The Engagement Embargo

by Samantha Chase

  Climbing from her car, she almost sagged with relief when her other business partner and best friend, Josie, came walking over to help her.

  “Good morning,” Lea said, feeling a little breathless as she started handing things to Josie. “Sorry I’m late.”

  “Late? It’s only eight o’clock.”

  “Eight-o-nine to be exact.”

  Groaning, Josie took the tray with their coffees and then the bag of bagels from Lea. “Stop being such a stickler for crap like this. Skye’s not here yet and no one’s waiting on us, so relax.”

  Easy for her to say, Lea thought. She hadn’t been harassed all weekend by her bridezilla cousin Charlene.

  They walked into the office and set their breakfast up at the conference table like they did every Monday morning. “Have you heard from Skye since they got back?”

  “Only a text thanking me for watering plants and for handling the appointment with the electrician last week. As far as I can tell, she should be here any minute.”

  “Good. Good. That’s good,” she murmured as she moved around grabbing napkins and knives for the bagels. It was their standard menu for their weekly meeting and Lea could probably have it all set up blindfolded, but she found a certain amount of peace in the mundane task.

  “What’s going on with you?” Josie asked after a minute.

  “What do you mean?”

  “You’re scurrying around here and you’re acting a little twitchy. What’s up?”

  Maybe she’d feel better if she just talked about it–especially before Skylar arrived and the conversation turned to her fabulous honeymoon.

  Grabbing her chair, she collapsed on it. “My cousin is a nightmare,” she blurted out. “Like the worst bridezilla I’ve ever dealt with! I thought it wouldn’t be so bad for this engagement extravaganza, but it just keeps growing and taking on a life of its own and it’s too late for me to get out of it!” Slouching down in her seat, she let out a long breath. “Oh, my goodness. It feels so good to say that out loud!”

  Taking the chair opposite her, Josie gave her a sympathetic smile. “Okay, what can I do to help? Seriously, just name it and I’m there for you.”

  “Thanks, but…I think I finally have it all worked out, I’m just going to have to make sure I have several backups ready just in case.”

  “Why?”

  Sitting up straighter, she explained. “It’s a four-day event–Thursday to Sunday. Thursday afternoon, people will start to arrive at the groom’s family estate in Chapel Hill. There’s going to be a casual dinner–they’re having some famous Pit Master come in and do a barbecue for them. I’m doing the cupcakes for dessert. A hundred of them.”

  “Yikes! Isn’t this just an engagement party?”

  She nodded. “Yup. There’s fifty people confirmed for Thursday and then another fifty coming in Friday and then an additional hundred for Saturday and Sunday.”

  “Seems a bit excessive for an engagement. I can only imagine what the wedding is going to be like.”

  “It’s going to be a three-ring circus, I imagine. Fortunately, I’m only doing the cake for that one. Although it’s going to be like nothing I’ve ever done before. They’re expecting five hundred people. Can you imagine? So it’s going to be a six-tiered cake with two giant cupcake towers on either side. Just thinking about it gives me a headache.”

  Josie nodded. “Okay, but back to the weekend thing. You’re doing cupcakes for Thursday night. What about the rest of the weekend?”

  “Friday night will be more of the same–lots and lots of cupcakes–plus a cake. All Tiffany themed.”

  “Tiffany? Like the jewelry?”

  “Yup. I finally got the fondant the right color and I was practicing with it all weekend. I swear, Josie, I ate way too much cake while trying to figure out the design. My pants are very squeezy today.”

  “Damn. You should have called me. I would have loved to have some cake rather than the bland vegan dinner I was forced to eat.”

  “Since when are you vegan? Have we talked about it and I forgot?”

  Josie shook her head. “No. I had a blind date Saturday night and he’s vegan.”

  “Oh, um…how did it go?”

  “I went to the Burger King drive-thru at midnight and scarfed down a Whopper in the parking lot. There won’t be a second date.”

  “Wow. Sorry.”

  “Don’t be. Even without the whole vegan thing, we weren’t particularly compatible.” She sighed. “But back to you. Again. What’s after the Tiffany cake and cupcakes?”

  “We’re doing a dessert bar Saturday night and fortunately, I was able to sub out a lot of it. I’ve got someone doing cookies, someone doing the sundae bar, and then we’ll have a chocolate fondue station, plus cupcakes.”

  “I’m afraid to ask what happens on Sunday…”

  “I have to prepare two hundred goodie boxes,” she said wearily. “One cupcake, one cookie, some assorted candies, and a little bag of those Jordan almonds.” She sighed. “I’ve got a team coming in starting on Wednesday to start prepping and assembling as much as we can in advance.”

  “Good grief, Lea! Is there space for you at their estate to work?”

  She nodded. “They’ve set up a trailer for me as well as a tent specifically for setting things up and assembling. Plus, they’re giving me a room in one of the houses on the estate so I don’t have to commute back and forth.”

  “It’s only a forty minute drive…”

  “I know, but it will mean I can sleep a little too. It’s going to be exhausting, but I’ve got a team of six coming to help, so it should be okay. Just a lot of work.”

  “O-kay…so tons of baking, but that’s nothing new to you and not enough for you to be this stressed.”

