Lyric and Lingerie (The Fort Worth Wranglers Book 1) (22 page)

Nerves played ping-pong in her stomach in spite of the steadying feel of his hand on the small of her back. She nodded and smiled. “I was born ready.”

He laughed, just like she’d intended him to. “Like I haven’t known that since we were five years old.”

He tucked her hand into the crook of his arm. He held his head high and seemed proud to have her on his arm. His gait turned from wobbly to steady.

Just for a millisecond, she allowed herself the belief that this was real. That Heath was in love with her … that they were getting married … that they were a couple. It soothed a small crack in her seventeen-year-old self’s soul. She smiled to herself, and then she let reality sink back in.

It was okay that this was all make believe, because the hurt that had torn her apart was fading. Time, and now Heath, had picked up that brokenhearted seventeen-year-old, brushed her off, and given her a hug.

Laughter billowed out of her father’s room as they approached it, and Lyric couldn’t help grinning. Everyone was in such a good mood. She loved it—loved even more that for once she was at least partially responsible for it.

Heath pushed the door open and held it for her. She started to walk in, but paused for a moment as she realized there was someone else in the room. Someone who was very definitely not family. Her mother sat in the chair next to her father’s bed, talking with a man in a tailored pink shirt, black trousers, and what looked like an honest-to-God cape. Was he a superhero or a magician? They were hunched over a large three-ring binder.

“How is the patient feeling this morning?” Heath led her to the other side of her father’s bed.

“So much better.” Her father’s color was back to normal. “I’ve been up and walking already this morning.”

“That’s what Momma said.” Lyric leaned forward and dropped a kiss on his cheek. “I’m so proud of you.”

“So this is the bride?” Cape Man had an accent that was part Zorro and part Dracula. He stepped in front of Lyric and inspected her like she’d been grown in a lab. “We have our works cut out for us, yes?”

He gingerly pinched a lock of her hair between his fingers.

He thought
she
needed work? The man was wearing a
cape
… on
purpose
.

“I know.” Her mother put her hand over her heart. “We need to burn those shoes.”

Lyric took a step back. “Why?” She glanced down at the sparkly pink Birks Heath had somehow found for her. “I like these shoes. Heath got them for me.”

Her mother shrugged her shoulders in defeat. “Just promise me, you won’t wear them on your wedding day.”

“Or any day when you are around peoples with eyes that works.” Cape Man was getting on her nerves.

“I don’t think we’ve met.” Heath held out his hand. “I’m Heath Montgomery.”

“I’m Gregor Von Ramirez.” Instead of shaking Heath’s hand, he clicked his heels together and bowed low, his cape dusting the floor. He announced, “Event planner to the stars.”

San Angelo had stars? Well, besides the ones in the sky and Heath, of course.

Heath pulled his hand back in. “Good to meet you, Grayson—”

“It’s Gregor—”

“Sure, Garry.” Heath was enjoying messing with Gregor.

“It’s Gregor—”

“Okay.” Lyric looked at her mother for translation. “Why do we need an event planner?”

“To plan your wedding.” Her mother beamed. “Gregor was kind enough to drop everything and drive in from San Antonio.”

Oh God. Things were getting way out of hand. Lyric glanced at Heath uneasily and then said, “I think there’s something I need to tell you.”

“Me too.” Her mother patted her father’s arm. “Your father has already been up a third time since I talked to you. He is determined to be ready to walk you down that aisle.”

“Walk her?” Heath said, suitably impressed. “At this rate, he’s going to be able to carry her.”

“Well, not unless she is losing twenty pounds.” Gregor’s accent was heavy on the Dracula.

“Lyric’s light as a feather.” Heath stepped into Gregor’s personal space. “Of course her father can carry her … with one arm tied behind his back.”

“My baby girl is perfect just the way she is,” her father said with a huge grin. He was the happiest she had ever seen him. “Now what did you want to tell us, baby girl?”

“Your wedding has given your father something to live for.” Her mother leaned down and kissed him on the cheek. Was Lyric imagining the warning in her mother’s voice? And the implication that if Lyric told them the truth, she’d kill her father.

