“Cowboy? Bite your tongue woman. I’m a stallion. The. Best. Man. Pretty sure everyone knows who’s the star around here.”
When Rhys claimed it, Lincoln gave him a playful shove on the shoulder. “Uh, excuse me, dude. Check yourself. I’m pretty sure I am the best man.”
Violet giggled.
Only Rhys would try to usurp the position.
“Semantics,” Rhys said with a grin. “We all know who Richey-Poo here really loves best.”
He lifted his glass higher in the direction where Violet and Richard stood, a smug, affable grin playing all over his face.
A ripple of laughter blew through. The mood light. Joy in the air.
“Just hurry it up, man, we know the way you do,” Shawn goaded, taking a drink of his beer.
Shawn was the one Violet knew least. The one member the rest of them hadn’t grown up with, but he’d become close friends with them once he’d joined the band. He was the one her sister had a mad crush on. Had gone home with the same night as Violet had gone home with Richard, though Violet was worried that was where their connection ended.
Shawn was not into her the same way.
Treating her with an air of indifference except for the times when he was in town and texted her for company.
Just a good old-fashioned booty call.
Violet hoped her Lily would cut the ties.
Shawn pointed at Rhys with the index finger of the hand he had wrapped around a beer bottle. “We leave it up to you and our poor man Richard here is gonna be missin’ out on the good stuff on his wedding night.”
It was pure suggestion.
“Fine. Fine. We definitely wouldn’t want our boy here to go without. And I mean, have you seen his wife?” Rhys said with a glint in his eye. “I’m not sure how he’s still hanging out here.”
He lifted his glass. “To one beautiful bride and one lucky asshole who gets to forever have her by his side.”
A chorus of hoots and hollers went up through the wedding party and the small number of guests, and this time Violet really was blushing when her sister was quick to add, “Have you seen her husband? I’m thinkin’ it’s my sister who is antsy to get the heck out of here.”
“Liliana,” Violet hissed under her breath with a laugh.
They were all gonna get it.
Her sister waved her off, lifting her glass, looking so gorgeous in her slinky, dusty blue chiffon dress that Violet was certain she was the one who was stealing the show. “I second what Rhys said—to one beautiful bride—the most beautiful bride to ever live—and to her husband who gets to live his days with someone as amazing as her.”
She met her sister’s eye.
Adoration pulsed.
The sincerity of what she’d said.
“I love you, Violet. I couldn’t ask for a better sister. For a better friend. There is no bigger joy than getting to witness you find the kind of joy you have found because you deserve it more than anyone else. You are the meaning of family. I respect you with all I have and can’t wait to see the love and happiness you find in this life.”
Liliana’s voice turned wry, “And to Richard because he is a great guy even though I was pretty sure I was goin’ to have to chop off his hands and another important piece of his body that first night with how handsy he got. One look, and the boy was a goner.”
She quirked a brow.
Their daddy rumbled a low grumble.
Embarrassed, Violet pressed her face into her husband’s chest, unable to believe these were the kind of toasts their friends and family were gettin’ up to, even though she shouldn’t have been surprised at all.
Richard only held her by the back of the head and laughed, his low, seductive voice reverberating through her, “All right, is someone gonna give a real toast so we can eat that cake? Because truth be told, I am anxious to get my gorgeous wife out of here.”
Violet curled her hand in his shirt and grinned up at him. “You’re in so much trouble.”
He smirked down at her. “I hope so.”
“Yes, someone is going to make a real toast,” her daddy interjected. He walked up to where Rhys had been holding the microphone, took it, and ribbed Rhys with his elbow. “My turn, cowboy,” he teased with a smile.
Chuckling, Rhys stepped aside, while Violet’s mama sidled in closer and took her free hand.
Her mama turned her gaze on her.
Her dark eyes filled with pure, absolute affection. Black hair the same color as Violet’s billowed in the wind.
Love filled Violet to overflowing.
So intense.
So much.
So beautiful.
She squeezed her mama’s hand and mouthed, I love you.
I love you more, she returned.
Her daddy lifted his glass. “To two beautiful people with the proof of love shining in their eyes. To passion. To joy. To family. To fidelity. To everything that will make your relationship continue to flourish and grow like the blooms that flourish around us. May you have a love like the love I’ve shared with your mother. The kind of love that never ends but only grows so deep in your soul it has no chance of wilting.”
Her chest squeezed.
“Violet and Richard…live your life. Run it together. Never stray. I know you have what it takes. Never let that light go dim.”
Everyone lifted their glasses. Richard turned Violet to face him, and she took a sip of the bubbly champagne while everyone cheered, and Richard did the same, their eyes never leaving the others’.
He set both their flutes aside and took her by the hand so he could lead her onto the middle of the dance floor.
On cue, the band struck up.
Richard gathered her in his strong, protective arms, and he began to sway her to the slow song that she hadn’t anticipated would play for their first dance.
But oh, was it familiar.
It hitched her breath in a lump at the base of her trembling throat.
Overwhelming.
Completing.
