InHap*pily Ever After (Incidental Happenstance) (78 page)

            “Wow doesn’t
even begin to describe it,” he croaked back, his voice thick as honey. “I think
I need to do it again just to make sure I believe it.”

            She smiled,
and straddled the log so she could press closer into him, moving in to kiss him
again. As their bodies pressed together, she could feel the strong pull of
desire and anticipation coursing through her veins. She’d wanted this, she
admitted to herself. A part of her had wanted it all along.

            When they
broke the kiss, she rested her head against his chest and heard the pounding of
his heart against her cheek. He enveloped her completely in his huge arms, and
rested his lips on the top of her head.

            “Damn, woman,
talk about some mad skills!” he joked softly. “Why didn’t you tell me you were
such an incredible kisser? It’s even better than I imagined, kissing you.”

            “Well, you
never asked…wait a minute, better than you imagined? You mean you’ve imagined
kissing me before?” She tilted her head up to meet his eyes.

            “You want to
know what happened in California?” He didn’t wait for an answer before
continuing. “You were sitting there, looking so damn sexy in that little
leopard outfit, and images that had no right being there started playing in
mind. I lost my head for a minute, and almost kissed you. Just the thought of
it got me…well,
overstimulated
.”

            Lexi put her
hand over her mouth to stifle a giggle. It explained everything—and to think,
she had thought all this time that he put the distance between them because he
didn’t want to be close to her…

            “Yeah, yeah,
laugh at it now; but at the time, you were an engaged woman.”

            “So when you
didn’t hug me goodbye…”

            Bo chuckled.
“I don’t think I could’ve gotten close enough to you to hug you goodbye. Not
with my…well, you know…getting in the way.”

            Lexi laughed
out loud. “Totally the opposite of what’s been going through my head over the
past few months. Oh my.”

            “Hell, if you
want to know the truth, I’ve had it bad for you since the first time we met,”
he admitted. “When I saw you backstage and asked if you were my birthday
present, I kept hoping you would be. And the more I got to know you, the more I
liked you.”

            “But you
never…”

            “Again, you
were an engaged woman,” he reminded her, “and I never go there. I’ve got more
class than that.”

            “You are the
epitome of style and grace,” she teased. “And I respect you for that,” she
added more seriously. She paused, letting her breathing return to normal. “Oh
my God,” she said, “what does this mean? I mean, what are we…”

            “It means,” he
said with a smile, “and correct me if I’m wrong here, but I like you and you
like me, and we’re going to spend some more time together, see if we can make a
go of things.”

            “A go of
things?” she giggled, and he knew that he could listen to the sound of her
laughter forever. “What are we, in high school?”

            “Well, I guess
I am asking for permission to be your boyfriend,” he smiled slyly, cocking his
head to one side and shooting her a crooked grin.

            “Oh, I’ll have
to think about that,” she teased, tilting her own head and sizing him up with
her eyes. “I have some pretty high standards when it comes to boyfriends.” She
loved this about Bo from the start—they could go right from an intimate moment
to their usual teasing, and both felt as comfortable as a favorite pair of
slippers.

            “Try me,” he
smirked. “I am the epitome of high standards, as well as style and grace, as
you so eloquently aforementioned.”

            “Well,” she
began, touching her index fingers together to begin a counted list. “First of
all, any boyfriend of mine has to be honest and trustworthy at all times.”

            “Ah hell,
that’s easy! Give me something harder than that!”

            “OK, here’s a
good one. He has to be emotionally available and talk about his feelings.”

            “I wear ‘em on
my sleeve, sweetheart. Try again.”

            “That’s about
it,” she said. “Oh, except for one other thing.”

            “Shoot.”

            “He has to
treat me like the goddess I am and love all my quirky attributes.”

            “Now that’s
the easy part! And, the part I’m going to enjoy the most,” he said, taking her
hand in his.

