional wedding march start playing and grin at Frankie. Tony offers an arm to both of us and leads us out while Lizzie Hale croons out Here’s to Us. I take a moment to look at the crowd standing and then down the teal runner to the wrought-iron trellis that has white fairy lights and white and purple flowers woven around and through it. Finally, I look at Joe and Anthony standing at the end of the aisle waiting for us.

  Frankie somehow convinced me since I already agreed to marry Anthony that we needed to have a double wedding. I had already had everything arranged for her, so all I needed to do was get a dress. Frankie ended up making a dress just like hers except it’s strapless. She even went and got me purple Chucks to wear. It was really handy she did, I can’t imagine going through this wearing my heels. We even have matching baby bellies.

  When I went to my first doctor’s appointment, I got an even bigger shock than finding out I was pregnant. Turns out Anthony’s swimmers aren’t the only overachievers. My ovaries decided to spit out two eggs that month. Twins apparently are something that can run in a family history, another fun bit of info I would have loved to have had. Anthony is ecstatic. He apparently wants a hockey team’s worth of kids, I warned him after this he’ll be lucky if I don’t walk him in and get him snipped. As I get closer I watch him shift his eyes down to my growing belly and he grins such a self-satisfied smirk I decide to limit his time with Joe before he starts doing the eyebrow thing too.

  Andy is in between our guys looking sharp in a black on black dress shirt and tie. Turns out he is an ordained minister and agreed to officiate our wedding. The guys are both in black shirts too, but Anthony is wearing purple suspenders and tie, Joe’s are teal.

  “Thinking about running?,” Anthony jokes as he takes my hand and tugs me away from his dad so that I’m facing him. I feel like maybe we should have invested in some type of stepstool for me to stand on. The mental image of what we must look like is hilarious.

  “Nope.” I answer honestly as I hand my bouquet to Angie to hold during the ceremony. “I’m so big there’s no way I could manage it without falling over.”

  Anthony throws his head back and lets out his big booming deep laugh. There is no sound I enjoy more in my life. I recently admitted to myself that I’ve always worked just a little bit harder to make him laugh without even realizing it. I push up as far as I can on my tip toes and tug Anthony’s beard to get him to come down to give me the kiss I desperately need. He does just like I want and cups my cheeks and kisses me in his devastatingly tender way. The sound of the crowd laughing and whistling fades away and I know the ceremony that’s taking place doesn’t matter, all that matters is the promise that his kiss holds.

  The End

  Playlist

  I can’t have a book without music. Lots of music.

  I specifically wanna shout out to Halestorm for having the balls to have a love ballad that contains the words fuck and ass.

  Feel free to follow me on spotify and laugh at my randomness in my music!

  https://play.spotify.com/user/paigeconners/playlist/0WX6j
HwTtbLJDyds4VrKqp

  Acknowledgements

  To my own hetero-lifemates. You know who you are. I love you. And yes I totally put my wishes on paper so they come true.

  To the male models who helped me out with tales of craziness: Thank you!

  Especially Michael Joseph who is a down to Earth guy who didn’t act like I was a crazy person.

  To my beta readers: Amy Steele, Jen Wildner, Lindsay Lupher, Layla Frost, Maryann Christopherson, Sansa Khoush, Sonya Van Horn. I love my personal troupe of Pixies. This book probably wouldn’t have gotten finished or edited without you. You guys and your randomness and love helped keep me going when I just wanted to take a nap!

  Thank you to all the readers. Without you I would just be a crazy person sitting in the dark talking to myself. More than I already do.

  About the Author

  Paige has always loved books and reading. Growing up books provided an escape to magical worlds where magical creatures were real. As she got older those magical creatures became dream worthy men. After years of voraciously reading some very helpful friends nagged at Paige to write a book for her own. She will love them forever and ever and ever!

  Paige lives in Western Pennsylvania with her two tiny demons and her husband. She has a very serious Food Network addiction and collects tattoos.

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