In a short time, they were both completely naked, and he had his hands on her rear as she moved above him. He could not believe the exquisite ecstasy she gave him by just the way she moved her hips.
She was soon lying in his arms, stretched out along his side languidly. They lay like that for several minutes, soaking in their happiness. She reached out her hand in the darkness, the engagement ring sparkling in the light from outside.
“Chad?” she spoke into the darkness around them.
He stirred. “Um-hum,” he responded, his voice clouded by sleep.
“There’s something I want to ask you,” she began tentatively, “but I’m afraid it will hurt your feelings.”
He woke more and pushed himself up on one elbow above her. He brushed the hair from her face. “You can ask me whatever you want. You can’t hurt my feelings. Whatever you have to say, it can’t be worse than what I’ve heard before.” But even as he uttered it, he knew she had much more power than his father ever had to hurt him. The difference was he trusted her with that power.
“It’s just, this ring is gorgeous. It’s the most exquisite thing I’ve ever seen and I love it. Truly, I do. But…do you think we could get the jewelers to remake it, the exact same design, just with smaller diamonds? It would make me too nervous to wear this,” she ended. She held her breath, studying his face.
He laughed. “You are the only woman I know who would ask for fewer diamonds in her diamond ring.” He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it.
“You’re not upset, are you? Because, really, everything was so perfect, all the work you put into it—”
The rest of what she was saying was smothered by his kisses. “You can have anything you want, Mrs. Almost-Evans.” He paused, wondering if she would be willing to take his name after so many years as Beth Donovan. She seemed to be considering this new name. Would she be able to let go of the name her husband gave her on their wedding day?
He tried to read her face in the dim light offered by the alarm clock on her side of the bed. “Or, maybe you would rather keep the name Donovan. That would be all right with me, Beth.”
With his words, she knew it was time to let go. She would always love Paul, but there was room in her heart to love Chad, too. She reached up and caressed his face. “I would be so proud to be Mrs. Beth Evans.”
“Good,” he responded with satisfaction, lying back down.
Just as he was drifting off to sleep again, she whispered, “Chad?”
“What?” he mumbled, lying on his stomach.
“I was just wondering…oh, never mind.”
His eyes opened in the dark. He flipped over to face her again. “What were you wondering?”
“Well, I’m not trying to push or anything, but I was just wondering…if you knew what your time frame would be? …For the wedding, that is.”
He smiled in the darkness. “We’ve been engaged a whole, what”—he squinted at the clock—“three hours, and you’re already pressuring me, woman?”
“Well, no. I—”
“I’m kidding, Beth. If it were up to me, there would have been a preacher there tonight. But I know it’s not easy for you.”
“I want to get married right away.”
“You do?”
“Yeah. I don’t want to waste any more time not being together.”
“Well, I don’t really have any breaks in the schedule until—”
“Who needs a break in the schedule? Why don’t we just have a small ceremony before a concert?”
“On stage?”
“Sure. Why not?”
“You don’t want a big reception and the whole church thing?”
“Not unless you do. I’ve had all that before.”
“Man. You are a cheap date. We’ll look at the schedule and you can pick a date. Who do you want to come?” He sounded like he was getting excited.
“Well, Cas, of course, and Cali and the other lunch ladies. But that’s it. Just an intimate kind of thing.”
“That sounds fantastic!” He changed positions. “We should get some sleep, I guess. We’ll talk about it more in the morning.”
Ten minutes later it was Chad who broke the stillness. “Beth?”
“Mmmm?”
“You know how you were saying earlier that you don’t have enough time to write?”
“Yes.”
“Well, I was thinking…when Cas goes to school in the fall, what would you think about giving up your lunch lady gig and touring with me? You could bring your laptop and have all the time you needed. You don’t have to answer right away, just think about it. I know you like working with the girls and with the kids at the school. I just wanted you to know, traveling with the band would be an option, too. We can talk about it more in the morning if you want to. Go back to sleep.”
