Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down (Vikings Underground #2)(13)
Author: Sherrilyn Kenyon

Plopping herself down on top of the kitchen table with the remaining apple slices, Reese asked, “When will the new guests arrive?”

“Anytime now.” Savannah’s bed-and-breakfast was thriving and she could barely keep up with the demand, especially since her own life was changing. “I hope Janette has their rooms ready.”

“Nope,” Reese stated in an apple-muffled voice.

“What do you mean, nope?”

“I haven’t seen Janette all day. I don’t think she showed up.”

Savannah stifled an irritated sigh. She didn’t know why she had ever hired Janette Carlton. In the month since her regular housekeeper had retired, nothing had gone smoothly.

Janette had shown up one day in dire need of a job. Apparently being a part-time waitress and a full-time party girl didn’t pay the bills.

Savannah had taken her on to try to help her out. She knew the girl’s mother well. Daisy Carlton was a widow who had been struggling with multiple sclerosis while trying to raise three boys and one headstrong girl who had given her more angst than all her sons combined.

The decision to hire Janette proved more irksome every day. Not only did Savannah have a houseful of guests coming to The Oaks, but she also had visitors arriving for a very special event.

Her wedding.

Savannah could hardly believe tomorrow was the day. She had started dating Jake two years ago, but she had known him for five, and while she had always found him a sweet and devoted guy—and a man who, as a pediatrician, loved children, like her—she had not expected more to come of it. But one day he had kissed her on the front porch and it had been…comfortable and warm. Lacking the usual awkwardness of a first kiss.

Savannah glanced at the clock. Her husband-to-be was at the local strip club for a traditional bachelor party. He had been so cute in his avowals that he had no interest in a bachelor party and that if she didn’t want him to go, he wouldn’t.

She had silenced his worries with a smile and a kiss. Yes, she had heard about the things that could happen at a bachelor party, but she trusted Jake completely.

“Well,” she sighed, “I guess I better get to cleaning up those rooms or we will have some very unhappy guests.”

“Mom?” Reese queried, stopping Savannah as she headed out of the kitchen.

“Yes?”

Reese hesitated, her expression serious. “Do you think we’ll be happy living with Jake? I mean, what about staying here? This is our home, after all.”

The only home her daughter had ever known, Savannah thought as she walked over to Reese and cupped her cheeks, which still retained some of the roundness of childhood. “This will always be our home, honey. We’re not giving it up, but we will be Jake’s family now and he wants us with him.”

Reese stared down at her socks, one yellow, one blue. “I know. I guess I’ll just miss it here.”

“You can still be here every day, just like now. And someday The Oaks will be yours and you can do with it whatever you like.”

Reese nodded absently, then said after a moment of hesitation, “What about him?”

Savannah frowned. “Him?”

“The man Uncle Frank told me you once loved. He’s come back, Uncle Frank said. Is it true?”

Savannah had not expected this line of questioning from her daughter. The subject was not one she cared to think about, let alone discuss, but Reese deserved the truth. “Yes, Donovan Jerricho has come home, and, yes, I once loved him. I don’t know why your uncle would take it upon himself to tell you this.” When she got her hands on Frank, she would brain him.

Reese looked embarrassed. “He didn’t tell me, exactly. I heard him talking to Rufus.”

Rufus Williams was an old high school buddy of Frank’s, one Savannah had never particularly liked. He had always looked at her with far too much lechery in his eyes.

“What else did you hear Uncle Frank say?”

“He said that this man hurt you real bad and that he should have stayed where he was and never come back to Mississippi, and that if he thought he was going to cause any trouble, Uncle Frank would make him change his mind real quick.”

Oh, boy. This was not what she needed right now. Why had she thought her brother would ignore Donovan’s return? Frank was still a hothead. She had to speak to him before his emotions carried him away.

“Do you still love this guy, Mom?”

For a split second, Savannah couldn’t form the words. “No,” she managed. “It’s long over. I’m marrying Jake, remember?” She smiled reassuringly, but it felt as though she was trying to reassure herself, as well. “Now, how about letting me see that smile?”

Reese gave a tentative lift of her lips. Savannah crossed her eyes and stuck out her tongue, prompting a laugh from her daughter.

“That’s more like it. Now, come help me get the rooms ready. We’ve got a busy few days ahead of us.”

Savannah took her daughter’s hand and together they left the kitchen. But as they went up the steps leading to the guest wing, Savannah couldn’t shake the nervous tension that had nothing to do with her impending nuptials, and everything to do with a certain ex–football player.

Chapter Two

Donovan awoke abruptly, his gaze shooting to the clock. Eight p.m. Damn, he’d fallen back asleep, and here he’d told his old high school buddy Meat that he would stop by The Jiggle Room, where Meat bartended, so that they could catch up on old times. He pointed his feet toward the bathroom, hoping a hot shower would rouse him.

An hour later, Donovan found himself with a drink in his hand before his ass hit the barstool. He gave his old high school chum an up-yours salute with his glass and took a swig.

Meat, otherwise known as Herschel Dubrowski, stood behind the bar staring at Donovan with a stupid grin that told Donovan his old friend was up to something he wasn’t going to like.

He banged the glass down on the bar and coughed. “Jesus, what did you put in here? Acid?”

“I should have, you old shithead,” Meat retorted in that slow drawl that made most people think he was 340 pounds of pure stupidity. He was a good three inches taller than Donovan at six-six, with arms and legs as stout as tree trunks and a belly that was the first thing that hit an opponent.

