Someone to Watch Over Me (28 page)

“Sorry,” I drawled. “I’m just…shocked.”

“I have a sister. You learn these things.
Now lose the robe.”

“I don’t have anything on underneath.”

“Nothing I haven’t seen. Besides, you didn’t
seem to mind last night. You dropped trou without a second
thought.” Huffing, I stepped into the dress and pulled the bodice
over my waist until my ass was essentially covered, and then let
the robe fall. “Now do something with your hair. We got media here
trying to capitalize on your windfall.”

“Are you kidding?”

“Nope.” With the gentleness of a prison
guard, Carter began yanking the laces on the back of my gown, while
I wrestled my hair into a loose knot at the top of my head.

“How do they find you guys?”

“Reasonable deduction.”

“Carter.”

“Everyone and their mother knows we were in
Vegas last night, Coop. And we have a show tonight. There’s only
one way to get from there to here in a short amount of time.”

“How does everyone know we were in
Vegas?”

“The wonders of social media.”

“Do I need to ask?”

Reaching into his pocket, Carter pulled out
his phone. He tapped the screen a few times with the tip of his
finger and a video popped up. “It gets good about a minute in.”

“Oh lord.” Pressing play, I watched the
still of Tate come to life.

“Suck in Coop,” Carter ordered. The Carter
on the small screen said, “Having second thoughts? We can go right
now.”

Tate scowled from the corner of his eye.
“You’d love that, wouldn’t you? So you could be right there to
comfort her? Fuckin’ dick.” Having second thoughts, Tate leaned in
toward the camera. “Coop, if anything ever happens to me, stay away
from Carter. In fact, if nothing happens to me, stay away from
Carter. As a general rule, stay away from Carter.”

The camera shook, turned black for a moment,
and Carter’s face appeared on the screen. “Don’t listen to him
Coop. Tate—”

“Coveting is a mortal sin dickweed,” Tate
hissed, not very quietly. “We’re in a house of God, and you’re
coveting my fiancé right now.”

“I called first dibs!”

“I drew first blood.”

“You sucker punched me!”

In the vicinity, someone cleared his throat.
“Gentlemen.”

“Sorry Father.”

“Sorry Father.”

“Are you sure you want me watching this?” I
inquired, dropping my hands to my sides. Questions atop the
mountain of concern were piling in my mind. I didn’t need anything
more to think about. I have enough problems already.

“That’s nothing,” Carter shrugged off. “I
just love to get Tate riled up. He’s the one who wants to marry
you; I just wanted to get you in bed.”

“You’re so charming. It’s no wonder you’re
not already taken.”

“The important stuff is coming up. Real
quick, though, I wanna share something with you about Tate in case
you haven’t noticed before now. When you were arguing just now, did
he do the palm rubbing thing?”

“What?”

“His palms—did he rub them on his
thighs?”

“Yeah, why?”

“He does that when he’s scared. Tate has
nerves of steel, so you don’t see it often, but when you do…man, do
his palms sweat.”

I watched on the small screen as Tate stood
by the altar, his hands relaxed at his hips. Occasionally, he
palmed the small velvet box in his back pocket. Other than that, he
was a rock.

“I’ve known Tate my whole life. I’m telling
you, I’ve only seen him scared a handful of times. Two of those
times have been since he met you if that means anything.”

Tate’s head turned. His smile widened. The
camera panned the small chapel to the opposite end. Fighting my own
smile, I entered the room. Good lord, how could I not remember any
of this? Maybe I did. What I felt deep inside mirrored what I saw
on the screen.

I took a few measured steps down the red,
carpeted aisle, and then I gave in to all my drunken desires and
danced my way to Tate while singing ‘Chapel of Love.’ Tate and
Carter began laughing aloud. The pipe organ trilled in the
background. A few strangers in the pews stood and began clapping
along, their hips instinctively swaying to the beat. The entire
jaunt up the aisle, I never took my eyes off Tate, my face glowing
with euphoria.

Carter finished tying off my laces and took
his phone from my hand. Shutting the screen down, he slid it back
into his pocket. “He’s scared, Coop. He thinks you’re gonna skip
town.”

Stuffing my hand into the pockets hidden in
the folds of my gown, I fished out my belongings. Everything was
there, but I sure was going to miss that Coach wristlet that my
mother bought me. God knows, I couldn’t afford to by a
replacement.

“I’m not skipping town.”

“In your world, men suck. In Tate’s world,
women suck. It’s all up here,” Carter said, tapping his temple. “He
can’t help it anymore than you can.”

