Igniting the Wild Sparks (47 page)

In his arms
, I ask, “When did you get here?”

His mouth is next to my ear. “I’ve been here. I caught the wedding
. I got here late and I didn’t want to interrupt.”

He sets me down, but I don’t let go of his neck. “You were here during pictures and everything?”

“Yeah. I stayed in the back.”

Sparks
puts his arms around my waist and draws me to him. As we slowly begin to dance together, I notice Rod watching us, and I try not to grin like an idiot, pursing my lips and shaking my head at him. He nods and gives me a knowing smirk. That ass knew Finn was standing behind me as I was about to commit his own murder.

Greg Rodwell is…awesome.

I frown at Sparks’ answer as my fingers slide up into his hair. “I wish I would’ve known you were here. I’m sorry you had to go through that. I’m sure you were bored.”

His gaze becomes more transfixed and his pupils appear to dilate as I gently tousle his hair.
“No. I enjoyed watching you.” When his fingers graze the bare skin of my back, making me tingle, his dark eyes drop to my nearly-exposed chest, deliberately roaming over me. I involuntarily breathe faster, wishing his hands and lips were exploring me, too.

Sparks slowly looks up to my face.
“You are… There isn’t a word that describes how utterly beautiful you are. You’re breathtaking. This dress… Becks, you’re devastatingly gorgeous.”

I whisper,
“Thank you.”

He says, “Please believe me when I tell you that.”

“I do believe you. I just don’t believe it myself.”

Resting
his forehead against mine, he whispers, “You don’t even know what you’re doing to me.”

“I could probably guess.”

He replies, “Not even close, Becks. You have absolutely
no
idea.” I ease my head back so I can see his face. His expression is intense and nothing like I’ve ever seen on him before. It’s like he wants me to solve his cryptic riddle.

“Well, you don’t look so bad yourself.”
I smile as I notice his light blue shirt with a dark blue tie, and gray pants, which coordinates with my dress. I whisper in his ear, “Actually, you’re pretty damn hot.”

He
cocks his head and arches an eyebrow. “Am I?”

Nodding,
I secure my arms around his neck and he pulls me closer to him. His cologne drifts between us, and the feel of his arms holding onto me makes my pulse race even faster than it already was. I love being with him like this. In his hair and in his arms are among my favorite places to be.

I rest my cheek on his chest,
next to my tattoo, hearing him breathing just as fast as I am. I swallow and say up to him, “Thank you for rescuing me.”

“I’ll always come to your rescue.”

I happily smile. “I’m so glad you’re here. This means so much to me.”

“I
wanted
to be here with you.”

“I thought you said you’d be out of town?”

He moves his mouth closer to my ear. “I didn’t lie, Becks. I
am
out of town.”

I pull
away from his chest. “You mean, you didn’t have to work?”

Finn
smiles and bites his lip. “I said I had an assignment out of town. Not a lie. I’m here. On assignment.”

Incredulous, I ask,
“You were planning on being here the whole time?”

He nods. “I didn’t want to get here too early because I might be seen, but I ended up getting stuck in traffic. I got here right before you walked down the aisle. I couldn’t take my eyes off of you the whole time.” His fingers grip my waist, but his thumb lightly brushes my bruise. “I like dancing with you. I could hold you all night like this.”

I cringe. “My feet probably would get tired in these shoes.” We both laugh, and needing to feel his skin, I reach up and drag my fingers down his jaw, which makes his smile fade as his eyes to apprehensively widen. I plead, “Please don’t stop laughing. I love your smile.”

“You’re the only reason I have to smile.”

“No, I’m not. You have your…hobbies.”

“They don’t make me smile on the inside the way you do.”

I roll my eyes and can’t help giggling. “That’s so cheesy, Wilder.”

He lightly smiles
again. “So? It’s still the truth.”

“What else is the truth? Didn’t you have something you were going to tell me?”

He pulls his lips into a sad smile and shakes his head. “It’s not Sunday.”

“
You know you’re my only exception,” I remind him. Recognizing what I’m alluding to, his sad smile morphs into a sexy grin.

Since we’ve been lost in our own world, I only now notice the song has ended and everyone is breaking up around us. Rod announces
dinner is being served.

Leaning down,
Sparks says into my ear, “Will you save me another dance?”

Moving my mouth up to his ear, I whisper,
“I’ll try to squeeze you in.” He stands and I grin at his mock frown.

Before dinner, Derrick
and Tonya both give toasts. One of the trade-offs for wearing this dress was that I didn’t have to do any public speaking. Morgan was happy to accept that even with the possibility of my tits popping out for all to see. Damn her.

I notice everyone from our softball team is here, except for Ricky and Cara. Ricky’s been working the night shift and couldn’t get the day off, and Morgan said Cara
claimed she had to work, too. Oh, darn.

No, really.

From my seat between Morgan and Tonya at the bridal party table, I see Finn actually sitting next to Rod. Val is on the other side of Sparks with her husband Paul. Looking over to me, Val blows me a kiss. I smile at her and pick at my green beans, trying to concentrate on eating so I don’t drop anything down into my boobs, but now nerves are taking ahold of me. Since Sparks is here, I’m afraid to propose to him. To ask him to be forever mine.

And hold him to it without him promptly slitting his wrists.

Morgan leans against me and says, “I see our coach/your dickhead boyfriend made it.”

