Las Vegas Sidewinders: Drake (Book 2) (19 page)

She wrapped her arms
around his waist and sighed happily.

Wednesday morning Erin
rolled over and looked right into Kate’s big brown eyes. She yelped in surprise
and they both laughed.

“What are you doing?”
Erin demanded, sitting up.

“You’re not supposed to
see the groom before the wedding,” she giggled. “Or something like that.”

Erin rolled her eyes.
“We
slept together
last night.”

“That was last night
and this is today. Go take a shower!” Kate nudged her.

Laughing, Erin did as
she was told. She came out to find Kate sitting on the bed with Tessa. “Oh my
God! You’re here!” She hugged her friend. “Did Drake fly you out here?”

“Mack’s here too,”
Tessa laughed, nodding. “She’s downstairs with the guys. Apparently they love
her.”

“I have your wedding
dress!” Kate pulled a bag out of the closet.

“Where did you find
that?” Erin breathed, gaping at her. She’d been planning to wear a simple skirt
and blouse to get married.

“It was in with my
stuff after, well, you know.” She took it off the hanger. “You need to wear
this today.”

“But I bought that for
Shay…” She swallowed hard.

“If I recall,” Kate
spoke quietly, “when you tried this dress on, you said, ‘I’m going to wear this
for the man who’s going to love me forever.’ I’m pretty sure Drake qualifies.”

Erin smiled faintly at
her friend. “But I had another man in mind.”

“But you never wore it.
It still has the tags on it.” Kate pushed the champagne-colored dress at her.

“I don’t remember
this,” Tessa said with a frown.

“Sophomore year.
Homecoming. Erin thought Shay was going to take her.”

“He never even called,”
Erin said sadly. “He said he forgot about Homecoming and went out with his
buddies. I went out with Clay for the first time a few weeks later.”

“But the look on your
face when you bought this dress was for a man who was going to love you
forever—and now you’ve found him.” Kate nodded. “Put it on.”

“It probably doesn’t
fit!” Erin chuckled.

“You haven’t gained an
ounce since college!” Tessa nudged her. “Put it on and let’s see how it looks.”

Erin disappeared into
the bathroom and put on a strapless bra before stepping into the clingy lace
dress. The silky tunic underneath was covered with a sheer embroidered fabric.
It fit her like a glove and she fingered the embroidered lace sleeves that
covered her scars. She would put on nude stockings and a pair of pale pink high
heels that she’d bought on a whim a few months ago.

Stepping into the room
where the girls were waiting, her eyes met Kate’s.

“Oh, you’re so pretty!”
Tessa breathed, staring at her.

“Wow.” Mack spoke from
the doorway. “My little brother is a lucky man.”

“Mack!” Erin hugged her
tightly. “Can you believe we’re getting married?!”

“I introduced you,” she
said haughtily. “Of course I can!”

“You need to get a move
on,” Tessa said, looking at her watch. “We’ve got to be there by 10:00 and it’s
after 8:00.”

“And you should eat
something.” Kate headed for the stairs. “I’ll get you coffee and a bagel.”

“Okay.” Erin began
rooting through her drawers looking for the right pair of panty hose. She hated
wearing them, but it had become a habit since the accident, especially in
winter. She knew Drake didn’t care about her scarred legs, but she didn’t want
to look back on her wedding pictures and have her scars be the first thing she
noticed. This dress barely reached her knees, so there was still plenty of
scarring visible to the eye.

She ate her bagel while
applying eye makeup. Then she brushed her teeth and put on lipstick. Since she
was going to work right after lunch, she left her hair down, curling the ends
so that it framed her face and bounced around her shoulders. When she got to
work she could easily pull it into a ponytail.

“Are you done?” Kate
peeked into the bathroom. “The guys are heading out to your car and Mack’s rental.”

“Who’s riding with us?”
Erin looked out. “Tessa and Mack?”

Kate nodded.

“Okay, I’m ready.” Erin
spoke softly.

“You’re a beautiful
bride,” Mack said softly. “My mother is going to be
so
annoyed when she
finds out about this.”

“We’ll have a real
wedding when I get back,” Erin whispered, hugging her.

Arriving at the office
of the justice of the peace, Erin got out of the car at the same time Drake
did. He looked amazing in a fitted double-breasted Armani suit of steel grey.
They stared at each other for a long moment before he reached for her hands.

“God, you’re
beautiful,” he whispered.

“You’re pretty hot
too,” she gazed up at him.

“I bought these rings,”
He pulled a small box out of his pocket. “I have no idea what you like, but you
weren’t going away without my ring on your finger. I’ll buy you something
fabulous when you get back, but for now...” His voice trailed off and he took
out the matching set of gold bands with their initials engraved on the inside.
On the top, each had a small row of diamonds down the middle.

“They’re beautiful,”
she said, moving close to him. “Thank you. I love you.”

“I love you too.” He
grasped her hand. “Come on, let’s do this.”

En masse, they walked
into the small quaint building and 30 minutes later, they were married. Coming
out, Erin and Drake laughed as the others threw birdseed in the air. Kate was
taking pictures and Mack had tears on her cheeks as they hugged everyone.

“Can we go eat now?”
Eric whispered in Erin’s ear.

“Are you sure
you’re
not the one who’s pregnant and not Maria?” she demanded, eying him.

“I got sympathy hunger
pangs,” he said, nodding.

“What was your excuse
three years ago?” Mark demanded.

“I was still growing!”
Eric said, protesting as Ronnie thunked him in the back of the head. “Hey!”

“Okay, children,” Mack
herded them towards the cars. “We’re going to go eat right now.”

Drake got behind the
wheel of Erin’s car and she got in next to him, with Kate and Karl in the back
seat, their hands linked between them. Erin glanced back and gave her friend a
smirk; Kate widened her eyes innocently.

