"Is that why you slept with Travis?" I joke with her.
"No, that was all my sex appeal," Travis says, slapping the bar and laughing at his own joke.
Ace steps forward and grabs our two glasses, shaking his head at the sweet tea that Bennett waves at him. Turning and looking at me, he says, "Lead the way."
Chapter 11
Ace
I step forward to grab our two glasses while Bennett waves the bottle of sweet tea in my face. I glare at him and shake my head, then turn to look at Shelby. "Lead the way."
She turns to walk toward the back of the room. The smell of roses fills the room, and I look around to see the decorations. "Not going to lie," I say when we walk past the white dance floor with the letter S and J in the middle. "This looks nothing like you would do for your wedding."
She stops and looks at me. "Really?" she asks.
"It's so white," I observe. "I mean, it's beautiful, don't get me wrong, but"—I look around—"it's just so white."
I look back at her, and at this point, I think I've offended her. Maybe I don't know her as much as I think I do. "So what would you imagine if this was, in fact, my actual wedding?” She folds her arms over her chest as she stares at me.
"Well, for one, I would add color like red and peach," I reply, knowing those are her favorite colors. "And I'd add some green in here somewhere and take off all this white shit." I point at the ceiling, then look back at her, and her eyes are roaming around the room.
"I'm not saying you’re right," she huffs. "Because my sisters spent lots of hours making it perfect." She turns and starts to walk.
"But I'm not wrong either." She looks over her shoulder, and I can see her smirk.
"If you say anything about this dress," she says, and all I can do is watch her walk away. The back of her dress is sheer but has buttons from the middle of her back until her waist.
"You'd look good in a potato sack," I reply, catching up with her as we walk out of the event space and into a hallway that leads to an outside door.
The sound of her shoes clicking on the marble echoes until we get to the end of the hallway, and she pushes open the side door. "Is this a secret lair?" I look around at the pathway to the back of a house.
"No." She laughs. "It's just a secret entrance." She holds up her dress on the side as she walks down toward the house. "But I guess it could be considered a lair."
The sun looks like it's going down, and the sky looks orange. She pulls open the back door of the house, and I step in and smell the flowers right away. "What is this?" I step farther into the room. White potted roses are everywhere. "Oh my God, what is this?" I spot the white couch in the middle of the room next to two more potted roses.
"It's the bridal suite." She walks over to the platter of fruit and picks up a strawberry.
"It's almost as bad as in there." I point at the door we just walked into while I walk over to the couch and sit down. "Horrible." Putting the bottle of whiskey down and then the glasses, I grab the bottle and turn the cap, listening to the snapping sound and then pouring two glasses. "This should make it better." I hold a glass up for her, and she comes and takes it.
She swallows it down and then coughs. "Why does it have to be so gross, even after all these shots?" She grimaces.
"I think we have to do it like one after another, and it has to be quick." I snap my finger, and she shakes her head.
"I need help." She spins in front of me, showing me her back. "Can you unbutton me?" She moves her hair to the side so I can unbutton her.
I get up, and my hands shake right before I start to unbutton the first little white satin button. My heart speeds up, and all I can do is focus on one button after another. "How many buttons are there?" I ask after I get past ten, my eyes trying not to focus on the fact I'm getting really close to her ass. "Too many." She laughs, and my hands shake the whole way. I'm pretty sure that the whiskey is fucking with my head right now.
"There you go," I announce when I get to the last button and push her dress open. Her hand flies to the front of her dress.
"Ooof," she says right before it falls, leaving her topless. "Thank you," she says as she walks away.