Sweet Surrender Ch 05

Emmie smiled and leaned over Luke to give him a quick, soft kiss on the cheek. She gazed down at him for a few minutes before pulling away to rise from the bed. She didn't want to leave him but she knew that she had to if she planned to get anything done at all that day. She still could not believe the day that they had spent in bed. She had never in her life spent all day in bed, a slave to her body's desires. They had been surprised by the number of times that they had reached for each other that day. She felt like she was a character in the romance novels that she devoured.

She made it two steps toward the bathroom before she heard Luke mumble sleepily, "Where ya going, baby girl?"

She smiled at him over her shoulder. "I'm going head to the shower and then I'm gonna go get some stuff done. Go back to sleep. I didn't mean to wake you."

"Wouldn't you rather come back to bed with me? I could make you feel really good again," Luke said, propping himself up on his elbow to stare at her naked body.

Just that quick, Emily-Jane could feel her body responding to him. She wasn't sure how he had the power to reduce her knees to jell-o but whatever it was, she was sure glad that he could.

"Yeah, I would but I can't. I have to go down and try to placate my sister. I know it's going to be hard but there are ten millions things that I still have to get done and I don't want to have to deal with them at the last minute. I'm gonna go downstairs, she's gonna complain that I am the worst sister ever and then I'm gonna say I'm sorry. She's gonna complain some more but somewhere between the 5th complaint, she's gonna forgive me. I'm gonna tell her that she's the most beautiful bride to ever walk the four corners of the earth and she's going to say that I don't deserve to have such a forgiving sister. After that I'll probably be hitting the booze, so I'll let it slide. Finally she's gonna give me my marching orders and I'm gonna get the shit that she should have done 3 months ago, done within about 3 or 4 hours."

Emmie rolled her eyes at him before returning to the bed to lean in and kiss him softly. "Go back to sleep. I'm coming back as soon as I deal with the last minute details."

Luke slid his hands deep into Emily-Jane's hair, pressing her mouth as close as he could. He twined his tongue around hers as she moaned. He couldn't get enough of her taste. He was a little frightened by the feelings that had developed between them. The few times they had been apart lately he had felt as if he couldn't breathe. His heart seemed to beat at a different speed when she wasn't with him. If it continued, he was really going to have to get that checked, he thought.

"Well, I don't want you to go," he said, sounding like a petulant little boy. "I want you to stay in bed with me. Plus I don't want to have to come and bail your pretty ass out of jail either."

Emmie pulled back from him and moved a few steps away from the bed. Damn, that man was dangerous to her health, she thought. He had the power to make her forget everything but his naked skin, and how it felt underneath her palms. "Nah, I'm not going to hit her. To be honest, no matter how much it makes me feel like I'm going to throw up, I know I have to apologize for the things that I said. My sister isn't known for taking the high road and if I want to get this wedding done, I have to do everything in my power to make that shrew feel like she's the next best thing to sliced bread.

"Plus she has the attention span of a gerbil when it comes to shit like this. She's probably forgot what I said to her by now."

Luke laughed at her. "Ok, well if you aren't back in 4 hours, I'm coming to find you and I can't be held accountable for my actions."

She quirked an eye at him, trying not to smile. "Oh, really, and just what would you do, big man?"

"Let's just say this. If you don't want the majority of the people here to know that you have a mole on your inner thigh, and that you have the tendency to blush and cry out when I lick it, I suggest you back in this room in 4 hours."

Emmie only had to glance at his face to know that he wasn't kidding. The picture of him stripping her down in a room full of people, their eyes caressing both Luke and Emmie's bodies, was highly erotic but Emmie had an idea that Luke wouldn't go through with it. He was the kind of man who would take things only so far before he would get to territorial with her and drag her back to his cave by her hair. Not that she minded, she thought. Hell, the thought of him touching her, using her, doing just about anything to her, had the ability to leave her breathless.

Not one to back down from a challenge, however, she said, "Uh huh, well, you'd have to catch me first. I am quick like a cat, and just as crafty."

Emmie proved how quick she was by rushing into the bathroom as Luke growled at her playfully and rose from the bed to grab her. He heard her lock it and he could almost see her sticking her tongue out at him through the door. God, he loved that woman.

Emmie showered, enjoying the warm water as it massaged her sore muscles. Her body was telling her that it wasn't used to the exercise that she had been giving it those last few days. She still had a hard time wrapping her head around everything that had happened in the last few days. She had found the man of her dreams and as cliché as it sounded, she had fallen head over heels for the man. Oh, sure, she was still scared out of her mind that she was going to do something to screw it up or that he was going to come to his senses and discover that she wasn't all that and a bag of chips. But until that day, she was going to enjoy herself.

Emmie smirked. Enjoying herself wasn't something that she normally did. She had always been a serious child when she was younger, and having to grow up fast to help raise a child hadn't helped that. She had an old soul, as her grandmother liked to say, and she tended to take all the world's problems on her shoulders. That's why when Mark had dropped into her life it had felt so good to just let him do everything. She didn't have to think for herself when she was with him and for a while, that hadn't been a problem. But the more that her needs were denied, the less she could bury her head in the sand and it wasn't long before she just couldn't stand it any longer.

