by Elise Faber
“I—”
He lifted up a hand. “Ride me, sweetheart.”
She didn’t need to be told twice. Kels dropped to her knees, straddled him, and took him inside.
“Fuck,” he hissed and slowly slid deeper.
“Fuck,” she agreed, bottoming out, barely able to take the hard length of him in this position. He twitched and she moaned, leaning forward to brace herself on his chest.
“That’s it, baby,” he said, gripping her hips and encouraging her to move.
She rocked back and forth, biting back a scream of pleasure when he tilted his pelvis so he was hitting her clit on the outside and her g-spot on the inside. So many new tricks to explore, positions to try—
But not now.
Not because there wasn’t enough time—there wasn’t.
Not because of her hair—there wasn’t enough hairspray in the world to keep it completely unscathed.
Not because of the wedding—what wedding?
But not now because Tanner was deep inside her, his hands tracing her body, love shining in his eyes, and she knew there was no way she was going to last a long time.
“I love you, Kelsey,” he said, hands reaching for her breasts again.
His words, his touch was enough.
She flew over the precipice, her orgasm crashing over her, even as Tanner thrust up into her faster and faster until he exploded with a long, low groan.
It was long minutes later that she finally came to.
“Tanner?” she asked, her face in the square of skin she managed to expose in her weak attempts to unbutton his shirt. At least she wasn’t leaving makeup stains.
“Mmm?”
“How the hell am I supposed to walk down the aisle now?”
Tanner laughed and held her tight for another few minutes before they mutually decided they had to get their asses up and back to their respective bridal party rooms. Luckily there was a trash can and some tissues in this room, so they were able to clean up, then Tanner helped her back into her dress and zipped her up while she did up his buttons.
Thankfully, she’d regained feeling in her legs enough to stagger back down the hall.
“I love you,” Tan murmured at the door.
“I love you, too,” she murmured back.
“You okay?”
She wrapped her arms around his waist and loved that he wrapped his around her in return, but she most especially loved when he rested his chin on her head and inhaled, whispering, “Roses.”
“I’m perfect, baby.”
He pulled back, cupped her cheek. “Yes, you are.”
“See you at the end of the aisle?”
“I’ll be standing next to the groom.” A flash of teeth. “Granted, he or Dev don’t figure out what we were just doing.” Her mouth twitched and he pressed a kiss to each corner. “Plus, I’ll be there to walk you back down it when the carnage is over.”
She snorted and rolled her eyes. “Really?”
“Got you to smile,” he said. “Goal achieved.”
Then with one more kiss, he was gone.
A moment later, she was back inside the bride's room, three women staring at her with smug expressions. Although, her mom’s was laced with tears.
“Mom?” Kels hurried over. “Are you—?”
“I’m so happy that all of my babies are happy,” she said and lost it completely. Kelsey and Rachel hugged her tightly, both sniffing and wiping their own eyes while Heather went for tissues.
“This is exactly why Abby is so obsessed with waterproof mascara,” she muttered, shoving the box in their direction.
Eventually, they mopped up, touched up their makeup, and slipped on their heels. Just in time, too, because Kels’s dad knocked at the door, told them it was game time, then escorted her mom to her seat.
“Ready?” Heather asked.
“Why’d I make this a big thing?” Rachel replied.
“Because you deserve a big thing,” Kelsey said. “And Bas does, too.”
“Right.” Rachel nodded. “I can do this. I’m not going to puke on his shoes—”
“Oh my God,” Heather said. “Do not tell me your pregnant.”
Surprise flickered across her face. “How’d—?”
Rachel bit her lip, probably because Heather was thunderous. “You’ve been holding out on us! And we just had Wine Club last night, and—”
“I only found out this morning,” Rachel said. “I didn’t drink last night because my stomach was off. I thought it was nerves, but then I woke up feeling nauseous and took a test and . . . you can’t say a word! Bas doesn’t even know yet.”
Heather appeared soothed. “I’m the first to know.”
“Well, you and Kelsey.”
Heather considered that. “I’ll accept that.”
Rachel met Kelsey’s gaze and rolled her eyes. “Glad you feel that way. Now, can I trust you guys to keep this to yourselves for a few weeks until everything checks out?”
“No,” Heather said. “But I promise to wait until after the wedding.”
Rachel sighed. “And until I give you the all-clear that Bas knows.”
Another considering pause. Then, “Fine.”
Kelsey shook her head. “So, now that the negotiating is complete, maybe you can go marry my brother? He’s probably getting a little nervous waiting at the end of the aisle by himself.”
Rachel picked up her bouquet and marched to the door. “Let’s do this.”
Eighteen
Tanner
Rachel made a beautiful bride.
But Kelsey was a more stunning bridesmaid.
That was bias talking, but Tan didn’t think Sebastian would fault him for thinking his sister was the most beautiful woman in the world.
He stared at her across the aisle until she caught him looking. Then he mouthed, “I love you,” and got to watch the way her face softened whenever he said—or in this case, mouthed—those words. Either way, her expression was a beautiful thing and he vowed that he was going to keep that look on her face as much as humanly possible.
