Unexpected Ride (24 page)

Becca had more money than she knew what to do with.  Yet instead of living in this amazing beach house, she was content to live in a little plat house that was smaller than the living room of her old apartment in New York.  That concept amazed him more than her offer to sell him the beach house for what she still owed on it.

“Becca offered to sell me this place.  In fact she offered me an amazing deal on it.  I’m thinking about taking her up on it.  I realize it’s only two bedrooms and not nearly big enough for two growing boys but do you think it might be big enough for Chuck and Meredith?” he asked.

“What are you saying?” she asked after rolling off of him and then poking him in the ribs.

“I’m saying if I bought this place for them, wouldn’t that make you guys even?  A house for a house?” he laughed.  “How cool would it be to look out your back door and see not only the ocean but the very beach you were married on?”

A beautiful smile lit up her eyes which then dropped to his mouth when he returned the gesture.  He would never ever grow tired of her staring at his mouth as long as he lived.  Rolling over on top of her, he then wedged himself between her shapely legs.  Reaching down he pulled the t-shirt she’d worn to bed up so that he could taste one of her beautiful breasts.  When he had her writhing beneath him, he pulled back from her.

“Is that a yes, Carla?” he asked before sucking a pebbled nipple back into his mouth.

“Greg… please…” she whispered.

“Answer me.  If I take Becca up on her offer for this house and then give it to Meredith and Chuck, will you take
me
in then?” he whispered after releasing her breast again. “I’ll essentially be homeless if I do that.”

“Yes… yes I will take you in if you do that for them… now please don’t make me beg you for it,” she whispered against his good shoulder while trying to position his hips where she wanted him most.

Her squirming body beneath his own forced him to grit his teeth in order to keep from caving in and taking her. 
A firecracker was what she was.
  She wasn’t going to do that to him this time.  Not until he had his say and got some answers from her… got a commitment in return.  

“How do I know you won’t just kick me to the curb?  I could end up paying rent on a park bench or for the basement apartment under a pier at the beach,” he teased.  “If you married me... then I’d feel
safer
.  How about it, Carla?  I
dare
you…
marry
me.”

“I’ll marry you this afternoon if you will please just…” she whimpered against his neck while lifting her hips up toward him.

“Do you mean that?” he asked, forcing her to be still by putting more of his weight on her.

Raising her head up she looked first at his mouth and then into his eyes before kissing him.  When she finished with him and laid her head back against the pillow she said, “You forget my father is a judge in this town and can perform marriages… so yes I mean it.”

“No big wedding… with all the fancy stuff women usually want?” he asked.

“The only thing I want right now is you between my legs,” she said.  “If you want all that stuff since you’ve never been married before that’s fine but it’ll take longer.”

“God, Carla… hearing that kind of stuff coming out of your mouth makes me crazy,” he said, leaning his forehead against one slender shoulder.

“Oh yea?  Prove it, Detective,” she whispered into his hair.

Moving forward he slid his good arm under her body and around her waist and lifted her bottom up to better position her to take him.  Then in one steady move he pushed into her.  Feeling how ready her body was for him had him nearly losing it. 

Instead he again forced her to be still beneath him.  Over and over again he brought her to orgasm while refusing to follow until he just couldn’t do it anymore… until there was no turning back.  She was his…
finally
.

When the euphoria that was wrapped around his brain so tightly that it was making him dizzy began to fade, he could hear the television on downstairs.  Carla must have heard it too at the same time.  Instead of the reaction he expected out of her, which was to run out on him, she giggled softly against his arm.

“We’re guests in your house this time… I’d like eggs and toast and some coffee,” she said around her smile before kissing his arm.

After a quick shower he left her still lying there in his bed running her torturous hands down a body he wanted to taste yet again but couldn’t.  Instead he headed downstairs to make her breakfast and coffee.  God, he
was
whipped even
worse
than Chuck ever thought about being. 
The guys didn’t need to know that though.
  Then deciding to grow a set as Tommy had so delicately put it, he fished out his cell phone.  While getting the coffee started he called Edna Jackson to get Nathan Patterson’s phone number and then immediately dialed it after hanging up. 

