Diamonds and Dust

by Jessie Evans

  “If you’re planning some kind of secret bachelor and bachelorette party, you can forget it right now.” Mia pointed a firm finger in their direction. “I do not want any of that nonsense. Especially the night before the wedding. We are going to paddle home, take naps, go to the rehearsal dinner tonight and then we’re all going to bed at a decent hour so we look pretty in the wedding photographs. I paid a gazillion dollars for the photographer and I refuse to tolerate puffy beer face from any of you.”

  “When have I ever had puffy beer face?” Tulsi asked with a laugh.

  “Never, but the last time you drank more than a shot of whiskey you almost put Sawyer’s eye out with a pool cue,” Mia said, expression growing even sterner. “And my husband needs his eyes.”

  “Okay, yes, that was bad.” Tulsi’s cheeks flushed a pretty pink that made Pike want to kiss her even more. “But it was an accident and now everyone knows better than to let me hold sharp objects after I’ve been drinking. A little celebration would be fine. You deserve to cut loose and have fun the night before you get married.”

  “No,” Mia insisted. “And you are not allowed to use my love of fun against me, do you hear me Tulsi Renee? I’m serious about this. I will wrestle you to the ground and sit on your tiny body if you try to make me party against my will.”

  “Okay, okay!” Tulsi lifted the hand not holding her coffee into the air in surrender. “I’ll head home after the rehearsal and go straight to bed like a good girl. I swear.” She lifted her coffee, shifting the cup before it touched her lips so only Pike saw the wink she shot him over the rim.

  He fought the urge to laugh. She was the sweetest temptress in the world and he couldn’t wait to help her make that “straight to bed” promise come true. He was going to take her directly home from the rehearsal dinner and keep her in bed until they had to get dressed to go to the wedding the next day.

  He was so eager to be alone with Tulsi that he expected the rest of the day to drag, but the float trip back up the river was even more fun than the day before. The morning was filled with easy conversation, lots of laughs, and so many charged looks between him and Tulsi that he couldn’t believe no one else noticed they could barely keep their hands off of each other. The group parted ways when they reached the trucks, and everyone returned home to rest and get ready for the wedding rehearsal. But two hours later he and Tulsi were under the trees in his parents’ yard, standing beside the wooden pulpit the preacher had set up in the center of the path leading into the woods, watching Mia walk down the aisle toward her future husband.

  Pike kept stealing glances at Tulsi as the preacher walked Sawyer and Mia through the different portions of the ceremony, hoping it wouldn’t be long before she’d be the one in white. He didn’t want to rush her, but they’d already wasted so much time.

  “How long until you’re wearing my ring?” he whispered later as they sat around the crowded table in his parents’ house, his words muffled by the noise of all his friends and family talking at once.

  “A month maybe,” Tulsi whispered behind her wine glass. “That sound good?”

  “As long as we pick a date not long after.” He found her hand under the tablecloth. “I already know I don’t like being away from you. And the sooner we’re married, the longer we’ll have to enjoy each other during the off season.”

  She took a bracing breath and nodded as she squeezed his hand tight, the excitement he felt for the life ahead of them reflected in her eyes.

  Later that night, they made love in her big bed, then lay holding hands, staring up at the stars through the skylight, talking dreams the way they had when they were younger. Pike promised Tulsi he’d have all her horses brought to the ranch in Montana and help her set up another equine therapy business there if she wanted. She said she’d prefer to homeschool Clementine for a year or two, instead, so that they could travel with Pike and watch the games. Pike—who loved the idea of never being apart—promised that the other wives would love her and Clem and make them both feel right at home.

  “It’s no picnic traveling as much as we do, but the families stick together,” Pike said, running his fingers up and down Tulsi’s bare shoulder as she rested her cheek on his chest. “And even if I make a full recovery and am back on the mound in a few weeks, I don’t see myself lasting into my forties. I’ve got five or six more years, maybe seven if my rotator cuff holds up. By the time our third baby’s born, we should be ready to retire to the ranch and raise kids and horses.”

