Page 33 of To Catch a Latte Thick as Thieves

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Twenty-five tipsy womencrowded the floor jostling for the best position. Eve shoved Annie front and center and ordered her not to move.

“I’m aiming for you,” she said. “You’re long overdue to get married.”

Marriage must be a disease, Annie thought. Once a person suffered the disorder, they weren’t happy until everyone else had it, too. Well, it wasn’t going to happen to her.

Lifting her skirts, Annie waited until Eve turned her back to the group before she began to sidle off the floor. The women beside her were more than happy to let her move. This was true Darwinism and only the fittest would survive, or in this case, wrestle her fellow women to the floor for a fistful of flowers.

The crowd was chanting, “One...two...” Annie was almost in the clear. Just another couple of feet and she could slip out the back toward the rest room. “Three!”

Eve let the bouquet fly and Annie dodged toward the door. One moment it was in her line of sight. The next it was obscured by a forest of white peonies. The bouquet bounced off of her forehead and rolled down her face, getting stuck in the bodice of her dress.

“It’s mine!” shrieked one of the bridesmaids and she dove at Annie as if she would tackle her and tear the dress from her body in order to get the bouquet. Annie felt her jaw open and she would have screamed but an arm looped around her waist, scooping her off of her feet even as it halted the breath in her lungs. The would-be bouquet snatcher was left to skid across the floor, her arms floundering as they grasped nothing but air.

“Well, it appears you’re the big winner.” Fisher chuckled, carrying Annie across the floor.

Annie felt the ribbon wrapped stem of the bouquet dig into her left breast and she fought to untangle it from her bra. The urge to hit him on the head with it was almost too much to resist.

“Quit pouting,” he teased. “You caught it fair and square. I saw you diving for it. If you didn’t want it, you shouldn’t have caught it.”

“I did not dive...” Belatedly, she noticed the gleam in his eye. He was teasing her. “Argh!”

Fisher laughed, adjusting her in his arms as he did so. “Relax. So you caught the bouquet. It doesn’t mean you have to marry next.”

“No,” she agreed. “But it means some dork is going to get to feel up my leg when he puts the garter on me.”

“What?” His gaze snapped to hers.

“That’s how this little ritual goes. Whoever catches the garter puts it on the person who catches the bouquet.” She sighed. “With my luck, Stewart will catch the garter and I’ll be back at square one.”

“Oh, no,” he said. “Not on my watch he won’t.”

Annie watched his square jaw lock into place. He looked more forceful than she would have thought possible. Why it made her heart pound, she didn’t want to know.

“You don’t have to do this,” she said.

“Oh, yes I do,” he said. His tone didn’t allow for discussion.