She watched Taylor as he finished tying his "casual" tie. She shook her head at the thought. She had asked why he needed a tie for a family gathering and he said it was a casual tie and no big deal.
Was there really such a thing. She was born into money but she never got the hang of it. She always seemed rather disgusted by it which disturbed her father almost as much as his adoration for it had always disturbed her.
When her mind came back to the moment she realized that she had been staring at Taylor's rear-end.
Her eyes went wide. Had she been staring at that the entire time? She kept averting her eyes but they always seemed to drift back to him and his physique.
"I think you should wear something different."
She looked down at her rather plain blue dress and shrugged. "I like this."
"But this is a celebration of us. How do you celebrate yourself so glumly?"
He walked to their shared closet that was bigger than many studio apartments and went to her blue section of clothes. Thinking about the crazy closet made her roll her eyes.
She had already had her things packed. It was pure torture, having to let someone else pack for her. She had sat there watching twiddling her thumbs.
"Here. This is pretty fun and not to dressy."
He presented her with a very beautiful dress. She smiled because he had chosen something that she would have chosen for herself if she were not so lazy.
It was a beautiful sapphire blue, strapless dress, with silver sparkling edges. It's hem was asymmetrical, with the longer side stopping at the knee, and it was backless with a long sparkling silver chain hanging from the back of the collar closure.
When she looked at herself in the mirror she had to admit that she felt quite beautiful.
He smiled at her in the mirror. "You are very beautiful."
She returned his smile. "Thank you." Then she blushed.
Was she flirting.
"All I am saying is I can't believe you got married and I was not there."
"I am sorry mom I was not thinking. When we get back we will have a big ceremony and invite all the family."
"I was just about to tease you about not thinking but now I get to plan a wedding so I will leave that for another time.
"Good. Good. Leave us access to the funds for this and we will have it all planned when you get back."
Her grandmother looked to her now smiling mother.
"What do you think? July?"
"September. She is so beautiful in fall ombérs."
"mmm… You're right. Then we should have it in one of the orchards."
Jill smiled. She knew her grandmother would go overboard but her mother would love the entire process. She took out her phone and adjusted the family trust giving them both complete access for anything dealing with her wedding.
She looked up and saw Taylor smiling at her.
"Come on. Time for our toasts."
"Wha…?!" Before she could speak she was pulled into the main room and everyone turned to them even before Taylor called for their attention.
How did her grandmother get so many people here in such a short time and why were they all looking at her with those broad expectant smiles.
"Everyone I want to make a toast to my beautiful bride."
Everyone scurried for a glass of champagne as Taylor gently placed a glass into her hand.
All she could do was look wide eyed like a deer caught in headlights.
Taylor cleared his throat.
"To my Jill. I never believed in true happiness. I never knew it could be possible to love someone so much and so unconditionally and then I found you. I am so grateful that you accepted me even though I may not have been the best choice for you but I promise I will work, for the rest of our lives to be all that you ever dreamed of in a husband. This is my promise to you. I love you Mrs. Bridge and I look forward to forever with you."
He raised his glass. His eyes had been on hers the entire time and she was a bit overwhelmed and a second late raising her glass. When she did raise it she hit his glass harder than she wanted and flinched a bit.
He smiled, as if nothing happened, and went to drink. For a moment she wondered why he paused and blushed when she realized that he was waiting for her. She put the glass to her mouth and it wasn't until the liquid touched her lips that he began to his.
The giggles behind her made her blush because she would never admit that it was acyually his brilliant smile.
By the end of the night they had arranged for any gifts to be picked up and taken to the penthouse and promised her mother and grandmother that they would keep in touch.
She was sitting on their bed… their bed? Did they really need to share a bed? As she thought this Taylor entered with just a pair of boxer briefs on.
"At least you wear normal underwear."
He smiled and sat next to her. Her body instantly heated up. Did he really have to be so handsome?
He had his laptop and a flash drive. She looked on with interest.
"This is from the penthouse security. I am sorry I am just showing you this. I didn't have time to review it until now."
She took the laptop from him and started the video. It was of her in the kitchen. She pulled out a bottle of something and drank it. She frowned and continued watching.
He had the video going at a fast clip but she kept her eye on the time stamp and three hours after drinking whatever that was she had passed out on the sofa. Then four people came into her penthouse and began doing things around it. They seemed to go all over the penthouse but she didn't understand what they were doing until they got near the camera that was recording them.
One of the women put something near the camera. She looked out into the front room like she wanted to go check. But Taylor shook his head.
"You can't actually go and check them. I scrambled all the ones in the bedrooms and bathrooms but I left some active in the front room and kitchen."
She looked at him worried.
"So they know we are going to look for Darren?"
He shook his head and patted his laptop,
"No. Whenever we use this laptop it sends out a jamming signal as if it were a high-tech encrypted device." He winked at her. "You know, like a wedding gift a rich wife would give her aspiring CEO husband."
She rolled her eyes but she nodded and then she resumed the video. They moved her to the bedroom, the men leaving immediately and the women leaving almost an hour later.
She looked at him.
"Bathed and changed me?"
He nodded. "I am guessing so. I had that juice checked, it was full of a powerful knock out drug." He shook his head in frustration and then put his hand on her face. He looked deeply into her eyes.
"I am so sorry. I should have checked things better before I left you."
She put her hand over his. "It is okay. You had to get things ready for us to depart. I will be more careful now. I saw that I had even paused when I saw the juice. I probably assumed you bought it. I will not be making more assumptions."
He smiled and she was suddenly reminded that her hand was on his. She jerked it away and pulled away from his hand.
His smile intensified.
"We are married no Jill. Somethings will have to be normal for us."
Her eyes went wide and his narrowed.
"What's wrong?"
"I got so caught up in everything that I thought we were really married. I told my mother and grandmother to plan a big wedding for us."
Taylor shrugged as he wet back to the laptop.
"We are really married. Sorry but for the sake of my cover we have to stay married for a little while. But don't worry I won't take you for too much money."
He winked and stood up, closing the laptop with a soft click.