When the judge answered his phone and Greg informed him who he was the old man said, “I was wondering when I’d be hearing from you.  You didn’t waste any time did you?”

“No, Sir, she said yes and I’d like to take her up on that today if that’s possible.  Just in case she changes her mind and decides to string me along a little longer instead,” he finished breathlessly.

“I’m going to have to make you wait for a couple more weeks myself then, Detective.  For two reasons… one because Meredith will never forgive me if she isn’t here to witness it and second because having your anniversary the day after your stepdaughter’s anniversary is just weird, for lack of a better term,” Judge Patterson laughed.  “Besides, I have a golf outing this afternoon.  I’m doing all I can to fix my reputation since, unlike myself, a certain ruthless detective couldn’t let a criminal just walk away.  Two weeks from today and she’s all yours.  You also might want to go downtown and get a marriage license.”

“Yes, Sir, and thank you,” he replied and disconnected the call.

“I take it Daddy said yes?” Carla said, wrapping her arms around his waist from behind.

“Yea… in two weeks!” he muttered with disappointment thick in his voice.

“Good… that’ll give you time to ask the boys’ permission,” she said against his back.

“You’re going to make me work for this aren’t you?” he smiled, glancing back at her.

“Uh huh, now where’s that coffee?” she smiled.

The two weeks waiting for Chuck and Meredith to get back from their honeymoon in Florence was the longest two weeks of Greg’s entire life.  Then knowing how anxious he was to get things moving along, Carla had insisted that he not say anything until after they’d had a chance to tell them all about their honeymoon.  She was damn good at driving him crazy both in and outside of the bedroom.

Gretchen had begged to stay overnight with them so she could see her beloved Chuck.  It felt like a year had passed while he, the boys and Gretchen waited for them to get back from the airport.  Matt was happy to videotape Greg trying to make dinner while Ben ran head first into the oversized couch in the living room over and over again.  Gretchen kept trying unsuccessfully to get Ben to stop it which seemed to have just the opposite effect. 

Just as Greg thought he couldn’t wait another minute for them to get home, especially once dinner was finished, he heard Ben yell, “They’re here!”

Even Matt left him to go and record the newlyweds coming in the door instead.  Forcing the eagerness Greg felt back down into the pit of his stomach and continuing to set the table while the happy couple and Carla made their way into the house was a lesson in self-control.  Would Chuck and Meredith be happy for them?  Would they accept him into their family? 
Everyone knew about it but them.
  Carla was obviously growing a little nervous at their reaction too based on the look she gave him upon entering the kitchen to help him finish up dinner.

The noise from the front of the house had grown to a nearly deafening level when he suddenly heard Gretchen say excitedly, “Mr. Sanders and Ms. Carla are in
love
, my Chuckie.  I heard Mama and Aunt Becca talking about it.  I wasn’t listening in… I just heard Mama talking instead of the television and that’s what they said.”

“You’re being nosy, Gretchen!” Ben said angrily.

“Shut up Bennie!  I wasn’t talking to you!” Gretchen said angrily.

“Hey, both of you knock it off,” Chuck said.  “Gretchen, we already knew that but you
were
being nosy and I’m pretty sure both your mama, Ms. Becca
and
Ms. Lilly have talked to you about that.  Now you go on in there and apologize to Mr. Sanders and Ms. Carla.”

Greg and Carla stared at each other nervously until Gretchen appeared in the kitchen with Ben right behind her.  Ben stood rigidly behind the little girl with his arms crossed over his body wearing a look that said he was clearly in the right while Gretchen was very,
very
wrong.  Then he loudly said to Carla, “Gretchen has to apologize for telling Meredith and Chuck about Mr. Sanders wanting to marry you!”

Chapter Fourteen

“Is that true?” Meredith asked Carla.

“Why don’t we sit down and have some dinner and talk about it,” she replied.

“Oh, Mama!  That’s so great!  I may owe Charlie a hundred large now but I don’t care!  I’m so happy for you!” Meredith squealed while hugging Carla tightly.

