Chapter One
Landon
I don't live my life for anyone but me. Does that make me a dick? According to my family, sure. But family isn't everything.
Right now, the thing I'm most interested in is finding a nice piece of ass to take back to my suite tonight.
Is this something out of the ordinary? No. I like to fuck-no hiding that. And what I like more is a woman who's fearless in the bedroom. I don't want some girl I can train into dominating.
I don't want to be called Sir. I want to be called a motherfucking King.
Besides, I'm not into that hardcore shit. I just like to spank an ass, use a blindfold, tie a girl up to the bedpost while I lick her pussy.
And, looking around this wedding reception, I can't help but think there must be some girl here looking for a hook-up that's less risky than swiping through Tinder.
"When they said their vows, I thought I'd just melt," Tess says, her tone reflecting absolute longing. "I want what Ace and Emmy have so much it hurts."
Tess, sitting next to me at the wedding party table, sighs into her Lemon Drop cocktail. She's the epitome of sappy bridesmaid.
I smile tightly at her desire to be partnered up. I held her arm as we walked down the aisle, and I swear I could see her heart pitter-patter through the strapless pink chiffon.
"Chin up, Tess," I say, offering her my best groomsman pep-talk. "Surely there's some chap here you fancy." I look around the room appraisingly, wanting to find myself a woman to bang.
The wedding reception is small-neither Emmy nor Ace have any family-but there are business associates and friends in attendance. Still, only fifty or so people have gathered here today, and Ace was adamant about no paparazzi.
Jack appreciates it, and his on-and-off girlfriend, Grammy-award-winning pop star Ashley Fast hangs on him with the same starry eyes Tess has.
I don't want any woman like that tonight. Sure, a nice wedding always gets a girl's panties wet-but I'm an asshole, and not interested in a woman looking for anything longer than one night. Some women get so damn clingy after a night with me, and I can't handle a girl like that.
Ace and Emmy are on the dance floor, swaying to their first dance. I truly thought Ace would be above all this wedding bullshit, but Emmy has his nuts in a pretty tight grip. Not that I blame him. Emmy is an absolute gem of a girl. I understand why Ace fell so hard, so fast. Plus, I'm sure she's absolutely banging in the bedroom.
I mean, with a rack like that-which, I know, not cool to talk about my friends wife that way-but the truth is, what Ace has found isn't something I want. Not in the least. I've spent my life avoiding commitments and running from my posh, old-money childhood. Running from my father's estate, and his wishes that I'd come home and work in the family business.
But my stick-up-his-ass brother Geoffrey has always held that role. And I learned early on that I wanted nothing to do with him and his long-time girlfriend Fiona. They're wound up so tight they give me a fucking ulcer just being around them.
Everyone claps as Ace dips Emmy low at the end of the song. They're laughing, all smiles, and my shoulders tighten as I take another glance around the room. There are some women over at the bar holding up their phones, but they look tacky as hell taking selfies at a fucking reception. At this point I'll consider one of the waitresses-they might be my best bet for tonight.
The band, playing old jazz standards, opens up the dance floor and McQueen, who sits next to me, takes Tess's hand like the gentleman he isn't, and leads her to the dance floor. Jack and Ashley follow them, and the lights dim as couples find their way.
"Landon, you need to ask someone to dance, bro," Ace says, coming up behind me. "You kinda look like an ass sitting alone."
"I'm not alone," I say, looking across the table at Emmy's friend Claire, who's still sitting here. But she's nearly as bad as the selfie girls; she's been looking down at her phone in her lap all throughout the reception.
Emmy takes a seat next to Claire, and I see a smile stretch tightly across Claire's face. Her eyes are brighter than they have been throughout the reception, but I can tell it isn't genuine. I know, who the hell am I to judge her, right? I just appreciate she isn't starry-eyed like Tess and Ashley.
"Go dance with Claire, asshat," Ace tells me. "She looks sad as fuck."
"You see that, too?"
