Without the distraction of Vanessa’s reckless driving, anxious nerves suddenly swarmed my body. My heart thudded rapidly, and my hands grew slick and clammy.
I followed the path through the park towards the rose garden, retracing the steps that I had taken with my mother days earlier, when we visited the venue together.
The garden looked different at dusk; flickering candles lined the pathways and the perfume of roses was even stronger in the gentle breeze. It felt… romantic.
I turned down the aisle into the garden -- the same aisle I had walked down before -- and my eyes immediately locked onto him.
Brady.
He was waiting for me at the end of the aisle, and this time it wasn’t my imagination.
He was standing next to a small round table set for two, and when his grey eyes flashed up to notice me, I swear the earth stood still.
His eyes consumed all of me, and his face softened with relief. My breath caught in my throat, and I felt a thousand tiny petals of hope bloom from my heart and flutter through my chest.
And then I slowly began to walk down the aisle towards him...
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE | BRADY
I’ll never forget the first time I jumped out of an airplane.
It was the moment I had spent my entire life waiting for. I had always planned on following in my father’s footsteps and serving my country in the 101st Airborne Division, and when I turned eighteen, I finally got the chance.
Contrary to what my brother, Josh, would have you believe, being my father’s son didn’t get me any special treatment. I still had to enlist. I still had to complete basic training. I still had to push myself harder than I had ever been pushed before. And I still had to earn my wings in jump school.
There’s a lot of groundwork in Airborne School. In the span of a couple of weeks, every skill and strength that you thought you had will be put to the test. Jumping out of an airplane is a lot like running into a burning building; there’s no time for fear or hesitation. You need the courage and fearlessness to jump into the unknown without looking back.
All of the equipment demonstrations and jump tower simulations in the world can’t prepare you for that moment when you find yourself standing on the deck of a C-130 aircraft with a parachute strapped to your back, and a Black Hat barking “JUMP!” into your ear.
It was at that exact moment that I realized that the point of Airborne School wasn’t to teach recruits; it was to test them. You can teach someone the technical skills to jump out of an airplane and parachute down into combat, but you can’t teach them the natural instinct or drive that is required to step off an aircraft and plunge down towards the unknown. In that regard, there were soldiers who failed the program before they even left the ground.
When the Sergeant ordered me to the jump, I knew that I was facing the most important test of my life. It wasn’t just about jumping off of an aircraft… it was about deciding, then and there, what kind of man I was going to be; was my courage greater than fear? Were my strengths greater than my weaknesses?
I made my decision. I jumped.
After graduating from jump school and earning my wings, I was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division. I’d go on to make countless jumps… and after leaving the Army, I’d go on to perform countless rescues with Firehouse 56. But nothing ever compared to that first jump; nothing ever compared to that humbling, character-defining, shit-my-pants, head-over-heels sensation that I felt when I made the conscious decision to choose bravery.
I’ve never felt anything quite like that...
Until now.
Until I glanced down the aisle lined in rose blossoms and candles and saw Cassidy Laurent walking towards me.
In that instant, I felt like it was the first day of jump week all over again. I felt like I was staring into the white abyss from the deck of a C-130, waiting for the order to jump...
And that’s when I realized that there was something else I had been waiting for my entire life; something that had been there all along. This was my test; this was the moment when I had to choose what kind of man I was going to be. Was I going to live my life in fear of the unknown, or was I brave enough to take a chance on love?
My stomach was twisting and turning enough to merit a Boy Scout badge in knot-tying. I might as well have taken a sucker punch to the gut, because the air rushed out of my lungs and left me winded.
But seeing Cassidy at the end of the aisle was like being in freefall; silence and serenity and chaos and a rush, all at once.
This is it, I realized. And for the second time in my life, I made the decision to jump.
I sprinted towards Cassidy, meeting her halfway down the aisle. She was a vision in white: her curves were draped in milky white silk that reflected the orange sorbet sunset, and her skin glowed with sun kissed radiance.
“Ladybug,” I breathed softly, grinning down at her. “You came…”
Her face was still for a second, then she grinned back.
“I couldn’t leave you waiting at the altar,” she said, biting down on her bottom lip to stop her smile from spreading.
That was all I needed.
I scooped her up off her feet and spun her around and around, until the falling rose petals and candlelight and sunset around us had blurred together like a kaleidoscope.
Then we were interrupted by the sound of a waiter clearing his throat impatiently.
Cassidy giggled and took my hand, and I led her back to the table that had been set up in front of the ivy-covered gazebo.
Dinner was served on flashy silver platters, but I couldn’t pay attention to the food; the only thing I cared about was the beautiful woman who was sitting across the table from me.
I was anxious for the waiters to leave us alone. There was so much that I wanted to say… and so much that I wanted to do…
But when the staff finally cleared away and left us alone in the center of the rose garden, Cassidy’s smile faded and her face stiffened.
I could tell that she wanted to say something, but instead she swallowed the words and pointed her eyes down towards her lap.
