“Flowers and other décor will arrive twenty minutes before the wedding which freaks me out, but the temperature inside could have them icy looking.”
“You want me to check on them before the wedding begins?”
“If you could.”
“You know I’ll do anything.” I hugged her again. “And the cake, photographer, reception stuff?”
“The coordinator has all of that under control.”
“Then I’ll check in with her from time to time. During the reception, I don’t want you dealing with anything. If something goes wrong, then the coordinator should come to me. I’ll jump on it. I know what you hate and like.”
She let out a long breath. “Thank God. That will be a big help. At this point, all I want to do is be in Nikolas’s arms.”
“And we’ll make sure that happens.” I let her go.
When we entered the chapel part of the castle, little kids raced up and down the aisle. One boy dragged a little girl by her ponytail. She screamed. He let her go and raced away, laughing. The girl jumped up and did cartwheels down the aisle. Another boy tried to climb the ice tree by the altar. It swayed back and forth as if close to falling and crashing into bits.
I raised my eyebrows. “Wow. Whose kids are they?”
“Emma’s four kids. The two boys will be the ring bearers and the two girls will be flower girls.”
No wonder Emma is so gloomy. They’re acting like animals.
One of the boys jumped on the ice seats and slid along them.
“Corey, no!” Holly hurried away. “This isn’t a play area.”
Corey spotted her, jumped off the seat, and raced away. “Ah!”
“Corey, get back here! We need to practice.”
“The boogeyman! The boogeyman is here!”
“Goodness.” Holly looked around. “Where is your mother?”
“Still hungover.” Saint walked up to us, wearing a new white fur coat.
Holly frowned at his coat. “You too?”
Saint quirked his brows. “Me too?”
“Killing animals. Murderers.” Holly stomped off to grab Corey.
Saint glanced at me. “What was that about?”
I smirked. “We just had a debate about fur coats and you settled it for me.”
“This is faux fur.”
I walked up to him, lifted his collar, and separated the fur at the base. “It’s real. The fur is attached to skin, not fabric.”
“Good eye.”
“The Network bought it for you?”
“Something like that.”
“Meaning?”
“They hired a new stylist. She assigned this for my trip. The network wants me looking my best whether I’m in front of the camera or not.”
I stepped back. “She?”
“Sometimes stylists are women, Ivy.”
Annoyance hit me. “You usually have male stylists.”
“You remember.”
“Of course I do. What happened to Abraham King?”
He raised his eyebrows. “Last month, he got a new opportunity on Style Network. So. . .you knew he was styling me?”
“Yeah. If I didn’t like an outfit on the show, I would call him up. Before that, you had Keith Harbor. I loved the suits he picked, but he was bad with picking your casuals. I made a Pinterest mood board for him and he got it together.”
Saint chuckled. “Hold on. You’re telling me that you’ve been my overseeing stylist for all these years?”
“I’ve made suggestions.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “So what’s the stylist’s name?”
“I probably shouldn’t tell you.”
“Why? Do you like her?”
He studied me. “Would it matter?”
“What’s her name?”
“You cannot bother her about my clothes or—”
“They’re just helpful suggestions. With your body—the muscles and height—there’s certain outfits that were made for you. It must be respected.” A pang hit my chest. “What’s her name?”
“Serenity.”
“Last name?”
“That’s it.”
“One name?”
“One name.”
I rolled my eyes. “Why would they pick her?”
He frowned. “Do you not like the coat?”
“It’s fine.”
“She picked my outfit for the airport. You liked that.”
“Whatever.” I looked away. “That was good too.”
“So, you think she’s a perfect fit for me?”
“I wouldn’t say all that.” I made a note to find out her contact information and introduce myself.
He gently took my chin and moved my view to him. “Have you thought about our conversation last night?”
I stared into his eyes. My whole state went uneasy. “Well. . .a lot has happened. So much, in fact. I haven’t been able to think about it.”
“What do you mean a lot has happened? You went to sleep and woke up. Or did you go on another drunken adventure?”
“I actually did. It was a trip down memory lane. All our firsts.”
“Interesting. You were my first for everything.”
“But not sex.”
“Sex too.”
“You’re such a liar, Saint.” I lowered my voice. “The way you fucked me against the closet in my dorm room was not the skills of a virgin.”
“I watched a lot of porn and practiced how I would fuck you in my mind. It all worked out.”
I stepped back. “Are you serious? I never asked because I assumed and. . .”
“And what?”
“I didn’t want to hear about who you might have made love to.”
He leaned my way and brushed his lips against my ear. “I’ve never made love to anyone else but you. I’ve fucked others, but there was never love in it.”