by Jillian Neal
“Anyway, Fergus wants to throw a beach party.”
“How the hell is he gonna have a beach party? His parents’ house isn’t on the water!”
“Yeah, Fergus says that’s what makes it ironic,” Logan choked out, before he doubled over laughing along with everyone else at the table.
“He seriously needs to stop throwing parties. I mean, what did he say when you told him we were too old to party anymore?”
Logan sighed and took Adeline’s hand. “He said ‘we’re only as old as we feel.”
“Yeah, well...” Rainer smiled and hoped Emily wouldn’t get upset with his teasing Logan. “I’m feeling about ninety, so I think I’ll just skip Fergus’s tea party and take my hot young fiancée, who’s clearly marrying me for my money, to bed at about seven. After I have my way with her, I’ll try not to drown her in my drool as I sleep.”
Emily and Adeline roared with laughter, but Logan gagged.
“Ok...no, no, no!” He shook his head. “I’ve been really ok with everything.” He gestured to Emily and then to Rainer. “I came and got the ring for you, but no, I can’t take that!” He shuddered and gagged again.
“Sorry, couldn’t resist,” Rainer offered as Emily continued to laugh. The sound made it worth it in Rainer’s book.
“So, Fergus wants to have a non-beach, beach party with just us?” Adeline sounded very hopeful.
“No, that would actually be better. First, he wanted to throw the party here. To which I, of course, told him, ‘Not no, but hell no!’ Then he told me that he was going to throw this shindig at his parents’ house and invite people he met around town today.” He grimaced as Emily and Rainer balked.
“Just invite him over here; he can hang out with us. No parties!” Emily pled.
“Yeah, I wish, but he’s pretty insistent.”
Emily wriggled; Rainer thought she was actually going to stomp her feet as he tried not to laugh at her outright.
“Noooo!” she whined and shook her head. “No, I’m engaged! I’m at the beach with my fiancé. I want to shop. I want to lay out.” She smiled at Rainer. “I want to do other things.” She waggled her eyebrows as Logan pretended to gag again. “I do not want to go clean up after another one of Fergus‘s unintentional orgies!”
“I don’t think they’re quite that bad,” Logan huffed. “But I’ll call him back and tell him we aren’t coming. Then he’ll just move the party to another night, because, let’s face it, he doesn’t really have a lot of friends willing to attend yet another of his lame-ass parties and then clean up after them.”
“All right, how about this?” Rainer negotiated. “Call him, and tell him either Thursday or Friday. That way we have a couple of days to hang out and relax,” he offered as everyone nodded their adamant agreement.
“Yeah, and tell him that more people from school will be coming down this week, so it would be better to wait,” Emily instructed.
Adeline looked thoughtful. “Maybe you could say something about this being the last one. You know, we graduated, and this is a farewell party, so maybe no more after this.” Logan grinned at her sweetly as he chuckled.
Adeline was most definitely not a party girl. Considering the way she’d grown up, Rainer thought she did amazingly well. Connor, Logan, Emily, and Rainer, though he’d never put himself in the popular category, did seem to be invited to most parties. She got dragged along with Logan a fair amount. Rainer had seen Adeline, on many occasions, sitting and reading while a party went on around her.
“Unless you wanted Fergus to throw your birthday party,” Rainer laughed.
“Uh, no thanks.”
“Aww, Lo, we do need to do something special for your birthday. What would you like?” Emily grinned at her big brother.
He glanced at Adeline, and Rainer tried to hide his chuckle. He knew perfectly well what Logan really wanted for his birthday.
“Or...” Rainer offered as he gave Logan a grin. “Em and I could go out tonight, and you could take Adeline out for your birthday, just the two of you.” He wanted Logan to know that he and Emily wouldn’t be offended. Logan grinned at Adeline, but she shook her head.
“No, I mean, I’m sure you want to spend your birthday dinner with Emily and Rainer. I feel terrible you’re missing it with your parents.”