  Tulsi propped up on her elbow and stared down at him with a bemused expression. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”

  “Dead serious,” he said, reaching down to squeeze her bare bottom. “It’s this primal thing we alpha males suffer from when we’re in love. We can’t wait to get our women knocked up.”

  Tulsi giggled. “Take it easy, Mr. Alpha Male. Let’s wait and see how much you enjoy three months without sleep with the first baby and then we’ll talk about two and three. I’ve been through this once you know. I’ve still got battle scars on my soul from rocking Clem from two to four every morning while she screamed bloody murder.”

  “Our kids won’t have colic,” Pike said, pulling her on top of him, groaning when he felt her wet heat brush against where he was already hard again. “Our kids will be perfect specimens of health like their father.”

  He expected Tulsi to laugh, but she only ducked her head, letting her hair fall around her face.

  “Hey,” he said softly, cupping her cheek in his hand. “I was just kidding. It was a joke, Tuls.”

  “I know…I just don’t want Clementine to feel left out,” she said softly. “You know, if we really do have this big family and she’s the only one without a daddy.”

  “She won’t be,” Pike promised. “I’ll be her daddy, too. There might be a learning curve since I’ve never done the dad thing before, but I’ll keep at it until I get it right with Clem. And we can talk adoption when we’re all ready, since her bio dad isn’t in the picture.”

  He paused, waiting for Tulsi to say something, but she stayed quiet.

  “Tulsi?” He threaded his fingers gently through her hair. “You okay?”

  “I’m…so good,” she said, but there was a hitch in her voice and when she looked up her eyes were shining. “I love you.”

  “I love you, too,” he said, unable to shake the feeling that there was something she wasn’t telling him. “Are you sure everything is all right?”

  She nodded. “Perfect. You’re a good man, you know that?”

  “And you’re a good woman.” He kissed her softly on the forehead, deciding to let it go. Tulsi would talk about what was bothering her when she was ready. There was no point pushing the issue, especially when there were so many more enjoyable things they could be doing.

  “Very good, except when you’re bad,” he added, his hands skimming down her bare back, from her shoulders to the irresistible curve of her ass. “And I like that, too.”

  “Oh yeah?” Tulsi smiled as her legs spread wider and she rocked sensuously against him. “You mean like this?”

  “Just like that.” He bit his lip as his fingers pressed into the curves of her hips. Moments later, Tulsi’s breasts were in his mouth and her heat was encasing him as he thrust up inside her—hard and deep, but not quite deep enough.

  “I want you from behind,” he said, groaning when Tulsi whimpered—that soft, hungry sound all he needed to hear to know she wanted that as much as he did.

  He pulled out and rolled them both over, pinning Tulsi’s slim body flat on the bedspread beneath him before he slid back inside her from behind. She spread her legs and arched her hips, taking him deeper until his cock was buried to the hilt and every thrust ended with his pelvis rocking against her sweet ass.

  As soon as they found their rhythm, Pike reached beneath Tulsi, sliding his hand down her stomach to circle her clit with his fingers. He kissed her neck as he played with her until she arched more powerfully into his thrusts, h
er breath coming in swift pants so sexy Pike couldn’t resist nipping at her shoulder with his teeth.

  “Yes,” she cried out, squirming beneath him, building the tension coiling low in his body. “Do it again. Bite me again.”

  And so he did, digging his teeth into the muscled flesh near the curve of her neck as he rammed inside her slick channel, groaning as another wave of heat rushed from her body in response. Feeling her juices coating his cock, realizing how intensely he affected the woman in his arms, was all it took to send Pike over. He came with a cry, circling Tulsi’s clit with his fingers until he felt her tumble over seconds later, her contractions milking every drop of release from his body.

  “So good,” he murmured as they lay entwined after, catching their breath. He kissed a trail along her shoulder, his final kiss ending in a curse when he saw the teeth marks near her neck.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked, shifting beneath him.

  “I left a mark.” Pike ran his fingertips lightly over the faintly red skin. “Shit, Tuls, you’re going to have a bruise.”

