Rory
As soon as Ian and I got back fr
om our run, we sat down in the dining room while Mandy served us breakfast. I looked at Ian as he picked up the blueberry muffin from his plate.
“Rory, why are you staring at me like that?”
“Do you think—” I stopped what I was going to say and took in a breath.
“Do I think what, sweetheart?” Ian asked.
“Do you think you could go one day without eating a blueberry muffin?”
I sat there, face twi
sted, waiting for his response. He put down his muffin, took a sip of his coffee, and flashed me that irresistible smile.
“Rory, blueberry muffins are like sex to me. I can never have enough.” He winked.
I sighed because I knew I would forever watch my boyfriend eat blueberry muffins.
“Does it bother you that I eat these every day?” he asked.
“No, not at all. It’s just that after you eat something for so long, you eventually get sick of it.”
“Hmm, well if I ever grow tired of blueberry muffins
, I’ll let you know.”
Just as I smiled at him, we heard the front door open.
“Good morning, my darlings,” Adalynn said as she breezed into the dining room.
“Good morning, Adalynn.”
“Morning, Adalynn. Muffin?” Ian smiled.
“God
, no. I don’t know how you can eat those things every day.”
As
I couldn’t help but laugh, Ian looked at me and raised his eyebrow. I flashed him a smile and turned my attention to Adalynn. “So what you brings you by?” I asked.
“I was hoping that you would come with me and look for wedding dresses today.”
The smile on my face grew wide. “I would love to go.”
“You couldn’t just call her on the phone and ask her that?” Ian asked.
“Ian, darling. I just had to see your beautiful, angelic face this morning before I could start my day.” She winked as she looked at me.
The banter between the two of them always made me smile.
“Well, then. You’ve seen it and now I must head to the office,” he said as he leaned over and kissed me and then kissed Adalynn on the cheek.
“Bye, darling.” I smiled.
Mandy walked over and set a cup of coffee in front of Adalynn. “I’m so excited to go look at wedding dresses. I’ve only ever seen them in magazines.”
“Good, because I’m going to be trying on a lot of them until I find the perfect one.” She smiled as she sipped her coffee.
I ran upstairs and grabbed my purse while Adalynn finished her breakfast. As I took my phone from the dresser, I noticed a text message from Ian.
“I miss you already. Have fun with Adalynn today.”
I smiled as I replied back.
“I miss you more and my fun will begin tonight when you’re home with me.”
“Rory, you’re killing me.”
“Love you, Ian.”
“Love you too, sweetheart.”
I was beaming from ear to ear as I walked down the stairs and over to Adalynn.
“I must say, Rory, you look like the happiest person I know.”
“That’s because I am. I’ve never felt such happiness, Adalynn, and I owe it all to Ian.”
****
I stood in front of the rack of dresses in awe over their beauty. Adalynn was on the other side of the shop
, working with a bridal consultant and explaining to her the vision she had for her dress. As I was lost in the world of elegant white, a sales woman approached me and handed me a glass of champagne.
“Thank you.” I smiled.
Adalynn walked over to where I was standing with a smile on her face. “Pretty fancy, huh?”
“Everything is so beautiful,” I replied.
“Have a seat over there on the couch. I’m going to try on the few dresses I picked out and I want your honest opinion.”
“Of course I’ll give you my honest opinion, Adalynn.”
She walked into the oversized dressing room as I took my champagne and sat down on the couch. I pulled my phone from my pocket and sent Ian a text.
“I hope you’re having a great day!”
“I am now.”
I smiled.
“I’m off to a meeting, sweetheart. I’ll talk to you later. Love you to pieces.”
“Love you.”
Adalynn cleared her throat to get my attention, and when I looked up, tears sprang to my eyes when I saw the beautiful bride standing before me.
“Adalynn, it’s beautiful. You look so amazing.”
“Nah, I don’t like it,” she said as she looked in the mirror.
“What! How can you not love it?”
“It’s too much dress. I think I’m going to stick with the mermaid style. All this fluff isn’t me.”
I loved the f
luff. I could see myself drowning in fluff and loving it every minute of it. Adalynn looked at me and smiled. “I want you to try this on.”
“What? Are you crazy? I’m not trying
on that dress!” I exclaimed.
She walked towards me with a wide smile on her face. “Yes
, you are. You’ve never tried on a wedding dress and it’s so much fun. Come on!” she said as she held out her hand.
I sighed as I got up. I secretly wanted to try
on the dress. I followed her into the dressing room, where she changed out of the dress and handed it to the sales woman. She took me in the room next to Adalynn’s and helped me into the wedding gown. I stepped outside the dressing room and stood in front of the large three-way mirror. Adalynn came out in a stunning Vera Wang, strapless, mermaid-style dress that was simply made for her.