***
“Chad.”
“Huh?”
“Cassie’s awake.”
He opened one eye. Beth was sitting up in the bed, clutching her knees and listening for movement in the hall. He sat up, too.
“I’m nervous about telling her,” she confessed.
“You didn’t seem nervous last night.”
“Yeah, well that’s ‘cause I was all high on love and everything. This is reality.”
“You don’t think she’ll like the idea?”
“I just don’t know. She adores you, Chad, but the only man who’s ever been in this house is her dad. I just don’t know how she’s going to take this.”
“What do you want me to do? Do you want to offer to take her out to breakfast and I can call a cab and be gone before you get back?
Her face scrunched up. “No. I shouldn’t have said anything. I love you, Chad. And I want her to know it.” She touched his face. “It’s not something to hide. It’s just…awkward, or something. Come on, let’s get dressed and go tell her together.”
“Are you sure that’s how you want to handle it?”
“No. But let’s do it anyway.” Beth hopped out of bed and started opening drawers.
“Beth, all I have to wear is my suit from last night.”
“Oh well, that’s all you have to wear then, I guess.”
Cassie was eating cereal when they walked hand in hand into the kitchen. She glanced up and froze, spoon halfway to her mouth. “You spent the night?”
“Uhh, yeah,” he answered lamely.
Cassie continued eating. “Do you want some cereal or something?”
He exhaled and joined her at the table. “Thanks, that sounds great.”
Beth reached into the cabinet for a bowl.
“Nice suit,” Cassie teased.
He took an assessment of his wrinkled shirt and pants. “Yeah. Somehow I think it looked better last night.”
Cassie snorted.
As Beth handed the bowl to Chad, Cassie’s eyes got big and she grabbed Beth’s hand. “Umm, Cas—”
“You two are engaged?”
She searched her daughter’s face. “Yes. That’s what I wanted to talk to you about—”
Cassie jumped up and hugged Chad. “Way to go!” She ran over to hug a stunned Beth. “This is great! Congratulations! When’s the wedding? How did you propose? Let me see that ring.”
Beth laughed, pulling her daughter in for another hug. “I love you, Cas, you know that? But if you have any concerns, you can tell us...”
“Yeah, Cas. It wouldn’t hurt my feelings. I’d understand if—”
“What? No! Chad’s the best thing that ever happened to you, Mom. Anyone can see that. He made you laugh again, I mean, truly laugh. You get a certain glow every time he calls you, or you talk about him. This is fantastic news. I’ve got to go call Jessica! Can I tell Jessica?”
“Of course.”
She ran out of the kitchen. They exchanged a smile. But before they could do anything else, Cassie ran back in and slid across the kitchen floor in her socks to give Chad a kiss on the cheek. “Welcome to the family!”
He gave her a
rm a squeeze. “Thanks, Cas.” She tore out of the room and ran up the stairs.
“Man,” Beth commented, gliding over to his side. “You sure know how to charm the Donovan women.”
“Do I?” he replied innocently, pulling her down into his lap and kissing her.
After a couple of minutes, she climbed out of his lap and sat adjacent from him at the table. As he was just shoveling his first bite of cereal in, she began, “Chad, we still need to talk about this hate mail you received.”
“Oh, that.” He hoped she would forget about it with all the excitement. “Really, Beth, it’s no big deal.”
“You promised ‘full disclosure.’”
“All right.” He set his spoon down. “I’ve been getting letters for awhile. Ever since the first of the year, actually, and—”
“The first of the year? And you didn’t tell me about them?”
“Well, I really didn’t think it was a big deal. I receive hate mail all the time. As many crazy fans who love us, there’s an equal amount of crazies who hate us for some reason. And as the face of the band, so to speak, things generally get addressed to me.”
“So, why was this different?”
“I guess it was a little bit more personal.”
“In what way?”
“They say stuff about the way I treat women.”