"Yeah, Emmy says she's been off lately. Stressed out about money and shit. I feel bad for her, in all honesty. Tried to give her a raise, but she said it was ridiculous to pay her twice as much as the other cocktail girls. That girl doesn't want hand-outs."
"So she isn't a gold-digger?"
"Hardly. She's a pull-herself-up-by-her-bootstraps kind of girl."
"Okay, I'll dance with her. I just can't deal with a clinger right now."
"Then Claire's your girl. And, fuck, looking around this reception, you don't have many other options."
"So you don't mind me leaving with Claire tonight?"
"Shit, dude," Ace says, laughing. "I said dance with her, not fuck her."
"Ace, hate to break it to you, man-but one dance with me and she'll want me for more."
Claire
Don't get me wrong. I like happily-ever-afters, and this Ace and Emmy thing is a freaking Cinderella dream-come-true. I don't begrudge them their happiness. They went through so much crap to get here today. I want them to go off on their honeymoon in Tahiti riding a freaking unicorn.
It's just not always sugar plum fairies in the real world, and I can't help but wonder what happens next for them? Because I'm the freaking poster child for dashed dreams and grin-and-bear-it, crash courses in reality.
But who wants to listen to my sob story right now? I sure as hell don't. Especially when this wedding is about my friend.
And, okay, I call her my friend ... but I am a pretty shitty one.
I haven't been honest with Emmy ... like, at all. Not even a little. But she counts me as one of her closest friends-heck, I'm a bridesmaid in her wedding-and eventually I will open up and tell her and Tess my not-so-little secret.
I'm a private person. And, as a rule, I don't mix work with my personal life. I didn't expect to take this job and meet these girls who see me as a sister.
So, I will tell them ... it just hasn't been the right time yet.
The last few months have been the Ace-and-Emmy whirlwind, and then they planned this wedding in like ten days. And the truth is, I do think they are a teeny bit insane.
Like, maybe take the next year and be engaged and actually get to know one another. Like, maybe don't rush down the aisle before you live together for a month and learn about the terrible habits your partner has. Like, maybe spend a year figuring out if this guy is actually the person you want to make babies with.
You know-all the things I should have done before I got pregnant.
This afternoon while we were at the spa getting our entire bodies waxed and shined and sprayed for the wedding, I kept checking my phone, and it was driving Tess and Emmy nuts.
They kept asking who I was texting. And I should have just said it right then and there. But I didn't, because it felt weird to tell them after spending three months in their company when I hadn't dropped any hints.
Now it would just be awkward.
So I made excuses.
"My mom doesn't now how to figure out her refinance loan and she keeps texting, asking what APR means."
Which was true. I was been texting my mom, but not about a refinance. And sure, she is refinancing and doesn't know what an APR is, but that wasn't why she was texting right then. She was texting because Sophia was sick, and she wanted to know if I knew where the children's Tylenol was.
They know I live with my mom in her condo, and that I've lived in Vegas my whole life. What they don't know is who else lives with us.
Emmy sits with me, after her and Ace's first dance. I slide my phone into my clutch and then squeeze her hand.
"It's all been so perfect, Emmy."
"Thanks, Claire. I don't understand how there hasn't been one single catastrophe today. It's all been seamless."
I can't help but think when they're able to throw thousands of dollars at everything they do, things do seem to happen without a hitch.
"I can't believe you're going to Tahiti," I say, picking up my flute of champagne. I catch Landon looking at me from across the table and I turn back to Emmy without pausing on him. Or his chocolatey eyes, or his chiseled jawline.
Ace's friends are not my type ... I need regular. I want a guy who spends his weekends fly fishing or working in the garage on a car. Not these bad boys.
I've had enough bad boys in my life. Well, I've had enough of one particular bad boy, and I will never fall for another one as long as I live.
"I can't believe you're not dancing, Claire," Emmy says. "You've been so wound up lately."
"What do you mean?" I ask. "I'm chill. I'm smiling." I flash her a tight grin that's not at all sincere. "Sorry, things have been stressful. You know that. And my mom is trying to refinance her condo, and she keeps asking me how to make the Internet work. Like, those are the actual words she used."