by Brynne Asher
I smile back and tease, “Tomorrow you’ll be mine, officially. Rosa won’t be able to steal you out from under my stockings. I was a little worried when she wanted your number today.”
“Jealous?” he mutters before pulling my nipple into this mouth.
“Maybe,” I breathe as he slides a finger between my legs, circling my clit just hard enough to start warming my body.
He pulls his head to me, his lips hovering over mine and murmurs, “Tomorrow.”
I can’t help but melt into him as I agree softly, “Tomorrow.”
Chapter 21 – Nothing Between Us
I shrug my suit jacket up my shoulders and put what I need in my pockets. Lifting my leg to balance it on my office chair, I yank up the cuff of my trousers to fit my ankle harness on my leg and insert my gun. As I’m standing, my phone vibrates in my pocket.
“Jude,” I answer.
“Hey,” he starts but gets right down to it. “I just got off the phone with my buddy at the PD. They sent someone yesterday to visit Preston Briggs.”
“And?”
“I don’t know what to think. They got to him at his office after he had his meet with his attorneys and the DA. He’d already signed the deal to plea to a lesser charge. He almost went apeshit when he found out what they were questioning him about. Said he was glad she’s gone, doesn’t give a shit about where she is, what she’s doing plus a lot of other shit I’m not going to tell you because I don’t want you to go apeshit, too. He was adamant he isn’t stalking or threatening her. My buddy said the officer who visited him said he was so convincing, even he believed him. I don’t know what to tell you, Tony. It’s all on record, if they ever prove it’s him it’ll be considered a violation of his probation. He knows he’ll do time. It just doesn’t make sense.”
I sigh, “I agree. It doesn’t make sense, but I don’t know who else it could be.”
“Have you told her yet?” he asks.
“No, I’m about to do that, although you don’t know how badly I don’t want to. She has a shift at the hospital tomorrow, I don’t think I’ll be able to get her to back out of work and she needs to be aware. I’m going to call security at the hospital so I have to tell her. There can’t be anything between us, especially not now,” I explain.
“What does that mean?”
“I’ll explain later,” I say.
“Okay. I’ve got shit to get done before we meet at lunch. You know you’re driving my wife crazy asking us to meet you and not telling her why. Don’t do that shit again, I bear the brunt,” he explains, exasperated.
I smile at the thought of a secret being kept from my cousin, “She’ll live. See you at noon.”
“See ya,” he says. I disconnect and move out of my office to find Leigh.
I walk through the family room and around the corner to my bedroom. Our bedroom. The thought of this being our house, our bedroom, our bed should make me smile. But the thought of what I have to do next is keeping me from smiling about anything at the moment.
Until I round the corner and see Leigh.
She has her back to me holding on to the antique pine chest, slightly bent sliding a spiked heel onto her foot. I have to stop in the doorway to take in the sight of her. She’s in an icy blue dress, so icy it’s barely blue. It fits her perfectly, like a glove from her elbows to her knees. If I didn’t already know what she looked like naked, it would make me envision her almost as perfect as I know she really is. The back of the dress V’s deep into her back showing a bit of her milky skin below the fall of her hair, cupping her ass flawlessly.
After sliding on her other shoe, she stands and starts to move before shrieking, “Tony! Quit sneaking up on me!”
I don’t apologize because I can’t talk from seeing her from the front. Her dress hugs every contour of her body with another V in the front dipping low, giving her more of a cleavage than I know she really has. The neckline fits wide, barely hanging on her shoulders and fits her like a glove to her elbows. The icy blue looks perfect on her fair skin and makes her emerald eyes stand out brighter than normal. Her hair falls as perfect as usual but with a little more curl and her makeup is a bit heavier.
“Honey?” she calls for me.
Not moving from my spot in the doorway, I say, “I’ve never seen you look more beautiful. I’ll never forget this moment, Leigh. Ever.”
Her eyes close and open slowly as she pulls in a deep breath smiling softly, “Thank you.”
