Page 161 of Tempting Wyatt
Before I can say anything, remind him there’s always a place for him here if he wants to retire early and come home, Caleb strolls over to us, adjusting his tie. It’s still crooked. Pretty sure adjusting it made it worse.
“What’s up, brothers?” he quips, turning wide-eyed to Asher. “Didn’t know you’d make it today.”
“I could say the same to you,” Asher answers evenly. “Heard about the bull riding.”The same disapproval I feel about Caleb’s latest career choice weighs heavily on Asher’s tone.
There’s been tension between them since birth. Caleb sizes him up, likely contemplating an argument he could start.
Then he smirks. “Speaking of”—he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a check, handing it to me—“put it toward my tab.”
I glance down at the amount.Jesus.
“Caleb, this is a check for forty grand, made out to you.” It’s from a company called Diamondback Denim. I vaguely recall seeing commercials that have some kind of bedazzled snake on them. I only remember because there was a lot of focus on women’s asses. “From a company that makes blue jeans?”
He grins proudly. “Yeah. My new sponsor. Check the back. I signed it over to you.”
“Caleb, I don’t?—”
“Take it,” he says firmly. “I owe it to the ranch. I owe it to Dad. Call it a wedding present if you want. Pay off the legal fees I caused. Damn. Just take it. Please.”
I’ve never seen him this serious or heard him sayplease, so I pocket it and nod.
“Okay then. I’ll put it in the operations account in the morning.”
Tension ripples in the air between the four of us.
“Well, since we’re all here,” Isaac breaks in, clapping his hands the way our wedding coordinator often did during rehearsal, “let’s get this show on the road.”
Soft music begins playing, and I grin as my heart beats a little harder.
“That’s our cue.”
For the next hour, Ivy and I pledge to love one another forever in front of everyone we know. And thanks to my mom, a few others we don’t.
Ivy tears up a little when she tells me that falling in love with me was like having all the love she ever gave away come back to her. I respond by kissing the shit out of her long before the pastor gives me permission. We pose for photos, where I hold her in my arms and give Lucifer several hard glares to let him know she’s all mine now.
For good.
He snorts as if he doesn’t believe me but is willing to let me pretend for today.
Asshole.
We’re just about to cut the cake when Asher pulls himself away from our mom’s tear-filled embrace to come say goodbye. Caleb and Isaac step over to see him off when County Sheriff Wayne Blanchard and his deputy Archie Bennett, who I haven’t seen since the bar fight Isaac started, approach us.
I don’t remember if they were on the guest list, but knowing my mom, half the town is probably here.
Caleb curses quietly because they’ve both arrested him a few times.
“You do something to bring them here?” I ask him under my breath.
He stares straight ahead. “Not that I know of. Not recently.”
Sheriff Blanchard reaches out to shake my hand. He looks the same as he did when I was a kid, except his blond mustache is gray now.
“Congratulations, Wyatt. That’s a beautiful bride you’ve got there.”
I thank him and glance over to where Ivy is chatting animatedly with my mom, my sisters, and her agent.
“Thank you, sir.”