Beth pondered this. “An old girlfriend?”
“That’s a definite possibility, but I don’t want you to worry about this. Pete will make sure nothing happens.”
“I’d like to be able to put my trust in Pete, but it still makes me nervous to think someone is gunning for my man.” She rose and kissed him on top of the head before heading up for a shower.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Chad stood on stage, fiddling with his tie, alongside Roger, and Beth’s uncle, who happened to be a priest. The men were joking around, when suddenly Roger’s eyes got wide. Chad turned to see Beth approaching, wearing an off-white sleeveless dress, tied behind the neck.
“Holy shit! She’s freaking gorgeous. You don’t deserve her,” Roger threw out, stepping forward. Chad simply swung his arm into his friend’s midsection to stop him, a huge smile plastered on the lead singer’s face. The couple met at mid-stage and immediately started kissing.
“Nah-ah-ah!” Keith yelled. “Not before the wedding.”
“Dude, leave us alone,” Beth told him between kisses, purposefully using the word “dude” as Keith seemed to employ it the way other people used “um.” All of the band members cracked up.
“Mom, save it for the honeymoon!” Cassie shouted.
“Oh yeah,” Beth mumbled, coming up for air. “My daughter’s here, ahem...” She scooted back to a more proper position. Throughout the short ceremony, the bride and groom never took their eyes off each other. Chad’s hands circled her waist.
“You may kiss the bride,” the priest finally announced.
As they kissed, ten-foot flames shot up on either side of them. “Nice touch,” she murmured, her forehead resting against her new husband’s.
“I thought you’d like that.”
“Like those two need any more fireworks,” Roger muttered out of the side of his mouth.
“No doubt,” Cali responded.
He eyed her. “I like you. What are you doing after the reception?”
“If you’re lucky,” Cali answered with a wink, “you.”
“I really like you.” He trailed after her like a puppy.
***
Weeks later, Chad was back in Bloomington for a few days. Beth crawled out of bed, leaving him sleeping, to see Cassie off to school. She had just begun her workout DVD when he came down the stairs. Without saying anything, he sat on the couch, arms crossed, a grin on his face.
Beth, dressed in spandex shorts and a sports bra, eyed him skeptically over her shoulder. “What are you doing?” she asked with feigned annoyance. Because their schedules were so different from one another, she was secretly glad he was up; this would be the first day off she was able to spend with him.
“I’m just watching you workout.” Latin music was playing and an overly smiley instructor named Carrie was counting off numbers as she sashayed across the screen. She didn’t seem to sweat at all.
“Why-y-y?”
“I just wanted to see what you and Carrie had planned. Uuummm.” He moaned as if in pain, watching Beth samba. “So it’s Carrie I have to thank for the way you move.”
She turned to face him, dipping and moving her hips in an extremely inviting way. “I like to think I have a few moves of my own.”
He sucked in his breath. “Uuum-hum.” He dove over the coffee table to grab his wife, but she dodged. She whirled around and continued to follow Carrie’s lead, but cast a teasing smile over her shoulder from time to time. He bolted up and came around the coffee table, standing behind her.
“What are you doing now?”
“I want you to teach me how to samba.” He stood directly behind her and ran his hands down her arms, and then grabbed her hands. He bent the left arm at the elbow and placed a hand on her bare stomach, just below her belly button, his large hand covering it. He left the right arm extended, bending his arm to compensate for her smaller arms. He bent his knees a little, to bring their hips more in line and pulled her in strongly against his body. “So teach me,” he whispered in her ear, letting his facial hair graze her skin.
They both knew this workout was going to end up in the bedroom, but they had to tempt each other first. She turned her head to the right to peer up at him, her lips parted, her eyes liquid. He bent in to kiss her, but she turned her head forward again at the last minute. He gave a throaty chuckle. She began to move her hips sensually, still keeping them a little distant from his.
