Saving You Read Free Page A

as early as midnight
tonight,” Aria said—privy to such things as the wife of
Summerville’s Chief of Police. “Nash was talking it over with the
mayor when I left the house.”
    “ I really don’t mind
cancelling,” Faith said. “I’m working another seventy-two hour
shift at the station starting Monday, anyway, and if the rain keeps
up I know we’ll be busy. I should probably get my rest.”
    “ But that’s thirty-six
hours away! You’ll have plenty of time to rest.” Maddie loved that
Faith was so committed to her job, but even hardworking
firefighters deserved a chance to cut loose and party every once
and awhile.
    “ Come on, y’all. Don’t wimp
out on me now,” Maddie pleaded. “There are fancy pink drinks
waiting at The Horse and Rider and they are not going to drink
themselves. And cake. Did I mention cake? And appetizers and
scandalous bachelorette party favors?”
    “ I appreciate it so much,
Maddie,” Faith said. “But we could stay here and eat cake if that’s
easier. I don’t need a big party.”
    “ But Maddie planned a big
party,” Naomi said, piping up as Maddie was about to burst into
tears. “And I think she has a few surprises already waiting at the
club. Surprises that have been paid for in advance and might be
getting a little…chilly waiting around for us to show
up.”
    “ Ohhhh… those kind of surprises.” Aria smirked
and lifted a thin, auburn brow. “I was telling Nash I was too tired
from being up with the baby last night to enjoy this party as much
as I would like, but if there are those kinds of surprises waiting, I
say we jet. I haven’t seen a stripper since Maddie and I lived in
Paris.”
    Kitty’s eyes widened. “No! Strippers?
Really?” Her grin grew wicked around the edges. “I’ve never seen a
stripper. I think I’ll laugh, is that okay?”
    “ It’s totally okay.” Maddie
decided to forgive Naomi for spilling her secret now that the
company was looking more eager to get going. “That’s part of the
fun. And these are funny strippers, not gross ones,” she hurried to
assure Lucy, who had a nervous expression on her face. “Mick made
me promise not to hire anyone who was going to try to rub his junk
all over Faith.”
    “ I bet those were his exact
words, weren’t they?” Faith said as she reached for her discarded
umbrella. “Such a charmer, that boy of mine.”
    “ All right, y’all. If there
are people waiting, we should get going,” she continued. “I’ve
never seen anything close to a stripper except the night the guys
at the station took it off for the Hunk-for-a-Month auction and
that was like looking at my brothers half naked. I’m thinking it
will be a lot more fun with men I don’t know.”
    “ These guys are from a
company out of Atlanta, so we won’t know a soul,” Maddie said,
herding the group toward the back door, where she’d pulled her
mother’s van into the alley. “Everyone can leave their keys here,
if they’d like. Naomi and I are driving to and from the
club.”
    The women shuffled through the back hallway,
murmuring excitedly among themselves, and Maddie felt the tension
tugging at her shoulders begin to melt away. She didn’t care if
Noah was going to be able to sail his Ark through downtown
Summerville in a few days if it didn’t stop raining, she had gone
all out to give her future little sister-in-law a bachelorette
party she would never forget and she intended to enjoy this
evening.
    Even if her own fiancé thought she was
taking things too far with the strippers and penis-shaped lollipops
in the favor bags.
    Taking things too
far. Ha! This from
the man who had practically invented the phrase, and who had been
the raunchiest stripper at the Hunk-for-a-Month charity fundraiser
last January, by far . Just thinking about how shameless Jamison had been on the
catwalk was enough to inspire a fit of giggles even now, months—and
many other scandalous memories—later.
    Besides, if Maddie was wilder than