“Really?” I ask, bringing my brows together. “She’s still acting weird?”
“Yeah, really weird. She won’t even look at me, and on the court today, she was not herself. We weren’t clicking.”
“Huh. That’s not good.”
“My thoughts exactly. I was going to take her out tonight, try to get her to talk to me. But when I asked her to, she said no. I don’t think she wants me to cancel my date with Taco.”
When I hold in my groan, I’m proud of myself. “I would think your friend is more important than that asshat.”
She shrugs. “Of course she is, but she said no. I think I’m going to get us lunch tomorrow and go on a picnic. It’s supposed to be a beautiful day.”
I nod. “Good plan. And for real, seventy in the middle of winter.”
She flashes me a wide grin. “Welcome back to Tennessee, DumbleDee man.”
“WTF, man. WTF.”
She makes a face. “Did that new phrase come with the car? You know you can just say ‘What the fuck,’ right?”
A chuckle tickles my throat. “Shut up! You know you love my car.”
She laughs. “It’s pretty sexy, but I can’t let go of the fact that I fear you may start wearing muscle shirts and get a spray tan. You’ve already got the ’roid muscles and tats.”
I holler out with laughter. “You’re on a roll!”
She giggles, and I love the sound. I especially love how her nose wrinkles when she laughs. “I know. Your mom set me up good. I’ve had hours to think these up.”
Our laughter fills the car as we drive to the shop. Any other guy would be offended by Ally, but I happen to love her sense of humor. It matches mine. “I’ll have to thank my mom for that.”
“She really is the MVP of today.”
I shake my head. She crosses her legs as she keeps laughing. Of course, I notice since all I can see are her milky white legs and the definition in her thighs from her muscles. Her shorts are short, but her warm-up jacket is long. Usually, it would cover the part of her thighs that is showing, but thankfully for me, it’s not at the moment.
Which makes the drive to the shop real, real hard.
We arrive sooner than I expected, thankfully. Don’t think my cock could handle those thighs much longer. As we get out, I lock up and start to walk toward her. She adjusts her shorts, which show way too much of the back of her thighs for my uncontrollable cock to handle. On an exhale, I ask, “Could your shorts be any shorter? I thought you couldn’t wear your Spanx outside?”
She gives me a dry look. “Whoa, stalker. These aren’t Spanx. And why are you looking at my shorts?”
“How can I not? Your ass is falling out!”
She quickly moves her hands to the back of her shorts, a shocked look on her face. Her cheeks are filling with color, and holy hell, she’s beautiful. “It is not! Why are you looking?”
“Ally, I can’t ignore your thighs and ass when they are on display.”
She blinks and narrows her gaze. “Wait, are you checking me out?”
I throw up my palms. “Whoa, crazy. Tuck it back in. That’s a long shot. I’m just making an observation and trying to save you from the horndog men who will check you out!” Her eyes drop to my crotch, and I quickly cup my junk so she can’t tell I’m hard.
Because, of course, I’m hard.
It’s her ass, for fuck’s sake.
“Jesus, Ally! Did you look at my cock?” I squeal, and her eyes widen, her eyeballs almost coming out of her head as her mouth gapes.
Then, we’re in a standoff. Her holding her ass, and me holding my balls. I have no clue what she is thinking, but for me, I really wish I could be the one holding her ass and her holding my balls. That would be a damn good time, but then I remember who I am thinking of.
I let go of my balls and hold up my hands. “Okay, that escalated.”
“Um. Yeah,” she says sharply. “Don’t look at my ass.”
“Fine. Don’t look at my cock.”
A blush fills her cheeks. “I didn’t.”
“You did.”
She lets out a huff and then starts for the door.
And I watch that ass sway with no guilt whatsoever.
Which is bad, so damn bad.
I really need to get laid.
Once inside, though, I make myself forget all about her ass, and hopefully, Ally forgets about our little dispute outside. Soon, I’m immersed in everything wedding. It’s honestly awful. Shelli is so determined on what she wants, and Elli feeds into it like no other. Even Mom and Harper are gushing and pumping up Shelli for every idea she has. I don’t know how Aiden and Posey got out of this, but it annoys me that I’m in this situation.
