Purple caught my eye. Then yellow. A smattering of bluebells took over next, and I had a sudden desire to run singing barefoot over the hills.

“Wow, Perry, this is absolutely gorgeous.”

“Told ya.”

Stephen parked in the flat, grassy area and hopped out of the truck. I quickly followed suit. We’d just spent the last thirty minutes bumping around on country roads after the hour spent on the freeway to get there, and my ass was sore. I needed to stretch.

“Can you grab this other end, Chase?” Stephen yelled from the hatch.

Chase went to help him unload crap from the back as Perry and I took in the full view. When Perry said farm, this was not what I had in mind.

The four of us had planned to spend a good portion of the day there setting a few things up and checking out the property to see what best went where. Kind of like a prerehearsal. There was still another month till the wedding, but it was such a clear, beautiful day and we didn’t want to waste it.

I spotted the little white house farther off in the distance. “Should we go in and say hi?”

“No, Auntie Em will be in town most of the day. Not sure if we’ll be gone before she gets back, so she left the door open in case we need to get inside.”

“Okay, let’s go walk around.”

“Did you know I was almost named Dorothy?”

I laughed. “No, you weren’t.” I grabbed hold of her arm. “Come on, I want to go over by all those wildflowers. That would make an amazing backdrop for pictures.” I made a mental note to look up the blooming season when I got home. I hoped it’d still be this colorful for the wedding.

“Where do you want this, Perry?” Stephen asked.

There was a tent spread out on the ground. It didn’t look too big. “You’re planning on having more than this, right? What if it rains?”

“Yes, we’ll have more. In case the sun is too hot and people need shade. We’re just doing a trial run on one of them now.” Perry pointed to a less overgrown area closer to the house. “My aunt said to have the food and stuff set up more on the incline, and we want the ceremony to be held where it’s more level, so… over there.”

Stephen nodded and he and Chase began pulling the tarp over, along with a handful of supplies.

“Don’t you think we should help?” I asked when Stephen dropped a bag of spikes and they scattered in the dirt.

“I don’t think either of them needs any help pitching a tent.” She winked. “I’m sure they’re both well-equipped in that department. Well, I can only attest to one but—”

“Yes, Perry I get it.”

“What? I was going to say that I know Stephen would rather do that stuff than nail down all these other little details. He’s not going to care where the cake stand goes.”

From where we stood, it was easy to scan the entire landscape and get an overall picture of how everything would play out. As long as the weather cooperated, it would be a breathtaking ceremony.

“You’re amazed, aren’t you, Jills? I can see it in your face. Don’t you feel bad for doubting me now?”

“It’s not that I doubted you….” She pursed her mouth. “Yeah, I guess I did, but do you blame me? You said farm and the first thing I thought of was tractors.” I noticed her looking down again. “Why do you keep looking at my hand?”

“I thought I saw one of those weird beetles on it. It starts warming up and they’re out in droves.” She waved her hands around. “Oh, I can’t wait to show you the trellis. That looks like it back there. Let’s do that first.” Perry gripped my arm, dragging me along. “We can use it for the ceremony, and from the pictures, it looks awesome.”

The closer we got, the more I could see how right she was. “This is perfect, Perry.” I grabbed her by the shoulders and steered her inside the arch. “Yes. You need to take your vows right here.” It was white, twined with live vines and silk flowers. Plenty of space for two to fit. “The officiant can stand right over here—who’s that again?”

“Chase.”

“His name is Chase?”

“No, silly. Behind you.”

I turned around to face him, and his lips sucked me in like usual. I didn’t know how I got anything done when I just wanted to taste them all the damn time. I drew my eyes back up to his and smiled. “Hey,” I said.

“Hey, back. Stephen’s wondering where you want to put the cake.”

Perry started giggling. Yeah, she could do it too, and it didn’t bother me. She was supposed to be happy. She was marrying the love of her life.

“Cake?”

“We’re just trying to space everything out. Do you want it by the food or…?”

“Hmm, let me think about that. Right now”—she grabbed the two of us and pushed us inside the trellis—“I need to see how this looks when a couple’s inside it.” She inched back, hand on her chin. “You’re right, Jills. It’s perfect.”

I slipped out through the back way, feeling a little uncomfortable. Chase and I had talked about forever plenty, but never about marriage specifically. I didn’t want Perry to start making innuendos and freaking him out.

“I think the cake should have its own separate spot,” I said. “And it shouldn’t come out until you’re going to cut it. Is there a place to store it inside the house?”

“Yes, that won’t be a problem.”

