Emma and I finally approached him as he was sitting with Mom and Dad and Jenna and Noah.

I held out my hand for her to shake as I introduced myself. He hadn’t said anything about dating anyone new, so I figured this must be one of the unfortunate sisters. The bad part? I couldn’t remember which one he was supposed to be with at the moment.

So I took a chance…and failed miserably, much to the delight of my sisters, and the comical horror of my brother.

“You must be Grace! Nice to finally meet you!”

She froze with her hand in mine, her eyes narrowing on me. “Um, no. I’m-”

I cut in again, trying to rectify the situation by letting her know that I did know her name…which I didn’t. “Lucy! I’m so sorry…I don’t know where…I…hi!” I finally finished, my cheeks pinched into a wide smile so fantastically fake it might as well have been plastic.

She pulled her hand from mine and gritted out, “Lilly. My name is Lilly.” With teeth still clenched, she turned to Calland (who was glaring at me, by the way) and asked, “Who’s Lucy? And why would she call me Grace? That’s my sister’s name…oh my God. You’re the douchcanoe!” She wailed the last part, then buried her face in her hands before standing abruptly and darting out of the room.

My eyes found Calland’s and I smiled sheepishly. “Wow. She picked up on that pretty quickly, huh? I uh, take it you didn’t tell her about her sister yet?”

He glared at me and then yelped as my mom swatted him, calling him a cad and man slut while my dad grunted with what sounded like muffled laughter.

“Jesus, Leah, what a way to ruin my date!” Calland growled. “I hadn’t had a chance to tell her yet.”

“Well, I’m sorry. I honestly thought I had the right name at first. It’s not my fault that you’re a whoredog,” I replied snarkily.

He sighed. “Oh well. The only reason I brought her was because I hadn’t figured out a way to tell her, yet, but that’s not how I wanted it to happen.” He puffed out a breath again and turned, mumbling about making sure she got home okay.

When he’d walked away, I noticed that the rest of my family was all looking at me and shaking their heads, but their lips were twitching with smiles.

I shrugged. “My bad…”

I drifted away to find the bride and smack her for not warning me.

Her response? “He said he wasn’t bringing a date, but then changed it at the last minute. And I’m sorry I didn’t warn you, but that’s exactly why I didn’t—I couldn’t remember her name either!”

The rest of the night passed in a blur of dancing, drinking, and once again toasting the happy couple before we sent them off on their honeymoon in Key West, Florida.

Once the reception hall was cleaned up (I’d told Chloe I’d make sure it was taken care of so they could leave), Ian and I headed home.

I’d barely gotten in the door and disarmed the alarm when his hands slide up my body to cup my breasts as he whispered in my ear, “You look fucking hot in that dress.”

I whimpered as he tweaked my nipples through the satin bodice, turning my head to nip at his shoulder as I breathed, “I bet I’d look a lot hotter out of it.”

“Probably. But I’ve had this fantasy all night…”

He didn’t say another word, but he sure as hell showed me what fantasy he was talking about as he suddenly dropped to his knees and slid under the long skirt of the dress I was wearing. I gasped, reaching for his shoulders to brace myself as he wrenched my panties to the side and buried his face in my already drenched folds, his tongue dragging along my clit with unerring precision that swung me up into near detonation almost immediately.

He didn’t stop until he’d taken me over the edge twice, literally holding me up with his hands as my knees buckled after the second orgasm, but still not moving until he’d lapped up my release with long, languid strokes that made me writhe against his face.

After that, he bent me over the table in the kitchen, tossed my skirt up over my back, and proceeded to fuck me hard and fast until he brought me screaming once more before he rocked up high into me one last time and let go, spending his scalding hot release deep inside my body.

When we caught our breath, we managed to make it to the bedroom before stripping down and collapsing in a satiated heap on the bed.

All in all, I’d say it was a pretty good way to end a pretty good day.

Chapter 23

It was official. I was Mrs. Leah Nicole Mitchell.

And it was awesome!

The wedding was perfect, even though it was a little different than we’d originally planned, but I know neither one of us would change a thing. Shockingly, Ian’s parents had made the trip, showing up to surprise him half an hour before the ceremony.

Of course, I’d been pretty surprised myself when Margot had walked into the room I was getting dressed in, asking if she could talk to me alone for a minute.

My mom had taken one look at her and went full on Mama Bear, telling Ian’s mom that she had two minutes and if she made me cry, she’d pay for every single tear that left my eyes.

Have I mentioned that I love my mom? Cause I totally do…she’s pretty fucking awesome.

But she didn’t make me cry…though it was the most backhanded apology I’d ever received in my life.

She’d looked me up and down, sniffing once before grudgingly admitting, “You look…pretty.” She’d continued on after I’d thanked her, saying, “I’m sorry that I was rude to you and that I threw Victoria up in your face all the time. It’s just that she’s more suited to our Ian and the life he’s been accustomed to, you understand, and you’re…well, you’re not. Really it’s nothing against you, dear, but for what it’s worth, welcome to the family. I suppose.” She’d brushed her hands together then, almost like dusting the apology off of them, straightened the jacket of her very smart, sleekly fitted skirt-suit, and said, briskly, “Now. If you’d find it in your simple little heart to forgive me, I’d appreciate it, and we will expect you both at the annual Christmas party.”

She’d then leaned in and given me one of those perfunctory, barely-touching-almost-hugs and an air kiss before she’d turned on her heel and left the room, leaving me standing dumb-founded and a little confused. But she’d apologized, so that counts for something, right?

I won’t say that things miraculously turned around one hundred percent, but a tentative truce had been put into play for now. We’ll see how things turn out when we go over there for Christmas next week.

We had an impromptu reception after the wedding at a restaurant there in Gatlinburg; they’d graciously allowed us to take over a back room where we ate a delicious dinner and then danced along to the soft music playing from the restaurant’s speakers overhead. When we’d left to return to our hotel, we somehow got shuffled around behind everyone and were the last ones out of the door of the restaurant, only to walk out to a shower of bubbles everywhere as our friends and family lined the sidewalk, blowing their little hearts out.

I wasn’t sure how Mom had managed to finagle that whole thing, but I wasn’t surprised.

Ian and I didn’t get to take a honeymoon just yet, because I had to go back to work on Monday after the wedding, but since this Friday starts the holiday break, we had been talking about maybe taking the week between Christmas and New Year to go somewhere, hopefully a place that was warmer and had a lot less snow. You know, like none. But that didn’t mean that we weren’t still acting like we were on our honeymoon…wink wink!