Holding You (37 page)

Nodding, I whispered, “Always.”

“Wait. Wait just a second. I can’t . . . I mean . . . well—” Closing her eyes, my mother turned from me. When I heard her sniffle, I placed my hand on her arm.

“Mom?”

Turning to me, she wiped her tears away. “It’s just I always dreamed you’d be walking down the stairs on your father’s arm and getting married here, surrounded by your family and friends.”

My eyes burned with the threat of tears. “Mom,” I whispered, “that’s your dream, not mine. The only thing I want is to start my life with Colt, and this is what we both want.”

Nodding her head, she wiped her tears away. “I know, Lauren. Will you at least let us throw y’all a reception?”

Quickly wiping my tears away, I smiled. “I’d love that. But what I’d love even more is if we could raid your closet for a white dress!”

Smiling, she took me by my arm and led me to her bedroom. Glancing over my shoulder I said, “Daddy, when Colt gets here, will you keep him entertained?”

Giving me a wicked smile, he chuckled. “Oh for sure. I have a few things I want to talk to my future son-in-law about.”

Getting ready to protest, my mother pulled me into her room and headed to her closet.

Pushing some dresses out of the way, my mother smiled as she said, “I have the perfect dress!”

My stomach began flipping and dipping in every possible way imaginable as I thought about marrying Colt. My mother pulled out a white strapless lace dress and held it up in front of me. It was beautiful. The length and style of the dress was perfect. “Oh, Mom this dress is perfect.”

Tears began to build in my eyes as I attempted to hold them back but couldn’t. Turning to my mother, I lost it when I saw the tears rolling down her face. Pulling me into her arms, we both cried. “Lauren, I can’t believe you’re getting married.”

Squeezing my eyes shut tightly, I mumbled, “I know.”

Taking a step back, I held the dress up and shook my head. There was something about it. It was so simple, yet elegant.
Colt is going to love me in it and I bet my boobs are going to look amazing!

“You know, when you were little, you used to put this dress on and line up all your dolls and teddy bear. Your father used to have to walk you down the aisle and then pretend to marry you to your Prince Charming.”

Looking down at the dress, I smiled. “Oh my glitter! I remember that. Mr. Snuggles used to always be my Prince Charming.”

Letting out a giggle, I looked at my mother who had a stunned expression on her face. She slowly brought her hand up to her mouth and let out a small sob. “What’s wrong, Mom?”

Laughing, she dropped her hand and gazed into my eyes. “Lauren, do you remember who gave you Mr. Snuggles?”

Stopping to think about it, I looked away. My breath caught as the butterflies fluttered in my stomach when it hit me.

“Colt,” I whispered.

My mother placed her hands over her mouth in an attempt not to cry again. With a disbelieving voice I attempted to tell the story of when Colt gave me the bear. “It was in our place, the treehouse, for my seventh birthday.”

My mother nodded her head. “You wanted a tea party and we set it all up under the tree. After everyone left, Colt took you by the hand and led you to the treehouse, then gave you his gift.”

Placing my hand over my stomach, I let my tears fall freely. “Oh my . . . the man was romantic even back then! I just didn’t know it.”

Letting out a chortle, my mother said, “You must have because you married that stupid bear over and over at least fifty times.”

Looking into my mother’s loving eyes, I was lost in the moment. My skin felt as if tingles were moving up and down my body, my heart was beating quickly and I felt breathless. “Mom, it’s like everything has come full circle. Colt truly is my prince charming who saved me.”

“Oh, sweetheart.”

Walking into my mother’s arms, we stood there for a few minutes and cried. It was then I realized my mother wouldn’t be with me on the day I married my prince charming. My heart physically ached.

When I finally came to my senses, I heard Colt and my father talking. Chewing on my bottom lip I said, “I better go finish packing.”

Lacing her arm with mine she nodded her head. “I’ll help.”

Racing through the living room, I yelled out over my shoulder, “I’ll be a few more minutes!”

Colt and my father laughed as I heard my mother say, “We found the perfect dress.”

