My smile widens and I try to kiss him full on the lips, but it’s so hard with how happy I am. “We’re getting married tomorrow!”
His grumpy brow smoothes out, and he attempts to kiss me back, but really all he gets is teeth.
I shove him down to the pillows, and he shivers under me as the ice hits his back. And it looks like morning wood beats out ice water, because when I roll my hips, Lord Landon stands up at attention, ready to knock down the gates to the Land of Liz.
“You really think that’s a good idea, Tumbles?” he says, nodding to the bedroom door.
“Just keep your outbursts to God to a minimum,” I tease, then without warning I sink down. He immediately ignores my request.
“Liz?”
“Mmm?” I ask innocently, keeping my hips still but my muscles pumping.
He grips my waist, fingers digging into my ass. “I’m cold.”
“I’ll warm you up.”
“Our friends are right outside.”
“Then we’ll be quiet.”
“I wouldn’t put it past them to come back in here.”
“Then we’ll be quick.”
“Damn,” he mutters, then sits up. “I love you…and I promise you will never forget tomorrow night.”
“Tomorrow?” I fake pout, and he pulls on my bottom lip.
“Tomorrow.” He gently coaxes me off him, wiping my wet hair from my forehead. “And I’ll never forget last night either.”
“Stop being romantic or I will just climb right back on you.”
He inwardly gulps, then belches. I push his face away with an “Eww!” But my libido is tamed for now, so I suppose I can get ready for whatever Theresa has in store for me today.
—
It has to be at least ten inches. It smells like a mix of meat sweat and pungent cologne. He really should shave, but I guess some women like that sort of thing.
Well, looking around, a lot of women like this sort of thing.
Theresa fixes my bachelorette veil on my head while the ten-inch-long beard on the guy lap-dancing on top of me tickles my chest.
“Okay…” I laugh, sticking a buck in his electric blue briefs—that match his do-rag. That’s enough for me.
Bearded stripper winks and moves on to the next. Apparently it’s biker theme night. Lots of leather and facial hair. Theresa laughs behind her hand when I stand up and tell her to lead me to the stage, where Penny, Jaycee, and even my mom are waving bills at the dancers. Watching gyrating penis dances from afar is more my style anyway.
My phone buzzes in my pocket again, and I sit at the table, order rum and Coke—and don’t get ID’d, which is a first—then pull out my cell.
Landon: 12 hours!
Lizzie: I am not going to sleep at all tonight.
Landon: That’s cute, Tumbles. I probably won’t sleep either.
Lizzie: I’ll be having nightmares of sweaty, bearded men.
Landon: ?
Lizzie has sent an image.
Landon: Yeah…I’ll be having those nightmares too.
“Put your phone away!” Theresa bats at my hand. “It’s singles night.”
“Sorry, Mom,” I tease, but I turn the screen off and tuck it away. The stage performers are dancing to “Wild Thing,” and the guy in the assless chaps keeps making eyes at me. At least he’s just got scruff and not a full-out ten-incher.
Normally, I’d give Theresa a “hell no” to a place like this, but maybe bachelorette nights are more for the best friend than they are for the bride. Tonight will be our last night together like this. She’s keeping me company while Landon crashes at Alec’s, and I’m going to make sure she’s okay after the robbery. They still haven’t caught the guy, and though Theresa puts on a brave face and says she’s over it, I find her rubbing her neck and frowning at times. And I wonder just who that necklace was from and why it’s so important. I’ve asked, but she told me it wasn’t a big deal. She just really liked it.
“Hey!” Theresa calls over the music, and I lean in close. “I wanna know…who caved?”
“What?”
“We didn’t exactly catch y’all clothed this morning.”
The music thumps louder, covering my laugh.
“Looks like I’ll be packing a winter coat.”
Her mouth drops open and she tosses her hands in the air. “Liz! You had two days! You couldn’t wait two days?”
I shrug with a wide grin, and bring my rum and Coke to my lips.
“Well, damn you. All this attitude, all the chocolate, everything you went through just to give in two days before. And you don’t even look sorry about it!”
“I’m not.”
“You should at least apologize to me. I had to deal with your uptight ass.”
“I’m sorry.”
“No, you’re not.”
She’s right. “It was well worth it.”
“It better have been. Now, give me that veil so I can get a group lap dance.” She fights the veil from my head, since that thing has been attracting almost every stripper in the place, and Mom and Jaycee come join me at the table. Mom doesn’t sit down, but leans right up against the stage, and her Southern accent really comes out when she starts yelling at the dancers to “take off them clothes!”
I take a sip of my drink, trying to stay in the moment and be single for one more night, but the truth is, I haven’t been single since I met Landon. And my mind keeps drifting to last night.
He washed me in the shower. I don’t remember the last time he did that for me. I washed him too, and there weren’t many kisses shared, but we touched in other ways. His fingers ran over every inch of me, and I did the same to him. And I knew when I’d hit his hills, his valleys, his ridges, and though it didn’t feel new…it felt better. I knew the stories behind all the marks and muscles. I knew why he had a tattoo and why he hated it. I knew about the roller-coaster scar and the table-saw scar and the tattoo he wishes he had but hasn’t been able to afford.
