All In (12 page)

One month later

“It’s just beautiful,” Mariah said earnestly. Her heart swelled with love as she gazed at the slightly lopsided cake that Tucker had made. “I’ve never seen anything more beautiful in my whole life.”

Tucker laughed. “Call the asylum,” he said to Tony. “They need to make up a room for her again. Ow!” He rubbed his arm where Mariah had just punched him. Petals from her wedding bouquet fluttered to the floor.

“I think you did a great job, Tucker,” Mariah’s friend Paige said. “What kind is it?”

“Chocolate with chocolate mousse filling,” he said. “Chocolate mousse is our favorite.”

Livvy grinned. “Of course it’s chocolate. It had to be chocolate. I’m just kind of wondering what it’s supposed to be. It looks sort of like a Viking ship.”

Mariah pressed her lips together to stifle a laugh as Tucker pinched the bridge of his nose.

“It is not, for your information, a Viking ship,” he said with mock indignation. “It is a gondola.”

“Oh! Of course. I see it now,” Livvy exclaimed with a giggle.

“Well, it doesn’t really matter what it is,” Tony said, rubbing his hands together, “because in just a second they’re gonna cut that baby and Tucker’s gonna be wearing it all over his face!”

Everyone gathered closer as the bride and groom sliced the cake, camera flashes going off all around them. Mariah felt like pinching herself. So much happiness welled up inside her, she had enough to share with half of Nevada. True love existed. You just had to want it and believe in it. She felt like telling everyone she knew to go to Mexico and buy a wishing bracelet, but she couldn’t do that. She was prohibited from talking about the Universal Wish Federation to anyone except Tucker. It just about killed her not to share her whole experience with Livvy and Paige, but she wasn’t about to mess with the Rules. No way, no how.

“Okay, Mariah!” Tony cried. “Do me proud now. Make him wear it!”

Laughing as she took a chunk of cake in hand, she did her best to fake Tucker out and smear it all over, but she only managed to decorate his cheek a little.

Tucker, on the other hand, had already gotten another marriage mandate from Bill, which stated that under no circumstances was he to try to retaliate. So, as he carefully fed her a bite of cake and then kissed her with great restraint, he thought wickedly about the coming wedding night and how he’d already arranged for an extra bowl of mousse to be waiting in their suite. He had plans to slather it between Mariah’s legs and then lap it up until she was writhing with pleasure and coming hard.

The waitstaff whisked the cake away so they could serve the rest of the guests dessert, and as the band struck up the music again, Tucker marveled at his good fortune. Who could have predicted that he’d end up like this, head over heels in love with a chocolatier who had convinced him to believe in fairies?

Only one person, he thought with a wry smile. A certain party crasher lurking in the back of the banquet room.

Although Davina obviously wanted to remain incognito, Tucker couldn’t let her go without thanking her. He tugged on the cuffs of his shirt as he ambled over.

“Hi,” he said, “I’m Tucker.”

Looking a little flustered as they shook hands, she said, “Iona Fleming, friend of Mariah’s.”

She tried to extricate her hand from his, but he wouldn’t let go. Instead, he squeezed it and leaned closer. “Look, Mariah pointed you out to me earlier, so I know you’re more than a friend,
Davina
,” he said. “I also know that I owe you big time.”

“Oh stop,” Davina said, her cheeks turning pink. “This really isn’t necessary.”

“Yes it is,” Tucker insisted. He gestured toward the party going on behind him. “All this is because of you, and I wanted to tell you how grateful I am. Mariah’s…” He paused. “Mariah’s the best thing that ever happened to me, and if it wasn’t for you…”

He shook his head. His throat felt thick all of a sudden. Putting a fist to his mouth, he coughed a couple of times and then tried again.

“I—I just owe you, that’s all,” he said at last.

Davina pressed her lips together and nodded. “Shoot, I was just doing my job,” she said as Mariah hurried over.

“Davina, I saw you earlier but I couldn’t—” Mariah gasped and touched a pin on Davina’s lapel. “Is that…? You got Cupid of the Month? I don’t believe it!”

As Mariah hugged the fairy tightly, Tucker looked on and smiled. God, he loved her. He loved her more than he would have thought possible. He loved her chocolate smell. He loved how she practically hissed when other women came on to him. And he loved how she was turning the house they’d bought into a real home, a place with pictures on the walls and personal junk on the shelves and no moving boxes anywhere.

“Oh no!” someone cried. “My bracelet’s gone!”

It was Paige. She was rubbing her wrist, a look of dismay on her heart-shaped face. There was a slight commotion as several people near her started scanning the floor.

Chuckling, Tucker grinned at Mariah and said, “Is she talking about
the
bracelet?”

Mariah nodded, laughing. “And wait until you hear what she wished for!”

Before Mariah could give any details, Davina’s pager went off.

“There you go,” the fairy said, looking at the readout. “Paige Mahoney, Case Number 072791. Party time’s over for me,” Davina said, pulling out a pamphlet as she headed for Paige.

“Hey, make sure you give her the right one!” Mariah called out.

Davina’s step faltered.

“That is
so
not funny,” she muttered.

Kate Willoughby got hooked on romance in the late seventies when she read Sweet Savage Love by Rosemary Rogers. Inspired, she and her best friend wrote a contemporary love story involving a multi-millionaire playboy and the restaurant hostess determined to cure his drinking problem. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), that manuscript has been lost forever.

Fast forward to college, where she took a creative writing course. Kate still wanted to write love stories, but everyone else in class was composing Important Literature and Thought-Provoking Poetry. A few devastating critiques later, she gave up, discouraged and embarrassed. Eventually, her muse got over the trauma and pestered her to try her hand at writing again.

Kate resides in Los Angeles with her husband of fifteen years and their two sons. When the testosterone in the house builds up to unbearable levels, she escapes by reading, cooking, and scrapbooking with friends.

Kate welcomes comments from readers. You can find her website and email address on her author bio page at
www.ellorascave.com
.

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