Broken Dreams

“Choose your words wisely,” I said as I gave him a look.

  I quickly looked around. We were just down from the house, but I knew there was no way in hell I could make it even just for two minutes. I turned back around and pushed my bag onto the floor of the backseat. Thank God Reed’s backseat was roomy. I climbed in and slowly lay back. Reed’s eyes grew bigger as he jumped up and climbed into the truck with me.

  “Court…what are you doing?” he asked, his voice cracking.

  I bit down on my lip and then smiled. “I’m going to use this vibrator and play with myself as you watch.”

  He swallowed hard, and I wanted to hug myself—one, because I knew this was turning him on big time, and two, for being so brave. I’d never before used a vibrator in front of a guy, let alone allowed a guy to play with me with a vibrator. BOB was my toy and only for me to enjoy. No man had ever been worthy enough to share me with BOB. But Reed was not an ordinary guy. He was my everything.

  I reached down and stuck two of my fingers inside me quickly. I smiled at how wet I was, and then I smiled bigger when I saw Reed’s eyes about to pop out of his head. I moved the vibrator slowly down my chest, making sure I rubbed it on one of my nipples. Reed let out a moan, and then I slid it down my stomach and finally between my legs. I slowly began working it in and out of my body.

  “I think I’ve died and gone to heaven.” Reed quickly looked up at me and licked his lips as he pulled his shirt off.

  “Not yet,” I said as I turned it on and arched my back. Oh shit, I’m going to come fast. The damn thing had fresh batteries in it, and I was so worked up that a stick would probably make me come fast.

  “Jesus Christ, Courtney…” Reed whispered as I was moving the vibrator in and out.

  I had my eyes closed, and when I felt Reed sucking on one of my nipples, that was my undoing.

  “Oh, Reed…I’m going to come,” I called out.

  Reed pulled back, and I opened my eyes. Our eyes caught, and as I called out in pleasure, he smiled so big that I couldn’t help but smile back. He reached his hand down to mine and pulled out the vibrator. He moved my body farther into the truck and slowly began rubbing on my clit with his hard dick.

  “I can’t…not again…Reed, I can’t,” I said between gasps of air.

  When I felt him slowly slide in, I wanted to cry. Something about this whole thing felt so…magical. As he moved in and out of me, he kissed me across my chest, up my neck, and along my jawline.

  When he reached my right ear, he whispered, “I love you, Courtney. I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you. I can’t wait to see your stomach growing bigger with my child.”

  I began crying hard as I wrapped my arms around him. “I love you, Reed. God, I love you so much.”

  Then, Reed pushed into me so deep that I sucked in a breath of air. The moan that he let out told me he was coming, and I felt him pulsing inside me, giving me everything he had. I took all of it as I squeezed around him. He stopped moving and held himself above me for a few minutes before I moved over and turned on my side. He lay behind me and pulled me against him, and he held me as we lay there in silence. Something wonderful had just happened between us, and I wasn’t really sure what it was. Once Reed’s breathing became normal again, I turned around on the small seat and faced him.

  “How fast can we get married?” I asked.

  I’d never seen Reed smile so big in my life. It was like I’d just told him he won a million dollars.

  “I’ll marry you right now if you want.”

  I looked down at his tattoo on his chest—my heart—and then back into his eyes. I gave him a wink and said, “I’ve always wanted to go to Lake Tahoe.”

  I watched as Courtney ran up the stairs in her house to pack a suitcase.

  She stopped at the top of the steps and looked down at me. “Do you want to call Layton? Or should I call Whit?”

  I smiled and said, “I’ll call Layton. You just pack, angel.”

  The smile she flashed caused me to take in a sharp breath of air.

  “Oh. My. God. We’re really going to do this, aren’t we?”

  “I’ll do whatever you want, Court. We can do this, or we can invite five hundred people to a church. As long as I can marry you, I don’t care how we do it.”

  She gave me a wink and made her way into her room. I pulled out my cell phone and hit Layton’s number. I walked into the living room and sat down on the sofa. I took a deep breath and got ready to do the one thing I’d been so terrified to do since my father walked out on my mother.

