WED TO THE BIKER

by Zoey Parker

  “I am.” I licked my lips. “And you’re a friend of the groom’s?”

  Dante nodded. He reached for my hand and squeezed. Feigning shock, I pulled my hand away.

  “That’s a bit fresh!” I gasped. “After all, we only just met!”

  As Anya and Troy turned to stare, Dante and I burst out laughing. When he pulled me into a tight embrace and kissed me on the lips, the tears returned to my eyes, threatening to spill down my cheeks.

  It was the happiest day of my life. As Anya and Troy danced their first dance, Dante and I watched from the bridal table.

  “You know,” Dante said. “If I’d had a date, she’d be awful jealous of you.” He raised his eyebrows. “You’re the most beautiful woman in the room, and you know it.”

  I blushed. “That’s not true,” I said, pointing towards Anya. She was wrapped in Troy’s arms, slowly swaying to the beat of an instrumental take on a popular song. “She’s the bride; she’s the most beautiful. That’s how these things work, duh.”

  Dante rolled his eyes. “You girls and your chivalry,” he teased. He pulled my chair closer, then planted a delicate kiss on the side of my face. “I can’t wait to dance with you. I bet we’re gonna have everyone staring at us.”

  “And just what makes you think I’m going to dance?” I pouted. “After all, we just met.”

  For a moment, Dante and I stared into each other’s eyes. The moment was completely serious, and the sounds and the laughter of the wedding fell away as I searched his face. This is the man I love , I realized as Dante leaned closer. And this is the man I’m going to love for the rest of my life .

  Dante squeezed my hand. “Don’t worry. I know you, Katia. I know you can’t stay out of the spotlight for too long.”

  Somehow, I had a feeling he was talking about more than just dancing.

  When the time came for the best man’s toast, I watched lazily as Dante stood up and praised Troy. He said some truly heartfelt emotional things, and I found myself tearing up for the umpteenth time that day as Troy and Dante pulled each other into a tight bro-hug.

  “I’ve known Anya for years,” I said into the microphone. Everyone clapped, and I smiled, waiting patiently for the applause to die down. “And she’s always been a wonderful friend to me, even when I didn’t deserve it.”

  As I talked about all of the good times and bad times that Anya and I had gone through, I started to cry. Dante handed me a tissue, and I actually had to blow my nose before the end of my speech.

  When Anya came up to hug me, she was sobbing, too. Her mascara had pooled under her eyes, and there were tear streaks down her face, but she’d never looked happier or more beautiful. I pulled her into a tight embrace.

  “We always have to stay friends,” I whispered into her ear. “This isn’t the end of that, you know?”

  Anya nodded. “Katia, I’m so thankful to have you. Thank you for being my maid of honor.”

  My heart swelled as a fresh wave of sobs washed over me. “I’d have been seriously offended if you’d asked anyone else.”.

  “Come on,” Anya said. She tugged my hand. “Time for the bouquet toss.”

  “Oh, no.” I rolled my eyes. “I’m not fighting with a bunch of women to get your bouquet. I don’t do that.”

  “Please?” Anya made puppy eyes. “For me?”

  # # #

  Ten minutes later, I was standing in a group of other girls, fighting and shoving my way towards the front of the line. As Anya stood in front of us with her back turned, she threw the bouquet over her head. I leaped into the air, pushing and shoving my way past Anya’s cousin and some other Hollywood assistants. When my fingers wrapped around the gauze-covered stems, I let out a wild shriek of delight.

  “Dante’s going to freak,” I told Anya cheerfully as I handed the bouquet back to her. “He’s not going to know what hit him!”

  Anya burst out laughing. “Please, knowing him and Troy, they probably had a bet going.”

  Dante and Troy appeared. As Dante wrapped an arm around me and pulled me into a kiss, I watched Anya and Troy cuddling together on the side of the stage.

  “Come here,” Dante said. He wrapped his hand around mine and pulled me close. “I wanna talk to you.”

  “Uh-oh,” I said softly. “That’s never good.” I rolled my eyes. “You’d better not break up with me at my best friend’s wedding. She’ll kill you.”

  Dante gave me one of his heartbreaking, crooked smiles. “Nothing like that.” He tugged me over to the corner of the room, and we sat down at one of the tables. The dance floor was packed, and everyone had eaten, and now they were busy working on the cases of excellent champagne that a friend had sent to Anya and Troy as a wedding gift.

  “So,” I said, shifting in the chair. “What exactly did you want to say?”

  “Well, I want you to know that after I’m done working with the mayor’s daughter, I’m not doing any more body-work,” Dante said. He laced his fingers through mine and squeezed. “I don’t want you to be jealous,” he added. “I know that was bothering you the other night.”

  Relief gushed through my body. I blinked and swallowed. “Well, thank you. And I expect you couldn’t get out of that job because you’ve already given your word?”

  Dante shook his head. “Not exactly. They already paid me, and I needed the money for something important.”

  “Like a new bike?”