“You’re so tactful.”

“Fuck diplomacy. I don’t have time for it,”
he said, with a wave of his hand. His gaze drew to my face and then
focused on my head. “Is that what you’re doing with your hair?”

Taken off guard, I blinked and then ran a
hand over my hair. “What’s wrong with it?”

“You’re about to be on TMZ, Entertainment
Tonight, The Insider, Access Hollywood, Extra and E! News, Coop. Do
you really want to go out there like that?”

“Well damn, not now.”

“Leave it down,” Carter said, tugging the
rubber band from my hair. He ran his fingers into the roots and
shook it out. “It looks…I don’t know…windblown. It’s sexy.”

Ducking in front of the small mirror above
the headboard, I ran my fingertips across my cheeks and slicked
some gloss over my lips. “It’ll have to do.”

“He’s not going to hurt you.”

“Carter,” I sighed, straightening my back.
“You really are an enigma.” I could barely keep up with the
constant changing of conversation.

“All I’m saying, Coop, is that he wouldn’t
have gotten involved with you unless he was absolutely certain
about what he wanted.”

“He
has
me.”

“If you don’t come with us, Coop, it’ll kill
him. Not literally, but he’ll be a fuckin’ mess. He won’t get any
work done. He won’t sleep. He won’t eat. He’ll be worried night and
day.”

My mouth went dry.

Dropping his head until he looked me in the
eyes, Carter pulled the ace up his sleeve. “What if you’re
pregnant?”

“I’m not.”

“Guess we’ll know soon enough.”

“I’m not pregnant.”

“He’s a good guy. You run off with his
kid…that’s just wrong.” Refusing me the right to defend myself,
Carter turned his back and walked out. Damn if that wasn’t a slap
in the face. I hadn’t taken off on Grant without reason. Carter was
well aware of that.

Well, shit, I guess I had a choice to
make.

The fact that I thought I had a choice,
showed how deluded I was.

I’d made my choice long ago.

Stuffing my lip-gloss back into my pocket, I
padded to the exit. Tate was waiting just outside, talking with
Carter. Evan, Taylor and Derek stood off to the side. Marshall, the
chicken shit, was absent. Shane, Jake, Jess, Richard, Levy and—oh
God—my parents waited in the distance. I could only imagine what
they were thinking. I’d eloped. It wasn’t as if I could explain
that I was drunk off my ass. Even to my own ears, it sounded
appalling.

Upon my emergence, Carter looked up. Tate
followed his gaze and turned. His eyes sparkled with subdued joy.
“Ready?”

“I have one question first.”

“Ok.”

“The bus has a tow hitch, right?”

Confounded, Tate scrubbed his jaw.
Comprehension set in. A relieved smile spread across his face. In a
few short strides, he closed the space between us. I found myself
airborne and then abruptly horizontal in his arms. His lips met
mine in an ardent kiss.

Next thing I knew everyone was pelting us
with grains of birdseed. It went down my dress and in my hair. I
think someone was throwing overhand. Laughing, Tate broke the kiss
and ducked his head against the onslaught of tiny, beige
well-wishes. The last thing I needed was blessings of fertility. My
fertility didn’t need any divine assistance.

Placing a second brief kiss on my lips, Tate
lowered me gently to my feet. He grasped my hand and ushered me
through the crowd of friends and family, and into the limo waiting
off to the side. He paused long enough to make amends with my
parents—who were handling the whole event better than I would’ve
expected—before climbing into the limo beside me.

Sitting back in the seat, he dragged an arm
across his forehead and then crooked a finger at me. Holding his
gaze, I climbed into his lap, shaking the seeds from my hair on the
way.

“I thought you were tapping out,” Tate
confessed, his hand working dubiously beneath my skirts, searching
blindly through the layers of tulle for a calf or thigh. He had
nothing on Carter in knowledge of feminine attire.

“I was, but I took five minutes to wake up
and gather my thoughts. And Carter beguiled me with his charming
personality.”

“He threatened you, didn’t he?”

“Yeah, but he cares about you. He showed me
the video.”

“Video?”

“Of the ceremony. You were drunk.”

“Shitfaced, but things are coming back to me
in bits and pieces. I think it was pretty insane.”

I thought of the video and my drunken
antics. “You have no idea.”

“Why, Coop?” Tate asked, searching my
expression.

What had changed my mind? “You love me. I
could see it in your eyes. Only Levy’s ever looked at me that way,
like I’m his whole world.”