I pointed to the left of where Stephen was. “That would make a good place to set up the bar. There’s a tent for that too, right?”

“Yep,” Perry said.

“All right then. Sounds good so far. We’re moving right along. Does that help, Chase?” I asked, smiling.

“Yes.” He brought my hand up to his mouth and kissed it, keeping his eyes on me, the green in his irises enhanced by the spring grasses surrounding us. I felt like a pure sloshing sap.

“Chase,” I whispered, almost as a warning. I was embarrassed at how easily he could turn me on, and I was not going to get fucking wet right there. Talk about inappropriate.

He released my hand and, with a grin, headed back to Stephen. I turned back to Perry. “Okay, so we could line up a bunch of chairs here, and this ground is flat enough to serve as an aisle. What about….” She was staring at me weirdly. “What?”

“You’re just so cute together.”

“Yes, Perry, but so are you and Stephen. We can talk about Chase and me later, but I think you guys are a little more important right now.”

“I was thinking about something, Jills. Don’t get all batshit on me here, but the bachelorette party is next weekend, and Daniel keeps asking me. I can’t put it off any longer. What do you say about inviting Cassie?”

“What?” Could my mouth get any wider? “You actually want her there?”

“No, but I don’t want her at the wedding either, and I’m not going to tell Daniel he can’t bring a date. Maybe it’s time just to let all this go and let them be. You said everything went fine at the school play, right? You were all together then.”

“It went fine because I didn’t have to talk or look at her. I just watched the kids.”

She sighed. “I know you don’t like or trust her—I don’t either—but you should be concentrating more on your own life. Moving forward with Chase.”

She had to be suffering from pre-wedding mush brain. “You’re supposed to be the bitch here, Perry, not the nice one, remember? All you’ve done since Cassie popped up is convince me how much she needs to be taken down.”

A tall, willowy Cassie sprout that needed to be mowed over with a very sharp blade. Perry knew how detrimental it was the longer that psycho lurked around our family. Each day she roped Daniel in more and more. But now that I thought about it, Perry had softened her stance in the past couple weeks. It seemed like right around that night at The Groove.

“I know, but maybe I was wrong?”

“No. I specifically recall you telling me that you’re always right.”

She sighed. “I hate how she affects you, Jills. You have better things in your life to focus on. Maybe we need to switch tactics. Try a little ‘keep your friends close, your enemies closer’ type of thing. All we’ve managed to accomplish so far is making you crazy. Crazier.”

“But the condoms!” That still really irked me. I wanted to present Cassie with a huge-ass box of her own, then inflate them in her throat. “How can I be all nice to her when she’s having sex right under my nose, using my condoms?” Yeah, double standard. I wasn’t fluffing up the bedroom pillows for my son to have his romps, but I could stomach it a lot better if it were with a nice girl.

“What do you mean your?”

“Perry, I told you about this. I said I found those missing condoms in the basement. I wouldn’t doubt it if she was the one to go into my room and steal them. That doesn’t sound like the kind of whack job we need to ‘keep close.’”

She scrunched up her face. “No, you just told me you found condoms. I assumed you meant in his bedroom or something. And I didn’t know he took them from you. That is just… creepy.”

“They were in the basement stuffed behind the couch like some dumb teenager move, like he was hiding them for next time. It makes no sense. And I know I told you all about it because I was livid.”

“You probably told Chase, not…. Wait, were they by chance in a Kleenex box?”

“Yes. See, I knew I told you.”

“Um, that was me.”

“What was you?”

“God, I’m so sorry, Jills. All this time you were pissed off, and it had nothing to do with Cassie.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Perry.”

She swayed back and forth, her pink and black tunic that would’ve looked ridiculous on me looking adorable on her. She interlaced her fingers, then yanked them apart.

“Remember at Daniel’s coming home party you tricked me into eating that nasty olive?”

“I didn’t trick you. The can was labeled.”

“Well, that jalapeño hiding in there exploded my sinuses, so I had to go blow my nose. I didn’t like the stuff you had in the bathroom, so I got it out of your bedroom. Then I took the box downstairs with me in case I needed it again. This is a really idiotic story. Are you sure you want to hear it?”

“Ah, yes.” Perry went into my room all the time. That didn’t bother me. But I was pretty damn curious why she’d stash rubbers behind my couch.

“I know a hell of a lot about you, Jills, but not that you keep your Trojans tucked in between little blankets. If they get cold, they’ll still work, you know.”

“I keep them loose in the drawer. They get mixed up with things sometimes. Why didn’t you just give them back when you saw them?”