  Dante shook his head. “No… So, what are you going to be doing now?”

  I sighed and ran a hand through my blonde locks. “Well, I’m done with pageant work. I’m going to focus more on philanthropy. Anya even suggested I write a book, you know, about what happened. She said it would be a good role model thing for young girls going into showbiz since they have to deal with gross people like Ryan all the time.”

  “Are you quitting pageants because of Ryan?” Dante’s voice was low and serious.

  I could barely make out his features in the dim light of the room. Leaning over, I kissed him gently on the lips. Dante wrapped a hand around the back of my neck and pulled me in closer, slipping his tongue into my mouth. I moaned softly and felt my nipples stiffen against the silk of my dress before pulling away.

  “No, I’m quitting because of you.” I sighed. “I’m quitting because I realized that I don’t just want to do meaningful things sometimes; I want to do them all the time. I want to spend more time at the hospital with my girls, and maybe even arrange to take some of them on day-trips to places around here. I think some of them would really love a trip to a theme park. At least, I know I would have loved that back when I was sick.”

  Dante squeezed my hand. He leaned in and kissed me gently on the temple. The sensation of his scruff against the delicate skin of my face made me tingle with desire.

  “That’s incredible, Katia,” Dante said. “I’m really proud of you.” His lapis lazuli eyes shone. “You’re such a good woman, and I know that whatever you do, you’re going to be amazing at it.”

  I snickered. “So you’ll read my book? Even the chapters on fashion? And shoes?”

  Dante crossed his heart with one hand. “Baby, I’d read anything you’d written.” Dante stood up and leaned over, grabbing two flutes of champagne from a passing waiter with a tray. As he handed one to me, we clinked and then drank.

  “So,” I said. “What exactly did you need that money for? Didn’t I pay you well enough?”

  Dante snorted. “You did,” he said carefully. “And, well…” He trailed off, suddenly looking nervous.

  “You can tell me,” I insisted. “What? What’s the problem? Did you use it to help Troy with his medical bills or something?”

  Dante chuckled. “No. I wanted to get you this.”

  I was breathless as I watched Dante reach into the pocket of his jacket and pull out a small velvet box in robin’s egg blue. My mouth went dry as he opened it and offered me the box. Inside was the most beautiful ring I’d ever seen. It was a large, emerald-cut diamond flanked by tw
o small round diamonds on each side set in platinum. The diamond reflected the low light of the reception hall, and I gasped, putting my hand to my chest as Dante reached for my left ring finger.

  “Katia Reynolds, will you marry me?” Dante whispered.

  Staring at him, I realized that while Dante wasn’t the kind of guy I thought I’d ever fall in love with, he was exactly who I wanted for my husband. He was loving, kind, sarcastic, and smart. He’d challenged me and surprised me, and I knew that he’d always be there for me.

  “Yes,” I whispered. Tears spilled from my eyes as Dante slipped the ring on my finger. It fit perfectly, and I couldn’t help staring down at it and moving my hand in the air to make the diamonds sparkle.

  “You’ve made me the happiest man on Earth,” Dante said as he leaned over and kissed me.

  “There’s just one condition,” I teased.

  Dante raised his eyebrows. “Oh, yeah?”

  “Yeah,” I said with a nod. “No more cheap motels.” I raised my eyebrows and laughed. “Or the marriage is off. And I mean that.”

  Dante grinned. When he kissed me, I felt myself swoon against his muscular chest.

  “I think we can manage that,” he whispered.

  THE END

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  GIFT FROM THE HITMAN: The Petrov Mafia By Zoey Parker

  Chapter 1 Kelly

  I slammed my foot on the gas, my tiny car leaped forward, and I merged onto the highway. I only had five minutes to make it to work on time, and I had at least an eight-minute drive there. Crap. I was never late until my mom’s diagnosis, and I hated being late. It was unprofessional, and I held myself to a higher standard…at least I tried to.

  Luckily, traffic wasn’t too bad, and I didn’t see a cop anywhere, so I just kept my foot down on the gas, the needle climbing and climbing, driving fast but not recklessly. I merged at the last second onto the exit ramp. The driver behind me honked, and I waved at him. “Yeah, yeah,” I muttered. “Running late. So sue me.”

  Okay, so maybe driving a little recklessly.

  Somehow, I parked right at eight on the nose. I grabbed my purse and dashed inside. Not late after all. Amazing.

  I normally wasn’t like this — so behind the ball. I was the kind of girl who did everything right, did everything by the books. I never had a speeding ticket, never broke the law. Keeping order was the only way I could try to make sense of the chaos of the rest of the world. So many things were going wrong lately and I just couldn’t handle it all. At least when I was here, in the office, I felt like I had a little bit of control, like I could make a difference, like I could affect the outcome.

  So unlike how things were back home with Mom and her damned diagnosis.

  Maybe I needed to cut loose some. Should call my best friend and go out for drinks.

  With what money?

