25. Chapter Twenty-five

Elise and Weston's rehearsal dinner was my first official Grazing job.

It would have been a gift, but when I tried to offer it as such—ignoring Saoirse's previous advice—Elise put her foot down and insisted on supporting my business. She allowed the friends and family discount, though, since we were "basically family."

When she'd said that, I'd had to swallow several times to stop the bile from surging from my stomach. Guilt, but also regret over something that would never be true.

Me: How is the rehearsal going?

Miles: Chaos! Would you believe Elise and I are now married?

I grinned at my phone. Miles and I had gotten back into a good place. We didn't hang out every day, but we saw each other most days. He'd roped me into renovating his house with him in the evenings, but he always fed me and talked Grazing business, so it was a fair trade-off.

There had been no more kissing.

And definitely no more…anything else.

I couldn't say I didn't miss the anything else—what had happened in that hot tub had set a new bar for future partners—but I liked being with Miles more than a handful of orgasms. If I had to give up one, it would be the orgasms, hands down.

As long as I got to keep Miles.

Me: Did the officiant come from clown school or something?

Miles: Something like that. Luckily, Luca looked up how to get out of a wrongful marriage. All we have to do is circle the real groom seven times backward and that'll undo it.

Me: Makes total sense. Be sure to write a scathing review for that officiant, though. Not everyone has a friend like Luca who thinks so fast on his feet.

Miles: Absolutely. I'll see you soon, Cupcake. Can't wait to eat your table.

"Um, excuse me. When you asked me to help, I didn't realize that meant I'd be doing everything myself."

I tucked my phone away and looked at Bea, who was tapping her foot and scowling at me.

I smiled.

"Sorry, just checking on the rehearsal progress."

She rolled her eyes. "While you were flirting with your boyfriend, I opened four packages of crackers and made ten meat roses."

I snorted a laugh. "I see your point. My phone's away. The table has my full attention. Let's get going."

Over the past few weeks, my calendar had begun to fill. As exciting as it was to see my business blossoming, panic had set in, and I wondered how in the world I thought I could do all the labor on my own.

Miles had suggested hiring Bea. She was familiar with my products from my time at High Bar, and no one worked more diligently. This was our first job together, and since Elise had asked for a six-foot table, I was more than happy Bea was assisting me.

We worked well together, arranging the varieties of cheeses and meat, nuts, slices of fresh fruit and vegetables, olives and pickles, to look like they had a pattern and weren't just haphazardly dumped on the table. We added fresh flowers for color and height. Overall, it took us a little more than an hour to complete—slightly less than I'd budgeted.

Now, I had to scramble to make myself presentable as Miles' date for the dinner. Bea forced me into the bathroom to change while she cleaned up on her own. She did this with a frown, but we both knew she was being nice, which gave me a warm feeling in my chest.

I changed into a black sheath dress, leather harness cinching my waist, with straps over my shoulders, and black platform heels. I added a red headband with a silk flower with feather leaves on the side. To match, I swiped on red gloss. I'd done the rest of my makeup earlier, and I was pleased to see it had held up through making the table.

Checking myself out from all angles in the mirror, I nodded. I would do Miles proud as his date.

When I returned to the private room where the rehearsal dinner would soon be taking place, Bea was in a conversation with a stately blonde woman. She caught my eyes, beckoning me over to them.

"There she is. Daisy is the one you want to talk to about all this," Bea informed her in her best customer service voice.

The woman turned, and her familiarity struck me so hard, my steps faltered for a moment. I was certain I hadn't met her before, but at the same time, I knew that face.

"I'm out of here," Bea called. "See you later, D."

She swiped past the blonde woman before either of us could say a word.

I quickly put on my professional hat and strode toward her with my hand out. "Nice to meet you. I'm Daisy. Are you here for the rehearsal dinner?"

She slipped her hand in mine, giving it a firm shake her fine-china features belied.

"Lily Smythe-Kelly."

I grinned. "The two of us would make half a garden."

Her laugh was deep and resonant. Practiced too, like she was told jokes often and knew exactly how to modulate her response to them.

"That is true. We must seek out a Rose and Violet to complete our quartet." The corners of her eyes crinkled. I'd guess she was in her fifties, but it was hard to tell, since she'd probably had some very-skilled work done. "I see how you're looking at me, Daisy. You recognize me because you know my daughter, Saoirse. I had the pleasure of giving her my whole face."

My eyes widened, taking her in. The resemblance truly was uncanny. "Wow, you absolutely did. Lucky Saoirse."

"She has her father's kindness, which is even more valuable in my opinion." There was something wistful and sad about the way she said this, but she moved on quickly enough for me not to be able to spend too much time on it. "I'm terribly embarrassed to be here so early. I was killing time in the bar, but some old fool kept hitting on me so I thought I could hide out in here until everyone arrived."

"Of course." I checked the time on my phone. "It should be any minute now."

