Wes turned and looked at me. I was sitting on the bed, legs crossed, hunched forward so my elbows were on my knees and my hands steepled under my chin. I watched my guy pace the floor, that huge smile still in place.
“I know it’s crazy, but Mom, I’m crazy in love. No, it’s not too much. I’m fine. Actually, this will make me better than ever. Marrying the woman I want to spend my life with will help the healing process even more.”
Wes believed that I was the reason he was doing so well after his captivity. I believed it was his shrink, but there were still facets that he needed to work through. His newfound jealousy for one, and two, his absolute need to set his future up right now. The good news? He hadn’t had a nightmare in well over a week. Here in Texas, he was actually sleeping better than ever. Back home, he’d startle awake, walk out to our beach, and listen to the ocean until he was tired enough to go back to bed. Too many nights, I found him pacing the beach, watching the ocean instead of curled around me sleeping. Not in Texas. Here, under my brother’s roof, with the entire clan in the same house, he slept the sleep of the dead. Maybe there was something to getting away from the hubbub. Wes seemed to take solace in the quiet of the Texas nights.
Wes stopped pacing. “Really? You’re going to take care of the reception part?” His eyes cut to mine. “Mia looks sensational in green,” he said, leering at me. “I know she won’t be wearing it. Let me ask her.”
“Mia, what colors do you want the wedding?”
I frowned. “I don’t know. There has to be a color?” Huh? It never dawned on me to worry about these things. I mean I’ve seen weddings in movies where there were a horde of bridesmaids. For me, I just wanted Maddy and Gin.
“Mom says you have to pick two colors so she knows what type decorations to buy.”
“Whatever she wants is fine,” I said, not really concerned.
“Ma, no. Mia’s just not girly in that way. I mean…” His eyes ran up and down my body. “She is definitely all woman, but she doesn’t trip about these types of things. No really…seriously, you can pick whatever you want. No she doesn’t care. Mom…” He went back to pacing.
Hearing him going back and forth with his mother on something that obviously should be my responsibility, I shouted. “Light green and cream.”
Wes stopped. “Hold on. What colors, sweetheart?”
Shyly, I twiddled my thumbs and tugged my fingers. “I think light green and cream would be pretty.”
Wes grinned huge. God, he was easy to please. “Mia said light green and cream. Oh, yeah. Simple flowers. Whatever you want. Yes, whatever you want.” He rolled his eyes, pointed at the phone and made a crazy face. “Mia and I will take care of the ceremony. Yes, we’ll get chairs, an arbor, and all that. Mom, just focus on the reception. How many people?”
I did a quick count of the folks I wanted to invite: Maddy, Matt, Maxwell, Cyndi, the kids, Ginelle, Tai and Amy, Anthony and Hector, Mason and Rachel, Warren and Kathleen, Alec, Anton and Heather, Aunt Millie, my father if he wakes up, and maybe a handful more. “Twenty-five for me.”
“Twenty-five. Hold on, Ma.” He pressed the cell phone to his chest. “That’s it? For the ceremony only, right?”
I shook my head. “No, that’s it overall.”
Wes blinked. “Ma, we’re having a small wedding. Mia is only inviting max twenty-five people. So you’re going to need to limit the ceremony at the beach to family only. Yes, I’m serious.”
Internally, I groaned. I hadn’t even looked at wedding dresses, and my lack of family and extended relatives was making me look like a loser to my soon-to-be mother-in-law.
“What do you mean who? Jeananna and her family, my immediate family, Ma. We’ll hash this out later. Get our list to thirty or less for the beach. Invite whoever the hell you want to the reception, but we’re keeping it simple. Mia and I are not into the fluff. A good meal, some booze, a little dancing, and we’ll be set. Right, Mia?”
I grinned. My guy knew me well. “You got it!” I blew him a kiss, and he waggled his brows.
“Okay, I gotta go. Happy Thanksgiving to you and Dad and the family. Tell everyone I love them, and we’ll be home soon. Yes, we’ll be home for Christmas. Love you, too.”
Wes hung up the phone and threw it on the bed before body tackling me. “You are so lucky I love you as much as I do. That was brutal.”
“Talking to your mom was brutal?” I teased.
“No. Talking to my mom about planning a wedding when neither one of us really cares about anything other than the I do part. You owe me.” He thrust his hips against me, and I wrapped my legs around him, bringing his body closer.
“Mmm. And how shall I pay up?” I curled a lock of his hair around a finger.
“Be my sex slave for the rest of your natural life,” he quipped instantly.
I grinned. “Dirty boy. I think we can work out a solid compromise.”
“Nuh-uh. I want you for life.”
Lacing my fingers through his hair, I kissed him. “I think that’s doable.”
“No, you’re doable.”