That Wedding

  Cover

  Title

  Table of Contents

  Copyright

  Dedication

  September 9th: My favorite part of the whole night.

  September 10th: Sparkly, gooey, and magical.

  September 11th: In a blaze of glory.

  September 13th: Planning a wedding sounds like no fun.

  September 14th: All that's on that boy's mind lately.

  September 15th: A little freak out in my mind.

  September 16th: Just for dramatic effect.

  September 18th: You'll love me more after tonight.

  September 20th: Losing my virginity. Again.

  September 21st: Slightly bigger than I expected.

  September 22nd: So it's my fault you're lying?

  September 23rd: Let's sit down.

  September 24th: I expected you to throw a fit.

  September 25th: We may need cocktails for that.

  September 26th: Wedding cake and an open bar.

  September 27th: Captain's Log: Day three of wedding planning.

  September 28th: Get married by a fake Elvis.

  October 1st: It's time to drop the bomb.

  October 3rd: Wedding guests and ice sculptures.

  October 4th: A hostage situation.

  October 6th: I can barely breathe.

  October 9th: You do not play fair.

  October 10th: Sex is what keeps a marriage good.

  October 12th: The cheerleader incident.

  October 20th: I love checklists.

  October 21st: Don't go telling people about it.

  October 23rd: You are so easily distracted.

  October 24th: Are you listening to this shit?

  October 26th: One continuous buck ass wild party.

  October 28th: He was a freebie.

  November 3rd: Living on Love.

  November 6th: The perfect combination of sweet and sass.

  November 7th: Focus on our future.

  November 8th: The sex is all he remembers.

  November 11th: I want to look timeless.

  November 13th: Dreams of their own.

  November 14th: The coolest wedding thing I have ever seen.

  November 16th: It's bad luck!

  November 18th: A miracle sent down by God himself.

  November 23rd: What is it about boys and boobs?

  November 27th: Phillip is picking up bad habits!

  November 28th: He needs to learn to compromise.

  December 1st: Is nothing sacred with these women?

  December 2nd: Define pretty wild.

  December 4th: Plant a seed and hope it grows.

  December 7th: I act surprised.

  December 10th: When I decide if I'm going to keep him.

  December 12th: Press my body firmly against his.

  December 16th: You've planted the seeds, now let them grow.

  December 18th: A cosmic shift has occurred.

  December 20th: I'm going to have shiny, gorgeous hair when I kill you.

  December 21st: You're making me cry.

  December 23rd: Can't sleep.

  December 28th: Is my mind messing with me?

  December 30th: Are you scared about getting married?

  January 2nd: I'm at my most openminded after a few shots.

  January 3rd: The smoothest stuff I've ever tasted.

  January 4th: Things are not good.

  January 5th: Let's bring out the highlight film.

  January 7th: A little case of cold feet.

  January 8th: Perfectly adorable and well matched.

  January 9th: Slow, tender, amazing.

  January 9th: We might even be a little messed up.

  January 11th: You were crashing.

  January 12th: Your last night as Jadyn Reynolds.

  January 13th: I'm seriously blessed.

  January 13th: Something borrowed, something blue.

  January 13th: The only moment I really care about.

  January 13th: Mind if we have some privacy?

  January 13th: Every detail, every thought.

  January 13th: I'm pretty sure I win.

  January 13th: Some duct tape and a bungie cord.

  January 13th: Jadalicious.

  January 13th: Our love is worth celebrating.

  January 13th: The. Coolest. Wife. Ever.

  January 14th: You know your wedding is a success when....

  January 14th: Our XXX honeymoon.

  Acknowledgements

  About the Author

  Copyright (c) 2012 by Jillian Dodd

  All rights reserved.

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Cover design and book illustrations by Jillian Dodd

  ISBN: 978-0-9850086-0-4

  For my husband

  Thank you for making me believe true love, the fairytale kind, actually exists.