And because I knew every one of these things, and he knew every inch of my body and the stories under the skin, we didn’t have to say anything. We did, because both Landon and I can’t help but open our mouths during foreplay, but during the quiet moments I knew I didn’t have to ask about anything to bring us closer.
He helped me out of the shower, and we didn’t make it out of the bathroom for another twenty minutes. He laid a towel across the counter and his strong arms lifted me from my feet and he kissed me as deep as he ever has. It was swimming in an ocean of fire, and it swept me into a storm of heat that leaves me breathless just thinking about it.
Then I felt it kick in my stomach. That need and desire for so much more than peas-and-carrots lovemaking, and suddenly we were the main course, the appetizer, the palate cleanser, and we had moved from room to room, from floor to couch to bed, touching and kissing and loving each other so much I thought I’d burst from the fill I was getting.
But when we got to the bed, and he laid me down on the pillows, Lord Landon ready to enter at last after the most erotic foreplay we’d ever had, Landon tucked me in, pulled me against his chest, and said, “I want to save it.”
“Save it?”
“We’re so close, and I want to save it till our wedding night.”
I nearly laughed at him, but I was so deeply satisfied with what we’d done already that I couldn’t find it in me.
“Can we have a sexfest?”
He smiled. “You can have whatever you want.”
I wanted to tell him he just gave me everything I wanted. But as always, I chose sarcastic comment over cheesy honesty. However, I think that’s part of the reason he loves me, because it’s definitely part of the reason I love him.
“Prepare your thrusters.”
He laughed and weaved his fingers through my hair, wrapping his hand around my head and pulling me close. He squeezed my entire body twice, and I squeezed back. We may not have had sex, but it was how we loved each other last night, and it was magnificen
t.
And as I blink back into the present, girls throwing money at strippers, people drinking and having fun, and my own mother getting a lap dance, maybe I’m ready to give up on strawberries and whipped cream for something a little healthier.
Chapter 34
Deep breaths. This is it. You can do this. Just stand up straight, hold on to something, and eye on the prize.
“Okay,” I tell Theresa and my mom. “I’m ready.”
Theresa nods once and then pulls on the zipper.
I suck in as hard as I can. We’ve gotten the dress on about 96 percent of the way, but whatever alterations Gina did weren’t for my bustline.
“Come on, come on, come on!” Theresa yells at the thing, but I can tell it’s not going to budge. THE dress, my dress, doesn’t fit. And it’s my wedding day!
I lean against the vanity in the bridal room, trying desperately not to tear up because my makeup is already done.
“It’s just a little bit,” Mom says. “Maybe the veil will cover…” She drifts off as she settles the veil down my back. I know it won’t cover it with the transparent material.
“I don’t get it,” Theresa says, shaking her head. “We gave Gina the same measurements that woman took at the dress shop. I don’t know why—”
“Wait,” I say, trying to catch my breath. “The last measurements that lady took was when I was wearing Spanx.”
Theresa gasps. “I totally forgot about that. Do you still have them?”
“They’re in my underwear drawer.”
She grabs her keys, her red gown swishing by her knees. She fits just fine into hers.
“I’ll go get them.”
I’d complain about having to wear that thing on my wedding day, but honestly I’m just hoping it does the trick. So I practically shove her out the door.
“Thank you!” I call after her. Mom helps me out of THE dress so I don’t rip it again while we wait. She helps me into a fluffy robe and fixes a loose snowflake in my hair. She hasn’t spoken much today, just sniffled a few times.
“How we doing on those Hurdles, Momma?”
Her eyes wrinkle in the corner when she smiles. “That first one is still really high. How are you doing on yours?”
I flick my gaze to my dress and let out a small laugh. “I don’t think I cleared a single one.”
“You’re still here, though. So maybe you didn’t do as badly as you think.”
“I tripped and stumbled over each one of those Hurdles.” My future mother-in-law continues to give me the stink-eye. Paying for the wedding never would’ve happened without my parents. Operation Great Sex was not without its stumbling blocks either. We were all sorts of menu items while we battled each other to our honeymoon destination. And I gave up the Bahamas two days before, not only because I wanted him so much, but as I nudge the packed honeymoon bag with my toes while Mom messes with my hair, I know I want Landon to be happy, and I want to share that part of his life with him. So Utah, here we come.
Devil butterflies start to beat their wings in my stomach. I clutch it tight, breathe deep, and count fifteen Mississippis.
“Momma?” I ask, staring at my bag. “It’s normal to be nervous, right?”
“Do you need me to warm your feet?”
I nod, a long blond curl bouncing in front of my nose. Mom clips it back in place.
“Twenty minutes before I married your father, I detoured to the caterers and stuffed my face with sponge cake.”
“That sounds like a good idea.” If only I could fit into my dress.
“It took you grandmother and two bridesmaids to pull me back into the bridal room. I kept babbling about how your father never cleaned, spent too much time working, how we didn’t kiss like we used to, and I wasn’t even sure if he was the one.”
“What made you change your mind?”
