“Ready, man?” Adam muttered next to him. He fingered the rings in his vest pocket, checking for about the millionth time that they were still there. He’d had nightmares that he’d fail in the single-most-important best man duty and either lose or forget the rings. He was relieved that he’d managed to fulfil his obligations regarding the symbols of eternal commitment and love. “Ready for real?”
“For real,” Nick responded, shifting his weight back and forth. He was so incredibly comfortable on his prosthetic now, it still amazed him. No, it didn’t feel like ‘his’ leg yet, and it probably wouldn’t for a while. But Keegan assured him that one day – maybe one day soon – Nick would be somewhere doing something, and he’d actually forget that his left leg was strapped-on to his hulking frame… he might only forget for a few seconds, maybe one minute. But he would forget – and that would be the day that the leg would finally be his, really and truly.
Nick looked at the assembled group of guests, caught Keegan’s eye. The other man winked with a glint in his silver eyes, and Nick winked back. Next to Keegan, Luke grinned widely, clasping his girlfriend Selena’s two hands tightly in his large one.
The music started up now, and Nick pivoted sharply to stare down the aisle. The marquée was a massive tent and Julie had shut the flaps when she’d gone up to the hotel to collect Mia and the ladies, so he wasn’t able to see outside at all. He knew that Mia was standing out there, though, and just the thought of her physical proximity was enough to send his heartbeat into serious overdrive.
“Here we go,” Mitch said. He was standing between Adam and Joe, and he looked almost boyish with excitement. It was totally at-odds with his normally-rough demeanor, and the other men blinked at the change in him. “Your last few moments as a single man, Spencer.”
“Thank Christ,” Nick said. “Every minute that Mia’s not mine is a minute too long, I promise you.”
“Awww,” Joe cooed, teasing Nick gently. “Almost-marriage looks good on you, Spencer.”
The words had just left his mouth when Maggie appeared at the top of the aisle, and he shut the snark right up at the sight of her. Her brown curls were loose, the way that he loved them, and her green eyes were bright in her face. That orange dress looked perfect on her, and it hugged her lush curves in all the right damn places.
As she walked slowly down the aisle, smiling at the men under the arched trellis, Joe touched the small velvet box in his pocket. He’d held on to this ring for almost three weeks now, watching and waiting for the perfect moment to sink down on one knee and ask this woman to be his. He wasn’t sure that Nick and Mia’s wedding was the right place, but if it turned out to be, he was ready.
He didn’t know it in this moment, but during the wedding reception, he and Maggie were going to go for a walk around Open Skies Ranch. He’d look down at her under a sky shimmering with stars and a massive harvest moon, and he’d think that she’d never, ever looked more beautiful. Maggie was strong and fragile; sexy and sweet; outrageously talented and endlessly humble – and she was his.
And Joe would know with everything that he was that that was the time to make it official.
He’d go to his knees right there in the middle of an open field and he’d ask. Maggie would laugh and cry, happy and overwhelmed – and she’d say yes, yes, yes. Then she’d take Joe by the hand, the large engagement ring sparkling in the glow of the moon, and they’d go back to their cabin and make love on the sofa less than seven feet from the front door, since they wouldn’t be able to wait until they got to the bed.
For now, though, and at this exact second, he just smiled at the woman who had captured his heart and made him a better man, and she smiled back. She reached the men, then turned to look back at the tent door.
Reena walked in to the marquée now, and Mitch straightened up to his towering full height at the sight of her, partly in appreciation at her beauty, but more out of concern. Just five hours earlier, she’d been puking with great enthusiasm and force in to the toilet. Helpless and worried, Mitch had done what he could and had held her hair back out of her face, rubbed her heaving back, murmured sweet words. Then he’d given her a glass of water to rinse out her mouth and carried her back to bed.
“OK, babe?” he’d whispered. “You want some crackers?”
Reena had nodded. “Please. And some weak green tea?”
