Texas Heat — Chapter 11
A thin line runs between betrayal and sacrifice. Figuring out the difference could cost a man his heart.
Corey kissed her as if trying to find himself and something more. When he raised his head to stare into her eyes, she didn’t drop her head. She wanted him to see everything, every tiny chamber of the heart she had guarded exclusively for him.
“Tiff, I don’t deserve you. But I’m going to take everything you want to give me and more. I knew the moment I saw you in Telli’s that I was going to live a life sentence loving you. I hope you’re prepared for that because I’m not giving you up.”
“You love me?” She whispered the question as if voicing it to loudly would change the answer she wanted so badly.
He gave her the devil’s own grin. “Baby, since you’re having a difficult time understanding English, I promise that later tonight, I’ll put it in a language you’re sure to interpret correctly.”
“Okay, young man, you done dallying yet?”
Corey and the woman in his arms both jerked at the sound of Mrs. Stewart’s voice, but Corey didn’t move or release Tiffany, much to her mortification.
“Just about ready, Mrs. Stewart,” he said as he lowered his head to place a reverent kiss on Tiffany’s parted lips. Then wrapping his arm around her waist, he turned them both to face the woman standing in the kitchen door.
“Miss Tiffany, I got your bag packed, it’s standing by the front door. You go on now, make this young man into something respectable. I’m guessing it’s still possible. I’ll be staying with Joey until you get back.”
Tiffany shook with shock. Before she could get herself together, Corey pulled her tightly to his side, ushered her through the kitchen door, and then out the front, bag in hand. He lifted her into the front seat of his pickup, jumped in himself, and quickly peeled out of the driveway. It was not until the headlights of the oncoming traffic penetrated her stupor that she realized they were on the main road leading to Deliverance.
“Joey?” She managed to articulate her concern.
“He’ll be fine with Mrs. Stewart. He knows I’m borrowing you for a little while; he won’t be worried.”
“But, what are you doing? I can’t just disappear into the night. Where are you taking me?”
“Home.”
“I was home. What’s going on, Corey?”
“You know, I’d forgotten how impatient you can be. We’re going to have to work on that.”
She was about to tell him he’d lost his mind when they pulled into the gates of Texas Glory, her childhood home, the property that now belonged to the man by her side. He pulled the pickup to a screeching stop and jumped out of the cab. Opening her door, he lifted her out before she had time to argue.
The house glowed. Every interior and exterior light was turned on. With his arm once again tightly wrapped around her waist, he walked her up the red brick steps and straight through the front door as if he’d been doing that for years. Just inside the large foyer sat Mr. Dirkly, Deliverance’s Justice of the Peace, and two men she didn’t recognize.
“Tiffany,” Corey directed her attention to the three men. “You know Mr. Dirkly. These other two are Pedro and Jose, two of my closest friends.”
“I don’t understand, Corey. What is going on?”
“We’re going to finish what we started twelve years ago. Lowering his head to hers, he whispered in her ear. “That offer you took me up on, you’re going to have to marry me first, because I don’t intend to sleep with anyone but my wife.”
Joy sang through her body like wind through the Poplar trees. “But we don’t have a license.”
“With the help of your lawyer, we got ourselves a special license.” His reply was accompanied by the world’s most captivating grin.
She heard the front door open and turned to see who else was going to show up for this wedding. Joey rushed in with Mrs. Stewart close behind him. He carried a beautiful bouquet of yellow roses which he placed in her hands.
“Dad got these for you, Mom,” he said, turning to give Corey a thumbs-up gesture.
Corey looked at her with a gambler’s smile and an angel’s promise written on his face. “I want us to be a real family, Tiffany. Everything is legal. All you have to say is, I do.”
That is exactly what she did say. After a glass of champagne and one toast to the bride and groom by Corey’s friend, Pedro, she watched her new husband usher his friends, none too tactfully, out the front door. He had a little more trouble getting their son to depart until Mrs. Stewart took pity on them and urged Joey toward the door.
The way her husband was devouring her with his eyes, she was tempted to call them back. He stood like a statue, tall, solid, and with a granite resolve chiseled into his expression. There was no doubt; he intended to claim what now belonged to him.
He turned and walked toward the front door, opening it and gesturing for her to follow him. They stood on the porch. He lifted her hand and fingered the simple gold band that now symbolized their shared commitment. Then in one swift movement, he lifted her high into his arms and carried her back through the front door, kicking it shut with his booted foot.
Without a word, he mounted the circular staircase that led to the balcony and master bedroom suite that she had hired decorators to redesign with him in mind. Never believing that she would occupy the room with him, she’d had it done in strong earth tones with a rock fireplace, large leather chairs, and massive four-poster bed. It was a man’s room, fit for a cattle baron of West Texas.
He carried her to one of the chairs and eased her down. Expecting to be put on the bed, it took a moment to register the fact that she was sitting, and that Corey now stood several feet away from her.
“Before I put you on that bed and brand every inch of you, we need to talk first.”
To be continued…
Read from the beginning…