Glancing at Greg, Carla watched Chuck smack him on the back as a big grin spread across his face.  “Congratulations, man!  When’s the big day?”

“Come on let’s sit down and eat while we talk,” Carla again interjected.

Two hours later a decision had been made to go ahead and move Chuck and Meredith into the beach house the following weekend.  This would give Greg and Carla a week to settle in together before actually exchanging vows.  The weekend after that would be used to finish preparations for the auction event the group had been planning and organizing.  Then the last weekend of the month was the actual date for the dinner and raffle of the painting.

With the whole group pitching in, no one person had been saddled with preparing for the event.  Carla was used to normally handling everything herself but with this group, things seemed to just fall into place on their own.  Each person had offered to help or provide something and she had only agreed or provided another suggestion.  It was a whole lot less stressful than most of the parties she’d hosted while she’d been married to Doug.  This brought about another change she was starting to like… learning to let go of what she couldn’t control.

“Well we have some exciting news too,” Meredith said.

Carla’s heart nearly stopped.  Seeing the look she knew was on her face but was unable to take back had Meredith scrambling to explain.

“No, not that!  We decided on a charity to donate any of the funds we are able to collect to.  God, Mom!  We just got married!” Meredith laughed.  “We talked about what to do with some of the money from the premiere and we want to start a charity of our own.”

“Oh, well that’s a good idea,” she replied.

“Well I think I may have something that will help with both the dinner auction at the end of the month as well as your charity ideas,” Greg cut in.

Carla watched him pull out a packet of papers and hand them to Meredith.  After reading them she looked at Greg and said, “You found the stolen money?”

When Greg smiled at Meredith in affirmation, Carla noticed Chuck’s face go from confused to an almost disappointed look.  Knowing Chuck was unlikely to say what was bothering him based on how he sat back in his seat and stared at the table, Carla moved over closer to him taking the chair that Gretchen had given up when she and the boys headed upstairs to play.

“What is it, son?” Carla asked.

A look crossed the young man’s face she couldn’t read for once.  He glanced at her and then looked away and appeared to be struggling with his emotions for a moment.  When he finally turned back to her, she just wanted to hug him.

“Say that again… I got Dickie, which is cool as shit but… I’ve never had a…
mom
,” he said.

Instead, she hugged him around his neck and said, “You’re a part of this family now.  That makes you my son.”

He let her hug him this time where before a hug always caused a tension in him that made her just release him.  When she let finally let him go he smiled his normal mischievous grin and said, “I think your sappy shit is rubbing off on me…
Mom
.”

“Language… Mister!” Gretchen yelled from the living room.

“Mind ya business… Rudy!” Chuck yelled back at the little girl.  “Does that mean the auction is off then?  I mean if we can give those people back their money…”

“Look, you do what you think is right.  If it hadn’t been for me and my skeleton laden closet none of this would have happened to begin with,” Carla replied.

“May I make a suggestion?” Greg interjected.

“You’re fixing to be part of this big ass, weird family too, so that means you get to give unwanted advice, stick your nose in where it doesn’t belong and share opinions on a whim.  So go for it!” Chuck laughed.

“Why don’t you have the dinner auction and tell the guests the truth… tell them what happened and offer to refund their money if they want it but also tell them about your charity and let them decide for themselves.  Get a refund or let it go to your charity… that takes the weight off you,” Greg replied.  “If they see you doing the right thing… they might be more likely to do the right thing in return.  They still get dinner and the chance at one of your paintings.”

“That’s a great idea… I, uh… I got to go paint for a minute,” Chuck replied and then without a word got up from the table and headed for the front door.

“Hey!  Husband!  Are you forgetting something?” Meredith yelled at his retreating back as she stood up from the table.

A moment later Chuck returned, leaned down and hefted Meredith over his shoulder then started for the door. Once the happy couple left for Chuck’s apartment, Carla turned from the door to find Greg leaving a message on Chuck’s cell phone telling him where the extra key was to the beach house if they wanted to take a look.  Looking at him she saw a future for the first time since Doug’s death… a good future… full of love and family.  That hadn’t died with Doug… it had simply changed… grown to include more people.