The wedding was supposed to be small. Just Posey and me at the altar, but then Aiden wanted his buddies from his team, Boon and Wes, to be in the wedding too. Because of this, Shelli added Ally and her cousin, Amelia. That’s not the part that is annoying—no, I don’t mind more people suffering with me. But now that we have a group, we can do a group dance.
I wish I were kidding.
This is a fucking circus.
“So, the guys will just wear their tuxes for the dance, but I want something special for me and the girls. This is the dress I want,” Shelli says as she presents Ally like she is a brand-new car on the Price is Right.
I watch as Ally steps onto the little platform, and all the women ooh and aah as she poses silly for everyone. Me, I’m just glad the person fitting me is a dude because he is staying clear of my cock, for sure. Ally lets her hair down, and it sweeps across her shoulders as she fluffs the skirt that shows all of the thighs I was checking out earlier. The dress is backless with a tie at the top, but the front has a deep plunge that is sheer and covered in crystals. It’s the most amazing color of blush pink that makes her skin glow.
She’s stunning.
“Pretty sure Posey’s boobs will fall out of this,” she says, moving her hands along her breasts, which in return makes me look harder at them.
Shelli waves her off. “She’ll be fine. We’ll tape them down.”
“All the things a father wants to hear.”
Everyone looks back at Shelli’s dad, Shea, and I hold back my laughter. I’ve heard that from the beginning of this circus of a wedding, Shea has done nothing but clutch his wallet. Elli and Shelli are going to put him in the poorhouse—at least, that’s what he says.
“It’s pretty, though, Dad! Isn’t it?”
He nods reluctantly. “Very pretty.”
I look back at Ally and smile. She is gorgeous. She looked even better in the long champagne-colored dress that also was backless. I think everyone knows Ally’s back is pretty damn fine. All those years of smacking the shit out of balls does a back good. Hell, I almost feel like I’m being spiked dead in the face with a ball, staring at her the way I am. When Ally looks back at me, I meet her gaze quickly, and she lets her shoulders fall, along with her head, indicating her boredom.
I feel her on so many levels.
“Are we done yet?” she asks, and Shelli glares daggers.
“Ally, you’re the only one I can test everything on today. Be patient. Amelia is getting fitted at a store in her town, and we have to wait for Posey to be here.” Ally doesn’t seem to care one bit, but before she can voice that, Shelli says, “I love them. I love all of it. Mom, Dad?”
“I do too. It’s perfect,” Elli gushes, and Shea just looks pained.
“How much are they?”
“Dad!”
Harper and my mom both snicker, but Shelli and Elli are ignoring him as they talk to the saleslady and point to things on Ally. The guy who is fitting me lets me know I’m done, so I head over to Shea. When I cup his shoulder, he looks up at me, and I hate to say it, but he looks older. “How you holding up?”
He shakes his head, and I notice Shea has some gray coming in. To me, he will never grow old, but I think the wedding is aging him quicker with each dollar spent. “I never knew I would hate this process so much. Planning my own wedding was cake, but my daughter’s? It’s rough.”
“Eh, it’s because you love her so much and don’t want to lose her.”
“Exactly.”
“But good thing is, she’s marrying a pretty great guy.”
“You have to say that. He’s your brother.”
I smirk. “I actually like him as a person too.”
His lips quirk as he nods. “Yeah, I know. I’m just giving him a hard time.” We share a smile as he says, “Only good thing about this whole shindig is the alumni game that we get to play.”
Now I’m confused. “Huh?”
All of a sudden, Shelli is beside me, gushing, “Yup! All the players who have been a part of Aiden’s and my life will come and play against the new Assassins! It’s going to be killer.”
I blink. “Will there be elephants, tigers, lions, and monkeys too? Are you the ringleader, Shea?”
Shea laughs, but Shelli gives me a death glare. “Actually, I’m the ringleader,” Elli says, and Shelli really doesn’t like that.
“If anyone is the ringleader, it’s me!” Shelli says then and stomps off. “Mom, it’s not a circus! It’s going to be the biggest wedding event in Nashville.”