The white floor length dress she was wearing made the most of her curves while managing to keep her baby bump from becoming the focus of everyone’s eyes. She’d been told she was coming to do promotional photos with her parents for their dance studio; she and her mom should be in white formal dresses while her dad would be in a tux. Well, her dadwaswearing a tux as he held out his arm to Angel, but her mom was wearing a purple formal gown. She came up beside Angel, a white veil in her hands, eyes already brimming with happy tears.
Angel’s mouth opened and no sound came out. She looked like she was ready for a photo shoot. Her makeup was flawless, emphasizing her almond shaped eyes and high cheekbones, and her hair pulled back into a pile of curls which looked effortless, but had probably taken an hour to achieve. As her mother tucked the veil into her hair, Angel looked across the room at where Adam was standing in a tux, with Jared by his side, her best friend Leigh opposite him, and Sam in between them (wearing a bathrobe over his suit for some reason), and burst into tears.
Dammit.
She’d really thought she was going to win that $20 from Patrick.
Looking alarmed, Adam bolted past where Olivia was sitting and down the aisle to his erstwhile bride. Across the aisle, standing next to his girlfriend Lexie, Patrick smirked at Olivia. The bastard. She scowled at him.
‘She’s still here,’ she mouthed at the jerk. She glanced at Leigh, who just smiled serenely and didn’t look at all worried about her best friend sobbing in the back of her surprise wedding.
Patrick and Olivia’s heads both swiveled around to the back of the room - where everyone else’s attention was. Well, some people were trying to pretend they were politely looking away. Others were leaning in for a closer look, or maybe to try and hear what Adam was saying to his crying bride. Olivia ignored the little tingle on the back of her neck which said the man sitting next to her was leaning into her personal space. There was no way she was going to let him know how much he was getting to her. He was probably just trying to get a better look anyway. Even if it was none of his business. She didn’t know why he’d even been invited.
“It doesn’t look like she’s going to punch him.” The deep, rumbling whisper did naughty things to her lady parts, but Olivia didn’t allow any of her muscles to stiffen. She had far more control than that. “I think you might have won the bet.”
Arching one eyebrow, Olivia turned her head just enough to pierce Luke Davis with a haughty look. “If I did, I wouldn’t need you to tell me so.”
It would be pretty obvious if Angel either hauled off and punched her erstwhile groom or ran from the room.
Luke’s blue eyes studied her expression, his focus entirely on Olivia rather than Angel and Adam - and she didnot like it, dammit,no matter how her body responded to his sharp, inquiring gaze, the way it seemed like he was really looking at all of her and trying to decide how best to serve her.She was pretty sure she was assigning meaning to his expression where there was none.
“Yes, Ma’am.”
And no, she didn’t get turned on just because this incredibly handsome, confident, alpha man immediately backed down and called her ma’am. That would be ridiculous. Especially since he was probably just mocking her with it. He might be exactly her type physically (so what if she had a weakness for dark hair, light eyes, and an aura of confidence?), but he was also going to be her boss soon. Basically her boss. Patrick and Michael had assured her that the day to day running of Marquis would be handled mostly by her and Michael; Luke was just going to be a silent partner… but a partner still meant an owner and she was just going to be a manager.
Being attracted to a man in a position of power over her was unprecedented, so she sure as hell wasn’t going to start now. Not if she had anything to say about it. Her body could do what it liked, but she controlled her responses.
Although, she was certainly looking forward to having him join the next Baby Doms class. She’d managed to get Patrick to agree Luke had to go through the newbie class like all the other new members, and she was going to be in charge of the one at Marquis. Lisa was taking over the one at Stronghold. Patrick liked to have Dommes teaching the class, mostly because it practically guaranteed no misogynistwas going to make it through the entire course. The Doms had to go through everything they wanted to put a submissive through, so they got to experience whips, floggings, clamps, canes, bondage, wax, the whole gamut. Olivia’s favorite day was anal plug day. The plugs weren’t big but they certainly brought out the whining.
