“Okay.”
Amelia and Tess had declared they wanted to be the official organizers. Josie and I had been relieved. Neither of us was in a state to deal with that.
“You said you want a small party, but I don’t think it’s possible. The sheer number of people who expect to be invited is astronomic.”
“How is that even possible?”
Tess grinned. “Hunter, you’re famous in this city. Not only because of your business. Our charity parties are notorious. Everyone knows and loves the Ballroom Galas. We’ve done well with that.”
She was right. Years ago, my company renovated an older building on the Upper East Side. I ended up keeping it. Now it houses two different ballrooms where we organize charity events we call the Ballroom Galas. All my cousins were involved. It was our joint project.
Cole and I brought in high-profile donors. Ryker, Tess, and Skye were masters at organizing events. We’d come up with the concept together, betting on the fact that fancy events would make donors part with their money easily, and we’d been right.
The ball season ran from September to June. We had several events spread throughout that period. Whenever we didn’t have galas, we rented the rooms out to event companies.
“And I had an idea. Given the size, we should have the wedding in one of the ballrooms.”
“Do we really have to invite everyone?”
“It would be rude not to invite your business partners and the biggest donors at the galas.”
“I’ll run this by Josie and get back to you.” I didn’t want to make this even harder for her.
Tess watched me carefully.
“What?” I asked.
“My spidey-senses tell me something’s not right... but I can’t quite tell what. Why don’t you fess up?”
“What do you mean?”
“You tell me.”
I stubbornly held her gaze, hoping she’d change the subject. She narrowed her eyes but shook her head.
“By the way, Ryker’s throwing your bachelor party.”
A real bachelor party to go with a fake wedding? I needed to stop it.
“Can you get me out of it?” I asked.
“No. And even if I could, I wouldn’t. It’s a milestone. You can’t miss it.”
“So why did you tell me? To torment me?”
She grinned. “No, to give you time to prepare.”
“How generous.”
“I’m throwing Josie’s party. Man, I’ve dreamed about finally throwing one of the girls a bachelorette party forever. I’m bringing out the big guns.”
“No strippers.”
Tess laughed. Laughed. “I don’t remember asking you.”
The thought of Josie putting her hands on another man... goddammit. No. I was getting increasingly possessive, and she was not mine.
“So why are you telling me this? Also to get me prepared?”