“No, I didn’t see her. Why does it matter, Beckett? What is with you and this woman?”
I had no clue what it was. But it was something. I had to assume Mia was listening at the door, so I just shook my head. “I’m just trying to get my ring back, that’s all.”
“I don’t have your stupid ring!” Mia yelled from behind the closed door.
That made me grin. Yep. She was a thief and an eavesdropper.
God, she was hot and I was one fucked-up guy to think so.
Chapter Seven
Oleksander
Sydney wanted to marry me and I wanted to marry her before she changed her mind. I burst into the suite, prepared to crack heads to get the guys on track for the ceremony.
Miles and JJ were standing outside of JJ’s room, and he had his hand on the knob of the closed door. “What are you doing?” Downstairs, Miles had mentioned something about a stripper maid and JJ acting strange. Whatever. I wanted no information and no drama on my wedding day. “Beckett, give the stripper a big tip and send her home early. You have to get ready for my wedding.”
The door rattled. “Let me out, James,” a woman demanded.
I raised my eyebrows. “James?” I asked JJ, amused. “How very official. And let the woman out, for fuck’s sake.”
“Shut up,” he said. “I was going to.” He released the doorknob.
The door jerked open and a redhead in a maid’s uniform was standing there. “Where’s Chrissy?” she demanded, attempting to look around us.
“She left,” Miles said.
The woman looked flustered and she glanced down at her phone. “Oh, she texted me.” But then she shoved the phone in her pocket. She reached behind her head with both hands. “I can’t get my uniform zipped up all the way. This day is just stupid.”
“I can zip it up,” JJ said.
But she just gave him a glare. “No, thank you. I’ll just cover the gap with my hair.”
Damn, what had he done? Or not done?
As entertaining as this whole exchange was, my phone was ringing and it was Syd. “Hey, baby, what’s up?”
“My dress doesn’t fit! Well, it fits, but my big belly split a seam on the side.”
“Just buy a new dress, then. I’ll bring you my credit card.”
“There isn’t time, Olek. I’m freaking out. Maybe I can just pin it closed.”
“I can fix her dress,” the stripper maid said.
“What?” I had Sydney moaning in my ear, and not in the way I enjoyed, and the redhead talking at the same time. “Hang on, Syd, give me one second.” I looked at the woman. “You can fix her dress?”
“Yes, I heard what she said. She sounds upset. I can fix a ripped seam in less than five minutes. I just need to grab my bag.”
I was all for problem solving in whatever form it arrived. I wanted Sydney relaxed and enjoying our wedding day. And night. “Great, thank you. I’m Train, by the way.” I stuck my hand out.
“Mia.” She shook my hand.
“Baby, I’ll be there with help in less than ten minutes. JJ’s friend can sew the seam back together.”
“Oh, okay, great, thanks, honey. But who is JJ’s friend?” She sounded bewildered by that.
“Don’t worry about it. We’ll be there in a couple of minutes.”
I ended the call and asked Mia, “You can go now, right?”
She nodded. “I have about an hour and a half before my next job.”
“That’s fantastic, thank you, I appreciate it. We’re getting married in two hours. My fiancée is pregnant and I guess the fit is a little tight.”
“Congratulations, that’s so exciting.” She gave me what appeared to be a genuine smile.
“Thanks.” I may have puffed out a little like I was the first guy to knock up his woman, but I couldn’t help myself. I was excited about the future and making Syd mine. “Okay, Williams and Beckett, you need to get ready while I deal with this dress crisis.”
“I’m going with you,” JJ said.
“Why?” I stared at him blankly. “I don’t think the girls want you in there while they’re getting ready.”
“Because I still need to talk to Mia.”
“No. You don’t,” Mia said. She was still fussing with the back of her dress, trying to get the zipper up.
JJ reached out in total exasperation and jerked it up.
“Don’t touch me,” she said.
“It’s a little late for that.”
Mia was giving JJ straight-up stink eye and I grinned. “Sounds like she’s figured out what an asshole you are, Beckett.”
“Fuck off.”
“Come on, let’s go, then. Come if you want, I don’t care. I just want to make Sydney happy.”
“You don’t want her to change her mind,” Miles said.
“Damn straight.”
* * *
Mia
* * *
I was completely irritated that James had insisted on accompanying me to the bride’s room. The crisis had seemed like the perfect opportunity to get away from him. I also genuinely wanted to help. Fixing a seam was something I could do in my sleep and a bride has enough to deal with on her wedding day. I could alleviate a bit of her stress.
But James, who no one else seemed to call James, was walking way too close to me for comfort. I didn’t know what to do with my feelings for him. My brain was saying something was off about him and he was trouble. Trixie had other opinions on him, all of them positive and involving orgasms.
While I’d gotten my uniform back, jumping on his back had made my body very much aware of how it had felt like to be in bed with him. How amazingly satisfied he had made me.
Even now, my nipples were tingling because his arm kept brushing mine. “Can you stop bumping into me?” I said. “I’m not supposed to be with a guest in the hallway like this. I don’t want anyone to see us together.” Of course, there were cameras literally everywhere, but if he would get off of me maybe no one would think anything of it.
His friend, Train, had gone straight to his fiancée’s room, but James had insisted on escorting me to my locker to grab my bag and clock out for the day. It was obvious he thought I was just going to bolt. Which was super insulting. I had said I would fix the dress. I would never ditch out on something like that.
But, in spite of having touched every inch of the other person’s body, it wasn’t like we actually knew each other. Clearly.
“If we see anyone, just say you’re getting me extra towels.” He sounded confident that nothing would be an issue.
Which was easy for him to say. He was the one with the stupidly expensive watch and apparently a valuable ring. Not me, the one with bills piled up like the Luxor hotel. A pyramid of bills demanding money I didn’t have. James was the kind of man who said things like that because for him, it always worked out in his favor. I knew not everything would go my way. Life had proven that multiple times. And it was cool, because hey, that was life. Can’t let it get you down. But that didn’t mean I wanted Mr. Money telling me something was okay when he had no fucking clue that it actually was okay.