by Jess Bryant
He thought about her all the time. Every second he was apart from her, he was planning for the next moment he got to see her. He looked for her around every corner and when they were in the same room, like now, his eyes automatically sought her out. His hands itched to reach for her. His heart raced and his body yearned for her.
Now that he had her, he didn’t intend to ever let her go.
His gaze drifted to the center of the room and the happy newlyweds who were wrapped around one another, foreheads pressed together, whispering to each other. He waited for the feelings of jealousy and unease that he’d begun associating with Derek years ago to come. But they didn’t.
If he were a better man, he’d have stopped worrying about the hold his best friend had over Lulu when she’d told him that she was over Derek, but he hadn’t. Even earlier, when Derek had asked to see her, he’d felt that age old resentment flare inside of him. He hadn’t honestly thought Derek would send him to fetch Lulu so that they could run away together, but he hadn’t been able to shake his worries. Not until Lulu had come back out of that room and smiled at him.
She’d smiled and he’d known then that she loved him too.
Lulu had come to him, straight into his arms, and kissed him with so much passion it had threatened to drown him in his need for her. She’d known. She’d taken one look at him and known that he needed her reassurance and she’d given it to him, without hesitation or question. She’d told him with her kiss and her touch, with her eyes even if she hadn’t used words, that she was his.
She loved him and Connor had been fucking floating like a pre-teen girl with her first crush all day long.
Even though he’d seen her before the ceremony started, something had happened to him when Lulu had walked down the aisle on the beach earlier. The sunset ceremony had been beautiful. The sky turning gorgeous shades of pink and orange that reflected off the beautiful blue green ocean. The white sand beneath his feet had all but glowed and the whole setting had seemed magical in a way that he knew Aubrey couldn’t have planned better. But then Lulu had stepped to the head of the makeshift aisle and everything else had faded away for him.
She was all he’d seen in that moment. Lulu with her dark hair curled and flowing loose over her bare shoulders. Her sun-kissed skin looking warm and soft. The bridesmaid dresses hadn’t been awful despite tradition and the slinky slip of silk had skimmed Lulu’s lithe body and beautiful curves perfectly. She’d smiled when she saw him then too, a sweet almost shy smile that had made him want to rush up the aisle to her, pull her into his arms and kiss her senseless.
Instead, he’d locked his knees and let her move towards him in slow, measured steps that gave him plenty of time to fantasize about her walking towards him down another aisle, like the one back home in the Fate Baptist Church, where her dress would be white and where when he got to kiss her it would mean that she was his for eternity.
He really had turned into a teenage girl at some point this week if he was planning their wedding but he couldn’t bring himself to care.
The truth was, he’d thought about being with Lulu a lot. He’d wanted her for a long time. He had plans for them. Even if she wasn’t ready to hear about that plan, it didn’t mean he didn’t have one.
They were together now. They would go home together tomorrow. Once they were back in Fate, he knew they’d have to go back to their real lives in the real world. They had jobs and responsibilities. They had family that would want to see them and spend time with them. They wouldn’t be able to lock themselves in a bedroom and ignore the outside world the way they’d been able to while they were in Mexico.
There would be obstacles to overcome. Lulu thought moving in with him was too fast. He almost laughed at the thought. Fast? He’d been in love with her since he was a kid. He knew he could persuade Lulu to move in with him but she wasn’t the only stubborn Nichols sibling he’d have to deal with. Lulu’s brother and his coworker at the Fate Sheriff’s Department, Lance Nichols would undoubtedly have something to say about Connor’s relationship with his sister.
Lance didn’t like Connor. He never had. No matter how Connor had tried to befriend the older man, Lance had never given him a chance. After that conversation he’d overheard he understood some of Lance’s issues with him but until he got back to Fate and talked to the man, he wasn’t sure how he could go about convincing Lance that he was good for Lulu except by being there for her, at her side, and showing them both that he was serious about them making a life together.
“Hey loverboy.”