“Baby girl, slow down,” Daddy said as I raced up the stairs with my mother following closely behind me.

Thirty minutes later I was walking down the stairs with a suitcase in my hand and a smile on my face. Colt looked up at me and I had to catch my breath from the smile he was giving me.

Holy hell. Colt was so handsome. How in the world did I get so lucky to have those blue eyes look into mine with so much love? Oh my glitter. I could practically feel the heat coming off his body.

“Hey,” Colt whispered.

“Hey back at you,” I whispered back as I walked up to him. Taking the suitcase from me, Colt leaned down and kissed me softly on the lips.

I wanted to deepen the kiss so bad, but not with my parents standing right there. For a few brief moments, Colt and I were lost in each other’s eyes. My father cleared his throat, causing us both to pull out of the trance.

“Colt and I were talking, Lauren. With both of you going to be working here, I thought it best that you stay with us when you get back. I’m going to have Aaron and Dewey look at getting the hunters cabin fixed up. Maybe add onto it and expand it some. I think it would make the perfect first home for the two of you.”

Spinning around and facing my father, I ran into his arms. “Oh, Daddy! It will be more than perfect!” Burying my face into his chest, I took in a long deep breath. I loved how my father smelled. Anytime I ever got upset or sad, I would either hug my father or sneak into his bathroom and spray his cologne on my arms. “Daddy, I love you so much.”

Holding me tighter, he kissed the top of my head. “I love you so much more princess. Now go on, you’ve been making poor Colt wait for what seems like forever I’m sure.”

Colt and I both chuckled as I turned and made my way to the front door. This was it. When I walked back through this door I would be married. Mrs. Colt Hunter Mathews.
Oh holy shit. I’m going to Vegas. To get married. I’m going to puke.

Taking my hand in her hand I felt my mother’s breath against my ear. “Stop overthinking everything, Lauren Ashley.” Looking at her I whispered, “I’m getting married, Mom.”

Smiling, she pushed a piece of my blonde hair behind my ear and gave me a kiss on the cheek. “Yes you are. Send pictures and keep us updated.”

Nodding my head, I whispered, “It’s a long drive but—”

Colt cleared his throat, “Oh, we’re not driving.”

Snapping my head over to look at Colt, I asked, “What?”

Giving me that melt my panties crooked smile of his, Colt gave me a quick wink. “I didn’t want Lauren to have to be in the car for that many hours, so I booked us tickets to fly there.” Peeking over to my father, he was standing up tall and proud as he shook his head. I knew Colt’s actions impressed the hell out of my father, but they touched my heart in more ways than I could ever begin to say.

“Oh my, this boy is good,” my mother whispered into my ear.

Grinning, I nodded my head as I watched Daddy and Colt walk up to Colt’s truck. “He is indeed. That’s why he is the pop to my cherry.”

Seeing my mother look at me, I realized I had just spoken those words out loud. “Lauren Ashley, that wasn’t even funny.”

Pursing my lips together to keep from laughing, I went on, digging myself deeper into the hole. “Um . . . the squirt to my bottle?”

Shaking her head she narrowed her eyes at me. “Not any better.”

“The salt to my nuts? The hair to my beaver?” I laughed as she rolled her eyes and then glared at me.

Opening the truck door, Colt kissed me gently on the cheek. “What’s so funny?” he asked as he helped me into the truck.

“Nothing, I’m giving my mother a hard time. I love you, Mom. Daddy, I love you, too.”

Both my parents gave me a kiss good-bye, and then my father shut the door to Colt’s truck. “Take care of my baby girl, Colt.”

Jumping into his truck, Colt smiled and said, “Yes sir! Thanks for everything.” Colt and my father exchanged a knowing look. Almost as if they knew something and I wasn’t privy to the information.

Colt put his truck into drive and we headed down the long driveway. “Are you ready to start our life together, sweetheart?”

Grinning, I reached for Colt’s hand and held it tightly. “So ready.”

Taking in a deep breath, I slowly let it out.
Oh my glitter. I’m marrying, Colt.

