by Bella Andre
Until Vicki.
He echoed every stroke, every thrust of his hips with his tongue against hers. And as they kissed and pleasure climbed, then spiked so high that the fall was inevitable--and so damned good it blew his mind all over again--something told Ryan they wouldn't be waiting until after the World Series to start their family.
Hopefully, they'd started today.
CHAPTER THREE
Sunday lunch at Mary Sullivan's house in Palo Alto was always a good--and loud--time. Especially now that there could sometimes be more than a dozen adults in the backyard, and plenty of little kids running around, as well.
Gabe and Megan's daughter Summer was the oldest at ten. Chase and Chloe's daughter Emma was the second oldest at three, followed closely by Sophie and Jake's twins, Smith and Jackie. Chase and Chloe's baby, Julia, and Gabe and Megan's son, Logan, were both talking and just starting to walk.
The family's pets were there too, of course, with Zach and Heather's dogs and Summer's poodle following Lori's cat around the yard as if they were three of her loyal subjects. All of them were great with the kids, even the little ones who didn't quite understand how rude it was to tug a tail.
Nearly everyone in the Bay Area had been able to make it today. Only Smith and Valentina were out of town, finishing up a film shoot. With a crowd like this, Mary usually kept the meal simple--hot dogs, hamburgers, grilled chicken, and salad greens picked from Lori and Grayson's farm in Pescadero. And, of course, wine from Marcus and Nicola's Napa vineyard. Sophie passed around homemade ice cream sandwiches that had Lori groaning about her dancer's figure disappearing even as she ate two in rapid succession.
For Mary, family was--and had always been--everything. She never took these Sunday lunches for granted. And even though her husband, Jack, had passed away far too many years ago when he was forty-eight, she never felt alone. Not when she could see a part of him in every single one of her kids and grandchildren.
Chase had just pulled out his camera--he'd happily been the family photographer since Jack gave him his first camera when he was eight years old--when Zach stood, tugging Heather up with him. "Listen up, everyone. Heather and I have an announcement to make."
Mary loved all her kids dearly, loved how unique they all were too. Zach had always sped through life, so it was fitting that he restored race cars and raced them for a living. When Heather had appeared in his life from out of the blue with her big, sweet Great Dane at her side, Zach had been thrown for the biggest--and best--loop of his life. It had been a joy to watch her son fall for such a wonderful woman, even if the path to true love hadn't been easy for either of them. Mary's eyes grew a little damp as she watched the two of them standing together in the sunlight, surrounded by family.
"Are you going to be making your announcement soon?" Lori asked. "Or should I go get another ice cream sandwich first?"
Lori had always been a handful. Nicknamed Naughty, Lori had been a whirlwind of energy even as a toddler. Her career as a dancer and choreographer suited her perfectly. As did her husband, Grayson. He seemed extra protective of her today, Mary noticed. Just as she'd noted her daughter's extreme appreciation for ice cream sandwiches. Lori had always enjoyed food, and certainly burned enough calories dancing, but three desserts was a lot even for her. As Mary looked out across the yard to where the kids were making a fort out of empty cardboard boxes, hope lit in her heart that there'd be yet another big announcement coming soon.
"Stay in your seat, Naughty," Zach said. Pausing only to grin at his fiancee, he told them all, "Heather and I are getting married in two weeks."
"Yay!"
Sophie's happy exclamation had Julia, Chase and Chloe's baby, clapping along with her. Lori and Sophie were twins, but because Sophie was generally calmer and more soft-spoken, she had been given the nickname Nice.
Zach turned to Marcus. "Happen to know if your winery has an opening for a wedding on November fifteenth?"
Of course, Mary's oldest nodded. Marcus had always taken care of his younger siblings, even before Jack passed away. "Nicola and I were just talking about how it's been too long since one of you got married at the vineyard."
"Great, then it's settled." Zach looked extremely pleased as he turned to give Heather a quick, and very possessive, kiss. "See you all in Napa on the fifteenth."
"Actually--" Ryan surprised them all by standing up, bringing Vicki with him. "We have an announcement too."