“It was just an all-around insane day, you know? Later on, after all that Cassie shit happened, I was sitting down there with Stephen and your mom’s sweet little old lady friend… um, what’s her name?”

“Anita.”

“Right. So we were down there with Anita, and I had to spit something out discreetly, so I grabbed the box and pulled out another tissue, and I saw one there. I’ll blame it on one of the bottles I was drinking that night—not sure which one, but I think it was laced with acid—because I kinda freaked out thinking sweet little old lady Anita was going to be exposed to something that screamed sex, so I quickly stuffed it behind the couch. Discreetly, of course. Then I completely forgot about it.”

“What did you…?” I shook my head. No, forget it. I had no idea what she’d be in such a rush to spit out, but… yeah, it was a pretty idiotic story. For anyone but Perry.

I suddenly perked up. “So, maybe they’re not having sex after all?”

“Or maybe they are.” I narrowed my eyes at her. “But if so, it’s probably not in your house, and you can’t control a damn thing outside it. Just another reason to let it all go and focus on your future. With Chase.”

“All right. Let’s just get working on what we came to do. Depending on where the electrical runs, we could have the band set up over by that brown shed.”

“We need to take a break.”

“We just started.”

“Chase,” Perry yelled, waving. “Come over here, please.”

“He’s helping Stephen.”

“I’ll change places with him. I think you and Chase should walk over by the wildflowers and scope out all the photo ops.”

“How is that a break? We’re both still doing stuff.”

“Stop arguing with me.” She looked past my shoulder. “Hey, Chase. Jills really needs a break. Maybe you two can take a little walk? I’ll go help my hubby-to-be.”

“No problem.” He came up behind me and slipped his hand in mine. I did feel a release of tension, so maybe Perry was onto something.

“She wanted to check out the flowers all over by those hills over there. That’d be a good place to start.”

I gave her a look that she ignored. What was up with her? I walked off with Chase, deciding the only break I needed was from her lunacy.

“Not going so well?” he asked.

“No, it’s been going fine. Perry’s just acting like herself, I guess you could say. What about with you?”

“One of the poles is bent, giving us a little trouble, but nothing we can’t work around.” We swung around the edge of the property and stepped up one of the small hills. “Before I forget, my parents would like us over some night. Fine with you if I set something up soon?”

“Definitely,” I said, giving him a quick kiss before bending down to pick one of the violet flowers, streaked with yellow. “This is beautiful here. I had my doubts, but I can’t envision anything more romantic for the ceremony.” I just had to pray it rained neither that day nor the few days leading up to it.

He pulled me down beside him, enclosing me in his arms. I could detect Perry and Stephen off in the distance, but just barely with the sun bright in my face.

“What type of wedding did you have the first time?”

“Nothing like this, that’s for sure. We just got married at the courthouse. It was meant to be more practical than romantic.”

“That sounds a little sad.”

I shrugged. “It’s not that big of a deal. I got Daniel out of it.” I turned around and kissed him. “And I have you now.”

“Yes, you do.”

I faced forward again. I knew I should’ve been scouting out places, but it was nice to just melt into him and do nothing but watch the butterflies and bumblebees. It all felt so simple.

He nuzzled his face against my neck. “And I’m never letting you go, Jillian.”

“I never want you to.”

We sat in silence for a while, and I don’t know what came over me—probably all the damn bees flittering from flower to flower—but I brought it up. I brought it up.

“I know you want kids, Chase.”

“Jillian?” He swiveled me to look at him. I was kinda hoping to stare anywhere else but his eyes for this, but….

“I’m sorry I wasn’t even willing to discuss it with you before. You really scared me.”

He smiled. Warm and soft. “I noticed.”

“My answer’s not definite, but… at this stage in my life, I’m not sure I want to have a baby. You need to know this now before any more time passes. In case it changes anything.”

I couldn’t read his expression because he’d dropped his forehead to mine. He gathered my hair in his hands. “It changes nothing, Jillian.”

I placed my palms on the sides of his face. “Chase, you have no idea how much I love you for even saying that, but it’s because I love you so much that I don’t want to hold you back from everything you want.”

He pulled back, keeping my face still so I could see deeply into him. He didn’t speak, just gazed at me until his eyes appeared to swirl into a multitude of different shades, drawing me in fully and giving me no choice but to believe him.

“It changes nothing, Jillian.”

“Wait! I think I changed my mind.”

“Changed your mind?”

My body stiffened, my relaxation scale dropping from the triple digits down to the negatives the instant his cock touched my ass.

“You have to relax, Jillian.”

