Commissioned In White (Art of Love Series) (17 page)

Remembering Reesa’s eager mouth on him the night before made the woman even less appealing. There wasn’t a chance in hell the blonde could offer him anything nearly as exciting as his wife, and he’d dated enough women to absolutely know that.

Shane glared at Joe briefly for getting him into this situation and then swung a resigned gaze back to the woman, who was still smiling. But before he could open his mouth to say he was married, Shane heard another woman’s rough voice.

“Beat it, Blondie. The man you’re talking to is mine, and I’m not in the mood to share tonight,” Reesa said fiercely, drawing the bigger woman’s attention as she swung around.

At first there was derision in the woman’s gaze, but when Reesa crossed her arms and squinted, leveling her green glare, the woman raised a hand in surrender and walked off.

“That’s right. Don’t make me hurt you,” Reesa called out, as the woman stalked away.

“And she will, cause she’s a badass now,” Jillian said in a similar tone, joining in and trying hard not to laugh.

Turning back to the men at the table, Reesa saw Shane’s gaze take in her appearance for the first time. His hard stare nailed her feet in place, and she wondered what he was thinking about how she looked.

Jillian’s firm hand on her back propelled her forward, but Reesa walked the remaining few steps to the table on very shaky legs.

“Way to protect what’s yours, girlfriend. Now follow through on it and tell your
man
how it is,” Jillian advised, grinning. “Shane. Joseph. What brings you guys out trolling tonight?”

“Waiting for you two,” Shane said firmly, noticing Reesa was having trouble holding his gaze.

Joe just smiled and exchanged a look with Jillian that Reesa didn’t understand.

“Have a seat, girls. Can we buy you a drink?” Shane asked, playing along.

“There are only three chairs,” Reesa said, biting her lip at her inane observation that sounded way too reluctant.

Shane’s intense gaze was making her nervous, just like it always did.

“Three’s enough,” he said firmly, pushing his chair back from the table and patting his leg before holding out his hand to his wife. He studied the three tiny glinting rings on Reesa’s eyebrow, the ripped jeans, and the close fitting tee she wore with interest. Why was she dressed that way? It wasn’t her style.

Shane watched her lifting her chin as she stepped forward to him and took his hand. He was hard for her before he had even lifted her into his lap.
Mine
, he thought, grinning at a now grinning Joe while Jillian slid into the third chair.

Taking a deep whiff of her, Shane noticed she smelled incredible. Her scent was also new, as was the bravado she was working hard to keep in place with him while she squirmed on his leg. His fingers trailed one cheek and down her throat a little. He wanted to touch her eyebrow rings, but knew they were too new.

Then his mouth was on hers because he couldn’t not kiss her, his tongue breaching her lips before he could stop himself from tasting what was his. The tongue stud he had never removed hit the edge of her teeth and woke them both up to possibilities as it always did.

“Hi, wife,” he said, breaking away at last. “Want to tell me why you did all this?”

“Because I love you, and I wanted you to know I do,” Reesa said softly, still reeling from his kiss.

“You look great, but you didn’t have to change for me,” Shane said sincerely.

“You didn’t have to change for me either, but I’ve watched you make a lot of changes to be in my life. I wanted to do something for you—to show you I care too,” she said. “Now when you’re in the mood to just be your real self, I can match you.”

More beers materialized on the table. As she waited for Shane to respond, Reesa heard Joe and Jillian talking, but all she could focus on was Shane’s heat wrapped around her.

“Match me?” he repeated. “You wanted to match me? I don’t know what to say to that.”

“What I mean is that I wanted us to look like we belong together,” Reesa said softly, hand pressed against his strong heartbeat as he played with the skin of her thighs through the tears in her jeans. She pressed a hand to his knee to shift herself in his lap where she could feel Shane becoming more and more interested in her. He put his knees together and lifted her legs across his lap to make her more comfortable.

