“Hey,” I reply, noticing the guests as they start to take their seats.
I reach into my pocket and then move my hand over to him. “It’s K’s ring,” I say. He nods and takes it from me, sliding it into the inside of his blazer’s pocket.
“Everything good in your world?” I ask.
He nods again, and that’s the end of that, because I really don’t care to get into, and he knows.
“It’s time,” the preacher says, stepping up onto the porch. It’s some guy Mary knows from the rehab she went to. He’s nice, and since neither Kat nor I attend church, he’s all we’ve got.
He’s gotten to know Mary pretty well, so that brings me some comfort. She seems to really care about him, and he her. He doesn’t seem to be one of those holy roller types, but more of a person you can have real talk with. After all, he’s seen the worst. He knows life isn’t some magical fairytale. He knows hard times find people, but it’s people who have to overcome the hard times, and everyone has their own way of doing that.
Yeah, I’ve sat down and talked with him over dinner with K and Mary. Today, he wears a black suit and a white tie, but at dinner he wore jeans and a button-up shirt. He’s just your average man who has faith that we can be more than our past.
Mary has learned a lot from him, and I think he’s a good influence on her.
I stand up and Jace and I take our spots. Moments later, a soft piano tune starts up and Claire comes down the aisle with fall-colored flowers in her hand. She smiles at Austin as she passes him and frowns at me as she nears. She’s hilarious. I know she couldn’t harm a fly, and I really do like her.
Before I can blink, Elvis’ “Can’t Help Falling in Love” begins to play, and how fitting it is for K and me.
Neither of us could help the snowball effect we had on each other. I wasn’t very kind to her when we first met. Okay, that’s putting it mildly. I was an asshole. I didn’t want to like her. I was like a child refusing to go to bed, even though they know they’re exhausted. I was fighting it, but she didn’t back down.
And then we agreed to be friends.
Who were we fooling?
I think about the time I took her to the drive-in and how angry I got at that punk… what’s his name?
The door opens and out step K and her dad.
My thoughts vanish, my mouth turns dry, and I can’t take my eyes off of her.
Holy shit.
She looks like an angel, like a beautiful being not from this corrupt world, here to take me away so we can live happily ever after.
I nod my approval as her eyes find mine. Nerves vanish, but a hint of worry stays.
Will I make her happy?
Will I be the man she deserves?
God, I hope so.
I’ll spend every waking moment trying, because I adore her. Not just because she’s absolutely stunning, but because she’s beautiful on the inside and that’s a rarity.
I’m in a trance. The preacher says something, and Mills says something, but I don’t stop looking at K. I want to grab her hand and run out in the field and lie beside her as the sun sets above us and the stairs become our blanket.
But after she’s officially mine.
So, let’s do this.
We make promises that many have made before us, because neither of us is good with words and feelings. We smile at each other and hold hands, one squeezing and then the other.
And then the rings go on, and just like that, we’re husband and wife.
I grab her face and kiss her with everything in me as the guests cheer. And then I take her hand and rush us down the aisle, past the crowd, and into the house. We climb the stairs and I hurry us into my old bedroom, shutting the door behind us.
K laughs. “Bryce, what are you doing?”
“Whatever I want. You’re my wife, and right now what I want is to properly kiss you.” I push her against the door and press my lips and body to hers. Her hands go to my hair as she kisses me back. Her leg lifts and wraps around my thigh as she grinds against my cock.
“This is never going to get old,” I tell her. “You may grow tired of me, but I will never grow tired of you.”
She sighs into my mouth. “You say that now.”
“I say that forever,” I promise. I bite her lip and press into her harder.
“Can you be quick?” she asks. “We have guests and we need to take some photos.”
“Don’t be funny, K. I won’t last a minute with you looking like this.”
She smirks and pushes me back slightly. I move out of her way and she walks over to my bed, climbs up on her knees, and lifts her dress out of the way. It’s not an easy task, but she does it smoothly. She bends over, and my mouth waters at her silk panties that say Mrs. Grant.
