Page 69 of Strictly Pretend

And not one of the men here needs to know about that.

The best man’s phone vibrates. He pulls it out and reads the message on his screen. “The buses are ready. We need to headout,” he says, standing up and shouting at everybody to get their attention.

One excruciating wine tasting down, one almost-certainly more excruciating casino visit to go. And then I can see Emma.

I tell myself it’s because I’m worried about her. She’s the only thing that’s made this trip bearable. Thank God we get to sit next to each other during the ceremony and reception tomorrow.

When I pull myself out of my thoughts I notice Will is still staring at me. I stare back, and he shrugs as he stands up. “Gentlemen,” he says, “I’m gonna have to take an Uber back to the ranch. I just got a message from Jemima. She’s not feeling good.”

“This is why you should turn your phone off,” the best man says. “Then you’d never know.”

I walk over to the vineyard parking lot, a skip in my step because at least I don’t have to put up with Will’s dark-looking stares for the rest of the bachelor party. Sure, I still don’t want to be here. I’d much rather pull my nails out, one by one, truth be told. But if I have to endure it, him being gone will make it so much easier.

As I go to climb into the third executive coach, I see Will’s Uber arrive out of the corner of my eye. He gets in and the car speeds away as I take the seat at the front and pull out my phone.

How’s it going? We’ve finished the wine tasting. Only three people vomited, which I think is a win. Wish you were here. – Brooks

I hit send, trying to picture where Emma might be right now. She said they’d be sitting around the pool in between spa treatments. There’s also a DJ and a cocktail bar, so I’m pretty sure she’ll be having a better time than I am.

I’m glad she is. She deserves it.

Hey you! I’m sipping at a margarita. Just had a massage and I’m feeling so relaxed I’m not sure I have a single bone left in my body anymore. When I told Mia that she said that you’d make sure I have one in me later. Which was kind of funny. I think. – Emma

Hilarious. – Brooks

I go to type out that I miss her. But fuck, nobody’s reading our messages. Still, it takes everything in me not to slide my finger across the keyboard on my screen and type out those three words.

Cassie sent down matching bikinis for all the girls this morning and I glimpsed at Emma in hers when she was getting dressed. It was green with little criss cross straps. A perfect contrast to her pale skin and tumbling waves of red hair. She had it down and it is so long it reaches the swell of her breasts.

I clear my throat, and shift in my seat.

You’ll have a bone in you later.

It’s a stupid, crass joke, but my mind lingers on it, anyway. I wonder what went through her mind when her friend said it. Did she think about how it would feel the way I am right now?

The way I have been for months?

I close my eyes, remembering the way she stared at me as she touched me all over yesterday. The darkness in her gaze as she went to unzip my pants.

“Okay, losers, the vineyard gave us some wine to drink on the way to the casino,” the best man yells, walking onto the coach. I open my eyes to see him standing there with a box of bottles, alluncorked. “Take a sip and pass it on,” he says, holding a bottle out to me.

Because I have no energy left to argue, I lift the bottle to my lips and pretend to take a sip, then pass it on to the guy on the other side of the aisle to me.

“I don’t think I have herpes,” I tell him. “Fingers crossed.”

He ignores me and swallows down the biggest mouthful I’ve seen.

And I’m thinking Will had the right idea by escaping back to the ranch. I’d rather be taking work calls in the yurt than doing this.

EMMA

“What kind of bachelorette party do you think you’ll have?” Mia asks me. It’s late afternoon and we’re sitting around the pool, all our spa treatments done. I’ve limited myself to one cocktail – I’ve gone virgin for the rest of them – and I’m feeling more like myself, despite the weirdness of this situation.

“I don’t know,” I say honestly. “It’s all come as a bit of a shock. I had no idea Brooks was going to propose.”

“Don’t you think it’s a little soon?” a voice says from over my shoulder. I look to see Jemima standing next to our sunbeds. Mia rolls her eyes at the intrusion.

“I guess when you know you know,” Mia says to her cousin. “Like one minute you’re in the bathroom at a wedding and the next your panties are around your ankles.”

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