“Brady…” she said slowly, twisting the edge of the white tablecloth between her fingertips absently. “We need to talk--”
“Wait,” I pleaded gently. “Before you say anything, and before you make a decision about us… I owe you an explanation.”
“An explanation?” she frowned. “For what?”
“For how things went down at your parents’ house the other night,” I said. “Cassidy, I take full responsibility for what happened. I should have handled things better with Josh, and I shouldn’t have let things get so heated that night. I know that apologizing isn’t enough to make it right, but--”
I knew that I was rambling, and I was almost relieved when she cut me off:
“Brady, stop,” she said softly. “You don’t need to apologize for anything. Actually, I came here tonight because I owe you an apology.”
It was my turn to feel speechless. I cocked my head and felt a frown form on my brow.
“I’m the one who needs to take responsibility for what happened,” she said. Her fingers were still twisting the corner of the tablecloth, but her eyes flicked up to meet mine.
“This was all my idea,” she gulped. “All of it: the engagement, the wedding, the lies… it’s all on me. I put you in a shitty position. I pushed you into this. I should have never made you feel obligated to help me.”
“Obligated?” I repeated. The frown on my forehead released, and I felt my eyes widen. “Cass, you didn’t push me into anything. I wanted to do this.”
She shook her head sadly, and I saw turmoil swirl around in her bright green eyes.
“You’re a good guy, Brady. You would do anything to help the people you care about. Even if that means marrying the girl next door, just to make her mother happy…”
“I do care about your mom,” I admitted. “But I care about you, too, Cass,�
� I said. I was getting more and more lost in her eyes, and the spinning sensation in my gut felt like I was stuck in a never-ending freefall. “I’ve always cared about you.”
“Not like this,” she said, gesturing towards the rose-lined aisle that stretched back towards the park road. “Not in the ‘get married and live happily ever after’ kind of way.”
“Always like this,” I insisted in a low voice. “You’ve always been my happily ever after, Cass.”
She gasped softly and her lips fell apart.
“You don’t mean that,” she mumbled, but the words sounded more like a question than a statement.
“Of course I do,” I insisted. “Do you think I’d run around in the rain, stuffing my pockets full of ladybugs for just anyone?”
She blushed, but her eyes didn’t drift away from mine.
“Cass,” I said gently. I reached across the table and took her hand in mine. “I’ve always wanted you. I don’t why I couldn’t tell you that sooner, but I wish I had. I don’t know what I was afraid of, or what I was waiting for…”
A rosy pink blush spread across Cassidy’s cheeks and bare collarbone, and she took a deep breath. I felt a quiver pass through the palm of her hand, and I tightened my grip.
“I still remember the first time you took my breath away,” I smiled, feeling my own cheeks flush with heat. “It was the summer before I started junior high, and I was helping my dad mow the lawn. I glanced into your backyard, and I saw you…”
I could feel the heaviness of Cassidy’s breath, and I could practically feel the prickle of heat that was burning in her cheeks.
“You were wearing this bright yellow dress and you were laying in the grass making daisy chains,” I continued. “And then… you looked up at me, and I felt like I was looking at you for the first time. It was electric. I had no idea what I was feeling, because I had never felt anything like that before…”
Her teeth made soft white imprints into her bottom lip as she bit down nervously. I kept my hold on her hand as I stood up slowly and walked around the table, until I was standing directly in front of her.
“Cassidy Laurent,” I said, “You were the first girl to ever take my breath away…”
I bent down onto my knee. Her eyes flared open when she realized what was happening, and I squeezed her hand gently in mine.
“And I want you to be the last,” I finished. I reached into my pocket, feeling the soft velvet box.
I had purchased the ring weeks ago. I figured buying a ring would shut my brother up, so I had visited a jewelry shop in town -- one of those fancy places with beige carpet and squeaky-clean glass cases full of sparkly jewelry.
As soon as I saw the ring, I knew it belonged on Cassidy’s finger. That damn diamond had cost me more than the down-payment on my pickup truck, but I knew she had to have it.
I had held onto the ring, waiting for the right moment… but there were plenty of ‘right’ moments that came and went, and I chickened out every time.
The longer I waited, the more I realized that the ring wasn’t just a ‘prop’ to placate my brother; the ring meant something. I knew that when I put it on Cassidy’s finger, things would change between us.
And that had freaked me out… until now.
I opened the box, and the diamond ring inside sparkled as it caught the last orange embers of the setting sun.
“So what do you say, Ladybug?” I asked with a grin. “Will you marry me?”
“Yes!” she shrieked. She jumped up from her chair and I stood up, catching her in my arms.
And then I kissed her like she’d never been kissed before.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX | CASSIDY
“So you really won’t tell me where we’re going?” I asked, blinking up at Brady from my spot in the passenger seat.
“It’s a surprise,” his lips curled up into a mysterious smile. He was holding my hand in his lap, and he lifted it to his lips and dropped a soft peck on the knuckle of my ring finger, just above the band of my sparkly diamond engagement ring.