“I was there for his original birthday. We shared a crib. I’m pretty sure he’d rather be with you.” Rainer assured her as Logan nodded adamantly. Adeline giggled, but then looked upset again.
“I don’t even have a way to get you a gift.”
“We’re gonna go get ready,” Emily announced as she pulled Rainer from the table. They scooted away quickly, but not fast enough.
Logan began before they’d made their escape, “Adeline, you are everything to me, and you gave me you. There is nothing else that will ever mean as much as that does, to me, ok?”
Rainer and Emily missed the rest of the diatribe.
Birthday Shopping
“She doesn’t know how to let him love her, because she’s never been loved,” Emily was crestfallen as she sank onto the bed.
“Logan’s pretty stubborn.” Rainer caressed her face and kissed her forehead. “I’m pretty sure he won’t give up on her. And, I still want you to take her shopping. Get her whatever she wants. Get Logan a birthday present from her.”
She grinned up at him.
“You’re just amazing, Rainer.” He shook his head in disagreement. He glanced back down at the ring, and then out the windows of their room, out at the beach.
“I kind of think I’d better come with you, but I’ll try not to get in your and Adeline’s way.”
“Worried I’ll get smothered by photographers?” She stood and wrapped her arms around his waist. “I need a shower.” Emily’s tone turned flirtatious suddenly.
Rainer shot her a cocky grin. “Do you?”
She nodded against him.
“And would you need any help in the shower, baby?”
“What kind of help?”
“I don’t know...” he traced his fingers down her spine. “If you need anything washed, or kissed, or licked, or touched...” She shivered deliciously. “I could take care of that for you.”
“What if I need something else?” she breathed the words in his face. He pulsed; she could feel it.
“I can do that too, baby.”
She stood and moved towards the bathroom, but she halted at the dresser in the room.
He followed after her. Edging her t-shirt up, he began to rub his hands over her soft skin and up her back as she melted into his body. He lavished her mouth with gentle, tempting kisses.
“I’m scared to wear the ring in the shower.” She gazed at her ring as he pulled away slightly.
Smiling down at her, he nodded.
“I think we’ll still be engaged if you take it off long enough to shower. I will be attached to you the entire time you’re in there, so...” Rainer grabbed her backside as he pulled her against him forcefully.
A hesitant knock sounded at their door.
“Emily...?” Adeline sounded terrified.
Rainer clenched his jaw, and tried to will away his now-straining erection.
“I’ll, uh...” he gestured to the bathroom attached to their room.
She nodded with her face flushed and her lips slightly swollen. This did nothing to help his current problem.
Rainer closed the door and began shaving. Emily entered a few minutes later, wearing nothing at all.
“Adeline needed a bra; she didn’t want to buy that with Mom yesterday.”
Rainer was staring at her hungrily, not actually paying all that much attention to what she was saying. He was thankful he’d been shaving long enough that he didn’t have to think about it anymore.
She leaned to turn on the shower water, and he groaned as she reached out her hand and led him in.
As they were getting ready a little while later, what she’d commented on before their shower filtered back through h
is mind, now that he could think at all.
“Hey, uh, Em, I swear I’m only asking this because I’m a guy and don’t fully understand how this works. And believe me I’ve never noticed, but uh, do you and Adeline wear the same size... undergarments?”
He edged nervously, not wanting to say the word ‘bra’ in relation to Adeline.
Emily laughed at him and shook her head, but he hadn’t noticed Adeline, at least not in any other way than that she existed, and was Logan’s girlfriend. He knew Logan thought she was a knock-out, but Emily was it for Rainer.
Everything about her had always driven him wild. He remembered the changes in her from about the age of eleven until she was around fifteen. His father had been killed just after his fourteenth birthday. He’d always felt extremely guilty that the feeling of her developing curves against him while they’d lain out on the quilt in one of her parents’ pastures distracted him from the pain, temporarily. But Emily was deliciously curvy, he smiled to himself, and the only word he would use for Adeline would be ‘thin’. So, he thought the question was fair. Emily, however, was still giggling.
