Falling for his Step-Sister by Alie Garnett

Epilogue

The wedding was justover twelve hours away as the clock struck midnight. The entire family was staying at the Beckman hotel, all on Cliff as a wedding present to them. Though Sera had tried to get the venue of the wedding changed three times, Buzz had held her ground: no cathedral. Jonas hadn’t been to any of the weddings Sera had put on, but he felt he had missed a lot.

Since the girls were spending the evening in their hotel suite, the guys had gone to the bar for a few drinks. Jonas had gotten to know Cliff and Kaine over the last three weeks, and Harrison had forgiven him for what had happened in Jonas’s office. So had Sera, but just barely.

It seemed like every man was programmed to leave once the clock struck midnight, even if their wives were locked in a two-bedroom suite that was supposed to hold the five Lovely sisters, Sera, Sera’s two girls, and Louisa and Frankie. Those two had been accepted into the fold instantly. Though they still lived in Chicago, they had come back for the wedding.

“One more?” he asked the guys, who were already on their feet.

“Nope, Sera is coming back to sleep with me. We’re going to enjoy a night without the girls in the house.” Harrison grinned. Jonas wanted to tease him about kids getting in the way of his sex life but thought better of it.

It had only been days after news of Buzz’s baby came out that Sera had made her own announcement. She had been holding it back for weeks because she wanted to make the announcement special, except she’d ended up blurting it out when Buzz had told her she and Jonas wanted to get married. It seemed she was overly relieved that she wouldn’t look pregnant when one of her kids got married. Then she forbade the last two singles in the house from meeting the man of their dreams until after her baby was born.

Instead, he questioned the man, “I thought the girls were all staying in one room, doing what girls do?”

“They were supposed to, but my Mrs. can’t sleep if I’m not around,” Cliff stated, draining his beer.

“Harper’s going to make everyone stay in that room.” Kaine couldn’t stop the chuckle that followed. His wife’s control over her sisters was only in her head. Everyone knew it, even Jonas knew.

“Am I going to be the only one sleeping alone tonight?” he asked the group as they headed for the door. No one answered.

“Just a heads-up, man. Don’t sex up your fiancé too much tonight,” Cliff whispered beside him.

Jonas laughed. “I’m assuming she’ll stay with her sisters tonight. That’s what she said she was going to do—enjoy her time with them since we’ve been living together for almost three weeks now.”

It was all she could talk about for days, even if she spent a lot of time at the Lovely house. They had even slept over twice. But he was beginning to realize there was never too much sister time.

“Just keep your pants on, man. That’s my word of advice.” Cliff winked at him.

Jonas asked in confusion. “For marriage?”

“Nope, my marriage advice is to always say yes to your Lovely lady, even when it leads you places you don’t want to go. You’ll want to be there with her.”

“That is good advice,” Jonas admitted, not thinking anything that profound would come out of the man’s mouth since he was usually joking.

“I know. Now I have to go tell my wife yes,” Cliff stated with a smile and a salute.

Laughing as the man headed down the hallway towards his room, Jonas wondered if his wife was going to be waiting for him. Buzz had said it was strictly going to be a girl’s night, and the men were only invited because Sera wanted everyone in the hotel and ready for the wedding. It seemed there was going to be a lot of sneaking around going on tonight.

When the women had picked a room with two adjoining suites and a total of four beds, he wondered how the seven sisters, their mom, and his two sisters were going to fit. But if those with a spouse were just going to leave, there would be room.

This morning, Sera had cornered him and demanded that he get to bed early, which hadn’t happened because Harrison and the guys had wanted to go out for drinks. Sera had been sure that nobody would get enough sleep tonight at the hotel, which was why she was against the idea. It seemed that during every other wedding, everyone had been over-tired on the wedding day. She couldn’t figure out why.

After slipping into his own room, he kicked off his shoes, hating not spending the night with Buzz. He was so used to her being there beside him that he was dreading that night and hoped that there wouldn’t be another like it in a long time.

Though it was the same hotel, it wasn’t the room he’d had months before when he had met Buzz the first time. But it was a carbon copy, which only made him miss her more.

Then it hit him. If the wives weren’t staying in the girl’s room, was it possible that Buzz was going to come to his room? That it had been the plan the entire time? Instantly, he pulled off his T-shirt and tossed it on the floor on the way to the bedroom.

