Samantha Young E-Bundle: Castle Hill, Until Fountain Bridge, One King's Way(6)

Since I was more than grateful he’d decided to take over the wedding plans from Ellie, who was determined to pinkify our wedding, I had agreed to help Braden. Sipping my coffee I sat down and stared at everything. It didn’t look like much, but our decisions were worth thousands of pounds, so we needed to be sure. We’d decided to split the wedding costs, which I thought was very evolved of my fiancé considering his tendency toward caveman mentality.

“So what have we got?”

“The church is booked, but we have to make a decision on the reception venue.” Braden turned the laptop toward me. “I like the Balmoral Hotel. I’ve priced it. What do you think?”

I was looking over the PDF the hotel had sent him when our doorbell rang, followed by the sound of it opening. That either meant it was Ellie or Adam.

“It’s me!” Ellie called. “Before I come any farther, are you both dressed?”

Laughing, I assured her we were. Somewhere along the way she’d gotten the impression that Braden and I didn’t do anything together but have wild monkey sex.

His sister appeared in the doorway, smiling broadly. She held up a bag of delicious-smelling food. “Braden told me about the wedding plans. I brought Indian!”

“Even though I fired you from the wedding plans, I’m going to let you stay because you brought takeout.” I slid out of my seat to help her plate up the food.

“I know.” She smiled sheepishly. “But it’s exciting. I just wanted to be here to see what decisions you make.”

“No refuting those decisions,” Braden muttered, eyeing her sternly. “That’s why I ended up as the wedding planner in the first place.”

“I’ll be good.” She promised. “Oh, I brought you these.” She shoved a white plastic bag at me as I fumbled with a plate.

“What is it?” I asked warily.

“Candles.” Ellie shrugged out of her jacket. “This place is so bare since I moved out. I thought those might make it a bit homier.”

Sharing an amused look with Braden, I put the bag on the counter. Ellie was known to like clutter. Her idea of bare wasn’t a normal person’s idea of bare. “We’re minimalist. But thanks.”

“Ooh,” Ellie cooed over Braden’s shoulder as she tilted the laptop screen. “The Balmoral? What do you think, Joss?”

“I think it’s beautiful,” I replied honestly, having already decided after looking at the photos that I was just going to agree to Braden’s ideas. It would make the process a lot less of a headache, and it wasn’t like we didn’t share the same taste.

“Yeah?” he asked.

“Definitely.” I approached him with a plate of curry and rice, my eyes dipping to the floor. My gaze caught on Ellie’s feet. I tried and failed not to smile as I asked Els, “Sweetie, have you looked at your feet lately?”

Wrinkling her nose in confusion, Ellie looked down. She sighed. “Bugger.”

Curious, Braden looked down too after accepting his plate from me and immediately choked on his bite of curry.

I laughed.

Ellie was wearing two different shoes. They were flats of a similar style, but one was definitely brown and the other black. “I’ve been wandering all day over New Town like this.”

“I doubt many people noticed your feet, Els.”

She kicked off her shoes and we all settled around the table, eating and planning. Well, Braden had done all the planning, so it was mostly just me nodding my head to his suggestions and covering Ellie’s mouth when she got too vocal in her opinions over the flowers.

We were just winding down when Ellie’s phone rang. It was Adam, requesting her company, although from the way she blushed I doubted the request was that polite or lacking in sexual innuendo.

She got up hurriedly, giving me a smile and her brother a kiss on the cheek. “This was fun. Thanks for letting me crash it. Speak soon!” She floated out of the kitchen, in her mind already out of the flat and with Adam.

“Tell Adam I said hey!” I called to her.

“Will do!” The door slammed in her wake.

I pushed my plate away, cupping my chin in my palm as I smiled at Braden. “Thank you for doing all this.”

“You’re welcome.” His smile turned into a yawn. He ran a hand through his hair, looking exhausted. “The only thing left to plan is the hen and stag nights.”

A hen party was what the Brits called a bachelorette party, and a stag night a bachelor party. “Won’t Ellie and Adam be organizing those?”

“Aye, at least that’s something.”

I huffed. “That’s okay for you to say. I doubt Adam is going to arrange an elegant tea party for yours.”

“Nah,” Braden grinned. “Casino night.”

I pouted. “I want a casino night.”

“Have a casino night. I’ll get Adam to nudge Ellie in the right direction.”

“We can’t end up in the same place for our parties.”

Braden leaned toward me, his gaze curious. “Why not?”

Surprised by the question since I thought the answer was pretty straightforward, I blinked a few times. “Uh, because it’s supposed to be a symbolic evening where we celebrate our last night of singledom.”