“Oh … um.” She really didn’t think that would happen, but it wasn’t like she was going to take the chance. At this rate, she and Heath were going to take their secret to the grave. Or at least back to Hawaii. “Well. Mercury’s in retrograde, so it should be the perfect time to plan a wedding.”

Good God, what had she done?

Her family wasn’t going to take the news that her fake engagement had ended very well. Maybe she and Heath would have to have a fake fight and a bad breakup?

“That is so good.” Gregor nodded his approval. Was it her imagination or had his accent slipped? “Astrology is a true science that helps explain the universe and our place in it.”

That was it, she was choking him with his own cape.

“Well, isn’t that lucky?” Her mother was giddy. Lyric had never seen her mother giddy and really wasn’t sure how she liked it. “Have you set a date yet?”

“A date?” Lyric turned to Heath.

“Not yet, but I’m thinking a short engagement would be best.” He winked at Lyric.

This was turning into a bigger disaster with every second that passed. So why was he egging them on?

“I’m so glad you agree. Long engagements are for the indecisive. You two are so much in love. I hate to see you waste even one minute.” Her mother turned to Gregor. “We were just looking over photos of wedding cakes. Do you or Heath have a preference?”

Lyric felt her jaw hit the floor. Her mother was actually planning the wedding … right now? It was one thing to meet with an event planner, but they were discussing actual wedding details. What was she supposed to do now? Once her mother got rolling on something, it was full steam ahead. She might actually have to marry Heath. What were the rules of annulment? Could she ask him to go all holy matrimony as long as he knew he’d come out single on the other side of it?

Her breath grew shorter the more hysterical her thoughts became. No one else seemed to notice that the room was spinning on her, but Heath put his hand in the small of her back. She wasn’t sure what it said about her—about them—that just that small touch helped to steady her.

He leaned close to her ear. “Need me to get out the prime numbers? I’ve got them right here on my phone.”

“No, thanks,” she whispered back as she patted his hand.

He squeezed her hand and smiled broadly. “I’m partial to red velvet myself.” He squeezed her hand again and then walked around to stand by her mother. “Let me see the groom’s cakes. We’re going to need something large. My teammates are big eaters.” He flipped through the binder and then closed it with an unsatisfied snap.

“I’d like a football stadium … you know, that looks like Wranglers Stadium. I want everything—from the roof that opens up, to the people in the stands. I’d like for the players to be on the field and reenacting the quarterback sneak from last year’s NFC East championship.”

Oh God, here they went. Oh yeah, this was definitely what it looked like when the inmates were running the asylum. Lyric covertly pinched herself to make sure she wasn’t still asleep and this wasn’t some hallucinogen-induced nightmare. Maybe Cherry Cherry was grilling some magic mushrooms on her radiator and the fumes had a delayed effect?

Nope, unfortunately, this was her reality. She planted a big fake smile on her face. “Heath, can I see you out in the hall, please?”

Her cheeks quivered under the weight of her smile.

“Sure thing, darlin’.” He turned to Lyric’s mother. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll be right back. And when you’re thinking of a wedding date, remember the ninth. It’s my jersey number. And my lucky number.”

Lyric was afraid her head was going to explode as she followed him out into the hall. She looked around. There were way too many people within earshot. Big surprise. Now that her father was on the road to recovery, half the hospital—patients, visitors, and medical staff—was standing around hoping to get the Deuce’s autograph.

She grabbed his arm and led him to the end of the hall. “What are you doing?”

“Why are you whispering?” He was all innocence. “I’m playing along. What do you think I’m doing?”

“I don’t know, but I just want to clarify … you know we’re not really engaged, right?” It was one thing to tell her family they were engaged, but to actually plan the wedding, complete with absolutely asinine cake decorations? That was taking things way too far.

“Think about it. What better way to make sure your father recovers? You have given him a new lease on life. He wants to walk you down the aisle, and your mother needs something to worry about other than your father. It’s perfect. Everyone’s happy and your daddy is back on his feet in no time.” Heath nodded like he was especially proud of his own reasoning.