“Holy shit,” I say before I bite my knuckles.
“Come on, husband.”
I shake my head and quickly undo my pants, pulling them down. I run my hand over her ass and grip before grabbing my cock. I move her panties down to her spread knees, and I bend to lick her softest place. She moans and I stand up, centering myself. I slide in and shut my eyes, but not before seeing her grip onto the comforter.
Fuck, what a teenage boy’s wet dream this would have been. Lucky me.
“Tell me when you’re ready,” I say to her through my teeth.
Her legs begin to shake, and one of her heels falls off. I see her toes curl, and I feel her contract around me as she lets out a low groan. I reach up and cover her mouth as I pound harder, making sure she feels everything, before I follow. I feel sweat on my brow, and I wipe it off as I slide out.
“Hold on,” I say as I walk to the bathroom and grab a towel before coming back in. I clean her up, and she quickly stands with one shoe missing.
“Jesus,” she says. “Well, we took care of that.”
She straightens her dress as I put myself back together.
“Yep. Consummation is done.”
She walks over to the mirror and checks her reflection. Slightly pink cheeks, but other than that she looks normal.
“You look beautiful, baby. Let’s go.”
She exhales before looking at me. “You do, too.”
I smirk and she takes her shoe from my hand and slides it on before we exit the room. Jace is walking up the steps as we descend.
“Everyone is wondering where you are. You’ve been gone for ten minutes.”
I look over at K. “Damn, that was quick.”
She laughs, but blushes profusely. “We needed a moment to get ourselves together,” she says in our defense.
“Uh-huh,” Jace says with a smirk. “No one has said they think any differently, but I’m not dumb, and this isn’t the first time I’ve caught you two.”
“Shut up,” Bryce says. “Let’s go take some damn pictures.”
Chapter Twenty- Nine
Kathrine
After we take what feels like a million photos, we join our guests and eat and party. Well, they party; I sip on a virgin drink and talk with Claire, Austin, and Mills as Bryce catches up with family members he hasn’t seen in a while. I’m introduced to them, but I grow tired of standing around, so I join my dad and best friends to catch up on things.
We talk about how we all used to go out every weekend and how much things have changed in what seems like forever but has only been a short time.
Mills shows us photos of his travels, and we take selfies and laugh and crack jokes as the sun goes down.
Bryce and I have our first dance, and then we switch partners and I dance with Mills, and Bryce dances with Emily, Lou, and then Mary. She insisted. She’s indebted to them for raising her boys, and she said she isn’t going to have it any other way.
Emily’s a tough one, so she doesn’t get emotional. Lou cries, and Mary looks truly grateful. The outdoor lights come on and the party kicks up, but I’m ready to go. I have news to tell my husband.
He hasn’t paid much attention to the fact I haven’t been drinking. I’m not s
ure if it’s because he’s overwhelmed like I am, or he just simply doesn’t think anything of it.
With the moon above us, I throw my bouquet, and the girls scream as they try to catch it. It lands in Bryce’s cousin’s hands and Claire shrugs. I laugh and hug her. We tell everyone bye, and then we walk through sparklers before climbing into Bryce’s Chevy truck. We drive slowly to our farmhouse, just listening to the bugs through the trees as the evening air sweeps through the cab of the truck.
Once we arrive, I climb out on his side and we walk hand in hand to the house. Bryce opens the door and lifts me into his arms. I laugh, my eyes going to the roof and the amazing view of the stars.
This is where we’ll be for our honeymoon. Who could ask for anything more? I don’t need a fancy beach vacation.
He puts me down, and I walk over and turn some lamps on so we can see.
“How does it feel?” he asks me. I turn to look at him. He’s leaning against the closed door with his hands slid into his pockets. To say he looks handsome would be an understatement. Bryce can wear a pair of jeans and a snapback hat perfectly, but a suit… He looks immaculate.”
“How does what feel?”