  Rather than respond, she groaned and slouched a little further down in her seat.

  “That doesn’t sound good.”

  Letting out a long breath, she forced herself to sit up. “Charlene invited me to brunch yesterday so I could get a feel for the layout and walk around and check everything out. Basically, she wanted to make sure I was going to have everything I need for the weekend.”

  “Well, that was very nice of her. No surprises, right?”

  “Everything looked great.”

  “But…?”

  “So we’re in the middle of eating in this massive dining room where the table could have easily fit fifty people and…”

  “What did she serve?”

  “Um…what?”

  “The brunch?” Josie prompted. “What did she serve?”

  “Oh, um…we had lobster eggs Benedict, fresh fruit, and chocolate croissants. Very yummy.”

  “Nice. Okay, go on.”

  “We were eating, and she was going on and on and on about how fabulous her life is when somewhere in the house, people start yelling. Like seriously arguing.”

  Josie’s eyes went wide even as she smiled. “Who was it?”

  “Apparently, the groom has two older brothers. One is married and–according to Charlene–the nicest guy in the world. But the other brother…”

  “Was the one arguing, right?” she asked excitedly.

  Nodding, Leanna couldn’t help but laugh. “Yup. Things are supposedly so hostile, that he’s not part of the bridal party.”

  “Yikes.”

  Nodding again, she went on. “So they broke the news to him Sunday morning that he was out of the bridal party, but then the father chimed in that he still was expected to be at the wedding and all the wedding and pre-wedding festivities. And on top of that, he had to be on his best behavior or they were going to fire him from the family business!”

  “No!”

  “Uh-huh!” Lea said, her heart beating a little faster just like it had at brunch. “I asked Charlene about it because…you know…we were overhearing it all, and she told me that she wanted five minutes alone with him to threaten him that if he did even the tiniest thing to ruin anything, that she’d personally lead the charge to have
him thrown off the property!” Shaking her head, she sighed. “At that point, I kind of felt bad for the guy.”

  “That’s because you never like to believe anyone is bad and believe me, sometimes, people are. It sounds like this guy sure is. If the entire family is ready to throw his ass away like this, then you know it’s serious.”

  “Yeah, but…maybe he has his reasons…”

  Josie held up a hand to stop her. “Don’t. Just…don’t.”

  “Don’t get involved, Lea! This whole weekend is going to be enough of a circus without you getting involved in their messed up family dynamic. Go and do the cupcakes and the goodie boxes and whatever else, and steer clear of this brother person.”

  “It’s not like I was going to actively seek him out or anything. And besides, I don’t even know what he looks like. There was a lot of yelling, but no one came near the dining room.” She shook her head and laughed softly again. “Seriously, the house is so big, I could have walked around it for hours and never found where the fighting was coming from.”

  “Sounds like they’re going to need it for this whole weekend party. Where’s the wedding going to be?”

  “Their signature hotel–the very first one they built–is located just outside of Charlotte. It’s a massive hotel and golf resort and according to my cousin, it’s the most magnificent place for a wedding.”

  Rolling her eyes, Josie snorted. “Please. We hear that from every bride, don’t we? She just loves it because that’s where she’s getting married and I’m sure they’re bending over backwards for her.”

  “Probably.”

  “And you’re doing the cake for that?”

  “Unfortunately,” she murmured.

  “Lea, it’s okay if you tell her you can’t do it. After all, it’s three hours away. That’s a lot to ask when you’re transporting a cake for five hundred people.”

  “I know, but if I don’t do it, my family is going to throw a lot of guilt my way. As it is, I’m already hearing the usual remarks because I’m not bringing a date to the whole weekend thing.”

  “Sadly, that’s nothing new either, and I’m sorry. The good news is you can hide out in the trailer and ignore them and pretend that you’ve got way too much work to be socializing at the party.”

  “That was my plan,” she admitted and felt her cheeks heat. “I’m such a coward where my family is concerned.”

  “I think we all are in our own way.”

  They grew silent, but it didn’t last for long because Skylar came breezing into the room carrying two giant gift bags and smiling from ear to ear.

  “I’m back!” she cried happily, arms in the air.

  After that it was nothing but squeals of happiness and lots of hugs for several minutes and it was exactly what Leanna needed. Maybe listening to her best friend gush about how lucky she was to finally marry the man of her dreams was exactly what Lea needed to snap her out of her own funk.

  And maybe if she was really lucky, this engagement party wasn’t going to be the nightmare she was already envisioning it to be.

  The phone beside him chirped with yet another reminder that he was expected in hell in one hour.

  Okay, technically he wasn’t going to hell–not yet anyway–but his brother’s marathon engagement party was pretty damn close.

  Reaching for the phone, Brody King dismissed the reminder as he leaned back in his desk chair and groaned. There were a million other things he’d rather be doing than spending four days celebrating with his family and two hundred of their closest friends.

  Hell would be preferable.

  Raking a hand through his dark hair, he blew out a long breath. As much as he needed to get going, he knew he needed to get into the right mindset first. He’d already been warned numerous times that he had better be on his best behavior ever second of every day of this ridiculous four-day engagement party.

