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Jillian
Present Day
After the deep emotion that coated every word he spoke, she was fairly certain Dean should win an Oscar. And equally as sure that if she didn’t rein in the troubling emotions that bubbled to the surface after a decade of being put to rest, she would wind up with a shattered heart in eighteen months when he earned his well-deserved freedom.
It was just the dress. It had to be. That and all the ridiculous emotions she’d been compartmentalizing ever since the first call from her mother. She couldn’t really be entertaining the idea that she and Dean were actually getting married.
Oh shit. Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit.It was her turn. She straightened her shoulders slightly and nearly lost every conscious thought in Dean’s sapphire gaze. Falling in love with the boy she’d shoved down romantic notions toward so long ago was absolutely, positivelynotpart of the plan.
And yet it had somehow happened.
Fortunately for her, nearly everyone in the audience expected and wanted to see the level of love and commitment in both their vows that she accidentally somehow managed to feel for real.
“I love you, Dean. You are my best friend. Today I give myself to you in marriage. I promise to encourage and inspire you, to laugh with you, and to comfort you in times of sorrow and struggle.”
If she didn’t know better, she would swear there was a small drop collecting in the corner of his eye. But that was insane. Dean Carlisle hardly ever cried and certainly wouldn’t be invested enough to do so now.
Unless he was mourning the loss of his bachelorhood and ability to have sex for the next eighteen months.
She dutifully held her hand out as Dean slipped the band on her finger, right beside the engagement ring she’d found herself staring at more and more.
“With this ring,” he spoke the words so softly she could barely hear them, “I thee wed.”
Ainsley, Jillian’s maid of honor in name only, pushed Dean’s wedding ring in her free hand. She swallowed against the tide of emotions clogging her throat. No. This could not be happening.
But as her eyes connected with his once more, her heart screamed out its truth.
Dammit all to hell, she’d fallen in love with her best friend. A-frickin-gain.
“With this ring, I thee wed.” She wanted a damned glass of champagne. Not for celebrating their union, but as a reward for getting the words out without her voice cracking or the tears she was barely managing to contain spilling over onto her cheeks and streaking her mascara down her face.
Before the magistrate could even finish speaking, Dean snaked an arm around her waist and pulled her tight against him. He offered a wolfish grin half a second before he devoured her mouth. The soft gentle caresses that had started their unexpected kiss beneath the tree in the rainstorm a few days earlier was eclipsed by the brazen desire he poured out in this moment.
An Oscar, an Emmy, and a frickin’ Tony. His acting was better than anything she’d seen on the big screen, the small screen, or Broadway.
Her responding enthusiasm, however, was wholly genuine. And fractured a small portion of her rapidly beating heart.
Long before she was actually ready, he broke the kiss and a mischievous smile curled his lips. “Piggyback ride?”
Her mouth fell open. “You mean here? Now?”
“Nothing would piss off the Ice Queen more and nothing else even comes close to being right for me and you.”
She pulled on the delicate skirt of her dress until the hem hit just below her knee, giving her hips enough room. “I don’t know when it happened, but somehow Dean Carlisle grew up to make very logical and rational arguments.”
With that she hopped on his back, threw her arms around his neck, and completely ignored the bouquet Ainsley tried to give back. The majority of the guests erupted into cheers and laughter as they walked back down the aisle, but there was a near deadly silence from the area where her mother sat.
And she couldn’t be happier about that fact.
He set her down just outside the doorway to the large room where they’d said their vows and she held his face with her hand to keep his gaze on hers. “Dean…”
Before she could find the words, the entire bridal party poured out of the room and surrounded them, Dean’s brothers giving her kisses on the cheeks and telling her that welcoming her to the family was pointless since she’d been a member for two decades already.
They stood dutifully in the reception line, shaking hands, and giving hugs. Mike and Tracy Carlisle very nearly shattered her barely functional heart with the elation written all over their faces.
The evening continued the whirlwind pace, not allowing her the time to collect her scattered, confusing thoughts. They moved from table to table to speak with guests, but each time they approached a new one, the clanging of silverware against crystal wound up bringing their mouths together in almost constant kisses that left her even more perplexed than she had been seconds earlier.
