Kit and Ivy: A Red Team Wedding Novella (2 page)

“All right.” She sighed and looked around the room. “I just need to work out a vegan dish. Then I can start on the desserts and hors d’oeuvres.”

“But not tonight. You have time. I’ll ask Kathy if she could perhaps share the kitchen with you for the next couple of days while you hammer out the menu. How about we clean up in here? Then I’m taking you to bed.” He started gathering dishes. “You are ordering the wedding cake, aren’t you, not making it yourself?” He frowned at her.

“I am. I still have to decide on the cake and flowers.” She gave him a desperate look. “And a dress. I need a dress. And Casey has nothing appropriate to wear.” She swiped the hair from her face. “This is happening so fast.”

He leaned over and kissed her temple, getting a taste of flour. “Anything you have in your closet will be perfect.”

“Kit, I’m never going to have another wedding. I want it to be special.”

“Then go shopping, find the perfect dress. Whatever you’re happy with, I’ll be happy with. I’ve added you to my bank accounts. Your credit card is in my room. Do some damage.”

“Seriously?”

He nodded. “But take Selena with you. You still have to be careful and aware.”

He went to the dishwasher and started loading.
Now tell her,
he prompted himself.
Now would be a good time.
Kit looked at her. She was wrapping up the dishes she’d made and putting them in the far back of the sub-zero to hide them from the guys. She didn’t want them to preview the food and ruin their surprise on the big day.

Fuck. This was not the ideal time. She was wound tight enough to break. If he told her now, when she was exhausted…well, it was just a bad plan. Tomorrow would be better. He’d tell her tomorrow.

* * *

“How are the wedding plans going, Ivy?” Val asked after dinner the next day. Casey had taken Zavi to watch TV; it was just the adults at the table, lingering with coffee. Kit gritted his teeth, hoping the guys kept their mouths shut about her parents.

“Pretty well. I think I have most of the menu ironed out. I worked on choosing the decorations and the cake today. Now we just need dresses. I think we’ll make a trip out for them sometime this week.”

“Val can help with that,” Eden said as she sipped her coffee.

Val held up his hands, sending Blade a grin. “No can do. You girls are off limits, apparently, in this establishment.”

Eden punched Blade’s arm. “What did you say to him?”

Blade glared at Val. “Nothing. I just explained his boundaries.”

Kit smiled, remembering the black eye Blade had given Val after he’d taken Eden shopping. “Iv, do you want Val’s help picking a dress?” Things had been quiet with the White Kingdom Brotherhood. They could spare the sniper for a day.

She looked at Kit, then Val. “Well—”

Eden sighed. “This isn’t an ordinary event, Ivy. It’s a wedding. You
need
Val. None of us know how to pick out a wedding dress. And shoes. We don’t even know where to shop for what you’re looking for.”

“What kind of dress do you want, Ivy?” Val asked.

“Something simple and elegant—a dress Audrey Hepburn would have worn last century.”

“Vintage, then.” He thought for a minute. “I do know the perfect shop in Denver.” He looked at Kit. “I bet I could get the owner to close it down for us for a day.”

“You’ll love what he can find for you,” Fee told Ivy.
 

“He’s like a fairy godmother,” Eden added. “You’ve seen what he did for me.”

Val leaned back in his seat. He spread his arms out, hooking his hands on the backs of Eden and Fee’s seats, and grinned a challenge at Kit.

“How the hell do you know about a vintage dress shop in Denver?” Selena asked, but then a thought occurred to her. She sat up and focused in on him. “Wait—you’re a secret cross-dresser, aren’t you?”

He grinned. “At least
I’m
not afraid of my feminine side. I am what I am, Sel. You should come, too. I’ll find the perfect ensemble for you.”

“You’re letting him go?” Kelan asked Kit.

Kit made a face as he looked around the table at the expectant faces of the women. He shrugged. “It’s his friend’s shop. And it looks as if the ladies want him to go.” He gave Val a hard look. “You better respect the boundaries.”

Val grinned. “Got it. No dressing rooms.”

Kelan put his napkin on the table. “If he’s going, I’m going.”
 

Owen shook his head. “No.”

“Selena’ll have the front. Val’ll have his head you know where. I’ll guard the back.”

