by Rhian Cahill
“C’mon, I can’t wait to see West’s face.” Shaye grabbed for her hand but Kelsey pulled away before she could get a good grip.
“Wait.” Kelsey turned to the dresser beside her. “I have something for you.”
They’d decided against bridesmaids and groomsmen, but Kelsey had wanted to give her best friend something special to mark the day anyway. Shaye had helped them pull everything together in record time and Kelsey wanted to say thank you. She just hoped Shaye liked the gift West had helped her chose. With the rectangular box in her hand, Kelsey faced Shaye again and held it out.
“What is it?” Shaye asked.
“Open it and see.” Kelsey took a step closer and pressed the velvet case into Shaye’s hand.
With a frown on her face, Shaye lifted the lid. Air rushed through her lips and her eyes widened—turned glassy. “Oh, God, Kelsey,” she whispered.
“You’ve always admired mine and I thought…”
Shaye threw her arms around Kelsey’s neck. “It’s beautiful. I love it. Thank you.”
Smiling, Kelsey hugged her back. “You’re welcome. But it’s me that should be thanking you. Without your help, today wouldn’t be happening.”
“Bullshit. But I’ll take your thank you anyway. Help me put it on,” Shaye demanded as she let Kelsey go.
Kelsey took the bracelet from the box and quickly secured it on Shaye’s right wrist. “There.” She brushed her fingers over the silver links. “It looks lovely.”
“Lovely? It’s gorgeous.” Shaye shook her arm to make the charms jingle. “But enough with me. It’s your day. Let’s go.”
Shaye grabbed Kelsey’s hand and tugged her across the room.
Kelsey’s stomach fluttered. The nervous excitement bubbling inside her was so different to what she’d felt on her first wedding day that she couldn’t believe she’d gone through with marrying Bry back then. But she didn’t want to think about that now. That was in the past and today was the first day of the rest of her life. Her and West’s life.
“Is everyone here?” Kelsey asked as they made their way through the luxurious beach house they’d rented for the weekend.
“Yes.”
“So we’re ready to start?” Those flutters accelerated alone with her steps.
“We are.” Shaye paused in the hallway and squeezed her hand. “Ready whenever you are.”
Kelsey gave a nod. “I’m ready. More than ready.” She grinned.
“Okay. See you in a few.” Shaye’s hand slipped from hers.
Kelsey watched as her friend disappeared into the large room that opened out onto the beach. Out there, standing on the sand, was the man she’d loved for most of her life. The man she was going to spend the rest of her life with. She couldn’t stop the smile that spread across her face from growing bigger as she rounded the corner and got her first look at West.
He stood facing the house and for a split second, she saw the anxiety that wrinkled his forehead before he spotted her. The smile that curved his mouth when their gazes met sent a burst of arousal through her. She knew that smile. It was the one he gave her when he was peeling her clothes off.
Kelsey quickened her steps. She suddenly wanted this day to be over so they could get on with the rest of their lives. Marching over the warm sand, she reached West’s side a little out of breath.
“Kels…” he murmured when he reached out to take her hand and pull her close.
She grinned.
“You…” He shook his head. “You’re…”
Kelsey laughed and, pushing to her toes, planted a kiss on his lips.
West slid his arm around her waist and hauled her against his chest as he thrust his tongue between her lips and took the kiss deeper. He splayed a warm hand across her bare lower back and a shudder rolled over her. She melted into him, every part of her softening as she got lost in their kiss.
“Ahem.”
The celebrant they’d hired to officiate cleared her throat, and Kelsey remembered where they were and moved back, but West didn’t let her go. He held her pressed against him. Their eyes met—locked. The look he gave her stole her breath. Everything he felt for her was in his gaze.
In that moment, Kelsey knew risking her heart on West again would be more than worth it.
West pulled Kels in against his side and nuzzled her neck. She shivered. “Cold Mrs. Mann?” His lips curled up at the sound of her new title.
“No.” She leaned back and smiled up at him. “No chance of that with your roaming hands and lips.”
He palmed her arse and tugged her closer so that every inch of her front was pressed to his. She couldn’t miss his erection. The one he’d sported since the moment he’d first seen her in her dress. “Goes both ways.”
“Will you two get a room,” Coop yelled from across the patio.
West took his eyes off his beautiful wife—God, Kelsey was his wife—and glanced at his best friend. “We have a room. In fact, we have a whole house. It’s full of freeloaders at the moment though.” He grinned.
Coop held up his beer. “There’s still beer and food, so you’re stuck with us for a while yet.”
Kelsey stood on her toes and whispered in his ear. “We could always go inside and lock the door.”
His gaze collided with hers and he narrowed his eyes. “Are you serious?”
She laughed and slipped out of his arms. “No.”
“Tease.”
“It’s only teasing if you don’t follow through and, West—” she ran the tip of her finger down his chest until it reached the button on his pants “—I plan on following through. Just not yet.”
