That was the absolute last thing I wanted to do. When I left the wedding, I didn’t even think, just fled to Anders. He comforted me and I crashed hard at his house, but when I woke up, I saw the error of my ways. Leaving one man and running into the arms of another is not the kind of person I am, which was why I left, and I’ve been kind of miserable since.
I walk past him and curl back up on my couch with my knitted blanket then, in the most pathetic voice possible, ask, “Am I not allowed to be a little bit mopey right now?”
“You can be sad all you want, but I’m not letting you do it by yourself. Besides, I brought treats.”
My ears perk up at that. I’ve always been a semi-healthy eater and try to keep junk out of my kitchen. Which sucks right now because all I want is to gorge myself on crap and I’m too sad to go to the grocery store.
Anders walks toward me, and he does, in fact, have a plastic bag full of goodies I seemed to have missed when he first walked in the room. He drops it down on the coffee table in front of me and I go digging through the bag like a pirate finding his booty. It’s a rather fitting analogy since one of the items he brought me is a bag of Pirate’s Booty popcorn. I don’t know what it is with us, but we always seem to be eating it together—or more like I buy it and Anders eats it all. That thought makes me laugh when I find another bag buried at the bottom.
One for him and one for me.
I toss the bag to the side and study him. There’s something on his mind, and he doesn’t take too long to fill me in on what it is.
“I’ve given you enough time, Giselle, and now I want what’s mine.”
Shaking my head furiously, I really look at him and hope to get my point across. Things are still too raw for me. “It’s too soon. I didn’t leave Wren’s bed just to hop into yours.”
“First, don’t ever mention yourself in another man’s bed, and second, it’s not too soon. If anything, it’s been long enough. Eighteen years, Giselle—I’ve been waiting for you for eighteen years.”
Anders brings his hand up, pushing a few strands of hair out of my face and behind my ear. A small shiver travels down my spine at the light touch, and I lean into his palm. This right here feels right, feels like home.
I close my eyes and amend what I just said. “I don’t know why I even said that. I guess I should correct myself—I was never actually in Wren’s bed.”
“What do you mean you were never in his bed? Like in Los Angeles, or…?”
It shouldn’t be this difficult to actually say the words. If anything, I’m just confusing the entire situation by not saying it outright. I pop my eyes back open and see he’s staring right back at me. “We never had sex with each other.”
“How is that even possible? Not that I’m complaining because it makes me feel a hell of a lot better, but how could he not?” He wiggles his eyebrows.
That is definitely the question on everyone’s mind. “I’ll be honest, that’s something I’ve often wondered myself, but he said he wanted to wait until our wedding night, so I didn’t push him on the subject. It just never came up again.”
Anders nods his head as if he’s considering my words and then he throws me for a loop when he says, “I like your jeans.”
That was a random change of subject. “Yeah?” I ask him, slightly confused.
“You know what would make them look even better?”
I glance down at what I’m wearing. Okay, maybe calling them jeans is a stretch since they’re pull-on and mostly spandex instead of denim, but they’re so incredibly comfortable, like leggings without looking dressed down.
“What?”
“Seeing them on the floor next to my bed.”
Oh my gosh, he did not just go there. I pick up a decorative pillow on the couch beside me and whack him on the head with it. We both laugh and I know he got the reaction he wanted out of me.
I shake my head and disentangle myself from his embrace. “I was about ready to get in the shower when you got here. You can stick around and watch TV or something, but I stink.”
He steps around me, heading toward the back of my apartment.
“Where are you going?” I ask his retreating back as he continues walking. What the heck is he doing right now?
“You said you were getting in the shower.”
“I am, so what are you doing?”
Anders pauses in his retreat and turns around to face me. “We can’t have shower sex without both of us in there.”
“Uh, no, that’s not happening.”
“Why not?”
I can discuss just about anything on the internet, but this seems to be the one topic I’m suddenly shy about. It’s ridiculous. It’s natural and not anything weird, but it’s still gross. I mumble an answer to him under my breath that comes out sounding like, “Mm nn mm hhhh ddd.”
He tilts his head to the side, looks at me kind of funny, and asks, “You want to repeat that?”
“I’m on my period. We can’t have sex.”
“I fail to see what the problem is.”
The idea of sex while on my period has always kind of grossed me out. It’s bloody and messy, although since we’ll be in the shower, I guess it wouldn’t be that bad? Not to mention I only have a day or two left.
Am I really thinking about having shower sex with Anders? I glance up at him and although there’s a little bit of guilt nagging me. I can’t deny my feelings for him. Yes, I am thinking about being with Anders again.
Walking right up to him, I point my finger in his face and say, “Don’t you dare think about pulling any Christian Grey shit and coming near my tampon. That doesn’t turn me on in the slightest, and I will smack you.”
Anders turns around with his ass facing me and says, “Promise? Will you hit me…hard?” He winks as he races toward me with grabby hands.
I squeal like a little girl and run away from him down the hallway toward my bathroom. He’s hot on my trail and I slow down slightly so he can catch me. It’s been a long time coming, but I’m finally ready to be caught. Anders catches me the minute we step foot into my bathroom, and his mouth is instantly on mine. He wraps both of his arms around my body and walks me backward toward the shower.