He trailed his fingers up and down my back, into my hair, kissing my neck. It wasn’t working anymore. I suddenly had a sick desire to know how many women he’d coaxed through this before. No. I pushed that out of my head. I saw right through myself. I’m onto you, Jillian. I was trying to feel as squeamish as possible so I’d have reason to give up.

As if painfully ripping apart my ass wasn’t reason enough.

“I’m trying, Chase. I thought I was.”

I’d been more than relaxed; I’d been so freaking turned on that my eyes were crossing. He’d spent an insane amount of time working me up when just the tone of his voice made me wet. But all that had come to a screeching halt when the big moment arrived.

“We don’t have to do this right now if you’re not ready. You asked me, remember?”

Not likely I’d forget. After our day at the farm, I’d never felt closer to him. I truly believed that we’d make it through anything. I wanted him to take every bad memory, every negative experience and transform it. I wanted to trust him with my body in every way, because he already wholly possessed my heart.

And, oh yeah. The thought of him telling me that day on our rock how good he could make it never left my mind. That might have factored into it too. Because if he could get me to feel any pleasure out of this, he was the ultimate rock star. The. Ultimate.

“No, I’m ready, Chase. I want this. I do. I’m just nervous.”

His lips against my shoulder blades, his fingertips brushing over my nipples, distracted me enough to moan. He was behind me but had moved downward until his hardness pushed on my thighs instead. The slickness from the lube he’d used earlier coated my skin.

“I know you are, baby.” It tickled when he grazed over my stomach, and I squirmed. “It might be uncomfortable at first, but the less tense you are, the quicker you’ll begin moaning and tightening around me.” His hand dipped between my legs, and I squirmed again. A lot. He hadn’t made me come yet, and I was sure that was all part of his evil plan.

“You’re so damn wet for me, Jillian. That’s a start.”

He slid two fingers inside, drawing them out and over my clit. “Only if we were fucking there,” I said, then gasped when he hit a sensitive spot.

“No, it tells me you’re enjoying this so far despite being scared.”

He pushed back inside, pulling out, but that time instead of moving forward he went back. “Of course I’m enjoying it. Until—” The tip of his finger entered my ass, and I froze again. “—that.” Chill out, Jillian. He went in deeper, and it was only one finger, but it might as well have been a boulder.

He’d used his finger earlier on me, but I still wasn’t used to it. It wasn’t so much discomfort as freaking myself out thinking of what was going to replace it. That was a boulder.

“I’m going to try something different now,” he whispered. His other hand snaked around and went to my clit. As he massaged circles over it and teased my neck with his mouth, I was torn between loosening up and getting irritated. I couldn’t believe that it was my idea to waste a nonfertile day by asking him to stick his cock somewhere other than my pussy.

“Do you want to come, Jillian?”

“I don’t think I—ahhhh.” I was not expecting that rush. The one that just swept me up out of nowhere. What just happened here? My muscles were so damn loose; I no longer felt the intrusion.

“Fuck. I cannot wait to feel that when I’m fucking you.”

What is he talking about? Fucking me? No. Didn’t he hear me when I said I’d changed my mind, back before I’d changed it again? Well, I was changing it back once more. Now, what am I talking about? Dammit, I was confused.

He was stroking my clit again, making me tingle. “I’m not going to let you come down until we’re finished, Jillian. Every time you come for me, you’ll open a little more.”

I was trying to make sense of his words when I felt myself building for a second time. Sailing higher up that wall. More pressure behind me, but nothing I could focus on too long because another orgasm was starting to plow through me. Mmmmmmm.

The vibration of his voice was hot against my back, and I only saw a mass of contradictions behind my tightly squeezed lids. He was talking me through, that much I was aware, but the pain quickly knocked all my senses inside out. Or outside in. I couldn’t be sure of anything until more pleasant sensations rolled in, taking over, expanding my body in all the ways I loved.

Heavier on the pressure, slighter on the pain, another fucking orgasm to make me chase after my breath. He was cursing behind me, the digging of his fingers into my hip causing more hurt than anything else at the moment.

The last remaining shred of tension drifted off, and I finally gave him everything. Almost everything, I thought while feeling so fucking fantastic. I want a baby with this man, I screamed in my head. I wanted to experience everything possible in this lifetime with him. It was the endorphins talking. I knew that, and I didn’t give a shit.

My breathing was erratic, and I was positive if I opened my eyes, I’d have double vision. Coming had become the new ache, and my body was fast approaching its pleasure limit. I’d gone through far more intensity with Chase before, but yet he’d never floored me so hard.

Rock. Star.