ON THE VERGE Part 3 of 6

ON THE VERGE
Part 3 of 6

"Cost doesn't matter. My Daddy is paying for it, and he said whatever I want, I get. Do not worry about price. I mean my wedding dress is costing over ten thousand."

Ainsley glanced down and realized she had forgotten one especially important part of her job. In all her years planning weddings, she always did one thing first. She always asked to see the bride's engagement ring. She would then be able to tell very quickly what type of budget she was working with and thus, how much to charge. Brides who did not have an engagement ring were easy to please because they were non-conformists. Brides with small diamonds were also easy to deal with. If the engagement ring was flashy or the diamond was huge, she knew she was dealing with a demanding bride. She glanced and saw that the bride did not have a ring on her finger.

"Did you purchase the dress at Pascale's?" Pascale's was the only high scale dress shop in the city. Pascale was a hometown girl who had made it big in the fashion business. After making a few million, she had decided to come back home and open a wedding dress boutique. People drove from all over to get one of her dresses, which was always entertaining to see on a Saturday.

"Oh, yes, of course. She said it would be ready for fitting on the twenty-third."

"You mean tomorrow?"

"No. December twenty-third. That is enough time, isn't it?"

Ainsley was trying to calm herself. She still had a pounding headache, and this meeting was not going as well as planned. She needed to ask two more things and then would rush back home and into bed.
"We'll make it work. I just have two more questions. I see you do not have your engagement ring on. Is it yellow gold, white gold, or platinum?"

The bride giggled, looking down at her left hand. "Aaron got me the most gorgeous four carat princess cut diamond. Of course, it is platinum. It needed to be sized. It was so heavy it was sliding off my finger."

Ainsley nodded. Of course, the bride had a huge diamond and of course, it was so heavy it was falling off her small ring finger. "What is the name of your brother who will be helping with the decisions?"
"He works at the Royale Hotel where most of your past weddings have taken place. His name is Parker Williams."

"Stop glaring at me."

"You're glaring at me."

"I am not."

"Fuck, you sound like a little immature schoolgirl."

"Shut up. We still have to go pick out flowers and drop off a check at the dress shop and the cake store."

Ainsley brushed her blonde hair away from her face and scowled. She was not in a good mood, and it was only going to get worse. She was sitting at her desk across from Parker Williams. Parker drove her crazy and the longer they were together, the more she hated him.

"I don't like doing those any more than you do. My sister is the queen bee of the family and whatever she wants she gets. My parents just assumed that since I always work the late shift at the hotel that I have time during the day to plan a fucking wedding."

"I'm supposed to feel sorry for you. You get to flirt with bridesmaids at every wedding at the Royale. Your family is rich, and I would guess that the only reason you work is because you're stubborn and didn't want to live at home."

Parker rolled his eyes and then continued to flip through the book he was looking at. He had been told he had to pick out gifts for the guests. His sister wanted something cute, but holiday themed.

"Yeah, you know me so well. That one amazing night of sex bonded us for life."

Ainsley did not respond. She got up and grabbed her folder labeled Williams/Brown wedding. She stood at the door of her office waiting for Parker to follow. In silence, they made their way to her car and drove to the flower shop.

They pulled into the parking lot of the flower shop and got out. It had been three weeks since their one-nightstand and they had either spoken on the phone or met up every day. Erin and Aaron's wedding had so many details she was rushing around getting things done.

"Good afternoon, Ainsley. Is this your new assistant?" Jeff stepped out from the desk and walked over to shake Ainsley's hand. Jeff was the owner of the flower shop and had known Ainsley since high school.
They had gone their separate ways after graduation but had reunited when they realized that they were in the same business -- weddings.

"This is Parker. He is the bride's brother. This is the crazy wedding where the bride and groom aren't coming back until Saturday."

"Oh. I thought you were coming to discuss the February wedding. My mistake. Let's go sit down."

Ainsley grinned and followed closely behind Jeff as they made their way to the small office at the back. She bit her bottom lip seductively as Jeff spoke about how well his business was doing. He then leaned against the wall, looking down at Ainsley. They had never dated but enjoyed the thrill of flirting. Parker reluctantly followed.

"The bride wants red and green to be the main colors. Price is not a concern, but I know you will not overcharge me, right?" Ainsley was smiling sweetly as Jeff flipped through a thick photo album. Parker paced around trying not to pay attention to them.

"We could do red and white roses. What color are the bridesmaids’ dresses?"

"Burgundy."

Jeff flipped through the book until he found what he was looking for.

He had taken pictures of every bouquet he had ever done. The page was open to exactly what Ainsley was looking for. A tight bouquet of red and white roses, tied with a green ribbon. There were matching bridesmaid's bouquets along with boutonnieres for the men in the wedding party. Jeff leaned in a little and rested his hand on Ainsley.