Our movements are frenzied as clothes go flying through the air, both of us eager to hop into that steamy hot water together. Anders is left standing completely naked in front of me and I lick my lips as I study his body from head to toe. He’s toned in all the right places.
Breaking my gaze from his hardened erection, I move my eyes to his face and see he’s smirking at my perusal. I still have my underwear on, and I tell him, “You need to hop in first so I can take this thing out.”
Anders rolls his eyes and I expect him to come back with some kind of retort, but instead he turns around and gets in, closing the curtain behind him. I make quick work of disposing the offending item and hop in right behind him. His head is down as he stands underneath the spray, and I come up behind him, wrapping my hands around his hard erection.
He releases a deep groan as he places both hands on the wall in front of him and I slowly slide my hands up and down.
“Auntie Giselle! Auntie Giselle!”
My favorite little girl’s voice floats down the hallway to the bathroom like a freaking freight train. I love her to death, but today is so not the day for a surprise visit.
My heart rate picks up as I start panicking. Nothing about this is okay, and I say the first thing that comes to mind: “Quick, you need to hide.”
“Where do you expect me to hide, in the toilet?” Anders asks while chuckling at my freak-out.
It doesn’t even matter as the bathroom door slams open against the wall and Luna shouts from outside the shower, “Auntie Giselle, you need to come help me. Cedric won’t stop harassing me.”
“That little girl, I swear she sounds more like a teenager every single day,” Anders says under his breath, and I smack him in the stomach, causing him to keel over. What is he trying to do, get us caught?
“Uncle Anders, is that you in there? Is there another drought?”
“No, honey, it’s just me in here,” I reply. “Why don’t you go back into the living room and let me finish my shower?”
The curtain flies right open and Luna has the biggest grin on her face. “Okay Auntie, I’ll see you in a little bit. Hi Uncle Anders!” She waves at both of us and giggles as she throws the curtain shut again, bounces out of the bathroom, and slams the door behind her. The medicine cabinet rattles from the force.
I immediately turn the spray off and hunt for towels. It’s like my brain has completely shut down, and it takes me a solid thirty seconds before I remember where I keep towels in my own damn bathroom. “Shit, we have to get out of here.”
Anders takes his precious time getting out of the shower, and I can hear him mumbling behind me, “Fucking cockblocked, and we don’t even have a kid of our own.”
Luna’s voice carries to us as I hear her say, “Mommy! Daddy! Did you know there is another drought?”
What the hell is she talking about? I don’t have to ask out loud because suddenly I hear my sister-in-law ask the same thing. “What is she talking about?”
I hear my brother’s voice next. “I’ll explain it to you when you’re older.”
“Marek Outlaw, you better tell me what’s going on right now.”
“I’m pretty sure what our darling daughter is trying to say is she just walked in on my sister and best friend in the shower together.”
“Oh.”
Marek’s voice booms down the hallway in his very dad-like voice when he says, “Luna, what did I tell you about going into the bathroom without knocking first?”
“Oops,” she says with a shrug of her little shoulders. “I did it again.”
I try not to laugh as Anders and I walk out and find everyone crowded in the kitchen. Tinley finds my eyes first then she looks from Anders’ wet hair to my own and winks at me.
My brother sees us and adds, “You know better than that, Luna. Apologize to your uncle and auntie.”
“I’m sorry Auntie Giselle. I’m sorry Uncle Anders,” she says in the most monotone voice possible. Oh, that little girl is going to give her parents so many issues as she gets older.
Marek is not amused by his daughter’s antics either, or by the fact that he knows I was just completely naked with his best friend in the shower. Pointing toward the living room, he says, “Go watch some TV with your brother, Britney.”
“Who is Britney?”
“I’ll tell you when you’re older.”
We all watch as my very adorable niece skips out of the room while yelling her brother’s name. She might say he bugs her, but she loves him like crazy.
“Giselle Outlaw, will you go on a date with me?”
I whip my head around to see Anders standing there with the goofiest of grins on his face. It makes me want to walk over to him and kiss it.
“Aren’t you already dating?” my brother asks.
Marek breaks the spell Anders’ sweet words puts me under, and I want to punch him in the face. If his family weren’t here right now, things would be going very differently. Flipping my brother the finger, I say, “Shut it, Marek. This man is trying to do a romantic gesture for me and you’re ruining it.”
“Seriously, I’m going to repeat myself again—aren’t you already dating?”
Rolling my eyes, I finally answer my annoying brother’s question. If I don’t, he’ll just continue asking it. “That depends on your definition of the word. We haven’t actually been on a real first date.”
“Yet,” Anders says. “We haven’t been on a first date yet, but tomorrow we will.”
“We will?” I ask, slightly confused. This is the first I’m hearing of this plan.
Anders nods his head. I guess I’ve got to get ready for a first date tomorrow. I don’t know what it will entail, but I’m excited just thinking about it.
