Just then, a Land Rover from the DuChamp mansion arrived to pick up the cake. The reply came, You’re welcome, Peaches. I’m only sad I didn’t get to see your face when you saw the cake. I hope it is up to your standards. I hated seeing you suffer.
How did you manage to do the chocolate?
You left the molds in your office, in a box. On top of your desk. I think you were so tired you had forgotten you never put them away after they were delivered.
Prepare yourself, Buster. I’m gonna suck you dry.
GiGi and the cake arrived at the wedding venue, a huge riverboat, just in time to help Rosemary pull on her wedding dress, along with help from cousin Chastity and Pen.
She had been worried all the way to the dock that Rosemary would be mad she had missed the friends’ breakfast that morning.
“Oh, honey, you’ve been working yourself to death on that cake. Vann told me you worked all night putting on all those little flowers and that I should just let you sleep. So don’t even worry about it.”
So Vann not only saved her ass, he wasn’t even going to take credit for it. Wow.
When Vann took her arm as the band began to play, she whispered, “Thank you.”
“For what?” he muttered as they made their way up the aisle.
“You know what.”
“No need to thank me. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Flowers. Chocolate. How did you do it?”
“Let’s just keep it a mystery until the wedding night.”
“Huh?”
“You need more sleep. You’re not catching my drift. I’ll tell you all of it after I get your clothes off later.”
The thought of having Vann between her legs again made her swoon so hard she almost stumbled up the aisle. Her mind was finally so at ease she could not have cared less what anybody thought if she had decided to nail this man right here in the middle of the ceremony.
Thinking about what she was going to do to him later seemed to make the ceremony last forever. No offense to her dear, sweet Rosemary and the dashing groom.
The ceremonial kiss was so good GiGi could not help but cut her eyes at Vann, who stared at her with all the subtlety of a bull in a china shop.
She had to look away so she wouldn’t blush beet red in front of everyone. Ash looked deep in Rosemary’s eyes with the slightest grin on his lips. As if he was looking forward to ravishing her later, and every night for the rest of their lives.
Vann’s powerful energy, much like the night of the engagement party, kept drawing her gaze back to his. With his eyes, he silently communicated to her what was going to happen later. His eyes drifted down to her neck, her chest, all the way down her body. The stare was so intense she could almost feel a slight pressure. When his eyes drifted back up to meet her gaze, she licked her lips. His nostrils flared.
At the reception, everyone stopped her to say how they could not wait to taste the beautiful cake. But GiGi was less interested in hearing about how it was the most original cake anyone had ever seen or tasted, and more interested in seeing her fiancé Vann. She liked the sound of that word. Wait, no she didn’t. She liked the word “husband” better.
When she finally found him, sweetly signing autographs for some distant aunt of hers and Rosemary’s, she waited patiently while he allowed the woman to take a selfie with him.
And then GiGi proceeded to drag her blond Viking god down below deck.
“You be a good girl now!” called the auntie as they left.
“Probably won’t!” she replied.
Chapter Twenty
Vann
He had no idea how long they had been locked in this tiny closet below deck on this wedding riverboat. It had to have been at least a couple of hours. He did the math in his head: there had been at least four incredibly lewd sex acts (one briefly interrupted by his buddy Gavin, who’d evidently been looking for a private nook to make out with another one of the bridesmaids), and then a nap, and then some truly tawdry behavior, followed by more napping. And his amazing angel female did not have a single moment of seasickness. Now, he was thirsty as shit.
It wasn’t the most comfortable rendezvous in the world, but he would strongly recommend this closet for any couple needing to go nuts on each other in public.
Someone opened the door who Vann did not recognize. The person standing outside the closet stumbled backward and then dashed off.
GiGi and Vann laughed and helped each other get fully dressed before exiting the closet. Pretty soon they were breathing in the fresh air and looking around for something to drink. Vann eventually procured two large glasses of water from a different bartender than he had seen at the beginning of the reception. They both drank their waters down gratefully, but then GiGi stopped and looked around.
“Vann?”
“Yeah, babe?”
“Everyone is staring at us.”
“Oh, they’re just jealous.”
“No, I think that’s not it.”
Vann looked around and discovered she was right. There was not a single person on this deck who he recognized from the wedding.
“Excuse me,” he stammered. “Have any of you seen Ash Boudreaux or the new Mrs. Rosemary Boudreaux?”
Everyone stared at them blankly.
“Babe,” GiGi said. “I’m not always the brightest bulb, but I gotta say, I don’t think we’re at the same wedding anymore. I think we slept through the end of the Boudreaux wedding and now we’re crashing the next one that was scheduled on this here fancy bucket of bolts.”
Vann scanned all the faces. “I think you might be right.”
GiGi grasped his hand. He looked over at his girl. She was starting to get a panicked look on her face again. He took a deep breath and told her to do the same. She did, and