The fuzzy yellow glow of street lamps slipped through the truck windows as we drove down the road, and the diamond caught the light and reflected rainbow-colored shards that danced around the dark truck cab like a disco ball.
I hadn’t stopped admiring the ring since Brady had slipped it onto my finger back in the Rose Garden. It was perfect: a bright white emerald-cut stone on a dainty platinum band. My heart skipped every time I looked at it, and my heart skipped twice when I thought about what that ring meant; that this was real.
“Brady Hudson,” I smiled with a content sigh, “You’re full of surprises tonight.”
“So are you, Ladybug…”
His eyes met mine and he returned my smile. Then he steered the truck off of the road, turning onto a windy stretch of narrow pavement that crawled through a dense forest of trees.
Without the glow of the streetlamps that had illuminated the main road, our surroundings were pitch black. The only light came from the truck’s headlights, which lit up the road ahead of us with a pair of bright white beams.
The truck turned around a sharp bend, and then stopped just short of a barbed-wire gate that blocked the road.
My heartbeat intensified.
“Brady…” I said slowly, my voice filling with apprehension.
“Trust me,” he said. He kissed my hand again, then he popped open the truck door and slipped out. I could hear his footsteps crunching over the rocky road, then I saw him step in front of the white glare of the headlights. He walked towards the edge of the gate, where a keypad was affixed to the fence. He punched a series of numbers into the keypad, and the gate immediately started to churn open.
Brady hopped back into the truck and slammed the door shut and the gate slowly opened, allowing us access to the road behind it.
“Perks of being with Firehouse 56,” he winked with a cocky grin. He shifted back into drive, and we proceeded through the open gate.
“Where are we?” I asked.
“We’re almost there,” he squeezed my thigh. “Be patient!”
I couldn’t see anything but the trees and road directly ahead of us. The road was climbing up a steep incline, and the turns were become sharper and tighter…
Then the pavement abruptly ended, and Brady stopped the truck. He shifted into park and shut off the engine, and everything went pitch black.
My heart was racing, but when I felt the strong grip of his hand around mine, I was filled with a sense of peace and security. Brady climbed out of the truck, then he turned around and lifted me out through the driver’s side door and set me gently on the grass.
My eyes were adjusting to the dark shapes that surrounded us, and my mind was racing with the possibilities of where we were, and what was waiting for us in the pitch-black night…
“Are you afraid of the dark?” Brady asked. I couldn’t see him, but I felt his body as he stepped close to me and pressed my back against the truck. The metal frame was still warm, and I could feel the hum of the engine winding down under the hood.
“Maybe,” I admitted, feeling my heart pound in my throat between breaths. “What if something’s out there?”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know,” I squeaked in a tiny voice. “Bears?”
“There aren’t any bears in Hartford,” Brady chuckled playfully, tracing my fingers with his in the dark. “And if there were any, I wouldn’t let ‘em anywhere near my girl.”
There it was: my girl.
Even though it was too dark for him to see, I smiled up towards where I knew his face must be. His lips grazed mine in the darkness, and his hands squeezed my hips through the thin white silk of my dress.
I felt safe. And in the pitch-black night, I felt something stronger than light flicker through me as I explored his body in the dark, feeling the firm warmth of each and every muscle, and then slipping down towards his waist…
Then his lips slippe
d away from mine, and I heard a clicking sound. I opened my eyes I saw the wide beam of a flashlight flooding our surroundings. I realized that we were standing in a small clearing, surrounded by trees. The paved road ended, but there was a narrow walking trail that cut through the trees directly ahead of us.
Brady handed me the flashlight, then he reached for something in the bed of his truck.
“Let’s go,” he took my hand again and led me forward.
The path weaved through the dense forest, and I could hear the cicadas purring in the summer breeze.
“This way,” Brady whispered, guiding me towards the edge of the forest. I followed, and we slipped through a gap in the trees and stepped out onto a small clearing.
As soon as we emerged from the woods, we were bathed in pale light shining from the distance. I gasped as I blinked up and saw the source of the light: the Hartford skyline.
The night sky was illuminated by the glittering gold lights of the city, shining over the banks of the Connecticut River. The glistening black river stretched between us, separating our private hilltop hiding place from the western edge of the city. The black waves reflected the lights from the skyline, and the river looked like a night sky filled with tiny golden stars.
“This is incredible,” I marveled, admiring the view. “I’ve never seen Hartford like this…”
“Come on,” Brady whispered into my ear as he wrapped his arms around me from behind and rested his chin on my shoulder. “The show’s about to start…”
“What show?”
He just smiled as he reached into the box that he had carried from his truck and unfolded a large fleece blanket that was embellished with the Firehouse 56 emblem.
He sat down on the blanket, then he pulled me on top of him. I perched on his lap with my back pressed against his chest. His hands slipped under the hem of my silk dress and his palms slid up my bare legs.
I exhaled softly as his hands slipped between my thighs, and then his lips pressed against my ear and he said:
January On Fire: A Firefighter Fake Marriage Romance Page 16