  Phillip's holding my hand, leading me toward the hotel elevator. We just left our engagement party. I still can't believe I'm engaged to Phillip Mackenzie, the boy I've known forever.

  As we step into an empty elevator, Phillip inserts a key and presses the number for the top floor. I'm about to say something, but before I can, he has me pinned into the corner. He sings, "Love in the Elevator..." I start to laugh, but my laugh is smothered when he kisses me deeply.

  I forget what I was about to say. It's hard to concentrate when his hands are running up my dress. The elevator dings, the doors open, but Phillip doesn't stop kissing me.

  "Um, Phillip. Where are we going?"

  "Maybe I have a few more surprises," he says slyly.

  "I think I've had enough surprises for one day," I tease.

  He scoops me up and carries me out of the elevator.

  "Phillip, put me down. You're not supposed to carry me over the threshold until our wedding night. You'll jinx us!"

  He doesn't put me down, but he stops and looks at me seriously. "Are you really gonna marry me?"

  "Yeah, I think so. I said yes. Twice." I wrap my arms around his neck. I really don't want him to put me down.

  He wrinkles his nose at me. "You also said no at least four times."

  I stick out my tongue at him. "What did you expect? You asked me to marry you on our first date. I'm sorry, but that was a bit of a shock. Are you gonna put me down?"

  "Nope."

  "Phillip..."

  He leans his face in close to mine. "I'm carrying you into the bedroom, not over the threshold."

  The simple mention of Phillip and I in a bedroom sends flames blazing through my body.

  "The bedroom is good," I whisper.

  He slides in the keycard, opens the door to the suite, kicks the door shut with his foot, carries me past the gorgeous living room, and straight into the bedroom.

  I eye the king-size bed. The fluffy comforter is turned down. There are chocolates on the pillows. I can't wait to dive in.

  Phillip carries me past the bed. "Hey, you skipped the bed."

  "I told you, I might have another surprise."

  "And I told you, I can't take anymore surprises. If there's a pastor and a wedding party in there, I swear, I'm running the other direction. I'm not marrying you tonight."

  He chuckles. "I should've thought of that. We could be on our honeymoon right now."

  "No way I would've agreed to that. It's bad enough we got engaged on our first date."

  He sets me down in front of another set of double doors and tilts his head at me. "It's bad?"

  "You know wha
t I mean, not bad, just really weird."

  He loops his arm around my shoulder. "Open the doors. Trust me."

  Of course, I trust Phillip. He's been my best friend my whole entire life. Plus, based on the room's placement, this has got to be the door to the bathroom. I sling open the double doors and step into a marble room ablaze with candles. Candles of varying sizes are lit and flickering. There's a huge roman tub in the corner, full of water, with rose petals floating across the surface.

  I turn around and grin at him. "This might be my favorite part of the whole night."

  "I thought it might be. I figured if you said yes, we'd need a little time to relax after the party."

  "And if I would've said no?"

  "I could've just come up here and drown myself," he says with a laugh.

  He grabs me and has me dangling above the tub before I can scream, "Don't you dare!"

  Phillip's been picking me up and throwing me into pools and lakes ever since he got strong enough to do it.

  "Wouldn't be the first time," he says as he pretends to drop me.

  I'm pretending to be horrified, but really, all I keep thinking about is how strong Phillip is. How I love the way he makes me feel.

  But I have to tease him. "We know what would happen if you dropped me in. I'd get out and take you down. Show you that you're not as tough as you think you are."

  "Why do you think I always threw you in? You'd get out of the pool, chase me down, and jump on top of me. It was kinda hot."

  I laugh at him. "You're being bad, Phillip, but I kinda like it." Phillip is so damn cute. He was always an adorable boy, but the older he got, the sexier he got. His short brown hair, that adorable smile, the deep brown eyes with their golden flecks, and that sexy voice. I don't think there's anything I don't love about Phillip.

  I wrap my arm around his neck and pull him into a long delicious kiss. "Plus, you'd ruin the dress."