It was a song that Richard had written one long, beautiful night when they’d stayed up until the day was breaking with the dawn. When they’d dreamed and loved and made vows that would forever go on.
He sang it in her ear while he held her in the strength of his arms.
Life spent running
Chasing down a dream
Never saw you coming
Tripping up my feet
You had my heart stalling
Learning how to beat
Never expected love
Beauty breaking the mold
Ripping up the seams
Getting lost in violet
Colors and dreams
Your love a landslide
I’ll follow you to the end
And then I’ll find you all over again
* * *
They were giggling like mad when they burst into the tattoo parlor at just before midnight. Violet was still wearing her dress and Richard was in his fitted suit.
Standing out. They could hardly care about that.
Richard had arranged the appointment, so two artists were already waiting, the work done in a flash, but still, Violet felt every vibration of what they seared on their skin.
A tiny violet on the inside of Richard’s left wrist, and a miniature music note on the inside of Violet’s.
Music and inspiration.
Trust and fidelity.
Hope and commitment.
Her husband watched her as they marked her, those sage eyes staring right into her soul, that tether that bound them thrumming with devotion.
With the moment.
With the magnitude of what it meant.
They were giggling again as they rushed back out.
Richard pressed her to the wall the second they were outside. He kissed her hard.
“My wife,” he mumbled into her mouth and then he was sweeping her off her feet and into his arms.
She squealed.
Joy rushed.
Profound.
She curled her arms around his thick neck, and he carried her up the sidewalk. The night was all around them, the bugs trilling from their shelter in the trees.
Refusing to set her down, he carried her all the way to the nicest hotel in Dalton where they were staying, right through the posh lobby and up the lavish stairway to the second floor.
He opened the door to their suite, still holding on, whispering, “My wife, my wife,” as he carried her over the threshold.
My wife.
His confession wound through her being.
The proclamation.
He set her onto her feet at the end of the massive, luxurious bed. He tickled his fingertips along her collarbone exposed by the dress.
Chills raced.
Those eyes traced her, took her in, memorized the moment.
“Beauty. Life. Light. Now I know what it all really means.”
“I love you,” she exhaled. “Forever.”
He slowly undressed her while she undressed him.
Reverent hands. Whispered promises. Their forever bounding out in front of them.
He laid her out on the bed, and he climbed over her, hovering an inch away.
Their bodies hummed.
Heat flooded the space.
Liquid.
Molten.
“My wife. My moonflower in the darkest night. You will always be the song of my heart.”
“My husband. My sun that ushers in the day. You will always be the beat of my heart.”
And their spirits sang together. Their bodies one. Their love abounding.
He held her wrapped tight as he moved over her.
Slow.
Treasured.
A revelry.
Sweat drenched their skin, their passion in sync.
He kissed her deep before he curled an arm around the top of her head, held her face with the other.
Nose to nose.
Breath to breath.
Soul to soul.
“I will never let you go.”
Twenty-Four
Violet
“Hey, Violet, over here!”
I jerked around from where I stood waiting on the sidewalk in front of the single wedding dress shop in Dalton when I heard the voice calling my name from across the parking lot. Emily waved furiously from where she, Melanie, and Royce’s younger sister, Maggie, were climbing out of her car, a huge smile of excitement on her face.
While my insides twisted. Caught in a clamp of dread and this messed up hope that I knew I shouldn’t feel. A smidge of guilt for giving in the way that I had, letting that man touch me last night, all mixed up with the residual of that touch that was still coursing through my veins and heating my flesh.
I was a proper mess.
Bags under my eyes. No sleep to be found. Tossing and turning all night. Eyes still red from crying and body still flying from gettin’ sent to the stars when I’d least expected it.
A goner before I’d even known I’d been struck.
I should have known that’s what would happen when I let Richard Ramsey invade my space.
I wondered if she could see it as she approached, Richard’s sister coming up the sidewalk, wearing shorts and a pretty, flowy tank and wedge heels, blonde hair falling around her shoulders. If she’d notice the way I shifted and tried to hide the evidence of the flush I could feel climbing to my cheeks. If his touch might be glowing on my skin like it felt like it was.
Hell, he might as well have been dipping those wicked hands in paint and leaving the proof all over my skin.
“You beat us,” Emily said, the woman exuding happiness.
I smoothed out the skirt of my sundress. “Just by a minute.”
She had her arms out, reaching for me by the time she was two feet away. She squeezed me in a fierce hug. “I missed you.”
Light laughter rumbled out, affection so thick, my mind so muddled that I had no idea what to do. I pulled back so I could grip her by the hands, voice thick with emotion. “I saw you just two days ago.”
“And that’s far too long.” She squeezed my hands tighter. “How is Daisy?”
“As rambunctious as ever. Apparently, there isn’t a thing that will slow that child down.”
Laughing, Mel edged in for a quick hug. “For real, Vi. I am in straight awe of you. That child is a whip. Nothing but a firecracker. I swear, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when she was trying to convince you she was just fine. You have your hands full with that adorable thing.”
I tugged at a piece of my hair. “There’s a solid chance I’m going gray.”