THE TAXI PULLED
up to the Venetian as the valet opened Lauren’s door and helped her out. I had been texting my parents and when I looked up, my mouth dropped open at the sight before me. Lauren spun around and smiled at me. “Colt! This place is amazing.”

Nodding, I finished my text to my father.

Me
: Pulling up now. Thank you for planning all of this for me and kiss mom. By the way, Lauren loves it so far

My parents wanted to pay for our entire trip to Vegas. They said it was the least they could do since Lauren and I decided to elope. My father and mother made all of the plans while Lauren and I flew to Vegas. I was going to owe them big time since I’m sure they hadn’t even gone to bed yet. Between talking to them and Scott and Jessie, my head was spinning. I knew how much this meant to Lauren, so it would all be worth it in the end.

After checking in, we made it up to our room. We were staying in one of the Prima Suites on one of the higher levels of the hotel. I smiled as I watched Lauren skip out of the elevator and to our room. Turning, she leaned against the door and looked at me. “We haven’t been together in almost a month.” Licking her lips, her eyes widened. “I think we should wait until after we get married.”

My heart dropped to my stomach. “Huh?”

Nodding her head, she turned and slipped the key into the door and turned around to look at me as she pushed her back into the door and slowly opened it. “Yep, I think we should wait until after we get married.”

Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I quickly said, “Then let’s go get married right now.”

Laughing, she pushed the door opened and walked into the room. Throwing her hands up to her mouth she let out a gasp.

“Colt! Oh my glitter, this is amazing. Beautiful. Like nothing I’ve ever seen before.”

As we walked into the foyer, there was a half bathroom to our left. Straight ahead led us right into the grand living room which featured a bar to the left, straight in front of us was a dining table that sat four and a little more to the right, was the living room. A sofa, three recliners and one of the biggest flat-screen televisions I’d ever seen finished off the room. The windows overlooked Vegas and I couldn’t believe all the light coming into the room from the other buildings.

Lauren quickly made her way into the bedroom where she let out another gasp and then laughed as she jumped onto the king-size bed. “Oh it’s so comfortable,” she said as she wiggled her eyebrows up and down.

“Not funny, coming from the girl who just told me she wanted to wait until after we were married to have sex.”

Biting on her lower lip, she batted her eyelashes at me, jumped up and skipped into the bathroom. “Oh, Colt! You have to see this.”

When I walked into the bathroom, I was stunned by how huge it was. And beautiful. “Holy shit,” I whispered. The giant jet tub had me thinking of all kinds of naughty things I wanted to do with Lauren in there. Adjusting my growing dick, I turned to the shower. Lauren was standing inside it. “It has two shower heads!” she said as she scrunched up her nose. Licking my lips, I smiled. “I know what to do with one of them.”

Lauren’s eyes turned darker. “Don’t tease, Colt Mathews.”

“Oh baby, I’m not teasing. Strip out of those clothes and I’ll show you how serious I am right now.”

Walking up to me, Lauren placed her hands on my chest. “Tomorrow at three you said, right?”

Nodding my head slowly, I bent down and kissed Lauren’s neck. Running my tongue along her neck and up to her ear, I whispered into her ear. “I have a surprise for you, sweetheart.”

Lauren’s breathing picked up as I watched her chest rise and fall with each breath. Closing her eyes, she moaned lightly. “Does it involve kissing?”

Smiling against her ear, I whispered, “I hope so.”

Swallowing hard, she asked. “Will we be naked?”

Attempting to hold back my laughter I said, “If we were it might be a bit embarrassing.”

Turning, Lauren peeked up at me. Those beautiful blue eyes held mine as she said, “We won’t be alone for this surprise?”

Spinning her around so she faced me, I cupped my hands to the sides of her face. My heart was racing as I stared into Lauren’s bright eyes. Closing my eyes to savor the moment, I whispered her name. “Lauren. I love you so much.”

Opening my eyes, I was met by her beautiful smile. My knees felt weak as I looked at the woman I would soon be making my wife.