It did make a weird kind of sense … a little … maybe … if she squinted and pretended that she’d left half her brain cells in Hawaii.

“What if they start buying things for the wedding? We can’t let it go that far. And I bet Count Chocula in there is charging my mother a fortune for his crazy advice and extra
s
’s.” Lyric put her game face on. “I’m going in there and telling them the truth.”

Heath put a hand on her arm. “And risk your father’s health?”

All of the starch went out of her sails. “What else am I supposed to do? We can’t let this actually happen. Can we?”

“Let me talk to them and see if we can slow things down a bit.” He grinned down at her. “Everything’s going to be fine.”

She wanted to believe that, she really did. But things were starting to feel a little too real. Dread slam danced in her stomach. She’d been down this road before, and it had ended with her heart trampled under Heath’s boots. She glanced at his feet. He might be wearing flip-flops right now, but she was pretty sure that wouldn’t make it hurt any less.

Heath needed Lyric out of the way. For what he was about to do, he really needed some one-on-one time with her parents. Otherwise Lyric was bound to have an actual stroke. And he just didn’t want to risk damaging that big, beautiful brain of hers.

“And while I talk to them …” Heath pulled Cherry Cherry’s keys out of his back pocket and handed them to Lyric. “Why don’t you go to Starbucks and pick us all up something? I’ll take care of things with your parents.”

“I don’t know. I feel like I should be there with you when you talk to them.” She sounded desperate, and he tried not to take it personally.

“Don’t worry about it, darlin’, I got this.” He really did … just probably not in the way she thought.

She still looked skeptical, but he was blocking her way back toward her dad’s room, so what else was she going to do but say, “Okay, I guess you can handle it on your own.”

“Take your time,” he said, dropping a quick kiss on her lips before ushering her toward the front entrance. He waited until she’d stepped outside and the doors had closed behind her before heading back down the hall to Bowman’s room. He wasn’t going to tell her parents the truth, and he wasn’t going to let her do so either.

Not yet, and if he had his way, not ever. He knew she was afraid this whole thing was getting out of hand. And maybe she was right, maybe it was. But he didn’t give a damn. Not when he had a chance to plan the most perfect wedding San Angelo had ever seen.

Some would say that wedding planning should start with a bride who was actually on board with getting married, but Heath figured those people were just lacking in imagination. A surprise wedding was so much more romantic.

And yes, he knew he might have trouble convincing Lyric to actually marry him, but he had until the actual day of the wedding to make that happen. And besides, who else was she going to marry?

He and Lyric were meant to be together.

After spending nearly six hours making love to her and laughing with her and listening to her, it was all so clear to him. He was in love with Lyric and probably always had been. In high school, it was Lyric he’d run to with his problems and Lyric he’d missed when the Wright sisters had turned their backs on him, and it was Lyric he’d thought of every time loneliness set in.

She was the one … his one. He’d always thought being in love would be smothering, but it was just the opposite. It was freeing. He was just the same person, only better.

Did he make Lyric a better version of herself?

While he wasn’t sure if she was in love with him now, he figured he had time to convince her. He’d brought the Fort Worth Wranglers back from a twenty-one point deficit just in time to win the Super Bowl; surely he could convince an offbeat astrophysicist that she should marry him. He didn’t believe in giving up, and he sure as hell didn’t believe in losing.

Besides, if these last few days had taught him anything, it was that his life didn’t work without Lyric. From the moment she’d plopped down next to him on that plane, he’d been happy, truly happy, in a way he hadn’t been since he left San Angelo all those years ago.

No self-doubt … no troubled past … no restlessness about the future. Lyric brought out the best in him.

He wanted to believe that he did the same for her. And while this wedding might not be real for her yet, he’d never wanted anything so much in his life.

His cell phone buzzed in his back pocket. He pulled it out and checked the screen. Barry Lamont for about the millionth time. He couldn’t face the Wranglers’ team owner just now … not yet. He knew he’d played his last professional football game, knew that he’d never throw a seventy-yard pass into the end zone ever again. And he was coming to grips with it. He was. He just needed a little more time believing he was still a football player. A little more time being Heath “the Deuce” Montgomery.