Colorado 02 Sweet Dreams (80 page)

Then he pulled away and turned to the living room to see Jonas hadn’t moved.

“Bub, I said shower,” he repeated and Jonas sighed, got up and started to slink out of the living room.

“That your man?” Matt asked in my ear.

I twisted my neck and watched Tate walk down the hall toward our bedroom.

“Yeah,” I replied and I knew it sounded breathy and I figured that was uncool, considering Matt still hadn’t moved on from Ellen.

But I couldn’t help myself.

* * * * *

I was standing in my undies in the bathroom, putting the finishing touches on my hair.

Buster was sitting on the bathroom counter, her ginger eyes watching my hands in my hair.

Tate was standing in the doorway, wearing his suit pants and a dress shirt not done up, leaning against the doorjamb, arms crossed on his chest, watching my hands in my hair.

“You should wear it down, babe,” he noted for the fifth time.

“Krys wants it up,” I replied.

“Looks better down,” he told me.

“Okay, but Krys wants it up,” I repeated.

He didn’t answer. I finished my hair and then reached across the basin to the shelves where I kept my hairspray. This meant Buster scampered. I didn’t often use hairspray but Buster had made a habit of hanging with me in the bathroom, she’d been there when I’d given my hair a good shot and she was a smart cat. She learned quick she wanted to be nowhere near the bathroom when I was wielding a can of hairspray.

I was about to give my hair a good dose when Tate’s body hit my back, his hands sliding along the skin at my belly.

His mouth dropped to my bare shoulder and he muttered there, “Like this underwear, Ace.”

He would. It was pale yellow and all lace, a strapless bra and barely there panties.

“Captain –”

His big hand roamed up from my belly to cup my breast.

“I like it a lot,” he murmured, his lips moving up to my neck.

“Tate, we’re already going to be late.”

I watched in the mirror as his head lifted and his eyes caught mine.

“Right,” he muttered but the tips of his fingers trailed the lace at the edge of my bra and I shivered.

Tate felt the shiver. I knew this because he grinned then he let me go and walked out of the bathroom.

I dosed my hair with hairspray. Then I walked into the bedroom and dosed my body with perfume.

Then I went to the closet to put on my bridesmaid dress.

* * * * *

“How many kinds of fool am I?” Krystal, standing at the back of the church about to walk down the aisle, asked. “I’m marrying
Bubba
in a
church.
”

I stared at her in shock.

And this was not because somewhere between seeing her yesterday at the bar and seeing her today she’d dyed her hair a deep, auburn red (that looked fantastic, by the way).

No, it was because Krystal was nervous.

I looked over her shoulder at Jim-Billy who looked hilarious wearing a suit with a yellow rose in his lapel. I’d never seen him in anything but jeans, t-shirts, ball caps and hospital gowns.

He was giving Krystal away. Krys didn’t have a good relationship with her parents, so not good, they weren’t even invited. Several months ago, right in the bar, Krys had asked Jim-Billy to walk her down the aisle and she’d done it in her usual Krys, no-nonsense type of way. Even so, when she did, Jim-Billy had stared at her, then he’d burst into tears and he’d sobbed huge man sobs in his beer for at least five minutes.

Then he said yes.

I got close to Krys. “You’re not a fool, this is good,” I assured her.

And it was.

Bubba was still working construction. Bubba was also still devoted to making certain Krystal felt safe and loved at all times. Bubba didn’t drink at all anymore, even when he did shifts at the bar occasionally or when he hung there not occasionally. He never went fishing. Ever. Krys was his world and he’d devoted himself for over a year showing her that.

It took awhile but she cracked. Then she let him back in and a week after she did, he wasted no time and tried to put a ring on her finger.

She didn’t wear it for three weeks but eventually she gave in.

Now, today was the big day.

“It’s good, honey, but I don’t trust it,” she told me.

“Krys –”

“He’s Bubba, I know –”

I interrupted her. “He’s Bubba and
I
know he’s had a taste of a world without you and he wants no part of that.”

“Right,” she whispered, not believing me.

“I know something else,” I went on. “I know what it’s like to give up thinking there’s something special out there and I know what it’s like to have it walk into your life and I also know what it’s like not to believe. But, honey, now I know what it’s like to live something special every
freaking
day.”

