“Now, angel girl,” he demands, and I reluctantly put my cell on speaker and hold it out between Dillon and me.
“Okay, he can hear you.”
“You there, young man?” he asks, and Dillon smiles, kissing my forehead.
“I’m here.”
“Good, now you listen to me, ’cause I’m only going to say this once. If you hurt my girl, I will fly my old ass to Tennessee, kidnap you, bring you back to Alaska, and let the bears have your cold, dead body. Do you understand what I’m saying to you?”
“I understand,” he says with a smile on his handsome face.
“You better take care of her.”
“I will,” he agrees adamantly while looking straight at me. The soft look in his eyes making my stomach fill with butterflies.
“Good, now I expect to hear that you two are planning a trip out to see us soon.”
“I’ll make it happen,” Dillon agrees, and I lean farther into his side.
“Angel?”
“I’m here, Papa.”
“Love you, girl.”
“Love you too,” I say, then hear the phone go quiet for a brief second.
“Love you, baby.”
“Love you, Memaw,” I whisper, closing my eyes.
“Call me when your guy isn’t around so you can tell me about him, and send me pictures to my e-mail. I hope he’s good-looking,” she mutters, and I open my eyes, tipping my head back to look at Dillon.
“He’s very handsome. You would definitely approve,” I confirm, and he rolls his eyes.
“Well, at least there’s that,” she grumbles, but I can hear in her tone that she’s smiling. “We’ll talk soon.”
“We will,” I agree, and the phone goes dead in my hand.
Taking the phone from my grasp, he tosses it to his bedside then rolls me to my back and looks down at me. “Your grandparents are crazy. Now I know where you get it from.”
“Whatever, I’m not crazy.”
“You are, but I’ve become addicted to your brand of crazy,” he confesses, roaming his hand from my neck down over my breast.
“That’s good,” I breathe as he dips his head and kisses me in a way that proves he certainly does love my kind of crazy.
*
“I still cannot believe you are married to Dillon.” July, my cousin, sighs dreamily across the table from me, and I watch her husband, Wes, turn his eyes to her and narrow them.
“I’m sitting right fucking here,” he growls, and she smiles, shrugging, then takes a sip of the chocolate shake in front of her.
“Have your parents talked to you?” she asks, and I move my eyes back to her, fighting back laughter as Wes does something to her under the table that makes her eyes widen.
No, they haven’t—not about that anyway. My dad still sends me messages daily that simply say “I love you,” and my mom does the same. It’s been a week since they found out, and I really don’t know how much more time I should give them. It’s getting old. Yes, I should have told them I got married, but it’s not as if I went to a nunnery, got the nuns drunk, and filmed an episode of Nuns Gone Wild in the middle of Sunday mass. I got married to a man I love. Okay, so I didn’t know I was in love with him when I married him, but I am in love with him, and I know he loves me. We’re happy, really fucking happy, and they should be happy for me.
“No.” I shrug, and her face softens.
“They’ll come around. Just give them time,” she murmurs as I take a giant bite of my hamburger and wash it down with some Coke.
“Everyone keeps saying they’ll come around, and I know they will, but to be honest, I’m kind of getting pissed off at them.”
“You’re their only daughter,” Wes puts in, and I look at him, with his dark messy hair, blue eyes, stubble-covered jaw, and faded black tee that is molded to the muscles of his arms and chest like a second skin. My cousin might think Dillon is hot, but seriously, her husband is totally gorgeous in that dark and wild kind of way.
“Yes, and that’s kind of my point.” I point my fry at him. “They can be mad, but really, what is the point? God forbid I walk out into the road and get hit by a car,” I state, and he raises a brow. “They’ll feel guilty for doing this, for making this into a giant deal, when it is really just semantics.” Now that Dillon and I have been together for a while, I know we were supposed to be together. “What would it have mattered if we dated for a week, or a year, before he popped the question?”
“Your dad would have known about it. That’s the difference,” he says softly, and I nod.
“Yeah, but the outcome would have been the same,” I tell him, sitting back and feeling sick. I shouldn’t have eaten so much, but then again, I always eat too much when I come here.
“Enough about me. How are things with you guys?” I ask, looking between the two of them. For a while now they have been trying to have a baby with no luck. I know one day it will happen for them, I just hope it’s soon. I hate seeing my cousin disappointed each month, and I know Wes hates it even more than I do.
“Good. We leave in three weeks for Barbados. You and Dillon should come along. It’ll be fun.”
“I wish,” I mutter, taking a sip of Coke. “Things have been getting really busy at the office. We’re actually looking into hiring another receptionist and two more techs to help out.” I sigh. I really do want to take a vacation, but I know I can’t right now.
“Dillon really is a big deal in the dental world, isn’t he?”
“He is,” I agree with a nod. I used to think he was just being pompous, but he really is amazing at what he does. “And since he remolded the office and updated everything, we are constantly getting new patient requests which is great, but with only him and I on staff it doesn’t make it easy to get away.”
“Even with how great the office looks, I still hate going there.” July shakes her head, and I roll my eyes.
“You’re a wuss.” I giggle, and she kicks me under the table, making me laugh harder.
“I can’t help it that I don’t have a high pain tolerance.”
“I still love you.” Wes kisses her cheek, and she turns her head to smile at him, resting her hand against his jaw. Watching the two of them, I wonder if Dillon and I look as sappy as they do right now.
“I really should get back to the office. Thank you guys for stopping by to invite me to lunch.”
“Anytime, and seriously, think about Barbados.”
“I will,” I agree. And I will think about it, but I know there is no way for me to pull a trip like that off. Not right now, unless I went without Dillon, and I’m definitely not going without him. I reach into my bag for money, but Wes slides his card to the waitress as she passes the table. “Next time, my treat,” I say, looking at him, only to have him shake his head in denial. “Whatever.” I roll my eyes then scoot out of the booth and lean over to kiss each of their cheeks. “Call me. We need to set up a girls’ night soon,” I tell July.
At the same time, I hear Wes mutter, “Fuck me,” which makes me smile.
“I’ll call soon,” she confirms, and I send them each a wave as I head out of the restaurant. Stopping at the edge of the sidewalk across the street from the office, I watch Dillon standing in the doorway with his hand up high, keeping the door open and his eyes on the patient he’s talking to. Smiling at the older woman, he nods, saying something to her before she walks off. Turning to go back inside, his eyes catch mine and he grins, letting the door close behind him, and he jogs across the street to me.