Page 6 of The Revenge Bride

Her cheeks redden and she looks away.Ah…guilty.I don’t know why I want her. She has a hot body, sure. She’s beautiful, sure. But we have never seen eye to eye on anything.

That day we were locked together in that closet was my catalyst.

After that, I spent weeks, then months, then years trying to figure out what went so wrong in my brain that caused her to lodge in my thoughts. Finally, I figured maybe it was the road not taken or something like that.

If we fuck a few times, I’m sure I’ll be cured of this misery.

Her chin lifts slightly. “Maybe I have but then I thought you might be bad at it. All talk to compensate for an inadequate joystick.”

“You thought wrong.” I lean in, put my head close to hers, and brush the outside of her ear with my lips. “You’re welcome to board this ride anytime you want, and I’ll prove it to you.”

She jerks back. “That’s not going to happen. Like you heard Clyde say. I’m frigid. Sex is not enjoyable. I’m incapable of having an orgasm.”

“Is that what he told you?” I can’t help but laugh. That guy’s an idiot who never deserved Lucy.

“Well…yes, he did but it’s true. I’ve even tried myself and nothing.”

That’s a mental image I wish I didn’t have. Lucy pleasuring herself without results. Because I want to ride in to the rescue.

“I’m happy to offer my assistance.”

She shakes her head. “No thanks.” Then her expression changes and she suddenly pivots. “Grandpa.”

When he sees me, he smiles. Amos Richmond never bought into my badass persona. He ignored the chip on my shoulder and looked beyond the front I wore to see the hurting kid beneath it. The kid who only wanted someone to think he was worth giving a shit about.

Whenever I’d run into him in town, he’d always ask me if I’d eaten that day. What I was working on. How school was going.

He took me fishing for my first time ever when I was thirteen and still hurting at being left behind in the rearview mirror. My parents had taken off after washing their hands of me saying I was too much to handle and not worth the headache.

Amos shakes my hand, his once firm grip weaker. “How’s it going, son?”

“Good.”

“Come on in and let’s eat.” He turns and ambles to the porch stumbling once but righting himself.

Lucy instantly takes his arm.

“Stop that. You’ll make me think I’m old.” He chuckles and leads the way slowly into the house. “Showing up together like this, I take it you have news for me?”

I don’t have to guess why he suspects that. Someone at Yonder’s probably overheard me saying Lucy and I were getting married and got on the phone with him before we even left the store.

She takes a deep breath. “Rhett and I are getting married.”

Amos nods like he’s not surprised by the announcement.

“Did someone call you and tell you that?” Lucy asks when he doesn’t react strongly to the news.

He shakes his head. “Didn’t have to. I knew years ago you’d end up with Rhett. He’s the one you’re meant to be with.”

News to me. I don’t believe in fate or soulmates or any of that crap.

Because his back is turned, he doesn’t catch Lucy’s quick gagging motion when he says we’re meant to be with each other.

“I have an opening in my calendar Friday,” Amos says. “Let’s have the wedding then.”

He’s joking but I can tell he’s not kidding. Might as well get it over with. “Sounds alright with me,” I say, raising a brow at my bride-to-be.

She’s focused on her grandfather, worry etched on her features. “We can get everything ready by then.”

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