“It does make me happy.”
His brow crinkles quizzically. “Then what’s going on?”
I lift my gaze. “My mom is marrying Alan on Sunday.”
Bobby’s eyes goes wide with surprise and comprehension. “Are you OK?”
I shrug. “Why shouldn’t I be? It only took them eighteen years, but I’ll be like one of the few people I know whose parents are freaking married. Pretty groovy, huh?”
He pulls me back against him. “It will be all right. We’ve got each other. Don’t wall me out because I want to be here for you. And it doesn’t matter what happens in your parents’ lives. It doesn’t matter if they get married. What matters is us. We’re our future, Kaley. You and me. I love you.”
* * *
One week later
“I now pronounce you man and wife,” Grandpa Jack says.
Bobby’s arm tightens around my shoulders as his lips touch my hair. I stare at my mom, the breathtaking smile on her face, and the way her eyes light up when she looks at Alan.
“Are you going to kiss the bride?” Grandpa Jack asks, louder and amused.
“This better be legal,” Alan teases.
Everyone laughs.
“It’s legal once you kiss her,” Jack counters.
My dad runs his thumbs along my mom’s face. It’s like he can’t see anything but her. “I just want to stare at you for a little while. Let me.”
Chrissie’s face is consumed by her smile. “No, I want to be kissed. Kiss me fast since we’re not married until you kiss me.”
They laugh and they’re kissing and then the intense hush on the cliffs above the beach in my grandpa’s backyard is shattered by applause, laughter, and moving guests.
Chrissie steps back, laughing. “Holy crap. We did it, Alan.”
Bobby leans in to me. “You OK?”
I nod. I don’t know what I feel. The entire ceremony passed as sort of a slow-moving film in front of me, and still I couldn’t keep up with everything roiling through me.
It’s just so freaking weird. Tears fill my eyes out of nowhere. Why am I crying? Maybe it’s just because my mom looks so happy. Alan does, too. Maybe it’s just inescapable to get emotional at a wedding, even a wedding as bizarre and confusing as this. Linda has been Niagara Falls since it started and she’s the least emotional woman I know.
Bobby stands up and holds out his hand to me. “Come on, Kaley. Everyone is moving to the tent.”
I snap out of my thoughts.
Oh crap, we’re the only ones left sitting on the chairs facing the cliffs, and I didn’t go give my mom a hug or something at the end of the ceremony and I probably should have.
The inside of the tent is a crush of bodies by the time we get there.
“There’s a buffet,” Bobby says quietly. “Do you want something to eat?”
I exhale. “I’m not hungry.”
He does a cute little pucker of his brows. “Do you mind if I eat? I didn’t get a chance to grab anything this morning and I’m pretty sure I’m going to need my energy later.”
“You are, are you?” I tease, trying to match his lighthearted mood but I know I’m failing at that.
He smiles, his expression sweet. “You may not be here with me, but I’m here with you. Hopefully you arrive soon. You look so beautiful today. It’s going to be torture keeping my hands off you during the reception.”
My cheeks flush.
Message received, Bobby.
I’m behaving pathetically. My parents got married. No big deal. My self-absorption and emotional botheration needs to end. He wants me to focus on him.
I peek up at Bobby. “Instead of waiting for me to arrive, maybe you should whisk me away from this shindig.”
Bobby laughs. “Shindig?”
“I thought I should use a word appropriate for how you’re dressed.”
His eyes twinkle. “You don’t like it?”
My brows hitch up. “Oh, I definitely like. We need to clean you up more often. Very sexy. Very hot in that suit.”
“Sexy enough that you might want to slip away now and find somewhere to be alone?”
I can feel my eyes grow sparkly and I lean into him. “I’d love it, but I think we should wait until the party really gets going so no one notices us cutting out. I don’t want Mom getting all butt-hurt today.”
He takes my hand. “Then come on. I’m going to eat. You’re going to eat. We’re going to sit through the toasts. Dance. And the second the happy couple takes off, we’re going somewhere so I can get out of this suit.”
I hold my lower lip between my teeth, gnawing on it a few times. “Out of the suit, huh? I kind of like you in it.”
“You’ll like it better when it’s off,” he whispers, his lips close to my ear. “It’s been a week, Kaley.”
I pout. “Not my fault. And I hated being on lockdown.”
He kisses my nose. “Then don’t get grounded again.”
“We’re at Grandpa Jack’s. I’m on temporary parole.” I grin salaciously. “And I know just the place to go when we slip out of here.”
“Oh, thank you.” His body shudders against me.
Laughing, I take his hand and cut through the people toward the buffet.
Eight hours later, the reception is raging. Mom and Alan are still at the party which makes it pretty much no bueno to disappear.
I sway on the dance floor, clutched against Bobby, our bodies barely moving, and we’re both beyond ready to be out of here.
Jeez, why aren’t the newlyweds out of here?
“If we don’t find someplace private soon,” Bobby whispers, “I’m going to explode.”
I giggle. “Me, too.”
I rapidly scan the room. “Follow me. No one important is by the exit. We’re busting out of here.”
He grins, very happy, and I flush and grab his hand. Once we’re outside, we both start to laugh.
“Grandpa Jack has a pool house.”
“I knew there was something I liked about Jack.”
In a few seconds we’re alone, kneeling on the bed, rapidly undressing each other. His hands run down my hips, then my legs, closing around my ankles and giving me a tug until I’m flat on my back.
He puts on a condom, covers me with his body and presses his mouth over mind as he sinks himself deep inside me. I convulse as he pumps into me, gloriously wet between my thighs even though we fast-forwarded past foreplay and went directly to fucking.
Seeing Bobby nude and ready; yep, that was enough to get me on fire before he even touched me.
“Bobby…ah…ah..,” I cry as he sinks into me faster and faster.
I wrap my legs around his hips and he scoops my butt from the bed, up and into his hard thrusts. I’m close, so close, and I can tell by the tension across his back and the twitching of his arms that he is, too.
“Open your eyes, Kaley. Watch what you do to me.”
My lids flutter wide.
That’s it.
I come apart, staring at him, jaw tense as he spills into me. He collapses down on me and we’re both laughing. He turns us until we’re on our backs.
He kisses my forehead. “We could have done that hours ago. We would have been back at the party before anyone noticed us gone.”
I kiss his chest.
He groans. “I don’t want to go back to the ’Sades tonight without you.”
I lean up and stare down at him. “It’s so stupid that I have to stay here with the rest of the kids while Mom and Alan are off on their honeymoon. I should be able to be home alone if I want to.”
He brushes the hair back from my face. “We’ll figure something out. Another week without seeing you. Nope, not doing it.”
My eyes widen. “Ask Grandpa Jack if you can stay. He’d probably love it. You can surf with him.”
He sighs, running a hand through his hair. “I already did. About an hour into the reception. The answer was hell no.”
* * *
An hour later, we slip quietly back into the tent. My face falls. Mom and Alan are gone. I missed it.
For some reason my glowing mood deserts me.
“Do you want to stay at the party?” Bobby asks. “It doesn’t look like it’s winding down anytime soon.”