“Tomorrow’s here,” I go on.
“It is tomorrow,” she agrees with a small smile.
“You know I love you,” I say.
She tips her head while giving me a little frown and answers simply, “Yes.”
“I have to tell you something before we go.”
“You’re acting weird, Tone. What’s wrong?”
“I don’t want to tell you, especially not today. Not now,” I go on.
“Honey--” she starts to move toward me but I put my hand up, halting her in her spot.
“I received an anonymous letter yesterday. Not just a letter, a threat. It was meant for me but it was all about you,” I explain.
Frowning, she asks, “What do you mean, a threat?”
“It was a note, threatening to take you away from me.”
“What?” she asks on a breath.
“Because I took something from them,” I finish.
She immediately turns her head to the side while wrapping her arms around her middle. Shaking her head slowly like she’s trying to make sense of it, she finally jerks her eyes back to me and says, “But you didn’t take me away from Preston.”
“I know. Maybe he sees it differently.”
“You said he’ll go to jail if he violates his probation.”
“He will.”
“He signed the plea yesterday. Why would he do this now?” she asks.
“I have all the same questions you do. But for now, I don’t want you going anywhere by yourself and I’ll need to talk to security at the hospital before you go to work tomorrow since I’m sure you’ll insist on going to work.”
“I can’t go anywhere by myself?” she asks, shocked by my demand.
“No.”
“Maybe you misunderstood. Let me see it,” she demands.
“No,” I answer again.
“No you didn’t misunderstand or no I can’t see it?” she asks in a hard voice, giving away her frustration.
“No to both,” I answer.
“Why not?” she asks, well on her way to being pissed.
“Because it’s killing me to tell you any of this and I don’t want you to have a visual in your head.” I do my best to soften my voice before telling her the rest, “Leigh, there were pictures.”
“Pictures of what?” she demands, all the way to pissed now.
“Pictures of you. Some of you and I together. All from Sunday. Someone was following you outside your apartment when you were alone and us walking Fin.”
I see her body almost jerk with surprise and she reaches out to hold onto the dresser, shocked by what she’s learned. She takes a moment, processes it and all of a sudden her face turns hard when she asks, “Wait. When did you get this threat?”
“Yesterday,” I answer immediately.
“Yes, you said that already. When yesterday?” her voice rises.
I narrow my eyes on her and say, “Yesterday morning.”
Pulling herself up to full height she says, but it’s more of an accusation, biting out my name, “Before or after you insisted we get married today, Tony?”
After a beat, I feel my jaw get hard. Finally I answer, “Before.”
She closes her eyes and I can see her take in what seems like the biggest breath she’s ever taken. She’s pissed I kept this from her, which I knew she would be. She’s probably feeling controlled, managed, everything bad she’s felt the last four years before she was with me. I’ve never wanted to make her feel that way, but I’m not sorry I’ve kept it from her and
won’t apologize for keeping her safe.
“Gem,” I call for her.
She immediately opens her eyes, but looks down and to the side avoiding me.
“Look at me, Leigh,” I demand.
She finally turns her hard face, full of anger while trying to hide her hurt, giving me her emerald eyes.
Standing across the room from her, still in our original positions, I look deep into her eyes and try to convey my message, “This should be no surprise to you. I told you I would support you in whatever you want, whatever you need, unless I was worried about your safety. Well, I’m worried about your safety. You and I come together with checkered pasts, Leigh. Four months ago I was shot so it goes without saying, when I come home from running at seven in the morning and find a threat on my doorstep with photos of the woman I love, the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with, the woman I plan on making babies with, that’s going to set me off. I will always do what I think is necessary to keep you safe, I don’t care how pissed you get. When I read a note yesterday that only contained a few words but was big enough, massive enough to threaten to take away everything I want in this world, all I could do was see you in my head. I saw you bruised, battered, swollen and broken in every way. I could feel you shaking in my arms again from the nightmares you couldn’t escape. I saw the shell of yourself you became after being at the hands of that man. And to learn someone was following you, watching you? That you were exposed to some sick fuck who wants to hurt you when you were by yourself? That someone could mark your body and soul again, causing you pain? The thought of you experiencing any pain makes me crazy Leigh. The only reason I’m telling you now is because when I stand before God and make you mine in less than an hour, I want nothing between us.”
