“And a stuffed cat is going to be the answer?” I snorted.
“A kitty is always the answer.” Tabitha Monaghan blew a curl out of her face, giggling as she bumped into Gabby who fell into Gina, bumping me back a step.
Oh, this was going to be a cluster for sure.
A waiter buzzed along the edges of the pen of desperate women. I reached out for a cup and took a long drink. It was the only way I was getting through this.
My eyes watered. Holy spiked version of the punch.
“Oh, I need one.” Gina wiggled by and chased the guy, dragging him back to pass out drinks to all of us.
She clapped to Adam Lambert’s “Stranger You Are” and wiggled her little butt before bumping Gabby and Chloe, one of the servers at the café.
“How much of the punch did you get into?” I asked Tabitha.
“Not enough.” She took another off the tray. “Thank you!” She winked at the waiter and then it was bottoms up.
When in Rome. I lifted mine. “Sláinte.”
“That’s more like it.” Gina also tossed back her cup of dangerous orange punch.
The men were whooping it up from the other side of the room, Lucky being the instigator of the most noise. His suit really was something to behold.
“Okay. Here we go!” Macy held Gideon’s shoulder as she stood beside him. She handed him the bat.
He sighed and turned around. “All right, let’s do this.”
Macy whacked him. “Hurry up.”
Gideon dragged her down for another kiss. “Don’t rush me, woman.”
“I can if I want. Bride’s prerogative.”
Jealousy crawled up my throat as I reached for another one of the full cups of punch. The waiter just sighed and held out the tray for us all to take another.
Lucky was moving his hips in ways I hadn’t seen since Magic Mike. Wow.
Gideon threw the cat like a damn softball and hit Lucky square in the forehead. It bounced up and August immediately shot his hand up, catching it like a pop fly.
Oohhhs and ahhhs filled the room.
He met my gaze across the room and my cheeks flushed. I was hoping most people thought it was from the booze. Please, goddess.
“All right, enough! My turn.” Macy steadied herself on Gideon’s shoulder. He turned around and slung his arm around her hip.
“All right up there?”
“I’m good.” She licked her lips then turned her head, momentarily breaking whatever spell was between them.
My throat tightened. To have that kind of connection with anyone seemed so out of reach.
The music went up another few notches and Gina and Tabitha held their hands up. I tried to shuffle behind them. I didn’t want any part of cat-catching, thanks.
I sidestepped to the edge of the crush of single ladies and Chloe dragged me back. “Where are you going?”
“Here we go,” Macy shouted.
The black, gray, and white stuffed cat went flying. Gina snagged the tip of the paw and it bounced off Tabitha’s head and right into my waiting hands.