Love, Laughter, and Happily Ever Afters Collection (Eight Fun, Romantic Novels by Eight Bestselling Authors)

by Violet Duke

  Brian saw red.

  Murderous, bloodthirsty anger pumped through his system, all rational thought gone. Those assholes were talking about Tessa.

  And he was going to make them pay.

  “Brian, no.”

  The horrified voice sounded so far away, but somehow it pierced through the haze of rage tunneling out his vision, filling his veins with adrenaline.

  Not enough to stop him though.

  That’s when Connor entered his narrowed field of vision and shoved him back against the wall. “Brian, calm down.”

  He couldn’t even begin to form words. The three dead men walking had turned around to see what the commotion was, and he was itching for them to come on down to find out.

  Tessa clamped her hands down on his forearm. “Just let it go, Brian. That guy’s a dick, not worth your time or anger.”

  “What’d you just call me, bitch?”

  “For crissakes, the dumbass has a death wish,” muttered Connor as he shoved his forearm up against Brian’s throat to keep him pinned against the wall. “While I’d love nothing more than for you to pound the shit out of him, I’m telling you, just walk away.”

  But he didn’t have to go anywhere at all, because Dumb, Dumber, and Dumbest were so conveniently bringing the fight to him.

  “Gavin, dude. Enough. Come on, let’s just go back in to the party.”

  Well, at least one of them had at least part of a brain.

  ‘Gavin,’ who was clearly drunk and maybe even a little high, elbowed his friends back and kept right on coming, glassy eyes, prickish strut and all.

  “Do we have a problem out here, gentleman?” The uniformed officer that was serving as security for the event stepped into the hallway, with the people from the reception table at the front trailing close behind.

  Gavin turned around and squinted at the approaching officer for a second before chortling loudly, “Trey? Is that you, man? It’s me, Gavin. You played football with my brother. Dude, you’re a legend!”

  Trey didn’t even dignify that with a blink. “I asked you folks a question. Is there a problem here?”

  Tessa rushed forward. “No problem, officer. My team and I are just trying to get the food out for the reunion—”

  “No, no, we do have a problem, Trey,” interrupted Gavin. “Because here I was just minding my own business, trying to catch up with my high school buddies, and then out of nowhere, I got verbally assaulted by this skanky high school dropout here.”

  “You fucking—” It took both Trey and Connor to slam Brian back against the wall. And this time, it was the fridge-sized cop and his massive forearm that was nearly cutting off his air supply. “Don’t do it, man. I don’t want to have to arrest you.”

  Trey fired a withering cop-stare over at Gavin. “I suggest you return to the ballroom and not bother this young lady any more. If I find you so much as talking to her again, I’ll be personally seeing to it that she files a harassment charge against you.”

  Gavin looked around at all the eyes glaring at him with varying degrees of repugnance and wrath. “Whatever. I’m going back to the party,” he shot out with a weaselly grunt. He turned around in a complete, drunken circle then, looking for his two sidekicks.

  They were nowhere to be found.

  Looking far less cocky now, Gavin tossed Tessa one last hateful look and then slinked off around the corner.

  Trey turned to Brian. “Sorry man, but since you’re not a guest, and there were specific complaints from the workers here about you, I’m going to have to ask you to leave as well.”

  Brian growled. “I’m not leaving Tessa alone here with that asshole.”

  A calm, cultured voice rang out from behind them. “Don’t worry, my wife and I will stay with Tessa tonight.”

  TESSA TURNED to look at the distinguished man walking toward them with the gorgeous redhead on his arm.

  “Tessa, you probably don’t even know who I am—”

  “James,” she said with a smile. “Of course I know who you are. We had geometry class together.”

  A surprised grin transformed his face, made him look even more like the boy who always used to help her with her classwork. “Yes. I can’t believe you remember me. We only had one class together.”

  “A class I would’ve failed had it not been for you.” She reached out to shake his hand and then his wife’s.

  “Well, like I said, Marcy and I will be happy to help out,” repeated James. He looked over at Brian. “Tessa won’t even have to leave the kitchen at all. We’ll handle everything out in the ballroom.”

  Tessa shook her head, instantly rejecting the generous offer. “No, don’t be silly. You’re guests tonight. I can handle the rest on my own, really. Everyone can just head home and head back to the party. There’s not all that much left for me to do.”

  Marcy stepped forward. “Our minds are already made up. In fact, we’ll probably even run a little wager on who can run the smoothest buffet line. Even at the restaurant where we work, we’re terribly competitive.”

  “Which restaurant?” asked Connor. “Because you two look really familiar.”

  “James and I are both line chefs at Le Mille Feuille.”

  One of the most elite five-star restaurants in Arizona.

  “Holy shit.” The commentary was a soft murmur from behind Connor.

  “Skylar, language!” scolded Abby, though her expression mirrored the sentiment.

  When Tessa looked over and saw Skylar sliding worried looks over at her dad, a kaleidoscope of clips from the last ten minutes flooded Tessa’s brain all at once, all the awful things Gavin had said…things Skylar had undoubtedly heard, things Brian had been willing to assault another man over.