“You may kiss the bride,” the officiate said, forcing Tanner to focus back on the ceremony.
Bas kissed his bride for a long, sweet moment before they broke apart and were announced as Mr. and Mrs. Scott.
That detail had surprised Tanner earlier during the rehearsal, Rachel being eager to change her last name, when he knew that Bas didn’t give a damn. But then Bas had told him all she’d been through, and Tanner had realized that for Rachel, this was a clean start. A new life. A new family. A new name.
Yeah, he understood that.
Bas and Rachel held hands and walked down the aisle of the church, their small gathering of friends and family filling the pews. But the cheering was loud and the love in the room all-encompassing.
Tanner couldn’t help himself.
He picked up the camera he’d held at his side and snapped a few shots of the receding bride and groom, of the space. He knew the photographer they hired was totally capable, but he also knew himself.
And for that reason, he also shot several dozen of Kelsey staring after her brother, huge smile on her lips, tears streaking down her cheeks.
And a few more when she glanced at him and he dropped his camera briefly to mouth, “I love you” again, capturing her face changing and knowing without a doubt that it would be his favorite photo he’d ever taken.
Then he crossed the aisle and offered her his elbow.
As they walked out of the church, he knew that someday soon, he was going to convince her to repeat the walk, only it would be in a wedding dress and with a ring on her finger.
The cake had been cut, the bouquet and garter tossed, and Bas and Rachel were plastered against each other on the dance floor.
Kelsey had been plastered against him but was currently giving her feet a break.
Because apparently, the five-inch stilettos she was sporting weren’t all that comfortable. Funny that.
But Tan
kept finding these moments where he fell more in love with her.
Standing across the aisle from her.
The way she said, “Morning” when she woke in his arms.
How she’d handed him his camera then had told him to make Bas and Rachel’s night by giving them “some fancy, overpriced photos from a fancy, famous photographer.”
So he’d had a quick chat with the paid photographer to make sure he wouldn’t be in her way or mess up her shot list, then had gotten to work.
The discarded bouquet with its ribbons drifting down over the table.
Fairy lights buried in greenery with just a glimpse of Bas and Rachel in the background, still dancing.
A discarded pair of white heels, the moon high in the sky.
Bare toes peaking beneath white lace.
Kelsey’s shining brown hair, the updo having finally given way, tumbling down her back in a riot of curls.
He shifted the camera, wanting to get a shot of her profile, when he noticed she was talking to someone, her purse in one hand, her cell in the other. Her jaw was tight, shoulders stiff.
Who was—?
He dropped the lens and his heart sank.
She was talking to Tom. Or more accurately, it appeared that she was arguing with Tom.
“What the fuck?” he snapped, weaving his way through the tables to get to them. What the hell was his agent doing there, and why in the fuck was he talking to Kelsey? More importantly, what had he said that had upset her so much?
She put her palm up, cutting off Tom and standing.
Then she turned and hurried away.
“Kels!” he called, but either she couldn’t hear him over the music, or more likely, whatever Tom had told her had royally fucked things up between them. He finally reached his agent, his wedding-crashing, now-fired agent, and grabbed the lapels of Tom’s suit, shaking him roughly. “What did you tell her?” he growled. “What the fuck did you say to her?”
Tom winced and tried to push him away. “What the fuck, man?”
Tan held fast. “I asked. What the. Fuck. Did. You. Tell. Her?”
“Jesus, Tanner, get your shit together,” Tom said. “I was already in the area when you’d called, so I put out some feelers. I got the normal offers.” He paused. “Then I got a fucking incredible offer.”
“Does this offer involve staying in the Bay Area?”
“Well, no,” Tom said. “But I know you’re going to take it because it’s only three months, but it’s in Antarctica and—”
“I’m not going to Antarctica.”
“You love it there!”
“I’m not going.”
“It pays—”
Tanner’s hands, still locked in the lapels of Tom’s suit, tightened further. “I don’t think you’re understanding this, Tom. I’m done with how I used to work. I want a life. A real life, and that means one with the woman I love. The woman who just ran off because you upset her. And that means you’re fired.”
“Tanner,” Tom said. “I didn’t— She was already—”
He didn’t stop to hear any more of Tom’s excuses. Fuck, really? Crashing a wedding, confronting his woman. What the fuck was wrong with him? Tan ran in the direction Kels had disappeared, out the side door that led to the parking lot.
She’d looked panicked.
Fuck.
He sprinted down the hall, pushed out into the cold, eyes scanning the lot for her car.
Still there.
His pulse calmed slightly.
She was still there.
But where?
He spun in a circle, trying to catch sight of her, but there was nothing.
Except . . .
He heard her cry out.
Shit, he’d made her cry. He’d hurt her again.
Tanner ran in the direction of the sound, turning the corner and going from panicked, worried, and slightly pissed-off to enraged.
Some idiot had his hands on her.
“Stop,” Kelsey said, trying to shove him off and teetering on her heels.
The man gripped her hips, one hand snaking down to grab her ass. “I just want a little—”
Tanner stopped thinking. He reacted, ripping the man off her and punching him hard in the face. Pain erupted in his hand, but he didn’t stop, just kept at him with his fists until he felt Kelsey’s palm on his back.