Could she help it if her particular kink celebrated seeing alpha men submitting? Sure, they weren’t submitting to her exactly, since they had an end goal, but it was satisfying nonetheless. She couldn’t wait to put Luke through the class.
Couldn’t wait in a purely professional sense, that was. Nothing more. Just an opportunity to have the flirtatious, arrogant man under her control for a while. Besides, she might feel like they had more of a balance of power once she’d whipped his ass and put a plug in it, owner of the club or not.
Olivia realized she was still staring into his blue eyes, which were now beginning to look amused. Shooting him another frosty look, she turned away so she could see what was happening.
Grinning like a loon, Adam was now making his way back down the aisle as a weepy but beaming Angel set herself up at the other end of it, one parent on each side of her. Turning her head to face Patrick - who looked like he was torn between relief and disappointment at losing the bet - Olivia smirked.
******
It was a beautiful ceremony, even if it was a little odd. Sam only slipped in a couple of Big Lebowski references, including a small sermon on the meaning of “abide,” which turned out to be quite touching as he talked about people choosing to abide together, to stay and grow together, all the days of their lives. Angel had cried again.
Jake had a feeling he’d be attending a lot of these soon, including his sister’s, if the way Lexie and Patrick were leaning on each other all through the ceremony was any indication. Of course, it didn’t hurt that he’d been with Patrick last week when the man had bought the ring. Andrew and Kate had gotten engaged last weekend too. Justin, Chris, and Jessica might not be having a conventional wedding, but it was still coming up next month. He was kind of surprised Rick and Maria weren’t already engaged, but he was sure Rick’s proposal was coming down the line too. Only Jared and Leigh really seemed uninterested in taking the next big step. Well, not uninterested exactly, just not in the same rush as everyone else.
Not that Angel and Adam had rushed. She’d been making him wait every step of the way. No wonder he’d gotten pushy about the wedding.
Still, surprise or not, she’d been just like every other happy, glowing bride as she said her vows. Several people in the audience had snorted when she’d actually promised to obey, and he was pretty sure at least one of them was her brother. Then again, if Lexie included “obey” in her marriage vows, he’d probably snort too, even though he knew that was exactly the kind of relationship she and Patrick had.
But he really tried not to think too hard about their relationship.
“I now pronounce you, man and wife, you may kiss the bride.”
Laughing happily, Angel actually bounced as she jumped forward into Adam’s arms. The big guy wrapped himself around her for a long kiss as everyone else laughed and clapped, thrilled to see the two of them finally come together. Jake’s own grin felt kind of cheesy, but he didn’t bother to hide it. One of the things he liked best about this group of people were their tight bonds and happiness. Sure they had drama sometimes, but it was mostly fun drama.
His eyes drifted over to a curvy little drama queen on the other side of the aisle, who was also bouncing as she clapped. Drawing attention to herself, as usual. It wasn’t hard for her, since she was also beautiful, but couldn’t she just be happy with the regular amount of attention? Why did she have to go out of her way to be the center of it all the time?
Although her need for attention didn’t irk him nearly as much as how all her obnoxious quirks, her lack of responsibility, and her crass mouth still didn’t keep his cock from twitching every time he looked at her. She was exactly the kind of woman he’d never wanted, but for some reason his body disagreed with that sentiment. Even worse, she was friends with his sister and all of his other friends, so it wasn’t like he could just talk her into bed, get her out of his system, and then peace out. He’d never actually done so before but some of his army buddies had, especially when they were overseas, and it seemed to work for them. This was the first time he’d ever had to deal with a woman he both disliked and desperately wanted but couldn’t have, and he didn’t quite know what to do about it.
It also bothered him that she riled his protective instincts. She was still looking for someone to be her roommate, putting up ads on Craig’s List and other places, attracting who knew what weirdos. There was no reason for it. She was a trust fund baby, she didn’tneeda roommate. She probably just didn’t want to live alone because then there’d be no one to pay attention to her.