“Baby,” Shane whispered, picking up the hand with her wedding band on it. “We definitely belong together regardless of our appearances. I was okay with us not being a perfectly matched set.”

Reesa nodded, her throat tightening as she considered what else to say. Deciding to be braver, she resolutely pushed the nervousness away and let herself just enjoy that Shane felt so connected to her regardless of anything else in their lives. She could tell he really meant it because his true feelings were in the trembling hand he stroked her with.

“Okay. Then let’s just say that I want to look like I belong to you,” Reesa whispered. She bit at his bottom lip quickly, pulling away before Shane could take it farther. Running a hand across his shoulder, she moved it down and patted his arm where he had his tattoo.

“I think this is what I first noticed about you when we met here. I didn’t see what it was on your arm, but I had the sense that it was important, or you wouldn’t have branded yourself permanently with it. You looked a little scary, and I guess I needed the excitement. When you found me and told me what the tattoo was about, I think I fell immediately in love with the part of you that saw the world that way.”

Shane smiled at her words, heart so full of contentment with the woman he married that he didn’t know how to adequately express it to her.

“I don’t see how I could love you more than I do at this moment,” he said against Reesa’s mouth, kissing her softly again. “I want to take you home and show you how much.”

“I want that too, but I asked Joe to bring you here so I could give you a wedding present. I don’t have any words to say this right, so let me just show you,” Reesa said, sighing.

Twisting on his lap, she pulled up her right sleeve, and peeled the gauze patch from her arm.

Shocked by what he was seeing, Shane wrapped a quivering hand around the back of Reesa’s arm, staring at his face drawn on her flesh. “Why did you do this? I don’t understand.”

“This is
my
hero,” Reesa said softly, patting below the image. “He’s also my husband and the man I love. And now you know my biggest secret.”

Still holding her branded arm in his trembling hand, Shane tucked his face into Reesa’s neck to hide his crying in her hair.

Reesa swallowed, hoping she hadn’t shocked Shane too much. She dug for humor to help them both recover.

“So what this means is that you can’t ever leave me or change your mind about loving me. If you wake up one day and discover this relationship isn’t what you want after all, it’s just tough luck for you, buddy, because you still have to stay with me. No one else is going to want me now that I have your face branded on my arm,” she said, feeling Shane’s laughter with relief.

“No worries,” Shane said finally, the words coming out broken through some sniffling, but strong in the way that counted. “I swear I am going to love you forever.”

Patting the gauze patch back into place, Reesa wrapped her arms around Shane’s neck, hugging him with all the strength she could. When she raised her head again and leaned back to look around, Joe and Jillian had disappeared from the table.

“Did I embarrass them?” Reesa asked.

“Doubtful,” Shane said wryly, blinking to clear the remaining moisture from his eyes. “They’re standing at the bar talking. I keep getting some sort of strange vibe from them, but Joe just laughs when I ask about it.”

“Jillian laughs when I ask too,” Reesa said, picking up one of the beers on the table and taking a long drink. “I hope we’re good now, because that’s all the emotional roller coaster riding I can do today. I have to save the rest of my nerve for tomorrow. Your mother is going to hate my eyebrow rings, but I have to wear them for a month without taking them out.”

Shane’s laughter against her had her smiling.

“So who drew the image of me? Did Brett Hill do this from memory?” Shane asked.

Reesa grinned at his question, which assumed she had gone to his tattoo artist. Her young husband was arrogant and assuming, but right most of the time.

“Sara drew it,” Reesa lied evenly, watching Shane raise the eyebrow with his rings gleaming in it. She reached up and touched the set of rings that matched hers. “Okay—I’m lying. It was Brian. Yes, I used Hill, and your tattoo guy replicated the drawing.”

“It’s really good—I mean artistically, not because it’s me,” Shane said quickly.

“Yeah, I thought that comment was pretty vain, even for you,” Reesa said with a grin.

“So are we wearing our piercings in the wedding?” Shane asked, grinning at the idea.

