Uncontrollable (40 page)

She rubs her sleepy eyes before she starts to make
her way over to me. Once she gets close I reach out and wrap grab her pulling
her into me. I wrap my arms around her soft body.

 “Come to bed,” she whispers into my chest.

 I lift her up into my arms and carry her back to
the bedroom with plans to do some very naughty things to her.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

“Wake up.” I feel my body
shake as I start to wake. We’ve arrived back from Paris late last night, and I
already miss it. There wasn’t a place that we didn’t see while there for our
honeymoon. I hope to go back and visit again soon.

“Stop,” I say hoarsely, my voice rough from
sleeping. I reach up and push Slade’s arms off of me. I roll over onto my side
as I pull the covers up over my face to hide the sunlight.

“Not today, Angel. It’s time to get up,” I hear him
say before the covers are ripped off of my body.

I turn to face him with a hard look on my face. “I
want to sleep in,” I say like a child.

He shakes his head with a smile on his face. “We
have somewhere to be. Get up.” He slaps my ass, and I let out a sigh. Somewhere
to be. Where could that be?

I can tell by his damp hair that he has already
showered, and he’s dressed in a pair of loose fitting jeans and white fitted
t-shirt. I place my feet on the floor and walk to the bathroom. I turn on the
shower and start to step in when he grabs my arm. “We don’t have time for
that,” he says leaning over and turning the water off.

“Slade,” I say stomping my foot. “I have to get
ready if we are going somewhere.”

He shake his head. “Just get dressed.”

I cross my arms over my chest. “Why are we in such
a rush?”

“Because everyone is waiting on us.”

 My eyebrows shoot up. “At least let me put on some
makeup,” I say as I go to walk around him.

He laughs. “Just get dressed. You don’t need any
makeup, Angel.” He places his hands in my hair and holds it back off of my
face. “You look just as gorgeous without it as you do when you wear it.” He
releases his right hand from my hair and runs his knuckles across my cheek. “I
love getting to feel your soft skin, kissing your lips without having to wear
half of your lipstick.” I giggle.

 “Plus,” he adds, “When you cry, your mascara
runs.” He smirks.

My eyes go big. “Is that your subtle way of telling
me I’m going to cry today?”

 He looks down to my belly and sighs. Yeah, I know,
it’s almost a guarantee that I cry over something daily. “Just get dressed.” He
spins me around and starts to push me to the closet. I give up the fight and
throw on a pair of yoga pants and a t-shirt, and throw my hair into a high
ponytail.

 I throw on my sunglasses as I grab my purse, and
we are out the door. “Where are we headed?” I ask looking out the window
recognizing that we are headed to downtown. He just gives a smirk as he keeps
his eyes on the road. I roll my eyes and reach over turning the radio up loudly
to drown out my thoughts.

He slows down and pulls off at the Main Street
exit. This is the same road Larry’s is on but he turns in the other direction.
I sit up straighter in my seat. The girls and I come down here often to go
shopping. Anything you could possibly want is located here.

Slade slows down and pulls in front of a white
building that sits on the corner. It has glass double doors. “This place is
closed, Slade,” I observe, looking over at him.

“Yep,” he answers with a smile.

 I frown but get out of the car after him. I follow
him up to the door, and he turns the knob allowing the door to open.

 “Slade.” I grab his wrist trying to stop him from
entering. “We can’t go in there. This is trespassing.” I don’t care if the door
was unlocked or not.

 “Come on.” He ignores my pleas and pulls me
through the door. He closes it behind us and the only light in the room is
coming through the glass doors behind us.

I stay quiet as he pulls me through the large empty
building. He takes me down a hallway and then into a new room. This room seems
to be bigger even though it’s hard to see. “Wait here,” he says then releases
my hand.

 I can hear him to my left as if he’s looking for
something. Then I hear a click followed by the light coming on.

 “SURPRISE!”

I jump back placing my hand over my frantically
beating heart. “What the hell is going on?” I ask shocked and confused by the
appearance of Tate, Missy, Courtney, Josh, and Parker.

“They all wanted to be a part of this.”

I look over at Slade as he speaks. He has a shy
smile on his face and his hands are in his pockets letting me know he’s nervous
about whatever
this
is.

I start to go over the date in my head. It’s not
our anniversary, my birthday, or his birthday. So why is everyone here?

“I don’t understand,” I say still trying to catch
my breath.

 “I knew you wouldn’t get it.” Parker laughs.

 Courtney reaches over and slaps his chest.

 “She’s not supposed to,” Slade says coming back to
stand by me. “That’s why it’s a surprise.”

 I narrow my eyes on Parker.
He’s such a dick.

 I place my hands on my hips. “Then explain it.”

 Slade pulls a piece of paper out of his back
pocket and places it in my hands. I slowly open it up to look at it.

As I read over it I realize it’s the deed to this
building and it has Samantha Marie Long written in place of owner. “You bought
this?” I ask confused.

 He nods and takes my hands. “I bought it for you.”
He smiles.

 “Uh...” I want to ask why but that would make me
sound like a bitch. “I don’t understand,” I decide is the best choice of words.

“I overheard you telling Missy about your dream,
Angel. I don’t want to come between that. I want to make all of your dreams
come true.” He takes his hands and gestures to the room filled with some of our
friends. “This building is all yours to start up your dream.”

 I stand there staring at him as tears start to
slide down my cheeks.

Did he really buy me a building to start a bakery
business?