After a few minutes she moved closer to him, so they flowed together, her hips moving backward and forward, up and down, left and right. She released his right hand, stretching her arm to bring it behind his neck, tightening her grip on him until they melted into one. He ran his hand slowly down her arm and across her right breast, before letting it join his other hand around her waist.
“I think I can give you a better work out than Denise,” he growled in her ear. “One that will get”—he punctuated each part of his sentence with a kiss and nuzzle on her neck—“your lungs going…and your heart beating…and will be good for a…number…of different parts…of your body.” He used a hand to turn her head and kissed her hungrily. “Last one in bed is a rotten egg,” he challenged, and tore off upstairs. She laughed. No one could leave her hanging better than he did.
But, in the end, he was as good as his word.
***
Later in the day, after Cassie got home from school, Chad was busy writing a song. He set down his pen as Beth entered the living room. “Heeey, what’s wrong with my girl?”
She came over and sat in his lap, crying.
“Sh-sh-sh, come on now, Beth, what could be so wrong?”
“I’m sorry,” she remarked, sniffling. “You know that guy who was supposed to take Cassie to prom? Well some other girl asked him to go, so he dumped Cassie.”
“You have got to be kidding me!”
“Cassie’s just devastated. She’s been up in her room crying for an hour.”
“What’s the scum’s name? Do you want me to go beat the shit out of him?”
“Well, yes.” He made a move to get off the couch, but she held him back with her arm, looking at him with severity.
“Oh yeah,” he mumbled contritely, looking unhappy. “This is supposed to be the new peace-loving Chad.” He was referring to his visits to the therapist to deal with his scarred upbringing. “Peace, love, and rock and roll, see?” He held his fingers up in a peace sign.
She laughed. “Oh sure, right. I can just see you playing The Grateful Dead. I’d forgotten how much it sounds like ‘Rip Your Heart Out,’” she joked, referring to one of Trapped Under Ice’s singles, and bent his fingers back.
“Ouc
h, woman! That’s not very peace-loving.” Chad started nuzzling her and she giggled.
Cassie came around the corner. “Don’t you two ever stop?” She shook her head at them.
Beth straightened up. “Hey, Cas. Are you feeling a little better?”
“Yeah,” the teen replied, flopping down on the couch next to Chad, her eyes still red. “Jason was a jerk, anyway.” She blew her nose.
“Jason, huh? What’s his last name?” he asked, putting his arm around Cassie confidentially.
Beth elbowed him. “Oh, you. Stop.”
“Ouch! Your mom is violent.”
“Tell me about it.”
“Don’t you two gang up on me!” she cried, but she smiled, seeing the two of them together made her feel good.
“Mom…you know what this calls for...”
“ICE CREAM!” they yelled in unison.
Beth jumped off the couch. “I’ll get the spoons.”
“I’ll get the bowls,” Cassie seconded, right behind her.
“We don’t need bowls. We’ll just eat out of the carton.”
Chad heard their voices fade as they entered the kitchen. “What kind of weird ritual is this?” he asked no one in particular. He jumped up and followed them. “Wait for me.”
***
A month later, Chad stood leaning against the mantle, tapping his foot impatiently, waiting for Beth and Cassie to come down. It was prom night, and they had been upstairs for hours, or so it seemed to him. The TV was on, but hearing footsteps on the stairs, he grabbed the remote to turn it off. He looked up as Cassie came into the room. “Wowww, Cas! You look beautiful.”
She blushed. “Yeah, right.” Before he could object, she asked, “What were you watching?”
“Oh, um…a documentary on the Great Wall of China. Very interesting stuff.”
“You were watching your own concert DVD again, weren’t you? You’re so weird.”
He hugged her, kissing her forehead. “You look just like your mother did on the night I proposed to her.” Cassie did, in fact, have the same kind of glow. He gave her another squeeze.
TRAPPED UNDER ICE (ROCKING ROMANCE COLLECTION) Page 24
