Merry Christmas, Baby(23)
Author: Vicki Lewis Thompson

Lots. Perhaps everything. As illogical as it seemed, he was far more in love with her than he’d ever been with Trish. She suited him in a way Trish never had. He knew gut-deep that he’d found with her what Nick had with Gus.

He realized with a start that the wedding was over and Nick and Gus were now officially married, when the crowd broke into cheering and the newlyweds took off down the aisle. Within a minute he was holding out his arm to escort Teddy in the best man and matron of honor’s wake. It felt very right and natural to have her walking down the aisle on his arm. The idea quickly followed that she belonged by his side.

They followed the other couples back to the dressing area. Teddy sighed. “Wasn’t it beautiful?”

Jared wasn’t about to disappoint her by admitting he’d zoned out during most of the ceremony. “Yes, it was, and so are you.”

It was funny, he’d seen her nak*d at least twice a day—after that first night, he’d simply moved into her bedroom with no comment from either Gus or Nick—but now a soft blush suffused her neck and face at his compliment. “Thank you.”

He ducked into one of the empty rooms, pulling her in with him and closing the door. He backed her up against the door and her arms were immediately around his neck. He kissed her, the need to have her a sudden ravenous hunger inside him. She kissed him back with an intensity that said she felt the same. Once again, that powerful connection flowing between them seemed deeper than mere lust.

“Here. Now. Take me,” she said, already pulling up her skirt. One-handed he unzipped his trousers and pulled out his penis which was at full raging attention. While Teddy slid her panties down and stepped out of one leg of them, Jared rolled on a condom. That was good enough. He hooked her leg over his arm and slid into her. Hot, wet and tight she was ever so, so sweet. No other woman had ever felt as good as she did when he was inside her.

They were both excited and further aroused by making love against a door while the rest of Good Riddance milled about outside. All too soon he felt himself coming. He swallowed her cries as she spasmed around him.

Her breathing was ragged.

“I love you,” he said against her forehead. They weren’t words he’d intended to say, but nonetheless he didn’t regret them.

He didn’t know what exactly he expected—well, perhaps a reciprocated sentiment—but he sure as hell didn’t expect what he got. Teddy had bent down and pulled her panties back up. Her hand already on the door knob she looked back over her shoulder at him. “We’ll just both pretend you didn’t say that, and I’m sure it’s time we joined the others.”

In a flash she had the door open and the opportunity to respond privately was gone.

What the hell? He’d just handed her his heart and she’d tossed it back at his feet. This was not the woman he thought he knew. They might have a reception to get through, but before the day was over he planned to find out just what was going on in her pretty head.

8

TEDDY MOVED THROUGH the reception with a smile on her face but inside her mind was whirling. He’d said he loved her. For one moment her heart had soared in recognition that she felt the same way. And then common sense had kicked in. It was too soon and too dangerous. That falling in love business could wreck her career plans, especially when he was so wrapped up in how great Good Riddance was.

Merrilee came up and put an arm around Teddy. “You sure do look beautiful today. You and Jared certainly make a nice-looking couple.”

What was up with everyone today? “Um, thanks,” Teddy said.

“Gus is getting ready to throw her bouquet. You need to go get in the group.”

“That’s okay. I think I’ll leave the other ladies to it.”

“Nonsense,” Merrilee said. “Anyway, it’s bad luck for the new bride and groom if all the single women don’t join the group. You don’t want bad luck for Gus and Nick on your head, do you? Go.”

Teddy suspected Merrilee was bending the truth. She’d never heard the part about it being bad luck if all the single women didn’t try to catch the bouquet. But then again, there was a lot about weddings she didn’t know. For the most part, weddings didn’t interest her. While some of the other girls had sat around dreaming of their special day, Teddy had been dreaming of Broadway. Their starring roles had been to stroll down the aisle. Her starring role was to be onstage.

Heels and heart dragging, she joined the group of women ready to vie for the tossed flowers. She stood in the back. Jenna spotted her and cut through the group to tug her up to the front of the small crowd. “Oh, no, Teddy. No hiding in the back.”

