Rumors: Angela & Tyler

by Rachael Brownell

  Being the best man also means that Ryder has to plan the bachelor party. I'm sure Ang would have preferred Hunter to handle this part. I would have as well.

  When I think of Hunter, I think responsible. Ryder... well, I think strip clubs and parties. Not that he's a bad person, or that he frequents those places on a daily basis, but he's less predictable than Hunter in many ways.

  "He says not to worry, which of course makes me worry. What about you? Emerson isn't giving any clues?"

  "Not yet. All I know is that we're traveling. I was told to pack a bag for warmer weather and that's it."

  "Same," I reply, squinting as an idea pops into my head. "You don't think..."

  "Nope. Emerson wouldn't let Ryder talk her into doing a joint party. He tried but she shot him down. At least that's her story, but I can't imagine that’s the plan. Plus, I specifically told her no naked men. You're welcome."

  "So Vegas is out," I mutter.

  "That also means no naked women. I made sure she relayed my threat to Ryder."

  "Your threat?"

  "He loves his manhood too much to risk losing it."

  Ang grins at me. She's proud of herself. Proud of the fact that she more than likely threatened to cut Ryder's dick off if he entertained me with naked women.

  "You do realize that what happens at the party, stays at the party."

  "I know. Did you know that I'll be able to smell a skank on you when you return?"

  "You don't have to worry about that, babe. No skanks for me. I gave them up years ago. I go for more mature women these days. Ones that threaten people's 'manhood' in the name of love."

  She swats me in the arm when I use air quotes.

  For the next hour, we try and guess where we think we're headed. Ang is convinced the girls are taking her to Palm Springs for a spa weekend. She really enjoyed the spa when I took her a few weeks ago, and it helped her to relax. Her stress level has been manageable since then. Noticeably.

  As nice as that sounds for her, I'm not sure Emerson could afford that. It's a swanky place and can get pricey. I should check with her to see if she needs any money for the party.

  Plus, maybe she'll tell me where they're going.

  Probably not, but it's worth a shot.

  My best guess is that the guys are taking me golfing. With snow still on the ground until close to the wedding, it'll be nice to hit a few rounds on lush green grass and spank my brothers. When I share my idea with Ang, she laughs. Not at the fact that I'm excited to think they might be taking me golfing, but that I said I was going to spank my brothers.

  Her laugh turns into a giggle and then a sinister smile crosses her face.

  "I'll give you something to spank," she teases, pushing all the wedding paperwork aside and sliding on the table top in front of me.

  Running my hands up her thighs, I let my thumbs rest on the edge of her panty line. I'm barely touching her, and she begins trembling with need under my touch.

  "You want me to spank you, huh?" I ask, standing so I tower over her.

  With her sitting on the table in front of me, she appears smaller than normal. Her head only comes to the middle of my chest instead of to my chin. This angle also gives me a great view of her breasts, her V-neck t-shirt accentuating her cleavage.

  "I didn't say that. I said I could give you something to spank instead of your brothers on the golf course. Why? Would you like that? Spanking me?"

  Anything that involves Ang, naked, is something I like. I've never spanked her before, never even thought about it. I prefer to take my time with her. I'm usually gentle and caring, my touch eliciting the sounds of appreciation I need.

  We have our moment when we go at each other, full force. Those are fun, too, but not our normal style.

  "I'll make you a deal," I start, moving my hands up half an inch, her breath hitching. I'm dangerously close to her entrance now, wanting more than anything to slide just the tip of my finger inside her and watch as she comes apart in front of me.

  "What kind of deal?" she asks, her voice shaking.

  "As much as I don't want to, let's finish all this wedding stuff, order a pizza, and then I'll draw us a bath. After that, I'll do anything you ask me to."

  "Anything?" she challenges.

  "As long as it involves us being naked and you making those noises that come from the back of your throat."

  Those noises are the best. She only makes them when she's close to orgasm and they spur me on. I love those deep grunts and moans.

  "You drive a hard bargain, Mr. Dixon."

  Her hand grips the front of my pants while she speaks, making me reconsider everything I just said. I'll take her right here, right now if she asks.

  "I suppose I can meet your demands," Ang continues, removing her hand from the growing bulge in my pants and sliding back into her chair.

  Check and mate. I turned her on and she returned the favor. My sole focus now is to finish talking about all this wedding day bullshit so I can take care of my future wife.

  Happy wife, happy life. Right?

  Well, right now I have a happy, but sexually frustrated wife. That makes me equally as sexually frustrated and ready to burst just from one touch.

  Reaching for the seating chart, I start pointing to the round tables drawn on the map and deeming who sits where and with whom.

  I don't care if they get along.

  I don't even care if they know each other.

  Our wedding day isn't about them. It's not even about us. It's about love.

  A wedding is supposed to be a celebration of love and the commitment people make to each other to love one another for the rest of their lives. It's about two lives becoming one. People building a future together.

  People can either respect that commitment on our special day or they can leave. Quietly or by force. It'll be their choice.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Angela

  My bridal shower.

  Today is going to be an interesting afternoon. What should be fun and exciting for me, I have a feeling is going to be stressful and over-the-top thanks to Emerson.

