The rest of the girls looked up and started demanding to see the ring. Gage pushed me toward them as he took Emily’s hand and led her outside with Sky. After fawning over my ring, they shoved the pad of paper in front of me and all started talking at once. All I caught were the words, how soon, colors, and in the barn.
“Wait, I’m sorry, did you say in the barn? Like have the wedding in the barn?” They had a massive barn, and Amanda had told me about the dances and numerous parties they’d had in that barn. Granted, I’d never been inside it, but a wedding in there? Um . . . What?
“No, darlin’ girl.” Tessa laughed, and I relaxed. “The reception will be in there.”
Oh. Just as weird.
I must not have been very good at hiding my thoughts that early in the morning, because Tessa and Amanda laughed even harder. “Trust us, Cassidy, it’s not gonna be some hick wedding; you’ll be amazed what we can do with that barn. Not too far from the barn is a perfect spot for a wedding though; I’ve always thought that!” Tessa went on and started sketching the trees that formed an arch and the field between it and the barn, explaining where chairs and such would go for the ceremony. “How many people will be coming?” she asked suddenly, and my mouth opened, then shut.
“I don’t know,” I answered honestly. From Stacey, I knew all about the issues of having too many people to invite, but I had hardly anyone. I had the Bradleys, who were Gage’s family; Jackie and Dana, whom I’d met because they were dating Gage’s best friends . . . The only people who were solely mine to invite were Jesse and Isabella—hell, even they were technically linked to his family now—and Lori and Stacey.
“Okay, well how many people in the wedding party?”
I glanced at Amanda, then back to Tessa. “I don’t know.”
Thankfully Gage came back in then and Tessa asked him the same question. “Uh . . . Ty, Ethan, and Adam.”
Tessa looked back at me and leaned forward to ask quietly, “Do you have three girls you’d want in the wedding?” She finally understood my sudden awkwardness.
“Amanda, Jackie, and Dana.” I looked back to Amanda. “Will you be my maid of honor?”
“Oh my God, really?!” she screeched, and threw her arms around my neck. “Thanks, Cass! Okay, what about colors?”
“Green,” I said at the same time Gage said, “Gold.”
I turned to him with a confused look and he pointed to my eyes. My stomach warmed and I kissed his lips quickly. “Green on the guys, gold on the girls.”
Gage smiled widely and cupped my cheeks to deepen our next kiss. “Gotta get some work done, darlin’, have fun. Ma—”
“I know, I know!” Tessa said somewhat distractedly. “As soon as possible!”
As soon as Gage slipped out the door, the wedding planning took off.
GAGE
I WALKED INTO my old room, where Cassidy was now staying until she moved into the house with me, and my heart stopped before kicking into overdrive. Cassidy was curled up on top of the comforter with her phone in one hand, that hand resting on a notebook with a list of names, all of which had checks and numbers next to them. I looked at the floor and picked the pen up; put it, her phone, and the notebook on the nightstand; and turned to look at her again. Her hand was still out like it had been when she was holding her phone, and the other was curled around a sleeping Sky. Deciding to let them be, I kissed Cassidy’s forehead and turned to leave.
“Gage?” Her voice was husky from her nap, and damn if the sound didn’t shoot straight through me.
“Hey, sorry. Didn’t mean to wake you.”
“It’s okay.” She patted the bed behind her and I carefully climbed in so I wouldn’t wake Sky. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”
“Y’all get a lot done today?”
“Oh my word, like you wouldn’t believe. You weren’t lying; your mom has connections any wedding planner would kill for.”
“Honestly, I’m surprised y’all have anything left.”
“We really don’t. Just the dresses, shirts, ties . . . that’s about it. I decided it’s going to be semiformal. I don’t want you in a tux.”
Thank God. “Sounds good to me.”
“Can you tell me something? Why do you want to marry me so soon?”
My body went rigid. “Cass, I thought we already went ov—”
“No, I remember what you said, but is it because we can’t do anything with your mom not letting us live together? Because if that’s it, Gage, I’ll find a way to be with you. I just don’t want you to feel like you have to marry me so we can be together in that way.”
“God no. The only person who can keep me from you is you. If you aren’t ready for this, Cassidy, all you have to do is say the word; but if you are . . . darlin’, I’m so ready to marry you. The way I see it, I’ve already found everything I want in you, and I know that’s never going to change. So why wait? I’m ready for it all: marrying you, living in our house, having a family. As long as it’s with you, I’m ready.”