“Well, no,” she shook her head. “But, I guess it’ll do in a pinch. I imagine a lingerie shop will be our first stop.”
Rainer tried to determine how he and Logan could hang around, enough to make sure Emily wasn’t bombarded by press wanting pictures of the ring, and not bring Adeline to tears from embarrassment.
They ended up at LynnHaven mall. It was Emily and Mrs. Haydenshire’s favorite. Adeline had never been before, so Emily was ecstatic to show her all that it had to offer.
Logan seemed happier to be shopping than Rainer had ever seen him before. He supposed love could do that to a guy. Emily, Logan, and Rainer had sat Adeline down before they left, to plead with her to get things she needed and wanted, and not just the least expensive thing.
Rainer insisted on Emily using his card to pay; he vowed that this would have been precisely what his father would’ve wanted him to do. After almost an hour of rather forceful begging, mostly from Logan, they’d finally gotten Adeline to relent.
Logan and Rainer sat on a bench outside one of Emily’s favorite lingerie shops. They were dipping gigantic pretzels, oozing with butter, into a container of melted cheese, and sucking down Dr. Pepper from the pretzel shop.
Rainer had noticed several photographers gathering. He was braced to spring, but there were several police officers there as well, so he wasn’t certain how exactly this would play out.
Emily was determined, though, and didn’t seem to care what pictures ended up in the papers. She was going to help her friend. Rainer smiled at that as he studied Logan.
“So, uh, everything go ok last night?”
Logan nodded with his mouth full of pretzel. He took a long sip of Dr. Pepper before answering.
“Uh yeah, better this morning. You were right about that,” he agreed but refused to meet Rainer’s gaze.
“Damn,” Rainer chided. “You move fast; we got up at nine.” Logan glowed crimson as Rainer laughed.
“I’m not dignifying that with a response.”
“I was really hoping you wouldn’t.”
“Hey, you think Adeline would freak if I took her to Mick’s tonight?” He was clearly ready to change the subject. Rainer shrugged as he considered.
“Maybe...”
Mick’s was a five-star restaurant on the bay that was phenomenal. Rainer still remembered eating there with his dad the last time they’d visited the beach, before he’d been killed. The average plate cost around a hundred dollars, but it was worth every penny in Rainer and Logan’s opinion.
“But I thought that was part of your deal? You know, you did that,” he stammered uncomfortably, “and she lets you spoil her a little; which, now that I think about it, is kind of a win/win for you.”
Logan laughed and nodded his agreement. “Yeah, but I don’t want to push her too far. She still freaks over every price tag. Mom bought her a hairbrush yesterday, and she fussed that it cost too much. It was like five dollars!”
A moment later, a guy about Logan and Rainer’s age took post on the bench, while his significant other proceeded into the lingerie shop. Logan was wearing his customary Venton sweatshirt and a pair of khaki shorts that he sported whenever they were at the beach in the early summer.
The guy smiled and nodded to Logan and Rainer. “Hey, do you go to Venton?”
Logan nodded as he continued sucking down his gigantic drink. “Uh yeah...we both did...just graduated.” He was staring at Adeline who’d moved in front of the entrance and, to Rainer’s shock, her hands were full of the bras, panties, and nightgowns she seemed to be considering.
“Wow! I applied there like ten times, but kept getting turned down. It must be some school!”
Rainer and Logan nodded. They were never certain what to say.
“What did you major in?”
They shared an uncomfortable expression, and then gave their usual answer. “Government and Law,” they stated simultaneously.
The guy nodded and glanced at his girlfriend, who was near the front of the store, admiring a nightie.
“So, d’you go to the prep school as well?”
“Yeah,” Rainer informed him, thinking he was awfully nosy.
“Guess you have to know somebody to get in or something. I mean, I got in everywhere else I applied. I’m a senior at Yale.”
