Chapter Fifteen
“It’s about time you got back.”Lisa stood with her hands on her hips and her elbows flared out like chicken wings.“Didn’t we decide on pale and dark blue?”
“Yes.”Courtney came to a halt in front of her maid of honor.“For the ocean.”
“Well, the hotel is setting up the hall, and seafoam green and sandy tan is all over the place.”
“What?”Courtney flew past Amy and Ray, her maid of honor in tow.
“Whatever happened to getting married in the front parlor with a handful of friends and then cutting cake in the dining room?”Ray asked.
“Queen Victoria,” Amy answered, scanning the lobby and terrace for any sign of her friends or brother.
“That was the white wedding dress.”
“What?”She looked up at Ray.
“Queen Victoria is the reason for a white wedding dress in the Western world.Not for the big production that weddings have become.”
“Oh.”Amy spotted Mrs.Clarke marching toward the front desk.“Uh-oh.”
“What?”
“I see a storm blowing in, and I don’t see Carrie.”Amy ducked out of sight behind a potted plant and called her friend.“Carrie!Where are you?”
“Upstairs, why?”
“Your mom is down here, and she’s got that storm-trooper look in her eyes.”Amy peered around the corner and listened.“It sounds like she’s all worked up about ice sculptures.”
“Ice sculptures?We didn’t order any ice sculptures.”
“You’d better get down here and straighten everything out before she bursts a blood vessel.”
“Oh, Lord, and I thought a nice simple destination wedding was the answer to all her drama.Live and learn.I’ll be down in a minute.”
Amy tapped her phone and slid it back into her purse.Ray was right.Weddings had become a massive stage production.The kids in front of them in line at the marriage bureau should have just grabbed their license and ducked around to the judge’s chambers.The honeymoon would have been the best part of the day anyhow.
Twisting his wrist, Ray glanced at the time.“Courtney’s rehearsal starts in thirty minutes and Carrie’s immediately after that.We’d better boogie.”
There was so much to do still.The fun-in-the-sun tourism was over, and the real wedding happenings were about to start with a vengeance.Amy punched at the elevator buttons.“I still think its uncanny how many things Carrie and Courtney booked the same.Not only the place and date, with the ceremonies only thirty minutes apart, but right down to the minister and reserving tables at the hotel’s rooftop restaurant for the bridal party, including plus-ones and the parents.”
“Hey, the world is small and getting smaller.”
The doors opened, and, hurrying out, Carrie almost slammed into Ray.“Sorry.”
“No problem.”Ray smiled as Carrie flew past, and Amy followed him into the empty space.
The doors barely shut behind them, Ray pulled her into his arms, his lips crashing down on hers.The kiss was strong and tender.The perfect mix of sweet and sensual.
A ding sounded, and the doors slid open again.A young couple—hanging onto each other as if they were the only people in the world—stepped inside and pushed the rooftop button.“It’s our honeymoon,” the girl explained, grinning.The young man squeezed his bride, never taking his eyes off her.
Amy looked up at Ray.All the air in her lungs froze at the adoration staring down at her.Sucking in her next breath seemed almost impossible.How had she fallen so deeply in love with this man in such a short time?
Another ding sounded, and the doors opened on their floor.Hand in hand, they stepped into the hall, and, once again, Ray pulled her into another searing kiss.At this rate they weren’t going to make it down the hall, never mind back downstairs before the rehearsals, but no way was she stopping him.Her every nerve ending hummed with delight, and all he’d done was kiss her.
“Get a room,” a disgruntled voice muttered from behind them.
Ray eased back and, staring down at her, mumbled to the irritated guest, “Not a bad idea.”
