“Oh yeah? Have you been ‘frying a bunch of fish’ at school?” Lilah asks with her finger quotes.
“Oh tons,” Julia answers sarcastically. “I go to school with a shit ton of women and male nurses. Not a dominating Latin Lover among them.” She sighs resentfully, her green eyes sharp as she wipes her finger gingerly at the edge of her red lipstick.
“Are you still waiting for Javier to come back?” I ask her gently. “Luis says he hates New York. Maybe he’ll move back home. Tons of wineries need marketing.”
For a second, Julia looks so lost and sad, every bit the innocent little kid we grew up protecting, but she quickly straightens her spine and smooths her retro-curled hair. “He’s not coming back and I’m not waiting for him.” Her voice is firm, and it sounds like a mantra she’s been repeating. “I just won’t settle for less than something… big.”
Rubbing a hand over her back, I try to soothe the unhappiness out of her. “Good,” I tell her. “You shouldn’t settle for less than that.”
Julia sheds the vulnerability like a lizard shedding a skin, visibly shaking it off before heading towards the door. “Let’s get drunk and dance. With any luck, we can get your man to have another alpha moment.” She winks at me, holding the door open for us with a sweep of her arm.
***
As it turns out, the rest of the night is basically one big, never-ending “alpha moment” with Brooks. He stays by my side the entire night and practically growls if another man comes too close to me.
If it were anyone else, it would be annoying, but with Brooks… I’m good. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy and, if I’m being honest, super turned on. He holds me close while we dance, pulls me into his lap when we sit, and insists I change into my comfortable flats when my feet start to hurt. I didn’t even say anything, he just knew.
As I’m changing my shoes, sitting in Brooks’ lap, Julia wanders by, gives me a conspiratorial wink, and stage-whispers “Daddy,” with an ’I told you so’ look on her face.
“Fuck off,” I whisper back, swatting her butt with my flat and leaving a satisfying dust print on her velvet dress before slipping the shoe on my foot. She brushes the mark away with exaggerated indignation.
“Did your sister just call me daddy?” Brooks looks alarmed and a little pale.
“Oh my god,” I laugh, putting my head in my hands. I try not to die laughing. “Just ignore her.”
“What’s so funny?” he asks, pulling me closer.
“She’s just being a brat. Trust me, you’re not her type.”
“As long as I’m your type, that’s all that matters.”
Cupping his face with both hands, I kiss him and stroke his beard. “You are very much my type. In fact, ‘my type’ is very specific, and it includes only you.”
He gives me a long, soft kiss; it goes on so long I forget to breathe and start to feel a little dizzy. Or maybe he just makes me feel like that.
Once the catering staff brings the pieces of cake back out, Brooks deposits me in my own chair and goes to get us each a piece. He comes back balancing six little dessert plates on his ridiculously muscled forearms. Someone must have helped load him up.
“What are you doing?” I laugh as he rejoins me, balancing the little plates carefully.
“Being greedy,” he replies while I help him set them all on the table in front of us. “My woman made the cake and I’m proud of her,” he says with a wink. “Besides, how am I supposed to make an educated decision about wedding cake without tasting all of them?”
He gleefully feeds me a bite of the gingerbread cake before taking a bite himself. I can’t help the triumphant smirk that spreads across my face as I watch him taste each flavor, rolling his eyes in ecstasy. Wedding cake is obviously amazing.
Chelsea calls all the single ladies to the dance floor for the bouquet toss, but I sit contentedly in Brooks’ lap, watching as Julia drags Lilah out with her. Chelsea has deadly aim as she launches it behind her. It sails straight at Lilah’s head, but she screams and ducks, letting Julia snatch it out of the air.
Brooks and I drink and dance the rest of the night away, his broad body enveloping me as we move together. The party seems to move around us but I feel consumed by Brooks, too wrapped up in the way he feels pressed against me to care that there are other people in the room. I’m dying to get out of here and back up to my hotel room.