Castle Hill (On Dublin Street 3.5)

“I doubt many people noticed your feet, Els. ”

She kicked off her shoes and we all settled around the table, eating and planning. Well, Braden had done all the planning, so it was mostly just me nodding my head to his suggestions and covering Ellie’s mouth when she got too vocal in her opinions over the flowers.

We were just winding down when Ellie’s phone rang. It was Adam, requesting her company, although from the way she blushed I doubted the request was that polite or lacking in sexual innuendo.

She got up hurriedly, giving me a smile and her brother a kiss on the cheek. “This was fun. Thanks for letting me crash it. Speak soon!” She floated out of the kitchen, in her mind already out of the flat and with Adam.

“Tell Adam I said hey!” I called to her.

“Will do!” The door slammed in her wake.

I pushed my plate away, cupping my chin in my palm as I smiled at Braden. “Thank you for doing all this. ”

“You’re welcome. ” His smile turned into a yawn. He ran a hand through his hair, looking exhausted. “The only thing left to plan is the hen and stag nights. ”

A hen party was what the Brits called a bachelorette party, and a stag night a bachelor party. “Won’t Ellie and Adam be organizing those?”

“Aye, at least that’s something. ”

I huffed. “That’s okay for you to say. I doubt Adam is going to arrange an elegant tea party for yours. ”

“Nah,” Braden grinned. “Casino night. ”

I pouted. “I want a casino night. ”

“Have a casino night. I’ll get Adam to nudge Ellie in the right direction. ”

“We can’t end up in the same place for our parties. ”

Braden leaned toward me, his gaze curious. “Why not?”

Surprised by the question since I thought the answer was pretty straightforward, I blinked a few times. “Uh, because it’s supposed to be a symbolic evening where we celebrate our last night of singledom. ”

“But we’re not single. We’re married without the certificate. Let’s change the symbolism of it. We’ll celebrate together. We’ll celebrate how we mean to go on for the rest of our lives. ”

I loved the way he looked at me. So full of . . . everything. “You could charm the pants off absolutely anyone,” I told him quietly.

He smirked. “I take it that means you like the idea?”

“I love the idea. I love everything you’ve said. But I know Ellie’s excited about this, so we’re going to give our friends what they want. ”

“Adam mentioned strippers,” Braden warned me, his eyes twinkling.

“If Adam books a stripper for you, I’ll force Ellie to book a stripper for me. ”

Chuckling, Braden relaxed back in his chair. “Let’s agree to no strippers. ”

I raised my glass of water and waited for Braden to do the same. “To no strippers. ”

“To no strippers,” he repeated.

“And let’s just make that a motto for our marriage. ”

Laughing, Braden nodded. “I can guarantee it. ”

I gestured to our plans and gave him a smile. “So are we done for the night? Can we lounge in front of a movie now?”

“Definitely. ”

Together, we cleaned our dishes and cleared the wedding plans away. Half an hour later we lay on the sofa together, my head on Braden’s chest, his arm around my back, as we watched an action movie on pay-per-view.

Forty minutes in, I tilted my head back to look into his face and said, “Sometimes I can’t believe that I get to do this with you for the rest of my life. ”

Surprised at my sentiment, Braden looked at me, eyes glittering with amusement. “What? Watch a movie?”