Taking Chances (45 page)

We got Liam
fed, changed and asleep in his crib in record time. Crawling into bed, we
kissed soft and slow, clinging to each other.

Brandon brought
his lips to my ear, his deep voice making my body burn, “Harper…”

“Round four?” I
asked with a grin.

His smile
matched mine as he pulled me on top of him.

“
B
randon?” I
asked roughly. His side of the bed was empty, and cold. Glancing around I noted
I’d slept for six and a half hours and should probably go check on my little
one.

 I grabbed
Brandon’s shirt off the floor and slid it over my head before padding down the
cool hallway. When I got closer I heard Brandon’s warm animated voice and
slowed, trying to hear whatever he was telling our son. I was already smiling
to myself when I peeked around the slightly ajar door, he was talking to him
about one of his surfing days. No…he was talking to him about one of
Chase’s
surfing days. And he had the scrapbook of Chase’s life on the dresser below
them, pointing to one of the pictures. A soft gasp escaped my chest and I tried
to slow my breathing so I could continue to listen without Brandon knowing I
was here.

“…he was always
doing crazy stuff like that, it’s why everyone loved him, but it got him in
trouble more times than not. No one else would have continued to surf after
that, and we were all trying to get him to come in. Brad and I rode out to
force him to, since he had this huge cut on his eyebrow from where that guy
punched him, but by the time we got out there he was already catching another
wave and riding it in. I swear he knew how to piss us off too, because those
guys weren’t happy we started coming back out. Your dad could out-surf those
guys, and I could fight them, but just a warning son, don’t ever try to fight
someone while on your surfboard out in the ocean. It doesn’t really work out
for anyone, and you look stupid trying to throw punches while treading water. We
ended up laughing too hard and inviting them to the party that night, calling a
truce.”

Brandon flipped
to the next page and chuckled lightly, pointing at one of the pictures again,
“Like I said, he was crazy and always doing stupid crap,” flipping the page again
he pointed to one and said softly, “but your mom changed that.”

I froze and
tilted my head in even further.

“The day I met
your mom, I knew she would be in my life forever. There was something about her
and I knew I was already falling in love with her that first day. She made you
want to be better, to attempt to be worthy of her love. Unfortunately your dad
felt the same way; no one understood why he drastically changed, except for me.
Even though she was with me, he stopped drinking, stopped sleeping with other
girls, it’s like she made him instantly mature into the guy he eventually wanted
to be so he could have an opportunity with her. I was always afraid I’d lose
her to him someday, it’s like I knew it was a matter of when, not if. But your
mom was different, I’d dated plenty of girls, but I hadn’t really cared if they
were there or not. It was just someone to try to fill the ache of losing my
dad. So when I met her and realized my feelings, I fought to keep her as long as
I could. Don’t tell your momma, but Chase and I were constantly fighting over
her when she wasn’t around. Hell, we even fought over her when she
was
around.
We knew either of us could have any girl we wanted, but we both only wanted
Harper. So of course, being us, words were used and fists flew whenever we were
alone. I didn’t tell her this, but I already knew what had happened with your
dad before she told me. When I got home from break, and Chase never bothered me
again, I knew something had happened. I just didn’t know what yet. But you know
what little man? I can’t even be mad about it anymore, because if it hadn’t
happened, you wouldn’t be here right now.”

He gently
kissed our three month old son who was completely enthralled in his stories and
pointed to the last picture in the book. “And he loved you and your mom, so
much. I’ll always remind you of that, but I wish you could have met him.”

I placed a hand
over my mouth to stifle the sob rising in my throat and slowly backed away to
our bedroom. Once I was under the covers, I let the tears spill down my face as
I mourned the dad Liam would never meet, and my heart grew even more for the
dad that was holding him now. I don’t know how long I stayed there after I
finished crying, but Brandon eventually got back in bed and stilled when he
realized I was awake.

“Babe, what’s wrong?”

“Do you know
how much I love you?” He nodded and I continued, “Sometimes it’s hard for me to
even believe you’re real, and that you’re here with us.”