“Tate is –”

“Lucky,” I cut her off again, “’cause the something special I have is in
me
and I give it to him so he gives it right back. And that’s what you’ve got.
You’re
special, Krystal, and you deserve this and you deserve to know that Bubba finally gets it and he’s going to do everything he can to give it back.”

She shook her head. “Darlin’, I ain’t special, I –”

I got even closer and broke in yet again. “Took a chance on me and, doing it, gave me a shot at a beautiful life. Took a chance on Twyla when no one else would hire her because she’s crazy. Took a chance on taking back Bubba even though you were scared. And you take care of everyone around you, you aren’t sweet about it, but, honey, that doesn’t mean you don’t still do it.” Krystal stared up at me and I finished, “Now, walk up that aisle with Jim-Billy and grab onto a bit of your something special.”

“Okay,” she whispered.

I looked in her eyes, saw she was settled and wasn’t going to bolt. Then I looked at Jim-Billy and he smiled at me so I smiled back. Then I walked to the door of the church and saw Bubba, looking far more nervous than Krystal, Tate at his side at the front of the church. I grinned at Tate then nodded my head at the organist. She started playing Pachelbel’s
Canon
.

I darted away and grabbed Krystal’s bouquet from Holly and handed it to her then Holly handed me mine then she dashed down the hall to enter the sanctuary by a side door.

I went to stand in the doorway and held my flowers in front of me. In my strapless, pale green, to-the-knee, skintight, way-too-sexy-for-a-church-wedding dress (but Krystal insisted), I walked down the aisle smiling at Bubba then smiling at Tate.

After I arrived at the front, the organist trailed off with
Canon
and started playing the wedding march.

Everyone stood. Krystal and Jim-Billy walked down the aisle. I felt tears sting my eyes.

After the pastor declared them husband and wife and told Bubba he could kiss his bride, Twyla shot straight up from her pew and shouted very, very loudly, “
Yee ha!
”

I burst out laughing but Bubba and Krys made out through Jim-Billy jumping up and adding, “About time!” Then Nadine jumped up and yelled, “Woo hoo!” And others shot up, catcalling and shouting encouragement and screaming out cheers.

Bubba quit kissing Krys and they turned to face the congregation and, to be heard over the clapping and shouting, the pastor had to yell his introduction to the new husband and his wife.

Krys and Bubba walked down the aisle having to stop to shake hands, receive tight hugs and weather hearty back slaps.

Tate came to my side and grabbed my hand, I leaned into him, grinned up at him and then we followed.

We had to stop too as Krystal and Bubba accepted a variety of biker-type congratulations and I felt Tate’s mouth at my ear.

“Ace, have I told you how much I fuckin’ love you in that dress?”

I kept my eyes glued to Krystal and Bubba’s back as my breasts swelled and my mouth murmured, “Um… no.”

“Minute we’re home, that skirt’s around your waist, baby,” Tate whispered, mouth still at my ear.

My nipples got hard and my neck twisted. “Tate, we’re in
a church,
” I hissed and his brows shot up.

“You sign the marriage certificate?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I answered.

“So did I so I figure God doesn’t mind. Fuck, babe, he made you that hot.”

I glared at my old man.

Then I burst out laughing.

* * * * *

I was naked, straddling Tate, his cock still hard inside me and he’d just come (though I’d come earlier, twice).

I bent and pressed my torso to his, tilting my head back to kiss the underside of his bearded jaw.

“Jesus, Ace,” he muttered, his arms going tight around me.

“What?” I asked.

“Danced all night, drank yourself stupid and you still rode me hard.”

I lifted up to look down at him. “I didn’t drink myself stupid,” I objected.

“Baby,” he whispered, his eyes dancing. “You’re hammered. You just let me do things to you that –”

I smiled because I had and the things he’d done were
fabulous.

“It’s my birthday and all day I’ve been at
someone else’s
party. What? I don’t get my own party?” I asked.

“Yeah baby, you can have your own party every fuckin’ night, you wanna party like
that.
”

“
Excellent,
” I breathed and heard him chuckle.

Then he rolled, pulling out of me, taking me to my back, him mostly on top of me and he reached out toward the nightstand. He pulled open the drawer and came back with a square box wrapped in pale blue paper and tied with a wide, see-through, darker blue ribbon.