  “It’s okay, baby,” she said, obviously hearing the distress in his tone. “It doesn’t hurt. I liked it. I asked you to do it, don’t feel bad.”

  Pike pulled out gently, still ashamed of himself. “But I should have had more control. And what if people see it tomorrow? What are you going to say? Your bridesmaid dress is strapless, right?”

  “It’s really no big deal.” Tulsi rolled over with a happy sigh and stretched her arms over her head. “It’s probably time people realized I’m a sex maniac who likes to be bitten when my lover takes me from behind.”

  Pike snorted and swatted the side of her ass, but that only made her laugh.

  “It’s always the quiet ones, you know,” she said, continuing to giggle. “We’re all wild sex perverts, with dark, forbidden desires.”

  Pike shook his head, but he couldn’t keep from grinning. She was too wickedly cute to keep a straight face. “How about I help you cover it up with some makeup tomorrow morning and we keep your dark, forbidden desires between you and me, wild thing?”

  Tulsi rolled her eyes with a dramatic sigh. “Okay, party pooper. I guess that’ll work, too, if you think it’s best.”

  Pike laughed. “I think Clem came by the ornery streak honestly is what I think.” He drew Tulsi back onto his chest and kissed the top of her head. “But I’m glad I’m the only one who knows you’re trouble.”

  “Me too” Tulsi whispered. “I love you, Pike.”

  “I love you, too,” Pike said, his eyes sliding closed. He was out like a light, moments later.

  He slept hard, dreaming of a future with Tulsi and another sweet little girl with her blond curls and his eyes. By the next day, he had nearly forgotten about the strained moment when he offered to adopt Clem or his brief suspicion that Tulsi was keeping something important from him.

  He would only remember when the truth finally came out at five thirty the following evening and his entire world was turned upside down.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Tulsi

  It was Mia’s big day, but Tulsi couldn’t help feeling like the luckiest woman in Texas.

  As she walked down the aisle, with the afternoon sun warm on her face and a gentle breeze setting the wind chimes in the trees to tinkling, filling the air with fairy music, she felt so full of joy, hope, and gratitude she wouldn’t have been surprised to find her boots floating off the lavender carpet spread out on top of the trail. The weather was beautiful, the chairs on either side of the aisle were filled with friends and family, and the love of her life was starting down the aisle behind her.

  Pretty soon she and Pike would be standing side by side as Mia’s maid and man of honor, watching two people they loved promise their lives and hearts to each other. And someday, not too far from now, she and Pike would be doing the same. They were going to have their happily ever after, with enough love in it to make up for all the hard years apart. Tulsi could see the beautiful years stretching out in front of them, filled with more sweet babies, trail rides on Pike’s ranch, family holidays and celebrations, and long nights together spent learning how to drive each other even more wild than they did already.

  Tulsi reached the end of the aisle and took her place next to her friend Bubba—Mia’s other “bridesmaid”—and turned around, meeting Pike’s gaze as he walked slowly down the aisle, her heart skipping a beat as memories of last night danced through her head.

  Making love with Pike was even better than it had been when they were younger, but she’d enjoyed this morning—crowding into the bathroom with him as they got ready for the day, feeling Pike’s fingertips linger on her shoulders as he zipped her into her strapless dress with the lavender bow at the waist—almost as much. Every simple intimacy was a miracle, every shared experience a memory she knew she would treasure forever. And as Pike took his place beside her and looked down at her with a loving smile so transparent she knew they must be giving themselves away, Tulsi couldn’t bring herself to care.

  Let the whole world think they were crazy for jumping back into love head first, all she knew was that she was where she was supposed to be. She was by Pike’s side and she didn’t plan to leave it until death did them part. They would get around to saying their wedding vows, but in all the ways that mattered, she already belonged to him. She’d promised herself to Pike Sherman a long time ago, during that spring when loving him had changed the landscape of her heart forever.

  She reached out, capturing his hand and holding tight as the bluegrass quartet began to play and Clementine appeared at the end of the aisle, drawing a collective “aw” from the witnesses. In her white flower girl dress with the lavender flowers spilling down the front and more lavender flowers in her blond curls, Clem looked like an angel. And the solemn expression on her face, as she set a slow, deliberate pace down the aisle, tossing equal handfuls of white rose petals with every other step, was so sweet Tulsi couldn’t keep tears from filling her eyes.