Connor glanced up when someone knocked into his side, pulling out the chair next to him. He narrowed his eyes as Dean plopped his ass down in one chair and then kicked his feet up on another and leaned back as if he were lounging at home on his couch and not in a ridiculously overpriced all-inclusive Mexican resort.
Dean had shed his tie, like they all had when the ceremony was over, and rolled up the sleeves of his white dress shirt. His dark hair was messy as if he, or more likely one of the bridesmaids, had been running fingers through it. His five o’clock shadow took away some of the boyishness that still softened his sharp features until he grinned, flashing his dimples and making his brown eyes sparkle with that mischievous glint Connor knew far too well.
“Loverboy?” Connor scoffed, “Are you relinquishing your title or something?”
“Nah, love ain’t got a thing to do with me. Playboy is more my style.” Dean smirked, rearranging himself in the chair so that his big hands were laced together over his stomach, “You’re the one with love in his eyes. Hell, you looked like you were sitting over here all but mooning about Lulu. You got it bad, huh?”
“Yeah.” Connor didn’t hesitate or hedge, didn’t worry about his friend making fun of him or laughing, he just admitted the truth and smiled when Dean chuckled knowingly.
“Yeah. Bout time you admit that you’re crazy about the girl.”
“I couldn’t admit it before, she wasn’t ready to hear it.” He took a long drink of his beer before putting it back on the table.
“Neither was Dare I would imagine.”
“Exactly.”
“But you got the girl, in the end. That’s all that matters.”
“This isn’t the end.” Connor shook his head, “This is only the beginning.”
“I’m glad.” Dean’s lips curled up at one corner, “Happy looks good on you. It looks good on the both of you.”
“Thanks man.” Connor bumped their shoulders together in a sign of affection.
The two of them fell silent and he didn’t try to keep the conversation going. It wasn’t awkward. He was used to Dean’s quiet moments.
When the younger man was in a crowd, he was always the center of attention. His big smile and big voice and good looks put him there and he relished the attention. But when it was just his closest friends, the people that knew there was more to him than the charming playboy persona, Dean had a tendency to slide into his own thoughts. He was smarter and deeper than people gave him credit for.
Connor knew that a lot of the time Derek chalked his younger brother up to a rash, adrenaline junkie kid that had chosen to run into burning buildings as a career firefighter for the thrill of it. Connor had talked to Dean enough to know that wasn’t the case at all. He’d wanted to do something that made a difference, to help people.
Dean had considered joining the army when he graduated high school but ultimately hadn’t wanted to worry his parents with the possibility of going to war. He’d talked to Connor about joining the Fate Sheriff’s Department and though their small town was mostly quiet and uneventful when it came to crime, Dean had blanched at the idea of carrying a firearm let alone using it. The fire department had been Connor’s idea and he was proud of the way Dean had committed to the station fully.
Now he just needed to grow up and leave behind his womanizing ways. Connor had no doubt that Dean would make a fine husband and father. Someday. Not today. But someday soon he knew Dean was go
ing to look at Derek and Aubrey and maybe even Connor and Lulu and want what they had found with each other.
“Dude, what the hell are you doing over here playing wallflower?” A rough voice slurred slightly as the chair Dean’s feet were in was knocked aside so that he had to sit up and Connor glanced over to see a bleary eyed Ridley Harper stumble into the seat.
“Hey man.” Dean grinned at his cousin and Connor silently cursed.
That was another thing Dean needed to leave behind. His friendship with his cousins was natural. They were about the same age and they’d all grown up together. But Reed and Ridley weren’t a good influence in Connor’s opinion. They were party boys and far more immature than Dean. Every time they were around it was as if Dean reverted back to his seventeen year old self. Arrogant and obnoxious and dead set on making the worst decision that he could just to impress the other two with his level of debauchery.
Connor frowned, “Are you drunk?”
“Not yet.” Ridley chuckled as he pushed a shot glass Connor hadn’t noticed before towards Dean, “But I’m heading to Drunktown and I ain’t going alone. Drink up, Cuz.”
