“You’re still coming to the wedding?” Becca heard her voice crack as tears fell from her cheeks.
“Of course I am,” Brian said as if that were obvious.
“Oh…good.” Becca knew it was selfish to want Brian to go to a wedding when his dad was in the hospital. But she couldn’t help it. More than a hot shower, more than a bed to sleep in, more than a hug from her mom, Becca wanted to see Brian. Just Brian, with no crew or cast around.
“Beckles.” Brian’s gravelly voice sent a chill skittering down her spine.
“Yeah?” she breathed.
“I miss you,” he said with both sadness and, if Becca wasn’t mistaken, something really close to desire in his voice.
Her body definitely thought it was desire. Tingles of awareness spread through her, and she was barely able to speak as she whispered, “I miss you, too.”
The line went dead, and Becca sucked in a shaky breath. She lowered the phone from her ear as tears still poured from her face.
“Wow.” Krista’s voice startled her, and Becca looked up seeing all three of her sisters staring down at her. Haley’s mouth was hanging open. Jessie had a knowing look on her face, and Krista was wide-eyed.
Becca had actually forgotten that her sisters were even in the room.
“And I thought my wedding was going to be the most romantic thing I witnessed today,” Krista said as she shook her head. “That was intense.”
Becca didn’t know if it was because she was exhausted or if she just finally couldn’t hold her feelings in any longer, but whatever the reason, she started crying even harder. Her sisters all surrounded her, hugging her and telling her that it was going to be okay.
They weren’t Brian. They weren’t her mom. But Becca sat on the tile floor surrounded by love and felt so lucky to have her sisters. No matter what happened, she knew they were right. It would be okay.
* * *
“Hey. How’s Sleeping Beauty?” Becca’s cousin Alex asked as he walked up and slapped Brian on the shoulder.
Brian just smiled and shook his head. Since he’d gotten home yesterday, all anyone wanted to talk about was the show. Even his dad’s doctor, Dr. Corbin, had asked him about it. His mom was over the moon that he’d gotten as far as he had.
Apparently, the show was a runaway hit. Even in the airport, he’d had people coming up to him, asking him for autographs, and wanting to take pictures with him. It had taken him almost an hour just to get to his Jeep in the parking structure.
Alex tilted his head as he leaned back on the fence that Brian had been posted up against for the last half hour. The wedding reception was being held on the riverbank. When Brian had first heard that that’s where Krista and Chase had chosen to have the ceremony and reception, he’d thought that it was kind of an odd choice, but he could not have been more wrong.
The wedding had been small and had a very intimate feel. And short—the entire thing had only lasted for about fifteen minutes. But it had been breathtakingly beautiful. They had timed it perfectly so that the sun was setting behind them, the water flowing majestically beside them, and there were twinkle lights strung through the tree they’d said their vows under.
It had been magical.
“Man, that Brooklyn’s a piece of work, huh?” Alex said after a few minutes.
“You have no idea,” Brian replied flatly.
Alex let out a forced laugh. “Yeah, I think I do. The second I saw her, that manic-slash-crazed look in her eye, I started having nightmare flashbacks of some of the crazies I used to waste my time with before Jamie.” Alex’s voice was filled with love as his eyes locked on his wife, who was tearing it up on the dance floor with her son Joey, Alex’s stepson.
Brian figured that, if anyone knew what he had been dealing with when it came to Brooklyn, it probably would be Alex. He’d been quite the ladies’ man before he’d met Jamie. And if memory served, some of the girls Alex had messed around with had actually made Brooklyn look tame.
Alex turned back to Brian. “So, when’s the show over?”
“The finale is in a week and then the winner has to do a month of promo. Also, they offered an additional bonus if the couple agrees to let the show document the first year of the relationship for a spin-off.” Brian didn’t mention that they got an additional bump if they actually made it a year.
“Wow. Well, I would say good luck, but since you’re competing against Becs, I have to roll with family on this one,” Alex said good-naturedly. “I am firmly Team Becca and Colton.”
