ARIANA
FIVE DAYS.
I was getting married to Aleksei Tarasov in five days.
In just a few days, I'd be bearing his last name.
The bastard didn't think to inform me when he paid a visit to me yesterday. No, he thought it was convenient to just send a note containing his wishes to my home.
"I thought we still had a month or so. This is hardly enough time to prepare. We're yet to do anything. We don't even have the invitations ready," Mamà shrieked in full-on panic mode. She loved planning parties, but not on such short notice. "Did I mention that five days is hardly enough time?"
She walked out of the living room mumbling to herself as she listed off things that had to be done. "I need to call Maria..."
I grabbed the discarded note Aleksei sent to us, scanning my eyes over the typewritten content for the third time.
Dear Ariana,
I decided it would be best if we could get married soonest. I take it you don't care about the date, so I decided to pick one-Saturday. I'll cover all the costs for the preparations. Just send the bill over.
-Aleksei.
Cocky bastard.
I didn't know what was more annoying; his assumption or his entitlement. We were supposed to bend our schedule to fit his needs while he just showed up to the venue in his stupid tuxedo looking like he just stepped out of GQ.
It was that effortless for him, but I had to go through fittings and the likes just so I didn't look like a nightmare at the altar.
I balled the note in my palm, pulling out my phone to text the son of a bitch.
Me: Aleksei.
Less than a minute later, my phone rang, and his name flashed across the screen.
I scowled at the screen. Of course, he also forgot that I couldn't speak. Just as quickly as my phone rang, the call ended.
Aleksei: I didn't mean to do that. Believe me, I forgot. Stupid mistake on my part. Forgive my tiny blunder.
I rolled my eyes at his apology. That was the last thing I cared about right now.
Me: Who the hell do you think you are?
Aleksei: Your husband-to-be?
Me: Five days!!! How the hell are we supposed to get anything done?
Aleksei: I can send a stylist your way. She's the best of the best. You don't have to worry about anything else. I have several event planners on my payroll. They'll run things through your mother first.
Me: I don't care if the stylist is the fucking savior, or if you have fucking thousands of motherfucking people on your payroll. You can't just request things from my family and expect them to be done.
Aleksei: You have such a dirty mouth for a spoilt little princess.
Aleksei: I already sent the stylist your way. She'll be there tomorrow. Go wild with the credit card. I'll be offended if you don't after that little threat of bankrupting me.
Oh, my fucking-
Was he even listening to me?
Me: I hate you.
Sure, it was childish to send that to him, but I couldn't give two fucks about that in my rage. He was frustrating, and he made me want to pull my hair out of my scalp.
Aleksei: I heard it's bad luck to see the bride before the wedding, so I'll see you at the altar.
Fucking kill me now.
I glared at the screen, envisioning his severed head lolling a few feet away from his unmoving body, a pool of blood gathering around his...
Okay, that was dark, but still. He picked and chose what he replied to.
He was infuriating.
"I guess now isn't the time to visit?" A husky, feminine voice said, drawing my attention away from my phone.
A beautiful redhead stood by the door with a faint smile on her face. "I'm Giselle."
I blinked slowly at her as my brain scrambled to remember where I'd heard her name before. Oh. Nicholas' wife. I hadn't attended their wedding because of a work trip that took me out of the continent, so this was my first time seeing her.
"Matteo and Enzo never mentioned they had a sister. I heard about the wedding, and I thought I'd stop by. I've been in your shoes, and I know how overwhelming it can be."
That was an understatement.
I returned her smile, looking around for the stupid tablet Aleksei got me. Just thinking about his name made my blood boil. I finally found it, and I wrote my reply to her.
"I'm Ariana. Thanks for stopping by. Everything is going horribly, to say the least."
"I figured," she said after she read the text, her tone sympathetic. "Anything I can do to help?"
"Do you know any flower shops around here?"
***
"Are you sure about this? Your hair is gorgeous just this way," Giselle said as we stepped into her hair stylist's shop.
I nodded to tell her I was sure. She was trying to talk me out of my decision, but I'd already made up my mind. I wasn't doing this for me, but I most definitely wasn't going to regret my decision.
