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They just smiled.
So Abby walked down the aisle of the local Methodist church with half of Catelow filling the pews and aisles, with Lucy and Hannah and her friend and coworker Marie as flower girl and maid of honor and matron of honor, respectively. Cody chose Horace Whatley as his best man, which flattered the rancher no end.
Cody’s cousin, Bart Riddle, was tapped to walk Abby down the aisle, to everyone’s amusement—Bart was nowhere near old enough to be anyone’s father. But he seemed delighted to be part of the wedding, just the same.
And Lassiter was in the audience, dressed to kill and gathering feminine glances from all the women present.
Their vows spoken, Cody lifted the veil and looked at her for several long seconds before he kissed her tenderly and walked her back down the aisle to congratulations from all present and out the front door into a shower of rose petals.
The reception was held in the fellowship hall, catered by the local café, and Cody and Abby fed each other wedding cake for the photographer and generally had the best day of their lives captured minute by minute.
Lucy hugged them both and declared that now she had an uncle of her very own and she was going to take very good care of him. Which caused Cody to have to swallow down a very big lump in his throat as he hugged the child.
The big step he’d taken—marrying Abby—suddenly seemed like the most natural thing in the world, not worth all the agonizing he’d done over it. One thing stood out above all. They loved one another. That made everything worthwhile.
They spent their honeymoon in Jamaica, at Montego Bay, where they mostly saw the hotel room.
First times were supposed to be unpleasant, but Cody was slow and tender and patient. He built the passion with soft kisses and light brushes of his fingers, encouraging Abby to explore him as he was exploring her. Long before he moved over her, she was hot with such a fever of need that she was almost sobbing.
“Shhhh,” he whispered as he moved over her and slowly, tenderly, inside her. “Slow down, honey. It’s all right. There’s no rush.”
“Yes...there...is!” she sobbed, shivering.
He laughed softly. “Slowly, Abby,” he whispered as he moved deeper and deeper, and she opened her legs and lifted her hips to encourage him, gasping with each motion of his hips against hers.
And all through it he watched her, ached for her, but paced his passion so that she was ready for him before he took the final step. And when he did, she cried out and shuddered as the pleasure reached a peak, only to reach another and another. She dug her nails into his back and he covered her mouth with his to silence her cries of pleasure. Her passionate response made him bristle with masculine pride. He took her from one plateau to another, from one side of the king-sized bed to the other, in a marathon of lovemaking that only ended when they were too exhausted to do anything more except sleep.
Abby woke to sunlight streaming through the windows and the sound of the waves lapping over the breakers onto the shore outside.
She lifted herself up and looked down at her husband, adoring him with her eyes.
He opened his own eyes and looked up at her with a slow smile. “I hope you want babies right away,” he drawled.
She recalled a prophylactic placed on the bedside table, but she’d been so desperate that it was the last thing she’d thought of. She just grinned. “Lucy shouldn’t be an only child,” she whispered, and brushed her mouth softly over his.
“That’s just what I was thinking,” he teased, rolling her over to trace her soft, yielding body with his fingers. “I love kids.”
“Me, too.”
He drew in a long breath. “I’d love to do more of what we did last night. But...”
She linked her arms around his neck. “But...?”
He bent down. “I’m sore.”
She caught her breath and burst out laughing. “Now, isn’t that a coincidence? Because I’m sore, too,” she whispered back.
He kissed her hungrily and wrapped her up tight in his arms. “Oh, God, I love you,” he said huskily.
“I love you, too, Cody,” she said softly. She searched his eyes. “I’ll never cheat on you, and I’ll love you forever.”
He traced her eyebrows. “I was living in a fool’s paradise with Debby,” he said. “With my eyes closed. This time, they’re wide open, and I love what I see. This is the real paradise,” he whispered, and he kissed her again. “I’ll take care of you, all my life.”
She curled up against him with a soft sigh. “And I’ll take care of you, all of mine,” she murmured sleepily.
He cuddled her close and pulled the sheet over them with a contented sigh. Outside, the palm trees swayed lazily in the wind, and the sound of children laughing in the swimming pool nearby fell softly on the silence. Inside, two happy people slept in each other’s arms, and their dreams were sweet.