“ ’Kay, good.” She smiled and pulled my head down to hers to kiss me. “Might have to hold off on the family though. I just got used to the idea of having kids; that’s gonna take me a while. Oh, but just so you know, everyone except Isabella and Jesse thinks this is a shotgun wedding.”
I threw my head back and laughed. “I don’t care what everyone thinks as long as I’m married to you at the end of the day.” I turned her body to face mine and cringed when Sky made an adorable little puppy grunt and stretched. When she just rolled onto her back and fell back asleep I relaxed and took Cassidy’s mouth in mine, letting my tongue lightly trail along hers. “Did y’all figure out when we can have the wedding?” I asked when her hands began unbuttoning my shirt, her lips pressing openmouthed kisses onto my chest each time one was undone.
“Two months.”
Fuck. I groaned. “Two months?”
“Mmm-hmm.” She finished the last button and ran her hands over my stomach and chest. My hard-on was pressing against my jeans and for the hundredth time today I wished we were in our house. “Or nine days. It was one of those.”
“Nine?” I brought her face up to mine. “Nine days?”
Her cheeks flamed as she bit the corner of her lip and nodded. “Adam, Dana, Ethan, and Jackie will all be here in five days to help with last-minute stuff and just hang out, since I made the last two weeks of school kinda crappy for everyone.” I squeezed her hip and she continued. “Per your mom, the guys are all staying in our house, and the girls are all staying here. Then come next Saturday, I’ll be yours.”
Mine. Nine days and this amazing girl would be mine.
Lord, I couldn’t wait.
I ran my hands up her body, under her shirt, and loved the breathy sigh that left her when my hands ran over her breasts. Her hands went back to my stomach before trailing down to undo my belt, then the button on my jeans, and her mouth went back to her torturous kisses on my chest. “Did you lock the door?” She grabbed my length in her hands and I groaned some sort of affirmative. “Where is everyone?”
“Downstairs,” I roughly whispered, and pulled her shorts and underwear down.
Cass placed Sky on the floor and straddled me, grinding her hips into mine.
“Darlin’, trust me when I say that this is something I love about you, but you are loud, and it’s not exactly something that anyone would appreciate if they heard us. Just let me touch you.”
She sank down on me hard and a loud moan left her. I sat up and crushed our mouths together, swallowing the rest of her moan. “I’m sure you can find ways to keep me quiet,” she said against my lips, challenging me.
Challenge accepted.
CASSIDY
IF YOU WOULD have told me ten days ago that I was getting married today, I would have laughed, because there’s no way to plan this elaborate of a wedding in nine days, right? Wrong. Gage’s mom and sisters were a force to be reckoned with—well, except for little Emily. But she helped by playing with Sky when we were too busy to pay attention to the pup.
Tessa had connections like you wouldn’t believe with other families from the neighboring ranches and in town, and through their help, we’d transformed the barn into a reception site I was jealous of. And it was my wedding. We’d kept the ceremony pretty bare; it was already so beautiful in that field that we’d set up white wooden chairs facing the natural arch of the trees, and nothing else. It was simple, but to add anything else would have taken away from the beauty of the ranch. A few dozen feet from the last row of chairs, we’d set up a tent that had fans in it so the girls could be in there when the guests started arriving and the guys went to stand up front, and I was so grateful for that, because it was that or come from the barn, which was a good five-minute walk.
The barn looked like it always did on the outside: absurdly massive, with faded red paint and clear globe lights decorating the doors and edge of the roof. The inside, which I hadn’t seen until it was already decorated, had white, green, and gold tulle with little twinkle lights sweeping in arcs up into the center of the barn, making it look like a large tent. There was a dance floor on one side, tables on the other. The tablecloths alternated green and gold with bowls of floating flowers and candles on top. We had the cake and groom’s cake—Tessa had given me a look like I’d lost my mind when I said I didn’t know what a groom’s cake was . . . whoops—on a table in a corner a little ways away from where the food would be. And thanks to all the dances and parties they’d held here in the past, they had massive fans that would keep it extremely comfortable in the barn, which had been my biggest worry. After all, it was June, and we were in Texas and going to be dancing in a barn. When the girls had laughed at my concern, I’d decided they knew better than me since they’d done this before and kept my mouth shut.