Page 15 of In It to Win It

JP of course looks amazing, but he grumbles as he adjusts his tie, frowning in the mirror next to me in the big bathroom. “Okay, let’s do this.”

He grabs the key card off the desk.

We walk into the ballroom to the sounds of “I Gotta Feeling” by Black Eyed Peas, people still rocking out on the dance floor. JP curls his hand around mine to stop me, leans in, and says, “I’ll find you later.”

“Okay.”

I watch him disappear into the crowd, apparently on a mission. I take this chance to find my purse at the head table and make a beeline for the ladies’ room to touch up my makeup as much as I can. But on my way out of the ballroom, I come face to face with Manny.

“Hi, Manny.” I smile.

His gaze moves over me, taking in my messy hair, the whisker burns on my skin, my swollen lips. He doesn’t know I’m commando under my dress . . . but I do. I’m acutely aware of how bare I am.

His face tightens. “Hi.”

“So nice to see you again. Glad you could make it—I’m sure it means a lot to Lacey and Théo.” I show some teeth. “Excuse me, I’m on my way to the ladies’ room.”

I dart around him, making my escape. In front of the big mirror, I inspect my appearance, seeing what Manny just saw. It’s pretty obvious.

I don’t even care.

Maybe I thought I wanted to show him I’m over him, but once JP started kissing me, the last thing I was thinking about was Manny. And that makes me realize . . . Iamover him.

I pump a fist into the air just as two women walk in and give me puzzled looks. I smile back.

I return to the ballroom just in time to see JP up on the dais with the microphone in his hand.

“Hey, everybody! Some of Théo’s friends have a special surprise for you tonight.”

My eyes widen. I look around and see Jimmy, another groomsman, setting a chair at the edge of the dance floor, to which he then leads Lacey. Curious, smiling, I make my way to the head table to sit and watch what’s going on.

The opening notes of “Beat It” by Michael Jackson fill the ballroom.

Everyone starts clapping and laughing as four men carry Théo in on a chair raised above their shoulders. They cross the dance floor and set him down next to Lacey. He’s laughing too, apparently not expecting this.

The four men carrying him—his uncles Asher, Noah, and Harrison, and his cousin Jackson—move onto the dance floor, joined by JP and Leo, the third groomsman. All six of these guys are hockey players, dressed in suits over their muscular bodies.

As “Beat It” launches into its familiar, catchy rhythm, all six guys strike a Michael Jackson pose, then start dancing.

I can’t take my eyes off JP, who’s holding his crotch, thrusting his pelvis, and not even looking like an idiot doing it. I laugh along with everyone else as they dance. That song changes to Bruno Mars’s “24K Magic.” The men whip off their tux jackets and the women in the crowd all scream.

I can’t stop laughing, watching JP mostly. He catches my eye briefly across the room and flashes a grin. This is so crazy. The guests are clapping along, many standing to watch the show.

The music now changes to “Gangnam Style” and the guys rotate their arms in the air and do the dance, bringing more gales of laughter. Finally, they end with “Time of My Life.”

JP and Jimmy pull Théo out of his chair and then, along with Jackson and Harrison, lift him over their heads in the lift move fromDirty Dancing.

The room explodes with cheering and clapping as the show ends.

I’m laughing so hard my stomach hurts.

JP makes his way toward me, still without his suit jacket, his face flushed and eyes twinkling. Damn. This all just makes him even more attractive.

I could fall for this guy.

No, no, no. This is a fling. This is me letting go and forgetting about romance and happily-ever-after and just having fun for one night. Or two.

He holds out a hand to me, the DJ having resumed control of the music, playing “All of Me” by John Legend. We walk onto the dance floor to the piano chords and start to move to the music. Instead of taking my hand, he clasps my waist with both hands, and I drape my arms around his neck.

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