“Then what?” Ally’s eyes brim with tears, but she’s determined not to let them fall.
“Then…” Shit, then what? “Oh, that’s right, she said, it could be our ‘dirty little secret.’ ” Why does it feel like I just stuck my head in a noose? “Look, Ally, I don’t how the hell she knew to say those buzzwords and to be honest, at that point I was making my way back to the truck to get the liquor. I wasn’t sticking around to have a conversation with her.”
“So that’s it?” Her brows notch together at the tips and she looks vulnerable as a schoolgirl.
“That’s it. I swear. Why—what else did she have to add?”
Ally’s mouth opens like she’s about to say something but she pauses. “She just said some stupid stuff. We got into it and that was about it.” She presses her lips together like a good cry is still an option. “She knew some stuff, Morgan.” She shrugs. “You wouldn’t tell her anything personal about me, would you?”
“What?” I take a step in and wrap my arms around her waist. “God, no. What did she say? Did she say something about Ruby?” I can’t imagine anything more personal than that.
“No.” She shakes her head. “It was nothing about Ruby.” Ally swallows hard. “She probably dug around and filled her head with a bunch of crap to use against me. Looks like tonight was her night to unload the ammo.” She glances at her shoes and gives a hard sniff.
“Ally,” I whisper just over her ear. “I swear I would never hurt you like that.” My heart breaks at how devastated she is. I have no idea what Blair told her, but the look on Ally’s face is enough to let me know it was pretty shitty. “I love you.” I kiss her cheek. “I only want to be with you, ever, Ally—and there is no greater truth.”
“Really?” It comes from her as a barely there whisper, as if she finds it hard to believe that anybody would ever want to be with her.
“Really.” I dot my lips over hers.
I suppose this isn’t the right time to fill her in on the facts that the dancers never showed tonight, that Steven wasn’t here to man the liquor, and I had to hire some frat boy to tend bar for the evening. Everything went to shit after Blair hexed the place with her ghost of a body, but I’ll be damned if Ally and I fall apart because of it.
My cell buzzes in my pocket, and I pluck it out. It’s a text from a blocked number.
You just fucked with the wrong person. See you in hell.
I slip it back in my pocket. It’s probably Rutger and his band of brokers, emphasis on the “broke”—then I remember they mopped up the money before they left the room and I’m the one who’s broke.
I push a tiny smile out at Ally. She’s all I need.
“I’m sorry.” She gives a slow breath. “I guess I just let her get to me.”
“Hey, it’s okay.” I trace her lips with my finger.
“Thank you for defending me just now with Rutger. You didn’t have to do that.” Ally leans in and I take in the scent from her sweet perfume. “He’s a total ass. I never did pay attention to half the crap that defecated from his mouth.”
My chest rumbles with a tiny laugh.
“I’m glad.” I touch my finger to her chin and gently lift it until she looks right at me. “You’re a smart, beautiful woman, Ally. And if someone tries to tell you otherwise, don’t believe them. You’re important and you have a good heart.” I lean in and land a tender kiss over her pillow-soft lips. Something pinches deep inside me. Ally has my stomach melting like that of a sixteen-year-old. “I don’t ever remember anyone making me feel this way,” I whisper. “I think for the first time in my life I truly know what love is. Thank you for giving me that.”
Her eyes widen, her lips press in. She runs her hip over my crotch, and I tick to life like an obedient puppy. I give a wicked half smile, hoping she’ll catch on to the implications.
“Oh”—she gives a little laugh while rubbing her thigh over me, and I happily bloom to life—“it looks like someone’s glad to see me.” She runs her hand inside my shirt, smoothing over my chest in one heated rush.
“I’m always glad to see you.” I sink a heated kiss over her neck, and she lets out a groan. I toss the cards down over the table and growl, holding back a smile.
“It looks like you’re still in the mood to play games.”
“Are you in the mood to play games?” My lips curve in a crooked grin as I run my tongue over her lips. I can hear the club pulsating in the background like a bongo drum, and I wish to God we were anywhere but here.