 “Slade,” I say quietly. “I can’t do this…” I try
to say, but I can’t say the words. I want to do this. I want to live the dream
that my mother and I had.

“I’m going to quit the bank,” Courtney declares.

 “What?” I ask mesmerized.

 She smiles. “I worked as an event planner for
three years. And you, my friend, are going to need one for your demanding baking
career.”

My eyes move from hers to Josh. He even has a smile
on his face, as if he doesn’t care what she does.

“I’ve been looking for a job,” Missy says coming to
me. “That is if you want me.”

 I nod my head not really understanding what is
happening.

“I’m not much of a baker,” Parker speaks up, “But I
can be your taste tester.” He slaps his belly.

“I will help in any way I can.” Tate nods with a
straight face.

 I take a few steps back from everyone and turn to
Slade. I feel lost. I feel overwhelmed. What in the hell is happening.

“Don’t you see, Angel?” He takes my hands in his.
“I want to make all of your dreams come true.”

This is not going how I had
planned. She looks terrified. “You can sell it if you want.” Maybe she doesn’t
want to own a bakery.

 She spins her body to face me, and she lets out a
long breath. “Are you crazy?” Her voice higher than usual. “This is wonderful!”
She gives me a slow smile. “This is my dream, Slade.” She turns away from me
and looks at everyone. “And I want all of you to be a part of it.”

 With that the tears come, just like I figured they
would. She starts up a conversation with the girls about decorating it and the
colors she wants to paint the walls. I lean back against a wall with a smile on
my face as Josh approaches me. “You have to stop coming up with all these great
surprises. You’re making me look bad.”

 I laugh. “I told you to up your game.”

 “At least you guys have game,” Parker states
looking at Tate. “You should have seen the girl Tate brought home last night.”
He chuckles. “The bitch wasn’t there for ten minutes before she went running
out the door.”

 Tate rolls his eyes. “What did you do to her Tate?
Leave the lights on?”

 “She wanted to do something I wasn’t willing to
do.” He shrugs casually.

 Micah places his hand on Parker’s shoulder. “You
should have escorted her to Parker’s room. He likes anal play.”

 We all burst out laughing.

 “Shut up,” Parker snaps. “Don’t knock it until you
try it.”

 “I’m never going to try it.” Tate shakes his head
quickly.

 “It’s not like I like strap-ons or anything,” he
huffs crossing his arms over his chest.

 I laugh. “So you’ve tried them?”

 Parker glares at me. “No…”

 “I’m totally buying you one for your birthday,”
Josh says slapping him on the shoulder.

 We all continue laughing as the girls come over to
join us. “What’s so funny?” Courtney asks eyeing Josh.

 He shakes his head. “Just making fun of Parker.”

We all turn our head when we hear the front door to
the store open. “Who else is coming?” Angel asks.

 I shake my head. “No one that I know of.” Micah
and Holly wanted to be here but Holly’s dad had asked Micah to help him with
painting something. Perks of having a son-in-law, her dad had said.

 “That’s my ride,” Missy says softly.

 We all turn to look down at her and see her
watching the floor. She has still been acting very distant.

“Ready to go, Missy?”

 I’m not surprised to see Braxton as he walks in
and speaks to Missy. What does surprise me is the ‘go to hell’ look he shoots
over at Tate.

 Why is Braxton mad at Tate? He’s the one with the
girl.

“What are you doing here?” Parker inquires,
surprised by his brother’s appearance.

Braxton stands next to Missy and looks at his
brother. “I dropped her off earlier and went to run some errands.” He then
looks down at Missy. “Are you not ready to go?”

 She nods slowly before she looks up at Angel. I
frown when I see her eyes are full of tears.
What the fuck is going on?
“If
you need help with anything, I will be here to help you,” she says straightening
her shoulders. Her eyes glance over at Tate for the briefest moment before they
are back looking at Angel.

 She smiles and pulls her in for a hug. “Thank you.
I would love to have your help,” Angel says then pulls away.

 Missy waves to everyone before she turns and walks
out with Braxton right behind her.

 “Well, that wasn’t awkward,” Courtney says as she
turns to glare at Tate.

 “Why are you staring at me?” he asks throwing his
hands up. “I was nice.”

 Courtney snorts. “Nice? You didn’t say two words.”

 “I know. That was me being nice.” He nods to
himself. “I could have punched Braxton. But what good would that have done?”

“Why would you punch Braxton?
You
broke the
poor girl’s heart. You can’t blame his brother.” She motions with her thumb to
Parker. “Can he Parker?”

 “Don’t get me involved. I don’t know what is going
on between the two of them.”

 The room settles with a silence, and I pull Angel
into me. With her chest pressed up against mine she looks up to me with a big
smile. “Thanks for this, baby. I can’t wait to get started.”

“It’s going to be great,” I say knowing that’s the
truth.

 She pulls away when she feels my phone vibrate in
my front pocket. I pull it up to see that it’s an email. I quickly pocket my
phone when I see it’s from
Miller
—my old friend I had hired to dig
around information for me on Tate.

“Who was it?” she asks tilting her head to the
side.

 I clear my throat. “It was an email that’s work
related,” I tell her.

 “Who’s hungry?” Courtney asks taking the attention
off of me. “Because I’m starving.”

 Angel laughs and looks at her. “I am.”

 “You two always want to eat.” Parker sighs
heavily.

 Angel reaches out and slaps him in the stomach.
“And you always want to drink or get laid,” she says with a smile.

 He nods. “True,” as we all head to the door.