Total pages in book: 144
Estimated words: 147415 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 737(@200wpm)___ 590(@250wpm)___ 491(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 147415 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 737(@200wpm)___ 590(@250wpm)___ 491(@300wpm)
Fortunately, the drama is pretty low-key these days when my channels are a mix of travel, animals in peril, and showing off how lucky I am with my man.
I love how much he respects my dreams and what he’s prepared to do to make them happen. It’s just thrilling to see everything I want coming together, and how supportive everyone can be as our future comes closer.
The morning of my wedding, I wake up in Shepherd’s arms.
Yes, tradition says we should have spent the night apart.
But it’s not like we haven’t slept together before and even one night without him feels like an eternity. You only get to live the best day of your life once.
I can’t imagine starting it any other way than waking up beside my future husband.
“Morning, sweetheart.” He drops a kiss on the end of my nose.
“The birds are singing.” I lie back and listen, then wiggle my way up.
Oh, God, this is happening.
I’m so excited I can’t breathe.
“Just a few more hours.” Shepherd leans over, rubbing his bristly chin all over my chest, making me squeal.
I wrap my legs around him and that familiar heat enters his eyes.
The first time we slept together, I was sure it was a one-off.
A flippant mistake we’d struggle to forget.
Yet here we are, still ravenous for each other, and counting down the seconds until the knot is officially tied.
“Not now. We have to wait until after the wedding.” I twist away from his searching mouth.
“Why, dammit?”
“Because. Tradition.”
“Fuck tradition.” He growls the word into my shoulder and bites down gently. “Woman, don’t you know better than to tease me like that?”
“I’m not teasing you! I’m bringing us good luck.” I’m also breathless. Heat curls through my veins, pooling between my legs.
“You’re about to be my wife,” he rumbles. “Give me one good damn reason why I shouldn’t throw you down and make you scream my name right now.”
“Because anticipation makes it sweeter?”
“Anticipation isn’t what I call limping through my own wedding vows with balls so blue they look like they're ready to be made into a pie.”
I laugh at how he pouts, letting my head fall back, and he chuckles down at me.
That’s another lovely thing about Shepherd.
He doesn’t mind it when I’m blatantly messy.
I told him once that I was considering not shaving and he told me I'd be just as beautiful with or without hair.
Right now, though, I’m waxed bare. Not a single hair out of place, and I don’t want him to see it until the wedding night.
“You’re a dirty fucking tease, Miss Lancaster.” He grabs me and presses me into the mattress with his weight.
Molly watches us from the floor before lying back on her side with a sigh. By now, she’s used to these long, lazy mornings.
“You love it anyway. And you’d better not go back to Miss Lancastering me again. Today definitely isn’t the day, dude.”
“I suppose not, considering the name expires in a few more hours.” He kisses my collarbone so reverently I shudder. “By sunset, these will belong to Mrs. Foster.”
He rubs a thumb over my nipples.
If they weren’t hard before, they definitely are now.
“Don’t be—ohhh.”
“If I can't have you now, you’re going to suffer right alongside me. Touché.”
“Cruel man.”
“I do have a reputation to uphold as head of a premier security company. Can’t let the world think I’m all fluff as a married man.”
Right.
He definitely doesn’t look like the stern, stonehearted man everyone thinks he is—Mr. Ex Mafia Brat Perma-Grump.
In my eyes, he’s the kindest man I’ve ever known.
I reach up and kiss him. “I can’t wait to marry you.”
“Good. Now you know how impatient I feel.” He kisses me back before lifting me up and slapping my ass. “Now get yourself put together. Hannah will be here in twenty and she’s never late.”
Oof, like I don’t already know it.
I think I love her, just a little bit. Even if she’ll give me the evil eye if I stagger outside late—it wouldn’t be the first time.
I grumble to myself and him as I walk around his enormous bedroom, collecting my stuff.
He’s had a whole new closet built for me and my things, and I make sure my back is to him as I collect my special ‘fuck me in my wedding dress’ lingerie.
I just know he’ll love it.
Shepherd chuckles and disappears into the bathroom wearing only his boxers. I run for the guest room shower.
At eight o'clock on the dot, Hannah arrives.
I’m barely showered and out of my pajamas, dressed in something presentable, before I hear the doorbell and race down to get it.
“Do you have the dress?” Hannah looks at her smartwatch and sighs. “You have two minutes.”
“Yes, Mom.” I grin at her before flying back upstairs and grabbing everything I need.
Hannah being Hannah, she has everything mapped out with devilish precision.