by Lisa G Riley
Sloan pulled her hand back around, then kissed the fingers one by one. “The lump is gone, Ken. It’s been gone for a while.”
“God, I’m so sorry, honey. I should have been there for you. I should have listened to you.”
“Yes, you should have, but it’s all right. I prefer things this way anyway. You came to me without needing the explanation, and that says a lot.”
“Will you tell me why you had second thoughts about marrying me? That is what you meant when you left me the message saying you were questioning, isn’t it?”
“Yes. When I woke up that morning, all I could think about was you and how you’d wanted to postpone the wedding, or how you’d asked me if I was sure I wanted to marry you. All of that hit me that morning, and in the most basic terms, I had to ask myself if I wanted to take the risk of marrying you with the possibility that you’d never be really happy or trusting.”
Kendra cleared her throat. “And I take it the answer was yes,” she said meekly.
“Yes.”
Kendra wrapped her arms around his neck. “Oh God, Sloan, I really am so sorry. Now what else can I do to make up for being so stubborn and wrong?”
“There’s nothing, Kendra.”
“Nothing at all?”
“Nope,” he assured her and playfully kissed her nose before adjusting the two of them so that he was on his back and she was lying on his chest. “Last night had a lot to do with your coming here today, didn’t it?”
“Yeah, it did. I thought I was going to lose you for good.”
“Thank God that didn’t happen,” Sloan said fervently. “Thank God for fat fingers and bad aims.”
“Yeah, thank God. So what happens with Barlow and Patrick now?”
“They’re going to jail, of course. They’ll probably be charged with two counts of attempted murder, theft, and a whole host of other things.”
“Were you as surprised about Patrick as I was?”
“Absolutely. I guess he and Barlow have been in a relationship almost as long as Patrick’s been with the firm. Patrick was in way over his head. And Barlow… Despite the fact that he has no expenses, lives rent free, and gets a generous allowance from his aunt every month, he wasn’t satisfied. He’d been trying to get his hands on more of her money for years. In his mind, I guess Patrick was just the ticket.”
“God, what a patsy,” Kendra opined as she settled more comfortably. “We’ll both have to testify, I guess.”
“Yes, if it comes to that.”
“I was so scared,” she said in a muffled voice as she tightened her arms around him.
Sloan rubbed soothingly at the goose bumps that had popped up on her arm, and kissed the top of her head in commiseration. “Me too.”
“How was Mrs. Patterson when you last saw her?”
“By the time I got to the station, she’d stopped crying and pounced on me to recommend a criminal defense attorney for Barlow.”
Kendra raised her head to look at him. “You’re kidding, right? Well, she has some nerve! I hope you told her no. I mean, her nephew tried to kill you!”
Grinning, Sloan pushed her head back down. “Calm down. Mrs. Patterson, as usual, was oblivious. She didn’t understand that there might be a conflict of interest. All she knew was that the person she loves most in the world was in trouble, and she wanted to get him the best help she could. I can understand that, but I did tell her that under the circumstances, I couldn’t help her. She’s decided that living on a cruise ship will have to wait because her baby Barlow needs her.”
“Blech,” Kendra said definitively. “You know, when we were being shot at wasn’t the only time I felt like I could lose you for good.”
“What do you mean?”
She shrugged a naked shoulder. “You were so cold to me yesterday. It was like you couldn’t stand the sight of me anymore. I almost talked myself into believing that you didn’t love me anymore.”
Sloan frowned. “It wasn’t that. I was just so angry at you for being so stubborn, and when you showed up yesterday—still unenlightened—I got fed up. There you were, looking beautiful and still holding my heart in your teeth, and I couldn’t have you. I was sick of it.”
Sloan was silent while Kendra plucked at the hair on his chest. He could tell she was nervous about something.
“Sloan?”
“Hmm?”
“I love you. Will you marry me?”
“What?” Sloan reared up to look at her, dislodging her in the process.
“I still want us to get married, and this time I want to be the one to ask.”
“Why, Kendra, this is so sudden!” He laughed.
Kendra blinked back tears. “It’s not funny, Sloan,” she said quietly.
“Oh, baby. Of course I’ll marry you.” He whispered the promise as he licked tears from her cheeks. He turned so that she was lying on her back. Then he kneed her legs open and lay between her thighs. He watched her neck arch and heard her breath catch in the back of her throat as he slid deeply into her. “Nobody and nothing will stop me,” he assured her.
*
Kendra held the telephone receiver and listened to the ringing on the other end of the line. She counted only seven rings, but it seemed to take forever before her mother picked up.
“Hi, Mom.”
“Good morning.”
“Sloan and I are getting married.”
“That’s good,” Camille answered, and Kendra heard the sincerity in her voice. “Congratulations.”
“Thank you, Mom. I’m really happy.”
“Yes, I can tell. And just how is Sloan this morning? Please tell him hello from me.”
“Mom says hello, Sloan,” Kendra told him with her hand covering the mouthpiece. She smiled when he looked surprised, and cocked her head in inquiry when he didn’t say anything.
Sloan grunted. Kendra understood. He had every reason to take a wait-and-see approach with Camille.
“Sloan says good morning,” Kendra lied. “But anyway, we’re getting married next May.”
Sloan went back to reading his paper. “Was she happy for us?” he asked after she’d hung up.
“You might not believe this,” Kendra told him as she sat in his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck, “but she truly is. I even think she might be as excited as I am for the wedding.”
“Seems to me that that would be impossible, as you’re clearly about to burst.”
“I know,” she admitted. “It’s truly outrageous the way I’m feeling. I’m more excited for this wedding than I was for the first.”
“Why?”
“Because we’ve come through the storm, and we’ve survived,” she said seriously as she bent to kiss him. “I love you.”
“I love you.”