He groaned as she strolled away.
“She looks so happy.” Zac moved beside him.
West couldn’t take his eyes of his wife’s tempting arse as she continued to walk away from him. “Yeah.”
“So do you.”
He glanced at Zac and noticed the frown on his best friend’s face. “And us being happy makes you sad?”
“What?” Zac’s gaze met West’s. “No. Jeez. I’m just as happy about you two getting together as you are.”
West believed him, but something had been going on with Zac for months now, and no matter how often he or Coop had tried to get to the bottom of it, Zac remained stubbornly mute. Maybe now was a good time to press his friend on the subject. “What’s going on, Zac?”
“Nothing.” Zac took a sip of his drink. “Whatever you do, don’t fuck this thing with Kelsey up.”
Before West could say anything else, Zac strode across the patio to where Coop, Shaye and West’s sister, Freddie, were sitting.
“Zac still brooding?” Kelsey asked.
West hadn’t noticed her circle back around to him but was happy to pull her against him again. He turned her around so her back was to his front, his arms around her waist. “Yeah.”
“You might not want to hear this, but I think I know what his problem is.”
He glanced down at Kels. “You do?”
“I think so.” She tipped her chin in Zac’s direction. “Just watch.”
It took a while, because West was a little preoccupied by his wife’s warm body tucked against him to be sure he was joining the dots correctly. “Is he staring at Freddie?”
Kelsey nodded. “He’s been doing it all day.”
“What the fuck?” West loosened his grip ready to charge across the room.
“No, you don’t.” Kelsey spun around and grabbed him. “Don’t. The staring has been going both ways.”
“But—”
“West.” She slid her hands up his chest and cupped his jaw, brushing her thumbs over his bottom lip. “Wanna go lock that door now?”
His body instantly reacted. His heart raced, his pulse pounding in his ear—in his groin—and he couldn’t stop himself from sliding his hand
s down her sides to cup her arse. “Are you serious?”
She rubbed her stomach against his throbbing cock. “That would definitely be a green light I see,” she said with a grin.
He lifted her off her feet and grinned at her squeal. West turned on his heel and strode from the room.
“West!” She wrapped her arms around his neck. “We should say goodnight to everyone.”
“You were trying to distract me from my murderous thoughts about Zac. Consider me distracted so completely I’m oblivious to the crowd of people on the patio.” He tipped his head and dragged his teeth across her shoulder. “I can’t wait to get you behind that locked door, Mrs. Mann.”
Kelsey groaned and tilted her head to the side to offer him her neck. “Is it locked yet?”
West grinned. “Almost.”
He moved through the house towards the master suite. He’d snuck away earlier to organise a surprise for his wife and he couldn’t wait to see her reaction. West cleared the doorway, stopped just over the threshold and lowered Kelsey to her feet.
“Before we start and I get carried away, I want to say something.”
She looked up at him with eyes full of love and his heart just about stopped. “What?”
He cupped her face and laid his forehead on hers. “I love you so much I can’t think. Can’t breathe. You are everything that makes me good. And I promise you, I will never let a day go by where I don’t tell you I love you.”
“West,” Kelsey sighed his name and he couldn’t resist pressing his lips to hers.
He’d intended it to be a quick peck, but as usual, Kelsey’s mouth proved too tempting and they were soon lost in the hot, wet slide of a carnal kiss. West wasn’t sure who started removing clothes first, but he soon found himself minus a shirt and Kelsey’s dress was undone and hanging around her waist.
“Jesus. We haven’t even shut the door.” West reached over and flung the door closed, plunging the room into darkness. He backed her towards the bed, his eyes slowly adjusting to the lack of light.
“We need to get out of these clothes.” Kelsey tugged on the button of his pants.
West put his hand over hers. “Hang on. I want the light on first.”
He took her with him as he moved to the bedside table and the lamp he’d brought just for tonight. “Let me switch…ah, there.”
Kelsey’s eyelids fluttered. Her eyes growing wide as the soft glow of his wedding present to them filled the room.
“What the hell?” She started down at the lamp.
“Happy wedding day, Kels.” West tipped her chin up and kissed her softly.
“What?” She leaned away from him and blinked several times. “I haven’t had that much champagne, but I swear that light is green.”
He grinned down at her. “It is.”
Kelsey shook her head a couple of times. “A green lamp?”
“No.” Chuckling, he pulled her tighter against him. “It’s our very own green light.”
For a second, she stared at him, her mouth hanging open slightly, but then the confusion cleared from her eyes and she threw her head back and laughed.
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This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.
Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
11821 Mason Montgomery Road Suite 4B
Cincinnati OH 45249
Red Light, Green Light
Copyright © 2014 by Rhian Cahill
ISBN: 978-1-61922-436-0
Edited by Heidi Moore
Cover by Valerie Tibbs
All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
First Samhain Publishing, Ltd. electronic publication: November 2014
www.samhainpublishing.com