Hot Finish (Fast Track #3)(60)
Author: Erin McCarthy

Nikki’s breast had popped out of her gown when she’d put her arms up in the air.

“Oh, no, you’re good, Jonas has it.” The groom danced in front of his wife, shielding her, and whispered in her ear.

Nikki took a second to process his words, but then she looked down and started laughing before shoving her breast back in the dress. They kissed and Jonas took the opportunity to fake spank her again.

“Now that’s just beautiful,” Suzanne said. “It does a wedding planner proud.”

“Love,” Ryder agreed.

“I have to say, the ballroom looks damn good.” Suzanne glanced around and assessed her work with a smile. “It looks like a fairy-tale wedding, just like Nikki wanted.”

Ryder had barely noticed anything other than a high volume of flowers, fluffy bows, and the color blue coming at him in all directions, but what did he know? “You did a great job. With all of this. Who else could have pulled this off?” He meant that sincerely. It took a special talent to put up with Nikki.

The DJ cut the song into a slow song Ryder didn’t recognize. “This one’s for all those married couples out there. Come on out and dance with the bride and groom.”

Suzanne got a stricken look on her face, and when she would have bolted, Ryder grabbed her and pulled her close against him. He was not letting this woman run away from him again.

Glancing around nervously, Suzanne tried to discreetly pull herself out of Ryder’s arms, but he had a grip on her like gorilla glue. “Let me go,” she hissed, covering her words with a smile in case anyone was looking.

“No.”

“What do you mean, no? You’re making a mockery out of this dance.” Which Suzanne immediately realized was such a prissy-ass thing to say, but she felt embarrassed, like a total fraud. Everyone knew they weren’t married.

Or weren’t supposed to be married anyway.

“Just dance with me, Suzanne,” Ryder murmured, and something about the way he spoke to her stopped her struggling.

Oh, God. His eyes were soft and deep and she suddenly felt like she was drowning in them as Ryder twirled her around. Nikki’s words rolled around in her head and her heart started beating double time.

“Why?” she whispered. “Why should I dance with you?”

They weren’t talking about dancing and they both knew it.

And then he said it. The words she’d longed to hear even when she hadn’t known she’d needed them, the words she’d only heard twice in the last two years, one of which was in a drunken voice mail. “Because I love you. Because I love you so much I’m willing to do whatever it takes to make it go differently this time.”

Suzanne swallowed hard, unable to speak.

“Because we should be a married couple, because I never wanted to not be married to you. Because all these men out here dancing with their wives can’t possibly love them as much as I love you. Because for me, there is only one woman, and I’m sorry to break it to you, but you’re it.”

“I . . . I . . .” She had no goddamn clue what to say. For once in her life, Suzanne was well and truly speechless. She wanted to cry, wanted to laugh, wanted to tell Ryder she loved him, too, but her tongue was stuck to the roof of her mouth, and her throat was totally constricted.

“We don’t get along,” she managed to tell him.

“Yes, we do. That’s why we screw up. Because we get along and we’re meant to be together and we love each other and we know it. And we’re afraid. Afraid to fail.”

The music receded and the people around them disappeared as she stared up at him, hearing him, really hearing him. “That’s true,” she whispered.

“And the thing is, we can’t fail. We’ve already hit the bottom and come out of it. From here on out, if we just love and listen, we can’t go wrong, babe.”

“Love is all that matters,” she told him. “And I do love you. God, I do love you.”

His eyes darkened and he let out a shuddery sigh. “You don’t know how much I’ve wanted to hear you say that again.”

Then Ryder leaned in close as they swayed to the music and brushed his lips over her cheek. He whispered in her ear, “Would you do me the honor of becoming my wife? ’Til death do us part this time.”

Suzanne nodded, knowing that this was right. Her and Ryder. The way it was meant to be. Forever. “Yes,” she said, and promptly started crying. Fat, wet, obnoxious tears, her shoulders shaking.

Ryder held her close and let her cry. “Thank you. I’ll do better this time, I swear to you. And this time, I owe you a real wedding. What I should have given you the first go-around.”

Suzanne fought to get her tears under control and looked up at him. “And I swear to God I will stop being such a man and holding all my feelings in.”

“Does that mean you’re going to cry all the time?”

“Probably.”

“I can live with that.” Ryder kissed her forehead. “Did I mention how beautiful you look today? Nikki isn’t the only princess here.”

And maybe fairy tales did come true.

“Did I ever tell you the difference between a Northern fairy tale and a Southern one?” she asked him, indulging herself and letting her head rest on his shoulder. God, he felt good. Her man. Where her head was meant to lie, right there, on him.

“What’s the difference?”

“A Northern one starts ‘once upon a time,’ while a Southern one starts ‘y’all ain’t going to believe this shit.’ ”

Ryder laughed. Then he said, “Believe this.”

She shrieked when he startled the hell out of her by dropping her back into a dip straight out of Dancing with the Stars. “If you throw my legs over your head, Jefferson, I will kill you,” she told him from half upside down.

“That’s for later, when we’re in private.”

Suzanne laughed, breathless as he pulled her back up. “Did you notice everyone around us is doing a conga line? I think the slow dance is over.”

Ryder looked down at her with an expression so hot and sexy she feared it might incinerate her dress. “I didn’t notice, because there’s no one else in this room but you.” He placed his hand gently on her stomach. “I love you, Suzanne Jefferson.”

And as the Borden-Strickland wedding reception roared around them, Suzanne only had eyes for her husband.

EPILOGUE

TURN TWO FOR THE JEFFERSONS