"Okay. I just wanted to be sure. For the record, your hair is gorgeous this way."
I giggled, shaking my head at her. Her attempt at talking me out of this was cute, but I'd already made up my mind.
She was the sweetest soul ever, and she'd joined me in a raging fit for over thirty minutes after I caught her up to speed with everything that was going on.
I was proud to announce she was in the hate Aleksei camp. I needed to recruit more members, but guess who had no friends outside of work? I wasn't complaining, though. Matteo always told me friends were overrated, and look at him now. He was thriving without them.
"I'm a bit worried here, Ari. I don't think spontaneous decisions like this should be made when you're in a bad mood, so you don't end up regretting it."
I sent her a text to reassure her. "Trust me, I won't be regretting this."
If anything, doing this would only fill me with joy. I dropped the tablet at home, so we'd been communicating all day through texts.
She released a breath of relief. "Okay. Let's do this."
Four hours later, we were out of the stylist's shop, significantly happier than when we'd walked in.
"I change my mind. Your hair is gorgeous. You are stunning."
I beamed at her. I thought so, too. I guess, great minds thought alike and all that jazz. She'd only gotten a cut to add an extra bounce to her hair, and she looked stunning. With every step she took, her copper hair gleamed under the sunlight. Was it too late to ask the stylist to make me a redhead?
I had a smile on my face as I went to bed that night. Aleksei said he loved brunettes. He was about to get the greatest shock of his life at the altar.
***
ALEKSEI
ONCE AGAIN, ARIANA HAD MANAGED to surprise me. Every inch of the lower floor of my house was covered with roses and a note was tucked into a huge bouquet placed on my kitchen counter.
Dear husband-to-be,
I hope you enjoy my pre-wedding present. Roses are your favorite, right?
-Ari.
A smile tugged at my lips.
She chose the roses after she'd sent me a picture of a rose and an orchid side-by-side, and asked me to pick one for a bouquet.
I'd picked the orchids, and a few hours later, I found thousands of roses covering every inch of my house. It didn't help that I'd also given her my address yesterday for the moving company.
"You didn't say you were starting a flower shop, Alek. Care to fill me in?" Mikhail's confused voice floated into my ear as he waddled through the sea of flowers on the floor. They were that fucking many.
"I didn't do all of this," I told him, tearing my gaze away from the paper.
"I figured. Black flowers seem more up your alley if you were to ever go crazy." He snatched the note out of my hands, and he promptly burst into laughter after reading my wife-to-be's note. "I think I might like this Italian girl. She's gonna give you a run for your money in the strong-headed department."
I tore the note out of his hands, unwilling to admit that I thought he was right. "Shut the fuck up, Mikhail. Send the clean-up crew over here. I want this shit cleared out before I wake up tomorrow morning. And make sure Anthony reports here first thing in the morning. I want to know how this got past him."
I walked out of the kitchen with my brother's laughter drifting into my ear. Fuck him.
"Jesus fuck," I hissed when I walked into my bedroom to find it covered with flowers.
Thankfully, my bathroom had survived her flowery attack. I'd have to sleep in another room, but showering in another bathroom was a headache I didn't need tonight.
I stripped out of my clothes, climbing under the stream of cold water.
Fuck, I was getting married to a lunatic, but I'd be lying if I said the thought didn't send an excited tingle up my spine.
She was intriguing, and she drew my attention without even having to try.
That was a first for me.
Not a lot of things held my attention or caught it in the first place. It was a conscious decision I'd made growing up. If I didn't spend much attention on one person, they had no way of ensnaring me like my father had done my mother.
I gave my work all my attention, but with her. . .
I found myself reaching for my cock, stroking my hardened length to the thought of Ariana on her knees before me, her big doe eyes staring up at me as I buried my cock down her throat until her eyes watered, and she choked around my girth, her eyes silently pleading for mercy.
I stroked harder as more lewd images of her flashed through my mind as my spine tingled with my release.
"Fuck!" I groaned, throwing my head back as my release blasted out of my cock, hitting the tiled wall in front of me.
I followed its trail down the wall with one thought in my head.
I was in trouble.