Covertly watching Sparks talking to Val as I stab at my roast beef, I say,
“He did. He was even here for the ceremony.”

“He
owes
it to you to be here.”

Putting my fork down, I look at Morgan.
“It’s your wedding. He shouldn’t be here just for me.”

She resentfully scowls.
“I don’t give a shit if he’s here for me.
You
are who should matter to him, and he’d better not forget it.”

“I think he’s making an effort.
He’s here, isn’t he?” Turning back to my food, I glance over to Finn’s table, where he’s sitting with his elbow cockily propped on the back of his chair, and his finger idly brushing his bottom lip as he intently stares at me. I smile at him and he blinks out of his trance. He languidly smiles at me in response, and I quietly laugh. Grinning at my amusement, Finn shakes his head as we gawk at each other, until Val says something to him and he turns to her, disrupting our daze. Still smiling, I blink down to my plate, but my mind isn’t on my food.

Morgan leans close to me.
“From what I just witnessed, it looks like you two have made up since you’re making serious fuck-me eyes at each other.”

Not looking up,
I laugh and lightly elbow her. “We’re working on it. I let him dance with me, but I haven’t kissed him since finding out about his skydiving.”

Her fork drops in a clatter and I peer up at her.
She slowly asks, “You haven’t kissed him yet?”

“No. He wanted to after our fight at the game, but I told him I
didn’t want to.”

“You’re making him wait to kiss you
?” Morgan reiterates. She laughs and pushes on my arm. “I love it, Hadley! That is fantastic!”

I regard her with an uncertain frown
. “Why?”

“Because you’re making him wait for something he really wants. He
should
have to work for it.”

I
glance at Finn, who’s still talking to Val. Returning to my barely-eaten food, I mutter, “I guess.”

“So, are you ready to kiss him now?”

I nod at my food and she asks, “What about the thing you brought with you?”

Picking up a small forkful of my potatoes, I whisper,
“I think so. I’m still on the fence about it.”

“Maybe after a good screw.”

“Morgan!” I shriekingly whisper, hoping nobody heard her since she’s not making any attempt at being quiet.

“What? Like you’re really not going to take him up to your suite and fuck him? Shit. Angry fucking is my favorite.”

I shake my head, unable to look at her as I eat a few bites, for fear I’ll choke on my food when I see the expression she’s most likely sporting on her face.

She adds,
“Like I told you at lunch weeks ago, get him nice and hard, and then ask him. It’s a win-win.”

I ask over my green beans,
“Why do I talk to you?”

She
puts her head against mine. “Because you love me.”

“Occasionally.”

“Bitch,” she mutters.

Grabbing my champagne,
I take a long sip, making it a production for her. When I lower my glass, I tease with a horrified expression. “Oh, yeah! You’re pregnant! Oops! Sorry! None for you!”

“You’re a slut, too.”

“A raging one!” I drink another gulp in front of her, and she shoves my leg with a laugh.

After the cake is cut, Rod announces that it’s time to throw the bouquet.
Because I’m the unmarried hag, as Rod calls me, I’m forced to the floor. Rhonda and Shasta flank me with a handful of other women behind us.

Before turning around,
Morgan surveys us, eyeing me in particular.
Oh, no.
I’m not making a big spectacle of fighting for the damn thing like a desperate spinster. Not only that, my boobs will most likely fly out of my dress. That thought alone makes me want to dive underneath a table and stay until Rod plays Donna Summer’s “Last Dance.”

With her back to us, Morgan
lazily tosses the bouquet over her head. Inexplicably, Shasta and Rhonda move away, which makes me the closest one to catching it. What the hell? The other women scramble forward, but the bouquet falls short of me, and I impulsively throw my arms forward, catching it, to my own surprise.

I spin around and
Shasta and Rhonda laugh while clapping excitedly. I swing back to see Morgan laughing and hopping around. Bitches.

Shasta comes up to me and asks, “I guess that means you’re going to marry our coach?”

Rhonda says, “You’ll be Mrs. Coach!”

“Um, okay.” I skeptically laugh at their merriment. I thought Shasta wanted Finn for herself. Now, she’s endorsing our potential engagement?

After Ivan removes Morgan’s garter with his teeth to the whistling and cheering of the entire hotel ballroom, Rod again takes the mic. “Alright, Hadley! Let’s find you a groom!”

This won’t be mortifying. I’ll probably be paired with Morgan’s cousin Humper. And yes, his nickname is very accurate, apparently.

Rod plays Janet Jackson’s “Nasty” and tells all the unmarried men to take the floor. I’d nervously laugh, but I feel sick because the one man who I want to catch it is still sitting in his seat, coolly drinking his champagne.

Fleetingly, I catch Rod’s concerned scrutiny before he leaves the DJ table
and strides over to Finn, bending to tell him something. Immediately, Sparks’ indifferent demeanor changes and he purposely stands. What the hell did Rod tell him?

All the bachelors gather
, with Finn actually taking a spot, but so does Shane, Humper, a bunch of drunk strangers, and Ivan’s teenage nephews. This will be magical, no doubt.

I worriedly watch as
Ivan flicks the garter behind him. I can’t look. I’d rather Rod be there trying to catch it, but he’d want to look up my dress, and Rod reaching up my dress would give me nightmares for the rest of my life, let alone anyone else doing so besides Finn. However, I just know Sparks won’t make much of an effort to be eternally jinxed.