Except he didn’t think she was there. Last time he had sensed she was there, and this time, nothing. If she were there, he would know it. Now that he loved her, he should know when she is in a room.

Which left him nothing else to do but go to bed and hope that morning came quickly.

Not half an hour later, there was a knock on the door, a quiet one that left him wondering if he had heard it at all. Sitting up and shaking himself from sleep, he smiled. There she was—his sneaky little soon-to-be wife.

Walking to the door in just his boxers, he didn’t even check to make sure it was her before swinging the door open to invite her in.

But instead of his redhead, it was four of her sisters, two of whom where his also. They all looked from his face and down his body, then at the ceiling quickly.

“Nice way to greet family, Jonas,” Frankie stated flatly.

“Get some pants on, man. Nobody wants to see that. Least of all us,” Agatha added.

Turning away as he pulled his pants on, he wondered exactly why they were there. Was Buzz getting cold feet? This afternoon, she had been upset that their wedding was taking too long to actually happen. Could she have changed her mind after all?

“Where is Buzz?” he asked the moment he was out in the living room area of the suite. All four sisters were sitting and looking at their respective phones.

“Here,” Lucy stated as she put her phone away.

Every one of the women were in their pajamas, and not a one looked like they had been sleeping, which meant they would be tired the next day, and Sera would be mad.

“I haven’t seen her,” he said when there was another knock on the door.

But when he opened it, it was only Cliff carrying Mabel, and she was trying not to giggle.

“Put me down. You win!” He dipped her head towards the floor, and she squealed a little before saying again, “You win!”

“Gross, you two. Aren’t you married now? Stop it,” Lucy said, but she was smiling as she watched Cliff set his wife on her feet and give her a kiss on the lips.

“Let’s start this thing,” Agatha stated from the couch.

Cliff looked over at her. “Not everyone is here, Ag.”

“Enough are. We can’t keep doing this with everyone. There gets to be too many,” Agatha grumbled as another knock came on the door.

Jonas went and opened it for Harper and Kaine, who hurried in like they were being followed. They were also in pajamas, and Jonas realized that all the women were wearing “Buzzzz” T-shirts in assorted colors.

“Nice that you’re dressed, Jonas. Is Buzz?” Cliff grinned at him, his wife still in his arms.

“Buzz isn’t here,” he replied, now starting to worry where she was. Everyone was here, and they all seemed to think she should be here also.

“Where’s Buzz? Who saw her last?”

“She left our room before Sera did, which was almost two hours ago,” Louisa stated, looking at her phone, then looked up. “Where is she? Was she kidnapped or something?”

“I thought this was a nice hotel, Cliff. Not one a woman could get kidnapped from.” Mabel slapped him on the arms as she said it.

“Who would kidnap her? I mean, the red hair is kind of cool, but not hold-for-days cool,” Harper said and wedged herself on the couch between Agatha and Frankie, taking Frankie’s phone from her and looking at it. The blue-haired woman quickly took it back.

“Where was she going when she left?” Kaine asked, leaning against the door. There was very little space in the room.

“Here. She even had a keycard,” Louisa answered. Jonas could tell she was getting paniky, which, in turn, was making him nervous.

“Okay, we split up and search the room. Kaine and Harper, you are team one. Maby and Cliff, team two. Agatha, you take Frankie, me, and Louisa.” Lucy jumped from the couch and started paring everyone off.

“Why so many teams, and why is Jonas with no one?” Harper demanded, pointing at him. Her purple shirt had “Buzz” in neon yellow letters.

“I want Louisa. She’s really good at hide and seek,” Frankie stated at the same time.

“Stop!” Jonas yelled, bringing everyone’s attention to him. “No teams. I don’t think the room is that big.”

He left them and went into the bedroom, which he knew she wasn’t in. He had just been there himself, and she wasn’t there. But it had to be searched before everyone walked into the room.

It took less than a minute to find her sleeping on the floor in the closet. Opening the closed door, he saw her in the same spot she had been in months before. Only this time, she was curled into a ball, silently sleeping.

Crouching down, he touched her shoulder. “Buzz, wake up.”

She jerked and opened her eyes. He could tell she was still mostly asleep when she smiled at him and then rolled into a tighter ball. Instantly, he wrapped his arms around her and lifted her from the closet.

