“Thank you,” she replied stiffly.
“But I’m warning you now that I’ll be on that call, and if you say even one word to cause Mia to be even remotely upset, I will end it. Do we understand each other?”
“Perfectly.”
There was an awkward goodbye and Austin sagged down in his seat with a groan. He’d always been taught to respect his elders, but the Kingsleys tested his patience like no one else.
Except maybe his Aunt Georgia, but even she was starting to come around and almost be a decent human being. So perhaps there was hope for Beverly and Arvin Kingsley.
Just not today.
The sound of Mia softly clearing her throat forced him to turn in his chair. She was standing in the doorway and…smiling.
A sad smile, but a smile nonetheless.
“Hey,” he said, coming to his feet. “Um…what are you doing up here?”
“Believe it or not, I returned all my calls.” Then she chuckled. “Well, with a little help from Sydney and Jill, that is. So…other than touching base with Josie, Skylar, and Leanna later today, I think we can stick a fork in this thing because it’s done.”
He couldn’t help but laugh with her as he walked over and wrapped her in his arms. “A little anticlimactic, huh?”
“It died a swift and snowy death, but…I’d love to not think about it for a little while.”
“I’m not sure that’s possible.”
She took a step out of his arms and took him by the hand, leading him out of the room. “Maybe, but…I think we can try.” Together they walked back down the stairs and he grinned when she led him into their bedroom. When she turned toward him, she looked serious. “We need to ignore the phones, not turn on the TV, and preferably not even look out the windows.”
“Uh-huh…”
“That means we can play cards or maybe a board game…”
Austin shook his head. “Last time we did that, you cheated at Monopoly.”
The sound of her genuine laughter was the greatest thing he’d heard in days.
“What about Scrabble?”
Rolling his eyes, he replied, “Please. You’re an author. Words are what you do for a living and I’m pretty sure you make stuff up because you know I won’t challenge it.”
“I still say the chiptease is a word.”
He remembered the last time she’d used it and it still amused him. “And how exactly do you use it in a sentence?”
“Chiptease is a bag of potato chips that seems full but is mostly air,” she reasoned. “So…that bag of barbecue chips was basically a chiptease. There were barely enough to enjoy that yummy onion dip.” Crossing her arms, and cocking her hip, she grinned triumphantly.
“I stand corrected. But still…no Scrabble.”
Sighing dramatically, she said, “Okay, so maybe no board games, but how about…strip poker?”
He pretended to consider it. “I’m not sure we have a full deck of cards.”
She paused and peeled her sweatshirt over her head and then stripped her leggings off. When she straightened, all she had on was a pair of plain white panties, and she’d never looked sexier.
“I was never good at cards,” she said huskily. “I figured you’d win, so…”
And damn if that wasn’t like hitting the launch button because from the very first time he’d seen her, Austin felt like he’d won.
Stalking close, his hands rested on her waist. “I like the way you think.” Leaning in, he placed a soft kiss on one side of her mouth. “And the way you look.” He kissed the other side. “And the way you taste.” This time, his kiss was all heat and need, and as Mia’s silky limbs wrapped around him, all he could think of was claiming her.
Together, they stumbled across the room to get to their bed. Mia broke the kiss as she sat down and scooted away from him. “Your turn.”
He’d never undressed so fast in his life.
But as he was about to crawl over her, he stopped.
“Austin? What’s the matter?”
It seemed a little awkward to say what he was about to say while he was buck naked and fully aroused, but…
“I’m not trying to kill the mood, but…I just want to make sure this is really what you want to do,” he said carefully. “You know that I would make love to you every single day, ten times a day if given a chance.”
She cocked an eyebrow at him. “Someone’s feeling a little confident in his skills.”
Chuckling, he shook his head. “You know what I’m saying. It’s been an emotional couple of days, and I get needing a distraction. I just don’t want you to think that we have to…you know…do this in order to be okay.”
She studied him for a long moment, and honestly, it was one of the few times that he had no idea what she was thinking.
“One of the things I love most about you,” she finally replied, “is how you always put my feelings first and always make sure that you ask before we do anything. I love your consideration and how much of a genuine gentleman you are.” She paused. “I’ll admit that there is nothing…um…sexy about our lives right now, and by all accounts, this should be the last thing on my mind, but…” Reaching out, she caressed his shoulder, his bicep. “But what I really need right now is to feel close to you. Naked and sweaty, hard and loud, I need you.”
That was his cue to finish crawling over her.
Her legs immediately wrapped around him, ankles locking behind his back as if she were afraid he’d get away.
Never.
“You better brace yourself,” he said gruffly. “Because I am more than ready to take you hard and loud and every way you want.”
Her smile was slow and sexy as one arm wound slowly around his shoulder, bringing him closer until they were nose-to-nose. “I’m counting on it.”
It was madness after that–hard and fast, and then slow and sweet, and a little in between. It was growing dark when he finally left the bedroom to get them something to drink. On his way back, he paused and stared out the back doors and sighed.
It had finally stopped snowing.
6
Cheyenne stared up at the preacher and thought she’d never seen such cold eyes.
“Speak now or forever hold your peace.”
Her heart was racing as she waited for the words–the voice–the one she knew was going to bring a stop to this madness.
Behind her, there were hushed voices, but she couldn’t make out the words. Clutching her bouquet as if her life depended on it, she silently prayed that it wasn’t too late, that she wasn’t going to be forced to marry a madman.
Where are you? She thought to herself frantically. He should have been here by now, and when she glanced to her right, her heart leaped into her throat.
“He’s not coming,” Troy said darkly, for her ears only. “You didn’t really think I’d let him live, did you?”
“Wh…what did you do?”
The preacher cleared his throat, but Cheyenne couldn’t tear her eyes away from Troy, her groom, the man who would likely kill her before the honeymoon was over.