“Rory, look at you. You look gorgeous. How do you feel?” she asked.
“Like a princess.” I smiled. “I didn’t realize how heavy wedding dresses are.” I laughed.
“That they are. Well, what do you think?” Adalynn asked as she spun around.
“It’s gorgeous and it’s you. It’s perfect.”
She walked over to where the veils sat on a beautifully etched glass shelf. She picked one up that was a crown and set it on top of my head.
“There. Now you’re complete.” She smiled.
I gulped as I stood there, staring at myself in a beautiful wedding dress and veil. I remembered when I was a child, I would sit and look at magazines with my mom and sometimes there would be pictures of brides. She would look at me and say that one day that would be me and she couldn’t wait to see me as a bride. My eyes started to fill with tears and I couldn’t let Adalynn see me so emotional, so I went back into the dressing room to change out of the dress and back into my clothes.
“Are you okay, Rory?” she asked.
“Yeah, I’m fine. It’s just overwhelming
, you know. Getting married is something that I’ve always dreamed of and now that I’ve found the love of my life, he wants nothing to do with marriage.”
“That was the old Ian, sweetie. I’m sure he’s had a change of heart since he thought he lost you. I know it’s way too soon, but has he mentioned marriage at all?”
“No.” I softly smiled as I looked down. “We don’t talk about it at all. We’re just enjoying each other right now.”
“And that’s how it should be. You two have your whole lives ahead of you.” She winked. “Now, I think I’m going to buy this dress.”
****
“There you are,” Ian said as we walked through the door.
“Hey, baby.” I smiled as he kissed me hello.
“It’s about time. I thought maybe you went and kidnapped my girl, Adalynn.”
Adalynn looked at him and rolled her eyes. “Keep calm, Ian. You know us girls when we shop.”
“Did you buy anything, sweetheart?” he asked.
“No, she didn’t, but she tried on the most beautiful wedding dress. Oh, Ian, you should’ve seen her.”
When Ian looked at me, I could tell he wasn’t very pleased.
“It was nothing. I was bored,” I said as I put my hand on his chest.
Ian gave me a small smile and walked over to the bar and poured himself a drink. “Adalynn? Rory?” he asked.
“No, thank you, darling. I have to get home. Daniel and I have invitations to go through. I’ll call you later, Rory,” she said as she leaned in and kissed my cheek. “Ta-ta, Ian.”
“I’m sure I’ll be seeing you at breakfast tomorrow,” he said.
Adalynn turned around and looked at him before heading out the door. “Thank you for the invite, Ian. I’ll be sure to stop by before I head to
Prim
.” She smiled.
As soon as she left, I walked over to the bar and asked Ian to pour me a glass of wine. “We had fun today and Adalynn found the perfect dress.”
“That’s good,” he said as he took a sip of his bourbon.
“Is something wrong, Ian?”
I could tell by his demeanor and the way he said “that’s good” that something wasn’t right with him. “Are you upset that I tried on a wedding dress?” I bravely asked.
“You really shouldn’t be doing things like that. I don’t want you to get your hopes up. You know where I stand on marriage, Rory.”
And just like that, he brought me down from my high. A few words spoken from his mouth changed my entire mood. I could sense an argument brewing if I kept pressing it, so I simply told Ian what he wanted to hear.
“I know, my love. Don’t worry
. It was only for fun, nothing else.” I smiled as I kissed him softly on the lips.
“
Well, I’m glad you had fun.” He pulled me into an embrace and kissed the top of my head.
I stood there, wrapped in his arms while a part of my mind was thinking about that wedding dress and the other part was thinking about how Ian wanted nothing to do with marriage.
Ian
I was wrapped up in her. My arms were wrapped around her tightly and our legs were tangled around each other. She was sleeping soundly. I couldn’t. I was up all night, thinking about Adalynn’s wedding and what kind of effect it was going to have on Rory. I didn’t want her getting any ideas and I didn’t want it to tear us apart. She said she understood, but I did think she was lying. A girl like Rory deserved everything. I could give her anything she wanted. I could love her till death do us part. I could give her all of me. I just couldn’t give her marriage.
I finally fell asleep
, only to be woken up by the alarm clock. I opened my eyes and Rory wasn’t in bed. She was always in bed. I turned off the alarm and got up to put on my pajama bottoms. I checked the bathroom first and she wasn’t there. I walked down to the kitchen and smiled when I saw her bending over, taking something out of the oven.
“What are you doing, sweetheart?”
“I hope I didn’t wake you,” she said as she walked over and kissed me.
“No, the alarm did.”