“After what I went through today to get them? Absolutely,” Reesa said fiercely. “My youngest nephew thinks I’m the coolest aunt in the world now.”

“You’re the coolest wife too,” Shane said with conviction. “Can we go home now so I can show you how cool?”

Reesa nodded and smiled, no doubt in her at all that Shane meant it.

“Yes, but I have to say it was fun running that woman off who was trying to hit on you. I’m so looking forward to reaping the rewards of my bravery tonight. You’re mine, Larson,” she said, laughing when Shane looked totally pleased.

“Yes, I am yours. Come home with me and we’ll reenact the first night you picked me up. You’ll giggle, and I’ll do all the things you like in bed,” Shane whispered, fingers running across her hips as he let her slide off his lap to the floor.

Reesa smiled and held out her hand to him.

As they left the club, a smiling Jillian and Joe both waved.

Chapter 11

Looking at the urgent text message on her phone, Jillian swore softly. “I so do not need this drama right now,” she complained out loud, frowning as she typed a reply.

She looked at Ellen and Jessica, who were flanking Reesa on each side and pinning the remaining white flowers into her dark, curling hair. She looked like a snow fairy, especially with the touches of sparkling white glitter the makeup woman had added to the corners of her green eyes.

And the tiny crystal dangling from one of the glinting eyebrow rings made her look otherworldly.

“I have a tiny emergency I need to take care of,” Jillian said abruptly. “Will you two stay with Reesa until I get back?”

Ellen and Jessica both nodded, continuing with their conversation over the flowers.

“Sara, stay with Queen Melon okay?” Jillian ordered, laughing at the spinning girl in a full dress that was practically a replica of Reesa’s.

“Okay,” Sara happily agreed.

Jillian rushed out of the back room of the church and across to the reception hall, looking for the red-haired man who had demanded her presence.

“Joseph,” she whispered, peering into the kitchen area and not seeing him.

“Down here,” Joe said harshly, standing at the end of a long hallway, waiting impatiently for the elegant dark woman in a silky rose dress to make her way to him.

“This way,” he said even more harshly, his hot gaze raking her as he led her into what looked like a giant storage room.

Joe didn’t care. All he cared was that she came to him and they were alone.

“We’ve got twenty minutes until the music starts. Now what the hell is the emergency?” Jillian demanded, putting her fists on her hips in frustration.

“Me—I’m the emergency,” Joe said abruptly, closing the door behind him. He walked to Jillian, looking levelly into her eyes as he pulled her into his arms, despite her protests. “Kiss me again, Jillian. I can’t stand just dreaming about it anymore. I need it for real.”

“No—Joseph. I shouldn’t have kissed you last night. It was Shane and Reesa. I was caught up in the moment. It was just a moment, Joseph. You’ve had them before,” Jillian said calmly, as she tried to ignore the determination in his face. “Let it go this time.”

“Yes, I’ve had quite a lot of those moments, but not as good as the one with you,” Joe said sincerely.

He stopped talking and just stepped more into her, going immediately for her full bottom lip and sucking it into his mouth, thinking again that she tasted better than anything he’d ever known.

Jillian groaned and put her hands on Joe’s arms to push him away, but instead her fingers dug into his hard muscles to hold him in place against her. Then she caught herself and realized what he was doing.

“No. Stop,” she said, pushing against him. “This isn’t right. It’s not what I want.”

Joe’s blue eyes darkened at her lie, and she shivered at the heat in his callused hands moving over her.

“Let’s test that theory,” he said harshly, kissing her deeply while she gripped him.

Jillian squirmed at the rasp of the dress zipper sliding down behind her back, and the cool air on her bare skin shortly after. She pulled away from his mouth, just as breathless today as she had been last night.

“Uhn-uh, Joseph. We are not going there again. I should never have let you do that to me last night. I wasn’t teasing you. I just got a little carried away,” Jillian said.