Confession: I totally know I’m talking too loud. What? He’s the one who made me wear headphones through the entire airport like an anti-social bitch.
Instead of yelling at me to keep it down, Grayson uses a tactic of which I wholeheartedly approve. He kisses the daylights out of me. The headphones fall off and the talk of long term yeast storage completely leaves my mind as his tongue explores my mouth and his hands fist into my hair.
He pulls away with a smack and leans his forehead against mine to catch his breath. “Vegas,” he whispers. “We’re going to Vegas.”
My arms shoot into the air. “Yee-Haw! Vegas baby!”
The other passengers who, let’s face it, should probably be annoyed with me by now, clap and laugh.
“Why didn’t you tell me where we’re going?” I ask as I rescue my headphones from the floor. Ew. It’s icky down there. I wonder what— Nope. I am not going to think about what could have possibly made the yucky mess. Note to self: Never, ever drop anything on the floor of an airplane again.
Grayson shrugs. “I wanted to surprise you.”
I normally hate surprises. Seriously, they freak me out. But I’ll have to forgive him this one time and one time only since this is the best surprise ever. A weekend away in the city of entertainment. Yipee!
“Mission accomplished!” I grab my phone to start researching all the fun stuff we can do but then realize I don’t have any connection.
“Here.” Grayson hands me a guidebook for Las Vegas.
I snatch the book from him. “How did you know?”
“It’s a four-hour flight. I knew you’d need something to keep your mind busy.”
I frown. What does he think? I can’t sit still for four hours? I look down and notice my knees are bouncing up and down. Unfair! It’s not because I can’t sit still. I’m excited is all.
By the time, the captain does his little prepare-for-landing speech, the guidebook is practically bleeding blue from all the notes and underlining I’ve done. Too bad I didn’t have a highlighter. I store the book in my bag and take Grayson’s hand.
“I can’t wait! I’ve never been to Vegas before. Have you been to Vegas before? Did you book a hotel? Should we book a hotel? There were tons of recommendations in the book.”
Grayson leans over and kisses me. I can feel him laughing through the kiss. I slap his shoulder and push him away. “No laughing. I’m excited. Isn’t it good I’m excited? Would you rather I didn’t like your surprise?”
He kisses my forehead. “I’m glad you like your surprise. And yes, the hotel is booked.”
It doesn’t take long before our taxi is pulling up to a hotel on the strip. My mouth drops open when I see which hotel it is. The freaking Venetian! Holy moly!
“Are you out of your mind? How much is this costing?”
“Since someone won’t let me pay my share of the mortgage, I thought I’d splurge.” Notice he didn’t answer my question.
When we walk into the lobby, I start to worry I’m going to get lockjaw from my mouth gaping open like the village idiot. The Venetian seriously looks like an Italian palace with marble everywhere. There are even murals on the ceiling. On. The. Ceiling. This is so cool!
While I look around like a fish out of water, Grayson checks us in. He hands me the hotel brochure as we walk to the elevator.
“Did you see this? There are forty restaurants onsite, ten outdoor pools, and a fitness center, which has a forty-foot rock-climbing wall. Forty feet!”
Grayson shakes his head as the doors open and we walk onto our floor.
“This is our room.” He waves the key card in front of the electronic pad and pushes the door open. “After you.”
My feet immediately carry me to the window where the city is displayed. “Wowza. This place is the bomb.” I turn around and notice a garment bag draped over the sofa. Yes, there’s a sofa in the room because it’s a freaking suite.
“I think we’re in the wrong room.”
“We’re not.”
“Um, dude, do you not see the bag that is clearly not one of ours? It’s right there.” I point to the bag.
“Look at me.”
“Look at you? Why? Are you making funny faces?”
I turn back to the window where Grayson is now down on one knee. I start backing up. No, no, no. I don’t want this. Shut up, Adult Suzie says, and act like an adult for one minute. Little Susan nearly swoons. She places the back of her hand on her forehead and everything. Isn’t this romantic?