Brian smiled, trying not to show how Alex’s statement affected him. And it did affect him. Not because they were his competitors; obviously, he had mixed emotions over whether or not he actually wanted to win this thing. It was just that, every time he heard someone refer to Becca as ‘Becca and Colton,’ it seriously felt like someone had kicked him in the balls.
Yesterday, when he had some downtime at the hospital, he made the colossal mistake of going online and reading the tweets, threads, comments, and posts about the show. Some of them had been funny and really entertaining. Some of them had been unfairly cruel in Brian’s opinion. Not anything that had been directed towards him—he would have taken it in stride if they had been—but he felt protective of his other cast mates. And not just Becca either. He even felt protective of Jax, Madison, and—he hated to say it—Brooklyn as well. They were just people. Sure, they had issues, and Brian would never, willingly, choose to spend his time with any of them, but they didn’t deserve to be ripped apart and villainized.
Becca, Brian, and Colton had gotten off rather easily. Most people only had good things to say about them. But the part that killed Brian was hearing how much everyone thought that Becca and Colton were ‘the perfect couple.’ It seemed that was the popular opinion, and as much as Brian wanted to say that all of those people were wrong, he knew that the only reason it bothered him so much was that he saw the truth in it.
“It’s so weird to see you guys on there,” Alex said casually. “I think it would probably be less weird if you guys had been paired up together. I think everyone has always assumed that you and Becca would end up together.”
Yeah. That wasn’t news to Brian. It seemed that everyone had seen for years what he’d been blind as a bat to—that he and Becca belonged together.
“Hey, how’s your dad?” Alex asked, thankfully changing the subject.
“He’s doing better. They think he’ll be released tomorrow.”
“Oh, that’s great, man.” Alex held up his beer and clinked his in cheers with Brian’s.
Then they both turned as they heard Alex’s name being called. His wife was standing in the middle of the dance floor, her hands held up like she didn’t know what happened. A huge smile was on her face as she called out, “I got ditched!”
Brian saw that Joey was now dancing with his best friend Emily, Haley’s stepdaughter.
Alex set his beer down and was on the dance floor before Brian could blink. He had Jamie in his arms. Then he swung her around once and she squealed before he dipped her and crushed his mouth to hers.
Brian felt a tug on his heart, and by ‘tug,’ he meant two strong mens’ teams playing tug of war. He wanted to have what Alex and Jamie had. What Krista and Chase had.
Today, as he watched two people, who had definitely taken the long road to happily ever after, finally end up exactly where they were always meant to be—with each other—he felt a spark of hope. During the wedding, as he watched Becca, who stood beside her sister, he let himself imagine, for just a minute, what it would be like if she were walking down the aisle towards him. If they were standing where Krista and Chase were—as the bride and groom.
He quickly snapped himself out of that line of thinking because he and Becca weren’t like Krista and Chase, who’d been high school sweethearts. Becca and Brian were ‘just friends.’ He couldn’t let himself lose sight of that, even if killed him. Which he thought might be a real possibility.
“Hey,”
he heard Becca’s sweet voice say beside him, and with just that one word coming from her mouth, his body relaxed like he was finally home while at the same time it strung tight with desire and need so intense, that he felt like he was going to snap.
She’d been so busy with wedding duties and talking to family that they hadn’t said more than two words to each other.
“Hey.” He smiled as he automatically reached out, ran his fingers through her hair, and pulled her to his chest.
As she stepped between his legs, her slender arms enveloped his waist and she melted against him. He leaned down and kissed the top of her head, and the sweet scent of citrus and vanilla assaulted his senses.
She felt so damn good in his arms. Everything he ever needed was in his arms. Becca was…everything. Without meaning to, he groaned and squeezed her tighter.
“I missed you,” she mumbled into his chest as she, too, tightened her hold on him.