Ainsley was rubbing her foot up against his under the table.

"This is perfect Jeff. You are amazing." Ainsley had no idea what had come over her. She had never been so forward, especially with Jeff.

He was responding in turn, and it gave her a thrill. She glanced up and her eyes were met with Parker's blank stare. In an instant, she knew exactly why she was flirting the way she was. She wanted to make him jealous.

"I am amazing." Jeff grabbed an order form and began to fill out the information. "So how many bouquets and boutonnieres do you need?"

Ainsley was still staring at Parker. He looked hurt. He could not actually feel hurt. They were not dating. They were just forced to work together until the twenty-fourth.

"Excuse me?" Ainsley blinked and was brought back to the here and now.

"I said how many bouquets do you need."

"Oh. There are five bridesmaids and six groomsmen. No flower girls or ring bearers. Only two sets of parents. I need to send a picture of the flowers to the bride before I confirm the order. Is that all right?"
"Of course, sweetie. Anything for you." Jeff stood up and made a photocopy of the order form. Ainsley glanced and realized that once again he had charged much less than he should have. She had given up on arguing with him over the price. It was not like she was paying for the flowers. Considering the bride got whatever she wanted, he could have charged twice as much, and no one would have noticed.

"You are very sweet. You know that, Jeff. I will call you the moment I hear from Erin. After New Year’s, we'll talk about the February wedding."

Parker had wanted to melt into the wall as he watched Ainsley and Jeff flirt with each other. She was a completely different person around Jeff. He remembered her being like that in the bar around her friend as well. With him, she was cranky and bitchy. It annoyed him that she flirted so openly with Jeff.

The drive to the cake shop was uneventful and silent. Parker ran in and dropped off the check. He did that so Ainsley did not have a chance to start flirting with the storeowner. He got back and the drive to the dress shop was equally quiet. Parker went in to drop off the check there as well. It took longer than at the cake shop because the owner, Pascale, had to lecture him on how inconvenient it was that the bride had lied about the wedding date. She was hysterical now that she knew that the first and only dress fitting was going to happen a day before the wedding. Parker had tried to apologize and was thankful that his customer service skills were up to par. He calmed down the neurotic fashion designer and then rushed back to the car.

"I fucking hate my sister."

"What?" Ainsley had wondered if there was a problem with the dress.

She knew that Pascale normally wanted at least a two-week grace period in case there were delays. She wondered if the price had gone up or that Parker had made some rude comment about the price of the dress.

"She lied to that stuck up woman about the wedding date. She told her the 31st. She practically jumped down my throat telling me how she would have to work overtime to get the dress finished and fitted in time."

"I'm sorry."

"No, you're not. You like this. You hate me so much you enjoy seeing me get yelled at by her. You flirted with the flower shop owner, and you have been nothing but rude and bitchy to me.'

"I have not. First impressions are everything and the first time I met you, you boasted about being a wedding crasher and fucking one of the bridesmaids."

Parker rolled his eyes. "I'm not arguing with you. Just drop me off at your office. I have to get my car and go to work."

Ainsley was not used to someone backing down. With Jason and Cameron, they had both fought back until the argument escalated.

The screaming and yelling would last until one of them left the room.

"Yes, you are. You never answered why you said what you did to me.

Answer me."

Ainsley was driving fast down the street. She was gripping the steering wheel tight.

"I was seriously joking. You are so cold and unanimated when you are at the weddings. It is like you cannot enjoy the wedding. You never smile and spend the whole night running around crazy. I wanted to make you smile. I wanted to see if you could smile. I'm sorry."

Ainsley turned quickly in the parking lot of her office building and slammed on the breaks.

"I can smile when I'm not around jerks. Get out."

Parker took a deep breath. She infuriated him to no end. He looked over and saw that she was breathing hard. He lips looked swollen and the shirt she was wearing did not hide the fact that her nipples were hard. Parker did the last thing he thought he would do. He kissed her.
It was a hard kiss that was retuned with an even harder kiss. Ainsley wrapped her hands around his neck and whimpered. Parker undid her seatbelt and ran his hands up her body, cupping her round breasts. He found her nipples and pinched hard. She cried out into his mouth.

"You're jealous. Admit it."

Parker growled and got out of the car. Ainsley followed him and then entered the office building, catching the elevator just before the doors closed. Parker slammed her hard against the wall of the elevator and kissed her again.

"I am jealous. I am jealous that I have been spending the last two weeks with you and have not been able to kiss you again. You don't remember our one night together, but I do."

Parker pushed his hand into her panties and began to finger her hard and fast. She was soaking wet, and he knew that she had been like this for a while. Had she been turned on all day being around him? He watched her squirm and pant as he thrust his fingers inside her pussy harder and faster.

To be continued