Madison Avenue

Chapter 12

Sooooo sorry this took so long. Only a few more chapters to go, and the next update will be quicker. Enjoy!!
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"Ross!"

Hearing her yell his name, he'd learned, could either mean very good or very agitating things. Considering that he was currently on the opposite end of their apartment and was not naked, he sighed and braced himself for what could only be another pre-wedding bitchfest. Putting on a happy face, he moved from the office out into the living room to see Rachel emerging from their bedroom with a cordless phone pinned between her cheek and shoulder.

"What is it, sweety?" he'd learned to ask, now a master at feigning anxiety equal to that indicated in her tone.

"The florist and caterer the resort referred us to say they never received the order!"

"What!" he yelled. Okay, so this was actually sort of a significant problem. "Is that them on the phone right now?"

She nodded and handed the cordless to him, exasperated, crossing her arms over her chest and planting herself there to listen, like a little girl pouting expectantly at her father to fix something for her.

"Hello?" he yelled, confusion tinting his voice. Rachel listening as the whiney young woman recited the same annoying monologue back to her fiancé that she'd just heard 2 minutes ago, rolling her eyes.

"What? That's impossible. We put in that order MONTHS ago!" Silence ensued while Ross pretended to listen to the woman's feeble excuses. He shook his head emphatically, plugging his other ear like he was trying to block out nonexistent noise-as if that'd better help him to understand this irrational woman's obviously delusional pretexts.

"No, you listen to me. My fiancée and I are checking into the Sunset Paradise Resort tomorrow afternoon, and our wedding is set for the following evening. Those 500 lilies, 50 pounds of food and dove ice sculpture will BE waiting for us, or I will come down there and explain this whole thing, myself, to your manager. I have our receipt right here with me!"

Rachel cocked an inquisitive eyebrow at him, knowing that last statement was a lie, but he winked and smiled at her and she couldn't help but giggle.

"Okay, good!" he tacked onto the end for effect, pressing the end button and setting the phone down on the kitchen bar with an authoritative slam. Rachel smiled and strolled over to him, wrapping her arms around his middle and kissing him on the mouth.

"Well, that was certainly impressive, Mr. Rachel," she joked, alluding to their post-first-wedding drunken nicknames.

"Why, thank you, Mrs. Ross," he played along, stroking her back. "How's it feel to know you're going to officially be my wife again in 48 hours?"

"Mmm, pretty nice."

She kissed his neck hungrily, sucking and biting on it, causing him to groan from somewhere deep in the back of his throat. Whenever she did that, it triggered something inside him and sped up his sexual aggressiveness to two times what it normally would be, and just when he was considering actually picking her up and placing her on the kitchen counter to continue their little escapade more comprehensively, as if by clockwork, they were interrupted by the soft pattering of little feet.

"Daddy, what're you doing to Mommy?" their bright-eyed daughter asked, looking almost concerned. Embarrassed, having been caught making out for, surprisingly, the first time ever by Emma, they quickly let go of one another and made haste to connive some lame response to her loaded question.

"Err, well, Daddy was just checking me for, uh...Ross?"

"That's right, Emma! I was just checking Mommy for, um...swollen tonsils."