by Ali Parker
“I couldn’t miss it,” he said.
“Why not?”
“Because,” he said simply, “I had to see it with my own two eyes.”
“See what? The wedding?”
He shook his head. “Never mind, Piper.”
“Tell me.”
“No.”
“Fine.”
Levi slid off his stool. On impulse, I stood up as well, and he looked over at me like I was some lost puppy trying to chew the end of his pant leg in a desperate attempt to get him to like me. And I felt like that puppy.
“I’m sorry, Levi. This isn’t what I wanted. It isn’t—ugh!” I threw my hands in the air. “I don’t know what I’m trying to say. It feels like every word out of my mouth only makes things worse when all I want you to know is I didn’t mean to hurt you. I’d never want to hurt you. I—”
“Don’t say it, Piper,” he said.
I bit my tongue.
He hung his head briefly, then tilted it back to face the tent ceiling. His eyes were closed. “I’ll get through this. I survived rehab, right? And this fucking wedding without having a drink? Tonight proved I’m tougher than I thought. I don’t need you to keep me on track like I thought I did.”
His words hit me in the gut like a freight train. I blinked away the tears that threatened to spill free and took several steps back from him.
His eyes narrowed, not in a mean way but rather a confused way. Then they widened. “That’s not what I meant, Piper.”
My voice was nothing more than a whisper. “Then what did you mean?”
He tightened his jaw before stepping toward me. He surprised me by taking my hands in his. “I meant I can stand on my own two feet. I didn’t think I’d have the strength to last through the night, Piper. I really didn’t. I thought I’d turn to the drink and drown myself in it. I thought I might ruin this whole night for you. And for Wyatt. But I didn’t. I made it through in one piece.”
I wanted to cry for him and for me. But I didn’t. I clamped down on the tears and stared up at him. “I’m proud of you.”
“Thank you.”
“And I will always care about you.”
“I know that,” he said. “Please don’t remind me. It’s not what I need right now.”
“Then what do you need? Tell me.” I hated the desperation in my voice. And I hated how weak I felt, how broken. All I wanted was for Wyatt to swoop in, gather me in his arms, and carry me away from this pain.
Levi finally smiled at me. “I need time. That’s all.”
“Time,” I whispered.
He nodded. “Yes, Piper. Time. Time to sort through all this and reflect and figure out my next move. Time to figure out how to look back on the time I had with you with fondness instead of anger. Because that’s all I can feel right now. But I know it’s temporary. I know it is. And I need you to give me permission to heal my own way. Without you.”
My bottom lip trembled.
“Hey,” he lifted my chin with a finger, “don’t be sad. You got your fairy-tale ending. And you snagged a good man. I am happy for you. I just need to remember how to be happy for me again. I’ll get there. I promise. You have other things to worry about.”
I forced myself to swallow the knot in my throat. “Okay.”
“So I can go?”
I searched his eyes and traced the lines of his face. I remembered the love I felt for him when I was with him. And how much it hurt to watch him hurt.
But that wasn’t my job anymore. My job was to stand by Wyatt.
And that was what I intended to do.
I licked my lips and nodded as I stepped back, letting my hands slip from his fingers. “Yes. You can go.”
He smiled again, and this time, I saw some joy in it. And a little bit of relief, too. And for that, I was glad.
Chapter 22
Wyatt
I found Piper alone under the tent.
No music was playing. The crowds were gone. The only people remaining were Laurel and her staff, who’d started working under the second tent to take everything down. I suspected they’d be at it all night. Then again, Laurel was a pro, and she might pull off a massive feat and have it all down before sunrise.
Piper was standing near the bar with her arms hanging slack by her sides. She was looking at the ground and I could tell she was hurting by the way her shoulders were slumped. A strand of hair had fallen from its pin on her right side and hid her face from view, but I knew she was crying.
I’d seen her talking to Levi.
When I came around the corner of the barn looking for her, I’d expected to find her caught up in some last-minute things, but instead, I found her sitting at the bar with Levi. I hung back and tried to mind my own business, but I couldn’t help but watch, and now I knew in my gut that Piper had every reason to be sad in this moment.
She’d loved Levi, too.
Maybe she still did.
I sighed and moved through the tent to her. She stiffened when I touched her wrist, and then she realized it was me and relaxed. She sniffled and wiped at her eyes, trying to hide her tears, and I didn’t force her to show me them. Instead, I pulled her into my chest and hugged her close.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
She shook her head as she wrapped her arms around my waist. “You have nothing to be sorry for.”
“Perhaps not,” I said. “But you’re in pain. And I wish I could take it away.”
She sniffled again.
“Did you say what you needed to him?”
Piper shook her head. “Not really.”
“Did he say what he needed to you?”
“I think so.”
“Maybe that’s as good as it can get right now.”
Piper let out a shaky sigh. “I don’t think he ever wants to see me again.”
“Don’t say that. Who could ever not want to see you again? You’re perfect.”
Piper pushed herself away. The tears flowed freely and left streaks down her makeup. “He hates me.”