“Being married…to me.”
I smile. “It feels the exact same.”
He scoffs. “No way. You didn’t feel some kind of life-altering, ground-shaking feeling when he said, ‘I now pronounce you husband and wife’?”
I scrunch my nose. “Maybe I will when I get my new social security card.”
He shrugs. “Yeah, maybe so.” He looks down, in his own thoughts.
“What about you?” I ask. “Did you feel the ground shake? The earth rumble beneath your feet?” I lick my lips and walk over to him, the swoosh of my dress the only sound in the house besides the soft hum of the fridge.
I begin to undo his tie. His eyes watch me before he removes his hands and reaches for the side of my dress. He slides the zipper down and the dress falls, leaving me in a strapless bra that doesn’t leave much to the imagination. My nipples harden, begging for his touch.
I push his blazer off his shoulders, and he shrugs it off, tossing it onto a nearby chair. I undo the buttons on his shirt, pulling it out of his pants. I look down and see how much he wants me.
My hand has a mind of its own, and I rub him through the black fabric. His mouth falls open slightly, his lips pouty, his eyes full of emotion.
I shimmy and the dress puddles beneath my feet. I step out of it. His eyes rake up my body before landing on my face. “Every time I’m near you, the ground shakes.” He pushes off the door. “The world slows; the sun burns brighter.” He leans down and softly kisses my neck. “The moon covers its eyes because he knows the thoughts I have about you.”
He runs his finger over my nipple and bites the skin on my earlobe. “And the stars hurry out so they can witness exactly what I plan to do.” He points upward. “Look for yourself, baby.” I look up, exposing my neck more, and he takes advantage of it.
“We have to entertain,” he says, his voice gruff, full of love, lust, passion. I swallow, my hands going to the back of his neck. I move his head so his lips join with mine and I kiss him fiercely.
With easy grace, he lifts me off my feet and I wrap my thighs around him. He swipes magazines and a vase of flowers off the table before laying me down. He kisses my breasts, licks my skin, and sets me on fire.
My panties are removed, my heels kept on. My bra is pulled down, just enough to release my needy nipples. I arch my back as his tongue finds my warmness. He makes me come with his fingers, and then he makes love to me under the stars on the dining room table.
There’s something different about sex when you’re married. It’s stronger. It’s more meaningful. It’s powerful.
After we come down from our high, we take showers and lie down on the floor in front of a fire. We talk about the house and how the day went, and then finally I feel like it’s the right moment. I sit up, my hair falling down the front of his T-shirt.
I look over at him and blink, and then I reach around and pull out a box from underneath the couch that I hid when he was in the shower and I made the pallet on the fluffy rug.
He narrows his eyes. “What’s that?”
“Open it and see,” I say, handing the box to him. I’m nervous. We only talked about having kids once. Well, twice really if you count when he showed me the house. But this is it. It’s done. There’s no going back, and I pray to God he’s happy. I know I said I wasn’t ready, that I wanted it to just be us for a while, but life never goes as planned, and we all know that. I was supposed to get my shot again four months ago, but I just didn’t. I made that choice without talking to him, and I hope I don’t regret it.
I’ll cry a river if he isn’t happy about this.
“Why do you look like that?” he asks.
“Because I’m terrified,” I reply.
He gets a wrinkle between his brow, and now I’ve concerned him.
“Open it.”
He opens the box and moves the tissue to the side. His eyes scan over the onesie that says I’m proof Daddy isn’t always riding. It has a little dirt bike on it, and it’s white so it can be for a boy or girl.
His eyes jump up to me, and I swear the fridge stops humming, the clock stops ticking, and the fire stops crackling. My heart does the opposite, though. It beats like a snare drum, rushing blood through my veins.
“You’re pregnant?” he asks quietly.
I nod and swallow. Please be happy. Please be happy. He looks back down at the baby clothing, his mouth slightly open, a firm wrinkle between his brow, and then he smirks. It’s a slow spread of his lips, and then it turns into a full-on all-white teeth boyish Bryce smile.
