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Laney smacked Kyle lightly on the stomach. “I told you not to call me that in public.”
He growled in her ear, and she grinned at the other two men. “Excuse me, gentlemen, I need to have a word with my fiancé.” She laid a quick kiss on Kyle’s jaw. “But first, I need to eat something.”
They loaded up plates of food and settled on straw bales just outside the barn.
“This is overwhelming,” Laney said, taking in the celebration. “There’s a lot of love in this town.”
“There’s a lot of love on this straw bale too,” Kyle murmured.
“I’m being serious.” He shot her a look that said, So am I. She didn’t doubt it for a second. He’d proven his love for her many times over the last few months, even though he didn’t need to. “Aren’t you going to miss this place, though?”
He took a long, slow drink of beer. She appreciated that he didn’t blow off the question. It’s not like Chicago had ever been his dream. He was leaving almost all of his life goals behind when they headed out tomorrow.
“If we never came back again, then I’d miss it. If this was the last Wardham potluck for me, I’d be sad. But we’ll be back for holidays and the odd vacation.”
“Not every vacation?”
He shook his head. “No. I’m being serious now too, Laney. Our next vacation isn’t going to be shared with our family, or spent driving between Chicago and Wardham. You want to know what I’m excited about?” Her breath caught in her throat. She did, she really did. He took another sip of beer and gave her a smoldering look. “You. A string bikini. A private beach.”
She bit her lip. “That sounds perfect.”
“I’m telling you, sweetheart...Jamaica. Or Hawaii. I’m not picky. We don’t need to tell them.” He nodded toward their mothers. “Let them plan a big party. Let’s just go away and get married, just the two of us.”
He slid his lips across hers and she nodded. His plans were always the best.
Perfect No Matter What
a sequel wedding story
Chapter 1
Spring, almost a year later
As he had been all too often lately, Kyle woke to the quiet hum of something vibrating in his fiancée’s hand. He stiffened before he could control his reaction. It wasn’t her fault. He needed to be more understanding, but this ruined their plans for the day.
“You’re mad.” Even through her sleepy slur, he could hear the sadness in Laney’s voice.
He tugged her close, relishing the soft dip and swell of her waist and hip under his palm. “No, just disappointed.”
She rolled on top of him, still holding her offending pager. “It’s this resident, he’s super needy. I’m going to call, talk him through the consult, and then I’ll come back to bed for an hour. I’ll need to go in for rounds, but I promise we’ll make it to the market today.”
“I’m awake. You don’t need to go to the den to call him.” Kyle kissed Laney’s neck and squeezed her bottom. As if on cue, Buddy scrambled off his ridiculous dog bone pillow bed in the corner and started nosing Kyle’s foot. “Be right back.”
Four in the morning. Jesus. He thought waking before dawn on a regular basis would be a thing of the past when he moved off the family farm. He had to go and fall in love with a surgeon. And get a dog. His little family. He loved them both, even if they interfered with a good sleep-in.
He followed Buddy down the stairs and across the kitchen to the back slider. While the black and white mutt did his business in their small fenced yard, Kyle put coffee on and refilled the stainless steel water and kibble bowls next to the fridge.
A scratch at the door told him his butler services were required again. Then he got a lick on the leg on the way past and the early morning business was forgiven. He grabbed a banana and left Buddy downstairs, closing the gate at the kitchen door for good measure. He had an hour with his woman. He planned to make the most of it.
Laney lay on the bed, phone pressed to her ear and head tossed back in frustration. Kyle quietly stripped out of his shorts and rejoined her on the bed, pressing his erection into the naked hip peeking out from beneath the hem of his college swim team shirt. Now threadbare in spots, the shirt was still her favourite sleeping garment. She’d worn it in college, the first time they fell in love, and when they broke up he’d put it away. More than a decade later, he’d given it to her again and this time there would be no pause to their relationship. Too many years had passed, but hindsight was twenty-twenty.
Now they were living in the moment, together, and he couldn’t be happier. Except for the working around the clock thing, but that was part of the deal of loving Laney.
She hung up the phone and turned into his embrace. “I need to leave in forty-seven minutes.”
“Then I’ll make you scream for thirty and we can rush through a shower.”
Laney didn’t get out of the hospital until almost noon, but they made it to the farmer’s market. A simple bit of togetherness was all Kyle had asked for and no matter how busy she got, she wanted to give that to him.