 She
looked down at their joined hands, loving the blend of cocoa, cream, and moonlight
she saw there. She looked back up at Bo and whispered, “I guess you pass,
then,” and tilted her chin up to meet his lips once again.

 After
a long and smoldering kiss, Bo held her face and looked her in the eye. “Well,
since I’m your boyfriend and all,” he smiled, “I got an invitation to the
wedding of the freaking century. Will you be my date?”

            “I’ll have to
check my schedule,” she smiled, “but I think I just might be able to squeeze
you in.”

            He pulled her
in and held her for a moment, whispering, “Best birthday ever!”

            Lexi jumped.
“Oh my God! It is your birthday! Today!”

            Bo smiled.
“Yep. And I finally got the present I’ve been wanting since my last birthday.”
He pressed his lips to her forehead and whispered, “Definitely worth the wait.”

            “I didn’t
forget, Bo—I got you a card and a present and everything! It’s in my bag on the
beach.”

            “I just told
you, beautiful,” he said sweetly. “You have given me the very best present I
could ever wish for. Did wish for.”

            She pulled him
up. “Come on—we’ve got to go celebrate! We can’t just let something like that
go!”

            “I’m fine with
a little private celebration right here,” he smiled, trying to pull her back
down into his lap.

            She shook her
head with determination. “Let’s go, birthday boy,” she insisted. “All our
friends are here, and it’s your special day. I insist we sing to you. You love
birthdays!”

            “Don’t worry,”
he smirked. “Dylan’s got it all planned out. I overheard Jessa talking about it
to Tony yesterday—they’ve got a big cake and everything.” He looked at his
watch. “Oh, and actually, I think they’ll be looking for me right about now. I
guess we’d best head back.” He got up almost reluctantly—at the moment he
wanted to just stay right here, where he could have Lexi all to himself, but it
was true—he was a kid at heart when it came to birthdays, and he had been
looking forward to the attention all day. “Oh, alright,” he moaned, allowing
her to pull him up and wrapping his arms around her for one more lip lock
before they made their way back to the bonfire.

            When they
rejoined the crowd, as Bo had predicted, Dylan was looking for him. Dylan’s old
band from England, Slingshot, had been playing, and as soon as he spotted Bo
and Lexi, he curved his index finger toward them and gestured to Max. When the
song ended, Max snapped a note while Dylan brought everyone to attention.            

            “Hey,
everyone,” he began. “This has already been the best weekend of my life, and I
haven’t even gotten to the best part yet!” He pulled Tia close and smacked a
loud kiss on her cheek. “But Tia and I aren’t the only ones with something big
to celebrate this weekend, and I’d be remiss—plus I’d never live it down—if I
didn’t call attention to that fact…” He looked toward the portico, motioned
with his hand, and a trio of staff members walked onto the beach, holding an
enormous cake covered with sparklers and lugging a gigantic tub of ice cream.
Two more people balancing plates and bowls on giant platters followed, hustling
to a massive table that had been erected for the occasion. “Ladies and
gentlemen—and in some cases I use the term lightly,” a murmur of laughter and
some good-natured punches on the shoulder moved through the crowd, “today is Bo
Collins’s birthday. He’s my best man in every sense of the word, and I’m
thrilled to be celebrating yet another milestone with him—especially when it
isn’t on the road; and we can actually share it with our family and friends.
This day last year was my and Tia’s first date, and he knew even more than I
did that night just how much she’d come to mean to me.” he glanced over at his
best man, who had his arm firmly around Lexi’s hip and smiled. “He’s really a
big baby when it comes to birthdays—he loves the limelight and the singing—so
get your voices tuned up, and help me wish Bo a happy day!” Max jumped into a
rousing rendition of the birthday song, and the entire group joined in. Bo
hopped up on the stage, pulling Lexi with him to bathe in the adoration, a huge
grin on his face. When the song ended, and the cheering fell to a dull roar, Dylan
exclaimed, “Make a wish, and blow out your candles!”