That wasn’t why he’d involuntarily moaned, but he had missed her… something fierce. He’d been miserable spending the last week in ‘paradise’ without her by his side. Nothing was as good or as true or as real as when she was with him.
He could feel the hard pebbles of her nipples through the thin material of his dress shirt and the light, flowing fabric of her bridesmaid dress and it made him want to strip her out of it and suck her sweet buds in his mouth. When he’d seen her making her way down the makeshift aisle wearing the light-blue, strapless dress, holding a small bouquet of flowers in her hand, her hair falling loosely in curls around her bare shoulders, his heart had slammed in his chest like it was a crash test dummy.
She wasn’t just pretty or gorgeous. There was something more about her. Like a halo of beauty constantly surrounded her—she was breathtaking.
He felt her shift the weight on her feet, and she looked up at him, resting her chin on his chest. He immediately noticed that she had dark circles beneath her crystal-blue eyes.
“How’s your dad?” she asked, her heavy-lidded eyes blinking a little slower than normal.
“He’s good. How long do you have to stay here?”
Brian knew that there had been issues with her flight home. She was supposed to have arrived in Illinois the day before, like he had, but she hadn’t gotten here until this morning.
“Krista and Chase already left for the airport. I can go whenever,” she said, her brow furrowed in confusion, like she wasn’t sure why he’d asked her that.
“Good,” he said as he ran his fingers through her hair. “Let me take you home. You look exhausted.”
Becca nodded in agreement. “I am exhausted.”
That was just one more thing he could add to how amazingly incredible Becca was. Some girls—Brooklyn!—would have gotten pissed at what he’d just said, like it was an insult or something. But not Becca. She knew that the only thing behind his statement was concern.
“Let’s go,” he said as he pushed off the post he’d been leaning against.
“Okay. Let me just say bye to my mom first.” She began moving away from him, but he quickly moved up next to her and placed his hand on her waist.
“I’ll come with you,” he offered. Mainly because he couldn’t stand the thought of being away from her for another second.
She smiled sweetly. “Okay.”
And just like that, all the stress in his world faded away. One smile. That’s all it took.
Chapter Twenty
Brian stepped as carefully as he could up the stairs. With every squeak of the wooden steps, he was scared that he would wake her. Becca was draped in his arms, sound asleep. She was his ‘Sleeping Beauty’, not Brooklyn.
On the short drive from the river, Becca had fallen fast asleep. When they’d gotten into the Jeep, he’d asked how much she’d had to drink. The question had flown out of his mouth. It had probably been his subconscious trying to gauge what the chances were of another drunken kiss like they’d shared at Haley’s wedding. She’d told him that she hadn’t had anything to drink but that she hadn’t slept in almost thirty-six hours and she just wanted to close her eyes for a minute. Before he’d even pulled onto Main Street, she was out cold.
He’d thought for sure that she would have woken when he’d pulled up and parked. Becca was a fairly light sleeper, and normally after the slightest noise or disruption, her eyes would pop open. Not tonight.
Brian couldn’t believe that she’d stayed asleep as he gently picked her up, out of the passenger seat. She’d mumbled something, but he hadn’t been able to understand her. Then she wrapped her arms around his neck and snuggled up against his shoulder.
Walking as quietly as possible, he could feel the sweet fan of her breath as he held her in his arms and it caused his length to swell and throb painfully with need. It didn’t help his area down south that her strapless dress had slipped down slightly so the very top outline of her rosy-fleshed areola was peeking out of the top of her light-blue dress. He tried to be a gentleman—or at least not a sleaze bag—and not look, but his eyes kept being drawn to it. His mouth watered with the desire to trace it with his tongue along its edge.
Mentally shaking off the thoughts he should absolutely not be having about his best friend, who was passed out in his arms, he concentrated on making his way up the last few steps and carefully opening her bedroom door. As he walked the two strides it took to cross the room to her bed, he was already anticipating how much he would miss the feeling of her in his arms. The weight of her body against his was a small piece of heaven.
