by Marie Force
Nick’s friends led a rousting round of applause that clearly embarrassed him.
“And in Sam,” Leo continued, “you’ve found the perfect mate and partner. I have no doubt you’ll be very happy together.” He raised his glass. “To Sam and Nick.”
While the others were busy toasting, Nick took the opportunity to steal a kiss from Sam.
“Skip,” Leo said, gesturing to Sam’s dad. “Your turn.”
“Thank you, Leo—and Stacy—for hosting us tonight.” Skip shifted his gaze to Sam. “After I was shot, I had some dark days when I found out I’d be in this chair the rest of my life. For a while there, I wondered if it would be easier on everyone—hell, easier on me—to just give up.”
Sam stared at him. She’d never heard him say such things in the two years since the shooting.
Under the table, Nick reached for her hand.
“My girls Tracy and Angela have been happily settled for quite some time, but Sam… She was so unhappy before. If anything kept me going, it was knowing I had to hang around long enough to see her find happiness too. As soon as I met Nick, I knew he was the one for my little girl. Seeing the two of you together, watching you fall hard for each other—that was definitely worth sticking around for. I wish you many, many years of wedded bliss.”
Sam’s sisters and stepmother wiped up tears as Sam raised her glass to her father. “Thank you,” she whispered, blinking back tears of her own.
He winked and the half of his face that wasn’t paralyzed lifted into a smile.
When the party broke up a short time later, Angela and Tracy shanghaied Sam.
“Say goodnight,” Tracy said, trying to tug Sam away from Nick.
She clung to him. “Don’t let them take me.”
Nick laughed and kissed her. “You can survive one night without me.”
She looked up at him, not wanting to be parted from him for even a few hours. “I’m not sure I can.”
He tugged her close to him and kissed her passionately right in front of her sisters. For once, Sam didn’t mind the public display of affection. “One more night,” he whispered against her lips, “and then we get forever.”
Sam buried her fingers in his hair and brought him back for a final kiss intended to make sure he thought of nothing but her until they saw each other again.
“Save it for the honeymoon,” Tracy said, taking Sam’s arm and leading her away from Nick.
“See you at the church,” she said.
“Don’t be late.”
“Not this time.”
Sam let Angela and Tracy lead her to Tracy’s car. They were spending the night together at Skip and Celia’s where they’d get dressed tomorrow.
Harry, Andy and Scotty were in charge of getting Nick home and delivering him to the church tomorrow. Graham, Nick’s best man, was spending the night with his wife at the Hay-Adams.
“Gonna be one hell of a wedding night,” Angela teased when they were in the car.
Sam couldn’t wait.
After being manicured and pedicured, and after suffering through a facial and a massage her sisters had thoughtfully arranged, Sam was buzzing with energy when she should’ve been sleeping. The digital clock read just after two. Sam sighed. Just what she needed the night before her wedding.
She wondered if Nick was faring any better. Maybe she should sneak over there and check on him.
Sam sat up slowly, not wanting to disturb Angela who was pregnant or Tracy who was asleep on a blow-up mattress on the floor. Reaching for the zip-up sweatshirt she’d left at the foot of the bed, Sam put it on and slid her feet into Tracy’s plush slippers.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Tracy whispered.
Startled, Sam said, “Downstairs to get some water.”
“You’re such a liar.”
“What’re you talking about?”
“You’re going to see him.”
“I am not!”
“Liar.”
“Be quiet before you wake up Ang.”
“Too late,” Angela muttered.
“She’s going to see Nick,” Tracy said, sounding scandalized.
“I am not! I just want something to drink. Sheesh, Trace, when did you become such an ass pain?”
“Right around the time Brooke became a teenager.”
Angela snickered at that. “Leave her alone, Tracy. If she wants to see him, let her go.”
“It’s bad luck to see him before the wedding,” Tracy reminded her.
“Since we’ve been together, we’ve been nearly blown up, shot at, had a few concussions between us, survived a rollover, had broken bones, stitches and staples.” She reached up to touch the healing wound in her scalp. “We’ve used up our share of bad mojo.”
“When you put it that way,” Tracy said, gesturing for the door.
“Thanks, Mom. Get some sleep, ladies.”
“Don’t be late for the hair appointment,” Tracy said. “She’ll be here at eleven.”
“Got it. Sleep tight.”
“Don’t do anything we wouldn’t do,” Angela added.
Sam laughed and closed the bedroom door behind her. Feeling like a teenager sneaking out of her parents’ house in the middle of the night, she crept down the stairs, found her keys and headed out the door. She was halfway to their place when a shadow emerged from the darkness. All at once, Sam remembered why she never stepped foot out the door without her weapon. Figures the one time she did…
“Going somewhere?”
Shit. “What’re you doing here, Peter?” At the sight of her ex-husband, her heart beat fast and her breath came out in white, puffy clouds in the cold. She began to shiver.
“I want to talk to you.”
“I have nothing to say to you.”
“I have something to say to you, and it’s high time you listened to me.”
“Get out of here before I have your ass thrown back in jail for violating the no-contact order.”
She started to push past him, but he grabbed her arm and pulled her tight against him.
