Authors: Toni Aleo
“Not right now, I might talk to Papaw about taking it easy, especially with baby number two coming, but I love running the team. I love the guys and I love the business aspect. I feel important.”
Fallon nodded. “I know what you mean babe. Okay, well I’ll let you go. I’ll call you soon.”
“Alright, bye.”
Fallon hung up the phone and went to her e-mail to see that Janet had made quick work of sending her the pictures. Just as Fallon opened the e-mail, Lucas flopped down beside her, breathing hard.
“Our son tried to drown me!”
Fallon giggled as she looked over at him. Her eyes traveled down his perfectly ripped body, causing her toes to curl. Jeez, he made her hot with one glance!
“You’re fine. How’s his cast?” she asked, looking back at her phone. She had to look away, or no telling what would happen.
“Fine, it’s sealed up well. My mom taught me how to do that.”
Fallon nodded with a small smile. She was about to say that Molly knows best when a picture of her in Lucas’ arms, kissing him senseless, came up on her phone. She took in a quick breath, a bright smile on her face as she scrutinized everything about the picture. It was perfect — the colors they wore, the backdrop, the hockey bag at their feet — and then them. They were gorgeous. Elli was right.
“Oh, the pictures came in?” Lucas asked. She nodded her head as he placed his head on her shoulder. She could smell the salt from the ocean, and cold drops of water fell along her shoulder. She didn’t mind too much, she was too busy scrutinizing the pictures. She went to next picture and with each one, her smile grew brighter. They were perfect. She hated orange, but she had to admit she looked good in it — especially beside a sexy Lucas. When she came to the pictures of them in the vineyard, her breath caught. They were stunning, Fallon in a long, orange, mermaid-styled gown and Lucas in a crisp black suit. It was spectacular and Fallon couldn’t be happier. That was, until she came to the close up of her and Lucas with her bottom lip between his teeth. It was racy, but elegant. Only she knew that he was moving his tongue along her lip while everyone else would only see that they were completely in love. He was gazing into her eyes like she was the only woman in the world, and the look of completion on her face was timeless, perfect even.
Fallon gave him a cheeky grin before going back through them again. She couldn’t get enough of them. She even wanted her own copy for her room. They were
that
good. Eleanor Adler was something, that’s for sure.
She let out a girly giggle, causing him to smile fully at her. She took in a deep breath before shrugging her shoulders. “I guess.”
“Hey!” she yelled as he stood up. She went to reach for her phone but Lucas took a hold of her ankle and started pulling her towards the ocean. “Lucas!” she yelled as sand scratched her butt. “Stop!” she laughed. “Sand is going up my butt!”
Lucas laughed before stopping and picking her up over his shoulders. She screamed the whole way to the ocean while Aiden laughed like it was the funniest thing he had ever seen.
Lucas’ laughter ran up her spine as he brought her down into his arms. He placed a kiss on her lips and when they parted he smiled against her lips. “Good.”
He gave her a grin before turning and heading towards the beach. That was her chance and she took it, jumping on his back and dunking him underwater. She swam quickly away from him and by the time she heard him sputtering she was already walking up the shore. Aiden was laughing so hard, he couldn’t breathe but that didn’t stop Fallon from picking him up and throwing him into the ocean too.
When she flopped down onto her beach towel, she shook the excess water off herself and smiled towards her two stunned boys. “Don’t mess with Momma.”
*******
Fallon stood in a towel looking down at the four dresses she had laid out for the party. Lucas and Aiden’s babysitter, Susie, was due there at any moment, and Fallon still wasn’t dressed. She couldn’t decide if she wanted to be sexy, sweet or professional. It was driving her insane. When her door opened, she turned to see Audrey looking gorgeous in a pale pink one shoulder sheath dress. Glitter covered the bodice and went down the dress in pretty little swirls. She wore pale pink platform heels with a sparkly bracelet on her wrist and big diamond earrings in her ears.
Fallon’s shoulders fell at Audrey’s beauty and her heart broke because they hadn’t talked since Audrey and Lucas had fought. She had missed her baby sister so much, and seeing her all dolled up to the nines was bittersweet. She knew Audrey was still with that douche bag but she didn’t want to argue with her, she just wanted Audrey to be happy.
“Crap! I can’t decide on what I want to wear,” Fallon said. She pointed down at her dresses before looking back at Audrey. “I don’t know if I want to be sexy, sweet or professional.”
Audrey laughed while she moved towards the bed, looking down at the dresses. She pointed to the backless black one and shook her head. “Mom and Dad are going to be there, so that one is out.”
Fallon nodded her head as she went on to the next one. “This one is nice, but I don’t like that bow. It’s between this grey one and that grey and black one. Try them on real quick.”
Fallon nodded again, picking up the first dress and throwing it on. It was black and went to her knees. There was lace that went around her neck as a halter top, showing a lot of her back.