Lily gestured toward the grazing table. "I was speaking to your employee about your business. I've never seen anything so marvelous. It's too bad you don't live in California. I'm at several events a week, and they would be much more interesting with a setup like this." She waggled her perfect brows. "I'm a cheese and crackers girl. Give me a choice between filet mignon or a lovely Camembert on a cracker, and I'll snatch the Camembert before you're finished asking."

I clutched my hands in front of me, wondering what advice Miles would give in this situation. I could almost hear him saying, "All contacts are good contacts." I didn't want to turn Lily's interest away just because of a little geography problem.

"I'm always up for traveling if the job's big enough. I can also ship smaller charcuterie boards."

Her eyes lit. "Can you? That would be delightful." She pressed her fingers to her mouth. "Actually, are you free next month? I'm throwing a retirement party for one of my colleagues in the Senate. It'll be casual, around two hundred people. The catering is taken care of, but one of these tables would be the cherry on top."

I nodded. If I wasn't free, I would make myself free. "I'll give you my card, and you can send me the details, but I don't see why I can't make that work."

As soon as I handed over the card, Miles burst through the door, his head swiveling left and right. "Where is she? Where's my girl?"

When he found me, I waved, and a grin split his face. He stalked to me, sweeping me off my feet. His face went to my neck like it was pulled by a magnetic force, nuzzling me roughly.

Squealing, I batted his shoulder. Before Miles, I had never squealed. Before Miles, I would have kicked a man in the shin if he'd dared pick me up without my explicit permission. What had this man done to me?

"Dammit, Miles. I'm supposed to be professional."

He spun me so my back was toward the wall, his big body blocking me from view, and gave my butt a swat. "You're not working anymore, Cupcake. Now, you're my plus one. As my date, I demand you let me carry you everywhere since I haven't seen you in two days and missed you."

"I missed you too, you goon, but I was in the middle of talking to Lily Smythe-Kelly about doing a very big job—"

He pulled back, his brows raised. "Really? That's awesome. But Saoirse's mom lives in California."

"I'm aware. I would fly out there to do it."

"A plane ticket would eat your profit." He placed his forehead on mine. "We'll take my father's plane. It's decided."

"Is flying private magically free?"

He swatted my butt again. "For you it is."

"Stop hitting my butt in public."

"Private is okay?"

"Only if you want to be hit back."

He tilted his head, not denying it. Actually, that could be fun…

I cleared my throat. "Is Saoirse's mom a big deal? I was getting that vibe."

"Yeah. Her family has been in the state senate for a couple generations. Lily had been in office for years. It's funny because Saoirse's dad is a rancher in Wyoming. I can't picture Lily ever stepping foot on a ranch. Guess that's why they're not married anymore."

He slowly put me on my feet, looking me up and down. "Goddamn, Daisy." He hooked a finger under the waistband of my leather harness. "This thing is sexy. It feels like a kink thing, but I don't think you're the kind of girl to wear a kink thing in public."

I snorted a laugh. The room had begun to fill in with guests. Too many people were milling around to talk about kink. Well…not for Miles. He probably had no such limit, but not too many people were like him. None I had ever met anyway.

"It just cinches in my waist and spices up my simple outfits," I explained. "Andy hated when I wore them."

"Andy is dumb as a box of rocks," he snapped, hands settling on my hips, just below the harness. "If he was too insecure to have a hot girlfriend, he didn't deserve one."

I pressed my hands to his chest. "By the time you're done with me, you'll have repaired all I thought was too broken to get back." I pecked his chin. "Thank you for being sweet to me, Miles. That wasn't part of the agreement, but it is a welcome bonus."

His humor dropped. "Do we have to talk about the agreement?"

I lifted a shoulder. "Not always, but we do when I'm in the midst of playing my role for you. Everyone here thinks we're a couple. We're the only ones who know we aren't. Remembering the agreement while we're here is important."

For me. So I didn't let the feelings I'd begun to catch grow beyond what they were. I really couldn't afford to get hurt again. There was only so much grief bacon a body could take.

"Message received." He backed away, taking my hand in his. "From here on out, you and I are a wholesome, loving couple."

The rest of the night went quickly. Elise loved the grazing table, and for once, I got to be around to watch people go to town on my creation.

There were speeches and lots of love all around. Anticipation for the big day tomorrow sent a buzz through everyone in the room. Weston and Elise were lucky to have so many people excited for them.

At the end of the evening, I went home, wishing it was all really mine. The friend group, the love, the way Miles made sure I was comfortable, having fun, never cold, never alone. He'd held my hand or grazed my back. When he'd laugh, he'd checked in with me so we could laugh together. He'd been especially amused by the slideshow Elliot had prepared with pictures of Elise and Weston through the years. She was always looking at him, and he was smiling at the camera, completely oblivious.

And tomorrow, they were getting married.

It made my stomach warm, and my heart feel like it was wrapped in a cozy scarf. They were going to have a lovely life together, I could tell. I wished I'd be around to see it.

While that wasn't meant to be, I now knew I wouldn't settle for anything less than what I'd seen and felt tonight.