“You are.” Finding the edge of my skirts,
Tate’s lips curled up at the sides in a profligate grin.

“Tate.”

“Coop,” Tate said shamelessly, inching up my
thigh. I grasped his hand, heading off his explorations. In the
event I hadn’t already conceived, I wasn’t taking any more
chances.

“No! Absolutely not!”

“Coop.” Twisting his wrist, he freed himself
and captured mine. With his other hand, he resumed his trek up my
thigh.

“Tate.”

“Cooper.”

“Taaaaaattteee ungh…” My objections trailed
off as he hit pay dirt. There was no chance of pregnancy with what
he intended. If the slippery, silky feeling between the cleft of my
arse was an indication, we were only revisiting the exploits of our
wedding night. I could only hope that’s all we had done. At least
that would solve the issue of pregnancy.

As per usual, my mind went devoid of
thought.

“That’s right, babe. The amazing Tate
Watkins. And you’re married to him.”

Chapter
15

“A
re you sure it’s
not going to fall off?” I asked, gazing dubiously at the steel
contraption that would tow my Mini safely behind the body bag. “It
doesn’t look very sturdy.”

“It’s fine,” Marshall scoffed. “I hooked it
up myself.”

“Tate?” I said, ignoring Marshall. I wasn’t
on speaking terms with him. Hadn’t been for nearly a week. Shaking
his head, Marshall huffed and stalked off. I wasn’t truly mad, just
giving him a hard time. I had only myself to blame for running off
to Vegas. Nonetheless, friends razzed each other. It’s just
something we did. I couldn’t let him off scot-free.

“We’re not off-roading, Coop,” Tate assured.
“It’ll be fine.”

“Told you we usually tow the Escalade,”
Carter added. “And that’s over three thousand pounds heavier.”
Snapping off another bite of Slim Jim, Carter stared down at Levy,
who was giving him puppy eyes over the beef jerky. “Get lost, kid.
It’s not going to work this time.”

Levy simply blinked ingenuously. “I hab
some?”

“No way.”

“Pwease.”

“God da—,” stopping mid word, Carter shook
his head, “One bite. Go ahead.” Proffering the beef jerky, Carter
watched as Levy took a bite. Eyeing the drip of saliva Levy left on
the end of the Slim Jim, Carter’s lips curled in disgust. “You know
what, it’s all yours kid.”

“I hab it?”

“Don’t eat it all at once.” Grumbling under
his breath, Carter stalked off and trotted up the steps into the
Body Bag. Levy watched with detached interest and then eyed his
prize with jubilation.

“Give me that, Mini Cooper,” Tate said,
taking the huge stick of beef jerky from his hand. Breaking off a
portion at the end, he passed it to Levy and kept the larger piece
for himself. “Too much will give you a belly ache.”

“Yew no getta bellyache?”

“No,” Jake answered with a derisive snort.
“He’ll just get gas. Stink the whole bus up.”

“Do not.”

“Do too,” Jake argued. “Prepare yourself,
Coop. Maybe you can stop him from eating that sh—stuff. Darn this
is going to be hard.” He was referring to curbing his language.
With Levy aboard, Tate had let them all know they needed to keep
things PG. I felt like a wet blanket.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s cool. Change is good. Can I take this
for you?” Jake gestured to the last bag of food that I had just
brought down from my apartment. He looked more interested in the
contents than the actual act of assistance. They were mostly Levy’s
snacks; Gummy Fruits, Nilla Wafers, granola bars, snack cakes,
single serves of mac n’ cheese, applesauce cups, sliced peaches,
and a couple cans of SpaghettiOs. “Oh man! Snowballs!”

“Better not touch those,” Tate warned. “Coop
will bite your hand.”

“I will.” Snowballs were my fix when I had a
sweet tooth. The things made a mess, but they were worth every
florescent pink shred of coconut.

“We’re stopping on the way out, right?” To
load up. Tate explained that they packed the pantry as full as
possible with whatever goodies were native to that region.
Throughout the week, Tate dragged Levy and me across the city of
Philadelphia. We went to the Art Museum, Independence Hall, and
Edgar Allen Poe’s house. We ate everywhere from Morimoto to Pat’s
and Geno’s. Tate glutted himself on soft pretzels, hoagies, Texas
tommies with Cheese Whiz, Bassett’s Ice Cream and Rita’s Water Ice.
Anyhow, about to leave the Philly area, I wasn’t sure when I would
see Snowballs again. “I’ll buy you more when we get to the store.
Promise.”