Always a Bridesmaid Ch. 02

Sophia grabbed her cell phone and answered it on the second ring. She was waiting on three phone calls and hoped that this was one of them.

"Hello?"

Sophia grabbed a pen and furiously wrote down the information that the limousine company was giving her. She had a wedding she was planning for Saturday and at the last moment the bride had decided the whole wedding party should have a limousine to travel from the church to the reception hall. Of course, this had caused Sophia a lot of stress since the bride wanted the exact same type of limos for everyone so on a hot sticky July day, Sophia was attempting to secure five white limos for the upcoming Saturday.

"Thank you so much."

They could do it. She grinned a bit and realized that she was alone in the room and was probably acting like a fool. She blushed and went back to work. The rest of the day went by quickly and she was happy when she called the bride to confirm the details.

"Hi Jackie. I got the limos secured. All white. You want me to do what? Alright."

Sophia hung up the phone and wondered if she was in some cheesy romance movie. Jackie was a friend from high school and they had only chatted occasionally when she was back in town. Jackie had gotten into the prestigious university that was located in the next city over and had rarely come home to visit. She had dated almost every type of man and was finally happy when she fell head over heels in love with a pediatric cardiologist. He was tall and smart and handsome and as Jackie put it, rich enough that her two degrees would mean nothing.

Jackie had announced that Jack had asked one of his friends to be a groomsman at the last minute and so because she wanted equal numbers of bridesmaids and groomsmen, Sophia needed to be a bridesmaid. She was lucky she was getting paid to do this. Otherwise, she might freak out. Four days before the wedding and she needed to get another bridesmaid dress as well as coordinate the tuxedo fitting for one more groomsman.

Sophia ran a wedding planning company in her hometown. It had started innocently enough. She has three sisters and for each wedding, she organized all the details. When one of her friends from high school asked her to plan her wedding, she said yes. By the next spring she was an official wedding planner. It was a fun job, but stressful. She loved every minute of it.

***

"Fuck!" Sophia screamed out the word and was happy that the windows were up in her car. She had the air conditioner on full blast and was desperately trying to get a hold of the tuxedo company. She was running late and didn't want the new groomsman to leave without her seeing the tuxedo. She was running late of course because she had to argue with Sally, the seamstress, regarding her bridesmaid dress. She knew that she was being overcharged and was stubborn enough to say something. She wasn't paying for it, but she wanted Sally to know that it wasn't appreciated.

Sophia parked her car and flew into the tuxedo shop. She ran to the back and literally ran straight into him.

"Are you a stalker or something?" Sophia spat out the words and scowled. Her brain was flooded with what had happened at her best friend's wedding four weeks ago. She had met this cute, charming man. She had been overcome by the romance of the day and had kissed him. It wasn't just any kiss. It was her first kiss. She had loved every minute of it until she found out that Ryan Adams was really Ryan Martins, the horrible boy that had teased her all through high school. She had run out of the reception hall, not looking back. Now he was standing in front of her and it was obvious that he was the extra groomsman.

"No. Are you? Do you attend every wedding in the town?" Ryan had tossed and turned every night since last seeing Sophia. He had been a complete jerk. He knew exactly who she was, yet she was totally clueless as to whom he was. They had kissed and it had been an intense, passionate kiss. He was normally the hump and dump type of guy, but he felt different about her. He always had.

"I'm Jackie's official wedding planner and am here to make sure that you get your tuxedo fit right." Sophia wasn't the timid shy girl she was in high school. She was pissed and wasn't afraid to use her words.

"Well do I look acceptable?"

Sophia had a different word for that. He looked sexy and handsome. The gray suit made his blonde hair even lighter. The purple tie and vest looked ridiculous, but that was what Jackie had wanted. Sophia realized he could have been wearing a paper bag and still looked sexy.

Sophia took a deep breath. She realized that Luigi, the storeowner, was standing with them. He hadn't said a word and she realized how unprofessional she was acting. She needed close ties with all the businesses involved in the wedding business and this was not helping.

"You look fine. Jackie will be very happy. I'm sorry." Then she turned to Luigi, "You have done a great job as always. Shall we go to the front and I'll pay you." The older gentleman nodded and they made their way to the front of the store. Ryan stood stunned and then went to change into his regular clothes. He was falling for her hard. He was so attracted to her when she was yelling at him and was a little concerned when she had turned submissive. The only reason he ever teased her was to get a response. This was the first time in ten years she had responded.

He rushed to change, but Luigi's assistant was adamant to make sure the suit was hung up properly. By the time he got out to the front of the store, Sophia was down the street at her car. He took off at a dead run and, thankfully, his long muscular legs got him to her car quickly.

"Stop!" Ryan grabbed Sophia and kissed her hard. He had so much to say to her, but right now all he wanted was to kiss her. She kissed him back hard and then bit his lip.

"How dare you pretend to be someone else? How dare you befriend me at Jeannine's wedding? How fucking dare you not mention that you're the creep that harassed me all through high school?"

Sophia's words were not consistent with her actions. As she yelled at him, she had pulled him closer. Her hands were digging into his polo shirt and she had pulled him closer to her. Ryan responded.

"I was going to tell you. I wanted to prove I had changed. When I heard Jeannine was getting married and you were going to be there, I wanted to show you I had changed. Fuck I only bugged you because I liked you." Ryan was responding to Sophia's actions and had pushed her up against the car. The car was burning hot from the sun and he felt the heat radiate from it. Her bare legs were against the metal and he wondered if it was burning her skin.

"What are you some fucking school boy?" Sophia had felt the burning hot metal against her legs and had pulled herself up so she was sitting on the hood of her car. Ryan ran his hands along her thighs and wrapped them around his hips. His hands then moved up again to caress her inner thighs.

"Yeah. I'm immature and I'm an idiot. I'm sorry your first kiss had to be with a jerk like me."

Sophia blinked. Had he finally apologized? After all these years, he had finally said he was sorry. She was shocked. She suddenly felt his large strong hands on her inner thighs and she moaned.

"I've never done anything like this." Sophia was pleading with him to continue. She spread her legs wider and he pressed up against her. The sun was beating down on them and she could feel the sweat dripping down her back.

"Then tell me to stop." Ryan stopped moving and waited for Sophia. She was either going to let him keep going or actually tell him to stop.

"You feel so good." Sophia pushed Ryan away and stood up on the hot cement. Her face was flush and it wasn't entirely because of the hot weather.

"Take me out to dinner. Saturday." Sophia wasn't thinking straight. Ryan was though.

"Saturday is Jackie's wedding. Does that count?"

Sophia burst out laughing. He was cute and charming. "Sure."