“You got it.” Mitch had swung his massive legs off the mattress, then looked down at her. “Just another seven months, sugar. You can do this.”
Reena had given a strangled laugh. “You think?”
“I think.” Mitch had pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I can’t wait to tell everyone.”
“At the end of the first trimester.” Reena had shut her eyes as her stomach lurched again. She’d waited to see which way things were going to go, then relaxed. “I hope that Katie and Adam won’t be too hurt by this.”
“You think they will be?” Mitch asked quietly. He hated to think about hurting Adam, and fucking detested the thought of hurting Katie, but the fact was that Reena was pregnant and her feelings and thoughts were his prime concern and focus. “You think Katie’ll not be happy for us?”
“I don’t know. I mean, you knocked me up on basically the first try.”
“But Adam said that they have a really good shot at adopting a baby.”
“I know. But still.” Reena’s blue eyes had been clouded with worry. “I know they wanted this badly, Mitch… it’s not an easy thing, to give up on a dream.”
“Maybe they have a new dream, babe.”
Now Mitch held Reena’s eyes the whole way as she walked towards him, and when she gave him a sunny smile and a nod, he relaxed a bit. Yeah, the sickness had passed – for now, hopefully for the rest of the day – but he was already determined to get her to bed early that night.
Though maybe not to sleep; at least not right away.
Reena’s small body was filling out in some seriously distracting ways, and Mitch’s hands itched to run over those gently-swelling breasts and pouting rose nipples, and his tongue longed to run over the curve of her hips and thighs. And between them, over and over, until his woman – the woman carrying his chid – arched up into his mouth and came.
God, he hoped with every inch of his massive body that Adam and Katie would be happy for them. Mitch glanced at Adam now, saw that the man’s hard blue eyes were nailed on Katie as she walked down the aisle. Also, an odd grin curled around the corners of his lips, twitching them up before he forced them down again. Like a massive smile was longing to just burst out across that rugged face, but Adam was forcing it back and down.
Wondering at that, Mitch looked at Katie now, saw that she was being strangely shy and demure, and Mitch also wondered about that – ‘shy’ and ‘demure’ were not words that he normally associated with the woman. “Feisty’ and ‘ass-kicking’ were more her speed.
Adam watched Katie approach, secretly smiling at her hesitation. He knew why she was being uncharacteristically bashful: right before he’d sent her off to get ready, he’d whispered to her to think of the walk down the aisle today as practice for the real thing.
He’d gone to his knees two days before and asked her to marry him. She’d joyfully agreed, but then again, she’d already been beside herself with happiness. That same morning, they’d gotten a phone call from the adoption agency that they had been chosen by a young woman to adopt her baby once it was born.
A part of him still couldn’t believe it, actually. Out of the thousands of prospective adoptive parents all across the U.S., this woman had chosen him and Katie. She’d looked through file after file, stared at photo after photo of their faces, their home, their places of work – and she’d chosen them to parent her unborn child.
Within minutes of hanging up the phone, Adam had bought the plane tickets to Orlando and booked the hotel. They were going to meet the young woman – her
name was Alice, she was sixteen and seven months pregnant with a girl, and that was all they knew about her – and her mother and doctor. From here on out, Adam and Katie were paying for Alice’s care and helping support her mother, too, and Adam never thought he’d be so thrilled to spend huge amounts of money on any woman but his future wife.
The tentative plan of the moment was for Katie to move to Florida for the last six weeks of Alice’s pregnancy, and for Adam to fly over every weekend. Adam was confident that Nick could handle The Rock perfectly in his absence – that he was standing on his own two feet for sure, strong and steady.
They’d decided to keep their engagement and the adoption a secret until after Nick and Mia’s wedding. They didn’t want to distract from their friends’ big day, and God knows, Nick and Mia deserved their moment in the sun. They’d fought like hell to be here and now, and Katie and Adam’s news could wait a few days. Yeah. A few days more were doable.