He brushed back
the hair covering my eyes and cupped my face, “I
am
here. I wouldn’t
want to be anywhere else.”

“Exactly.”

“Harper, please
tell me what’s wrong. Are you – are you getting cold feet?”

“No! I can’t
wait to marry you Brandon. You’re so amazing, I wish I could tell you how wonderful
you are and how much you mean to me. I just don’t understand how you can be
mine. I don’t know what I did to deserve you.”

He huffed a
laugh and that dimple flashed at me, “Then why were you crying? I don’t
understand?”

“I – Thank you
for telling him about Chase.”

“I told you we
would babe.” He wrapped his arms around me and kissed the top of my head. “I’ll
always tell him about Chase.”

“I know, just
walking in and listening to you tell him stories was…I don’t know how to
explain it. It was wonderful, it made my heart happy.” I said with a laugh.

His voice
dropped lower, “You make my heart happy Harper.” He pressed his full lips to
mine, moving them slow. His left hand dropped under his shirt on my body, his
fingers teasing my waist, stomach and hips. “Have I told you recently how much
I love you in nothing but my shirt?”

“Have I told
you recently how much I love you in nothing at all?” I countered huskily,
letting my fingers drop to the band on his shorts.

Brandon moved
my hand away from his body, placing our intertwined fingers above my head on
the pillow. “Not now babe.”

“What? Yes,
now.” I hitched a leg around his hip, pressing myself to him.

He moaned and moved
his hips against me before stilling and pushing me away, “You’re supposed to
have sex after the wedding, not before it. Technically, I’m not supposed to see
you today until you’re walking down the aisle.”

“And yet here
you are.” I grinned and brought our bodies back together suggestively.

“Here I am.” He
agreed.

He pushed me
onto my back and let the hand that was still on my waist trail down. I
whimpered and wrapped my hands around his neck, covering his lips with mine.
When his mouth made a trail down my throat I reached for his shorts and the
doorbell rang.

“That didn’t
happen.” I kept my hands possessively on his body so he wouldn’t move. The
doorbell rang two more short times. I angrily slid out from under my fiancé and
rushed to the door, “Are you serious?” I hissed when I flung the door open,
“Liam’s sleeping!”

Carrie, Mom,
Bree and Konrad all stood at the door.

“Nice outfit,”
Bree snickered and her eyes widened when Brandon came to the door with a scowl
on his insanely handsome face, “Oh hell no! No screwing until later!”

“Breanna!” My
face got red, I could talk to her and Mom about our intimate life. But Konrad
was definitely never around and neither was Carrie.

“It’s kinda
obvious friend.” She stepped in and grabbed my hand, taking me to the bedroom.
“Take a shower and put on something comfortable, we’re going to be at the salon
most the day.”

“I hope you
realize you stopped us
before
it got to the best part. I’m going to be
mad at you the rest of the day.”

“No you’re not.
Wedding first, sex later.”

I rolled my
eyes and stepped into the shower, “You sound like Brandon. Why is Konrad here
anyway? Is he going to the salon with us?” I laughed and rinsed the lather out
of my hair.

“No he’s here
to hang out with Brandon until later. They’ll take care of Liam.”

My heart sank,
“Oh, Liam.”

“No, no! We are
not starting this again. You will be just fine. You guys need a honeymoon, end
of story. You’ll regret it in a year or two if you don’t.”

“I know, but
we’re parents. I feel horrible!”

“Seriously, you
guys won’t even be gone that long. Most people take a week. You’ll be gone
three nights, including tonight. Just think of it like a long date night.”

“Bree,” I
sighed, “I really do appreciate that you are all doing this for us, but we’ve
only ever been away from him for the longest seven hours. This is way different.
Do you know that I’ve packed his suitcase four different times?”

“That’s just
sad.”

I stopped
shaving for a moment and pointed the razor toward her, even though she couldn’t
see me, “When you have a baby, you’ll see. And I’ll be there to laugh at you for
how ridiculous you are.”

“Are you done
yet? You were supposed to have done this before we even got here.”

“Rude. Aren’t
you supposed to be nice to me today since I’m the Bride?”