Epilogue
The maître d’ stood imperiously outside the ornate closed doors leading to the biggest private room the upscale Gold Coast restaurant had to offer. It took months on a waiting list to even be seated in the restaurant. But today anyone who showed the man with the arrogant smirk on his face a specially engraved invitation with the words Shhh! Surprise Ceremony for Kendra Masters. Don’t Say a Word, embossed on it was allowed admittance into the coveted inner sanctum of one of the most popular restaurants in the country.
Kendra held Sloan’s arm as he led her to the door. She lifted a brow when she saw the austere steward standing there blocking the doors as if he were guarding the crown jewels from invading hordes. “Woo-hoo, this shindig really is a big deal, huh? Now I see why you wanted me to wear this dress tonight.” He’d insisted she put on the long white gown before he would let her leave the bedroom that evening. “It was worth all those hours in the spa and the hairdresser’s for a party this important. Tell me. Did I get those ‘sexy, bouncy, lust-inspiring curls’ that you wanted?”
“Pure poetry, wasn’t it?”
“Yes, you’re a regular John Keats.”
Sloan laughed and nodded at the steward. “Good evening. Kendra Mas
ters and Sloan Johnson.”
As the maître d’ pushed the doors open, Sloan whispered into her ear, “I’m not all that familiar with Mr. Keats’s work, but he’s all right with me if he’s the one who wrote ‘There once was an old man from Buck. Boy, did he like to…”
So when the assembled guests looked up, what they saw was a radiant Kendra, dressed in white silk and diamonds and…laughing hysterically and burying her embarrassed face in the shoulder of Sloan’s traditional tuxedo as he escorted her into the room.
Kendra made herself calm down as she looked curiously around the room. When she spotted Mozell with a strained smile on her face and sitting stiffly next to a stern-faced Connor, she whispered to Sloan, “I thought you said this was a dinner party for one of your clients. What are Mozell and…?” She trailed off when she caught sight of Camille, Amy and her children, Kyle, and Mr. and Mrs. Johnson sitting together in a cluster. They waved at her. Confused, she slowly waved back. She spotted other familiar faces.
“Oh my gosh! Is that Tory?” she asked as her friend smiled beatifically at her and waved. “Sloan, what’s going on?”
“Come on, Ken. We’re needed in the front of the room.” Sloan grabbed her hand, but Kendra trailed him, too busy looking over her shoulder at all the people she recognized.
Kendra stopped, though, when Sloan did, and looked at the man who began to rise. “Father Quigley?” she said in surprise.
“Hello, Kendra.”
Kendra looked at Sloan, who had snagged her chin and gently forced her head around so he could look into her eyes.
“Listen, sweetheart,” he said. “This is your wedding day.”
“Wedding day?” Kendra said in confused surprise. “But we’re not getting married until May, Sloan. Remember?”
Sloan bent down and kissed her. “You’re so adorable when you’re befuddled.” This drew a laugh from the guests. “Yes, we are getting married in May, but we’re also getting married today.”
Kendra’s eyes filled with tears as she realized what he had done. “But I’m not worried, Sloan. I trust you and I know—”
He pressed two fingers against her lips. “Hush now, Ken. Today is your wedding day. Enjoy it.”
Kendra pressed a kiss to his fingers and smiled. She turned back to Father Quigley, who took that as a sign that he could begin.
“Dearly beloved…”
*
Kendra sat next to Sloan. She was sure that she was glowing like a neon sign, but she didn’t care. She looked around her at all her family and friends and smiled more. Everyone had eaten, and now it was time for dancing. Sloan had actually pulled off a surprise wedding. I always said the man had skills. She turned and kissed his cheek.
“What was that for?” he asked.
“Just because. This is wonderful, Sloan,” she whispered. “And so thoughtful and…and, well I’m just overwhelmed.”
Sloan pressed a brief kiss to her mouth. “Good.”
“I love it, Sloan, but you do know I trust you and I could have waited until next May for our wedding, don’t you?”
“Yes, but I figured why wait? I wanted you to be my wife.”
Kendra only smiled. She knew he had done this for her, and she loved him for it. “All right, if you say so. But I want you to know that a May wedding is completely unnecessary now.”
“That works for me too. Let’s dance. We have to start it off, right?”
Kendra took his hand and rose from her seat. “I think I vaguely remember being told that the last time we tried to plan one of these.”
Sloan squeezed her hand as they walked to the center of the floor. “Stop being such a bad girl.”
“What’ll you do to me if I don’t?” she asked seductively as he pulled her into his arms.
Sloan threw his head back and laughed. “Oh, wouldn’t you like to know?” He signaled the deejay to begin.
The strains of Stevie Wonder’s “I Was Made to Love Her” filled the room. Kendra tightened her arms around his neck, knowing that the song held special meaning for him. “I love you, Sloan.”
Sloan held her tight, humming along with the song. For the second time in the song, Stevie sang, “My baby loves me, my baby needs me, and you know I ain’t goin’ nowhere.”
Looking into her eyes, Sloan whispered the words to Kendra right along with the song.
And she whispered the words right back.
She framed his face in her hands. “I know you’re not, Sloan, I know,” she said and met him halfway when he bent his head to kiss her.
When Stevie’s “Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours” began to pulse into the room, Kendra shook her head at his choice of this particular song.
He laughed and pulled her back into his arms.
Loose Id Titles by Lisa G. Riley
Do Me Right
Given
With Roslyn Hardy Holcomb
Lisa G. Riley
Author Lisa G. Riley’s work has been called “character and issue driven,” “exciting,” “passionate,” and “thought provoking.” The author of four novels and four novellas, Ms. Riley specializes in writing romantic suspense with erotic elements. She has also written paranormal pieces. She resides in Chicago where she is hard at work on her next project.