"Ryan." Vicki put one hand on his face to turn his gaze to hers. "We can wait."
"No. We can't. We won't."
Mary was struck by how fierce her normally easygoing son looked. Everything in life had always come easily to him--especially baseball. Only love had been a struggle when he'd fallen head over heels for Vicki as a teenager, then lost her when she moved away and married another man. Vicki had always been, and would always be, her son's forever love.
Vicki turned to everyone at the table. "I'm sure you've all guessed this by now, but we were planning to tell you about our wedding plans too."
"For the fifteenth," Ryan said, looking straight at Zach.
"You've got to be kidding me." Lori looked between her brothers. "You've both decided to get married on the same day? A day that's only two weeks away?" She shook her head. "I'm really glad I didn't go get that ice cream sandwich after all."
Just like similar times when Lori had razzed them when they were kids, Zach and Ryan both looked on the verge of snarling--or worse--at their sister.
"We can change our date," Heather offered.
But Zach wasn't having any of it. "Two weeks, Heather, or it's a guy dressed like Elvis at Vegas's finest by-the-hour chapel."
Mary could barely smother her grin. Especially when Summer ran up to the table and said, "What's going on?" She picked up baby Logan from Gabe's lap and bounced her little brother in her arms, making him laugh with delight. "Why are Uncle Zach and Uncle Ryan standing there looking so mad at each other?"
Gabe didn't bother to contain his own laughter as he told his stepdaughter, "Because they're not seeing the obvious answer, even though it's right in front of them." Though Gabe fought fires for a living, Mary had always thought his solid, steady personality would have made him a great mediator. It certainly made him a great husband to Megan and father to their two kids.
Chase looked at his brother, grinning as he nodded. "Makes perfect sense to me."
"Couldn't agree more," Marcus said. "Smith and Valentina are definitely going to be bummed they missed this lunch."
"What the hell are you all talking about?" Both Zach and Ryan erupted at the same time.
Sophie's eyes were sparkling as she told her brothers in a gentle, but clearly amused voice, "We all think you should have a double wedding."
Zach and Ryan looked at their wives-to-be first, then each other. Barely a year apart in age, they'd always been extra close, whether they were running around together or arguing about something that made sense only to the two of them.
Mary didn't want to sway them, but she couldn't deny her gut feeling that a double wedding would be absolutely perfect for them. "Why don't the four of you go talk through this idea?" she suggested.
As Zach, Heather, Ryan, and Vicki headed toward the garage--the place where plenty of things had been hashed out between the siblings over the years--Mary shot Lori an affectionate warning glance to make it clear that she should not follow her brothers or their fiancees out of the backyard to lend her opinion on how they should proceed with their wedding plans.
"What if they need a referee?" Lori asked around the new ice cream sandwich she'd somehow managed to get hold of without ever leaving the table. Mary grinned as she saw little Emma crawl out from beneath the table, her mouth sticky with the bite of dessert she'd taken before handing it off to her Aunt Lori.
Chase, Marcus, and Gabe all looked at each other to see who was going to volunteer to step between the two brothers if things went south during their discussion in the garage. But it was Sophie who sto
od up.
"I'll go." She leaned down to kiss her husband, Jake. "Wish me luck."
Everyone had thought Sophie and Jake were such a strange match at first, the quiet librarian and the tattooed pub owner. But Mary had always known they were meant for each other. What could she say? It was a mother's intuition. Watching them together now--and seeing what great parents they were to their twins--made her so happy. And reminded her of her own true love.
Looking up at the clouds in the blue sky above, she swore they formed a smile. "Grandma, look!" Summer put an arm around her and pointed up at the sky. "The clouds are smiling at us."
"They are, aren't they?" Mary brought her granddaughter closer and held her tight.
*
"Pick a different date," Zach ordered his brother.
"Nope." Ryan held firm. "We're all set on the fifteenth, thanks."
Zach and Ryan were nose to nose when Sophie stepped into the garage. Heather and Vicki were two very strong women--they had to be to live with and love uber-alpha men like Sophie's brothers. But clearly, even the two of them were wary about getting between the brothers at present.