Barely.
The music changed now, and the four men jumped to attention at the opening strains of the bride’s wedding march. Everyone got to their feet, everyone turned. Nick looked to the door and when he saw her standing there, his stomach clenched so hard, he thought that it had turned to solid rock.
Good sweet Lord. There she was.
His golden-eyed angel; his tousled-haired sunflower. His heart, and his breath, and his life.
His Mia.
The first thing that he noticed was that she looked absolutely beautiful. The second thing was that she looked radiantly happy.
Nick decided right there and then to work every day to make that look appear on her face, over and over, again and again, until the day he died. It was his job to make Mia happy, to cherish her and love her the way that she deserved, and the way that he hadn’t always – and he was going to take that job damn seriously.
He caught his father’s eye, saw Will’s smile. Yeah, his Dad knew a thing or two about making a woman happy, and all the proof that Nick needed was standing right there next to him, holding his arm and wiping her eyes. Marnie was happier than Nick had ever seen her, and he smiled at his Mom, saw her pride and love shining over at him.
Mia was walking towards him and Nick ached just for a second that she was walking alone. This was one moment when Mia needed her Dad, and Nick watched her, anxious and hoping hard that she wasn’t upset.
He needn’t have worried, as it turned out: her joy was so huge, it seemed physical. Its warmth and light moved towards him, surrounded him, embraced him. Warmed him, inside and out.
She was next to him now and unable to stop himself, he reached for her. He knew that he was supposed to wait until after being declared ‘man and wife’ to do this, but to hell with it. Never again was he going to hold himself back from showing her how much he loved her – and what better place to start keeping that promise than right here and right now?
His kiss was sweet, but it had an undercurrent of possession. Of mine. Mia felt both of these things, felt them in her heart and her body and her soul. Nick was claiming her in front of all these people – but then again, he’d claimed her long ago. Today, they were just making it official.
Reluctantly, hating to do it but knowing that they had to get on with things here, he drew back from her softness.
“Love you,” he murmured against her lips. “Love you so damn much, babe.”
“I love you, too.”
“You ready to do this, then?” His gray eyes were gentle, but she didn’t miss the husky growl in his voice. “You ready to give yourself to me all the way, Mia, now and forever?”
“Oh, Nick.” Now her tears did come, but they were nothing but happy ones. “So ready. You have no idea.”
“So show me, babe. Say you’re mine.”
And Mia did – she said “I do” to Nick and to being his, and she said it with nothing but joy and hope.
Chapter Thirteen
As the waiter removed his empty dessert plate and refilled his coffee cup, Keegan casually glanced around the large dining room. He told himself that he was just enjoying the relaxed, amazing vibe of the reception, but really, he was looking to get eyes on that cute little thing who had served him his meal. She’d started serving at his table, but about halfway through the dinner and much to his disappointment, she’d switched over to the tables across the room.
He’d spent the entire meal basically ignoring his plus-one and trying to sneak quick little looks at the waitress, and he’d been kind of successful. No matter how far away she was or how fleeting the glimpse, she remained a natural, eye-catching beauty.
Her blonde hair was pulled back in a shining ponytail that swung far enough down her slim back to teasingly brush the curve of her delectable ass. Her legs were long and curvy; her movements somehow both delicate and deliberate. But what had smashed Keegan in the face and the chest hard – hard enough to make him freeze and stare at her fixedly and without any cool whatsoever – had been her eyes.
They were an impossible color for him to describe. Not blue, not gray, not purple. Or, what he meant was, not blue or gray or purple all the time. They changed constantly depending on the light, the distance, maybe even her emotions and thoughts. Watching her eyes change color was like watching a sunset over water: with every ripple, with every passing second, you saw something new, but still shimmering and so, so fucking gorgeous.
“She’s behind you, standing over by the big window,” the woman beside him said wryly, sipping her tea. “At your six.”