She giggled and stepped back, her tawny hair held in a sleek ponytail that swished around her shoulders. A coy grin split her pretty face. “Oh, don’t even talk to me about goin’ gray. At least you don’t have to deal with the nonsense of the boys in that band day after day. Good god, I’m lucky I haven’t stroked out. Between Rhys and his constant carousin’, brute nothing but a publicity nightmare, and Richard’s grumbly, brooding ass, it’s a wonder I manage to get any of them out on a stage.”
I ignored the panging in my heart at the mention of his name. “I think she’s askin’ for a raise,” I teased, glancing at Emily.
Emily giggled. “Oh, don’t worry, with the new deal, I’d say she’s sittin’ pretty.”
Mel quirked a brow. “Barely enough to deal with the two of them. I deserve trauma pay.”
“Well, I guess if it’s so horrible, we can find a replacement,” Emily said, words droll. “I wouldn’t want to put you in the position of having to do something you don’t want to do.”
“You wouldn’t dare,” Mel shot out, hand over her heart.
“I just don’t want my best friend to be miserable or anything. I know how much you hate Rhys.” Her brows lifted in suggestion.
I suppressed a giggle. I had no idea how those two hadn’t spit out ten babies by now. Rhys and Mel had always gone round and round like kids on a playground. Rhys might as well have pulled her hair and told her she was ugly with the way that boy chased her around.
Of course, Rhys had a reputation. Women for days, and on most of those days, he was takin’ two or three. But as much as he flirted with Mel, she’d never given in. I’d always figured she didn’t want to be another number. A sideshow. Looking at her now, I doubted very much any of that had changed.
“Rhys is still the same? Actin’ a fool?”
“A blubberin’ idiot is what that boy is,” she grumbled.
“And you get to walk down the aisle with him.” Emily giggled, biting her bottom lip when she said it.
“Shoot me now,” Mel said.
“No can do. I need you for the wedding.”
“I see what’s important.” Mel was laughing when she said it. “I demand a new partner.”
“Fine. Rhys can walk with poor Maggie here. Welcome to the family.” Emily shot Maggie a playful wink.
Maggie blushed. “I think I can handle him.”
“Oh no, poor girl won’t know what hit her,” Melanie said, words wry.
Maggie had been hanging back, watching us, taking us in, so quiet and shy and cute. I raised my hand in a small wave. “It’s nice to see you again, Maggie.”
“Same.” She hugged me in another one of those warm embraces. “I’ve been thinking about you.”
I edged back, catching the expression on her face.
Worry.
Understanding.
This young girl’s spirit was obviously much older than her given years.
“You have?”
Her tongue swept across her lips in discomfort. “It was really hard watching your fear that evening. When she fell. I saw your face.”
She winced.
Her compassion was stark.
Boundless.
Real.
I fought the glimmer of that fear I’d felt that night, and instead chose to be thankful that Richard had been there.
That he’d saved
her.
Circumstances didn’t matter.
There were just some things that trumped all else.
“Thank you. It was definitely scary. Luckily, we only came home with an arm casted and nothing worse.”
She nodded, and Emily gestured to the store. “We’d better get inside. Our appointment is at one. They’ll be waiting for us.”
I tried not to cringe. That was the thing about living in a small town. Memories were going to haunt you wherever you went.
We filtered inside.
“Oh good, Emily and party. Welcome. I’m Letty, and I’ll be assisting you today.” The woman running the store turned her attention to Melanie and gestured to a large rack. “I’ve set aside the dresses you requested.”
By the time I could even orient myself, Melanie had gone all business and was placing a pile of dresses in my arms. “You try on these.” She handed some off to Maggie. “And you’ll model these.”
She took about seventeen of them for herself and hung them in a dressing room.
That was right before she whipped out an iPad from her bag, mumbling at Emily as she scrolled through the screen, “Emily, you still want to do same colors but different styles?”
Emily shifted on her feet. Unsure. “I…I think so. I wanted to see a few options on y’all before we decide. Mia won’t be here until two days before the wedding, so we’ll have to pick one for her and the final alterations will be done then.”
I looked at her in question.
Emily’s smile was almost sympathetic. My sister-in-law who I hardly knew any longer. The details of her life or the people who had become most important to her.
“Mia is Leif’s wife,” she explained.
“Ah.”
Leif was the new drummer. He had taken Shawn’s place after he’d left the band, which I didn’t know the details about that, either. Whatever falling out they’d gone through had happened after I’d been cut from the loop.
Emily reached out and squeezed my hand. “She’s amazin’. You’ll love her. Super sweet. Do you know the band, Sunder?”
I gave a nod. Of course, I knew Sunder. You’d have to live under a rock not to, and considering I kinda did, anyway, meant they were really famous. “Sure.”
“She’s Lyrik West’s younger sister. They met when Leif was playing with Sunder as a fill-in for one of their albums. You’ll love both of them. All of Sunder will actually be here for the wedding. I’ve become really good friends with their wives, and with Carolina George now being under the Stone Industries label, it’s brought us all close together.”
Falling into You Page 23