“Which way?” Drake
asked. Erin guided him back to the highway.

“What time are you guys
leaving?” Kate asked Karl.

“After lunch. We’ve got
to be in Philly by dinner.” He leaned over and whispered something that made
her blush but she laughed.

“That’s enough, back
there!” Erin laughed too. “We’re the newlyweds!”

“Whatever!” Kate called
back, pulling Karl’s face down for a kiss that made Erin pretend to gag.

“You two are gross!”
Erin turned away in mock disgust.

Drake glanced at her.
“That’s not what you were saying last night.”

“That’s ‘cause it was
you. I don’t want to look at
them
!” She winked at him.

“Talk to the hand!”
Kate held out her palm.

Erin blew a raspberry
at her.

It was much later
before Erin got home. Working until after 8:00 p.m., she got home just before
9:00 to find Kate and Drake on the couch watching TV. She went and curled up on
his lap, resting her head on his shoulder.

“Welcome home, Mrs.
Riser.” He kissed her.

“Please tell me there’s
food, Mr. Riser.” She met his gaze hopefully.

“Absolutely,” Kate
jumped up. “You two sit right there—I’ll get it.”

“Thanks, Kate!” Erin
called after her gratefully.

“You look tired,” he
said softly, massaging her shoulders.

“Long day,” she said
with a smile. “Some crazy guy talked me into marrying him, and then we ate too
much at lunch and I still had to work for eight hours.”

“How’s everything going
with that?” he asked.

She met his eyes.
“There’s a lot going on, but I trust my unit. They won’t catch us off-guard
again. We’re better prepared this time, with scouts we can send out ahead of
time to sweep for IED’s and much better intelligence.”

“Tell me the truth,
Erin. How dangerous is this mission?”

“Honestly? If our
intelligence is good, it shouldn’t be a big deal.”

“But there’s never a
guarantee your intelligence is 100% right, is there?”

“No.” She shook her
head.

“But we’re not going to
think about that,” Kate said, catching the end of their conversation as she put
a plate, silverware and a napkin on the coffee table. “I already told Mark if
anything happened to you this time, I’d cut his dick off.”

“How was that IED
Mark’s fault?” Erin eyed her.

Kate shrugged. “Someone
has to pay.”

Erin shook her head.
“I’m sure he was pleased to find out not only was he risking his life, but his
manhood as well.”

“He was okay with it,”
Kate chuckled.

Erin dug into her
dinner as they chatted casually. She could feel Drake’s tension as she ate, and
she looked at him worriedly. He shook his head slightly at her concerned look,
so she let it go until she’d finished eating and Kate had shooed them up to
bed.

“I’ll clean up,” Kate
said softly. “Go spend some time together.”

“Thanks.” Erin kissed
her cheek. “See you tomorrow.”

“Night, Kate.” Drake
followed Erin up the stairs.

She immediately got
undressed and pulled on the T-shirt he’d given her for Christmas.

“I’m sorry this isn’t
much of a honeymoon,” he said, coming up behind her and sliding his arms around
her waist as she brushed her teeth.

“That’s my fault,” she
said quietly, resting against him. “I’m the one who’s sorry.”

“I love you,” he
whispered against her ear. “The thought of you going over there scares the crap
out of me.”

“I know.” She rinsed
her mouth and turned to him. “But you have to trust me. This is what I do. This
is what I’ve been trained to do for the last 11 years. I started with ROTC
right out of high school and this will be my second time over there. You have
to have faith in me.”

“I do.” He kissed her.
“More than you know. I just don’t think I could stand it if something happened
to you.”

“Nothing’s going to
happen.” She pushed him towards the bed. “I’ll be back before you know it.”

“You know we didn’t
really think this through very well,” he said with a chuckle. “What happens
when you get back? I live in Las Vegas and you live in Virginia.”

“We’re going to figure
it out,” she said, touching his face. “Together.”

Friday came too
quickly. Leaving the office at 4:00, everything packed and on a cargo plane
that was ready to go, the only thing left for Erin to do was spend the night in
bed with her husband before returning to base at 6:00 a.m. for the flight to
Afghanistan. She was dreading it, so many hours in the air. Though she and Mark
would probably continue working on their strategy as new intelligence came in,
she knew it wouldn’t be a comfortable trip.

Parking out front, she
was surprised to see Kate with her coat on as Drake loaded luggage into her
car. Getting out of the car, she joined them outside.

“Hey, what’s going on?”

“I’m going to meet Karl
in Buffalo,” Kate said. “I’m driving to New York and dropping some stuff off at
my apartment and then flying to Buffalo. I’ll ride with Suze and Molly to
Ottawa and fly home from there.”

“So things are going
well?” she asked, squinting at her.

“Yes.” Kate smiled.
“We’re trying to be together as much as we can while he’s on the East Coast.
Then he’s going to try to come to New York once the season is over.” She paused
and looked at her friend. “Will you be home by then?”

“I hope so.” Erin
hugged her tightly, tears forming in her eyes. “Take care of Drake,” she
whispered. “He’s scared for me—help him be strong.”

“I’ll try, but I don’t
even know if I have another deployment in
me
,” Kate whispered back. “You
were so broken when you came home last time, Erin. I just got you back and now
you’re going again.” Tears slipped down her cheeks.

“It’s different this
time.” Erin rubbed her friend’s back as they hugged tightly. “It’s just a
mission. Take care of our boys over here, I’ll take care of the gang over
there, and then I’ll be back and we’re going to have a really big fucking wedding
when I come home, okay?”

“How big?” Kate asked,
sniffling.

“You want me to have a
really
big wedding, don’t you?” Erin sniffled too.

“Like a 20-foot-train
wedding,” Kate said. “And a ten-tier cake.”