  The room spun.

  “Tessa?” Brian pushed past everyone and gripped her elbow, easing her away from the group and toward the open side door so she could get some air. “You okay, sweetheart?”

  The intense concern she saw in his eyes humbled her. “Brian, thank you for defending me back there but I’ll be okay. Why don’t you go on and take Skylar home. Please. She shouldn’t be around this.”

  And you shouldn’t be risking jail time to defend someone like me.

  He reached down to pry her clenched fists open and ordered gently, “You make sure to stay in the kitchen the entire night.” Turning to look at Officer Trey, the two exchanged one of those top secret ‘guy’ head nods before he added, “And don’t go out to your car alone. Have either James or Officer Trey keep you company while you load everything back up.”

  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw James and Marcy off to the side nodding in agreement.

  “Promise me, Tessa.” It was that alpha-protective rasp, laden with worry.

  She stared at him for a moment and shook her head lightly. At his fierce scowl in response, she quickly explained, “No, I wasn’t saying no. I was just…amazed, I guess. I’m not used to people worrying about me, being protective over me.”

  He smoothed his thumb over the nail marks she’d dug into her own palms. “Get used to it.”

  Her breathing stopped in her lungs altogether.

  “Last thing. Connor said you live in Mesa, not far from me. After you’re done packing up, I want you to come over for a bit. I’ll text you the address. I want to make certain that no one follows you home without you knowing. I need to see for myself that you’re safe.”

  “Brian, you’re being paranoid—”

  “I saw the way that guy looked at you, Tessa. And after a night of drunken glory day reminiscing with the rest of his dumbass friends, who knows what he’ll do
. Swear to me you’ll come straight over to my house after finishing up here.”

  His quiet gaze, almost raw in its intensity, fell down to her lips in the sweetest promise of a kiss she’d ever received. “Promise me, Tessa.”

  Touched beyond words, she nodded. “I promise. I’ll be there by ten at the latest.”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  SHE GOT THERE at 9:30.

  Which brought an official end to his checking-the-clock-every-ten-minutes fun.

  Brian had the front door open and the interrogation started before she even hit the doorbell. “Are you okay? Did that guy harass you any more tonight?”

  Jesus, the thought of her there without him had clawed at his insides all night. He knew Tessa had been right about his taking Skylar home, but every male cell in his body had fought him on it, demanded he stay there and protect her.

  His woman.

  The thought blindsided him. Where the hell did that come from?

  “Gavin didn’t come near me for the rest of the night,” she answered, breaking into his thoughts. “I actually had a pretty okay night. James and his wife are probably one of the most interesting couples I’ve ever met. And they made certain I never had to leave the kitchen the entire time. They hovered over me all night. Officer Trey, too. He wouldn’t even let me go to the restroom unescorted.” The look of baffled wonder in her expression when she talked about the couple and the officer tugged at his heart. She really wasn’t used to anyone taking care of her, that much was clear.

  And that just made all his alpha protective instincts kick up even more. He scanned the street to make sure she hadn’t been followed and pulled the door wider to let her in.

  “No, that’s okay. It’s late,” she declined, half-turning to go. “I just came by to say thanks again. Maybe we can go out sometime to—”

  He caught her elbow to keep her from walking back to her car. “Hang out for a bit. One beer to take the edge off.”

  Though he was working damn hard at it, he couldn’t smooth out the rough gravel in his voice. The idea of her going back to her apartment alone tonight after how broken she’d looked earlier…

  “I also have pizza. And ice cream,” he attempted again, willing her to stay.

  Her lips curved up at the corners. “Can we make beer floats?”

  He almost laughed then. She was always saying and doing the completely unexpected. “Sure.” He stepped back so she could walk in, and he had to forcibly order himself to stop holding on to her arm as if she were going to cut and run. “I have chocolate syrup and whipped cream too if you want.”

  Damn.

  Her eyes widened and her step faltered just a bit.

  One look at the color rising in her cheeks and he knew she’d been thinking the same thing he’d been. Well…maybe not the same thing. He was pretty sure that his thoughts starring her naked after he’d licked chocolate syrup and whipped cream from her body wasn’t exactly what was running through her mind.

  But then he saw those witchy bedroom eyes of hers dip down to the front of his jeans—for just a fraction of a second—and he nearly groaned out loud.

  Yeah, okay, so maybe what she was thinking was better.

  Her flushed cheeks went higher up the color scale and she spun around quickly to head for the kitchen. “I’m going to raid your fridge to get started.”

  It took him a while, but eventually he remembered his brain needed oxygen to survive. So he started working on that while heading over to the cupboard for the thick glass mugs Skylar had insisted he buy for her movie night cream soda floats.

  “There’s some Guinness way in the back,” he offered helpfully. “Not sure how the other beer will taste in a float.”

  Her voice drifted out from depths of the fridge, sounding pleasantly surprised. “For a guy who looks like he could bench press a brontosaurus, you’re awfully familiar with beer float basics.” She pulled out two bottles of Guinness with a look of triumph. “It’s actually kind of a turn-on,” she teased.