Dean shrugged and reached for the shot glass. He downed the brown liquid and winced slightly as it burned his throat. Ridley all but cheered and smacked his cousin on the back so hard that Dean coughed.
“Damn, what was that?” Dean wiped at his mouth, grimacing.
“Whiskey.”
“Cheap ass whiskey you mean.” Dean snorted, “Tasted like the bottom of a shoe.”
“Yeah? You know that from experience?” Ridley narrowed his eyes as if he needed to focus his vision, “Are you a shoelicker, Deany?”
“Fuck you.” Dean laughed.
“Here.” Connor slid his beer towards the kid, “It’ll kick the aftertaste at least.”
“Thanks man.” Dean tilted the beer up and all but downed it.
Ridley turned his gaze on Connor, his smile turning to a sneer, “Guess congratulations are in order.”
“Oh yeah?” Connor raised an eyebrow, “What for?”
“You won.”
“Won?” Connor’s other eyebrow rose as he tried to figure out what the drunk Harper was talking about.
“The bet, jackass.” Ridley all but sneered, “You won the bet.”
“Hey. Easy.” Dean shook his head at his cousin, “I told you to let that go. It was a stupid thing for us to bet on anyway. Drop it.”
“Nah, man, I’m cool. It’s fine. I just wish I’d known the thing was fucking rigged.”
“Rigged?” Connor scowled as he looked between the two Harper cousins.
“It wasn’t…” Dean started but Ridley shoved off his hand when he reached for him and stood up.
“Bullshit. It was rigged from the start.” Ridley’s voice was rising and Dean tried again to hush him to no avail, “You were already hooking up with Nikki and you…” He turned his sneer back on Connor, “You’ve been banging the Best Woman since we got here. You never should’ve been part of the bet. I knew it that first night when you picked her and then she got in our faces being a bitch.”
“Don’t you dare call her that!” Connor growled and pushed to his feet so they were face to face.
“Ridley, stop.” Dean had stood as well, putting himself between the two men.
“Why?”
“Because you don’t know what you’re talking about.” Dean hissed.
“How about because I’m going to knock your drunk ass into next week if you say another word about Lulu or that stupid bet?” Connor warned.
His hands were already fisted at his sides. He hadn’t been in a fight since he was ten. He didn’t miss that even that fight all those years ago had been because of Lulu and had involved another Harper male.
He’d fought with Derek that day because he’d hurt Lulu by pushing her off her bike so she wouldn’t beat him in a race. He’d called Derek a cheater and Derek had tackled him. He’d been bigger even then and he’d gotten the upper hand and given Derek a bloody nose before Lulu pulled them apart. Then she’d yelled at him, at him, for making Derek bleed when she herself was bleeding from skinned knees and clutching her hand to her chest.
Maybe that was why it took him a moment too long to react. Maybe he was stuck in the past, remembering her voice yelling at him that day and that’s why his brain didn’t click when he heard her. Whatever the reason, it was Dean’s eyes going wide and the color draining from his face that had Connor jerking back to reality.
“The bet?” Her voice was low, practically shaking, and he spun around, already knowing what he was going to find.
Lulu was standing about three feet away from him but from the look of horror on her pretty face it suddenly felt like a hundred yards. She was right there within reach but every fiber of his being told him that if he tried it that she would push him away and bolt. The smile she’d been wearing only minutes ago was gone and in its place was a look of betrayal that threatened to gut him.
“Lu…” He said softly but she shook her head before he could say another word.
“You bet on me?” She gaped at him pain written clearly all over her face. “I’m just part of that stupid bet?”
“No, of course not.”
Her face twisted with pain, “Is that all this was?”
“Lulu, please… it’s not what you think.”
“Tell me it isn’t true.” She raised her chin, as if she was steeling her spine, but her bottom lip trembled, “Tell me it isn’t true, Connor.”