“Aren’t you
supposed to be nice to me because I’m your best friend in the entire world,
your Maid of Honor
and
I planned an awesome day for you?”

“True,” I shut
off the water and took the towel Bree was holding when I stepped out and grabbed
her in a big hug, “You really are the best. I love you friend.”

“I love you too.”

Brandon walked
in and when he saw us he held up his hands like he was surrendering and slowly
backed back out. It wasn’t weird to see Bree and I hug, but I usually wasn’t naked.

“You’re not
supposed to see her!” Bree said over my shoulder, “You’ve already seen her too
much this morning. Go hide until we can leave.”

“Bree,” I
whined and looked at the empty doorway, “I love you Brandon!”

You could hear
the smile in Brandon’s voice, “I love you too sweetheart, I can’t wait to marry
you. Bree keep your hands off my wife, you already had your chance to make her
gay…too late now.”

Bree and I
laughed so hard, tears were streaming down our faces. When I was finally able
to take a normal breath, I wrapped the first towel around my body and grabbed
another to get most of the water out of my hair.

After I was in
my green Victoria’s Secret PINK sweats, and a plain button-up shirt so I
wouldn’t mess up my hair later, we were off to the salon. I’d heard of
Bridezillas, and brides that were so nervous they threw up or continued to cry;
but I was so blissed out, all I could do all day was smile and laugh with the
women in my life. We had the most amazing time at the spa, we got massages,
manicures and pedicures, had our hair and make-up done, and had an endless flow
of water, champagne and fruit and cheese platters. I guess they didn’t care
that Bree and I were only nineteen.

We all looked
amazing, and we weren’t even in our dresses yet. Everyone’s make-up was
flawless, Carrie and Mom had up-dos, Breanna’s shoulder length blonde hair had
loose spirals, with a braid going around the front right side of her hair, and
mine was just as I’d pictured in my head. My long auburn hair was parted on the
side, each side going into a soft braid down the side, coming together into a
twist leading to a soft off-center bun low on my neck. After everyone that had
helped us get ready for the day gave us hugs and said their congratulations, we
were off in Bree’s Lexus to the ceremony and reception site.

Even though
they weren’t thrilled, I’d eventually gotten my way and helped everyone set up for
the wedding, so first thing we did when we got there was check both rooms to
make sure everything still looked perfect. The room where we would have the
ceremony had soft lighting, and twinkle lights inside tulle going down each
side of the aisle. We didn’t want too much in here, so other than large
bouquets of white lilies, and some more lights, that was all there was in
there. The room where we were having the reception was a different story. More
white tulle filled with twinkle lights made soft arcs up to the middle of the
room, making it look like we were in a large tent rather than a room. The
tables had white table cloths, with green, silver and black tulle running along
the top. Hurricanes filled with candles were spaced evenly in the tulle. Each
seat had a little thing of bubbles for the end, and a favor of a short jar
filled with things to make peppermint hot chocolate. The DJ was setting up his
equipment, and there were tables in the back for where the food would be. The
wedding cake was really just a top piece, white with swirls of black and green,
and the next two layers were a hundred cupcakes, all with the same type of
designs. We were in one of the rooms in the back getting our dresses on when
the guys showed up in their suits.

“Oh my gosh
they’re here!” I ran towards the window to watch them walk towards the building
with a huge smile on my face. I don’t know why, but I’d been holding my breath
until I saw Brandon here. And he looked amazing, as did the rest of them. Dad
was in a dark gray suit, with a black shirt, Konrad and Jeremy had on black
suits with dark green button-ups, black vests and loose black ties. The love of
my life was in all black with a loose green tie, in his arms was our bundled up
son. I’m sure he’d dressed up for the funeral, but since I wasn’t exactly aware
of much going on at that point, this was the first time I’d ever seen Brandon
in a tie, let alone a suit. His rugged looks in a suit made him look powerful
and mysterious and oh so sexy. I was already biting my lip just thinking about
taking it off him tonight. We watched them until they were in the building and
it took an incredible amount of will power not to rush out to my almost
husband.