  He had a feeling she was simply talking without a filter again rather than flirting, so he kept it tame. Relatively. “While I definitely like the idea of turning you on, I can’t take the credit for this one. My friend Dani owns a brewpub in Cactus Creek and she puts beer in absolutely everything. She talked my ear off about beer floats one day before adding it to her menu.”

  “Get out, are you talking about Ocotillos? I love that place.”

  Not surprising. It was unique and outside-the-box, very much like Tessa. “Well then we have to go hang out there sometime. I’m sure Dani would love to pick your brain on how she can bake more beer into her desserts.”

  “That sounds like fun.”

  The return of her smile was a welcome sight. He liked being responsible for that smile. He wanted to keep being responsible for that smile as much as possible.

  Grabbing the mugs, she glanced down the hall. “Should we make a cream soda float for Skylar? Or is she asleep already?”

  “She’s out like a light. Lately she’s been doing that a lot. Unless she’s hanging out with her best friend, I can barely keep her awake long enough to let her rot her brain on video games and stuff like a normal kid. Can’t remember the last time she’s stayed awake through a movie.”

  “Have her doctors ruled that out as a symptom?” asked Tessa quietly.

  Seeing her worried expression, he went with the whole truth, not the watered down version he usually gave Connor. “For now. Though we are adding it to the equation. But because she isn’t exhibiting any other social or psychological symptoms, we’re calling it basic adolescent fatigue. But monitoring it.”

  “Good, I’m glad. She’s a good kid. You’ve done a great job raising her.”

  “Thanks. It’s been a team effort.” Grabbing a handful of napkins along with some straws and spoons, he joined her and the two huge beer floats waiting for him at the dining table. He noticed she’d opted not to use the chocolate syrup or the whipped cream.

  Probably for the best.

  “Skylar really likes you,” he added. “Which says a lot.” He lifted his spoon to clink hers in a toast before giving the foamy concoction a try. “She was pretty pissed off on your behalf tonight. I didn’t realize it until Connor told me but while he was busy holding me back, Abby had to all but step on Skylar’s feet to hold her back as well.”

  A small smile peeked through the cloud that had settled over her face at the mention of the night’s events. After taking a big sip of creamy beer, she said softly, “Brian, what that guy said earlier about my being a slutty high school dropout—”

  She wouldn’t meet his eyes, couldn’t hide the shame in her voice, and that just made him want to hunt that asshole down all over again. “The guy’s a jerk. He—”

  “—wasn’t lying.” Her voice shrunk smaller still. “Well, the slutty part is a gross exaggeration, but the dropout part is true. I dropped out after my sophomore year. But I got my GED right away at a job that was practically full-time…” She paused the rush of words when his hand touched her forearm.

  “Hey, slow down. I figured that was the case. From what Connor tells me, all you do is work. With all of your sister’s hospital bills, it couldn’t have been easy. I think it’s noble that you dropped out to help with the bills—”

  “That wasn’t why I dropped out.”

  “I WAS THE BAD SEED.”

  Tessa’s stomach pitched as she forced the words out. The irony of that particular statement had always been a bitter pill to swallow.

  “Willow was the perfect daughter. She was kind and sweet, beautiful and talented, and just…perfect. In every way. She wa
s my mom’s pride and joy. Willow started playing the piano when she was four and she was a natural. My mom found her a piano teacher who was a former child prodigy, and after he took Willow under his wing, she became exceptional. By the time she was seven, she was composing her own music. I know there are more cases of that now, but back then, it was a really big deal. By the time she was ten, she was winning awards for her compositions.”

  Remembering just how extraordinary Willow had been filled Tessa with as much pride and happiness as it did pain. “But when Willow turned eleven, that’s when she started developing symptoms. I’d been six or seven at the time, and while I don’t remember exactly when or how I learned about Willow having JHD, I do remember my mom crumbling to pieces. She just disintegrated. She went from being the envied stage mom to the pitied mother fighting to keep her daughter alive—her perfect, talented daughter who was now unable to play the piano, unable to go to school, unable to do day-to-day functions.”

  Tessa dragged in a breath, swallowing the lump in her throat she always got when she was hit with the fleeting memories of her sister playing the piano. The small, disjointed snippets recorded in her mind were the only things left of her sister’s music, since her mother had taken a drunken hammer to every homemade video of Willow’s concerts. Tessa never told Willow that, never told her father either. Sometimes she wondered if even her mother remembered because it had been Tessa who’d cleaned up the carnage, bagged it up and threw it out—all of her sister’s prize-winning memories.

  “My mom wasn’t a bad mom. She was actually very good at taking care of Willow, though she’d hated every second of it. She’d hated being terrified, hated having to provide CPR to her daughter until the paramedics arrived more times than she could count. She’d hated giving up her job, her friends, her whole life to take care of Willow every day. She’d hated the fact that the purpose of her days was solely about survival and not living.”