  “I told you you’d need this before the vows,” Pike whispered, fetching his handkerchief from the pocket of his tuxedo shirt and pressing it into her hand. “That’s one beautiful little girl.”

  “She is,” Tulsi said, smiling through her tears as she dabbed discreetly at her eyes.

  “Just like her mama.” Pike squeezed her hand and Tulsi’s smile widened.

  She was so lucky, so truly blessed. She’d been reunited with a man who loved her as madly as she loved him, she had a sweet, smart, healthy little girl, and pretty soon they were all going to be a family. She was so happy that she could only laugh when Clementine disobeyed her express orders not to deviate from the walk they’d practiced, for a solid thirty minutes before the ceremony started, and turned to perform a dramatic curtsey at the end of the aisle. A wave of laughter swept through the crowd, and Clem earned herself a brief round of applause that had her beaming as she took her seat in the front row by Mia’s mother.

  Clementine grinned up at Tulsi and gave her a thumbs up. Tulsi gave her a wink and a thumbs up in return. Moments later, Mia and her father started down the aisle.

  The rest of the ceremony was every bit as perfect. Mia was beautiful in an antique lace dress that ended just below the knee paired with her gray and lavender boots. And the look on her face as she promised to love, honor, and cherish Sawyer forever brought a fresh batch of tears to Tulsi’s eyes. The love Mia felt for her soon-to-be husband made her even more stunning.

  It was a moving reminder that love was patient and kind, but it was also magical, a transformative force that planted seeds of hope and faith wherever it went. By the time Sawyer was given permission to kiss his bride, Tulsi was a blubbery mess, but she didn’t care. Her tears were happy tears, and she knew Pike would always think she was beautiful—even with her nose all red and her eyes swollen and puffy.

  “You need another one of these, Tulsi?” Bubba held out his handkerchief as Mia and Sawyer turned to walk back down the aisle hand in hand
, while the bluegrass band played “I’ll Fly Away” and their friends and family got to their feet to applaud.

  “Yes, thank you.” Tulsi wadded Pike’s already soaked handkerchief in her hand and put Bubba’s to use mopping up the rest of her damp face.

  Bubba patted her back with a chuckle. “Poor thing, you’re too tender-hearted for weddings.”

  “It was just so beautiful,” Tulsi said, fighting another sudden wave of emotion. “I’m sorry you guys got stuck by the weeper.”

  “Don’t you dare apologize.” Pike pulled her in for a hard hug that immediately made her feel a hundred times better. “I loved being by the weeper.”

  “Me too,” Bubba assured her. “I might have even cried a little myself.”

  “You totally did. I saw your eyes shining!” Marisol, Bubba’s fiancée, appeared beside him in a flurry of long silky brown hair and coral chiffon, wrapping her arms around his neck as she pressed a kiss to his cheek. “You big softie. Are you going to cry at our wedding?”

  Bubba grunted, but he was clearly fighting a smile. “A manly tear or two might be shed. But they’ll be manly tears. That’s a whole different thing.”

  “Right,” Marisol said with a wink in Tulsi’s direction. “You want to come to the bathroom with me and I’ll fix your makeup?”

  “That would be amazing,” Tulsi said just as Clementine ran up to grab her hand.

  “Come on, Mama,” Clem said, jumping up and down as she tugged at Tulsi’s arm. “They’re putting out the buffalo wings! I can smell them from here!”

  “Me too,” Pike agreed. “They smell amazing.”

  “They’re my favorite,” Clementine said. “I’m going to eat a hundred.”

  “I think nine or ten will be more than enough.” Tulsi rolled her eyes with a laugh. “Why don’t you come to the bathroom with Marisol and me first. Then we’ll go get you a bib and some wings.”

  Clem frowned. “Bibs are for babies and my stomach is already growling. I’m probably going to have a hole in my guts if I don’t get some wings in there soon.”