  “Hey, dude. You and Court ever make it back to the party?” Layton asked with a chuckle.

  I smiled and asked, “Did you and Whitley?”

  “Fuck no. Did you see how my hot pregnant wife was dressed? I took her home and performed my husbandly duties.”

  I made a face and tried to shake the image out of my head. “Jesus, too much information, you ass.”

  “I don’t even think anyone noticed when we left, to be honest. I’m pretty sure everyone is gone now,” Layton said.

  I heard Whitley talking to someone in the background.

  “Who is Whit talking to?” I asked as I pushed my hand through my hair. I was nervous as hell to tell Layton that Courtney and I were on our way to Austin to catch a plane to Reno.

  “Jen. She stopped by to say good-bye before she left with Kate.”

  “Oh.”

  “Spill it, Reed,” Layton said as I heard Jen’s and Whitley’s voices fading.

  He must be walking away from them. “Um…”

  “Reed, is everyone okay? Did something happen between you and Courtney?”

  I smiled as I looked out in the hallway. “Oh yeah, something pretty damn big happened.”

  Layton let out a small chuckle. “Well, are you going to fill me in or make me stand here and guess?”

  I slowly took in a deep breath and let it out. “Court and I wanted to know if you and Whitley…if y’all wanted to…” Fuck, I can’t breathe.

  “If Whitley and I want to what? Reed, what in the hell is going on?”

  Shit. What if I hurt her? What if I can’t make her as happy as she makes me? I closed my eyes and thought back to just a little bit ago and how amazing making love to her had been. I would do everything in my power to never hurt her—ever. From this point on, my goal was to make Courtney happy and keep her safe.

  “Reed? Are you still there?” Layton asked.

  “Yeah, um…Court and I want you and Whitley to go with us to Lake Tahoe,” I blurted out so fast that I was sure he would need me to repeat it.

  “Oh, hell yeah! I’d love to take Whitley to Lake Tahoe. When are y’all thinking of going?”

  I looked down at my watch and said, “In about five hours.”

  Silence.

  “Layton?” I practically whispered.

  “Five hours? Holy shit…is this what I think it is?”

  I nodded my head and slowly said, “Yeah…and I’d like nothing more than for you to be there when I marry the love of my life.”

  “Son of a bitch. Reed, what in the hell? Y’all are eloping?”

  I heard Whitley let out a small scream.

  “What? Oh my God. I want to talk to Courtney! When? Where?” Whitley was yelling out.

  I couldn’t help but laugh as I imagined Whitley running for her phone to call Courtney.

  “Uh…Whitley is calling Courtney right now,” Layton said.

  Not even thirty seconds later, I heard Courtney scream from upstairs.

  “I think Court is talking to Whit now,” I said with a chuckle.

  “Reed, are y’all sure? You don’t think you’re moving too fast? Courtney doesn’t want a wedding?”

  “Layton, I know I want to spend the rest of my life with Court. It was her idea to get married as soon as possible. I want to spend the rest of my life with her, and this feels so completely right. I mean, I’m scared as hell, but at the same time, nothing has ever felt so right in my life.”


  I wished I could see Layton’s face right now.

  He let out a small breath. “What airline? And what time does the flight leave?”

  I jumped up and did a fist pump. “Thank you, Layton. Shit, you don’t know what this means to me to have you there.”

  He let out a laugh as I heard Whitley yelling something about packing a bag.

  I gave Layton the flight information and told him that we would meet them at the Austin-Bergstrom airport. By the time we were done talking, I turned around to see Courtney standing there. She was dressed in a pair of jeans and a white T-shirt that had a green alien holding a gun in one hand and a book in the other with the words Take Me to Your Reader written in black under the alien.

  I let out a laugh and shook my head. Damn, I love this girl.

  She tilted her head and gave me that smile of hers that had my stomach doing that damn flipping thing.

  “I like your T-shirt, baby,” I said as I walked up to her and pulled her to me.