“Sometimes I think life is one long game.” She glances down a moment. Ally is just one step away from tears. Blair really got in her head. And God knows I’d love to help her forget Blair and all her bullshit. She looks up at me with those lime-green eyes and holds my gaze. “You ever wonder if you’ll win, Morgan?” It comes out far too serious. Ally is on the verge of an all-out sob, and I’d do anything to comfort her. Damn Blair and her stupid antics. She and Rutger should hook up and leave decent people like Ally the hell alone.
“I always win.” My hands race over her back. “I have you, don’t I?” Shit. That didn’t sound quite the way I meant it. “I mean.” I shake my head. “I probably shouldn’t say anything else. You turn my brain to Jell-O. You’re just too damn hot to focus on anything else.” I ride my eyes over her chest without meaning to—but with her dress cut down to her belly, who could blame me?
Her hands melt down the front of my chest. Her fingers fumble with the button on my jeans.
“Maybe neither one of us should talk.” She dips her cool fingers into the back of my boxers, and I let out a choking breath. “Maybe we should—”
I crush my lips over hers before she can finish the sentence. My body aches and my bones feel like they’ll shatter if I don’t have her right fucking now. Ally unzips my jeans and pulls my hard-on free from my boxers.
“You sure know how to get to the point.” I say it quietly as I bite over her earlobe. I dip into my pocket and pull out a condom.
“Armored response. I’m impressed.” A tiny dimple depresses into the side of her cheek. “I bet you’re just waiting to bend me over this table.” She pulls back and takes me in with her sleepy eyes. “Well, Jordan? Looks like you’ve got a boner to contend with. I think you’d better do something.” She morphs back into the Ally I know and love, incredibly sexy and bossy as hell. “You just going to stand there with that golf club hanging out of your Levi’s or are you going to try and swing it?”
“Oh, sweetie”—I gurgle a soft laugh—“you have the wrong sport. This is a bat, and I’m about to score the home run of a lifetime.” I pull her in by the back of the neck and sear my tongue over hers like I’m putting out a fire. “Turn around,” I whisper hot into her ear.
Ally spins and pulls her hair to one side as I nuzzle into her neck.
“Bend over.” I say it with a little more feeling and her mouth opens as she looks up at me. Ally complies and lies belly down over the green felt. I glide my hands over her panties and tug them down, torturously slow, inch by inch until they fall to her ankles. I kick out her legs and a laugh bubbles from her.
“Pull up your dress for me.” I step back, not wanting to miss a moment of the show. Ally reaches down and carefully inches up her dress. A black curtain of lace rises over the mound of her perfect ass and a groan churns from my gut.
Her dress puddles around her waist, and I’m mesmerized by her pale perfection. Ally’s got a banging body, a face that could make an entire army of angels jealous, and a heart of solid gold.
“Shit,” I moan, taking her in. Ally Monroe is every wet dream I’ve ever had rolled into one. “I’m going to open the door and let everyone see how fucking beautiful you are.” I sway toward the exit, and her hips jump in my hands. “I’m teasing. I’m greedy. I want this all to myself. I want to keep you like this forever. You can be my lucky charm the next time the boys an
d I get together to play. Of course, you’ll have to assume the position.”
“You’re not funny,” she purrs with that sexier than hell drawl. “And by the way I’m getting cold.”
“Mmm,” I moan, running my hands over her bare bottom. “Sounds like I’d better heat things up.” I run my hand down over her wet slick and plunge a finger deep inside her. Ally gasps, clawing at the table as if that was what she was waiting for this whole time. She so fucking wet, she’s practically crying onto my hand. “You’re almost there, aren’t you, Ally?”
She pants into the table. Her pale hair spills out over the expanse of it.
“I bet you’d like it if I made you come right now, wouldn’t you?”
“Morgan.” She grinds her hips into me, begging for that very thing.
“I want you to wait for me, can you wait for me?” My breathing grows erratic. I’m about to fucking lose it. Hell—I don’t think I can wait for me. I roll the rubber on fast and furious and let out a heartfelt groan as I rub my cock along her heated slick.