“Happy birthday, Ace,” Tate whispered and I looked from the box to him then I grabbed the box, pushed up so my shoulders were to the headboard, Tate pulled up too, so he was resting on his elbow in the pillow and I ripped off the bow and paper.

The box said bangles and I couldn’t wait to see them. Tate more than occasionally brought me custom-made silver jewelry he got from a talented jewelry designer in Gnaw Bone by the name of Jenna. Since Christmas, he’d added so many pieces to my stash that I’d lost count. They were all one-of-a-kind and they were all
fabulous.

The paper fell away and I opened the top of the glossy, cardboard jewelry box and in it I found a big, black key fob and on the key fob was an unmistakable insignia.

I blinked at it then I hooked the ring with my forefinger, pulled it out of the box and tossed the box to the floor beside the bed to join the paper and ribbon.

“What is this?” I asked.

“Escalade Hybrid. It’s parked at Wood’s garage. We’ll go down tomorrow to get it.”

I blinked again and stared at him.

“You bought me an SUV for my birthday?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he answered.

“You spent tens of thousands of dollars on a
Cadillac
SUV for my
birthday?
”

“Uh…” he mumbled, “yeah.”

“Tate!” I screeched.

“Babe,” he whispered, his eyes going to the door before coming back to me, “keep it down.”

“Are you nuts?” I hissed and watched his face go hard.

“No,” he answered.

“You are. That’s… a Cadillac… it’s…
insane!
”

“Your fuckwad ex buy you that Lexus?” he asked and I stared hard at him.

Then I answered, “Yes.”

“Then that’s it, it’s gone. I’m puttin’ you in a caddy that’s far safer on mountain roads than that fuckin’ Lexus that dickhead bought you. We get rid of it and there’s nothin’ left of him and your old life. It’s just us. You, me, Jonas –”

I cut in. “And a Cadillac.”

His face went soft and he grinned. “And a Cadillac.”

“Tate, you don’t even drive that fine of a ride.”

“Yeah, babe, but I put scum in my truck,” he informed me and then went on firmly. “You’ll be puttin’ you and my kid in yours and you’ll be drivin’ with Jonas around Carnal in a fuckin’ caddy.”

Jesus, I loved this man.

“Okay,” I gave in and it was his turn to blink.

“Okay?” he asked.

I curled my fingers around the key fob and said, “Yeah, okay, cool. When can we go get it? First thing?”

He stared at me then he grinned then his hand came to mine, his thumb forcing my fingers open, he took the key fob and tossed it on his nightstand.

Then his arms curved around me and he pulled me down into the bed, his lips coming to mine where he said, “Yeah, first thing, after you go down on me.”

“Unh-unh,” I shook my head slightly, my lips brushing his, “I get your fingers in the shower.”

“Ace, you rode my fingers not thirty minutes ago.”

I tipped my head to the side, again brushing my lips against his. “So?”

“So, tomorrow I get your mouth,” he replied.

My hand slid from his back around to his front, where I wrapped it around his cock.

“How about you get my mouth now?” I whispered and I felt his mouth smile.

“Jesus, babe, I knew drunk sex with you would kill me.”

I bent a knee, planted a foot in the bed and rolled him, my lips sliding through his beard and down his neck where I mumbled, “Thought you said you wouldn’t mind dying this way.”

My lips kept sliding down his chest and his fingers glided into my hair.

“Why don’t we see,” he growled because my hand was still wrapped around his cock and it was stroking.

“You got it,” I whispered then slid down further.

* * * * *

Tate

Tate slid out of Laurie, kissing her gently as he did so. Then he rolled off and to his side where he reached to turn out the lamp on the nightstand.

Lauren rolled into him, fitting her body down the length of his back, her arm tight around his middle. He settled into the bed, he felt her lips kiss the eagle at his shoulder blade and then she settled, fitting her body deeper into his. His hand found hers and his fingers linked through, pulling her even closer as he lifted their arms to bent and pressed their hands to his chest.

“You good?” he muttered into the dark room.

“Oh yeah,” she muttered back and he felt his lips smile.

“Sweet dreams, baby.”