Page 79 of Brenna, Brat

“Can I help it if it calls to me?”

“Are you talking about my butt?” I attempted to clarify, and he was. I knew that because he grabbed it now, and started to massage. He kissed my neck, too, in the way that always made me shiver.

“Campbell…” I sighed. He was tugging up my skirt, carefully, but insistently. We were supposed to be doing something, but Icouldn’t quite remember what it was. “Yes, I think we have time. Quick, take off your pants.” We got very busy.

“Brenna?” Someone knocked on the door and then tried the handle. We broke apart and froze, horror-struck, but it didn’t give way.

“Where is she?” I heard Juliet ask in the hallway. “She was supposed to be getting the boutonnières and I can’t find her or Campbell, either.”

He opened his mouth but I shook my head. Juliet wasn’t patient enough to figure out that the door wasn’t locked; the antique crystal knob was just tricky to turn.

“I’ll look in the kitchen,” JuJu announced. I heard someone answer her, and then it was silent. We breathed out with relief.

I realized that I’d run my hands through his gorgeous hair so that it stood up in an attractive yet extremely messy way, and he was also wearing most of my lipstick. “Holy Mary,” I said in dismay. “We have to fix you!”

“You look great,” he told me. “You have that cute face you make when you’re feeling ready.” He moved his hand, which was under my skirt and also in my underwear, and I moaned and ground myself against his fingers, right back in the moment.

“Yes, I’m feeling ready. Very ready. Campbell, seriously, drop your pants!”

“Just really quick,” he promised, and yanked at his belt.

“Where have you been?” Nicola demanded a few moments later—maybe more than a few.

“We were looking for the boutonnières. We got them,” I answered. That really was what we had been doing, at first. My voice sounded a little too loud, and now that we were out of the semi-darkness, I could see that Campbell still had on a lot of lipstick. It was a good color with his skin tone, but I took a tissue and passed it to him, trying to signal that there was an issue with his mouth.

“We have plenty of time,” Addie said easily. “We’re right on track. Brenna did a great job of scheduling...oh, sugar, is that my child screaming outside?” She went to the window to check.

There were a lot of kids here, Currans and others, and it was a beautiful day. “I love a June wedding,” my mom said happily.

There was the sound of a disapproving sniff. “I wonder if her gown isn’t a little—”

“Vanessa, can you come help me with my makeup?” Mom interrupted. Her job for today was to keep Campbell’s mother in line and not let her upset the bride, and my mom was coming through again by jumping in before the criticism could fully emerge.

“Of course, Jackie,” Vanessa Bates answered. She winced slightly, as much as her injectables would allow, when she studied my mother’s face. “I was going to mention that your blush is too heavy. And bright. That’s very aging.”

Mom’s nostrils flared, but they went together into the other bedroom to the makeup tables we’d set up there. It helped, when you were marrying someone with so many siblings, to have a mansion like this with lots of extra rooms. It had been JuJuand Beckett’s pleasure to offer it for another family wedding, they’d said.

“I’ll check on the groom,” Patrick announced, and he and Campbell went to do that.

“There’s still lipstick!” I hissed as they left, and Campbell put the tissue over his mouth before he hurried out. I had no doubt that Dion needed the support of his groomsmen, but he’d been anticipating this day since the moment he’d proposed. I’d helped him pick out the ring, but I’d also reminded him that the jewelry and the party weren’t the important parts of marriage.

“Yeah, you’ve mentioned that more than once,” he’d answered impatiently. “Easy to say when you got exactly what you always wanted.”

He’d meant my engagement ring, but I’d gotten a lot more than that. Over the past few years, so much had gone right. My line of baby and kids clothes had taken off: B-Detroit Designs, and it stood for Brenna and Bates but not brat, not anymore. Mostly. Campbell had started a job with the charity he’d always supported, a job which he loved, and we’d gotten married, too. The day had been amazing and so was our honeymoon in France. If anything had gone wrong, I hadn’t noticed at all.

“Do I really look ok?” Carrington asked us anxiously. Her mother always gave her attacks of nerves.

“You’re a beautiful bride,” Sophie told her. It had taken a while, but they actually were friends, so close that my big sister was a bridesmaid. But we all were today, in dresses that I’d designed and produced in my workroom with my team.

“I want it to be perfect,” Carrington told her. She reached out a hand, and my oldest sister took it.

“You know, nothing in life will ever go totally without a hitch,” Nicola said. “Nothing’s going to be perfect, but you can’t focus on the flaws.”

“I like flaws,” Grace added.

“The flaws are what make it interesting,” I said, nodding. “They make people interesting. It’s like how Dion keeps trying to build those squirrel houses that always fall apart.”

“He just can’t understand that they don’t need his help,” Carrington agreed. “He’s so sweet.” She was certainly crazy about him, and it was mutual. Since he was now a Curran in everything but name, I was glad she felt that way. It would have been terrible to have the six of us sisters come after her. She could have held her own, because she had toughened up a lot since her father had gone to prison. But she still didn’t like the scrutiny from Ghregg’s misdeeds. She and Dion enjoyed living up north, away from most of the “friends” that she’d known before.

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