Something Old, Something New

Ainsley closed her eyes again and ran her fingers against her nipples. She played with them as she felt her orgasm approach. She felt waves of heat surround her belly and she cried out as she squeezed her legs together. The man continued licking her clit until she pushed him away hard.

"Wow. I wish we hadn't been too tired to do that last night." Parker sat up and gave Ainsley a goofy smile.

Ainsley looked at Parker and the whole night flooded back into her mind. She had gone to a bar with Adriana. She had flirted with Parker and he had brought her home. She didn't remember much else.

"Morning. I have a huge headache." Ainsley knew that wasn't the reaction that Parker wanted, but it was true. She stumbled out of bed and came back from the bathroom after taking a few aspirin. By the time she got back, Parker was dressed and just putting on his shoes.

"You're leaving?"

"Yeah. You actually told me last night to leave before you woke up. I was going to, but then I wanted to give you a little something before I left. The sex was fast, but amazing last night. I didn't get to lick your pussy and I love doing that."

"We had sex?" Ainsley understood what he had meant by his previous comment. It was just going down on her that he hadn't done last night. She vaguely remembered sex, but was so tired and hung over that she couldn't figure out what was real and what was a dream.

"Yes we did. You were quite aggressive last night, but still tried to sound in control of your emotions. You told me you've never had a one night stand and that you wanted to forget me." Parker was making his way to the door. He didn't believe a word he was saying, but wanted to be as practical as possible.

"Oh." Ainsley opened her mouth to say something, but then her cell phone rang. "I better get that."

"Thanks for last night. Even though you didn't remember. Hopefully, it's not awkward next time I run into you at a wedding."

Ainsley saw it was Adriana calling and was about to answer it, but then dropped the phone.

"Excuse me?" Ainsley had sobered up quickly when he said those words. Now she knew where she had seen him before. He was the creep at Kate and Jake's wedding a few weeks ago. He was the wedding crasher that had tried flirting with her and then ended up being so crude.

"I guess you forgot. You're a wedding planner. I see you all the time at the Royale Hotel. I tried flirting with you at the last wedding you were at, but you were pretty rude to me."

"Rude? You were arrogant and annoying. You thought the number of women you had sex with would impress me! You think telling me that I should wear a shorter skirt is the way to seduce me. You knew who I was when you started dancing with me last night."

"I didn't tell you how many women I've had sex with and I am not arrogant. I was trying to be funny."

"You weren't being funny. I was stressed out over that wedding and then to find out some loser guy gets his entertainment from randomly showing up at weddings to fuck the bridesmaids. It sounds like a bad movie."

Ainsley was slowing losing her temper. She was out of control but Parker was standing his ground. They were both glaring at each other and the tension in the air was thick. Ainsley's phone rang again and this time it was her secretary.

"I have to take this. Get out." Ainsley motioned Parker to leave. He was very willing to storm out, slamming the door behind him.

"Yes?" Ainsley was still breathing hard from her argument. She listened to her secretary and swore under her breath. Her ten o'clock appointment was early and she had less than ten minutes to get to the office to be on time.

***

"We think Christmas is such a romantic time. We want to have an evening ceremony, around seven, followed by a sit down meal. Of course, the colors will be red and green. We were told you were the best in the area for planning weddings which is why we came to you."

Ainsley listened to Erin list her requests. Her soon-to-be-husband was holding her hand and nodding. It was obvious who wore the pants in this family.

"I am the best in the area and you made the best choice. It is very close to your wedding date, but other than your wedding, the next one I'm working on isn't until February. I can put all my time and energy into this wedding."

"Excellent. We're going away for a few weeks, but my brother will make any decisions that are important."

Ainsley took a deep breath. The wedding was in a month's time. It was November 22. She had less than a month to plan a large-scale wedding without any direct input from the couple.

"You're going away?"

"Yes. Aaron works for a large computer company and will be in Prague until the fourteenth. I am traveling with him. We like to think of it as a pre-honeymoon. I have my dress picked out so really there is no need for us to be here anyway."

Ainsley looked at the bride. She obviously had no idea the decisions that needed to be made, but she was already creating a plan in her head to deal with this. She was thankful her two-year business degree taught her to think fast on her feet.

"I do not like making any decisions without the couple's consent. This will cost extra, but what I can do is take pictures of everything we choose and send them to you. Once you see the pictures, I will go ahead with the decision. Does that sound fair?"

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

Ainsley glanced down and realized she had forgotten one very 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 didn't 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 didn't 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 up 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's enough time isn't it?"

Ainsley was trying to calm herself. She still had a pounding headache and this meeting wasn't 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 don't 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 school girl."

"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 anymore 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 didn't 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 week since their one-night-stand 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's 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 isn't a concern, but I know you won't 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 couldn't actually feel hurt. They weren't 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 alright?"

"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 wasn't 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'll call you the moment I hear from Erin. After New Years, 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 didn't 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 probably enjoy seeing me get yelled at by her. You flirted with the flower shop owner and you've 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 wasn't 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're so cold and unanimated when you're at the weddings. It's like you can't 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 didn't 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'm jealous that I've been spending the last two weeks with you and haven't 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.

"That feels so good. Don't stop."

Parker grinned. He removed his fingers and slowly licked them. She tasted heavenly. She had that morning when he had gone down on her and now again she tasted wonderful.

"I said don't stop."

"I don't care what you want. Believe me I've wanted to date you for a long while, but you wouldn't even look at me. I wish I could turn back time and not say the stupid things I said. I wish we hadn't had sex when you were drunk."

Ainsley was trying to think of a good answer, but didn't need to. The building superintendent greeted her as the doors opened. She made sure her skirt wasn't up around her hips. She was confused why he was there, but then noticed two things. The first was that the thick plush carpet was soggy and making squishy sounds as she walked into her office. The second was that there was a humid, almost mildew smell.

She glanced into her office and gasped.

"It's covered by insurance Ms. Bradley. The sprinkler system went off accidentally on the whole floor. There was no fire."

Ainsley didn't hear a word he was saying. Her whole office was in ruins. She didn't have insurance. She had stopped the payments the month before to pay the deposit on her apartment. She did the only thing that she could think of. She turned and hugged Parker, bursting into tears.

Ainsley sat in the passenger seat of Parker's car. Her eyes were red from crying. Parker was kneeling in front of her giving her tissues and trying to calm her down.

"Everything will be fine. I promise."

"No, it won't. My whole life was in there and now it's gone. The files for the next six weddings I'm doing are gone. I don't have their contracts, the details of their weddings. I have nothing."

"Ainsley listen to me. You have a laptop right. I'm sure you kept some of those files on there right. And right now you have my sister's wedding to plan and I'm here to help you out."

Ainsley looked up from the ground and was met with Parker's look of concern. It was strange that a life-altering event like your business being flooded can cause someone's emotions to go full circle. Her shoulder still hurt from when he forcefully pushed her against the wall of the elevator, but now he was as gentle as a lamb.

"You're supposed to be arrogant and rude. You're not supposed to be this nice. I'm supposed to hate you."

"Why's that? Seriously, Ainsley I want to know. Why do you need to hate me so much?"

Ainsley wiped her eyes one last time, but didn't answer the question. "I'm going to go home and try to see what I have saved on my computer. Then I'll call all the people involved in your sister's wedding. Hopefully, I can get all the information I need."

Parker watched as she walked slowly towards her car. Her shoulders were hunched over and she was looking down at the ground. She was so different than before. It was like her self esteem had been erased completely. Having your business flooded was a tragedy, but it was like this was her life. Parker waved as she drove past him, finally getting why she was so upset; her business was her life.