The following morning Tuck calls to let you know he'll be out of town for a couple of days again, but that he has something special planned for when he comes back. You think it slightly odd how much he travels for his work, but you then consider that maybe his boss sends him off to check new locations or hotels, and the thought really makes you wish you were a travel agent as well. Perhaps the two of you could test those hotels together, making thorough notes especially about the capacity of the bathtubs or the durability of the beds, or...

You laugh at your idiocy, as you sip on your morning coffee gazing through your window, wearing Tuck's t-shirt you had slept in the night before at his loft. Walking over to your couch, you curl up in the corner and go through your phone. You didn't have to be at the store until noon, so you decide to call Lauren.

"Oh my God, Emma, thank God you called," she breathes as an answer.

"Is everything okay?" you ask concerned, sitting up.

"No, everything's going down the drain," she responds, and you can hear noises in the background that make you think of... hospitals?

"What's wrong? Are you okay?" you ask, gripping on to the arm of the couch.

"Physically I'm good, mentally I'm a wreck," she replies, sounding like she's about to have a panic attack.

"Okay, can you tell me what happened?"

"Okay so you know how Trish and Bob like to do all kinds of weird sex things?" she says, at which you drop your head and try to swallow your sigh.

"Yeah?"

"Well, they were doing something, I don't even want to know what, in the shower or tub or whatever, and they slipped, and now Trish's leg is broken in three places and she can't perform her maid of honour duties next week at our wedding," Lauren finally says, and you have to cover the phone with your hand so she won't hear your laugh. You pinch yourself in an attempt to calm down, but all you want to do is laugh at the situation Lauren seems to be thinking is the end of the world.

"I am so sorry to hear that. Is there something I can do for you?" you ask instead.

"Oh I am so glad you asked. I know this is kind of late notice, but would you be my maid of honour stand-in?" she chirps, and you are slightly taken aback.

"Oh wow. Well yeah, I can do that. I'm honoured Lauren, thanks," you reply. You know you weren't her first choice, and who knows if she would've even asked you had you not called her. But she asked you nonetheless.

"You are awesome, you know that? Okay so you should probably talk with Trish about things, because I don't really know what she's done and what she hasn't done so far, but I'm sure you'll do great. There's the bachelorette party on Saturday, to which you were already coming but I don't know if there's arrangements to be taken care of still," she adds, slightly apologetically. You smile.

"It's fine, don't you worry. I'll talk with Trish," you state. You talk a bit more and then you hung up. Saturday was three days away. Tuck would be home on Saturday as well. You had been contemplating on ditching the bachelorette party early to sneak over to Tuck's, but now that idea was out the window, as you were the hostess. You and Tuck had agreed to get the happy couple something together, which you were planning to do on Sunday. You then realise, that atop of your new maid of honour duties, you still have a whole week of work next week, before the wedding on Saturday. Judging from your brief knowing of Trish, you were fairly certain that she had left a lot of things to be taken care of on the last possible moment.

You sigh as you get up and make your way to the shower.

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Saturday comes, and you are getting yourself ready to leave for the bachelorette party. Trish had organised the whole thing, all you had to do was confirm who was coming and make sure everyone knew where to be and when.

You don't take the car tonight, instead you call for a cab, which should arrive in ten minutes. You know that you'll be going to a night club later on, so you chose a bright red, strapless dress. It has an empire waist and it comes down to your mid thigh. You accompany it with a golden necklace and your favourite black Louboutins, knowing the red bottom of the shoe would match your dress perfectly. As you hear the cab pulling up, you grab your black clutch and head out.

The cab drops you off in front of the restaurant and you step out, trying to manoeuvre in your short dress. The men smoking in front of the restaurant whistle as you walk past. You are just about to turn around and flip them off when you hear a familiar voice.

"Stop whistling at my girl, find your own," it says, and you lock eyes with Tuck. He looks amazing in a fitted suit, under which he has a lavender button up, couple of the buttons undone to show off a bit of ink and chest hair. His gaze on you is so hungry you feel that you might melt.

"I see you're back," you say, cocking an eyebrow as he steps over to you. His fingertips brush the side of your face and neck, travelling down your exposed shoulder and finally stopping at the small of your back. You feel goose bumps forming in the wake of his touch, his face so close to yours that you can taste the liquor on his breath.

"I see you are determined to torture me," he whispers, a smile on his lips. Your fingers travel up to his luscious lips, and he softly licks your fingertips, causing you to bite your lower lip.