“Are you happy?” I ask.
He cough-laughs. “Am I happy? K, I don’t even know what that word means anymore. There has to be something else to describe the way I feel right now.” He lifts the onesie out of the box. “We’re going to have a baby.”
I smile as tears spring to my eyes. “Yeah.”
He grabs me, and we fall back on the pillows and blankets. He kisses me a thousand times all over my face and neck and chest and hands and arms, and I can’t help the laughter that flows out of me.
Thank God!
“I’m sorry I didn’t discuss it with you. I just didn’t go back to get my shot. I found out only a week ago. I’m almost five weeks.”
He narrows his eyes. “So that would mean you got pregnant the night we got into that big fight?”
I laugh. “Um…yeah, I guess so.”
He nods. “That was some good makeup sex.”
“Apparently so.” I smirk.
“I can’t fuckin’ believe it,” he says, touching my stomach. “Oh, you shouldn’t be on the floor. Let’s go get in bed.”
“Oh my God. Bryce Grant, if you start that bossy shit with me about this pregnancy, I will seriously move in with Claire and Austin.”
“No, the hell you won’t.”
“Well, don’t start treating me like a baby.”
He looks conflicted and it’s cute, but I’m serious. I will die if I have to deal with this for nine months.
“Look, I’ll make a deal with you.”
“No fucking deals,” I say, moving him away from me so I can stand and get some air.
“Kathrine Har…Grant,” he says, standing up, too. He smirks, and so do I because we’re lovesick fools.
“The deal isn’t crazy,” he says in his defense. “If you promise me that you’ll take all precautions, then I won’t have anything to say.”
“And what exactly are precautions to you?”
“No running, no sleeping on your stomach, no jumping over things. No climbing things. No drinking, of course,” he says like duh. “No sweating.”
I shake my head. “You’re unbelievable. You do know that, right?”
He laughs. “Yeah, just a little over the top. How about just the no drinking?”
“Done,” I say with a
n eye roll.
“Good. I’m sure I’ll think of more, but in the meantime, we can stick with that.”
“No more!” I say as he comes toward me and I swat his hand away. “Promise.” I move back.
He sighs. “I promise.” He reaches for me, but I take off running.
“No running, Mrs. Grant.”
“You said I could,” I throw back as I reach the ladder to climb up into the loft room.
“And no climbing!” he yells after me.
Chapter Thirty
Kathrine
(Nine months later)
“Bryce is a liar. Full-on lying asshole,” I say to Claire as she rocks Axel to sleep. “I made him promise me when I told him I was pregnant that he wouldn’t be overbearing, and that’s all he’s done. Well, you know what I’ve done?”
“You’ve left him,” she says with a firm nod of her head.
“That’s right!” I say, pointing my finger in the air as I walk back and forth holding my belly. “I’ve done just that! I’ve got my suitcase in the car. You said if I ever needed a place to stay, I could stay here.”
She looks down at Axel. “That’s if you don’t mind sleeping on the couch.”
“I’m good with the couch. I love the couch,” I try to convince myself, knowing it’ll kill my back.
She smirks, knowing I’m full of shit. “Good,” she says. “Then it’s settled.”
“Yes,” I say. “It is. I’m done with my bossy husband, and I’m going to live with my two best friends and Axel, my sweet nephew. I can’t wait to wake up in the mornings, do my yoga, and spend the day with him.”
She gives me a knowing look. One that says once again I’m full of shit. “So, when Bryce comes in here to demand you get home, you’re going to stand your ground, right?”
I turn to her. “Of course, I am! I’m a strong, independent woman. He has no right to treat me like I’m some fragile ninety-year-old lady who might snap in two from arthritis.”
“Right,” she says, nodding her head again firmly.
“You’re the strongest woman I know, and you’d never let a man tell you what to do.”
Give Me Forever Love (Give Me Series Book 3) Page 16