Chapter Seventeen
REILLY
“ICAN’T BELIEVE you’re actually doing this. You’re getting freaking married, Lyssa.” I squeeze her into the tightest hug ever, just before we enter the bridal shop.
“That’s if I can find a dress. I can’t believe I’m getting married tomorrow and I don’t even have a dress.”
“Please, that man would marry you even if you wore a paper bag.” Sarah rolls her eyes.
“Mmmhmm. He would, wouldn’t he? Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” Lyssa says, pushing her way through the door with the rest of us following suit.
“Okay, here’s what we are going to do. Each of us pick one dress and Lyssa you pick two that you really love, then you’re going to try each dress on.” When we all just stare at Sarah like she’s lost her mind, she claps at us. “Chop, chop, girls, the day’s a wasting.”
We all go about finding our version of the perfect dress for Lyssa. I’m going through a rack with Ella beside me.
“So, do you think we’ll be doing this again for you soon?” she asks.
I all but choke on thin air. “God, no,” I get out, then notice her scrunched up face.
“Not that I don’t love Bray, all that is Bray, but marriage is not something I need.” I try to explain myself; it’s not working too well.
“Does Bray know that? Because I’m pretty certain you are his forever, Reilly.”
“I know. Trust me, Ella, he is my forever too. I just don’t think you need to get married to be forever.”
“Okay, I just don’t want to see Bray get hurt. I know he comes across like nothing bothers him, but you have the ability to break him.”
Wow, I admire how protective she is of him. I’m wondering if Lyssa got the same speech. Probably not.
“Ella, I promise I won’t do anything to hurt your brother.
Honestly, I’ve never loved anyone else as much as I love him.
It’s different, the feelings I have for Bray.
It’s consuming, like I can’t even breathe properly when he’s not around.
And when he is around, well, I feel like a damn dog in heat, ‘cause all I want to do is jump him. I want to crawl into his skin. It’s like I can never get close enough, you know?
I don’t ever want to wake up without him next to me. ”
Ella screws her face up. “First, eew, I do not need to hear about you and Bray jumping anything. Second, you really do love him. I know that. I just worry more about him than I do Zac. Ever since our parents died, Bray has been a little lost and a lot angry. That’s why he fights.
Since meeting you, he has a newness about him and I worry what would happen to him if you weren’t around anymore, that’s all. ”
I get that, I do. “Never stop looking out for your brothers, Ella. Life is short and can change in the blink of an eye. They’re both lucky to have an amazing sister like you. Now, how about we find that dress for Lyssa?” I suggest, changing the topic.
We go about choosing dresses, while I recall the things Holly and I would put the girls through who Dylan used to bring home. The year he died, he had only just started bringing girls around. We didn’t get to torture him too much with our overprotectiveness.
“You know, when I get married, I think I’ll just fly to Vegas and elope,” Ella says as we all sit on the couch waiting for Lyssa to come out of the changing room in her fourth dress. Sarah, Holly and I burst out laughing.
“Ella, hunny, if you ever fly to Vegas to get married, be sure to warn me so I can be around when Zac and Bray find out. Then change your name and go into witness protection with your new husband, because there is no way your brothers won’t kill him, whoever he is,” I tell her through my laughter.
“Please, the only way you’re getting married is by running off to Vegas where those two buffoons can’t protest against it,” Sarah laughs. To which, I slap her arm, while at the same time Holly slaps her other one.
“Ow! What the fuck, Reilly?” she says, rubbing both of her arms.
“One of those buffoons happens to be mine, so you don’t get to call him names without getting hurt.” I smile at her.
“Well, what’d you slap me for, Holl? He’s not your boyfriend.” Holly shrugs her shoulders.
“Sorry, Sarah, but I knew Reilly was going to do it the minute the words left your lips, and I had this overwhelming urge to slap you too. It’s her fault though, blame her,” she says, pointing her finger at me.
“Thanks, Holl. Way to throw me under the bus.” I blow her a kiss.
“Okay, this is the one, and I don’t care what any of you say, I love it,” Lyssa says as she walks out of the dressing room. She looks up and points a finger at Ella. “Don’t you ever think about running off to Vegas. No sister of mine is having a Vegas elopement for a wedding.”
Ella jumps up and hugs Lyssa. “You look gorgeous, Alyssa. Zac is going to blow a gasket when he sees you tomorrow.”
“Thank you. So, what do you all think?” Lyssa asks the rest of us.
She looks absolutely stunning. “I love it,” we all say at once.
“Perfect, this is it. Now we can go back and laze by the beach for the rest of the afternoon.”
I have a cocktail in hand and I’m lying on a sun lounger on a beach in Hawaii.
Can life get any better than this? The sand is white, the water picture perfect and clear blue.
It’s like heaven, this place. I look over to Alyssa, who is wearing a tiny red bikini, her baby bump just starting to show.
She’s been drinking mock-tails all day and complaining about not being able to drink with us.
Meanwhile, Ella has been sneaking sips of my drink all day, because she’s not old enough to drink here.
“I can’t wait to be an aunt. You know I’ll be the favourite; you might as well go and name her Reilly already. Break the news early to the rest, Lyssa; let them down gently,” I tell her.
She laughs, “Oh my God, you are spending way too much time with Bray!” She points at me. “That’s exactly what he said to me the other day.”
I smile thinking about spending even more time with Bray. “He told you to name her Reilly?”