  “Why does anyone need that long of a celebration?” he murmured, even as he felt his blood pressure rising.

  The whole thing was just beyond crazy to him. And to make matters worse, he was being attacked for simply being honest.

  Well, his brother had called him a callous jackass and rude, but Brody preferred to call it as stating the truth.

  For starters, no one needed a four-day engagement party.

  And no one needed to create such a spectacle and waste so much money in the process.

  But the straw that had pretty much broke the camel’s back for him, was the fact that this was all taking away from time that would be better spent at work. They ran a billion-dollar business and in order to keep it that way, someone actually needed to work.

  Something his baby brother couldn’t seem to grasp.

  Ever.

  An extended weekend may not seem like much to most people, but to Brody, time was money and four days of pointless celebrating was going to grate on his last nerve.

  Sooner rather than later.

  Brody knew he was the workaholic in the family. His grandfather had started King Hospitality more than fifty years ago. Then his father had joined him and they branched out into corporate convention centers and took their business across the U.S. Once Brody was old enough to join the team, he took them global.

  Maybe it was middle-child syndrome, but he had always felt the need to work as hard as he could to stand out–to make an impact. His family didn’t mind when he was making them millions, but as soon as he speaks up against something his brothers are doing and suddenly, he’s the problem.

  Groaning, he wondered how he was supposed to handle everything.

  Or rather…the next five days.

  Even though the party didn’t technically begin until Thursday evening, the entire family was told to show up today–Wednesday. He didn’t have a part in the wedding–thank God–but for some reason, he was still expected to be there for everything as if he did.

  His backup reminder chirped and Brody knew he had stalled long enough.

  The drive to the family compound in Chapel Hill would take him less than twenty minutes. King Hospitality’s main office was also located there and it was a fairly direct route. His own home was in Raleigh–which wasn’t that far away and it seemed silly that he wasn’t allowed to sleep in his own bed for the next several nights–but again, he was trying to do what everyone asked.

  No matter how inconvenient.

  Fortunately, he had a suite of rooms at his family’s home and knew he could retreat to them at the end of the day and have more than enough privacy away from the throngs of people who were going to be staying there.

  He shuddered at the thought.

  There was a knock at the door and he looked up as his father walked in.

  Great.

  “Brody,” he said in his usual booming, commanding voice. “I expected you to be gone by now.”

  Standing, he stretched. “I was just getting ready to leave,” he replied respectfully. Walking around the desk, he slid his phone into his pocket.

  “Good. That’s good. I’ll follow you out.”

  For the love of it…

  “Dad, you don’t need to do that. I really am planning on leaving. I just need to grab my laptop and some files and I’ll be on my way.” To prove his point, he gathered up his belongings and put them in his satchel.

  “How’s the training going?” his father asked as he stood and watched his son move around the office. “You were here pretty early this morning.”

  “I came right from the gym and showered up here. It’s preferable to doing so in a public locker room.”

  “When’s the triathlon?”

  “Eight weeks,” he replied. “And if I keep up this pace, I should beat last years’ time.”

  “Good for you, Brody. Personally, I don’t know how you do it. Don’t you ever just sit and rest?”

  “What for? I don’t see the point in simply sitting around the house.” It was true, he hated to be idle, but what he wouldn’t admit to anyone was how his current training was ki
cking his butt just a little bit. He was even considering not training next year.

  “Maybe you’ll relax this weekend at the house and do a little less training.” He paused. “You tend to go to the gym at night, too, don’ you?”

  “I do, and before you ask, I’m heading straight to the house and don’t plan on going anywhere, so you don’t have to worry.”

  “Yeah, about that…”

  Brody stopped in his tracks. “Is there a problem?”

  “Charlene’s cousin is staying in the house this weekend. She’s in charge of the desserts.”

  “O-kay…”

  “Her room is in your wing so…please be on your best behavior and don’t scare the poor girl. She was at the house Sunday and heard you having your meltdown and…”

  “It wasn’t a meltdown, Dad,” he said with more than a hint of annoyance. “I was simply giving my opinion. Last I checked, that was still allowed.”

  Pinching the bridge of his nose, Marshall King tensed. “We’re not doing this again. Just…please be nice to her. If anything, be overly nice to her. Do I make myself clear?”

  It was pointless to argue so he simply nodded.

  “Excellent,” his father said, his relief palpable. “Now let’s get going.”

  As soon as they were out of his office, Marshall talked about all the plans for the party–as if Brody cared–and all the preparations that were currently underway. It sounded like there was going to be hundreds of people there setting up, and again he had to wonder why his presence was needed or required today.

  It felt a little like walking to his execution and Brody knew he was dragging his feet a bit–literally and figuratively. Still, by the time they were down in the parking garage, he was more than ready to be alone in his car. “I’ll see you at the house, Dad,” he said with a small wave, and once he was seated behind the wheel of his Aston Martin DB11, all the tension left his body.

  “And I’ve got all of twenty minutes to enjoy it…”

  Glancing up in his rearview mirror, he spotted his father’s BMW idling and knew the old man was waiting for him to pull out of his spot.

  With a muttered curse, he obliged.