Beyond Promise (17 page)

“Something for the honeymoon and a couple
things for after,” Gabby said excitedly.

“It’s so beautiful,” I said, lifting up the
nightgown.

“It’s nice and loose,” Gabby pointed
out.

“Why, yes, it is,” I giggled, lifting out
the photo albums next. “These are gorgeous. Did you make them?”

She nodded.

“They are so pretty.” I felt the softness of
the cover as I opened up one of the albums. She’d created an entire
album geared for our Bermuda wedding just waiting for pictures to
complete it.

“This is so awesome. I can’t believe in less
than a week, I’ll have photos to put in here.” I opened the card
and read the beautiful words Gabby had written, and I felt so
blessed to have such a great group of friends by my side.

I handed the gifts to Emily to pass around,
and she handed me a gift to open in return. I felt bad that Emily
wasn’t coming to the wedding, but she’d decided to stay at Gabby’s
Goodies so Gabby didn’t have to shut the bakery down.

The ivory gift bag from Emily was stuffed
with silver tissue paper that I quickly dug out to reveal a
two-piece lingerie pink teddy that looked extra roomy. The chiffon
was beaded along the edges, and there was a matching sheer bathrobe
at the bottom of the bag.

“This is gorgeous,” I told Emily. “Thank you
so much. I absolutely love it, and I’ll be so styling in Bermuda
and at home. Ayden won’t know what to do with me out of
flannel.”

“It should give him some good ideas,” Emily
almost cackled.

“I’m making him wait until the wedding
night. You know, depending on what we find tonight, maybe I’ll play
dirty and strut around in these the next couple days.”

Gabby nodded and handed me another
package.

Next, I opened the present from Brandy. The
present was wrapped with so much wrapping paper, I wasn’t sure I’d
ever get to what was inside.

“Hope you love it,” Brandy gushed.

“I’ll love anything.”

I finally got underneath the wrap and was
shocked to see a Tiffany box. I opened the lid and tucked inside
was a light teal passport cover and two engraved champagne flutes
with Mr. and Mrs. Rhodes scripted on each.

“These are so beautiful,” I said, raising
one of the flutes into the air. “Wow. I’m totally being spoiled.” I
caressed the passport cover and grinned.” This is so soft.”

“Mine next,” Tori said, pushing a box into
my empty hand. “This is actually from Mason too.”

It was a small box, but knowing it was from
my almost brother-in-law helped to relieve any worry about it being
the elusive gag gift.

I pulled on the gold ribbon and carefully
unwrapped the small rectangular box.

“Mason picked it out when we were out last
weekend,” she said, smiling with pride.

I opened the box.

“This is too much.” I shook my head, unable
to believe what was inside.

“I told him you’d say that, but he told me
to tell you anyone who was willing to put up with his brother for
the rest of her life deserved a reward.”

I shook my head and chuckled as I lifted out
a solitary diamond bracelet looped in a platinum chain. Even in the
dull light inside the car, it glittered and sparkled in every
direction.

“He thought it could be your something new
too,” Tori offered.

“This is beautiful. He really didn’t have to
do this.”

“We both wanted to. You’ve been through a
lot, and you haven’t even walked down the aisle yet,” Tori said
coyly.

“She’s got a point,” Brandy added. “I’d take
it and run. My brother’s so lucky you’re still getting married to
him.”

I smiled and shook my head.

The driver rolled down the partition between
us.

“Ladies, we’ll be arriving at the
destination in less than five minutes. Any specific instructions on
where you’d like me to park?” he asked.

“Just on the road so no one can see us,”
Gabby instructed.

“Easy enough.” He rolled the glass back up,
and I got butterflies in my stomach. It felt like we were about to
toilet paper a house or something, and I lived here.

We repacked all the gifts, and the girls
polished off the champagne as we pulled onto the shoulder of the
road. I glanced at Emily, and she seemed as intrigued as the rest
of us to find out what was going on at the bachelor party.

I didn’t know why I felt it was my mission
to show Emily there was another kind of man out there, but I did.
Tori flung open the door, and we all crawled outside, each holding
one of the presents. The driver got back inside after realizing we
let ourselves out of the car. Who knew we were so excited to see
our guys?

We quietly closed the door and walked along
the edge of the road, careful not to fall in the mud from the
November rains. All of us sneakily marched down the driveway,
giggling and tiptoeing along the tree line until we saw the glowing
lights of the house. Music was blaring and my heart stilled.

Maybe this was a really bad idea.

I exchanged looks with Gabby, but we knew
there was no turning back. We snaked along the driveway, not seeing
shadows or figures of anyone inside in the front of the house. A
light in one of the upstairs bedrooms flicked on, and for
absolutely no reason, my pulse started racing.

There was nothing to worry about. Maybe one
of the guys had too much and was going to lie down. I guided us
along the side of the house, over the bark, and into some
unexpected mud.

“Shoot. I forgot to change my shoes,” Gabby
muttered.

We all shushed Gabby and continued on
through the heavily landscaped area. Between limbs snapping back
and spraying us, and rhododendrons wiping their wet leaves along
our pants, we were a damp, muddy mess by the time we reached the
back of the house.

I stopped and turned around, facing
everyone. Gabby looked eager, Brandy looked terrified, Emily looked
content, and Tori looked confused.

“Ready?”

They all nodded.

“I’ll sneak up to the window first.”

I was low and slow as I made my way to the
family room window, dodging shrubs and patio furniture. The music
was even louder on this side of the house, and hollering from the
guys inside made my insides twist.

This was a bad idea.

When I got up to the window, I peered into
the family room and pure shock shot through my body. I never
would’ve guessed.