            “My wish,” he
said with fanfare, “already came true.” He smiled, pulling Lexi to him, lowered
her into a dip, and kissed her enthusiastically. The crowd cheered louder, and
he let her up, smiled, and made a big spectacle of extinguishing the candles.
“Let’s have cake, and eat it, too!” he proclaimed, planting another kiss on
Lexi’s cheek and handing her the first slice.

            Tia and Dylan
stared at each other for a moment, a look of pleased surprise on both their
faces. “About damn time,” they said in unison.  

            “Oh, they’ll
be so good together!” Tia exclaimed. “God knows no one else can keep up with
her, or put her in her place.”

            “Funny,” Dylan
smirked, “I was just thinking the same thing about her for Bo. They just may be
able to keep each other in line.”

            Tia grabbed
his hand and pulled him toward the couple. “Well come on, let’s go find out!”
she exclaimed.

            Dylan
conceded, laughing. “OK, my bride. I’m with you.”

            They made
their way to the table, where Bo and Lexi were happily handing out pieces of
cake and scooping enormous globs of ice cream into bowls. Bo started up before
they even reached them.
“Oh, here come the nosey neighbors,” he joked. “I know, I know, you want to
know why I planted a big juicy one on her in front of all your company, right?”
He punched Dylan playfully on the arm. “Don’t worry, Strummer Boy, I’m not
trying to steal your limelight or anything—I just couldn’t help myself.”

            Tia turned to
Lexi, who couldn’t keep the blush out of her cheeks or the smile off her face.
“I couldn’t help myself either,” she giggled. “Seems Bo’s got this idea that we
should…” she made air quotes with her fingers, “…make a go of things, and since
I didn’t have a proper date for this shindig, I figured, what the hell?”

            Tia shrieked
in excitement and ran up to hug them both. “Seriously?! You two are a couple?”

            Lexi shrugged.
“Seems I just might have it in me to give him a shot,” she said solemnly,
holding the look for only a second before a huge grin split her face.

            “I’m so
excited!” Tia yelled, grabbing Lexi’s hands and spinning with her around the
beach while Dylan pulled Bo into a rough hug.

            “It’s about
bloody time,” Dylan joked. “I couldn’t stand seeing the tension between the two
of you for another minute!”

            Bo shot him
the finger. “Screw you, Miller,” he said. “As if your mind has been anywhere
but on your girl here for the past…oh, I don’t know, months?”

            “Still hard to
miss you moping around like a little lost puppy, Bobo,” he joked back. “I’m
glad I figured out that Lexi was the one who was ‘on your mind all the time.’”

            Bo nodded,
grinning slyly.

            “What?” Lexi
asked, looking back and forth between them.

            Dylan looked
at her and smiled. “When I asked Bo if he was bringing a date for the wedding
and he told me no, I asked if he even had anyone in mind.”

            “I’ll finish
this little story, thank you very much,” he said, turning to Lexi. “I told him
there was someone on my mind all the time, but that she was spoken for, so I
had to keep my hands off. It didn’t take Mr. Genius here long to figure it
out.”

            “Aww!” Lexi
said, putting her arm around him and stretching up on her toes to kiss him.
Then she took a step back and put her hands on her hips. “Wait a minute,” she
scolded, grinning. “You meant me, right?”

            “Of course I
meant you, you crazy woman!” he laughed, pulling her into his arms and spinning
her around, kissing her full on the lips.

            Tia clapped
her hands together and jumped in place. “Yay!” she said, truly thrilled for her
friends. “Now we have even more to celebrate! Love is in the air, and I think
we all need some champagne!”

            “We can
definitely make that happen,” Dylan said, pulling Tia back to his side and
calling over one of the staff members.

            “Oh, your
present!” Lexi exclaimed, running off to find her bag and returning with the
package, wrapped in gold foil. Bo handed her a glass of champagne, and they
touched the rims of their glasses together.