Five First Dates (Sassy in the City 2)

Maddox opened the door for me at the venue hosting Leah and Grant’s engagement party the following Friday night. I barely had time to react to the decor of the room in front of me when Dakota spotted me and came in for a hug.

“Oh my God, you look so hot!” she exclaimed. “Hot mama!”

I laughed. “Thanks.” I did actually feel decidedly not mom-ish. I was wearing a deep navy sparkly cocktail dress that was so short I was at risk for flashing if I sat down carelessly. My heels were the highest I’d worn in eighteen months. I’d gotten a blowout and I had hair that was big and bold, sort of a nod to the eighties. It felt fantastic to fee

l put together and sexy.

Dakota always looked sexy. Always. She had legs that were a thousand miles long and a confident walk. She was wearing a black jumpsuit with a plunging neckline. At six feet tall she could be seen halfway across the lobby. Wherever she went, she turned heads, usually because she chose to wear high heels all the time. She always joked that she was constantly mistaken for a drag queen, but that wasn’t going to stop her from wearing heels because drag queens were amazing.

“You look gorgeous too,” I told her. “This is Maddox. Maddox, this is Dakota.”

“Nice to meet you.” He reached out and shook her hand.

It was kind of crazy they hadn’t met yet but the last six weeks had just flown by.

Dakota eyed him with naked curiosity. “So this is the manny? It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

I knew what she saw, because I saw it too. Maddox was sexy and dangerous and gorgeous looking all at once. He was wearing a suit, but it didn’t disguise all of his tattoos. The ones on his hands and fingers were still visible. The suit also didn’t hide the fact that he was ripped either. It only emphasized it. For a guy who had to be one of the sweetest, most solid men I’d ever met, his dark eyes smoldered.

“It’s nice to meet you too.” He gave me an amused look when Dakota didn’t let go of his hand.

“Let go of him,” I told her with a laugh.

“Oops. Sorry, not sorry.” But given she was Dakota, she just turned and swept her arm across the room. “This is just the lobby and look at this. You’re going to die when you see the actual ballroom. I went inside and ran back out because I needed to experience it with someone else. You can’t go in alone, trust me on this.”

We were at the Chelsea Pier and I had noticed decking that went around the whole perimeter, given a fantastic view of the Hudson river. The Jersey City skyline was twinkling on the opposite bank.

“Leah said the pier location was a nod to Grant having been in the navy,” I told Maddox. “I think that’s very cool, to make it personal.”

“If the pier is about the navy, then the ballroom is about being inside an acid trip,” Dakota said. “It’s insane.”

The doors were opened for us by men in tails and Dakota did not lie.

“Holy shit…” was Maddox’s opinion.

I was momentarily speechless. It was an explosion of color and ribbons and flowers and… humans dangling from aerial ribbons. It was the circus. It was the Big Top married with Vegas while cheating on Vegas with the Moulin Rouge. Or maybe Versailles. Aerial gymnasts floated above us like glamorous little silver specks, twirling and spinning, while the food stations were elevated train cars.

I grabbed Maddox’s arm and bounced up and down a little. “It’s the theater! It’s the theater meets the circus meets the navy! Look, there’s a pinup girl sailor!” I couldn’t help myself. I absolutely loved when couples personalized an engagement party and a wedding. Over the top? Extra AF? Bring it on. I loved it.

Besides, not everyone had the kind of budget they did. They had the cash and they’d clearly decided to just throw a wild ride of an engagement party.

“It’s something,” Maddox said. “I feel inappropriately dressed. Like I should be wearing a top hat and a velvet tuxedo.”

Felicia appeared beside us. “Do you get the feeling this is actually a wedding?” she asked.

“Oooh,” I said. “Maybe. It does seem like a lot for an engagement party. Now, that would be so romantic. A surprise wedding? I love it.”

“Wouldn’t Leah tell us?” Dakota asked. “A surprise wedding doesn’t seem like her thing. That’s more your thing, Savannah.”

Admittedly, it was.

Isla, who must have arrived with Felicia grabbed a glass of champagne off of a passing server tray and raised it in front of us. “I don’t think it’s a wedding. They’re doing this to both satisfy and annoy Grant’s family. If I had to bet money, I would say they get married solo on a beach or something. This is extravagant because there won’t be a wedding reception.”

“That might be true.” Though the idea disappointed me.

“Isla, you remember Maddox, my friend and nanny extraordinaire.” I smiled at him. God, he looked handsome in his suit. It was such a change from his usual black-on-black-with-metal outfit choices.

He was an amazing nanny. He was an amazing person. Sully loved him and Maddox’s style was easy, playful. Nothing rattled him. Not spit-up. Not full diapers. Not three-in-the-morning crying jags. Some day he was going to make an awesome father.