cock.”
“Andi, you don’t have to pretend you like what precious little I can do for you now.”
“Who’s pretending?”
His wry laugh filled the generous space inside the big car. “You are, baby, if you’ve deceived yourself into believing life with me’s going to be one long happy fuckfest.”
“You seem to manage fucking just fine. Besides, there are other things we can do that will make us both feel good. Or are you so damned determined to dwell on what you can’t do to consider what you can? No, don’t answer that, because I’m going to use those three days to show you, and I don’t need our son underfoot.”
The purr of the car’s powerful engine when she turned the key in the ignition cut off Gray’s protest.
* * * * *
None of the arguments Gray had proffered changed Andi’s mind. Now, on Friday afternoon after the docket had been cleared, he sat next to Tony behind the defense table in Judge Carlson’s courtroom, waiting not for a trial to commence but for a wedding to begin. His wedding. Not what Mother would have wanted, but the scene worked fine for him. Thank God Andi hadn’t opted for pomp and circumstance and a reception for a thousand at the yacht club.
He hadn’t had to drag himself to an altar or stand on unsteady feet in front of an army of guests while a dozen bridesmaids preceded his blushing bride down a red-carpeted aisle. And no one would gawk at his painful progress afterward, when he’d walk Andi outside not to a limo but to his specially equipped sedan. Something, indeed, for which he could be grateful.
Too bad they weren’t alone with the requisite two witnesses. Winston Roe’s criminal division had come out in force, and Gray noticed a good many of Andi’s coworkers drifting in. Probably had late court appearances, Gray imagined, noting that Hank Ehlers, Tony’s personal assistant, was just getting here from the arraignments he’d been handling for the firm earlier this afternoon.
Gray’s breath caught when he saw Andi come in with Brett and her brother Joe. Jesus, she deserved a whole man if any woman did. For a minute he felt guilty for consigning her to living with him, for playing on her love for their son.
Hell, it was her own fault she was marrying him. She sure as fuck shouldn’t be harboring any illusions. Not now, after he’d sat her down and explained in more detail than she’d wanted to hear—hell, more detail than he’d needed to know but the docs had told him anyhow—about his injuries and his prognosis.
And here she was, looking too damn good for a cripple like him, with a bright smile on her lips and the prettiest handful of pastel colored flowers he’d ever seen clutched in her hands. He groaned. Damn it, he hadn’t even thought to order her a bouquet.
“Who…? Damn it, I should have remembered.” Gray didn’t like the idea that somebody else had thought of a detail he should have taken care of, himself.
“I had Michelle take care of sending her flowers, turkey,” Tony said. “Figured you’d forget about them.”
“Thanks.” He’d have to remember to do something nice for Tony’s secretary next week.
Gray’s eye focused on his bride: the slender, sexy as hell redhead who’d figured in his futile fantasies…who’d given him a son and offered him a future he’d never dared to imagine since glimpsing himself in a mirror once he got back to civilization. Her pale green suit hit her gorgeous legs mid-thigh, and the neckline of the jacket dipped low enough to give him a tantalizing view of the inner curves of her firm breasts.
And a glimpse of pale green lace. His cock twitched. Why was it, he wondered, that it hadn’t gotten the message that this marriage was for his son, not his gonads?
The words they exchanged were simple. Yes, he took her for better or worse. She took him in sickness and in health, a vow that should have scared her shitless but apparently didn’t. The kiss that sealed the vows they’d made
“Andi, you don’t have to pretend you like what precious little I can do for you now.”
“Who’s pretending?”
His wry laugh filled the generous space inside the big car. “You are, baby, if you’ve deceived yourself into believing life with me’s going to be one long happy fuckfest.”
“You seem to manage fucking just fine. Besides, there are other things we can do that will make us both feel good. Or are you so damned determined to dwell on what you can’t do to consider what you can? No, don’t answer that, because I’m going to use those three days to show you, and I don’t need our son underfoot.”
The purr of the car’s powerful engine when she turned the key in the ignition cut off Gray’s protest.
* * * * *
None of the arguments Gray had proffered changed Andi’s mind. Now, on Friday afternoon after the docket had been cleared, he sat next to Tony behind the defense table in Judge Carlson’s courtroom, waiting not for a trial to commence but for a wedding to begin. His wedding. Not what Mother would have wanted, but the scene worked fine for him. Thank God Andi hadn’t opted for pomp and circumstance and a reception for a thousand at the yacht club.
He hadn’t had to drag himself to an altar or stand on unsteady feet in front of an army of guests while a dozen bridesmaids preceded his blushing bride down a red-carpeted aisle. And no one would gawk at his painful progress afterward, when he’d walk Andi outside not to a limo but to his specially equipped sedan. Something, indeed, for which he could be grateful.
Too bad they weren’t alone with the requisite two witnesses. Winston Roe’s criminal division had come out in force, and Gray noticed a good many of Andi’s coworkers drifting in. Probably had late court appearances, Gray imagined, noting that Hank Ehlers, Tony’s personal assistant, was just getting here from the arraignments he’d been handling for the firm earlier this afternoon.
Gray’s breath caught when he saw Andi come in with Brett and her brother Joe. Jesus, she deserved a whole man if any woman did. For a minute he felt guilty for consigning her to living with him, for playing on her love for their son.
Hell, it was her own fault she was marrying him. She sure as fuck shouldn’t be harboring any illusions. Not now, after he’d sat her down and explained in more detail than she’d wanted to hear—hell, more detail than he’d needed to know but the docs had told him anyhow—about his injuries and his prognosis.
And here she was, looking too damn good for a cripple like him, with a bright smile on her lips and the prettiest handful of pastel colored flowers he’d ever seen clutched in her hands. He groaned. Damn it, he hadn’t even thought to order her a bouquet.
“Who…? Damn it, I should have remembered.” Gray didn’t like the idea that somebody else had thought of a detail he should have taken care of, himself.
“I had Michelle take care of sending her flowers, turkey,” Tony said. “Figured you’d forget about them.”
“Thanks.” He’d have to remember to do something nice for Tony’s secretary next week.
Gray’s eye focused on his bride: the slender, sexy as hell redhead who’d figured in his futile fantasies…who’d given him a son and offered him a future he’d never dared to imagine since glimpsing himself in a mirror once he got back to civilization. Her pale green suit hit her gorgeous legs mid-thigh, and the neckline of the jacket dipped low enough to give him a tantalizing view of the inner curves of her firm breasts.
And a glimpse of pale green lace. His cock twitched. Why was it, he wondered, that it hadn’t gotten the message that this marriage was for his son, not his gonads?
The words they exchanged were simple. Yes, he took her for better or worse. She took him in sickness and in health, a vow that should have scared her shitless but apparently didn’t. The kiss that sealed the vows they’d made
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