She didn’t have to look to know Jared was watching her from across the room. She felt his eyes on her. “I don’t even want to do this,” she said to Jenna.

“Sure you do.”

The group started a countdown, “Three…two…one…”

Gus tossed the flowers tied in crimson ribbon. It was like a bad dream in slow-mo. Teddy watched as the arrangement headed straight for her like a heat-seeking missile. In the end, she instinctively cradled her arms, unable to allow the bouquet to hit the ground.

Sweet, low-key Ellie stood next to her looking disappointed. Teddy offered her the flowers. “Here. Take them. I don’t want them.”

“I can’t. It’s not the same.” Ellie smiled, catching Nelson’s eye across the room. “I don’t need them anyway.”

Great! She had a bouquet she didn’t want and Ellie had been disappointed. Things were going to hell in a handbasket and it had all started with Jared’s declaration. She could kill him for saying he loved her. It had turned everything upside down. She didn’t want to talk about or think about love—it complicated everything. Anyway, how could he love her and she’d had some sort of crazy mixed-up feelings for him but how could she love him? They didn’t really know one another. People didn’t fall in love in three days. That was the stuff of books and movies. And look where it had gotten her mother. Teddy wouldn’t be so foolish.

“OBVIOUSLY I SAID THE wrong thing earlier,” Jared said. He knew he sounded stiff and awkward but she’d steadfastly ignored him all through the reception until he’d finally corralled her for a dance and she’d have looked bad to have turned him down.

She visibly drew a deep breath. “I just don’t know why you said it. We’ve only known each other for three days.”

“It’s pretty hard for me to believe, too, but sometimes things happen.”

“Yeah and I know firsthand how things can turn out. My mother married in haste and spent the rest of her life repenting at leisure. She gave up her career to follow my dad and he eventually deserted us.”

“I’m not asking you to give up anything. I was just telling you how I felt. Have I asked for anything in return except maybe for you to give us a chance?”

“I don’t know. I just… My career is important to me. You want to live in Good Riddance and I want to live in New York and that’s a fair distance apart.”

“I know it is. I would never ask you to give up acting. It’s not a mutually exclusive situation. It doesn’t have to be me or your career.” He could tell by the closed look on her normally expressive face he’d have to pull out everything he had. “Look at Gus and Nick. What was it? Five, maybe seven days? When he first told me I thought he was insane, but once I saw them together I got it. And look, it’s been a year and they’re doing great.” Damn, wasn’t the woman usually the one to do this kind of convincing?

He ran his hand through his hair. He was a man who was used to taking risks. If ever there was a time to put himself on the line, it was now. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking. I thought I was burned out at work, and maybe I am, but I can’t just walk away from my career and New York. I initially fell in love with Good Riddance, but you’re the real draw. You’re the sparkle in my life, not the place.”

“I have to think. I need a little space.”

“Does that mean you want me to sleep on the couch tonight?” It was his last night here. Her answer would be very telling.

“I think that’s a good idea.”

Damn. That pretty much said it all.

TEDDY TOSSED RESTLESSLY in her bed, unable to sleep. She was doing the right thing wasn’t she, staying focused on her career? Now that she was finally prepared to move forward with her dream, she didn’t want to make a misstep. But what if she was turning her back on the best man she’d ever met? Was it just some crazy romantic notion that the two of them could have something special in such a short period of time?

She eventually drifted off to sleep. She was dreaming, she had to be, when her mother came to her—the dream was so real she could almost feel the mattress sinking as her mother sat on the bed beside her.

“Mom?”

Her mother didn’t say anything but she reached out and smoothed the hair back from Teddy’s forehead, a gesture so familiar Teddy’s chest tightened with the cherished touch that had been absent from her life for the past nine years. Teddy realized, in her dream, that her mother’s smile was different. It was still the same sweet curve of her generous mouth, but the tinge of sadness was gone.