“I know you’re scared.”
I narrow my eyes at him. How dare he? “I am not scared.”
He smirks. “Sure, you aren’t, Precious. Just like you aren’t backing away from me now.”
I force my feet to stop moving. “We agreed to not get married.”
“I never agreed to not getting married.” I open my mouth to tell him he’s wrong, even though it would be a lie, but he speaks before I get a chance to spew my lies.
“Suzie, Precious, I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want to wake up every morning to your grumpy face. And fall asleep with you every night. I’ll let you hog the covers every night of the week.”
I cross my arms over my chest. “I am not grumpy in the morning and I don’t hog the covers.” And I never, ever lie. Not me.
Grayson ignores my comment. “I want to spend my days working on the marketing side of Shorty’s Brewing Sensation while you sweat away making new and exciting beers in your obnoxiously clean brew shack.”
“Hey!” Clean? Yes. Obnoxiously clean? No.
“But mostly I want to put my babies in you and watch your belly round with our children. I vote for starting our family immediately.” He waggles his eyebrows.
My eyes well and my hands shake. “Are you sure?”
“Am I sure?” He chuckles. “Look around you. Everything is arranged.”
He nods to the garment bag. “Your wedding dress is in there. The chapel is booked.”
He digs in his pocket and pulls out a jewelry box. “And the ring is bought.” He flips the box open and I gasp.
“I want you to always wear your ring and a solitaire would get in the way when you’re brewing.” When I don’t say anything, he starts to sweat. “We can get a solitaire if you prefer. There’s a jewelry store in the hotel.”
I snort. “There are probably several.”
“Okay.” He starts to stand. “We’ll go get you a solitaire then.”
I put my hand on his shoulder and push him down. “No.”
His face crumbles. “No? You won’t marry me?”
“No, I don’t want you to exchange my ring. I want that one.”
His face lights up. “Then, you’ll marry me?”
I bite my lip as I stare at the ring. Come on, Adult Suzie pushes. You know you want to say yes. Ugh. She’s right, the bitch. And we want to make babies! Little Susan shouts and starts to strip. Geez. Can I get married first?
“Yes.” Deep breath. “I will marry you.”
Grayson whoops before springing to his feet and pulling me into his arms. He twirls me around until I bat him on the shoulder. “My ring. I want to see my ring.”
“Such a girl,” he mutters.
The ring is gorgeous. It looks like two rings intertwined. On the front, there’s a gap between the intertwining two rings where three diamonds sit. It’s different and perfectly perfect.
The bell rings. “Your entourage has arrived.”
“What?”
I’m still sputtering when an entire crew of women arrive.
“When exactly are we getting married?” I ask Grayson who is trying to sneak out of the room.
“In one hour.”
“In one hour!” I screech.
“I’m not giving you a chance to change your mind.”
“I haven’t even seen my gown yet.”
“It’s lovely!” he shouts from the hallway. “Phoebe picked it out.”
Fifty-five minutes later, I�
��ve been transformed into an honest to goodness bride. I’m never going to hear the end of it from Phoebe, but the gown she picked out is perfect. How did she know? It’s a strapless hi-low gown in white silk. And by the way, hi-low means knee-high length in the front and floor-length in the back. Yeah, I didn’t know that either.
The suite door opens and Grayson walks in wearing a dark gray tuxedo. My mouth waters and I feel flush. I didn’t think the man could get any better looking. I was wrong.
“You’re beautiful.” While I’ve been staring at the – gulp – groom. He’s been staring at me. Actually not me. My breasts that are straining against the front of the gown. He leans forward to kiss me, and I scream.
“No. Lipstick!” For good measure, I hold my hand up in front of my mouth. “The crew took ten minutes to do my lips alone. I want to look perfect in the pictures. You did hire a photographer, didn’t you?”
Grayson holds his elbow out to me. “Yes. I promise everything is arranged and you’re going to love it.”
I don’t bother denying it. So far, the man is hitting it out of the ballpark. “You are so getting laid tonight.”
