Hell, he didn’t even hold the keys to getting rid of this hangover.
“You mind gettin’ off me, hoss?”
The dog “moofed” at him but didn’t move.
Smitty patted Jessie’s bare thigh. She was naked. Good. He liked that. “Could you call off this animal?”
Jessie’s eyes slowly opened. “Which one?”
“Do I throw him across the room or do you?”
“Okay. Okay. Calm down.” Jessie reached over and picked up the dog. He clearly liked Jessie too. Couldn’t blame him, though, with the way she seemed to enjoy cuddling the little bastard.
“Where did he come from?”
“Found him behind the hotel last night digging for food in the trash. I couldn’t leave him.”
“You and strays.”
“Yeah. Look at you.”
Smitty bared a fang and sat up, dropping his legs over the side. Immediately everything in the room spun and he carefully stood, heading toward the bathroom. He managed to use the toilet, brush his teeth, and not throw up, but that was about it.
When he returned to the bed, he sat down on the edge and placed his head in his hands, moaning in defeat.
“Oh, my poor baby.”
He thought Jess had been talking to the dog. She-wolves had no sympathy for drunks. But then Jessie’s arms went around his shoulders and she kissed his neck. “I’m so sorry you feel miserable.”
Smitty tensed, waiting for it. He didn’t know what, but “it.” She-wolves came to you with sugar, but then made sure you ate a mouthful of salt. But Jessie simply rested her head against his and her soft hands stroked his chest. Then he looked down and saw the mutt had placed his head on Smitty’s thigh, staring up at him with big eyes, not expecting anything but giving himself completely. Just like Jessie.
Putting one hand on her arm and the other hand on the dog’s head, Smitty said, “Marry me, Jessie Ann.”
The stroking hands stopped and Jessie pulled back enough to look him in the eye. “Pardon?”
“Marry me.”
She scrunched up her face in that way she had when totally confused. “I thought you were dead set against it. Something about ‘not as long as I breathe’ was muttered.”
“I did not say that.” Smitty brought Jessie’s hand to his mouth and kissed her palm.
“Then why?”
“Two reasons. One, because you deserve everything you want.”
She shrugged. “All I ever wanted was you.”
He rested his forehead against hers. “And you’ve got me, darlin’. You’ve always had me.”
Smitty kissed her. She groaned and pressed her delicious sheet-covered body against him.
“And the second reason?” she asked, breathless.
“Because you’re crazy about me and I’m afraid it’ll crush your delicate little heart if I don’t marry you.”
“You are such an arrogant ass—”
He kissed her again, both of them laughing.
“Marry me,” he repeated, against her lips. “Marry me, Jessie Ann.”
“Okay. I’ll marry you.”
“Good.”
Smitty slid his hands around her waist, pulling her toward him, when the sound of bodies colliding with the door cut into his next move.
“Auntie Jess! Are you up yet? Mom said to come for breakfast.”
“O—”
Smitty covered her mouth with his hand.
“Tell your momma we’ll be down later.”
Jess pulled his hand away. “What are you doing?”
“Gettin’ my morning Smith greeting.” He tugged on the sheet covering her body and Jess slapped at his hands.
“Stop that! They’re right outside!” she squeaked.
“Y’all get away from that door!” he yelled.
“They must be tusslin’,” a pup complained.
“Well, hurry up,” another barked.
“We’ll be down in a minute,” he promised, giving her a healthy leer as he went to his hands and knees and rose over her. “As soon as we’re done tusslin’.”
Jess slapped at his hands again. “Tussling? Have you been teaching them that?”
“Oh, you want me to be more specific?” he asked, finally snatching the sheet from her body and sighing happily as he stared down at her. “Lord, you look good in the mornings.”
“I thought you had a hangover.”
“It’s gone,” he said, pushing her onto her back. He brushed his fingers against her mark, unable to stop touching it. She arched into his touch, her arms reaching out for him.
“We can’t do this now, Smitty,” she protested, even as she opened to him. Even as she took him into her body. “They’re waiting for us for breakfast.”
“They can wait,” he groaned against her neck.
Poor thing, she had no idea he’d be waking her up most mornings like this.
Jess wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. He rocked into her slowly, taking his time, his lips resting against her temple.
“Mornin’, Jessie Ann,” he murmured against her soft skin.
He felt her smile, her breath catching in her throat. “Mornin’, Bobby Ray.”
EPILOGUE
It was bad enough he was in a tux. It was bad enough they made him cut his hair. But the sobbing had to stop, and it had to stop now.
Smitty started to stalk across the room, but Mace stepped in front of him and held him back. “No, you’ll regret it in the morning.”
“But it’ll make me happy now.”
“As soon as the wedding is over, I’m sure he’ll stop.” They both looked at Smitty’s father. Bubba had been crying for nearly two days straight. He said it was because the “boy” was bringing shame on the Smith Pack by actually marrying someone. But at the same time he clearly adored Jessie Ann. He kept hugging her, telling her how pretty she looked. Then Jessie assured herself the lifelong love and protection of Bubba Smith when she asked him to walk her down the aisle because her own daddy wasn’t there to do it. After that everything had to be perfect for Jessie Ann, and anyone who looked like they might even think about annoying her had to face off against Bubba Smith. They’d already changed caterers three times. At least one was filing charges for assault.
Lord, the man would be an absolute mess during the ceremony.
“Why don’t we get your mom to handle him and you go for a walk. The ceremony doesn’t start for another thirty minutes.”
“Yeah, okay.” Smitty glared again at his father before walking out through the sliding glass doors of the lower floor bedroom. The dog, he’d named him Shit-starter after Sissy Mae, right by his side. He finally had to start bringing the damn mutt to the job since wherever Smitty went the dog went too. He seemed to think of himself as more wolf than dog and refused to hang out much with the other dogs of the Pack house. As far as Shit-starter was concerned, he was a Smith Packmate and expected to be treated as such.
Not that Smitty minded. He liked the little bastard, although he’d never say it out loud.
He had no idea how this wedding got so out of control. He’d thought Jessie had been exaggerating the first time they talked about it when she said 300 guests. She hadn’t been. Between the Kuznetsov Pack’s business contacts, the Smiths from all over the Southeast, nearly half of Kenshin’s entire Pack, and an unhealthy number of geeks, they were nearing 400. They actually had to rent a castle on Long Island. A real, honest-to-God castle. Smitty thought you had to go to England to find those.
In the end, though, Jessie and Smitty had little to say about the entire event. Momma, Sabina, and May had taken over, the three of them getting along like they’d known each other for the past century. They went mostly for traditional except they couldn’t have groomsmen or bridesmaids. Sissy and Ronnie Lee had every intention of standing up with him. Phil and Danny with Jess. They ended up with the more politically correct “grooms-people” and “bridespeople.” Smitty still thought it sounded ridiculous, but he was glad his sister would be with him while he stood there in this stupid monkey suit waiting for the torture to end.