  She stood on her toes and put her hand behind my neck. She pulled my lips to hers and gently kissed me. “Reed, are you sure?” she whispered as she barely pulled back from my lips.

  I smiled and brushed my lips back and forth across hers. “I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life. Are you sure, baby?”

  “Oh yeah. I really can’t wait to let my mother know that we’re eloping.”

  I pulled back and gave her a questioning look. “Why?”

  She let out a giggle. “My mother has been planning my wedding since I was, like, five years old. Every year on my parents’ wedding anniversary, she would pull out her wedding dress and show it to my sister and me. She would tell us that whoever got married first was going to get to wear the dress and have the biggest wedding ever.”

  My smile faded. “Courtney, we can plan a wedding. I don’t mind—”

  She put her finger up to my lips to stop me from talking. “The only thing I want is for someone to say that I am Mrs. Reed Nickolas Moore. It doesn’t matter to me how or where that happens. I just want to marry my Prince Charming.”

  I smiled as I brushed the back of my hand down the side of her face. She pulled back and turned to grab her suitcase.

  She looked over her shoulder and said, “Besides, my mother’s wedding dress is the most hideous dress I’ve ever seen. With me eloping, it falls to my sister to wear it in her wedding.” She spun around and started to make her way out the front door.

  I stood there for a second, trying to decide if she really wanted to get married right away or if she was trying to get out of wearing her mother’s wedding dress. I quickly decided that it didn’t matter. Soon, I would be making love to my wife, and that was all that mattered.

  I set the house alarm and shut the door. I ran up and took the suitcase from Courtney. I put it in the backseat before shutting her door and running around to the driver’s side of my truck. When I jumped in my truck, panic took over, and my stomach dropped.

  I looked over at her and said, “I don’t have the wedding bands.”

  She winked and said, “We’ll figure it out, baby. Let’s go get married.”

  I watched as Whitley and Courtney walked ahead of Layton and me in the Reno airport. They had not stopped talking since we met them at the airport in Austin.

  “What in the hell are they going on and on about?” I asked as I looked over at Layton.

  He started laughing. “My guess would be the wedding.”

  I got that feeling in my stomach again. What in the hell are we doing? No plans, no dress, no tux, and no wedding bands. I stopped walking and just stood there, frozen.

  Layton stopped and turned to look at me. “What’s wrong?”

  “What in the hell are we doing, Layton? I don’t even have a wedding band to give to her. She has no dress. What kind of a wedding could I possibly give her? We’re flying by the seat of our pants.” I felt sick and wished I could sit down.

  Layton walked up to me and smiled as he put his hand on my shoulder. “Reed, do you want to marry Courtney?”

  I looked at him like he had grown two heads. “Of course I do. I want nothing more than to marry her.”

  He slapped me on the back and let out a laugh. “Then, don’t sweat the small shit. Courtney seems to be flying high, dude. I don’t think she’s too worried about it all.” He glanced back at Courtney and Whitley as they stood there, waiting for the luggage.

  Courtney was on her cell phone, and her hand was waving all over the place. I had no idea who she was talking to, but as soon as the plane had landed, she was on her phone.

  I took a deep breath as Layton and I began walking over to where the girls were standing.

  Whitley came running up and jumped into Layton’s arms. “Oh my God! My best friend is getting married.”

  Layton started laughing and gave her a quick peck on the lips. “I think my boy here is feeling a little nervous,” he said as he gestured toward me.

  “I’m not nervous. It’s just that we don’t have anything planned, and maybe we should have thought this through, and—”

  Layton had set Whitley down, and she quickly walked up to me and put her hand over my mouth.

  “Stop right there. Are you having doubts?” she whispered.

  What is with everyone asking me if I have doubts? “No. It’s just that I want this to be perfect for Court.”

  I looked over at her on the phone. The smile on her face instantly had me relaxing.

  I glanced back down at Whitley and smiled. “You know what? As long as Courtney is happy, that is all that matters to me. It will be perfect. I’ll make sure it’s perfect.”