  "That'd be a shame. You look amazing in this dress, but I bet it'd look even better off."

  He sets me down and slowly unzips the back of my dress. "I really thought you were gonna say no at the party even though you said yes earlier."

  "I was gonna say no."

  Phillip's hands glide up my back. He slides the dress off my shoulders, which makes it hard for me to remember why I said no. I'm pretty sure whatever the question would be right now, the answer would be yes.

  "I'm really glad you said yes," he says as his lips graze my shoulder.

  God, he's adorable. "I'm glad I said yes too. Can you believe we're gonna get married? Can you believe Pastor John told me we need couple's counseling?"

  He turns me around to face him, kisses my neck, and unhooks my strapless bra. It drops to the floor. He cups my face in his hands. "He's probably right. You do need counseling, and the first thing we're going to counsel you on is how you should always say yes to me. Do you have any idea how crushed I was when you slammed the ring into my hand and marched away?"

  I instantly feel bad. Bad I could make Phillip even one teeny bit sad. "You know, even if I would've said no, it wouldn't have been because I didn't wanna marry you. I just thought maybe it was too soon to get engaged." I grab both of his hands, hold them tight, and look into his eyes. "Phillip, I'm sorry."

  "For what?"

  "For Cancun, for tonight. I love you. I'd never do anything to hurt you on purpose. I just....."

  "It's okay. I got so excited and caught up in planning it, I didn't stop to think about how crazy it sounded."

  "Are you changing your mind? Do you wish you wouldn't have?"

  "No, this is exactly where I wanna be."

  "In a bathroom with me practically naked?" I ask with a laugh. He leans down and strips off my thong. "Make that completely naked."

  He wraps his strong arms around me. "With you. Naked is just a bonus. Get in." He holds my hand to help me into the warm fragrant water.

  I lean my back against the tub to relax, but then I notice Phillip's taking off his shirt. I watch raptly. I've seen Phillip's chest a million times. He and Danny were always running around with no shirt on, but it still takes my breath away. Especially now that I know exactly what it feels like. Now that I've run my hands across his abs, felt his weight on top of me, and massaged every square inch of it. I used to rub his back when we were just friends. Even then, I loved feeling every muscle, every curve, but now all I can think is how hot he looks and how lucky I am. All of a sudden, the bath feels ten times warmer, my face feels flushed, and other parts of me seem to heat up as well.

  "I thought you were gonna say no. What changed your mind?"

  "I was gonna say no. I was really mad at you. I couldn't believe you sprung that on me. We'd just agreed to kinda keep it a secret. Then, BOOM! You tell me we're at our surprise engagement party, and everyone knows!"

  He chuckles. "You were really pissed. You even cut my hand with the ring."

  My eyes get big. "I did?"

  He walks over and holds his hand up. Shows me a teeny little scratch. "My war wound," he says in a very fake pathetic voice.

  I grab his hand and kiss the scratch.

  "So what made you change your mind?" he asks.

  I was going to answer, but then he unbuckled his belt. I watch his slacks fall to the ground and then his boxers. All I can do is stare at his beautiful body.

  "You're totally checking me out, aren't you?" he says, busting me.

  "Maybe."

  He does a few silly bodybuilder poses. His muscles ripple across his broad chest. He's being goofy, but he's naked. Which makes me feel very serious.

  He slides into the tub with me. I lean back against him as he absentmindedly cups water in his hand and pours it down my chest.

  I sigh. Close my eyes. Think this must be what heaven feels like.

  "You're avoiding the question."

  "What question?" Did he ask me a question?

  "I asked what made you change your mind. You haven't told me yet."

  "You distracted me with nakedness."

  "I'll have to remember that. Seriously, tell me."

  "When I was looking out into the crowd, telling them I said no, I saw you standing there. You looked sad. You weren't even looking at me. You were staring down at my ring."