“I didn’t. That man I married still never cleans, works too much, and we don’t kiss as often. But you know what? It doesn’t matter. Because he’s also that same man who loves me as much as he did that very first day we laid eyes on each other. And I cannot picture a life that would’ve been better than the one he shares with me.”
I dab a shaking finger under my eye, careful not to ruin anything. “So it’s okay Landon leaves his socks on the floor?”
She laughs. “Is that a deal-breaker?”
“It drives me crazy.”
“But you still love him.”
“Yeah.” I grin. “I love him and his dirty socks.”
“Then I think you’re ready to get married, baby.”
Theresa bursts back in the room about ten minutes later, Spanx in hand. “Okay, let’s get you into that damn dress.”
—
Red and black drapes float across snow-covered windows. Flowers line the aisles, petals in my bridesmaids’ hair, and red and white roses clipped to lapels. Sparkly snowflakes hang from the high ceiling, accent the seats in the hall, and while it’s so gorgeous and more than I could ever hope for in a wedding, all I see is the pepper stuck in Landon’s teeth. And after Dad lifts my veil and gives me away, I automatically reach up and get that sucker out of there.
“Are you sure you two aren’t married already?” the preacher asks with much laughter from the congregation. Landon pulls me forward and wipes under my eye, getting whatever makeup residue that’s splotched there with the sweat forming all over my body. Winter wedding, great idea…except they turn the heat up a thousand degrees and that doesn’t help when you’re wearing Spanx .
But my dress is all the way zipped up. I finally made it over that Hurdle.
After Landon and I have prepped each other, he takes my hand and the preacher starts off with lots of good advice about love and family and friendship, but I can’t concentrate much with the butterflies storming in my stomach and sharing hand squeezes with Landon.
“Now,” the preacher man says, gesturing to Landon and me, “the bride and groom have written their own vows.”
My stomach…
drops.
Honest to the sweet Lord, I almost curse right then and there in front of a man of the cloth. Landon kinks his neck to the side, because I think I’m supposed to go first, and as much of a planner as I am, as anal and as organized, I forget my stinking vows back at the apartment! I look at Theresa, whose mouth is open and she’s shaking her head like, “You never gave those to me.”
I stare blankly back to my husband-to-be, lips parted slightly as I mouth, “I forgot them.”
Whispering stirs in the congregation, and my face grows warmer and warmer under the lights. I forgot my wedding vows. I am the worst bride ever. He’s going to leave me right here at the altar, because my mind goes blank. I don’t even remember what I wrote in the first place. I had a killer joke to start with, and then I was beautiful and sweet and, damn it, I’m a flake! Should I even be doing this?
Landon takes my hand with an amused grin, kisses my finger, and says, “I vow to make you laugh.”
Then he waits for me.
“I…I vow to humor you about your jokes.”
“What if they’re really bad?” he asks with a laugh.
“Even then.”
“I vow to pick up my socks.”
I snort. Actually snort during our vows. “Can I get that in writing?”
“You want it notarized, too?”
I weave my fingers through his and take a step closer. “I vow to sing to you when you’re sick.”
“Please don’t.”
“Lots of 98 Degrees to get you to the right temperature.”
“I take back my sock vow.”
“You can’t do that.”
“I just did.”
“We are not going to argue during our wedding ceremony.”
“Okay,” he says, “I vow to always argue naked.”
“And make up naked.”
“To always take you out on dates.”
“And I’ll never stop flirting with you.”
“I vow to kiss th
e center of your palm.”
“I vow to give you long hugs.”
“I vow to squeeze your hand twice.” And he does.
“And I vow to always squeeze back.”
After lots of “aww”s from our friends and family, Landon and I turn to the preacher.
“Do you have the rings?”
“Yes!” I shout, scaring Landon into Alec. But I didn’t forget this one. Theresa leans over and slides the clearance ring I got him that says, “You are mine,” because even though he said he didn’t need one, he does. And this will have to do until I can afford a nice gold band.
He pushes the ring onto my finger—I mean literally pushes, because the heat in here has made my fingers swell. And I take his hand, and as the twenty-dollar piece of jewelry slides over his knuckle, something bursts in my chest.
I remember how it felt when Landon first kissed me. I remember the second kiss, the third, and I remember the first time we made love and the first time we fought and the first time we spent a night together. I remember moving in, learning to deal with living with each other, and overcoming all the Hurdles that were put in our path.
I remember how it felt when he put the ring on my finger. It was beyond words.
But nothing could’ve ever prepared me for how it feels to put a ring on his finger.
Tears are falling now, and there’s no way to stop them. And through the blur I witness, for the first time ever, a tear crawling down Landon’s cheek into his smile line.
“Landon, do you take this woman—”
“Oh yeah,” he says on an exhale. My shoulders move with light laughter.
“Elizabeth, do you—”
“You bet I do.”
“By the power vested in me by the state of New York, I now pronounce you husband and wife.”
Landon doesn’t even wait for the kiss line. He wraps a hand around my waist, one around the nape of my neck, and yanks me flush against him. He nips at my bottom lip, but then he’s gentle, more demanding, and then actually embarrassingly passionate with all our friends and family sitting not two feet away. And because I’m such a smooth and hot girl, I start laughing in the middle of it.