“Let go of me, or I swear to God I’ll cripple you.”
He pushed something hard against her ribs. “Don’t make any fast moves, sweetheart, or your family will be attending a funeral rather than a wedding.”
Sam cursed herself for being so stupid as to go out unarmed. She glanced up at the second floor of their house where Nick was hopefully sleeping, unaware that she was in grave danger on the eve of their wedding. “What do you want?” she asked through gritted teeth.
“That’s more like it.” His lips brushed against her hair, and it was all Sam could do not to cringe. “You’re making a big mistake marrying that guy.”
“Is that so?”
“He doesn’t love you the way you deserve to be loved—the way I love you.”
Sam swallowed hard. “Peter, please. Let me go and get out of here before someone sees you and carts you back to jail.”
“There’s nowhere they can take me that’s worse than living without you.”
Sam swallowed hard. “I’m sorry you feel that way.”
“Are you really?”
“Of course I am. I never wanted you to be unhappy.”
“Then why did you leave me?”
Sam wanted to shove her elbow into his gut but the press of metal against her ribs kept her still. “I want you to let me go now. You need to find someone who loves you the way you deserve to be loved—”
“I don’t want anyone else,” he growled in her ear tightening his hold on her to the point of pain. “What about that don’t you get?”
The click of a gun engaging sounded next to them.
“Let her go, and step back.”
“Who the hell are you?” Peter asked.
“Doesn’t matter who I am. You need to let her go right now unless you want me to make road kill out of you.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Sam saw the lights go on in their place as she tried unsuccessfully to place the voi
ce of her rescuer.
“This is not over,” Peter whispered in her ear. “It’ll never be over.”
He let her go so abruptly that Sam stumbled for a second before regaining her footing.
She turned to find her savior holding a gun to Peter as a police cruiser rounded the corner, lights flashing. “Who the hell are you?” she asked the dark-haired man with muscles that were evident through his coat.
Nick emerged from their house and ran down the ramp to her. “Thank God you’re all right.”
“You want to explain to me how you knew about this and who that is hauling my ex-husband off to jail?”
Nick had his eyes glued on the hand-off of Peter to the police officers. “I hired him to keep an eye on Gibson.”
“You hired someone to watch him?”
“You bet your ass I did.” Nick looked down at her, his eyes fierce and furious. “I knew he’d come after you again. It was just a matter of time, and no way was I going to sit back and let that happen.”
“Nick—”
He rested a finger on her lips. “We’re not fighting about this now—not the night before our wedding. We can fight about it later, but not now.”
“I was just going to say thanks.”
“Really? You were?”
He looked so surprised and so adorable that she laughed. “I like to think I can take care of myself, but I have a feeling that wasn’t going to end well.”
He held her so tightly that Sam felt the shudder that rippled through his big frame. “What the hell were you doing out here anyway?”
“Coming to see you.”
Pulling back, he smiled down at her. “Is that so?”
“Uh huh.”
“Um, excuse me, Lieutenant Holland,” one of the officers said. “I understand you have a protective order in place against Mr. Gibson.”
Without taking her eyes off Nick, she said, “That’s right. He’s supposed to stay at least a thousand feet from me and every member of my family.” She glanced at the officer. “Was he armed?”
The officer nodded. “Nine millimeter.”
Sam released a shaky breath. “Transport him to HQ, and if you could see to it that they delay the arraignment for about forty-eight hours, I’d be indebted to you.” She had no doubt Peter would post bail, but she and Nick would be long gone by then.
“I’ll do what I can.”
“Get Captain Malone involved. He’ll take care of it.”
“Got it. Um, congratulations to you both.”
“Thank you,” Sam said.
Nick’s guy approached them. “Sorry he got close enough to get his hands on you, ma’am. I figured you’d want me to wait until he did something to get himself arrested. I had just called it in when you came out, and things happened pretty quickly.”
“Thanks for the backup,” Sam said.
Nick shook his hand. “Take the week off. We’ll be back next Sunday.”
“Yes sir, Senator. Enjoy your wedding.”
“We will. Thank you.” Nick put his arm around Sam and guided her up the ramp to their home. The minute they were inside, he pulled her into his arms and held on tight. “This could only happen to us,” he said after a long moment of silence. “Only we could have this kind of drama the night before our wedding.”
“At least we’re never bored.”
Grunting out a short laugh, he pressed his lips to her forehead. “There is that. So what did he say to you?”
Sam wanted to forget the entire incident. If she never saw that son of a bitch again, it would be too soon. His last words would haunt her. This will never be over. She shuddered. “Doesn’t matter.”
“Matters to me.”
Reluctantly, Sam looked up at him. “He said I’m making a mistake marrying you. That you’ll never love me the way he does.”
“Thank God for that.”
Sam didn’t expect to laugh just then, but leave it to Nick.
“Let’s go to bed,” he said. At the top of the stairs he held up a finger to tell her to wait a second while he looked in on Scotty. “Slept through the whole thing,” Nick whispered when he rejoined her.
“Lock the door,” Sam said. “Just in case.”