“They’re shopping for dresses, K. It’s not a fucking mission,” Owen growled.

“Call it what you want.” Kelan shrugged. “Selena’s good—damn good—but she can’t hold things down alone if shit breaks loose. Someone has to have her back.”

Kit sighed. “Agreed. You go with them, K.”
 

* * *

Fiona stepped out of her room. Eden’s door was open—she could hear the girls talking inside as she went by. Tank was suited up in his official-looking red work vest.
 

“You won’t believe the day Val has organized for us, Fee,” Ivy told her after calling her into the room. Val had gotten the owner to rearrange her schedule so they’d have the whole shop for as long as they needed. And he’d had her bring in mani/pedi stations and a couple seamstresses so that any needed modifications could be made on the spot. He’d also had her cater refreshments and lunch. “It’s going to be like a day at the shopping spa for us!”

Fee was shocked at how thoughtful and thorough Val had been. She’d been hoping to get a shopping trip with him ever since he took Eden—today would be awesome. She had the money Rocco and Mandy had been paying her to take care of Zavi this summer. She’d been saving it for school, but she should be able to take some to cover a new dress and a pair of shoes. She hoped. Val had expensive tastes. If the clothes weren’t within her means, she’d have to pick something in her current wardrobe.
 

“Are you ready?” Eden asked the room at large.

“I couldn’t decide what to wear,” Fee told the others. “Do I look okay?”

“Ohhh.” Eden grinned. “A whole day with Kelan, huh?”

Fee made a face. “Do I?” She caught her reflection in Eden’s mirror. She was wearing an airy sundress in a light cotton fabric. She checked her bejeweled leather flip-flops, making sure they worked with the dress. Her blond hair was growing out from the bob she’d had when she first came to the team.

 
Eden hooked her arm through Fee’s and led her into the hallway. “You look like a princess. You always do.”

Kelan was in the foyer, waiting with Selena and the others. His eyes met hers as she came down the stairs. She smiled but he did not. A wash of heat colored her face—so frustrating when she most wanted to appear cool and unaffected.
 

Kit was assigning people to the two SUVs they were taking for the day: Val and all the girls in one, Kelan, Selena, Eden, and Tank in the other. When Fee heard that, her gaze flew to Kelan. She wanted him to argue, rearrange things, make it so that she could go with him.

He didn’t and, as the group exited, she held back. Kit moved down the hallway, returning to the den. She yearned for a few seconds of being near Kelan; stolen moments, like this, were all she would get today. Why she tortured herself, she didn’t know; he obviously didn’t feel any urgency to spend time with her.
 

She looked at him over her shoulder, anger and frustration seething within her. He followed her to the door, but before they could step outside, he wrapped a hand about her waist. He drew her back against him and shut the door, keeping one hand on it as he leaned over her.
 

“Don’t be upset, Fiona. I’m on duty. If you were to ride with me, I’d be thinking about nothing but you.” He nuzzled her hair as he spoke, his low voice rumbling into her ear, whispering against something deep within her. “I will anyway. But if you’re with me, the temptation to touch you would be a severe distraction. You unman me, Fiona.”

Her blood became electrified, tingling everywhere he touched. Her mind echoed the vibrations of his growled words. He opened the door. Cool morning air spilled inside, pulling her back to reality.
 

“One more thing, Fiona.” She turned and looked up at him. “I’m not happy that Val’s going to be helping you shop, but I sure as hell am not letting him pay for your selections. Choose what you like. It’s on me.”

“Kelan—I can’t. I have some money set aside. I can pay for myself—Val never was going to pay for me.”

He bent a finger beneath her chin and lifted her face so that her eyes had no choice but to meet his. “Save your money for school. Think of today as a gift for me. Seeing you happy gives me joy. Please.”

She took a step away from him, unable to have a coherent thought standing so close to him. She shook her head. “I have no defenses against you.”

“Nor should you, my other half.”

As his words slipped through her mind and down into her heart, she smiled at him. She went back and reached up to kiss his cheek and whisper, “I think you should know I’m falling very, very hard for you.”

Selena walked into the dress shop with Kelan, Eden, and Tank. Val and the other women were in the SUV out front, waiting for the shop to be cleared.
 

