CHAPTER NINETEEN
One year later…
SABRINA WALKED DOWN THE STAIRS in her wedding dress, her feet bare, yards of satin and lace trailing onto the white sands of Mal’s private beach. He stood near the water, wearing a tuxedo, his feet also bare. His mother dabbed her eyes with a lace hanky, and his father stood beside him as best man, proud as a peacock and equally handsome in his tuxedo.
Mal’s stepmother and stepfather were there along with his half brothers and half sisters. His teammates—both current and former—had flown in for the occasion, and Sabrina’s friends from the sports bar were there too. They’d also invited representatives from the foundation Mal had started in his brother’s name. Soldiers who wore their uniforms and looked very proud and serious as they watched her walk toward the man she loved.
Mal looked at her with such love in his eyes that she wanted to cry. He was the man she’d been meant to be with forever, regardless of the circumstances in which they’d met. As she moved toward him, she had no doubts. No fears. It was her and Mal against the world. He was her best friend, her lover, and soon he would be her husband.
She’d been afraid at first, yes. Every day spent with Mal only soothed her fears and taught her that life was meant to be seized and savored.
She reached his side and he held out his hand for her. When his fingers closed over hers, warmth and belonging suffused her.
The preacher began the ceremony as she and Mal stared into each other’s eyes. The sun was setting, and the golden light played across his skin, caressing the strong lines of his nose and jaw. She loved that nose and jaw. She loved everything about him.
“I do,” he said at the appropriate moment, and then she followed with her own I do.
“I now pronounce you man and wife,” the preacher said, and everyone cheered as Mal tugged her to him and kissed her. It wasn’t a polite kiss for the crowd. It was the kiss of a man desperately in love with his wife.
His wife.
She loved the sound of that. Loved the feeling it gave her to be Mrs. Malcolm Hughes.
The party after the ceremony went on for quite some time. There was a bonfire and plenty of drinking and carousing. At a certain point, Mal gave her a look she couldn’t mistake. She slipped her hand into his, and he swept her up in his arms, carrying her toward the house and the privacy they needed.
When they were alone in his bedroom—their bedroom—with the blinds closed and the door locked, he stripped her of her gown and then proceeded to make love to her with the kind of thoroughness that made her realize what a lucky, lucky woman she was to have fallen in love with this man.
He worshipped her body with his mouth, his tongue, his cock, taking her again and again to the heights of pleasure before letting her crash onto the rocks below.
“I love you,” he told her when he was still buried inside her and they were both quivering from the aftershocks.
Even without the words, she knew it was true. Sabrina slid her fingers into his hair and kissed him. And then she told him what she’d only realized this morning, what she’d been holding on to until this moment.
“I’m pregnant, Mal.”
He went very still. And then he threw his head back and laughed before rolling over and taking her with him. She sprawled across his big body as he held her tenderly and kissed her until she couldn’t breathe.
“Best thing I ever did was pick you up that day.”
“Best thing I ever did was get in the car with you.”
“I threw you in the car, baby.”
She laughed. “Yes, but I stayed.”
“True. Now stay forever.”
“I said I would in front of God and everybody.”
“You’ll soon be a famous country star. I don’t want you getting any ideas.”
“Hardly famous. It’s one song.”
“One song that’s getting more radio play than ever. One song that got you invited to the Grand Ole Opry stage. Face it, Sabrina, ‘Your Other Wife’ is a hit.”
It was a hit, and that thought made her blush. Of all the songs she’d written, the one about her ex was the most popular. Mal didn’t seem to care, however. He said it was the least the asshole could do for her.
“I wish it was one of the songs about you,” she told him.
“I don’t need a song when I have you. That’s all I want.”
“You have me, Mal.”
“I do, don’t I? Lucky me.”
“Lucky us.”
He gazed at her with so much love she thought she would cry. “Yeah, lucky us.”
Then he rolled her gently to the side and bent to put a kiss reverently on her belly. “All three of us.”
“You don’t mind that it’s so soon?”
His green eyes were serious as they lifted to her face. “I can’t imagine a better wedding present than our child, Sabrina. No, it’s not too soon. Nothing with you is too soon… or haven’t you figured that out yet?”
“I’m still learning,” she said, her throat tight with emotion.
The good thing was that she had forever with him to figure it out. And to figure the game of football out, which would probably take considerably more time than that…
THANK YOU!
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