Right away, Keegan dropped the coy, disinterested act and whipped around. Yeah, there she was right behind him, pouring coffee. He stared at her for a few seconds and then when she started to look his way, he turned back to his plus-one.
Kelly grinned at him in that aggravating way that only big sisters can pull off. OK, sure, his fraternal twin was only four minutes older than he was, but she’d held those few minutes over his head for most of their thirty-six years on the planet. “Surprising choice for you, Kee.”
“Why you sayin’ that?” he asked her. “You know I prefer blondes.”
Kelly rolled her green eyes. “‘Cause you’re such a gentleman?”
“No,” he responded amiably. “‘Cause brunettes are a royal pain in my ass.” He reached out and gently tugged on her sleek, chestnut waves and she grinned wider.
“Uh-huh,” Kelly said. “So. You going to go and talk to her?”
“And say what?” he asked.
“I dunno. Ask her for her number?”
“Yeah. Maybe.”
Kelly shook her head, sighed. Her brother was a good guy – appearances were deceiving in many cases, and they sure as hell were in Keegan’s – but he was unlucky in love. Really, really unlucky, and he’d met some awful women. Women who’d been full-on interested in his dark, molten looks and tight, toned body – until they found out about his leg. Then the door didn’t so much as touch their pert little butts as they blasted out and away from her brother.
That had made him hurt deep and hard, and in turn, that hurt had made him angry for a long time. He was finally coming back to himself, though, and Kelly eyed the blonde waitress with a speculative gaze.
OK, admittedly Kelly didn’t think for one second that the woman over there pouring coffee was Kee’s soulmate, but why couldn’t she be a fun date? If she was smart and funny and sweet, then what the hell… maybe she’d be someone that Kee could spend time with. Maybe she’d be gentle with him, give him some confidence, get him back out there.
Well, why not extend some hope?
Keegan shot another hot, smoldering look over his broad shoulder at the blonde, and decided to talk to her. She had an incredible smile, so warm and inviting, and he found himself oddly drawn to her.
Yeah, OK. He’d at least say hi, ask her how her evening was going. Then, if she was receptive? He’d ask her for coffee. See where things went befo
re telling her about his leg and asking her for another date.
Then the ball was in her court if she’d want to see him again… Keegan didn’t hold out many hopes that he’d get a second date (assuming he even got a first). But maybe this woman would be different from the others, and she’d see Keegan, not his permanent physical damage.
Well, why not try hoping, just for a change?
**
Across the room, Trish Montgomery studiously ignored the drop-dead sexy guy with the messy black hair who kept staring at her. Fuck, what an asshole. OK, sure, he was gorgeous and hot and built… but what kind of a dickhead made goo-goo eyes at the female staff with his girlfriend sitting right there?
A serious dickhead, that’s the kind. And Trish knew far, far too many of those kinds of dickheads. She knew far too many dickheads in general actually, if she really thought about it, and avoiding them was pretty paramount in her new life.
Sadly, that wasn’t always possible nor was it easy, and she never fooled herself about why that was – she never kidded herself for even one minute. Trish was, after all, the star of no fewer than seventy x-rated movies that were widely-distributed around the internet and hundreds of porn sites… so for all she knew, this guy with the astonishing silver eyes and bulging arms had already seen her with her clothes off. Maybe he knew her alter-ego Thalia Flame intimately – far too intimately for her comfort as she stood in the middle of a wedding wearing tailored black dress pants and a crisp white blouse.
Maybe not, though. The hair threw the creeps off most of the time, since she’d actually been smart from the get-go and had always, always colored her flowing mane a ravishing auburn. From her first professional porn shoot, she’d been a redhead – she’d even made sure that the curtains matched the drapes. Well, she had until she’d just decided to shave it all off… that had made things much easier on the ‘dyeing-my-sensitive-bits’ front.
Fighting Back (Fighting For Love Book 5) Page 14