She blushed. “We’ve celebrated this wedding rather enthusiastically several times already in the last several days,” she teased.
“Are you saying there’s such a thing as too much celebrating?” He softly kissed her cheek. “Too much…passion?” He kissed the sensitive spot just below her ear. “Is it wrong that I want you all the damn time?” he growled before claiming her lips with his.
He knew at that moment that he had her. Her body melted against his as her arms wrapped around him.
When they broke apart, Mia was breathless. Her dark eyes scanned his face as a knowing smile played at her lips. “You play dirty, but I love it.”
Taking her by the hand, they walked the rest of the way to their car. “It’s part of my charm.”
2
Being an author was Mia’s passion. There was always a story going on in her head. Unfortunately, when you’re deliriously happy, it made writing murder mysteries and thrillers harder.
Although, Deadly Renovation had turned into one of her biggest selling books and that had started out as a way of killing off Austin before she got to know him.
She groaned at how twisted her mind could be.
However, her current work-in-progress was suffering because she couldn’t focus on murder and mayhem when looking at pretty dresses and flowers.
“This is one time the dual-screen setup is not my friend,” she murmured with a sigh. Knowing it was pointless to try to force the words when she was this distracted, she minimized the book file and went back to looking at wedding gowns.
And was smiling like a loon.
When her phone rang a few minutes later, she was tempted to ignore it. But when she glanced at the screen and saw her best friend Sydney’s picture pop up, she knew she needed to answer. “Hey, maid of honor!”
Sydney laughed. “Matron. I’ll be the matron of honor since I’m an old married lady.”
Mia laughed with her. “Oh, please. You’ve been married for two years. Plus, you’re not much older than me and I refuse to call myself old.”
“Oh, in my mind I’m still super young. Then I try to stand up from the sofa and my body screams at me that I’m not as young as I used to be. It’s exhausting.”
There wasn’t much she could say to that because…it happened to her too.
More often than she wanted to think about.
“So, what’s up?”
“Well, I know we’re going to Raleigh on Saturday to pick out your gown, but…I think I found my dress and I wanted to know if I could come over and show it to you.”
“You bought it already?” Mia asked, trying not to sound too shocked.
“I know, I know,” Sydney explained. “I should have run it by your first, but Haley and I were out shopping yesterday because she needs a dress for her winter formal at school, and while she was busy trying some on, I wandered around, and…I don’t know. I saw it and I had to have it.”
“Oh, um…”
“Okay, no pressure, but…if you don’t like it, I won’t have anywhere else to wear it, so…”
Closing her eyes, Mia nodded. “I’m sure I’ll love it. When do you want to come over?”
In the distance, the doorbell rang, and she laughed.
“Are you at my door right now?”
“Uh-huh.”
Hanging up, Mia ran to the door and let her friend in. After a quick hug, Sydney took her by the hand and practically dragged her to the living room before giving her a playful shove toward the couch.
“You have to understand,” Sydney began as she carefully placed the garment bag over the arm of the sofa. “I finally lost the last of the baby weight and I’m feeling pretty sassy. Plus, when Haley saw it on me, she totally did a little screech and said I had to buy it and that it was the perfect dress for me, so…”
That made Mia laugh. Sydney’s niece was very opinionated and tended to remind the two of them that they should always defer to her on their fashion choices.
Letting out a small breath, Sydney gave her a nervous smile. “I could just take the dress out of the garment bag and show it to you, but I think it would be better if you saw it on me.”
Mia waved toward the master bedroom. “Austin’s at work, so go get changed, and I’ll make us some tea.”
“Yay! You’re the best!”
While Sydney changed, Mia went to the kitchen and made their drinks.
It still seemed a little surreal that this was happening–and that everything was going so smoothly–but she certainly wasn’t going to question it. She and Austin had been talking about their wedding for months now, and they were both old enough and mature enough to know what they wanted.
Much to her mother’s dismay.
Yeah, that phone call hadn’t gone well when Mia called her after their meeting in Raleigh last weekend. She’d tried to undermine every detail Mia and Austin had chosen. It was precisely what she had expected, and yet…she had hoped her mother would simply be happy for her. In the end, they exchanged some heated words, and right now, she wasn’t even sure her parents were coming to the wedding.
Of course, she’d cried to Austin when he came home, and he encouraged her to give things a few days to settle down.
Then he apologized for the hundredth time for pushing the Christmas wedding thing.
The truth was, he really didn’t push. If anything, he suggested, and once she had some time to think about it, she loved the idea. And the fact that it meant everything was happening sooner rather than later was a serious perk.
And not just because she couldn’t wait to marry the man she loved.
Long and drawn-out plans tended to irritate her. There were so many other things that she’d rather be doing with her time–like writing books–so knowing that she had only another seven weeks to deal with this was a blessing.
“Okay, are you ready?” Sydney called out.
“Wait! Let me sit back down so I can be totally prepared!” Grabbing the two steaming mugs, Mia carefully walked back into the living room and placed them on the coffee table. Once she was comfortable, she called out, “Ready!”
As soon as Sydney stepped into the room, Mia understood why she chose the gown and knew she couldn’t have done any better herself.
“Oh, Syd,” she said dreamily. “It’s perfect.”
“I know, right?” her friend replied, smiling from ear to ear.
The floor-length chiffon was a deep hunter green with an A-line skirt. The slit went mid-thigh but didn’t distract from the overall flow of the gown. The halter top had a small V-cutout, and the back had a very attractive sheer crisscross. It was stunning and it looked like it was made for her.
“I know we talked about color options, but I thought the hunter green would be perfect,” Sydney explained. “I almost called you to come down to the dress shop, but I know how busy you are, and…” She twirled. “Please tell me you’re not upset.”
Standing, Mia walked over and hugged her. “How could I possibly be upset? You took one more thing off my plate and made a fabulous choice! I just hope people will remember to look at me after watching you walk down the aisle looking like this!” She laughed. “I have a feeling this is going to be a Pippa Middleton moment.”