Now, she didn't like to take anything for granted. She felt like she had to be independent to show the outside world that she could do it, and that she had changed from the scared mouse that she'd been before. That didn't mean that there weren't times that she wished she had someone to help shoulder her burdens, however. The great thing about Luke, though, was that he seemed to like when she talked back to him and let her do things her own way. She had known how much he wanted to interrupt the fight earlier more than he had already, but he let her handle it.

Emmie got dressed quickly and headed downstairs to see if her mother and sister were back from the errands yet. They weren't so she grabbed the seating chart and headed out onto the front porch to make sure that everyone was where they were supposed to be.

She sighed as she looked over the names on the list. The great thing about a southern wedding was that everyone knew everyone so that tended to make conversation easier. That could also be the bad thing as well. Everyone knew everyone's dirty laundry and most had the tendency to air it whenever they felt the need. That made get-togethers hard because half the time someone wasn't talking to someone else and they didn't want to have to sit at a table with them for longer than 2 minutes. That made Emmie's job of placement hard, but she liked a challenge.

She had been there for about 30 minutes when she heard someone come out of the house to stand behind her. She turned and saw her sister staring at her. She mentally rolled her eyes and prepared the snide remarks to start. Barbara surprised her, however, by saying, "I'm sorry, Pea."

For a second, Emmie thought she had lost her mind. Barbara never said she was sorry, even when it was her fault. She gaped and said, "Huh?"

Barbara smirked slightly. "If I'd known that's what it took to make you speechless, I would have said I was sorry a while ago."

Emily-Jane snorted. "Yeah, like that would have happened."

"Yes, you are probably right. Anyway, can I sit down?" she asked, indicating the chair beside Emmie.

Emmie could only shrug. "Sure, I mean, it's your house. You can sit anywhere you want."

Barbara lowered herself into the chair and Emmie gazed at her. It really was amazing the difference in the two women. Barbara looked ages older than her actual age, where as Emmie still got carded when she went out to bars. The women looked nothing alike with Emmie being plump and light, and Barbie looking as if she could use a few meals. She also had inherited their father's coloring. He had Indian in him and Barbie had seemed to get the latent gene.

"I know you won't believe this, but I want to say I'm sorry for the things I said before, Barbie. I should have kept my mouth shut but I was upset. Luke was in the middle of telling me something and I didn't want to get interrupted. That doesn't mean that I had the right to jump down your throat."

Barbie stared at the yard in front of her for a few moments before turning to Emily-Jane. "No, sister, I'm the one who's sorry. I haven't been very nice lately and you were right to call me on it. I've just been so stressed with everything that I haven't thought about the way I've been treating people. However, once you said that I'd been a bitch to everyone, I took a second and noticed that I have been. Thanks for not pulling any punches, by the way."

"Oh, you are more than welcome. I aim to please," Emmie said, cheekily. "I appreciate you telling me that you are sorry but that doesn't make up for the way that you've been acting. So you want to tell me what's really bothering you?"

Barbara didn't say anything for while, but just as she had since Emmie was old enough to talk, her older sister turned to her for advice. "I just feel like maybe I'm making a mistake. I mean, I love Blaine but what if he turns out to be like Colin. I don't think I can watch another guy I love turn to someone else."

"Ok, first things first. Blaine is nothing like Colin. I must admit that at first I wasn't sure about him, but the more time I see him and see the way he loves you, I can tell that he's in it for the long haul. That's not to say that he isn't going to be human at times too. Second, a marriage is a partnership and you have to work on it. You can't expect him to know how you are feeling and you can't just let things go if they bug you. Finally, I know you are nervous but I want you to take a second and think about all the things that you love about him. I want you to think about those things and try to imagine yourself without them."

While Barbara took the time to think of the things she loved about Blaine, Emily-Jane took a second to think about what life would be without Luke in it. Her life before him had been a string of days pressed together, one no different from the one in front of the other. With him in her life, the sky had more sun and life just seemed brighter. Emmie knew that while some people might have a problem with how fast the relationship had progressed she didn't care what others thought. If she had, she never would have gotten divorced from her first husband. It was true that there had been some people who had told her that sometimes you had to take the good with the bad. She still had trouble dealing with those family members.

"Ok, I love him, there's no doubt about that. But—"

"Nope, there's no but. You either love him and want to spend the rest of your life with him or you don't love him and aren't prepared to take some unanswered questions in life. We don't get guarantees on things like this. You aren't buying a new television, woman. You are deciding if you want to take a chance on living," Emmie said, turning her head to gaze at her sister.

She knew that she was being harsh but she didn't know how else to put it. Barbara had to understand that she was making a decision that not only affected her life but it made a major impact in the lives of her children. If she had just a small doubt about being able to make the marriage work, then for the kids she had to do the right thing and not marry Blaine. "Now, have you tried talking to him about what you are worried about?"