  Walking through the front door of Ryder's house, I'm in awe of everything Emerson's put together in such a short amount of time. The entranceway is decorated with balloons and my wedding colors as well as streamers. As I make my way further into the house, I'm surprised to find Justine and Allison fluttering around the kitchen putting together trays of appetizers and making punch.

  “Wow!” I exclaim.

  “Hey! There's the bride,” says Justine. “What you think so far?”

  “It's amazing, I say. I can't believe you guys did all this.”

  “It was all Emerson,” she says. “Allison and I are only responsible for helping her put the pieces together.”

  “Where is Emerson?”

  “She had to run to the store to pick up fruit,” says Allison.

  “Fruit? What does she need fruit for?”

  “She wants to make sangria and she dipped all the fruit she bought already into chocolate. What's left of it anyway,” says Allison with a smirk on her face.

  Looking at all the food on the table in front of me, I notice the tray of fruit dipped in chocolate is missing a huge section. Allison and Justine must've had a snack after Emerson left for the store. She never would have let them start nibbling until all the guests had arrived. Hopefully she doesn't notice when she returns.

  “Thank you, guys. I really appreciate all your help, and I know Emerson does too.”

  “Of course, anything to help one of our favorite brides have a special day.”

  Justine's words touch my heart. When she was going through everything with Devon, I tried to be there for her the best I could. I'm happy they found each other the way Tyler found me, and I hope one day I can repay her kindness and do something like this for her.

  As for Allison, I can't help but think she has an ulterior motive for helping today. It's not like her to do something out of the kindness of her h
eart. Maybe things are changing for the better. Maybe the gossip queen has come to her senses and realized that true friendship is worth more than having something to talk about at the office.

  Jumping in to help, it's not long before Emerson returns with a bag of fruit and six bottles of white wine. With only an hour before everyone is expected to be here, Emerson leaves us to finish the food and heads into the living room to start moving furniture.

  The doorbell rings and moments later I hear my mother's voice. When I spoke to her last night, she was excited about today. My sister, on the other hand, was not.

  I'm not sure what's going on with her lately, but she seems to be withdrawn. She broke up with her boyfriend, who no one really liked, and has been moody and irritable ever since. The only thing that brings a smile to her face seems to be talking about the wedding.

  My mother and sister join us in the kitchen and take over my role of helping prep food so I can greet guests. As soon as I step into the foyer, the doorbell rings again and I open the door to find Brianna and Tyler's mother on the other side. Brianna's hands are loaded with boxes wrapped in beautiful teal and silver wrapping paper.

  “Angela!” Ty's mother exclaims, pulling me in for a hug.

  “Hey, Mom. Hey, B.”

  Opening the door wider so they can come in, I take the top two packages from Brianna and set them on the table behind me. As they shrug out of their coats, Ty's mom begins talking nonstop about how excited she is for our upcoming wedding.

  Every time she mentions the wedding, I feel bad. She offered to help, especially when she found out we were putting it together so quickly, but I politely declined. At that point, Emerson and I had the ball rolling and I felt like throwing another person into the mix might confuse things. Her feelings didn't seem hurt, but the fact that every time I see her she asks about the wedding and if there's anything she can do to help makes me think otherwise.

  I spend the next 20 minutes welcoming guests to the party as they flood through Ryder's front door. Everyone's gathered in the living room by the time Emerson calls me in. She's decorated the room to match the entrance in teal- and berry-colored streamers and balloons.

  “Have a seat over here, Ang,” Emerson says. She motions to the large rocking chair in the corner that she's piled all the gifts around.

  Clearing her throat, Emerson gathers everyone's attention as Justine and Allison hand out pens and paper.

  “Thank you all for being here. I know Angela means a great deal to each and every one of you and we appreciate you taking time out of your weekend to celebrate her upcoming wedding to Tyler. There are refreshments and appetizers in the kitchen if anyone is interested. Feel free to help yourself. I must warn you, the sangria is a little stronger than I anticipated.

  “The first thing we’re going to do today is play a few games. The piece of paper Allison just handed you has 15 questions on it all about Angela and Tyler. The person who answers the most questions correctly will win a prize. Why doesn't everyone take 20 minutes to fill out the paper and get something to eat and drink and then we can get started.”

  The first game has everyone laughing. The questions Emerson put down for them to answer are ridiculous. It proves just how little people tend to know about each other. Or rather, how little people pay attention. My own mother didn't know my favorite color. My sister had no idea what size shoe I wore. Even Emerson couldn't answer all the questions, not sure if I had any scars on my body.

  The next game was a little simpler.

  The purse raid.

  For every item in your purse, you get a certain number of points. The person with the most points wins a prize. Simple enough.

  The best part, I get to play this game too.

  Dumping my purse on the floor at my feet, I begin digging through the pile looking for the items on the list. The room is filled with laughter as my friends and family search for items with the biggest points. I can hear my mother and sister next to me trying to collaborate to win.

  The only problem... Emerson hears them, too, and disqualifies them.

  Tampon — one point.

  ChapStick — one point.