“Tan. Stop.”
Fuck.
He dropped the drunk, who was sporting a bloody nose and already forming a black eye and turned to her.
“I’m not going to Antarctica.”
Her face changed, concern morphing into confusion. “Um, I know that, Tan.”
“But Tom said he’d told you I was leaving.”
She pulled out a tissue from her purse and wrapped it over his fingers. At the same time, a burly dude in an apron burst out of the restaurant. “I saw the whole thing, got it on video, too. Cops are coming.” His eyes went to Kelsey. “Sorry, I couldn’t get out here in time to help. That guy is a fucking problem.”
Kels sucked in a breath and Tanner saw her hands were shaking, even though she forced her words to sound light. “Luckily, I’m friends with Rebecca Darden. I think she’ll be able to make him go away for a long time.”
The fucker on the ground actually whimpered then started to push to his feet, as though he were going to run.
Thankfully, the chef stomped a foot on the man’s chest and held him in place. “Got him,” he said. “I’m Brent, by the way.”
“Tanner,” he replied.
“Kelsey,” she said.
“I know, darlin’,” Brent said, “I’ve seen you in here with your friends. But I think you’d better go sit down now.”
She nodded, and Tanner slipped a hand around her waist, noticing that she’d gone from hands shaking to full-body trembling. “I’m taking her to the back. We’ll be there if the cops need us to make a statement.”
“Roger that,” Brent said, and Tanner bustled Kelsey to the back room. The tables were decorated for the wedding, the remnants of a buffet along one wall, but thankfully most of the wedding party was out back on the covered patio, socializing and dancing.
He’d thought a bar was an odd place for a wedding, especially since everyone had been bustled out to the patio for dessert and dancing after finishing their meals, but now Tan was just glad to have a warm, empty room to bring Kels.
“I wasn’t paying attention,” she murmured as he sat her down on a chair and squatted in front of her. “I should have been paying attention—”
“That was not your fault,” he said.
She blinked.
“No one has the right to touch you without you wanting them to. Got me?”
Hard words. Sharp words. But they seemed to snap her out of her trembling.
“Thank you,” she said. “For being there. I couldn’t get him off me a-and I was getting really scared.”
Tanner wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly against his chest, brushing his hand through her hair. “I’m not going anywhere, sweetheart.”
“I know.” He opened his mouth to tell her again that Tom was wrong, but then she shifted back, glancing down at his knuckles. “Still bleeding,” she murmured, pulling back the soaked tissue.
“It’s nothing.”
“You came.” She smiled up at him. “I knew you would come. That you weren’t leaving.”
“But you ran off, sweetheart.”
Her face changed from hazy to focused and alarmed. “I need my phone.”
“What?”
“Tanner,” she said. “I need my phone. It’s why I was out there. Why—” When he held it up from where he’d retrieved it and her purse from the ground, she snatched it from his hand and immediately began dialing.
“Hello? Mark? Yes, I’m okay.” She sucked in a breath. “No, you have to reset the program, and . . .” She rattled on for several minutes in a language he didn’t understand. “No. Not like that. It’ll crash the whole system. You need to
. . .” She kept talking, and Tanner finally began putting the pieces together. By the time she hung up after a, “Yes, exactly that. Now there shouldn’t be any further problems, but call me if something comes up,” he understood.
She set her phone on the table, still pale, but no longer shaking or out of it.
“You didn’t leave because of Tom.”
Kels shook her head, lips curving up. “I have my intern watching the new program we’re testing this weekend.” She shrugged. “He fucked up. Thankfully, it was salvageable.”
“You didn’t leave because he told you—”
Her finger pressed to his lips. “I didn’t leave because of him or even because of you. If you’d checked your phone, you would have seen I texted you I was out front.”
“But—”
“Also, I’m not a woman who changes her mind easily. So, when I told you I loved you, I meant it, and I’m not letting that go this time.” Her finger lifted. “I should have fought harder last time, but then again”—her voice softened—“I think we both have a lot of should haves.”
He touched her cheek. “Yes, we do.”
“And I also understand why you left before. I mean, I think it was really fucking stupid, but you were also twenty-one,” she teased. He snorted, but his lips were curving.
“Thanks for that,” he muttered. “And for the record, I told Tom I would only take jobs in the Bay Area for now.”
Her eyes went soft. “Baby.”
“I want us to have a chance to get back to what we had, to build something strong.”
“I don’t care if you take the job in Antarctica. Or one in Australia. Or Timbuktu. I don’t care because I know you’ll come back, Tanner.” Her forehead dropped to his. “And that is all I’ve ever needed.”
“I love you.”
More soft that Tanner soaked up and held tight.
“Also, I fired Tom.”
“If it was because of what he said to me, that’s stupid. If it’s because he crashed my brother’s wedding, then maybe he deserves it.” Lips brushing across his. “But also, maybe I can help him learn some appropriate boundaries before you shitcan him.”
“I don’t think that’s possible.”
“I’m always up for a challenge.” A beat. “But if he crashes our wedding, then he’s definitely fired.”