Page 30 of Backup Plan

Dinner has been an extravagant affair of courses and champagne and more champagne. I can't help but wonder what Liam's up to and where he is right now.

I should be focusing on my best friend, and as the maid of honor, I have my own share of duties and expectations, but she planned and is paying for this shindig herself because she has means that I don’t. Plus, she lives here in Vegas, anyway. She knows the spots she wants to go, and I have next to no knowledge of this town other than what I’ve learned from visiting Everleigh.

It's a small group of us made up of family and friends. Her sister Ivy, her sister-in-law Ainsley, her brother's fiancée Kennedy, and a couple of friends she's made out here, either wives of Maverick's teammates or wives of former players for the Vegas Aces.

Everyone's lovely, and we’re all dressed up and having a great time. I’m wearing a sparkly metallic halter minidress with a deep plunging V that nearly goes down to my belly button, and I have the straps tied tight so my boobs don’t have a mishap.

I can't seem to focus on much of anything except how much longer we're going to be here when all I want to do is get back to my hotel room and see if Liam has texted me so he can slip my boobs out of this thing and bury his face in them again.

It's ridiculous. I'm waiting for a text from a boy like I'm twelve years old again. Only it's not a boy I'm waiting for at all. It's a man.

And let's call a spade a spade. It's a booty call.

Even just a little flirting over text message had my panties soaked as I was on an airplane and unable to do anything about it. There's an ache pressing between my thighs I fear only one person has the capability of relieving. And unfortunately, I need to keep that a secret from everyone here. They can't know that my boy toy is the younger brother of the bride.

I do my best to focus and be in the moment with my friend, to celebrate her, to smile as we toast, to laugh along as everyone tells stories, and to just live in the moment the way everyone else here seems to so easily be able to do.

Once dinner is over, which feels interminable given the number of courses and extra glasses of champagne that Everleigh continues to order, we head toward a nightclub. As we walk in our heels toward the club, she catches up with me to fall into step beside me.

“Are you doing okay, Pen?” she asks.

“Of course. Why?”

“You just seem quiet. I was worried it's because of everything you're going through. I was hoping, despite all that, that this would be a fun weekend where you could just let loose and have a good time.” She wrinkles her nose as if it's a big request, when the truth is I needed this weekend away more than she could possibly realize.

I shake my head. “Brent has been an absolute sack of shit lately,” I say, using Liam's term for him. “So honestly, getting away for the weekend was one of the best possible scenarios for me.”

“Let's get this girl a hookup!” Everleigh says to the group, and they all cheer.

I probably turn bright red, but nobody is sober enough to notice. I am planning to have a hookup, not that anyone here knows that.

“I don't need all that,” I say with a laugh. “Just a fun night out with friends.”

“Then let's get this girl a fun night out with friends!” Everleigh yells, and the group with us cheers again.

We arrive at the club and beeline for the bar, and we hit the dance floor once we have drinks in hand. We shake it to the latest pop remixes, and I realize how incredibly out of the loop I am since my current soundtrack tends to be either Danny Go! or Koo Koo Kanga Roo on YouTube—whatever the kids put on.

I shake my ass anyway like I know these songs.

My drink is soon empty again. I'm sweating from all the dancing, and I need another drink to cool me down. I head toward the bar with Ellie, one of Everleigh's Vegas friends who I bonded with over dinner since we both have kids around the same age. With drinks in hand, we return to our group of friends, who are no longer on the dance floor but have found a high-top table that they’re all standing around.

I watch as a handsome man walks up behind her and puts his arms around her. She glances back, then leans into him, and I presume this is her husband, Luke. She told me all about him at dinner, as well as their two girls, and we laughed about what an adventure parenthood is. It was nice bonding with another mom who has the same soundtrack in her house that I have in mine.

“Luke, this is Everleigh's bestie Penny from Chicago,” Ellie says.

“Hi, Penny from Chicago,” Luke says with a smile. “Nice to meet you.”

“You too. I heard your favorite Koo Koo Kanga Roo song is ‘Superheroes Unite.’”

He grins. “Better than this shit that they're playing in here. I'll take ‘Monster Moves’ any day over this.”

I start to mimic the “Monster Moves” dance from the YouTube video, proving I know exactly what he's talking about, when I hear a voice close to my ear.

“Care to do that dance for me naked a little later?”

I nearly jump out of my skin, but the soft, woodsy scent sends an immediate signal to my nervous system that this is good. This is safe. This is exactly what we wanted.

Just…not in front of the bride and most of the Bradley siblings minus Archer and Ford.