"Oh here you are Emma, I started to think something had happened to you too and that I had the worst luck with bridesmaids in the history of the world!" you hear Lauren's voice from behind Tuck. You pull your hand away and smile over Tuck's shoulder to Lauren. Tuck sighs and turns away from the both of you. You try to swallow a chuckle.

"You're not supposed to be here yet," you smile as Lauren walks up to you, pulling you into a hug.

"I know, but FDR said that the guys were coming to the same restaurant, so I rode with them," she smiles, pulling away from the hug and noticing Tuck, who had not said a word to her. "Hey, you okay?" she nudges him on the shoulder. He turns around, and smiles.

"Hunky-dory. Just plotting with the maid of honour," he replies and places an arm on your shoulder. You then see FDR walk up to you.

"What are you all doing out here, the party's inside!" he exclaims, greeting you with a bow. Tuck lets his arm fall off your shoulder, making sure it grazes your bottom on its way down. FDR in turn, takes Lauren under one arm and you under the other. "Now, let's get you girls good and drunk," to which Lauren giggles and you can't help but smile, feeling Tuck's eyes on you.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Even though the two parties are at the same restaurant, they are just that – two separate parties. The bachelorette party is in the restaurant area, and you actually plan on eating something as well, whereas the bachelor party is focused on the bar area. In addition to you, Trish had invited Melissa and two of Lauren's other friends, Hannah and Lizzie. You are waiting for your food to arrive when a waiter comes by, holding a bucket of ice, in which there is a gigantic bottle of champagne.

"Courtesy of the best man," he states, and everyone's eyes turn to see Tuck, raising his glass to you all. He looks into your eyes and winks before he turns to say something to FDR's friend Mike.

"What did you say his name was again?" Hannah asks Lauren, waiting for the waiter to pour her a glass.

"Tuck. He's English," Lauren replies, already a bit tipsy.

"You say it like it's a bad thing," Melissa chimes in. She's the only one who really knows what's going on between you and Tuck, since you had agreed not to tell people just yet, first you wanted to see how it went. And, you both agreed, it was more exciting that way. He didn't know about your own reason for not telling Lauren, or what she'd said to you about him for that matter.

"Do you know if he's seeing anyone?" Hannah continues, obviously not paying attention to the conversation. She turns her head back and you can see her eyeing Tuck up and down.

"I don't know, is he?" Lauren smirks at you. You thank heavens that the restaurant is rather dimly lit, hiding your blushing again.

"How should I know?" you respond, trying to keep your voice normal.

"Oh come on, the sexual tension between the two of you is nothing short of electric," Trish points out, and you try to shrug her off with a laugh. Hannah looks at you, and she does not look pleased.

"Pfft, no sexual tension between us whatsoever. I'm in fact going through a bit of a dry spell. Whoa, did I just say that? No more wine for me," you babble, trying to avert everyone's attention away from you and Tuck.

"Dry spell? Hard to believe with those legs and that ass," Trish says, downing the rest of the liquid in her glass.

"Okay, should you be drinking with your medication?" you laugh back, and the subject is dropped.

As your food arrives, FDR comes over to your table, followed by Tuck and Bob.

"We're heading to our next destination, we just wanted to tell you girls to have fun," FDR smiles to all of you before pressing a kiss on Lauren's lips. Bob makes his way over to Trish while Tuck is smiling at you. You try to hide how his smouldering eyes are boring into you, when Hannah places her hand on Tuck's arm.

"I don't think we've been introduced," she smiles, and you can't help but think that you wish she wasn't as pretty. You weren't really the jealous type, but you didn't like it how she touched Tuck.

"I'm Tuck, FDR's best man," he replies with a friendly smile. His reply is perfectly pleasant, but at the same time letting her know he doesn't want to get to know her all that deeply.

"I'm Hannah, nice to meet you," she smiles, oblivious to his lack of enthusiasm. Tuck smiles back.

"You too," and averting his eyes to Lauren he continues, "have a great night, love," as he leans in to give her a peck on each cheek. As he stands up, he locks gazes with you.

"You take good care of her, maid of honour," he smirks.

"I intend to," you reply, smirking back.

"Okay captain, where to next?" FDR turns to Tuck, who chuckles.

"Naw mate, you're the captain, the cruise ship captain, remember?" he replies at which they both laugh and make their way out of the restaurant.

"I cannot believe I'm marrying that dork," Lauren states shaking her head, at which you burst out laughing.