“Jonas?” her voice was thick with sleep as her arms went around him.

Kissing the top of her head as she rested it against his chest, he asked, “What are you doing in the closet?”

“Waiting for you to come back from the bar. I was going to come out of the closet and sex you up, but I fell asleep.” She opened her eyes and scowled at the room as if it were the room’s fault.

All he could do was laugh at her cute little scowl. He wished he had found her when he had gotten back from the bar, but the door had been closed, and he didn’t even think to look in there. That was never going to happen again.

“You’ll have to sex me up later,” he whispered, noticing Cliff and Mabel in the doorway.

“No, I can do it now.” She squirmed in his arms, not noticing they had company. “Just give me a moment.”

“Wedding time, Buzz,” Cliff stated from where he stood.

Jonas gathered her closer to him. There was only one thing she needed now, despite her words: to go back to sleep. “That’s tomorrow, Cliff. Now Buzz needs to get some sleep.”

Buzz instantly smiled and giggled. “No, Jonas, we have to get married.”

“Tomorrow, honey.” He kissed her again. She wasn’t fully awake yet. Hopefully, she would fall back to sleep quickly. Then he could get rid of her family.

“No, Honey,” Cliff mocked his nickname for his soon-to-be wife. “The judge is here, and he doesn’t like to linger.”

“Cliff is right. We have to get married now. It’s tradition.” Buzz wiggled until he put her down.

“We’re getting married in a few hours, Buzz,” he reminded her, wondering how long she thought she had slept.

Buzz went back into the closet and reappeared in tight gray jogging pants. “No, we are getting married now, just like all my sisters. It’s tradition.”

“Lovelys marry before the big Sera wedding. So far, everyone else has,” Mabel filled him in.

“Let’s get it over with,” Buzz said and headed out of the bedroom.

Once they were back in the living room, he saw the new arrival, who was not happy to be there. Within minutes they were married, or so the paper said. Harper had insisted she be a witness, and nobody could talk her down. Louisa was the other signer because Frankie refused.

Once the document was signed, everyone was gone from the room in two minutes, everyone but Buzz and him and a piece of paper that said she was his.

“What was that?” Jonas asked when the door closed behind the last wedding guest. He supposed that was what they were called.

Buzz grabbed the paper from the table and looked at it for a moment before putting it down again. “That was a Lovely wedding. Sera never lets anyone just get married in a simple ceremony, so we do it the night before. Cliff has something over the judge. You can’t tell Sera about this, or she’ll be pissed.”

“You mean we have to go ahead with the other wedding?” he asked. It seemed like a weird and unnecessary tradition.

Buzz spun and looked at him as if he just wasn’t smart enough to catch on. “Of course. That one is for Sera. Cliff and Maby started it, and it has been my favorite part of all the weddings.”

“Is that why you went with almost everything Sera wanted? Except for the venue?” She’d seemed okay with so much, he thought that she wanted it all. There were even fireworks!

Buzz shrugged. “I put up a fight on enough so that she didn’t get suspicious.”

“You weren’t going to tell me about it?” There hadn’t been a single hint about it. Not once. Though the wedding planning had been fast, he thought she could have found time to tell him about the pre-wedding wedding.

“I was going to tonight, but I fell asleep before I could seduce you.” She grinned. She was lying. They hadn’t been together long, but he knew her good enough to know when she was lying to him. This was all going to be a surprise wedding for him. Or a pre-wedding wedding.

With a shake of the head, he let it go. He was getting used to her surprising him. So far, a few of the surprises hadn’t been nice ones. Walking over to her, he pulled her into his arms. “Can you seduce me now?”

She shrugged and looked up at him. “Now? I don’t know, I’m kind of tired, and I already have you locked down.”

Dropping a kiss by her ear, he whispered, “What if I came out of the closet?”

She threw her head back in a laugh. “I can work with that.”

Lifting her into his arms, he carried her into the bedroom. Neither went into the closet or came out of it, though they argued about it before neither could talk anymore. And neither wanted to.

The End

Thank you so much for reading Falling for his Step-Sister. Did you love it? Reviews mean everything to indie writers – you can review Falling for His Step-Sister on AMAZON and Goodreads here!

The next Lovely to fall in love is Lucy Maude in Falling for his Fake Wife.