Baking and Babies (Chocoholics #3)(64)

“On what grounds?!”

“Incest is only legal in porn and erotic fiction!”

“Fine. Sustained, but I’ll need to see you in my chambers.”

I turn away from the idiots in front of me and wrap my arms around the waist of the smart, beautiful man behind me.

“Do I even want to ask?” Marco laughs, running one of his hands up and down my arm.

“Not unless you want to lower your I.Q. by about a hundred points.”

Pushing up on my toes, I give him a quick kiss, pulling back to smile. “Thank you for coming to the rehearsal dinner tonight.”

His hand continues moving up my bare arm and over my shoulder, wrapping its warmth softly around my neck so he can slide his thumb back and forth over my cheek.

“Free booze and a five course meal? Like I’d say no to that!” He laughs. “Or a chance to see your sexy ass in a hot dress again.”

I let Ava dress me again for Gavin and Charlotte’s rehearsal dinner since the last time she did, Marco couldn’t keep his hands off me. Tonight, she stuffed me into a skin-tight red halter dress that I have to say, makes my boobs look amazing.

“Marco! Just the man I want to see,” Tyler yells from behind me as Marco keeps his hand in place on my neck and takes a sip of his drink with the other.

“You look like the type of guy that’s used Seduction and Sugar on a few women before. What’s your take on the Tiramisu and Titty Twister chapter?” Uncle Drew asks.

Marco’s drink goes down the wrong pipe and he immediately starts choking and coughing. I quickly move to his side to pat his back, giving my uncle a dirty look.

“Seriously, Uncle Drew? I think Marco has a bit more class than that.”

Marco starts coughing harder, and I take the drink from his hand as he bends at the waist and puts his hands on his knees. Uncle Drew and Tyler finally walk away, muttering something about how no one appreciates good porn anymore.

After a few minutes of rubbing my hand soothingly against Marco’s back, he finally stands up and takes a deep breath.

“I should have know those two would consider that stupid book their bible,” I laugh. “Are okay?”

Marco takes his drink glass from my hand and sets it on a nearby empty table, turning back to grab both of my hands.

“I need to tell you something,” he whispers.

“My family is full of idiots?” I ask with a laugh. “I’m aware.”

“I’m an idiot too. A really, really big idiot. I need to—”

Glancing over Marco’s shoulder, I see Charlotte finally alone, standing in the corner of the room on the other side of the restaurant and I hold my hand up distractedly.

“Sorry, can you hold that thought?” I ask, my eyes glued to Charlotte as she checks something on her phone. “Charlotte is finally alone and I need to talk to her really quick.”

Marco looks a little frustrated that I interrupted him, and I immediately feel bad. I thought he was going to tell me something stupid my dad and Uncle Carter said to him since he’d been busy talking to them over by the bar before he came over here, but maybe I was wrong.

“Never mind, I’ll talk to her later.”

He shakes his head and gives me a quick kiss on the cheek. “No, it’s fine. It can wait. Does this have anything to do with the private little conversation I saw you and Gavin having a little bit ago?”

It has everything to do with that talk my soon-to-be brother-in-law had and if I’m lucky, we can finally be finished with this stupid charade once and for all.

“That it does,” I tell him with a smile. “Brace yourself, Marco. If all goes well, I should be un-knocked up by the third course.”

He quickly gets down on one knee, grabs my hips, and presses his lips to my stomach.

“What the hell are you doing?” I whisper loudly, looking around in embarrassment when a bunch of people start staring.

“If this whole thing is coming to an end, I feel like I should go out with a bang,” he explains. “Really put everything I’ve got into this role to make it memorable. Besides, I’ve gotten to know this little fake fetus the last few weeks. We’ve bonded. I’m going to be sad to see the little bugger go.”

I clutch onto the shoulders of his dress shirt and try pulling him up from the ground, but he’s not budging.

“No matter what you hear tonight, Cletus the Fetus, Daddy loves you,” he speaks softly to my stomach. “We’ve had some good times, we’ve had some bad times, and we’ve had some times where you’ve needed to cover your little fake fetus ears because your mommy is a screamer.”

I smack his arm, shooting a nervous smile to all the people watching us with sappy looks on their faces.

“Oh, my God, get up!” I whisper through my embarrassed smile.

“I know, Cletus the Fetus, Mommy confuses me too. Oh, my God is usually followed by ‘Go down!’ when she screams it,” Marco tells my stomach.

“If you don’t get up right now, I will tell everyone your soufflé couldn’t get it up,” I growl.

He quickly stands and gives me a shocked look. “You wouldn’t? It was ONE time and you said it happens to everyone!”

With a laugh, I grab his tie and yank him down to my lips, pressing my mouth to his. When the people standing closest to us start to clap and cheer, I pull my lips from his before I get too carried away.