It didn’t matter to him one bit that she’d called him in the middle of the night, and now she was the one sleeping when he was the one who should be. The only thing that mattered was she was learning to look after herself, to take what she needed and what she wanted.
It wasn’t his intent to help her finish just by talking, but if it worked, then she was in for a lifetime of hands-free orgasms.
He might be the one with all of the celebrity and all the glory, but she was the one who deserved it the most.
Chapter Seventeen
GiGi
Despite thinking about little else than her man arriving home any moment now, GiGi was doing her best to enjoy Rosemary’s bachelorette party.
Rosemary and Pen had cleared the air, and Pen seemed on her way to accepting GiGi after Vann’s speech at the last hunt. Pen, the maid of honor, had actually been having fun with the bridal party ever since they had gone dress shopping together Uptown, where Rosemary had picked the biggest, loudest, most ridiculously expensive gowns in the entire Southern United States. GiGi found herself warming up to Pen, and vice versa.
But tonight, GiGi was anxious. It had felt like an eternity since her Vann had flown away, even though it had only been weeks. Her need for him was compounded by the fact that he had made her promise not to pleasure herself without him.
She had agreed, but it felt wickedly cruel. She was so eager to see him and to make up for lost time with that beautiful face of his, that brick house of a chest and that sweet soul of his, she was about ready to hyperventilate.
The bachelorette party was supposed to merge with the bachelor party at the end of the night for one big final blowout party at The Wolfpack Tavern.
Dinner at the DuChamp mansion in the Garden District was stellar, of course. The comedy show in Uptown and the burlesque show on Bourbon Street were amazing. The latter location is where GiGi got very drunk to loosen herself up as she waited and waited to get to the end of the night and see her man.
This was the first Thursday night she had ever been free of any restaurant responsibilities, as Aunt Betsy had insisted. She considered it a test run to see how her sous chef and hostess could handle everything without her. But when the group of women descended on the Wolfpack Tavern, there was no sign of the golden god.
GiGi checked her phone, and her heart leapt at seeing a text from Vann.
Connecting flight from Houston canceled. Driving right now. Can’t stand one more night without you, babe.
Her heart fell to her feet, but his words lifted it again a little bit. Drive like the wind, and no more texting while driving!
Aye-aye, captain.
She regretted having to tell Rosemary she was cutting out of the party a bit early, but she couldn’t take another second without Vann. Besides, she had a shit ton of work to do on the cake if it was going to be ready by Saturday.
At about one a.m., he texted her again. I’m at the bar, where are you?
She couldn’t see to text him back because of the tears. She called him back.
“Ohmygod, hi. I’m at the café. I decided to call it a night and get some work done on the cake.”
She could hear cheers and drunken debauchery happening in the background.
“I wish you’d told me, because now I’m at the party and I can’t leave because Ash wants me to stay.”
“It’s okay, just be with Ash and then get some rest. You’ve been traveling all day.”
“What all do you have left to do?”
She sighed and looked around at the rows of buttered and floured cake pans. “Well, I’m going to bake the cakes and start on sculpting all the teeny tiny flowers. Tomorrow night I start on the chocolate and sugar-work. The frosting was all made ahead and frozen weeks ago.”
“That is too much for you. Where’s your sous chef?”
“Dude, she ran the café for me tonight, I can’t keep a pregnant lady here after hours.”
“You’re doing too much. Let me send over some of my staff; they’d love to learn from the master of cakes.”
“I’m used to multitasking, unlike a certain gorgeous blond rock star chef I used to know.”
He laughed. “I can multitask.”
“Vann, about the only multitasking you can handle is kissing me while squeezing my tits at the same time.”
He barked a laugh. “Because I’m ADD and you’re the only woman who has ever given me the ability to concentrate. Let me help you.”
“It’s okay, I got this.”
“I’ll check on you in a few.”
At about three a.m., there was a tap on the back door of the café. In wafted her Viking god, carrying a bag of tacos. She didn’t know which to attack first. She did not have to decide, because Vann scooped her up in the way that only Vann could. They kissed deeply for a long time, and she tried to hold back the tears. She was still a little drunk, and still a little sad she had not seen him at the party, and still very sad for the time they had spent apart.
She was also so tired she could barely speak. “Come on, sit down and eat some tacos.”
Happy and exhausted, she ate tacos sitting on his lap on her office sofa while listening to him tell her stories from the trip home from Seoul. She finished two tacos before she could not lift another and rested her head on Vann’s shoulder, just to close her eyes for a moment.
Chapter Eighteen
Vann
His girl. She was finally back in his arms and sleeping just like she should be. Like she should have been these past several weeks. Vann watched her sleep on