Logan nodded, “Yeah that must be it,” he offered with a slight smirk. To their relief, the guy’s girlfriend returned empty-handed, and they left.
Emily sauntered out a few minutes later. Determination etched every inch of her features. She pushed her hair behind her right ear and Rainer knew, whatever was coming, she wasn’t taking no for an answer.
“Uh, Logan, Adeline wants your opinion,” she stated with hesitant force.
Logan’s eyes goggled as he choked on the hunk of pretzel he’d just thrown in his mouth. Rainer slapped him on the back and tried not to laugh, and also to keep his best friend from needing the Heimlich maneuver. Logan finally managed to swallow.
“On something in there?” he pointed to the store.
Emily furrowed her brow and pursed her lips. “Yes!” she willed Logan to show a little bit more maturity. And Rainer found this all hysterical right up until the moment Emily challenged, “And I want you to help me pick out a few things as well, Mr. Lawson.”
“Em,” he glanced around nervously. “Do you know what kinds of things will be in the paper if I go in there with you?” He hoped against hope that this would get him out of it. Once Emily decided something, that was the way it was going to be. He of all people knew that. She shot him an incredulous look and rolled her eyes.
“That Rainer Lawson’s fiancée wears underwear and night gowns.”
“You know perfectly well there will be a whole lot more to it than that.”
“Yeah, not so funny now, is it?” Logan huffed.
Emily’s hands went to her hips as she cocked her jaw to the side.
“Would you two please both grow a pair and come on?”
Rainer and Logan stood and shared an ominous expression before they followed her back into the store.
To Rainer’s chagrin, they were photographed exiting the store, but there were only two photographers who were available to capture the shot.
The things Emily had purchased had his mind reeling with vastly more interesting things than being chased by the press.
Emily was in heaven. She led Adeline around to store after store. After a while, even Adeline seemed to be having fun, but Rainer noted she kept close to Logan. He didn’t seem to mind at all. He kept a hand on her anytime they were close enough to be in contact.
Adeline insisted that she didn’t need more swimsuits. The two Emily had picked for her the day before were all she needed. Logan kept close watch over her, and insisted that she eat several times throughout the day.
They returned to the beach house, loaded down with bags. Emily w
as buzzing excitedly. Adeline, however, looked exhausted.
“Ok, let’s go play in the sand! And then we can get ready for Logan’s birthday dinner tonight!” Emily exclaimed as her eyes danced. She was almost as thrilled as Logan that Adeline had agreed to Logan’s plan for his birthday dinner.
“I still don’t know about that,” Adeline eyed Logan speculatively.
“That’s where I want to eat for my birthday, Ad; please, baby.”
“I know,” Adeline hemmed, “but if we have to get all dressed up, then it must be really expensive.”
Logan had been trying to be patient with her. “It is expensive, Ad,” he soothed, “but I’m not asking you to eat there every day, ok? Just this once, for my birthday, please.”
She smiled up at him and nodded, though she looked deeply concerned. Both girls donned rather skimpy bikinis, and Logan and Rainer pulled on swim trunks.
They grabbed the volleyball from the garage. The game, however, fell rather flat when both girls flipped over on their stomachs, and undid the tops of their swimsuits to avoid tan lines on their backs.
Rainer’s stomach clenched as he watched Emily lift her head, and flip it the other direction. After deciding that volleyball could wait, Logan and Rainer moved to the towels to help the girls apply sunscreen, and then lie on either side of them. They staked their claim for the benefit of the admiring men on the beach.
As the afternoon wore on, they returned inside and began getting ready for dinner.
Rainer was barred from the room he was sharing with Emily as she and Adeline applied make-up and dressed together. An hour later, Logan and Rainer were in the living room, throwing popcorn at one another and attempting to catch it in their mouths as they waited for the girls.
“What could they possibly be doing in there?” Logan huffed. Rainer laughed and shrugged. Growing up in a house full of men made Logan edgy when it came to things like waiting for Adeline to try on fifteen outfits before going back to the original one she’d picked.