Chapter Nineteen
Anders
I never thought I would be that guy, the one who does grand romantic gestures for his significant other, and yet I find myself doing just that. This is the second time I’m shutting down my restaurant for the woman I love, but this time she’ll be here with me and not somebody else.
Giselle is the kind of girl who acts like fancy is what she likes, but ultimately, I know she’s more of a laid-back, relaxed kind of person. Still, sometimes even those girls like to be shown the finer things in life, and that’s exactly what I plan on doing tonight. I want to shower her with the best and make sure she knows she didn’t lose any of that by not marrying Wren.
Taking a step back, I trail my gaze over the room to make sure everything is just right. I don’t know how it could be more perfect, and with a nod of my head, I turn to lock up.
“You can’t be serious right now,” Fox says as she comes up beside me and looks at what I’ve been working on all morning.
I don’t know why she doubts me so much. I think any woman would be ecstatic to walk into a date like this.
“As a heart attack.”
“What would make you do this?” she asks as she motions to the complete transformation I’ve done to my restaurant. Sure, it might be a little over the top, but it’s not like I do this kind of thing all the time. In fact, it’s pretty out of character for me.
“Love, Fox. Love makes you do crazy things, and apparently I’m about ready to do one of those things.”
And isn’t that the damn truth. Never in a million years could I have pictured myself doing something like this, but I have taken the idea of a grand romantic gesture and fucking run with it.
“Can you please shoot me if I ever start acting like you? I don’t care how in love you are—you’re acting like an idiot, and something tells me Giselle will think the same thing.”
I put both hands over my heart and take a step back like I’ve been hit. “Fox Delany, you wound me.”
She rolls her eyes like every single other woman in my life tends to do around me, and I just laugh.
The entire restaurant is covered in roses and I feel like a fucking idiot, to be honest. Who does something like this? Me, apparently. I’m sure there have been other guys to go over the top like this, but this is the first time I’ve ever done it myself. It’s probably going to smell like a damn flower shop in here for months after the roses are gone, but I don’t even care.
“You’ll be here later tonight, right?” I ask, thinking about my chef, who has already agreed, and the damn string quartet I miraculously arranged to be here as well, despite the very short notice. When I said love makes you do strange things, I wasn’t kidding.
“Am I still getting paid a hundred dollars an hour to be here?”
This again. I can’t believe she didn’t agree to this out of the kindness of her heart. Then again, I glance at Fox standing there with her hand on her hip looking bored out of her mind waiting for an answer. If I didn’t know better, I wouldn’t think she had a heart to begin with.
“Yes. I don’t know how you talked me into that one, but it is the amount we agreed on.”
“Then you can bet your ass I’ll be here.”
We start walking back out of the restaurant and as Fox is walking away, she turns around and says, “You better go get ready for the ball—your princess is waiting.”
Yeah, she is.
* * *
“Close your eyes.” I’m leaning down and whispering into Giselle’s ears, and she kind of shakes in my arms as I take the blindfold out of my back pocket and ask, “Do you trust me?”
I’m not the kind of guy who will just take away a sense from someone. I need consent before I do it or else it just feels creepy to me. I feel like a fucking winner when she nods her head and says, “With my life,” and I gently tie it around her eyes and completely blind her to the outside world. I’m in control right now.
I help Giselle into my car for the short drive from her apartment to my restaurant. Trying to throw her off, I mak
e a few extra turns, and essentially drive in a circle until bringing us to a stop. My knees are bouncing and I can’t wait to show her what I did.
We exit the car and I gently apply pressure to the small of her back, moving her across the parking lot. When I open the door and she steps into the restaurant, I kiss her on the side of her neck. She releases a breathy moan as I remove the blindfold and say, “You can open your eyes now.”
Her mouth falls open as the string quartet starts up, playing some romantic-sounding song. Her eyes travel around the room and after a moment, she whips her head around and narrows her eyes at me. “Anders, what did you do?”
That definitely wasn’t the response I was expecting from her. Maybe a little jumping around and kissing me, at least some sort of excitement and happiness. I shrug my shoulders, unsure of how to respond, and say, “Only the best for you, Giselle.”
“You didn’t have to go to all this trouble. You don’t have to impress me, Anders. You already have me.”
“I know that, but that doesn’t mean I don’t get to spoil you.”
A sour look crosses her face, and this whole thing is starting to turn into a disaster. What is she so upset about? “You’re not hearing me. I don’t want you to spoil me.”
I lose my shit a little and spit out, “Dammit, Giselle, what is going on right now? I decorated my entire restaurant for you and spent a lot of money covering it with roses. Do you realize how much money I’m losing tonight by not having the restaurant open? I did all of this for you.”
“No, you didn’t. You did it for yourself. You wanted to prove you won, and honestly, I don’t want any part of this.”
Without another word, she turns around and is walking back out of the restaurant. How the hell did things go to shit so quickly?
“Son of a bitch. Fox, send everyone home. This isn’t happening,” I yell over my shoulder as I run out, chasing after her. “Giselle, wait! Don’t leave.” I catch up to her right before she’s about ready to exit the building. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m so afraid you’re going to realize you made a mistake and leave me.”
Marry Me Page 12
