From Ashes

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 br**sts. 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.

I turned to look at Jackie, Dana, and Amanda all zipping each other up; they looked incredible. They had on summer dresses that were strapless and tight around the chest and waist, and lightly flared out to above their knees. They were gold with eyelet cutouts showing black underneath, and they paired them with black cowboy boots to make them more casual. I loved the look and I was glad they did too.

“You ready, Cassidy? It’s supposed to start in twenty minutes!” Amanda squealed, and clapped.

I about tripped over myself trying to get to where my dress was, and Jackie and Dana started laughing.

“I think you might be a little excited.” Jackie snickered and let go of my arm when I was steady.

“Just a little,” I breathed on a smile, and took a normal step in the direction of my dress.

With the help of the girls, we had the dress on and zipped and my brown cowboy boots on, and Amanda was restyling my hair, making sure it was perfect. The guys were semiformal, like the girls, and I was going to go with a white summer dress, but that’s where Tessa had put her foot down. Said I had to have a real wedding dress, no exception. I was so glad I’d listened to her.

My dress was a strapless gossamer gown with a drop waist and chapel train. It was soft white and fit my figure perfectly. It was perfect for the ranch, it was perfect for me, and I was hoping it would be perfect for Gage. I skipped the veil and curled my hair into large, loose curls, which the girls spent time playing with so it wouldn’t look “styled.” Since we were out in the country, Amanda thought it should have the natural look without being natural, and since I had no idea what that meant, I let them do as they pleased. The side where my hair parted was French braided loosely, close to my ear, and pinned underneath the rest of my hair to keep that side from my face. It didn’t look like my wild waves, but Amanda was right, it did look natural, almost windblown, but not messy.

I stared at my reflection and couldn’t help but mutter, “Oh wow.”

“You look beautiful, Cass!” Jackie cried, and stepped up beside me to brush hair over my shoulder, then stepped back.

My makeup was flawless, thanks to Dana, and I made a mental note to steal the eye shadow she’d used on me. It was a soft gold and made my eyes even brighter. Amanda handed me a barely tinted lip gloss, and after putting it on, I turned and faced my friends and almost-sister.