“Good idea.” Nick turned the lock on the door before he unzipped her sweatshirt and helped her out of the pajamas she’d worn to sleep with her sisters. After he stripped off the T-shirt and gym shorts he’d probably pulled on after his guy called about the altercation in the street he followed her into bed.
Sam snuggled in close to him and released a long sigh. Nothing was better than this.
With his hand cupping her face, he kissed her.
She wound her arms around his neck and gave into the wave of desire that overtook her.
His kiss was urgent and ravenous. After a long while, he broke the kiss and shifted his attention to her neck. “Why do people keep trying to take you away from me?”
His softly spoken words went straight to her heart. “It’ll take much more than a lunatic with a nine millimeter to take me away from you.”
He cupped her breast and teased her nipple with his tongue. “I was expecting you to be pissed that I had a guy watching him.”
“I probably should be, but since he saved my ass tonight, I’ll give you a pass on this one.”
Nick sucked her nipple into his mouth, and Sam cried out.
“Shhh,” he said. “Don’t forget we’ve got company.”
“If I have to be quiet, don’t do that.”
He chuckled softly, and gave her other breast the same attention.
Sam bit her lip to hold back the urge to cry out. He knew exactly what she liked best and never failed to give it to her. Running her fingers through his silky dark hair, she arched into him, begging for more. “I thought we were going to wait,” she said, breathless with wanting him.
“It is our wedding day,” he reminded her, nodding to the bedside clock.
“We’ll be a couple of wrecks at the wedding.”
“No, we won’t,” he said, kissing his way to her lips. “We’re young and hardy, and we’ve survived sleepless nights before.”
“True.” Sam wrapped her legs around his hips and urged him into another carnal kiss. “I’ve missed this.”
“Mmm. Me, too. So much.”
“We’re getting married today.”
He smiled down at her. “So I’ve heard. Are you ready?”
“Never been more ready for anything. You?”
“Same.” He kissed her again and entered her slowly, releasing a deep sigh of completion. “In case I forget to tell you later,” he said, peppering his words with kisses, “you’re the single best thing to ever happen to me, and I can’t imagine how I managed to live without you for all those years after we first met.”
She ran her hands down his back. “Ditto.” Closing her eyes, she rode the wave of love and passion and desire that only he could inspire in her.
“Damn,” he muttered, “this is going to be fast.”
Sam laughed and urged him on. “We have all week for slow.”
His lips found the curve of her neck, and he tightened his arms around her. “Love you, babe. Love you so much.”
“Love you too.” As he drove them to an explosive finish, Sam had no doubt at all that she was marrying the exact perfect guy for her.
Chapter 11
The wedding day preparations passed in a blur of hair and makeup and flowers and children. Sam waited all day for the crash that usually followed a sleepless night, but it never happened. She figured she was running on an extra dose of wedding adrenaline with a sex-induced high thrown in for good measure.
Standing before a full-length mirror in the dress that had been made just for her, Sam had to give Tinker Bell credit. It was pretty safe to say that she’d never looked better in her life. She raised her long skirt and took another admiring look at the fabulous Jimmy Choos with the sparkling buckle and let out a giddy squeal of delight.
As promised,
her makeup was subtle, yet effective. The scar at her hairline was nowhere in sight. Her hair was swept into a sleek, sophisticated style with an orchid strategically placed above her right ear.
Her entire family was abuzz about the altercation with Peter. Sam was relieved that he was locked up and couldn’t do anything to disrupt her wedding day. The incident with him had been a small price to pay for that peace of mind.
Remembering the passionate night she’d spent with Nick, she reached up to touch the diamond key he had given her. After everything with Peter and in the wake of their rancorous divorce, she’d never imagined getting married again. That is until she reconnected with Nick after John O’Connor’s murder. Once they were back together, the idea of being remarried had stopped seeming so preposterous. Now she couldn’t wait to be his wife, and to take, as he’d said in his proposal, the journey of a lifetime together.
She slid the sparkling engagement ring off her finger and transferred it—temporarily—to her right hand to make room for the wedding band he would soon place on her left hand.
Dressed in dark purple tea-length bridesmaid dresses, Tracy and Angela stepped into the room.
“Wow, Sam,” Tracy said with a sigh. “You’re stunning.”
“Seriously,” Angela added.
“Thanks, guys, you look gorgeous too. Is everyone ready to go?”
“Dad and Celia already left with the kids,” Angela said, “but we needed a moment alone with the bride.
Tracy handed Sam a jeweler’s box. “Since Nick took care of your something new, here’s your something old.”
“Grandma’s diamond earrings! But she gave them to you.”
“Which is why they’re also your something borrowed,” Tracy said with a pointed look.
Sam laughed as she put them on. “Gotcha.”
Angela handed Sam a fancy lace garter with blue satin ribbon threaded throughout. “And your something blue.”
“Was this yours?” she asked Angela.
“It was originally Mom’s,” Tracy said. “Angela and I both used it our weddings.”
“But you didn’t give it to me last time?” Sam said, fingering the lace.
“We had a feeling that was your starter marriage.” Tracy rested her hands on Sam’s bare shoulders and went up on tiptoes to kiss her sister’s cheek. “This one is for keeps.”