Deciding to let her brothers keep up their chest beating for the time being, Sophie headed for the women who were already sisters to her, even if no official vows had been made yet.
"What do you want to do?" She figured there was no point in being anything but direct at this point. "Does a double wedding sound like something that could work? Or do you each want your own separate wedding?" Before either of them could answer, she added, "And don't think we won't understand if separate weddings are your choice. You know how we can get carried away with an idea, especially when we're all together like this."
"Actually," Heather spoke first, "the more I think about it, the more I like the idea of a double wedding. Especially with you, Vicki. Right from the first time we met, I liked you. And over the past few years, you've become one of my closest friends."
"I feel the exact same way." Vicki grinned. "Let's do it. Let's pull a Sullivan first with a double wedding."
"Boys," Sophie called out. "It's all decided." She smiled as Zach and Ryan turned to face the women. "You're having a double wedding. And it's going to be awesome."
Zach was at Heather's side so fast it was as if he'd become one of his race cars. "Heather, we don't have to do this just because--"
"I want to." Heather put her hands on either side of Zach's face, and Sophie's heart melted at how much love she saw in her brother's eyes when he looked at his fiancee.
Heather had utterly transformed Zach in all the best possible ways. So had the dogs, who must have realized that Zach and Heather had left the backyard and were now barreling in through the garage door to find them.
"All this time that we've been waiting to pick the date, maybe this was why," Heather said. "Because we were supposed to do this with family--" She smiled at Ryan. "--and friends." She turned her smile to Vicki.
Zach didn't speak for a long moment, just searched Heather's eyes as though he wanted to make absolutely sure that she wasn't just trying to make his family happy with a double wedding. Only once the dogs had wiggled between them did he finally crack a smile. "If it's what you want."
"Don't you?" She turned to where Ryan and Vicki were standing, holding hands. "I know you're close to your whole family. But the two of you--"
"You've always been closest to each other," Vicki cut in. She turned to Ryan. "I can see it already, how if you multiply what we feel for each other with what Heather and Zach feel--" Her smile was radiant. "--it's going to be like all the love in the world is right there in Marcus's vineyard on the fifteenth."
Sophie could see that Ryan didn't need any more convincing. Not when Vicki's smile told him everything he needed to know. "If you're in, so am I." He kissed her before turning back to Zach. "You good with this?"
Zach looked at Heather one more time, looking for her smile, before he turned back to Ryan and nodded. "I'm good."
Sophie breathed a silent sigh of relief as her brothers shook hands. Then she looped one arm through Heather's and one through Vicki's. "Now, if you'll excuse us, we have some double-wedding planning to do."
CHAPTER FOUR
The following day, more than half a dozen Sullivan women gathered together in Chase and Chloe's living room. Those who couldn't be there in person dialed in via Skype. The coffee table was laden with cheese, crackers, grapes, and Megan's very organized lists of what needed to be done--and who was going to do it.
Heather had been running Top Dog, her dog-training and day care center in San Francisco, for almost a decade, and yet she was still boggled by the seemingly endless details of putting together a big family wedding with only two weeks' notice. Granted, she'd never been all that focused on traditionally female things, like clothes or shoes or weddings. Sometimes it still made her laugh to think that she'd ended up with a man who knew more about those things than she did. Not that Zach wasn't all man, of course. Just thinking of the decidedly alpha way he'd woken her up this morning had her shivering at the delicious memories.
He wasn't only naughty--he was completely incorrigible. And she loved every single second of it.
There was no other man she'd ever let strip all of her defenses away. Only Zach.
"Thank God for you and your spreadsheets, Megan." Heather smiled across the coffee table at her soon-to-be sister-in-law to reinforce her gratitude.