Ally moves her hips like an invitation so I accept and push myself deep inside of her, one strong thrust after another. I stare down at Ally with her hair splayed over the table in loose ringlets, her long, pale fingers begging for something to hold onto. I want Ally to hold on to me, forever.
I pull out and spin her around, landing her legs over my hips. Ally leans up and locks her lips over mine as we ride into that beautiful oblivion together. I reach down until my thumb finds a home between her heated thighs and she begins to lose control.
“Right now.” I give it in a ragged breath over her mouth and we detonate together, shaking and trembling with a groan locked in our throats.
“I would die before I hurt you, Ally,” I whisper, still out of breath.
“I know.” She buries her lips in my neck.
But I’m not so sure she knows.
Saturday, on the evening of my mother’s next and hopefully final jaunt down the aisle, Kendall insists we gather in Mom’s bedroom and offer our moral support. I watch bored from the mattress as Cruise’s mother, Sam, puts the finishing touches on Mom’s hair, trying my hardest not to let my mind wander to what might be taking place in this room in just a few short hours.
“Looking good.” I say it like I mean it. Although I’m not too sure my mother needed a cheering section while having her hair set in rollers.
“We’re getting there,” she sings. She’s got a smile on her lips that looks almost foreign. I’m glad she found someone who makes her smile. I don’t remember her smiling so much with the other clowns she leashed herself to.
“Now, Morgan”—she starts slow—“we just need to find you someone special and our family will be complete.” She gives a quick wink.
I glance over at Kendall and wait for it.
“Morgan does have someone special.” Kendall gives an impish grin, sounding all of thirteen in the process. She looks nice in her lavender gown, her dark hair swept up with loose curls dusting the sides, but I won’t tell her that. I’ll leave the compliments to Cruise and save mine for Ally.
Mom and Sam ooh and ah over the morsel Kendall tossed in the air.
“So who’s this girl that’s swept my little prince off his feet?” Mom’s eyes pop like dinner plates. The bright-blue shadow she’s wearing does her no favors, but I don’t say a word.
“Ally.” Kendall is quick to dispense the latest Carrington gossip.
“Ally?” Sam nods in approval. “She’s a sweetheart, that one. Works at Starbucks, right?”
“Did,” Kendall corrects. “She got canned. Anyway, she’s had it pretty tough in general so that explains her attraction to Morgan.” She cuts me a brief wink.
“I know Ally.” Mom comes to as if she’s just catching on. “She’s the one who’s been staying at the house with you. Looks like a little summer romance was brewing all along.”
“Just summer?” Kendall twists in my direction. Her eyes drill into me with the subtlety of a jackhammer, and for a stunned moment I wonder if Ally has the same question.
“Looks that way.” I still haven’t heard back from the coach. Maybe I’ll head back to Oregon and finish out fall semester, then move back permanently in time for Christmas. I’ll be back for Kendall’s wedding. That might be a nice way to surprise Ally.
Who the hell am I kidding? It’s killing me not to see Ally right this fucking minute, and she’s in the backyard. I’ll never make it to the gas station, let alone the next state.
“Well”—Mom turns toward the mirror as Sam pokes her fingers into Mom’s hair—“you just never know what the future holds. I thought I left Carrington for good, but a part of me was rooting for the love I left behind. Who knows? Maybe Ally will be sitting right in this chair twenty-five years down the road and you’ll be the groom waiting downstairs.”
“Twenty-five years?” Kendall scoffs.
That’s a whole lifetime.
“People move on.” Mom reapplies her lipstick. “Marriages—kids happen, and before you know it you’re both leading different lives.”
An image of Ally and Rutger driving around in that kit car of his runs through my mind, and a wave of jealousy rips through me, wide as the sea.
Twenty-five years. I couldn’t make it twenty-five minutes.
Nope—I’m definitely going to need to figure something out.
The Elton House Bed and Breakfast has been transformed both inside and out to reflect the blessed event with an explosion of flowers in every shade of pink. The willows blow in the thick, humid breeze, and the perfume from the roses fills the air.
