“What was it?” Greyson asked, his voice echoing in the bathroom.
I walked through the bedroom to find him standing there, waiting for me. Handing him his drink, I answered, “returned invitation. I need to get ahold of my cousins.”
“Can it wait?” he asked as he grabbed the edge of my shirt and pulled it up.
I smiled at him.
“It can always wait.”
“Are you expecting any more interruptions?” he asked.
“Honestly? Yes. But not for a while.” I admitted. Greg had to return the phone, but I needed to distract Greyson.
I felt so dirty for doing this, but it wasn’t something I could help. This was my life now.
I kissed him hard and wished it all away. I could lose myself in his arms for just a few moments, forget what I had to do to make good on my promises to my father.
I kissed him, hard. “Shower? Now?”
I had a feeling we were going to do more than just get clean.
Chapter Sixteen
Joanna
“Are you sure we can do this?” I asked Greyson as we stood at the door of the banquet hall. I swallowed, hard. I didn’t know if I could go through with this.
The story was that we’d been dating in secret for months. That he’d given up his playboy ways long before we announced our engagement but kept up the facade. We didn’t want anyone to know about our relationship because of the family feud.
It was a Romeo and Juliet story and it was the exact one that we were promoting. It was easier than telling them the truth. That we were thrown together and forced to marry despite our wishes. That we were falling in love in spite of it all and that we were afraid of the consequences of it.
“It’s just dinner among families. An engagement shower meant to be a good thing, Joanna. You have to relax.”
“Right, but it’ll break apart into two parties?” I asked. I needed him to go over the plans one more time. Really, what I needed was to hear his voice.
“Bachelor and Bachelorette,” he confirmed.
Mary had thrown everything together, and she did it with so much finesse that it all looked planned. I spent almost every day of the last week with her in some capacity, dealing with the reservations, arrangements, and venues.
Somehow whenever a Fitzgerald came calling they dropped whatever or whoever they were dealing with and did exactly what Mary wanted.
The extra added weight of O’Brien behind it only seemed to hasten the process.
I looked down at my dress, the dusty rose cocktail outfit foreshadowing the colors of the wedding. I’d opted for simple and classic, and it worked in my favor.
“It’s going to be okay. You don’t need to have cold feet.” He kissed my temple and pulled me into him. His grip was as possessive as ever, but it only felt reassuring to me.
“You’re right, because there is no chance I could run away,” I joked.
Greyson didn’t seem to think it was funny. He grabbed me and pulled me in, kissing me hard.
“Do you want to run away?” he asked.
“No,” it was the honest truth. Even if I could, even if it was a possibility it wasn’t one that I wanted. I was tied to him, and he was a part of me.
The whole prospect, though, made me feel horribly light headed. I’d been dealing with stress nausea all week. Everything was so up in the air that my body had started to rebel.
I grabbed my handkerchief and dabbed at the cold sweat beading up along my hairline.
“Are you okay?” He asked as he looked me over. I’d been getting a lot of those worried looks lately.
“What? Yeah, I’m fine. Just nervous.”
“Well, don’t be. I’m here. I’ll protect you from the big bads.” He smiled but somehow I knew he wasn’t kidding.
“Even your father?” I asked as I nudged him.
“Especially him.”
Shit. Another truth.
He opened the door, and we entered the room buzzing with conversation. Everyone noticed us, though, and they all started clapping.
The hall was filled full of people. Family, friends. Yeah it wasn’t the entire guest list of the wedding, but it was a lot of people. All here to celebrate our engagement.
“Well there she is,” Willa grabbed me in an embrace. As soon as I’d called Mary she’d put the word out to Willa. They were to be my joint maids of honor, and they’d come through brilliantly. Willa pulled every string she could to help, but it wasn’t necessary. Still, I was glad she’d tried.
“Hi there, it looks like you’ve been enjoying the champagne,” I giggled as I took the glass from her and drank right from it. I was going to need a good bit of alcohol to get through the night myself.
“Well, when your fiancé got the top notch stuff, I thought, why not?” she winked at Greyson. “Mind if I take her around the room? She needs to make the rounds.”
“Not a problem. I’ll find my father and Janson.”