“So what took you so long?” Meat said, refilling Donovan’s glass in preparation for another walloping hangover that he undoubtedly should avoid but wouldn’t.

“I was detained by an unknown female in my bed.”

Meat laughed, clearly not surprised. “That would be Janette.”

“Somehow I suspect you know how she ended up there?”

Meat smiled broadly. “I gave her your address. Nick and I thought you might like some company. The gal does loves football players, even a broke-down cracker like you.”

“This broke-down cracker can still kick your fat rump.”

“You could never kick my fat rump. But I’ll let you keep on deluding yourself.”

A loud burst of laughter brought both men’s gazes to the corner of the room. A tall, busty brunette was gyrating in front of some guy’s chair, her body blocking him from view, but Donovan could see the guy’s hands nervously clenching his Dockers-clad knees.

“Poor sucker is about to end life as he knows it,” Donovan muttered, wondering why he felt so damn jealous of some schmo.

Ten years ago he had come close to marriage and had counted himself among the lucky at escaping. But age and time had brought other emotions.

“Interesting that you should find that guy so unfortunate,” came a voice from behind him.

Donovan swiveled his head and eyed the hulking giant behind him. “The minute my skull stops throbbing, you’re dead, so I’d advise you to start running now.”

Nick Stanton let out a bark of laughter and pulled up the barstool next to Donovan. Nick had retired from the Bombers a year earlier. As a Heisman Trophy–winning offensive lineman, he had helped lead the Bombers to two Super Bowl wins.

“You always were a lot of hot air, Jerricho. But I promise to let you have at me when you’re feeling competent enough to make a fist.”

The sound of a commotion brought Donovan’s gaze back to the bachelor party in the corner. Six men were cheering on the guy in the chair, who tightly clenched a ten-dollar bill.

The dancer lifted the edge of her skimpy G-string to entice him to put the money somewhere provocative. With an uproar of hurrahs, the soon-to-be-shackled bridegroom slipped the bill down the front of the girl’s thong, earning him a near smothering with her boobs.

“One small step for womankind, one giant leap for male stupidity,” Donovan said.

“If I didn’t know better,” Nick remarked with humor in his voice, “I might think that was bitterness I heard. Could it be you long for wedded bliss?”

“What I long for is peace,” Donovan retorted. “Meat, don’t you have some place else to put those idiots? They’re giving me a headache.”

“That’s the doc,” Meat replied as though this meant something to Donovan.

“So? Did he give you a brain transplant or something?”

Meat scowled. “He’s a kid’s doctor.”

“Well, that explains the smiley faces on his pink tie.”

“You’re in rare form tonight,” Nick said. “Something got you uptight?”

“No,” Donovan lied, thinking of Savannah and what he would say to her when he went by her place in the morning.

“You should tell him,” Meat said to Nick, nodding his head toward Donovan.

“Tell me what?” Donovan demanded, frowning.

“I guess I should have told you about this sooner.” Nick shot a sideways look at Donovan. “Jesus, your timing has always stunk, you know that?”

“Yeah, yeah. Get to the point.”

Nick scratched his chin and stared at the bottles behind the bar. “I wondered if you deserved to know. It’s past time that this all ended. She deserves some happiness, after all. What have you ever done but been a mule-headed jackass?” he asked, swinging his gaze back to Donovan. “Who could ever get through to you once your mind was set?”

Donovan swiveled slowly on his stool. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“Savannah, you moron. She deserved a lot better than you dished out.”

Donovan’s hand tightened on his glass. “What happened between Savannah and me was none of your damn concern.”

“Remember the swipe you took at me when you saw her leaning her head on my shoulder that day at basic? I was your best friend. We’d known each other for what, fifteen years at that point? Christ, you were a jealous son of a bitch.”

“Yeah, well, I was a lot of things back then. Times change.”

“And people?”

Donovan shrugged. “I guess so.”

“Sometimes you have to let go of your pride to get what you want. You were never able to do that. You always protected yourself, never let your guard down. I don’t think you’ve changed.”

Donovan knew he had changed. Whether he wanted to or not, time had forced something on him. He had lived in a bubble for so long, he doubted he could ever have seen himself clearly if not for the accident and all the months he’d had nothing to do but search his own soul.

“So I was an ass**le, is that what you’re saying?”

A reluctant grin tugged on Nick’s lips. “That’s what I’m saying.”

“Why do you care whether I’m a Boy Scout or not?”

“Despite popular consensus, I do give a shit about what happens to you. It was messed up, what happened to your arm. You were the best quarterback in the league.”

Hearing his career spoken about in the past tense no longer stung the way it used to. “If an injury didn’t take me down, age would have.”

“It was a good run for a while there.”

Meat nudged Nick in the arm. “So tell him already.”

Nick scowled. “I’m getting there.”

“Could ya hurry? I’m getting old.”

With a glare at Meat, Nick turned to face Donovan. “Keep in mind that I doubted the depth of your redemption.” Nick clamped a hand on the back of Donovan’s neck, turned his head toward the group in the corner, and pointed at the guy in the pink tie. “Tomorrow that dude is getting married.”

Donovan jerked his head away. “Wanna tell me something I don’t know?”

“He’s marrying Savannah.”

Savannah leaned her head against the post on the back porch steps and took a deep breath.

Though her new guests were wonderful, especially the Newsomes, an elderly couple from New York who were celebrating their fiftieth wedding anniversary, the day had not been without its glitches.

Janette had never shown up. Her mother had called and told Savannah that Janette had been out all night and hadn’t come home until dinnertime, and then only to climb into bed. She had been with some football player.