"You've already put so much time into working on the wedding," Vicki agreed. Judging by the smears of white clay on her cheeks, hair, and hands, Heather guessed Vicki had come straight to the meeting from her studio. "We know you're busy with two kids and your CPA business, so if you want us to take it from here--"
"Are you kidding?" Megan grinned. "I love spreadsheets. And using them to plan your double wedding is pretty much the most fun thing ever. Gabe was actually teasing me about it last night." Heather found the flush in Megan's cheeks when she brought up her firefighter husband totally adorable. They were the sweetest family with ten-year-old Summer and baby Logan.
"I love spreadsheets too," Kerry Dromoland said over the computer screen. She was not only one of the finest wedding planners in the Pacific Northwest, she'd also recently gotten engaged to Zach's cousin Adam, who was an architect specializing in historic renovations in Seattle. "I'm sorry I can't do more to help, especially when putting on weddings is what I do for a living."
"Please don't apologize for anything, Kerry," Vicki said. "You're already juggling four weddings that you've been hired to put on in the next two weeks, so you should be giving them your full attention. And the master checklists you sent us have been super helpful."
Heather looked at the women gathered together in Chase and Chloe's living room, the most central meeting location for the group. Lori had come north from her farm in Pescadero and Nicola south from her vineyard in Napa. "We're so grateful to all of you."
"All four of us are grateful," Vicki agreed. "Even if Ryan has to be at the stadium to get ready for the first World Series game--"
"And Zach would rather have a root canal than be on a wedding-planning committee." Lori's statement had everyone laughing at the truth of it.
"Chloe and Lori," Vicki continued, "you're saving our butts big-time by putting together the look of the wedding and choreographing where everyone needs to be during the double ceremony. And Sophie, we are hugely thankful for your encyclopedic knowledge of the Sullivan family tree and all its various branches all over the world. I know you offered to call and email everyone in addition to sending the invitations, but--"
"It's my pleasure," Sophie assured them. "It's been too long since I've spoken to some of our relatives anyway." She looked down at the long list of names. "How did I not know that Jansen is now living in Prague?"
Zach and Ryan's mother, Mary, leaned over to explain, "Jansen is one of their second cousins once removed on Jack's side."
Heather couldn't keep from laughing out loud. Yes, this double wedding wa
s a daunting task, but it was already so much fun getting to spend time working on it with so many amazing women. She'd never dreamed of having such a big family, but boy, did she enjoy every second of it. Falling in love with a Sullivan meant falling for all of them. And she couldn't wait to make it official.
Back when she'd first met Zach, she'd been certain he was a player. After all, with his perfectly chiseled face, blue eyes, broad shoulders, and effortless charm, how could he be anything else?
But she'd been wrong. Totally wrong. Zach Sullivan loved with everything in him. His family. The dogs.
And especially her.
Heather's dog, Atlas, had seen Zach's true character from the start. Heather had saved her Great Dane from a dangerous and neglectful puppy mill, so he had never been very comfortable around men. But he'd been Zach's biggest fan from day one.
Turning to Nicola, she added more thanks. "It means so much to us that you've offered to sing at the wedding."
"Actually, I have some really fun news about that." Heather had spent so much time with Nicola over the past few years that it was hard to remember she was one of the biggest pop stars in the world. She was married to Zach's oldest brother, Marcus, and when Nicola wasn't touring to support her music, they lived on an extraordinary vineyard property in Napa Valley. "Mia's husband, Ford, and our mutual friend Drew Morrison would both like to play at your wedding with me, if that's okay with you."
Heather turned to Vicki in shock. Her friend's expression mirrored her own. "Are you really asking if it's okay with us?" She knew she probably looked like a fool right now, but this wedding was already so far beyond her wildest dreams, she felt as if she could barely get her brain to fire correctly anymore. "That would be incredible."
"Beyond incredible," Vicki echoed.
"Ford can't wait." Mia beamed at them through the computer monitor from her desk in Seattle. "He was just saying how it's been too long since we all got together. And what better reason than a wedding? I so wish I could be there in person with all of you. It sure looks more fun than the showing I have in fifteen minutes with the most uptight couple you've ever met in your life." She made a face. "But before I go, I wanted to give you even more good news. I convinced the property managers at those two estates next to Marcus and Nicola's winery to let us have the houses for the wedding weekend."
