Page 130 of Rescuing Mary

Blade’s head whipped up and he stared at Wendy. “Really?”

“Yup.”

“Holy shit! I can’t believe that kid is gonna be a parent.”

“He’s thirty, Aspen. He’s not exactly a kid. In fact, he’s older than I was when we met.”

“Damn,” Blade said again. “I can’t wrap my head around it. I’m gonna be an uncle.”

Wendy chuckled. “Yup. And I’ll be an aunt.”

The waitstaff began to circulate in the room and serve the first course for dinner. Blade looked around and mentally said, fuck it.

He grabbed Wendy’s hand and stood.

Ignoring the knowing looks from his teammates—and the confused ones from their wives—he towed Wendy out of the ballroom. He went straight to the elevators and impatiently stabbed at the up arrow.

“Aspen, what on earth?” Wendy asked.

The elevator opened and Blade pulled her inside, pressing the door-close button so the businessman coming their way with a suitcase had to take the next one. He backed Wendy against a wall of the elevator after pushing the button for their floor and said, “I can’t go another minute without being inside you.”

“For God’s sake, Aspen, my brother’s reception is going on!”

“Right, and he doesn’t give a shit who’s there and who isn’t. All he’s thinking about is getting Jenny up to the honeymoon suite and making love to his wife.”

“Ew, gross,” Wendy said, covering her ears with her hands.

“I love you, Wen,” Blade said. “I can’t think about your brother being thirty. I can’t think about the fact that thirteen years has gone by since we met. I love you just as much as I did when we said our own vows, and I want you just as badly. I’ll always want you. Even when I’ll have to take those little blue pills to get it up.”

Wendy giggled and Blade relaxed. He was afraid he’d really pissed her off this time.

“You’re lucky I love you,” she told him, unbuttoning the first button on his shirt. “But this has to be quick. I’m hungry and we’re missing dinner.”

“I’ll make sure you get dinner,” Blade told her. “I’ll track down the wedding coordinator and tell her you had an allergic reaction and missed it.”

“She knows I’m not allergic to anything,” Wendy said. “She made sure before planning the dinner menu.”

“Then I’ll tell her you were so horny and needed my cock that you couldn’t wait, so you missed dinner.”

“Allergic reaction sounds good,” Wendy muttered.

Blade smiled and kissed her palm. The doors opened and they quickly walked hand in hand to their room. Then he felt her hands push under the waistband of his slacks as he stuck the card in the door, and smiled.

Twenty minutes later, they lay on the bed, trying to catch their breath.

“I knew they’d match,” Blade said with a small smile.

“Horndog,” Wendy complained, but she grinned at him while she said it.

“Love you, Wendy Carlisle.”

“Love you back, Aspen. Now can we please go and have dinner and pretend to be a respectable couple at my brother’s wedding?”

“Anything you say, babe, anything you say.”

Emily and Fletch, fifteen years after the weddings.

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