by Emery Cross
I watched Rafferty’s eyes darken with a fierceness that made me quickly pull the ring off my finger. I tucked it carefully in my purse.
We both turned at the sound of the door sliding open. The woman in the twin-set and pearls who’d booked our ceremony announced that it was time.
I realized the moment we stood before the preacher that the coffee had been a mistake. I was a jittery mess. My hands were clammy, and my heart seemed to be skipping beats. I remained on the verge of tears throughout the entire ceremony.
On the drive to the hotel, Rafferty barely spoke a word. He’d confessed his feelings for me, and I’d said nothing. I could sense him stewing on it. The beautiful ring felt like a weight of responsibility. But I knew I would forever be loyal to him, I just had to convince him of that.
The room turned out to be a penthouse suite. There were vases of flowers and champagne chilling and a basket of cheese and crackers. A half wall separated the living room from the bedroom, with a modern fireplace inset in the dividing wall that could be viewed from both rooms.
He was going through all the motions. Setting his keys down, removing his jacket and tie, but I could tell his mind was elsewhere. He stopped suddenly and braced himself on his fisted hands on the low dresser. His shoulders were hunched, his head lowered, his inky black locks falling over his forehead.
“Dammit, Remi, you nearly stopped my heart today.”
“I’m sorry. But it was just coffee. You need to trust me.”
He turned around and faced me with an incredulous expression on his face. “Baby, you spent the two weeks marking off the damn days until you could be free of me?”
“You’ve never been bought and paid for. No matter how much I enjoyed being with you, it was hard not to jerk at the chain.”
“Well, you’re my wife now. So no more threats to leave me. And no more secrets.”
“No more secrets,” I echoed.
He crossed his arms over his chest. “You know, let’s start now. Tell me something about yourself.”
I nervously twisted a lock of hair around my finger. “You wondered if I’d grown up in the south. I lived in Missouri until my father left. He was a musician…bluegrass. Called the clubs he played at honky tonks. He was never home and when he was, my parents fought. Actually, my mother screamed and my father broke things. It may have been about her drug habit.” I shrugged. “One day he was there, and the next he wasn’t. I haven’t seen him since I was ten. After we left Missouri, we moved in with my mother’s sister but that didn’t last long. We ended up in California.”
He crossed the room and pulled me into his arms. “Not so difficult, is it?”
The delicious scent of him, the masculine solidness of him, the contentment I felt just being close to him made me sigh with pleasure. “You were wrong,” I said. “You didn’t fall in love alone.” I could feel his body jolt.
He dug his hands in my hair and tilted my head. His blue eyes scrutinized my face. “Put me out of my misery, Remi. Tell me how wrong I was. Say the words.”
Tears rolled down my cheeks.
He wiped the tears away with his thumbs, but they kept coming. “I thought I wasn’t worth tears.”
“I know better now. You’re worth everything.” I buried my face against his chest. “Rafferty Cade, you’re my man,” I said with a little southern lilt. “I’m madly in love with you.”