“Well, since today is Charles’s day off, I thought it would be nice to make you some blueberry muffins.”
I stood there. I couldn’t believe she got up that early and made me muffins. My heart started to ache a little because this woman amazed me, yet again.
“Rory,” I whispered as I pulled her into an embrace. “I can’t believe you did this.”
“Why, silly? I love you and I know how much you love fresh blueberry muffins in the morning.” She smiled.
“You’re amazing. I love you.”
“I love you too. Now go sit down and I’ll bring your coffee and muffin.”
“No,” I said as I led her to the chair and made her sit down. “You sit down and let me serve you.”
I poured us each a cup of coffee and set two muffins on a plate and took it over to the table. The smile never left her face as she watched me the whole time.
“No run today?” she asked.
“I thought maybe we could use the gym downstairs today. It looks like it’s going to rain,” I spoke as I looked out the window.
“Yeah, it does look like rain.”
I took a bite of the blueberry muffin and almost choked. It was the worst blueberry muffin I ever had. I tried so hard not to show it, but it was too late.
“What’s wrong? You don’t like it?”
I didn’t know how to tell her it was awful. “It just seems different
from how Charles makes them. Did you forget an ingredient? Maybe?”
A look of disappointment swept across her face and I felt like the biggest asshole around.
“I don’t think I forgot an ingredient. Damn it!” she said as she got up from the table.
“Sweetheart, it’s fine. Please don’t worry about it.”
She walked over and picked up the recipe card from the counter. “OH SHIT! FUCK! I forgot to put in the sugar.” She pouted.
“Aw, baby, it’s okay,” I said as I got up and wrapped my arms around her. “You tried and that’s all that matters.”
“You don’t understand. I wanted to do something special for you and, as usual, I fucked it all up. How could I forget the sugar?”
I looked over on the other side of the counter
, where a measuring cup sat with sugar in it. “Is that it over there?”
“Ugh.”
“Sweetheart, it’s okay. It can happen to anyone. So what, you forgot to add the sugar. You had it measured out, which means you thought of it. It’s the thought and I love your thoughts.” I smiled as I brushed my thumb over her soft lips before gently kissing them.
I picked
up Rory and set her on the counter. “I’m changing up our exercise routine today.”
“Why? What are we doing?” she asked.
“First, I’m going to take you upstairs and fuck you fast and hard. Then, when I’m finished, you’re going to get on top and fuck me fast and hard. It’s going to be an awesome workout, sweetheart. I promise.” I winked.
Rory smiled as she wrapped her legs tight
ly around my waist and her arms around my neck. “Let’s go start that workout, Mr. Braxton.”
The one thing I love
d about my girl was that she was so easy to please. I picked her up from the counter, took her upstairs, and we both had one hell of a workout.
****
“Mr. Braxton, Mr. Black is on line two for you.”
“Thank you, Jan. I’ll take it.”
“Connor. How are you, friend?” I answered.
“Good, Ian. How are you?”
“Things are great.”
“How’s Rory doing?” Connor asked.
“Rory’s good. Thanks for asking. What can I do for you?”
“
I ran across a piece a property here in New York City and I was hoping that you’d come out and take a look at it for me.”
“Sure. When do you want me
to come out there?”
“How about next week? And bring Rory with you. Ellery’s been asking about her
and wants to see her.”
“I sure will.
She’d love to see the two of you again. Rory visits her brother on Thursdays, but we can fly out after.”
“Sounds good. We’ll plan to meet Friday morning. Don’t make plans for Friday night. Ellery and I are taking the two of you out on the town.”
“Sounds good, Connor. We’ll see you next week. Rory will be thrilled.”
“Talk to you soon, Ian.”
I hung up the phone and sat back in my chair. Rory was going to be thrilled that she was going to be able to see Ellery again. I thought about texting her or even calling her, but I decided to wait and tell her the news in person.
“Jan, do me a favo
r and call the florist. I want two dozen red roses sent to Rory Sinclair at my home address.”
“I’ll do it now, Mr. Braxton,” she replied.
As I was looking over some legal papers, I heard the office door open. I looked up as Andrew walked in.
“Hey, bro,” he said with smile on his face.
“Andrew,” I replied and continued looking over the papers.
“Let’s go hit the club tonight.”
“Sorry, but I’m spending the evening with Rory.”
“Shit, Ian. What’s wrong, won’t the little woman let you off the leash for one night
?”
“That’s enough, Drew.”
“Whatever, man,” he sighed.
I looked at him and saw the disappointment in his face. Andrew didn’t have too many friends
, because honestly, he was an ass. “Why don’t we ask Rory, Adalynn, and Daniel to come with us and we can all go together?”
