“Yes. Can I come stay with y’all?”
“No. We’re having a lot of sex right now.”
“Ew,” he says, walking away quickly, my laughter following him.
I turn to go find Aiden, when I come toe-to-toe with my grandma. She squeals my name as she wraps me up in her arms. “Oh, my Shelli, always so stunning.”
She lifts my arm so that I’ll do a twirl. I have to admit, I do look pretty good. I picked a long lace number that flows against my skin, almost like the wind. It’s a halter, leaving my back open, and Aiden told me it was the hottest thing ever. I’m pretty excited to get back home with him. “Thank you, Grandma. Are you having fun?”
“Yes. Thank God Aiden’s family believes in carbs.”
I giggle. “Fallon tried to go carb-free, but her daughters revolted.”
“Because God gave us carbs.”
I grin. “Agreed.”
She wraps an arm around me, and I gaze up at her happily. If I can age like my grandma, that would be awesome. She’s over seventy but looks twenty years younger. “Another wedding. My sweet girls are all getting married left and right.”
“Yeah. Crazy, huh?”
“No, not at all. It’s beautiful to see that my girls know their worth and find men who honor that.”
I nod. “Aiden does just that.”
“I know. He’s wonderful—and extremely handsome. You’re the winner in the husband lottery.” I laugh out loud, my whole body making the motion, until she gets really close to me. Her voice drops as she locks her eyes to mine intently. “Listen to me, Shelli Grace.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“It’s going to take more than keeping him fed and drained. You might have to add some ass play in there.”
I seriously cannot compute what she just said. “I’m sorry…what?”
“Ass play. You know, fingering it, licking it, doing it—I’ve read some incredible books lately.”
I think I just died. “I may throw up.”
“No, listen. This one book…I’ll find you the title, but Grandpa loved it. I didn’t walk—”
“Grandma!”
“What? I’m serious. That’s a good-looking man right there!”
“Oh my God, my ears are bleeding,” I complain as I rush away, despite her calling my name and cackling like the crazy lady she is. I thought she’d shocked me when she told me to keep Aiden fed and drained, but nothing compares to what she just said to me. Thankfully, I run right into my soon-to-be groom, and I look up at him, completely and utterly disgusted.
“What?”
“My grandma just traumatized me.”
He grimaces. “Do I want to know?”
“I will save you from that.”
“You’re a good woman, Shelli Adler.”
I nod as I lay my head on his chest.
He wraps his arms around my back, clasping his hands at my lower back as we look out at the party. “Hey.”
I glance up as he moves his hand to cup the back of my neck. “Yeah?”
“Jessie called.”
My eyes widen as I grin. “We got it?”
We had put an offer in on the house as soon as we walked through it. It is perfect, everything we want, and hell, we may not have thought we were boat people, but we’re about to be! But then I notice Aiden isn’t grinning.
“No, baby. We didn’t. Someone outbid us. By a lot.”
I make a face, my stomach dropping. “Well, that sucks.”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
I shrug, not allowing that to bother me. I’m about to marry the man of my dreams. Nothing can take me off my high. “It’s fine. It wasn’t the house for us.”
“It wasn’t,” he agrees, kissing my nose.
“Exactly. We weren’t boat people.”
“No, or bug people.”
“This is true,” I add as he kisses my cheek. “I dislike bugs greatly—and creepy, gross grandmas.”
He chuckles. “I think I want to know what she said.”
“No. I promise you don’t.”
Aiden’s laughter runs down my spine as he kisses my temple. “Okay, but don’t let this bother you.”
I kiss his chin. “I won’t.”
“Good, because we’ll find our house.”
I cup his cheek, kissing him hard on the lips before I part to press my nose into his. “And then we’ll make it a home.”
His eyes flash with such overpowering love that I feel it everywhere inside me. “I love you, Shelli.”
I beam up at him. “I love you.”
And I can’t wait to promise him the rest of my life in two days.
Chapter 9
Aiden
Yup, my future wife has reached her breaking point.
“I’m pretty sure the day before my wedding isn’t supposed to be an utter shitshow. Alas, here I am,” she complains, throwing her phone on the chair in front of her. We’re at James Place for Shelli to make sure things are going the way they should. Grace hired more people for the teardown, and after two trial runs, they were able to switch over from the wedding to the reception in thirty-six minutes, which is awesome because Grace’s decorators have a lot of work to do. I know Shelli is pissed, but it’s hard to look around at the stunning barn and not be in awe or even excited. It’s going to be super fucking amazing to get married here tomorrow.