  Whitley smiled and gave me a wink. “That is so the right answer.” She quickly looked back at Courtney before turning back to me. “If there is one thing you need to know about Courtney, the girl can plan shit. Just relax, Reed. I promise you, she is so happy right now.”

  I smiled and nodded my head, knowing Whit was right. I’d seen Courtney work under pressure, and she was always on top of everything.

  Layton and I walked up to the baggage carousel and looked for all the suitcases as we talked about the ranch. Once we had them all, we started heading toward the car rental. Courtney was still on the phone as she stood off to the side. This time, she didn’t look so happy. She looked over at me as I was making my way to the rental counter. The smile she gave me caused my stomach to drop, and my pants felt a size or two smaller.

  Damn…the hold this girl has over me.

  Whitley put her hand on my arm. “Don’t worry. She’s talking to her mother, who happens to be slightly upset that Court decided to elope.”

  Layton and I both said at the same time, “Oh shit.”

  Layton slapped me on the back and chuckled. “Way to welcome yourself into the family, dude.”

  I snapped my head and gave him a go-to-hell look. “Fuck off, asswipe.”

  Whit and Layton both started laughing as I began talking to the rental car agent.

  All it took was one flash of my smile and a little bit of innocent flirting, and I had upgraded our car rental at no extra charge.

  As the agent handed me the keys to our BMW X5, she asked, “What brings you to Reno? Maybe we could meet for a drink later, and I can…show you around.”

  I smiled. “I’m sorry, but can’t. I’m actually here with my fiancée. We’re getting married.”

  It wasn’t lost on me how her smile faded, and she looked like she was about to take back the car keys.

  I quickly flashed her a smile and said, “Thank you so much for the warm welcome. Have a wonderful day.”

  I turned to see Layton shaking his head with a smile on his face before he looked away.

  As I walked by him, he said in a low voice, “At least you know you still have a way with the girls.”

  I quickly looked at him and winked before I walked up to Courtney. She was finally off the phone and talking to Whitley. Courtney smiled at me as I made my way to her. The look on h
er face caused me to smile. She looked so happy and beautiful.

  When she began walking up to me, I mouthed, I love you.

  She picked up the pace and slammed into my body. I dropped our suitcases and held her as she began crying.

  “What? What’s wrong, baby?” I pulled back and saw her smiling as tears were streaming down her face. “Court? Baby, talk to me. I’m slightly confused by the tears and the smile.”

  She wiped away her tears and shook her head. “Everything is perfect. Well, besides the fact that my mother is pretty pissed off at me right now, but she’ll get over it. My father’s best friend is someone big at The Ritz-Carlton hotel, and he owed my dad a favor, so my dad called him on it. We are all set for a sunset wedding on the beach tomorrow. I called a local bridal shop, and they have the dress I want. Whit can pick out a bridesmaid dress when we get there. The florist at the hotel is taking care of the flowers, and I told her to keep them simple. The only thing left to do is get our wedding bands.”

  I was pretty sure my jaw was on the floor. She scrunched up her nose in that cute way she does, and my dick instantly jumped.

  “You did all that…since we got off the plane?”

  She threw her head back and laughed. “No. I called my father before we left, and I asked him to find out about The Ritz-Carlton to see if they could make it work. After we landed, I was on the phone with the bridal store, the florist…and my mother.” Her smile faded.

  “So, should I be afraid when you bring me home to meet the parents?” I said with a chuckle.

  She took a deep breath. “Probably. My parents both think I’m pregnant, and that’s why we’re rushing the wedding. I told them I wasn’t, but my mother is being crazy. She demanded I take a pregnancy test and show her the results.”

  “What?” I said.

  Courtney shrugged her shoulders and smirked. “I almost want Whit to take one, so I can freak my mom the hell out.”

  “Wait, is your mom serious? She wants you to send her a picture of a pregnancy test?” I asked.

  Courtney nodded her head and simply said, “Yep.”

  I didn’t know whether I should be really worried or really scared for my life. “What about your dad? How does he feel about this?” I asked, silently saying a prayer that her dad had been cool with it. Then, I thought about how I hadn’t even told my own mother yet.