The Wedding Wager (McMaster the Disaster) Read Online Free Page A

couple making out in the middle of a forest. The background was all washed out in muted rose tones and a pink perfume bottle with the word ‘lust’ splashed across it took center stage. But it was still really hard to stop staring at the couple.
    They were just so… mostly naked and making out.
    I squinted, thinking the girl looked familiar for some reason. It only took a minute to realize it was Istranka, and it looked like she was adjusting just fine to her new life in America. I couldn’t help but smile, remembering of the seemingly innocent girl who’d been so self-conscious at the party the other night, because the girl on that paper did not look self-conscious in the least.
    “Josie! Are you even listening?”
    I turned my gaze from Istranka and her model boy.
    “Huh? Yeah, I’m listening, what did you say?”
    He rolled his eyes dramatically. “I said we haven’t even planned the wedding yet, right?”
    I glanced around the room. Jen was avoiding my gaze at all costs.
    “Um, yeah, exactly. We haven’t planned the wedding yet.”
    Mattie sat back, pleased. “I’m just glad I don’t have to be there when you break the news to your mother that there is no way you are ever going to be caught dead in a traditional, stuffy wedding like that ridiculous formal event of hers. I mean, can you even imagine? A movie star and a glitterati getting married in a place that pretentious? The paparazzi would have a field day. Oh my God, they’d probably call you a princess.” He shook his head like it was the most ridiculous thing he could imagine. “My trendy warehouse in the up-and-coming industrial turned residential area is going to be so much better. I mean seriously, where’s the flair in an old castle?”
    I grinned through my teeth and nodded. The truth was, my mother’s castle idea did have my heart fluttering when I’d first seen it. She really did have an eye for the extravagant. I also couldn’t figure out what was wrong with princesses. I mean, not the Disney kind or anything, but the real life ones like Diana or Grace were just a little bit awesome, in my humble opinion.
    Of course, Mattie’s warehouse was a lot cooler and would fit more people, but I actually thought it might end up being a little too big, though Mattie insisted the acoustics would be to die for.
    I picked up another magazine, hoping to change the subject, anything would be better than the wedding. Except of course, the stupid tabloids were all talking about the wedding. They were guessing what our first song was going to be, possibilities for bridesmaids, if I was going to hold my own bridesmaid lotto (not on your life!), what flavor of cake we would have.
    Anything they could think of.
    Everything they could think of.
    I threw one of them across the room. Wasn’t planning a wedding supposed to be fun? I mean, did every bride have the same problem? A problem mother, perhaps. But a problem wanna be event planner slash designer slash stylist? Probably not so much.
    Mattie and Jen looked at me like I had lost my mind.
    “So, I gotta get going,” Mattie said. “Maybe I should take these with me.”
    I waved him off. “Don’t worry about it, I’ll be fine. Just a little stressed, that’s all.”
    I nodded knowingly. “You gonna go call you Mom? I completely understand. She is going to pitch a fit,” he said. “Later y’all.”
    And with that he was gone.
    I slumped into the couch.
    “You’re seriously going to tell your mother that Mattie’s going to plan the wedding?”
    “Are you nuts?” I asked. “Of course not. I told you, these things have a way of working themselves out.”
    Jen’s mouth dropped open. “You just basically told Mattie he had the go ahead, and you’re not going to tell your mother anything different?”
    “It’ll be fine,” I said. “Besides, I have other stuff to worry about right now.”
    Her mouth was still in its ultra-opened state. “Like what?”
    I grabbed my laptop. “Well, I’ve