  "Go on," he says. He runs his hands down both my arms. I close my eyes again.

  "Then I wondered what you would do if I said no. Like would you still date me? Would you give up on us forever? And just as I was about to say no again, I spotted Danny and Lori. My mind flashed back to when we were walking home after their big engagement. Do you remember how you asked me if I'd ever wanna be surprised like that in front of a bunch of people?"

  "I do remember. Why do you think I did it? You said you thought it would be amazing to know a guy planned all of that just for you."

  "I realized that. That's when I knew I had to say yes. I realized you did it all for me. The three dozen roses, sending me to the spa with your sister, the gorgeous dress, all the charms, the limo, the scavenger hunt, the ring, the party, all of it. I still can't believe you did all that. Planned it all out."

  "I was trying to impress you. Did it work? Do you like the ring?"

  I pull my hand out of the warm water and hold it in front of us. The diamond sparkles. It looks the way I feel. Sparkly, glittery, full of promise. "The ring was a slam dunk."

  "You seemed shocked that I kept the drawing of your dream ring."

  "I was shocked. What made you keep it?"

  "When you looked at the other jewelry, Danny ripped the drawing off the pad, threw it at me, and said, You better save this, you'll need it someday."

  "Did you laugh at him?"

  "Not really. I kinda hoped he was right. We had a conversation about you a couple months before that. You asked me to your winter formal."

  "I remember wishing you were my real date, not just my friend."

  "I felt the same way. Then you came to my spring formal with me, remember?"

  "Yeah, but we we
nt as friends. Again."

  "Danny chewed me out about that. Said I was a chicken shit for not asking you for real. Got me to admit I was in love with you."

  "So you kept the drawing and had the ring made. It is my dream ring, but it was just that, Phillip. A dream. You spent way too much on this. On the ring, the party, all of it."

  He lowers his voice and whispers into my neck as he's kissing it. "I'd spend everything I had on you." Then he laughs and runs his hand across his eyebrow. "Actually, I pretty much did. I may have to live with you now."

  "You have been living with me."

  "I've been spending the night with you."

  "Are you trying to guilt me into letting you live with me? I know you live at your parents' for free."

  "Yeah, but it's not as much fun there as it is at your place. Speaking of that, I think we should go see if that bed's as comfortable as it looks."

  We get out of the tub and dry off quickly. When he picks me up and carries me into the bedroom, I'm pretty sure I know exactly what kind of fun he's referring to.

  We eventually have to leave the cozy cocoon of our hotel suite and get back to reality. Reality starts with our usual Sunday night dinner at the Mackenzie house. I've been to many Sunday night dinners there. I grew up next door to them, and Mr. Mac and my dad were fraternity brothers and best friends. I've always been close to them, but when my parents were killed in a car accident my senior year of high school, they pretty much made me one of their own. I don't know what I would've done without them or the Diamonds.

  Still, I'm nervous for dinner.

  I'm officially going to marry their son, and I know it sounds odd, but I feel like I need to make a good impression. So I put on a pair of dark jeans, a new flouncy pale peach top with rosettes at the neck, and a pair of silver heels.

  I look romantic and happy.

  I see now why as soon as Lori got engaged to Danny, she started trying to set me up with Phillip. She felt all sparkly, gooey, and magical, and she wanted her friends to feel that way too.

  I get it now.

  I feel pretty sparkly, and I CANNOT stop looking at the sparkle on my finger during the drive over.

  But when we get there, Mrs. Mac doesn't seem to notice my sparkle, how I'm dressed, or how Phillip keeps being quite naughty and running his hand dangerously high up my thigh under the kitchen table.

  No.

  Mrs. Mac is focused on one thing.

  Which is good because I can't seem to focus on anything other than the fact that if Phillip doesn't stop it, I'm going to drag him up to his bedroom and show him exactly how I feel about him.

  Oh, sorry, where was I?

  Oh yes, I was saying, Mrs. Mac is focused on one thing.