“Seriously, Ian? Just tell the bitch you’re going out for the night. You don’t owe her any explanations.”
The one thing you didn’t do was call my girl a bitch. I could feel the anger towards him building up inside. I stood up and slammed my hands against the desk.
“Don’t you ever call Rory a bitch or any other demeaning name again! Do you understand me, friend?”
“Chill out, Ian. Fuck, man,” he said as he got up from his chair. “All I wanted was to spend a little time with my best friend. Is that so wrong?” he said as he shook his head and walked out of my office.
I sat back in my chair and threw a pen across my desk. As long as he
had a problem with Rory, he was going to have a problem with me. Maybe Adalynn could talk to him. I finished up what I had to do and walked out of my office.
“I’m out of here for the night, Jan. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Good night, Mr. Braxton.”
Andrew r
eally had me fired up and he pissed me off. I needed to calm down. When I climbed into the back of the limo, I poured a glass of bourbon.
“Bad day, Ian?” Joshua asked.
“You could say that,” I said as I threw back the bourbon.
I pulled my phone from my pocket and stared at our picture. When we were in Paris, we had a nice young woman take a picture of the two of us in front of the Eiffel
Tower. Rory and I had the biggest smiles on our faces. I took pride in the fact that I was the one responsible for making her smile like that. What Andrew didn’t understand was that I wanted to spend every waking minute with Rory. I knew he was having a hard time, because growing up, we always talked poorly of relationships and women. But the one thing I realized was things change, and people can change. If only Andrew could find someone as special as Rory.
I could hear the sweet melody of piano music playing as I approached the house. A smile graced my face because
, somehow, Rory erased any kind of bad day I had. As I opened the door, walked into the living room, and set my briefcase down, Rory stopped playing and walked over to me. I noticed the vase of red roses were sitting on top of the piano.
“Thank you so much for the beautiful roses, Ian. I was so surprised when they were delivered.” She smiled as she wrapped her arms around me and planted a kiss on my lips.
“You’re welcome. I’m glad you like them,” I replied as I hugged her tightly.
“Have you been drinking?”
She could smell the bourbon on my breath. “I just had a drink on the way home, that’s all.”
“Bad day?”
“Kind of. I just had to deal with some real assholes today.”
She tightened her arms around me and buried her face in my neck. “I’m sorry, honey.”
“It’s nothing for you to worry about, sweetheart. Let’s go change and go to dinner. I want to hear about your day.”
“I was thinking maybe we could order in some Thai food and eat on the patio. It’s such a beautiful night out.” She smiled.
“That’s an excellent idea. I knew there was a reason I loved you so much.” I smiled back as I kissed the tip of her nose.
We placed our order and
, as we waited for it to be delivered, Rory grabbed two wine glasses from the cupboard and took them outside. I pulled a bottle of Pinot from the wine cellar, opened it, and took it outside, pouring some into each of our glasses. After our food arrived and we were sitting down and eating dinner, I decided it was the perfect time to tell Rory about our little trip to New York next week.
“We’re going on a trip next week,” I said as I ate my rice.
“We are? Where are we going?”
I looked at her and smiled. “New York. Connor called me today and needs me to fly out there to look at a piece of property for him. I thought we’d turn it into a mini vacation sin
ce you’ve never been there.”
Her face lit up and her happy eyes did a little dance. “Ian, I’m so excited. I can’t wait to see Connor, Ellery
, and Julia again. Plus, I’ve always wanted to visit New York.”
“I knew you’d be excited, sweetheart.”
“When are we going?”
“Thursday
, after your visit with Stephen. I’ll go to the office in the morning and I’ll have Joshua drive you to Hudson Rock. We’ll pick you up after and head to the airport.”
“How long are we staying in New York?” she asked with excitement.
“We’ll fly back Sunday night. Sound good?”
“It sounds great,” she replied as she reached over and took hold of my hand
, which was on the table.
It felt great to see Rory so happy. She deserved to be happy and
there was nothing I wanted more. The sun had set and it was getting dark. Rory excused herself and told me she’d be right back. I poured another glass of wine and stared at the ocean. As I was sipping it, Rory walked out onto the patio in a short, white satin robe. She was sexy and hot as hell.
“Are you ready for bed already?” I smiled.
“On the contrary, Mr. Braxton.” She smiled back.
As she walked over to the pool, she had her back turned to me
, and she slowly let the satin robe drop to the cement. She was completely naked and, instantly, I became hard. She climbed down the steps into the pool and went all the way under the water. I leaned back in my chair and watched her as she swam to the edge and looked at me. She held up her finger and motioned for me to come over to her. I got up from my chair, fully erect, and stripped out of my clothes, joining her in the pool as we made love under the moonlight.