I spot Ally standing near the altar and my stomach bottoms out. Her hair glows platinum as the sun illuminates it from behind. She outshines the roses—all of nature can’t compete with her beauty.
The wedding hymn vibrates through the air, and I take Mom’s arm.
“It’s time,” I say. “You ready to do this?” A part of me felt like asking if she wants to run like hell.
Mom’s eyes glitter with tears. I’ve never witnessed her so moved to marry anyone. I’m hoping that’s a sign of a marriage that spans the length of years, or at least that Mr. Right Now hangs around long enough for me to remember his name.
“Oh, hon,” she whispers, “I’ve been ready for decades.”
Decades. I swallow hard as I glance over at Ally. I don’t plan on letting decades slide by.
We walk down the aisle, slow and measured, my eyes never wavering from Ally’s. She’s flirting, licking her lips, her neck arching back just enough; it’s not until I get close enough that I notice she’s holding back tears. A part of me would like to think she’s imagining what it would be like walking down this aisle with me standing at the other end. I try to picture her derelict brother giving her away—me waiting with an ear-to-ear grin.
I’ll be damned if this is the last weekend we spend together. I just need to figure out what the hell to do. But, I can’t just walk away from baseball—can I?
My heart skips a few beats as I glide past her. I hope this isn’t some big euphemism for what the future holds—me moving on without her. It’s times like this life squeezes my balls just enough to make me want to puke my guts up.
The ceremony goes on with the usual pomp and ultra-boring circumstance until Mom and her new hubby exchange a peck on the cheek.
The crowd breaks out in applause, and Mom and Andrew trot back down the aisle. I head over to Ally and press a kiss just shy of her lips. I’m pretty sure if it were our wedding day we wouldn’t be pecking at one another. A lewd grin begs to erupt as I consider the possibilities.
The three-piece strings section continues to play long into the outdoor reception that comes complete with a catered buffet from a local five-star restaurant. Andrew may have let Mom have her way by choosing a humble venue, but he’s gone balls out when it comes
to the finishing touches.
“You were great up there.” Ally blushes as she says it.
“And you’re beyond gorgeous,” I hum over her lips before pressing in a kiss.
She glances over my shoulder. “Lauren’s calling me.” She makes a face. “I’ll be right back. Hold that thought.” She bounces her lips off mine before trotting off.
Molly pops up like a diligent little stalker. Her nipples play peekaboo over the low rim of her red dress, which shows off her most prized assets. She leans into me with her cleavage in my face like she’s trying to put my dick on notice. Swear to God, if that doesn’t spell out tramp on a stick I don’t know what does.
“Looks like we’re getting closer every day.” She breathes it over my face, and a blast of whiskey rakes over me.
“Yup, we’re practically brother and sister,” I say, looking past her at Ally, who’s already making her way back.
“Oh”—Molly runs her finger down my chest—“I wouldn’t say that, but if you want me to call you daddy that could be arranged.” I catch her by the wrist before she hits pay dirt, and Ally slips an arm around my waist just in time.
“How’s it going, Mol?” Ally bites down over her lower lip as if it’s taking everything in her not to pull out the claws. I think I like this side of Ally, protective with a touch of insane jealousy on the side.
“Always sticking yourself where you’re not wanted.” Molly sways on her heels. “You’re just a thorn in everybody’s side. Especially mine.” She shoots Ally a look that spells out an ass-kicking with more intensity than some of the physical ones I’ve distributed.
I pull Ally in and kiss her cheek. “You’re definitely not a thorn in my side.”
“Oh, is that so?” Molly takes a step forward, her tits thrust in my face like a threat. “You just think you can dump me and move on?” Her eyes reduce to slits, sharp enough to castrate any male in the vicinity. “I suggest you rethink this, Morgan.” She says my name as if this bullshit just got real. “Choosing someone like Ally over me can and will prove to be a fatal move. Being with someone like her”—she shakes her head, her face rife with vengeance—“that’s just a slow suicide.” She stalks off in the direction of the B and B, and I’m not too sorry to see her go.