Looking more exasperated than anything, she pulls in a lung full of air to say quietly, “You should have told me yesterday.”
“Maybe so. But when I walked in to tell you yesterday, you looked happy, healthy, sitting in my kitchen in my shirt while talking to your dog and I decided I couldn’t wait another day to have you forever. You can’t deny it, Leigh, I would have married you eventually but after coming home to that threat on my doorstep, I couldn’t make that happen fast enough. If I could have married you yesterday, I would have.”
“But getting married isn’t the way to deal with this. This isn’t something to rush into,” she says shaking her head.
“I disagree. I won’t apologize for how I handled it and not telling you. This is me. This is who I am and what you can expect from me as a husband. I think I’ve proven I will not control you or your life. You know I love you. In an hour I hope you’ll let me prove to you how much I love you and want to keep you safe forever. It’s up to you, but it’s time to decide what you want. I’ll be waiting for you,” I say pinning her to the spot while watching her war with her own head.
Not wanting to, but doing it anyway, I turn to move out of the doorway, leaving her to make her choice.
I can’t blame her for being pissed because I kept it from her and I can’t make her marry me today, I can only hope she sees where I’m coming from. I lean against the counter, cross my feet and wait.
I wait.
And I wait.
I’m sure my head is causing time to stand still, but I swear it’s been forever. I drop my head, closing my eyes thinking this is it. It was too much for her and she either doesn’t trust me or she’s not ready.
The clicking of spiked heels on wood floors make me jerk my head up and I see her moving out of the bedroom with her eyes on me. Guarded and carefully blank emerald eyes. I watch her move, loving the way she moves and praying today is the day I get to watch her move toward me like that for the rest of my life. As she brings her graceful body to me, almost eye to eye in her heels, she puts a hand flat against my chest and stands there looking at me a beat. Finally, she leans in slowly to put her lips on mine.
Pulling back enough where I can still feel her words on my lips, she says softly, “We don’t want to be late.”
I close my eyes in relief and lean my forehead to rest against hers.
“Tony,” she calls.
I raise my hands to her hips pulling her close and open my eyes.
“Please don’t keep anything from me again. Even for a day. You can protect me all you want, but honey, keeping things from each other? That isn’t us,” she says, throwing my words back at me.
I lean into kiss her one more time and say, “Fair enough.”
“Fair enough,” she agrees. Tipping her head she asks, “You ready to be my husband?”
“I can’t wait, Leigh.”
“Well then. We should go. I don’t want to give you too much time to think about who your mother-in-law is going to be. I’ll be the one having to convince you to marry me,” she says with a small grin.
“Sweetheart, it’s just a bonus marrying you on the sly that I don’t have to deal with Sheila today,” I say.
“Shall we go?” she asks.
“Yeah,” I say before kissing my soon to be wife one more time before she’s officially mine.
*****
“What? You’re getting married now?” Gabby not quite screams but still says way too loud for the tiny old chapel we are standing in the back of.
“You’re serious?” Jude asks.
“Who else knows?” Gabby keeps on.
“Why didn’t I think of that?” Jude asks, but is looking straight at Tony.
“Jude!” Gabby says smacking him in the arm then turns back to Tony. “Your parents don’t know?”
“It’s genius,” Jude says again to Tony. “And I get to wear jeans to your wedding.”
“Would you stop,” Gabby smacks him on the arm again to which Jude grins down at her. She turns back to me and asks, “You’re really doing this?”
I look over to Tony who pulls me into his side. Looking back down at Gabby, I say, “I hope your family doesn’t hate me.”