Stopping at her bedside, Brian looked down at her angelic face, which was resting peacefully against his shoulder. The moon shone brightly through the sheer, white curtains that covered the window. Her skin looked almost luminescent as the rays of moonlight danced across her porcelain skin.
Damn. She was so perfectly beautiful that it made his chest ache.
Knowing that he needed to lay her down so that she could get a good night’s sleep—and he could avoid any more pervert-adjacent thoughts—he carefully sat on the side of the bed. The mattress dipped beneath his weight as he softly lowered her down. When her head hit the pillow, her arms tightened around his neck.
He pulled his arms from beneath her body and tried to duck his head out from under her hold, but he couldn’t. So as gingerly as humanly possible, he reached behind his neck to gently loosen her grip so he lay her arms gently down.
But when his hands wrapped around her delicate wrists and he tucked his head down, he heard her voice softly mumble sleepily, “Don’t go.”
Thinking that she was talking in her sleep, Brian continued trying to disentangle himself from her half-exposed perfect body. He was already feeling guilty for the thoughts he’d had as he’d taken her up the stairs. The more his body rubbed against her while she was lying down beneath him, on a bed, the further his thoughts drifted from an appropriate baseline and the more his body responded like this was on and poppin’. Every slight movement she made as she settled beneath him caused every fiber in his being to light up—like the Christmas tree in Times Square—with need.
“Brian.”
He froze when he heard her say his name clear as day. His eyes looked up to see hers, which were heavily lidded but open, staring right at him.
“I miss you. I don’t want you to go.” Her words still sounded sleepily slurred, but her blue eyes, although droopy, looked like she was very aware of what she was saying.
Brian was still trying to figure out what the right way to handle this situation was when she said the words that gave him no choice in the matter.
“Please, I need you,” her voice was fragile and shaky.
Those four words trumped whatever discomfort he knew he’d inevitably experience as he exercised the iron-willed, self-control this situation called for.
Becca’s sparkling baby blues were looking more and more awake with each moment that he remained frozen in place above her. They searched his. He had no idea what she was finding on her visual mission. His
brain was in overdrive just trying to deal with the avalanche of desire that was burying him. His aching bulge was demanding things that he was having a very difficult time making it understand that it was not going to get. Every ounce of brain power he had was focused on that, so he had none left to worry about what Becca would see as she searched his soul.
Whatever she found in his stare caused her to say, “Just lie down next to me. Please. Stay.”
Shit.
If he did as she asked and laid down beside her, cradling her in his arms, then the evidence of his arousal would be very much apparent. Brian was concerned he might even bruise her—he was that hard. So he decided that, even though there was no way he could stop her from being visually assaulted by the need thrumming through him, at least she wouldn’t have to feel the physical manifestation of his body’s unrelenting desire for her.
Shifting his weight Brian turned so that he was lying down on his back, tucked his arm beneath Becca’s slim frame, and pulled her firmly to his side. He closed his eyes, his jaw tightening as her hair tickled his chin while she snuggled her soft curves against his body.
His hand roamed up and down her back as she got settled into a comfortable position, fitting perfectly like a puzzle piece, tucked beside him. He did everything in his power to not think about the way her hips sent a thrill spiraling through him every time they bumped his side, how the fullness of her breasts against his ribs made him want to rip off the dress she was wearing and fill his hands with the plump weight of her rounded mounds, how the sensation of her body moving beneath his touch (as he rubbed her back) made him think of her writhing beneath him as he made love to her.
Yeah, he tried not to think of any of that. He wasn’t having much luck.
Becca sighed contentedly as her body melted into Brian’s. He could feel her muscles relax as her chest rose and fell against his side in even breaths. He knew there was no way he was even going to get a moment of sleep tonight. Not with the super-sized boner he was currently sporting. But that was actually fine by him.
Fairytale Love - Becca & Brian Page 18