Fallon undressed quickly and threw on the next dress. It was a light grey with a fitted skirt that went down to below her knees. It cut down low and the sleeves were made of grey lace that was designed in pretty flowers. Fallon slid her feet into her grey lace heels and when she looked up, Audrey was grinning at her.
“That’s it.”
Fallon clapped her hands together and ran to the bathroom to fix her makeup so that it matched her dress. She noticed Audrey had followed her and was leaning against the doorway as she applied her eye shadow.
“Okay,” Fallon said, even though she knew Audrey was lying. Audrey shrugged her shoulders and turned to leave the room without another word. Fallon shook her head in disgust. She wanted to shake Audrey to death but knew it would do no good. The girl was in love.
After finishing the rest of her makeup, she made sure her hair was in perfect curls before leaving the bathroom and heading downstairs. Fallon reached the bottom step just as Aiden took off towards the door and threw it open. Audrey stood up from the couch, and so did Susie as Lucas came in, looking devilishly sexy. He wore an expensive, sleek-looking blue suit with a silver tie. His hair was combed over to the side, and, thankfully, he hadn’t shaved. A grin stayed on his face when he looked over at Audrey before starting towards her. Fallon watched as he reached for Audrey’s hands and squeezed them tightly before placing a kiss on her cheek.
“Well I must say Audrey, you look gorgeous,” he said with a charming smile on his face.
Audrey’s cheeks dusted a beautiful deep red before she pulled her hands from his while trying not to smile. “Whatever.”
Lucas laughed. “Come on Audrey, you still can’t be mad at me.” Audrey shrugged her shoulders. “You are too pretty to still be mad at me,” he finished and that did it. She grinned over at him and smacked him in the arm before turning to go to the kitchen.
“Dad, this is Mrs. Susie, my babysitter!” Aiden said from beside Susie. Susie smiled up at Lucas and Fallon snickered at the look of awe on Susie’s face. She had been watching Aiden since he was a baby. Whenever Audrey couldn’t keep Aiden, Susie would. She was a sweet lady in her late thirties with an infectious laugh. She was so funny and Aiden just adored her.
Lucas turned the charm way up as he shook Susie’s hand. “Nice to meet you, I’m Lucas Brooks.”
Susie giggled as her face turned bright red. Fallon couldn’t blame her. Fallon was blushing and Lucas wasn’t even turning the charm on her. “Nice to meet you too,” was all Susie got out before she started giggling like a school girl.
Lucas smiled as he said, “So are you an all-night babysitter?”
“Lucas!” Fallon yelled. Lucas turned quickly and when their eyes met, Fallon was about to hire Susie for all night. Lucas’ eyes went dark as he slowly came towards her with a sexy grin on his mouth. Fallon slowly blinked once, bringing her bottom lip in between her teeth as he closed the distance between them and met her lips with his.
Her hand came up to his cheek and welcomed the rough feeling from the hair along his jaw against her palm. She craved it, missed it even.
“They do this all the time.”
Fallon parted from Lucas with a bashful grin on her face before looking over at Aiden. “Hush, Aiden.” Aiden giggled as she looked up into Lucas’ eyes. Yeah, it was about time they had some alone time.
Lucas didn’t need to say anything, his eyes said it all. He slowly nodded before bringing his lips close to hers. “I thought you’d never ask.”
The first thing Fallon saw when she walked into the campaign party was the close up picture of her and Lucas. Along the bottom, in the signature orange, it read:
“Rocky Top Wine is sensational, but it tastes better from her lips.”
It looked amazing, and Fallon couldn’t wait to see it hung along the walls of the arena and all through Nashville. Lucas squeezed Fallon’s hand and she glanced over to see him grinning at her. “Looks amazing babe, I’m proud of you,” he said. Tears sprang to her eyes from the overwhelming feeling of accomplishment and Lucas’ loving words. Lucas then leaned over and kissed her cheek softly before grinning down at her.
As they walked closer to the where the party was in full swing, each of the 10 pictures stood large in different spots along the outside of the party. Black and orange adorned every surface of the arena. Since it was a tie in, Grace suggested that they used black and orange. A color from each party, and Fallon couldn’t agree more. It looked a little Halloween-ish but it worked, and the way Grace had done it made it look classy. Fallon couldn’t wait to find Grace and thank her. She had done an outstanding job.
Fallon saw everyone from the company and a lot of the guys from the team. Elli had made it a mandatory party since the guys were leaving out Sunday for their first game of the playoffs against the Minnesota Wild. It was the Assassins last hurrah before things became serious. As Lucas and Fallon walked hand in hand through the party, Lucas would stop and shake hands with someone before introducing Fallon to them. Fallon did the same thing with her co-workers and it felt nice to have someone on her arm. She felt amazing and was beyond proud of herself for how the campaign had come out, but she couldn’t take full credit.