  Credit cards — one point each.

  Car keys — one point.

  Extra set of keys — five points.

  Social Security card — two points.

  I continue down the list hoping to find items that I never thought I'd stick in my purse. Dog treats? Diaper?

  Emerson calls time and asked everyone to announce their number. Somehow, Ty's mom wins. I'm looking at the pile at her feet and it's twice the size of anyone else's. The funny part, her purse is half the size of mine. I'm not sure how all that came out of there.

  Three more games. Three more winners.

  When Emerson announces the final game, I get excited. It's finally time for me to open our gifts while the guests get to play bingo. Every gift on my registry is a square on a bingo card. Each guest is given two bingo cards, and the first two who call bingo win.

  As I open each gift, I announce what I have and immediately know who has what on their card. There are shouts of joy followed by groans from those that don't have the gift on their card. This continues until all my gifts have been opened.

  No one has called bingo.

  That's when Emerson rolls a tub of wrapped gifts into the room.

  Looking down into the tub, there are at least 20 gifts all smaller than anything I've received yet. Looking to Emerson I give her an inquisitive look, but she just smiles.

  “These are from me and Ryder. Instead of buying you a big gift, we decided to make sure you got all the little things on your list,” she explains.

  “Does this mean I still have a chance at bingo?” Allison asks.

  Emerson grins before replying. “I set up every card to block everyone from getting bingo until Angela opened my gifts. So, yes. Everyone still has a fair shot at getting bingo.”

  I snicker as I reach for the first gift. It folds in my hand and I immediately know what it is. Ripping the paper off, my intuition proves to be right. In my hand I'm holding the brown kitchen towels Ty and I picked out. The same kitchen towels he seemed to hate but scanned anyway.

  Three more gifts and Justine jumps from her seat and hollers bingo. My sister, Jill, claims her bingo after the next two gifts. Once all the presents are open, my friends and family move to gather in the kitchen and visit for the remainder of the party.

  I'm exhausted as the last person walks out the door. Of course, it was Ty's mom. She wanted to make sure she helped clean up even though Emerson, Justine, Allison, and I had it taken care of.

  “I'll see you later,” she remarks as she descends the front steps.

  “Of course. We should do lunch this coming week. Just give me a call.”

  Waving over her shoulder, she slides into her car and shuts the door without a word. This is the first time she's ever left without giving me a hug and it feels weird. I'm hoping I didn't hurt her feelings by not asking for help with the wedding, but the more I think about it, the more I'm certain I have.

  The last thing I ever wanted to do was to strain my relationship with her. She's an amazing woman, an amazing mother, and there's so much I've learned from her over the years. I hope she realizes how much I value our relationship.

  “Ang. Come back in here,” Emerson hollers from the kitchen.

  Allison is popping the cork on a bottle of champagne as I round the corner, the cork flying past my head and into the hallway.

  “Oops,” she says, shrugging her shoulders as if it's no big deal she almost hit me.

  “Champagne? What's the occasion?”

  “Well,” Emerson begins. “I have a confession to make.”

  “Confession?”

  “Do you love me?”

  “Em, what did you do?” Raising an eyebrow at her, Emerson smiles before putting some distance between us.

  As she walks around the island, I'm hot on her heels. Allison and Justine are watching me chase he
r and laughing in the corner.

  “Em, stop running from me. Just tell me what's going on.”

  “Remember how you said I could throw you an engagement party? Well, that starts in about an hour.”

  “An hour! Seriously? Does Tyler know about this?”

  Looking to the clock on the wall, Emerson shrugs.

  “Ryder should be telling him right about now.”

  I can picture the look on Tyler's face when Ryder confesses what's happening tonight. He didn't think we needed an engagement party and neither did I, but I knew how important it was to Emerson for us to have one, so I agreed to let her host. When she never mentioned it again, I assumed she forgot about it.

  Assuming. Makes an ass out of you and me.

  Emerson quickly fills me in on all the details as Allison pours us each a glass of champagne. Almost every guest from this afternoon will be returning tonight. Ryder is bringing Tyler after they stop at the house to pick me up a change of clothes.

  Looking at the excitement on Emerson's face, I can't be mad at her. She has the biggest heart and is the best friend a girl could ask for. I don't know what I'd do without her in my life, and I never want to find out. The day she gets engaged is the same day I'll start planning the many ways in which I can repay her kindness.

  When we first met, I knew would be friends forever. When I got engaged, I knew she would be my maid of honor. Just like I know, the day she gets engaged, I'll be hers.

  Nothing says friendship like throwing two parties in one day.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Getting fitted for a tux isn't a new adventure for me or my brothers. Besides Hunter's wedding, my parents have hosted multiple parties that have required us to dress in a certain way.

  Black tie affairs and all that shit.

  Still, I dreaded this morning.

  There's something about a man putting his hand close to my dick that doesn't excite me. It's uncomfortable. Sure, it's only there for a few seconds, but I can't help but cringe. Visually.

  Apparently, I'm not the only one, either. I saw the look on Hunter and Ryder's faces when the tailor took their inseam measurements. I'm sure the look on my face mirrored theirs.