The sign on the door read, “Closed for Private Showing.” Window shades, in Martha Stewart mint green, had been lowered across the front. The room they walked into was a study in green pastels and ivory. The antique Persian carpet was in subdued but rich tones of gold and aqua. The French, off-white upholstered chairs and settees were trimmed in gilded wood, a nice complement to the feminine decor. Arranged along the walls were glass showcases of headless modernistic mannequins, in varying skin tones, wearing stunning wedding attire, a mix of historical, vintage, and contemporary. Selena felt as if they’d stepped into the wedding wing of a textiles museum.

A banquet table stood against one set of display cases with an assortment of china trays and cake stands filled with delicate sandwiches,
petit fours
, cupcakes, fruits, and salad choices. Tall urns of coffee and hot water were placed on another table with a selection of teas. Yet another table offered fluted glasses of champagne. Selena glared at Kelan. Apparently, Val didn’t understand what keeping the day low-key meant.

A woman came forward to greet them. Her shoulder-length blond hair barely moved as she walked. Trim and coiffed, she looked like a barracuda—or some senator’s wife. She was classy enough not to give Selena’s beige tee and cargo pants a dismissive once-over. Nor did she get hung up on the weapons she and Kelan wore.

The woman held out her hand of long, manicured nails. “I’m Lisa. You must be with Val.” The bracelets on the woman’s wrist jangled as she shook hands with Selena and the others.
 

“I’m Selena. That’s Kelan. And that’s Eden. Mind if we have a look around before things get started?”

She didn’t seem surprised by that request. “Of course. I’ll give you the tour, then we can begin when you’re ready.”
 

They went through room after room, each with themed dresses for women and children and ensembles for men. It was a rabbit warren of lace, silk, and satin attire, in equal numbers of new and gently used garments—including the vintage apparel Ivy wanted.
 

The dressing rooms were large spaces with elegant armchairs and mirrors on each wall. They opened onto a wide room with three round platforms, again surrounded by mirrors.
 

“We’ve placed our seamstresses in here for the day. Any alterations that are needed can be done immediately.” The next segment of the shop held an extensive array of high-heel shoes, purses, wraps, jewelry, lingerie, and wedding party decorations and supporting items. “We’ve placed our manicurists in the shoes and accessories area.” She looked at Selena’s short-nailed hands. “I hope you’ll take advantage of them as well.”

Selena gave her a disinterested look. “Is that the extent of the premises?”
 

Lisa nodded. “That’s it for the front rooms. There are offices and restrooms in the back hall, this way.” As they headed in that direction, she explained about their exits. “We have four external doors, all of which are locked from the outside, and today, they function as emergency exits. We won’t be disturbed.”

Selena returned to the front to take Eden and Tank through the rest of the space so they could check for weapons and explosives. When the dog found no hidden dangers, Kelan took up a post near the primary back exit. Selena radioed Val the all clear, then went to hold the door for the women.
 

Val followed the women into the store. He ignored Selena but gave Lisa a big smile and greeted her warmly with a kiss on each cheek. He put his arm around her and turned to face the women. “Well? What do you think?”

“Val—this is amazing,” Ivy answered. “What a wonderful discovery this shop is. Look how elegant everything is. I’m impressed.”

“Lisa’s shop is magical. She always has that perfect ensemble for whatever function you need to attend.” He smiled at Lisa, giving her shoulders a slight squeeze.

“Thank you,” Ivy said to the both of them.

“I’ll show you around, ladies,” Lisa said. “Then, please, help yourselves to refreshments at any time. This won’t be a short visit, so I want you to keep your strength up!”

Selena held her position at the front of the store as Val followed the women into the next room. The salesgirls who stayed up front followed him with their eyes, then exchanged glances with each other and giggled. She ground her teeth together. Why the man had such an effect on every female he encountered, Selena refused to contemplate; he couldn’t have done them all. She glanced down at Eden’s dog. His big yellow eyes looked up at her. Whatever. She was in good company guarding the front entrance.

She could hear the delighted comments from Ivy and her friends as they moved from room to room. Lisa was giving them the spiel about colors and themes and choices for the bridal party. After a while, things got quiet, presumably because the girls were heading to the dressing rooms.