  I wondered if we still had some from that bottle of rum. I needed to try to release some of my stress. Yeah, I played by the rules, but I was still alive. I still had fun. It had just been a little while since I last had any. And I knew how to party, how to have fun. Work hard, play harder. That had always been my mantra. That was until my mom got sick, though. That changed everything. She had stage three breast cancer.

  Head down, I started toward my cubicle, mentally preparing myself for the day, when a throat cleared behind me. “Kelly.”

  Shoulders slumping, I grimaced. Matt Warner. My boss. The last person I wanted to talk to today. He was always a miserable thing.

  After screwing my lips into a semblance of a smile, I turned around to face him. “Hi, Matt. What can I do for you?”

  “Can we talk?” He didn’t wait for an answer, just stalked off toward his large office, leaving me no choice but to follow him.

  Uh-oh. The bagel I’d shoved into my mouth as I had raced to the car from my house wasn’t sitting well in my stomach. I swallowed hard and suppressed a cough. It was my imagination, I knew, but I felt like a piece of bagel was caught in my throat. Or maybe that was just a ball of worry. I was so stressed lately.

  I’d only been in Matt’s office one other time — when he had interviewed me five years ago. His father had been sick, so Matt stepped in, even though he hadn’t been the big boss yet.

  An office job wasn’t that great of a position, but I was good at what I did. I worked hard and never complained. And, boy, were there complainers employed here. A bunch of women worked here, and so there was a ton of cattiness, too. I never bothered with any of that. Just did my work and left. Didn’t have a lot of friends here, but I wasn’t here for fun and games. That was after hours with my best friend, Stacy. We’d go shopping or out to eat or go to the bar. Of course, with my mom needing my help taking care of her, I hadn’t had much time for fun with Stacy either. Just work and Mom, rinse and repeat.

  Matt entered his office first. He walked around his huge desk but didn’t sit down. I moved to stand in front of one of the two chairs in front of his desk but didn’t sit down either. I still felt uneasy, and I wasn’t going to be the one to break the awkward silence.

  He cleared his throat, bent down, and fiddled with some of the papers on his desk. He wouldn’t look me in the eye, and that stress level of mine skyrocketed. “It’s not always easy to do what is best for a company.”

  I couldn’t breathe. This couldn’t be happening. I was a damned good employee! He had no grounds for this! He knew about my mom, about the bills. My mom couldn’t work anymore, her health was too poor, which meant she had had no choice but to quit and, of course, that meant she no longer had health insurance. All of her bills for her appointments and for treatment, and she had a ton of bills and many more to come yet, were out of pocket, and the bills were steep and never ending.

  “I hate that it’s come down to this,” Matt said, still not looking at me, “but downsizing is a part of the business, and unfortunately—”

  I couldn’t listen to another word. “I’m the fastest typist out of everyone. I work hard. I don’t slack off or make excuses or take a cigarette break every two minutes.” So I was throwing Molly under the bus. It pissed off everyone how often she would take them and for how long, too. And so what if I was rambling? I was pissed and had every right to be. “I am the longest tenured—”

  “You’ve been late to work a lot recently,” he pointed out. He glanced up, but he was staring over my head instead of at me.

  “I am not,” I said hotly, putting my hands on my hips. Cutting in majorly close, yes. Actually late, nope. Not even once. Somehow.

  He raised his bushy eyebrows. I never realized it before, but they definitely look like hairy worms. “You’ve been taking a lot of time off.” Matt held up a piece of paper that I assumed had a list of my time off. I didn’t bother to look at it. I knew how much time I had taken. Just about all of my sick days and all but two of my vacation days.

  I winced. That I couldn’t deny. “My vacation time—”

  “Has all been used up.”

  What? I was sure I still had two days yet! It was possible I made a miscalculation, and I hadn’t figured out what I would do once my paid time ran out. Matt didn’t care to give people time off without pay.

  “Your sick days, too,” he continued. He laid the paper on his desk and tapped at certain spots. I didn’t care what he was trying to point out. I was too busy glowering at him. “And I heard from Ashley that you wanted to take a few mornings off without pay, too.”

  I winced again and dropped my gaze from his face to his desk, no longer scowling, more apologetic than anything. No. More defensive than anything. “You know why—”

  “Why doesn’t matter. Why do
esn’t get the job done.” He shook his head. “You are a good worker, and I value everything you’ve done for us this past few years, but—”

  “You can’t,” I whispered. I needed this job. I had to have it! How could he do this to me? To my mom? I was doing everything I could to keep everything together, both at home and here. I wasn’t sleeping well, between having to care for Mom and worrying about her, but I hadn’t failed Mom, and I hadn’t made any mistakes here at work. Yeah, okay, so sometimes I took naps in my car during my lunch break, and I might have gone over by five minutes here and there, and twice I had left to take Mom to the hospital and had to rush back to work and been a little late getting back then, too, but I really was trying to juggle everything as best as I could. I wasn’t Wonder Woman. I wasn’t perfect.