Jamie’s eyes went wide, and she pressed herself back against the glass door. “You can’t,” she whispered.
“I can.” Jack was almost there, anticipating her mouth under his, her breasts dancing across his chest, when the door was propelled forward and Jamie tumbled into his arms.
Her breasts weren’t dancing across his chest now. They were crushed against him, virtually spilling up out of the top of her dress as she struggled to regain her balance.
Allison gave a blithe, “Sorry,” as she came through the door and stopped on the sidewalk.
Though Allison didn’t look at him as she put on gigantic white-rimmed sunglasses, he thought he detected a slight smile.
Which meant he owed Allison a hearty thanks, if she supported his quest for Jamie.
Who was squirming in his arms, causing a good amount of her to wiggle against a lot of him.
“Are you alright?” he asked.
“Fine.” Her gaze dropped to his lips, then back up to his eyes. She gulped. “Really, you can let me go now…”
He pressed against her, taking care to meld himself to her body in a particularly intimate spot with his very obvious erection.
“Oh, gracious!” she said, her head falling back, as her eyes drifted half shut.
His sentiments exactly.
He went in for the kiss he was determined to take this time.
And met with air.
Jamie had maneuvered out of his arms and was walking in a zigzag drunken manner toward the limo, wiping her hands on her dress.
He stared in disbelief for a minute until Mandy came through the door and said, “Sorry I’m late. Are we all ready?”
Then her gaze landed on the tent his tuxedo pants were making. Her mouth fell open.
First Pops, now Mandy. He hadn’t been caught with this many public hard-ons since junior high. Then he had simply stopped wearing sweatpants and watching Baywatch.
There was nothing he could do now about being with Jamie. Or that taunting dress.
Mandy hid a laugh behind her hand. “That answers my question. You are absolutely ready.”
Jesus, was he blushing?
Mandy shot him a backward grin as she bent over to climb into the limo. “If I didn’t have such a delicious husband, I think I might be jealous of Jamie.”
He frowned. “She told you about…us?” Did that mean his sister knew? He would have thought Caroline would have mentioned it to him. It wasn’t as if it were a secret or anything, but he hadn’t found it necessary to tell his sister either. Especially since Jamie had dumped him.
“Normally, Jamie cannot keep a secret. But this time, she hasn’t said a word. I’ve just got eyes in my head and the prescient skill of a pregnant woman. Don’t worry, Caroline doesn’t know.” She climbed into the car and left him standing in the sun.
“Know what?” he complained to no one in particular, waving a fat pigeon away from his feet. “That we could have, almost, sort of had something going on, but after one incredibly mind-blowing night, it’s dead in the water because of me?”
The pigeon didn’t answer him, so he got a grip and joined the bridal party. When he got in the limo, Jamie was having a heated argument with Allison.
“I think the girls should sit on this side, and the guys on the other,” Jamie said, her face flushed. She wasn’t sitting down, but was doing an odd sort of hovering in the center of the limo, head and back hunched over.
“What is this, eighth grade?” Allison rolled her eyes. “I’m not moving because it doesn’t matter.” She patted Finn’s and Steve’s knees on either side of her. “Besides, I like all this muscle around me.”
Mandy sat down on the seat by the window, and Jack slid in next to her, leaving the only seat available for Jamie right next to him by the door.
Amused that Jamie didn’t trust herself to even sit next to him, he patted the seat invitingly. “I showered today and remembered my deodorant.”
Her lip curled.
Allison told Jamie, “You’re screwing up your hair standing there like that. It’s scraping against the ceiling.”
“Shoot!” Jamie grabbed at her head and took the seat next to him, patting her hairs back into place.
In an attempt to avoid him, she flattened herself against the window and turned a little so her back was to him.
It gave him a nice view of her round little behind outlined in satin.
Which he took the liberty of gawking at for a large portion of the drive, alternating staring at her butt with checking out her cleavage. The one time he managed to pry his gaze away, he caught Steve’s eye, who gave him a knowing look.
He shrugged.
Steve grinned.
When they pulled up in front of the church, Jamie bolted out of the door first and ran up the steps. He followed her in time to see her retreat into a little room at the back of the church where the bride was meant to wait until her big entrance.
The photographer was pacing in the vestibule and grabbed him by the arm as he walked through the door.
“Where’s the rest of the bridal party?” he asked in exasperation. “We’re supposed to take pictures of each of you individually, then together, then the groomsmen together, then the bridesmaids together, then the siblings, then the bride and her father.”
Jack blinked at the laundry list of photo shots.
The man yanked on his tie and frowned. “We only have thirty minutes or so before guests start arriving.”
Jamie must have forgotten about pictures in her haste to put space between them. He told the photographer, “I’ll find them.”
Or her.
What a great excuse to go and hunt down Jamie.
He knocked on the door and waited a minute, listening to the string quartet warming up in the balcony above. Loud, chattering voices came through the door, and he suspected they hadn’t heard his knock.
With a shrug, he opened the door and stepped inside.
His sister was standing there with their mom, looking absolutely stunning.
Forgetting Jamie momentarily, forgetting his mother’s unhappiness with him, he went over to his sister and took her hand. Kissed her cheek. “Caro, you look beautiful.”
She was cool and classy, his little sister, her straight blond hair pulled back off of her face. Her dress was long and narrow, and she carried a tiny bouquet of white flowers in her hand. Looking very bridal and serene, she made him proud.
The smile she gave him was warm and excited. “Thanks, Jonathon. How’s everything going out there?”
“I came to get Jamie. The photographer wants pictures.”