Page 124 of Tulips and Lost Time

“We drank one shot!” Jess bellows, sitting on Kane’s lap and shooting… well, another shot. “It was to calm her nerves!”

“It made you late,” Angelo growls. “A grown man is apt to worry if the people he loves are supposed to be somewhere at a certain time and they’re not.”

“You’re insane if you think I didn’t have eyes on them,” Kane chuckles. “My whole fucking army had them in their sights the whole time.”

“We got there at like, ten minutes past,” Laine rolls her eyes. “You need to chill. We were safe. And the entire police force escorted us from the house to the church steps.”

“Did they?” I look across the dining room to Alex, who sits with his wife and daughter and smiles wide while Oz says some shit I guess is funny. “No one mentioned they were gonna do that.”

“Because you don’t always have to be in charge of everything.” Kari grabs my jaw between her fingers, her eyes alight with playfulness and her lipstick none the worse for wear despite the number of times I’ve attempted to suck it off today. She looks me up and down, challenging as her brow quirks. “You think you’re always in control, Luca. Telling me no. Then telling me yes. You think you get to decide when we get together. And then you decided on our house. You decide what side of the bed you get to sleep on.”

“I sleep closest to the door! I’m protecting you.”

“You think you can choose the movie we watch on Friday nights.”

“Because you only ever want to watch romcoms from the 90s. Literally, that’s it, for the rest of your life. I know them all word for word at this point.”

“So?” She leans in and rests her forehead on mine. “I like the guarantee of a happy ending. I want my entertainment to be entertaining, not stressful. I don’t care for action movies and annoying espionage stuff.”

“And as always,” I pinch her chin between my fingers, “I oblige you anyway. Despite the fact that I know Hugh Grant’s lines better than Hugh Grant knows them himself. Stop whining.”

“I chose the songs today,” she grins. “And I chose to make you wait ten more minutes. I chose to have my brother give me to you. And now I’m choosing to keep you forever. Isn’t that what you wanted all along?”

“Well…”

“Well?” she challenges. “Did you, or did you not, ask for forever?”

“Yes. I did.”

“So what are you complaining about again? I seem to have misplaced your point way back when I was eighteen years old, and you sent me away.”

“You’re feeling pretty fucking sassy tonight, huh?” I drag her closer and groan when she gives herself to me. Lips. Tongue. Body and soul. “You wanna fight, Bear? Or are you trying to ensure I smack your ass later tonight?”

She glances up, red-cheeked and mildly panicked as she looks around at those who share our table. But Marcus is busy with Meg, and Jess is making out with Kane. Laine and Ang have eyes for only each other, and Jack is busy running circles over Britt’s swollen belly.

“No one is paying attention to us,” I whisper into her ear. Then for good measure, I bite the lobe and grin when she gasps. “No one can save you.”

Slowly, seductively, she draws her gaze around again and stops. “Don’t even think about it.”

“Think about what?” I slide my hand beneath the tablecloth, dragging the white linen closer until it sits over our laps. Then I flash a wide smile when Kari’s eyes widen. “You can’t tell me what to do, Bear. I’m untouchable.”

She snarls when I slip my hand beneath her gown and slide it up to her knee. She sweats from the multiple layers of fabric. Or maybe she’s just hot for me. “Try and stop me.”

“Luca!” She slaps her hand down over mine, but hers is outside the gown and mine is in. “Stop it.”

“No.” I press a fast, almost chaste kiss to her lips and grin when she vibrates. Anger. Humiliation. Heat. “What are you gonna do about it, huh?”

“I’ll scream so everyone looks at us.”

I scoff and slide my hand just a little higher. “You’re just gonna lie to my face like that? On our wedding day?”

“I’ll break your fingers.”

“For touching my wife?” A long, baritone growl rolls along my throat when I say those words out loud. “My wife.”

“I’ll let you touch me. At home, in private.”

“Or maybe I should touch you right here,” I snicker, crawling my fingers just a little higher along her thigh. “Teach you how to be quiet when the need arises.”

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