He chuckles as we walk to the elevator.
“How far do we have to walk? I’m not sure I can wear these heels for more than five minutes.” When did Phoebe ever get the impression I can wear five-inch heels? Oh shit, Phoebe. And Hailey. They’re going to kill me.
Grayson squeezes my hand. “No one is going to kill you. As long as you go ahead with the wedding reception planned for next weekend everything is fine.”
“Wedding reception next weekend? Is there anyone who didn’t know about our elopement before me?”
He cringes and looks away. “Um.”
“You are not to be believed.” The elevator doors open and I stomp out. This doesn’t go well for me when the little itty bitty heels hit the slippery marble floor. My right leg flies up and I’m pretty sure I flash everyone in the hotel.
Grayson wraps his arm around my waist and steadies me. “It wouldn’t be a wedding without klutzy Suzie in attendance.”
“Oh, hush you. Where are we going?”
“Come on.” He takes my hand and leads me toward an exit. The exit opens to the large body of water surrounding the hotel also known as the Grand Canal. A white gondola awaits us.
“Get out of here! We’re getting married in a gondola!” I clap but manage to stop myself from jumping up and down. We all know how well moving in these high heels works for me. As in it doesn’t.
A man in a blue and white striped shirt and red sash smiles. “Good afternoon. Mr. Neill and soon-to-be Mrs. Neill.”
“Hold up. I never agreed to take your name.”
Grayson rolls his eyes. “You are seriously the most stubborn person I know. I don’t care if you take my name. Now, get your gorgeous ass in the gondola so we can get married and start making babies.”
“Um…” The gondolier’s eyes widen. “You can’t …er…”
I slap the man. “He doesn’t mean right here, right now. We’ll save the naked festivities for our suite. Don’t you worry.”
He sighs as he helps me into the gondola. Grayson sits next to me.
“Who’s going to marry us? Elvis?” I giggle. Elvis has to marry you if you’re in Vegas, doesn’t he?
“I am not getting married by Elvis,” Grayson growls. “A celebrant will perform the ceremony. Ah, here he is now.”
A man smiles down at us as he takes the seat across from us. The gondolier pushes off from the side and we’re off. I can’t help giggling.
“Stop giggling. This is important.” Grayson isn’t annoyed though. I can see the humor in his eyes.
“Good afternoon, Mr. Neill. I’m Mr. —”
I hold up my hand to stop him. “First names only.”
“Of course. I’m Braydon.”
“I’m Suzie and this is Grayson. Now, Braydon, get us married as quickly as possible. Then, I think you’ll want to disembark from our white gondola as I plan to make out with my new husband as soon as you pronounce us husband and wife.”
He laughs. “I can do that.”
I wink. “I know you can.”
“What if I had elaborate vows planned?”
I raise a brow at Grayson. “What more is there to say besides you love me and promise to cherish me and love me even when I’m old and gray and fat.”
“I think it’s supposed to be in sickness and health.”
Braydon clears his throat. “Shall we get started?” Grayson and I nod in unison. “Do you have the rings?”
Grayson produces a man’s ring. “We can get you another ring, but I thought your ring could be both an engagement and wedding ring.”
He actually looks like he’s sweating as he waits for my answer. I don’t make him sweat. Now that I’ve decided I am going to get married, I want to get it over with and move on to the good stuff. Yeah! The good stuff! Little Susan says. I don’t think anyone will be surprised to hear she’s got the pompoms out again.
I wiggle my hand at him. “This ring is perfect. I don’t need another one.”
He blows out a breath and turns his attention to Braydon. “We’re ready.”
“Do you have vows prepared?”
Before Grayson can answer, I do, “I love him, he loves me. I promise to put up with him. He promises to love me when I get fat. We’re good.”
“Do you, Grayson, take Suzie to be your lawfully wedded wife?”
Grayson smiles at me. “I do.”
“Do you, Suzie, take Grayson to be your lawfully wedded husband?”