He opened his mouth to tell her exactly that but something inside him kept the words from coming out. This was a big moment in their relationship. The first misunderstanding of what he hoped would be a really long relationship. And he couldn’t start it off on a lie, no matter how easy it would be. He couldn’t lie to the woman he loved, not even to prove this was more than some stupid bet.
“It isn’t what you think.” He repeated softly, “Please, let’s just go somewhere and talk about this.”
Her eyes watered, “You didn’t say it isn’t true.”
“Lulu…”
“Dean.” She looked past him, as if he wasn’t standing there, and he turned to look at the other man as well, “Is it true? Did he bet that he could sleep with me?”
Dean winced as if she’d just asked him to confirm Santa Claus wasn’t real to a group of children. His dark eyes went from Connor to Lulu and back again. He gave a small nod and Dean blew out a rough breath.
“It’s true but it’s also true that it isn’t as bad as it sounds.”
Lulu made a sound that had pain tearing through him. He jerked back towards her in time to see her cover her mouth. A sob, he realized a moment before she turned away from him. She was crying. That awful, gasping sound had been her attempt to cover it but he saw what she hadn’t wanted him to see.
Tears.
“Lulu.” He tried to go after her but he only made it two steps before a big, dark figure stepped into his path, stopping him in his tracks and he growled, “Move, Dare.”
“Not a chance.” His best friend stepped to the side when he tried to go around him. “What the hell is going on? What’s wrong with Lulu?”
“It doesn’t concern you.” He grit his teeth.
“The hell it doesn’t. This is my wedding reception and you made Lulu cry? What did you do?”
“Derek…” Dean tried to come to his defense but his brother glared him into silence.
“I’ll deal with you in a minute.” Derek snapped and then turned back to Connor, “What did you do?”
“Dammit Dare. Get out of my way. I need to go after her and explain.”
“Explain what?”
“The bet.” He growled, “She found out about the fucking bet.”
Derek’s hard stance softened fractionally and he sighed, “Shit.”
“Yeah.”
“I told you to tell her.”
“I know. Dammit Dare. Let me go after her.”
“Yeah. Okay. Go.” De
rek moved out of the way and Connor started to step past him and then stopped and turned back to his friend.
“I’m sorry to disrupt your reception. It was a beautiful wedding. You’re a lucky man.”
Derek flashed a small grin, “So are you.”
Connor couldn’t force a return smile at Derek’s words so he nodded and then turned and went after his woman. He hoped like hell he was lucky. If he was lucky he’d find Lulu and she’d agree to hear him out. She’d give him a chance to explain and forgive him for not telling her about that stupid bet sooner.
She was so much more than what that bet had reduced her to and he was an idiot for ever having hidden his feelings for her.
If he’d told her that he loved her, maybe she wouldn’t have jumped to the worst possible conclusion. Maybe she would have listened when he told her there was more to the story. Or maybe she’d still be hurt by the idea that he’d only seduced her to win some stupid, childish, insulting bet.
He cursed his stupidity under his breath as he pushed out of the ballroom where they’d all moved for the reception after the ceremony. He scanned the hallway, trying to think about where Lulu might go. It wasn’t the first time she’d stormed out on him. It wasn’t even the first time she’d stormed out on him in this very building. Last time, Dean had found her outside so he headed out the front door with nothing but a hell of a lot of determination, an apology and the three little words that might be his only shot of getting back in the good graces of the woman he loved.
Chapter Seventeen
Lulu curled her arms around her legs and stared out into the darkness. The sound of the ocean waves rising and falling was the only sound and the rhythm was peaceful, calming even. When she’d stumbled onto the beach she hadn’t known where else to go. She’d only wanted to get away, to be alone, to deal with the mix of emotions that were roiling inside of her. She’d collapsed in a heap on the warm sand, lost in her thoughts, and she couldn’t be sure how much time had passed. All she knew was that the heat of the day had faded, the breeze off the water chilled her skin, and that she was still alone.