“No, he said I should name him Bray, after his favourite uncle.”.
“Well, Bray can take a number. I’m calling dibs. Besides, this baby is going to be a girl,” I say around my straw, while eyeing the candy walking up the beach.
Putting my finger between my lips, I let out the loudest wolf whistle I can, gaining the attention of the hunks currently headed in our direction. Although my eyes are zoned in on only one of them.
He’s wearing a pair of board shorts and nothing else; mmm, I lick my suddenly dry lips.
My eyes follow the droplets of water travelling down his smooth, tanned skin, to those abs I want to sink my teeth into.
When my eyes finally make it back up to his, he gives me that panty-melting smirk.
Yep, my bikini bottoms are now wet, and not just from the water of the ocean.
My favourite parts of Bray though, are those arms. They’re strong, can hold me up like I weigh nothing, and are decorated with colourful tattoos.
I want those arms wrapped around me. I want those hands all over me.
I’m getting more and more heated by the minute.
I’m going to need to go back into the water to cool off.
And then the idea hits me, yes. I’m going back out into that ocean, but I’m not going alone. As if he can read my mind, Bray looks back over his shoulder at the water then to me and smiles. He’s way too tuned in to the way my mind works now.
Once they meet up with us, Zac heads straight for the towel basket. Picking one up, he places it over top of Alyssa like a bloody blanket, to which she throws it off.
“Sunshine, what if the baby gets sunburnt? You really should cover up.” Alyssa glares at him and he eventually backs down, choosing to sit in front of her on her lounger while effectively blocking the view of her to anyone not in our little group.
It dawns on me that Bray has never once cared about what I wear, or tried to get me to not wear something revealing.
It’s odd, considering how against revealing clothing Zac is.
I’ve seen how Bray will try to get Ella to change or refuse to let her leave the house until she does. But he’s never done this with me.
He squats over top of me, practically straddling me while holding himself up as he leans in to kiss me. I pull back, to which he screws his face up and raises an eyebrow in question at me.
“Why do you never care about what I wear out in public?” I blurt out.
“Babe, you can wear whatever you like. You’re fucking gorgeous in anything you wear anyway,” he shrugs. “Plus, I can fight.” He’s so matter of fact.
“What does fighting have to do with how I look?” I ask, confused.
“Any fucker who wants to stare too long or try to touch what’s mine will learn very quickly just how good I can fight, babe.” Cocky fucking bastard, he is. Problem is it’s bloody true, he can fight, and he is good at it.
Deciding I like his answer, I pull his face down to meet mine—his hand quickly going to my throat and holding me still. I try my hardest not to moan out loud, but he knows what it does to me when he grabs me by the throat; shivers wreak havoc through my body.
I push him away with my hands; let’s face it, we all know he lets me push him away.
“I want to go for a swim, and you’re coming with me.
” I don’t give him room to say no, not that he would.
Before I know it, I’m tossed over his shoulder and he’s jogging towards the water.
I have to hold onto my bikini top to make sure my boobs don’t jump out of the fabric.
Once he makes it to the water, I think he’s going to put me down, but no, he walks until he’s waist-deep and throws me in. I come up coughing and spluttering.
“Asshole, I’m going to kill you,” I scream at him, once I have my footing and my lung capacity back, that is.
He grabs and pulls me against him. “No, you’re not. You love me way too much to do that,” he says, so assured of himself.
“Mmm, you’re right. I need to get a mould of junior made before I can do that. At least that way, junior and I can still have playdates without needing the rest of you.” I smirk at him.
“Harsh, babe. That’s fucking harsh. Your life would be boring as shit without me, admit it.” He starts tickling my sides.
“No, Braydon Williamson, stop!” I scream, but no one is around to help me.
“I’ll stop when you admit it,” he says, continuing his torture.
“Okay, okay, my life would suck without you, happy?” I give in. Also, it’s the bloody truth.
He stops. I jump up and wrap my legs around his waist and his lips meet mine in the softest, most tender kiss he has ever given me. Pulling back, I lose myself in the green orbs of his eyes.
“I want to remember this moment forever, trap it in a jar and keep it on the shelf,” I tell him.
“No need, babe, we will have a lifetime of moments like these.”
“Promise?”
“I will make sure of it. I’m never giving us up, Reilly.” I need him inside me, now, more than ever before. Reaching down between our bodies, I undo his board shorts, just enough to free his cock. I move my bikini bottoms to the side and let his cock slide into my entrance.
“Fuck.” He holds me still, buried onto him with my legs wrapped around his waist. To anyone looking, if they could even see through the water, we just look like two people holding each other.
He thrusts in and out, so tenderly and slow. It’s the sweetest form of torture. We’ve never made love like this, each always too hungry for the other and going rough and hard. But this, I like this too.
“I love you more than I thought I could ever love anyone, Bray,” I confess while he places gentle kisses all over my face.
“Your heart is safe in my hands, babe. I promise, no matter what life throws our way, you will always have me to lean on. I will always fight for us.”
We spend the next thirty minutes making love in the waters of Waikiki Beach.
I lock this moment into my memory of the time I knew one hundred percent, without a doubt, that I would spend the rest of my life with this man.
The scary thought, if he asked me to run off and elope with him tomorrow, I’d probably say yes.
I’ll keep that thought to myself though—I do not need to encourage his crazy antics.