I wink at Grayson. “Yep. I sure do.” I look around. “Where’s the ring? I want you to wear it.”
Grayson takes the ring out of the box and hands it to me.
I slide it onto his finger. “I know there’s all this stuff about with this ring, but I’m not much for traditions.”
“You don’t say?”
“Shush, you. I have something to say. I give you this ring as a symbol of my love and as a reminder that I am by your side always, even if I’m physically elsewhere.”
Grayson stares at his hand for a moment before raising his head to smile at me. “Thank you.”
“Now, by the power invested in me by the state of Nevada, I declare you guys married. You may kiss the bride.”
“I love you,” Grayson whispers before his lips meet mine.
“I love you more than beer,” I say when the kiss ends. And I do. The man snuck past the ten-foot fence around my heart and made a home for himself. Good luck trying to escape. Not on my watch!
I hope you enjoyed Suzie’s story. And how much do you love Grayson? I’m glad Suzie managed to find a man who was willing to tear down her walls brick by brick. Are you craving a little more Suzie and Grayson? Don’t worry. I’ve got you covered. Join my Reading Diva Squad (aka my newsletter) and get a bonus chapter!
I hope you didn’t think Suzie’s story was the last in the Love will OUT series. It’s not. Pops gets his own story in the next book. Pops has found love – finally! – and he is going to pull out all the stops to make sure Faith is his. Swipe to the next page to read an excerpt from A Fox for Faith.
Booklist Love will OUT series
A Hero for Hailey
A Protector for Phoebe
A Soldier for Suzie
A Fox for Faith
A Christmas for Chrissie (Coming December 2021)
Booklist Love in the Suburbs series
About Face
At Arm’s Length
Hands Off
Knee Deep
Christmas in the Suburbs
Other romantic comedies by D.E. Haggerty
Fat Girl Begone!
Not A Player
Molly’s Misadventures
Best Worst Date
♥♥♥
Thank you for reading A Soldier for Suzie. Word-of-mouth is crucial in the cutthroat world of publishing. Seriously, it’s totally cutthroat. Too bad there’s no swashbuckling. Tha
t sounds like fun. Spoiler alert – I have no idea what swashbuckling is. But seriously, it would be a huge help if you could leave a review of A Soldier for Suzie. It doesn’t have to be more than a sentence, maybe two. Just follow this LINK.
An Excerpt from A Fox for Faith
Chapter 1
Parenting was much easier when I was hypothetically raising my non-existent son.
“I don’t want to go,” Ollie says in that whiny voice teenagers around the world have perfected.
I nearly snap at him. Oh boy, do I want to snap at him. But a good mother does not snap at her son, and I do try to be a good mother. Instead, I take a deep breath and find my inner calm before responding.
“And I didn’t want to give up all my friends and my job to move to Milwaukee, but here we are.” I guess I didn’t find my inner calm after all.
Ollie comes to a screeching halt. Or as much of a screeching halt as a lanky, hasn’t grown into his long limbs yet, fifteen-year-old can come to. “I’m sorry, Ma. I didn’t mean for you to lose everything and move us here. I was only trying to help.”
Sigh. Oliver Benjamin Bakker is always ‘only trying to help’. But how can I berate him for having the biggest heart in the world? I can’t, is how. I don’t understand how I and my jerk of an ex-husband, Silas, created the most perfect creature in the world, which is exactly what this boy with puppy dog brown eyes, shaggy brown hair, and freckles galore is, but we did.
“Stop it, Ma.”
“Stop what?” What am I doing wrong now?
He bumps my shoulder. “You know what. The whole mushy look you get on your face right before you try to hug me to death.”
“Me? Hug you to death?” I mock before I throw my arms around him and try to do that very thing he hates.
“Ma, we’re in public.” He may complain, but he does wrap his arms around me and squeezes me back. My boy may be fifteen, but he’s not afraid to show his mom a little love. This right here is why I work two jobs and run around playing taxi for him.
A Soldier for Suzie: A Military Romantic Comedy (Love will OUT Book 3) Page 21