“No, he doesn’t.”
“He hates what I did to him.”
I shrugged. “Maybe.”
“Maybe?” she asked sharply.
“Maybe,” I said again. “But it’s still fresh, Piper. You can’t expect the guy to just pick up and move on just like that and still want to be friends. He’s going to need to put some distance between himself and this thing you guys had. Whatever it was, it must have been special, and it must have been real.”
She swallowed hard.
I cupped her cheek. “Piper, I know this has been hard on you. And I know that you might still need time, too. I want you to know that I understand. Whatever you need, you can have it. Okay? Whether that’s time, or space, or—”
“I don’t want space.”
“Oh?”
She shook her head. “I want you, Wyatt. You’re the only thing in my life right now that doesn’t make me want to scream and pull my hair out. You’re the only thing that makes me feel good. Please. Don’t confuse this. The last thing I want is space.”
I smiled. “Good. Because that’s the last thing I want, too.”
She wobbled with relief.
I rubbed her shoulders. “Come on. Let’s get you back up to the house and out of that dress. You must be exhausted.” I took her by the hand and went to lead her out of the tent, but she hesitated, pulling back from me and turning toward the dance floor.
The tiles were still laid out on the grass. None of them were lit, but the disco light above turned in a slow circle and caught the other lights strung up from tent post to tent post and cast dazzling little lights all over the place.
“Can we stay a little while longer?” Piper breathed. “Just to soak it all in?”
“I will stay as long as you want.”
I’d have stayed forever if she asked. And it would have been an easy choice.
“Come here.” I reached for her and she reached for me. We intertwined our fingers and I drew h
er to me, pausing to shift our position so we were posed for a dance. She gazed up at me and lifted her chin, and I squared my shoulders, and we began dancing to music that wasn’t even playing.
I swept her all around the dance floor from corner to corner and then right across the middle, sweeping and spinning and gliding. Her dress swished gently around her legs and fanned outward when she twirled. Soon, laughter poured out of her. It was as bright and dazzling as the disco lights swimming all around us and dotting her dress like fireflies. She clung to me when I pulled her in, and when she threw her head back in genuine laughter, I pressed my lips to her throat.
She hooked one leg around mine to hold herself to me. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” I whispered.
She ran her fingers through my hair. Her smile lingered and she nodded toward the house. “Should we go in?”
“You’ve had all the time you want here before it’s all torn down?”
Piper nodded. “Yes. The only time I want is more time with you. In that house. In our bedroom. In our bed.”
I chuckled. “Mrs. Brewer, you’re a bad girl, aren’t you?”
“I guess marriage brought it out of me.”
“I should have married your ass a long time ago.”
“You wish.” She giggled before unhooking her leg and rushing away in a swish of skirts. Her laughter flew on the air behind her as I took off after her. We peeled out of the tents and across the grounds, up to the main house. The porch light was on, but most of the other lights were off, and I didn’t catch up with her until we were inside and halfway up the stairs.
She rounded on me, but there was still mirth playing in her eyes as she pressed a vertical finger to her lips. “Shh. You’ll wake up my family. And Janie. And they’d never let us live it down.”
“Get your ass up those stairs, woman.”
She flashed me a smile before darting up the rest of the stairs to plunge into the open door of the master bedroom. I followed her in, closed and locked the door, and turned to face her.
My bride stood in the pale moonlight in her wedding dress with her back to the window. The cool light framed her silhouette as she turned around and drew her hair over one shoulder. “Can you unlace me?”
I stepped toward her. The bodice of her dress was all tied up at the back. I didn’t know where to start, so I found an end and pulled. Slowly, it came undone, one thin silky strand at a time, until it was open and Piper had to hold it up by the top.
She turned back around to face me.
“I don’t deserve this,” I whispered.
Piper let the dress fall. It gathered around her ankles in a whoosh of falling fabric. Under her dress, she wore a pair of pale blue lace panties. She had no bra on. There was a garter around her left thigh that I hadn’t even known she was wearing, and she snapped it playfully before running her hand up her thigh, over her hip, and to her breasts.
“You deserve everything, Wyatt,” she cooed as she stepped out of the gown at her feet, quickly removing the panties and garter. “And I want to give it to you. Piece by piece. Inch by inch. Kiss by kiss.”
If she didn’t put her money where her mouth was soon, I’d be finished in my pants and our wedding night would become something she thought back on and laughed at. I couldn’t have that.
I lifted a hand and curled my finger in a come here motion. “Come here, wife.”
Piper gave me a coy smile as she approached. She moved languidly like a cat and stopped just out of my reach. Her skin was perfect in the moonlight. It almost looked silver.
“Your turn to get naked.” She arched an eyebrow. “I can’t be expected to have all the fun by myself.”
I stripped. She watched. I loved how she ran her tongue along her lower lip, how her nipples went taut and hard when I stood nude and bare before her. How her breathing hitched in her throat and her eyelids grew heavy with lust.