I looked at the eager shadows behind me,
waiting for my response. I motioned at them to hurry over to see
exactly what I was witnessing. They all placed the packages on the
patio and scampered over. Gabby was the first out of the gate,
followed by Tori and Brandy. Emily seemed the most reluctant to see
what they were up to, and she didn’t even have a guy inside.

Glee filled my entire body as I watched the
men inside cheering at the video game on the big screen. Jason,
Aaron and Derek were all laughing and shouting as they played some
military game. I looked around the room trying to spot Mason or
Ayden, and I found neither of them. My mind flashed to the bedroom
light turning on. Maybe Mason drank too much and Ayden was playing
nurse.

“See? What did I tell you, Emily? It does
exist. Male decency does exist in this world,” I whispered
quietly.

“Indeed it does,” Ayden said from
behind.

Gabby let out a frightened yelp and I
nervously laughed.

Slowly turning around to see Ayden standing
with his brother behind him made it hard to concentrate. It had
been weeks since I’d been with Ayden and seeing his smug grin
didn’t help matters. He was so attractive and seeing what I saw
made him even hotter. Ayden had his arms folded on his chest and
was shaking his head. I felt my cheeks turn red, and my gaze fell
to the patio as I let out a deep breath.

I’d been caught.

“So what are you ladies doing here in the
middle of the night?” Ayden asked.

“What does it look like?” Brandy asked,
narrowing her eyes at her brother.

By now the other guys had joined us on the
patio, and I was ready to crawl under one of the boulders that
lined the river.

“It’s not the brightest idea to be traipsing
around in the dark near a water source,” Mason told us.

“So says the cautious brother,” Brandy
said.

“Is there such a thing between these two?”
Tori asked.

“Not that I know of.” I brought my gaze up
to Ayden’s and the butterflies returned. I hoped this feeling never
vanished.

I glanced over at all my presents that the
girls had set down to commence operation
Wedding Singer
and
wiggled my brows at Ayden who got the message.

He wandered over to the presents with Mason
right behind. They picked them all up and Ayden noticed the
lingerie.

“Well, this is worth the interruption any
night,” Ayden said, stopping right next to me. “Do you have other
plans for the night or did you plan on hanging out?”

“I think they should hang out,” Jason
shouted, rubbing Gabby’s shoulders.

“I second that,” Aaron said.

Tori’s brow arched as she waited for Mason
to throw in his two cents about wanting the girls to stick around.
He swept a kiss across her cheek as he balanced the packages on his
way inside, and that was enough for her.

“We’ve got plenty of food and game
controllers.” Ayden was already in the house.

I turned around to the girls and shrugged.
“What do you think?”

“I say yes.” Tori smiled.

“Sounds like a good idea to me,” Gabby
agreed, craning her neck to give Jason a kiss on the cheek.

“Even though I’ll be surrounded by couples
still in the honeymoon phase, I think spending the rest of the
night in sounds wonderful,” Emily said.

I caught her glance at Derek and I
wondered…

“Derek, this is Emily,” Gabby began. “Emily
meet Derek, Ayden’s trainer.”

“Ex-trainer,” Derek corrected.

Gabby smiled. “Emily works with me at the
bakery.”

Derek flashed a smile and nodded. “Nice to
meet you.”

“You too,” Emily replied.

She looked a little intrigued, but she was
hard to read. I think Derek sensed that as well and decided not to
come on too strong or at all so he went back inside.

We made our way into the family room, and I
wandered over to the fridge to get a coconut soda water. Ayden had
the fire going, and the space felt warm and toasty compared to
hanging out on the patio. I hadn’t realized it, but my fingers and
toes were icicles.

“I’ll let our driver know he can go home,”
Emily said, grabbing her cell phone out of her purse.

“I totally forgot about that. Thank you!
That could have been expensive,” I laughed.

Ayden got all the extra guests settled, and
I wondered how in the world I lucked out with him. Sure, he stepped
into a ring now and then, but he was tenderhearted the rest of the
time. I knew Ayden wouldn’t be up to anything too weird at his
bachelor party, and I also knew he wouldn’t be upset if he found us
spying because he didn’t have anything to hide. I took a sip of the
crisp, bubbly water and grinned as Ayden sauntered into the
kitchen, grabbing a carrot stick on the way over.

“I knew you were going to show up
tonight.”

“You did not.”

“I did. Mason and I placed a bet, and
obviously, I won.”

“Well, Emily didn’t believe men could be
well behaved at a bachelor party, and I felt it was my mission to
show her otherwise.”

Ayden didn’t look like he was buying it.

“It’s true. You can go ask her.”

“Nah,” he whispered, sliding his arms around
my waist. “So about that lingerie.”

I giggled as he ran his whiskers along my
throat, tormenting me.

“It will be perfect for the warm Bermuda
weather.”

“I know you’re not going to make me wait
until our honeymoon.”

I laughed. “I’ve made you wait this long.
Why in the world do you think I’d stop now?”

“Because you’re not that cruel.”

I rested my hands on chest as he pulled his
whiskers from my skin and looked me in the eye.

“What?” I whispered.

“Are you that mean?” he asked.

“I am. I really am.”

I couldn’t tell him how much it was killing
me to wait, or he’d use that to his advantage, and my resolve
wouldn’t be able to last a minute.

“I guess the guests of honor shouldn’t hide
out in the kitchen,” he whispered.

“Doesn’t look like we’re missed though,” I
said perplexed, as everyone was chatting away and back to playing
video games.

“They wouldn’t miss us if we snuck off.” He
tried again.

“I bet at least one person would.”

He exhaled a deep sigh and slid his hand to
the small of my back, gently leading us to the family room. They’d
left us two places on the couch, which we took over. I curled my
legs under me and rested my head on Ayden’s shoulder.