“Exactly. Plus good food, good drinks and a damn good time.”
“Sounds like you’ve got a plan.”
“No, Erin’s got a plan. Let’s talk about your lady. You and Brenna, huh?”
He let out a chuckle. “Not really. She’s just using me to get back at her ex and his wife.”
Jason shrugged. “Hey, Erin used me to get over Owen. Look at us now. We all have to start someplace, ya know?”
“That’s true.”
“You like her?”
“I do. Probably more than she likes me.” Though he had no idea how Brenna really felt about him. Sometimes she looked at him like she wanted to curl her lip and growl at him. Other times she gave him the kind of look that told him she’d like to eat him for dinner—in a good way. Women were confusing.
“She liked you enough to ask you to act like her fiancé for four days.”
“True.”
“Might as well roll with it and see what happens.”
That was his plan. Maybe with a little more work on his part, because he wanted to see a lot more of Brenna beyond four days of acting like her fiancé.
The doors opened and people spilled in, all of them laughing and talking over one another. Finn and Jason stood and moved out of the way as the other people met up with them.
Finn spotted Brenna right away. She had on a yellow dress that clung to all of her generous curves, making him want to run his hands over her body like an explorer searching for treasure. She’d curled her hair and it waved across her shoulders. She was talking to the bride-to-be and the woman said something to her that made Brenna laugh: a full-on, tilt-her-head-back, throaty laugh that made Finn’s balls quiver.
She needed to do that more often, because when she laughed like that, her whole face lit up. He liked seeing her happy.
Then she turned around and caught his gaze and motioned with her head for him to come over. Jason had already left to join Erin and he didn’t know what he’d been doing just standing there watching her other than enjoying the view.
He walked to where she was. “How was the rehearsal?”
“It went fine. Everyone’s prepared and they all paid attention to the instructions, which for us is always a good thing.”
“Great.”
He saw Allison approaching, so he slipped his arm around Brenna and nuzzled her neck.
“What are you . . . oh.”
He wasn’t sure whether the oh was her realization that Allison was coming, or the fact she liked his mouth on her neck.
“I’d like to talk to you about where I can change tomorrow for the wedding. My hotel room is way too small.”
In no way was Finn going to stop paying attention to Brenna, because it was obviously annoying both Allison and Mitchell. And Brenna was squirming, which made Finn happy as hell.
“You should probably talk to Honor about that.”
“Why?” Allison asked. “Can’t you handle it?”
“Honor’s in charge of weddings. I handle the vineyard.”
Allison made an ugly face. “I’m going to go talk to Esther about this.”
“Why don’t you just talk to Honor? I’m sure she’ll be able to accommodate you.”
“No, I want you to do it.”
“Why?”
“Because. I want what I want when I want it.” She turned on her heel and stalked off, Mitchell following behind her.
Mitchell hadn’t said a word.
“She’s kind of a bitch, isn’t she?” Finn asked.
“You have no idea. I need a glass of wine. And I need to warn Honor that a blowup is about to happen.” She looked around. “I don’t see her. I’ll send her a text.”
“You tell Honor. I’ll get you a glass of wine.”
“Thanks. A chardonnay, please.” She pulled her phone out of the pocket of her dress, her fingers flying while he walked over to the bar and got himself another beer and Brenna’s glass of wine. When he got back, she had just tucked her phone back into her pocket.
“Thank you. I really need this.”
“How’s Honor?”
“Irritated. But she’s on her way to run interference.”
He looked where Brenna had pointed. Allison was wildly motioning to Esther, who was wide eyed and seemed not to know what to say. Honor came over and smiled, said something to Esther, then pulled Allison away and spoke to her for a few minutes. Allison pointed at Brenna, who smiled smugly at Allison. Honor shook her head and Allison shook hers, then started gesturing and talking again.
“My sister won’t take shit from her, no matter what she demands. If she were the bride she’d get anything she wanted.”
“But she’s not.”
Brenna took another long sip of her wine. “Nope.”
Then it was Honor’s turn to talk. Whatever she was saying, she was calm about it. And Allison inhaled so deeply even Finn could see it from the back of the room. Finally, she seemed to calm down and nodded, then walked away. Honor made her way between the tables toward them.
“Honestly, you’d think this was her wedding the way she’s demanding things.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. I handled her. I’ve arranged for her to have her own changing room tomorrow. Do you know she asked for you to handle all her needs personally tomorrow?”
Brenna snorted out a laugh. “No, but I’m not surprised. She’d like nothing more than to give me orders and show off to Mitchell.”
“It’s not going to happen. I told her you were also in the wedding and you couldn’t take the time to do things for her. And if she had a problem with that, then I was going to the bride to complain about her. I also reminded her that her job as matron of honor is to take care of Esther, to make sure the bride is calm and happy on her wedding day and has everything she needs.”
Honor was so good at her job—as both a wedding planner and a big sister. “I love you.”
“Love you, too. Gotta go.” She turned and dashed between tables.
“She’s kind of a force in a small package, isn’t she?”
“Like you wouldn’t believe.”
Honor stood up on the dais and turned her mic on. “Everyone, please take your seats so we can serve dinner.”
Finn slipped his hand in hers. “Good. I’m hungry.”