Piper took to her knees on the bedroom floor. She crawled the remaining distance to me before sitting back on her heels, looking up at me, and leaning in close to run her tongue up the length of my cock. I trembled, completely at her mercy, and held on to a groan that desperately wanted to escape as she sealed her lips over my head and took me in her mouth. She used her tongue as a guide as she worked me into her throat, and I wished I had something to lean on, to grip, to hold on to.
I settled for her hair.
Piper moaned around my cock in her throat. She took me deeper. I held her hair in a knot in my fist and held myself deep in her throat. Piper gripped my thighs. Little stars danced behind my eyelids as I fought against the urge to let go.
I released her and she sucked in a great gasp of air before descending down upon me again.
She worked me over deep and slow until I couldn’t stand it any longer. I yanked her up to her feet and threw her down on her back on the bed. She giggled, but I silenced her by clamping a hand over her mouth.
“Hush,” I growled. “You don’t want to wake the others, remember?”
Her brows drew together and I knew she was pouting even though I couldn’t see her lips.
“Your words, not mine,” I said. “Now let’s see how quiet you can stay, shall we?”
Chapter 23
Piper
I liked a challenge.
And a sexual challenge posed by my husband?
Sign me the fuck up.
I lifted my ass off the bed and pressed my hips up against his. His cock rested between my legs, pressing hard and firm against my pussy, and he let out a primal growl that set my teeth on edge with need.
There was nothing sexier than the cowboy hovering above me. Every powerful muscle strained against his will to resist temptation and slip inside me. He was so close. All I’d have to do was reach down.
I trailed a finger down the middle of his chest to his navel. The dark hair leading down to his crotch whispered beneath my finger, and I drew up short, my touch hovering inches away from his prize.
Then, like the devil—if the devil was a woman—I smiled at him.
“Woman,” he grated. “Stop fucking with me.”
“Or what?”
“Or you’ll get what’s coming to you.”
I giggled. The sound was nothing but sheer sex and a challenge of its own. “Please. Give me what’s coming. I can take it. I promise.”
“I can’t.”
I lifted my head from the bed so my nose was an inch from his. I stared into his dark brown eyes and he stared back. “Yes, you can.”
Wyatt shuddered above me. I loved the way the pleasure rolled through him. Like a wave. His shoulders hunched, and his chest swelled, and all the veins wrapping around his biceps and down his forearms stood to attention like rivers on a topographic map. I traced them with the lightest touch and licked my lips.
“Are you going to bed your wife, cowboy? Or are you going to make her beg?”
“I thought I told you to stay quiet.”
I clamped my mouth closed and gave him a tight-lipped smile.
“Better.” Wyatt dropped his chin. His lips hovered an inch or two from mine. He exhaled as I inhaled, and then we crashed together in a symphony of kisses that made my ears sing and my heart thunder in my chest like a wild drum, beating the rhythm to our love story. Hard and fast. Wild and free. His fingers plunged into my hair and lifted my head from the bed as the kiss deepened. I caught the moan that tried to escape me and held it back, knowing the kiss would stop if I broke the rules.
And I didn’t want it to stop.
I wanted it to go on for ages. Everything about the moment was perfect.
The smell of him all around me was rich and masculine, hay and cedar and musk. His skin was hot against mine and smooth and rough in all the right places. His fingers tightened in my hair and pulled my head back, forcing me to look up at the ceiling as he pressed merciless kisses along my jaw and upon my closed eyelids.
“Don’t move.” Wyatt’s voice was as eager as my body.
I thrummed with the anticipation of feeling him inside me.
Even though it wasn’t our first time, it was our first time as husband and wife. There was something special in that. Even though I’d never been one of those little girls to dream about or plan my wedding while I was growing up, I still thought there was something special about this moment, between these sheets, on this night.
I didn’t necessarily believe in the whole consummation business. Not really. But I did believe in the physical bond between a husband and wife, and since the moment I knew I was choosing Wyatt to be my husband, I’d concocted ideas of what this moment might look like when it finally came.
And the dreams I’d pictured in my head were very much like the reality that was unfolding right now.
I knew how rare that was. And I knew how lucky it made me that I had a man who cared to make this moment special and to claim it as our own.
It wasn’t something we shared with our guests like the rest of the wedding night. This was like our own little ceremony. It was like we had a chance to express our vows and our promises with our bodies, not just our words.
Wyatt released my hair. “Stay where you are.”
Yes, sir.
“Close your eyes.”
Done.
“Don’t make a sound.”
No promises.
Wyatt moved down my body like an artist. He paused to leave kisses on my breasts, my ribs, my stomach, my hip bones, and my thighs, which he settled between. I felt the way the mattress sank beneath his elbows as he slid his arms under my thighs. He gripped my hips and pulled me to him. I almost giggled.
Almost.
But then I remembered his command for silence. The giggle died on my tongue, and I smiled up at the ceiling instead, aching and burning and silently pleading for him to touch me again. My pussy was wet and ready and swollen. Just having him down there between my thighs made me itch with impossible need.