Still looking shocked beyond belief, she says raising her eyebrows, “They won’t hate you, although I’m pretty sure they’ll hold a grudge against Tony for a while. But I doubt he’ll care.”
“Tony?” we hear and all turn toward the front of the church to see the Tony’s family pastor, Mark, standing in business casual attire holding a well-read Bible. He asks further, “Shall we?”
Tony takes my hand and we walk to the front of the church. I met Mark when he married Gabby and Jude just a few short weeks ago. He knows the Pastor of this little chapel on the out skirts of town and recommended it to Tony. He thought it would be quaint and cozy for a wedding with only two guests.
It’s beautiful and if I had the time to search all of Omaha, I might have chosen this little chapel myself. The floors are old wood and distressed from years of wear. The stained glass windows running down the outside aisles are shining brightly today from the sun casting a luminous glow for our noontime wedding. At the front of the church looks to be an old cross you can tell wasn’t purchased or ordered for the space. Instead it looks beautifully handcrafted, but not perfectly so, probably made by a church member. The whole place is simple but charming and definitely me.
“You’re sure about all this? I’m sorry to keep asking, but this is quite unconventional and I want to make sure you’ve thought this through,” he asks.
Tony looks at me with heated eyes and says in a strong voice like he couldn’t mean it more, “Absolutely.”
I smile at Tony and then look to the pastor to say, “Yes.”
“All right,” he says. Then he gives Gabby and Jude a narrow gaze and goes on, “Seems like everyone’s in a hurry lately.”
Gabby steps closer to Jude who is standing off to the side and he claims her by pulling her back to his front. Gabby gives me big eyes and Jude smiles smugly.
“Some more than others,” Mark goes on, but this time he’s looking at Tony with one eyebrow raised while shaking his head.
I feel Tony grab my hand and chuckle at the same time. I guess P
astor Mark isn’t a fan of short engagements. But then again, Tony and I probably take the cake for short engagements.
“Wait,” I hear Tony say from my side.
I tense, looking over at him as he releases my hand and turns to move. I see him bend to pick something up from the front pew. Turning around, he’s holding a beautiful cluster of roses that are a stunning array of blush pinks. The arrangement is tight with long stems wrapped in a baby blue ribbon. When he hands me the bouquet he obviously arranged, you’d think I would be enthralled with the flowers, but I can’t take my eyes off the ribbon.
Holding my surprise wedding bouquet, I can’t tear my eyes away to mutter, “It’s wrapped up in a baby blue ribbon.”
“Yeah,” he mutters back.
I barely let my fingertips brush the tips of the pink petals, finally tearing my eyes away to look at Tony, “Thank you.”
“I didn’t know what you’d want,” he said.
“It’s perfect,” I say.
With my perfect bouquet in one hand, Tony entwines the fingers of my other giving me a squeeze as the Pastor starts our private ceremony. As I listen to him speak about love and patience and kindness and gentleness, I’ve never felt more sure about anything in my life. Tony’s already shown me all these things and even after him telling me about the threat this morning, I’ve never felt safer.
I haven’t felt safe for so long. After living scared of what could come next, what could be done to me, not knowing what to expect from someone you should trust, safe holds a whole new meaning. That’s why after I took a few minutes this morning to let it sink in why Tony kept from me what he did, there was nothing to forgive. Nothing to question. I trust him with my whole being and I know when I asked him never to do it again, he won’t.
I feel Tony pull on my hand and I turn toward him. Reaching into his pocket, he produces rings I had no idea he had. Taking my left hand, he shocks me as he slides an amazing ring on my finger. It’s contemporary yet delicate with a brilliant diamond set high in white gold with more tiny diamonds running down the thin band. I can’t take my eyes off my ring, almost like I can’t believe it’s real. As delicate as it feels, it holds a weight so heavy with meaning I can’t help the tears that form in my throat and pool in my eyes instantly.