Barbara looked at her like Emmie was crazy. For a second, Emmie almost wondered if she was. Both of the women had been raised that most women did not ask the men of the family anything other than what they wanted to eat and if they could take the trash out. Times had changed but the South had always been slow to catch up. Sharing feelings with the men-folk was one of the things that hadn't quite made it yet.

"No, I haven't told him anything and you better not breathe a word to him about this. It's just wedding jitters," Barbara said, tension in her voice.

"Duh, I wouldn't tell him anything anyway. I wouldn't want to scare the poor man. You need to figure out what the fuck you want, woman, 'cause I gotta say that there are tons of women out there that would love a man who worshiped the ground they walked on. Blaine loves you, he loves those kids of yours, and he's willing to put up with our family. To me, the man's a saint. I gotta say, if I wasn't already head over heels with Luke, Blaine would be my next pick. I mean, for one thing, that bald spot is super sexy. And he dresses like a model from GQ," Emily-Jane kidded.

Barbara laughed, causing her to look almost 20 years younger. "You are such a smart-ass. But you're right too. I do love the man, and he is wonderful with the children. I just have to put aside my self-doubts and let life take its course. I just don't want to make another mistake."

Emmie leaned and surprised both of them by hugging her sister. "You didn't make your ex-husband decide that he was going to make a fool of himself. You weren't his keeper. He had to make decisions for himself and he happened to make the worst one of his life. If what Dillon says is true, the bitch he has now is HIGH-maintenance and she likes to go out clubbing WITHOUT Colin. So he will probably be single again, and you can rub your new military, millionaire husband in his fat face.

"Ooo," Emmie said, holding up a finger with a twinkle in her eye, "if we're lucky, maybe his bitch wife will give him a STD and his cock will fall off. That might save him some trouble down the line."

The two women laughed and for the first time in a long time, the conversation didn't end with a fight. Emmie went over the last few things that still had to be done for the wedding and reminded Barbara that the bachelorette party was that night. Emmie knew that her sister was almost afraid of the party, afraid that her younger sister would do anything in her power to embarrass her. Emmie, knowing that her sister was already on the war path with everything and their mothers, had decided on a simple party that both females and males could attend. She had done this so Blaine didn't feel like he had to pretend it didn't bother him to see his fiancé going out to bar without him. Not to mention, Emmie hadn't had the energy lately to plan both parties.

Emmie and Barbara sat on the porch for a while, just discussing the rest of the plans that needed to be done. The hours seemed to fly by as they had never before. It seemed for the first time in a long time that they didn't argue and no one left in a huff. Emily-Jane left Barbara sitting on the porch and headed back to the bedroom to change. She had to change and get to the venue before the party-goers so that she could get some last minute preparations done. She showered and pulled herself into her chosen outfit. She was putting her earrings on when her cell phone rang. Without glancing from herself in the mirror, she grabbed it and pressed SEND.

"Hello?"

There was silence on the end of the line for a second, and then a voice filled the line. "Hi, baby. How's Jamaica?"

"Who is this?"

"You wound me, honey. We spent almost 5 years together and this is how you treat me. When I call, you hang up on me, and when I talk to you, you don't even know me anymore. You have gotten too big for your britches. You need to be taken down a peg," Emmie's ex-husband said snidely.

"What do you want, Mark?" Emmie whispered, gripping the phone tightly. She was shaking from just the sound of his voice. She knew that he was hundreds of miles away but the thought of him knowing where she was, calling her to just talk, that scared the shit out of her.

After the fight that had signaled the end of their marriage, Mark had not been easy to convince that it was in fact over. He would call, write, anything that he could to get her attention to tell her that he wanted to get back together. He started to show up at her place of work to say that he had forgotten how to cook a certain dish. He would come by her parents' house and claim that Emily-Jane had some of his property. That had stopped quickly when her father had threatened to shoot him and bury him so deep in the Earth, he'd never be found. He had stopped showing up at her house but that hadn't stopped him from calling. She got calls from him at all hours of the night and no matter how many times she changed her number, he always found a way to get it. Finally, she had just stopped answering any numbers that were blocked or ones that she knew came from him.

"I just called to see how the wedding was going. I know that you've been stressing about getting your sister married for the last few months and I wanted to make sure that everything was going well," Mark said, breaking into her thoughts. It was amazing how normal he sounded. If she hadn't been there, she never would have imagined this was the same man who said that he wanted to break both of her legs so she couldn't leave him again.

"My sister's wedding is going well. But I can't talk to you Mark. You know that. Have you been going to your counselor like you're supposed to?"

As she'd known would happen, he took offense to her asking about his therapy. He had been ordered by the court to get into anger management after he had threatened to kill his lawyer in open court on the day of the divorce. The judge had not been amused when Mark had responded to the order by calling him a "douche who took the word of a fat bitch" against his own.

"Yeah, I've been going. But back to you; when are you coming home? I miss you."

Emmie sighed into the phone and felt like crying. It was never going to end. At times, she wished that she would have just killed herself and gotten it over with 'cause he was never going to leave her alone.

Emmie heard the bedroom door open and turned to see Luke. She let her eyes run over his body, noticing the sweat that covered his t-shirt. She knew that he had been helping the guys set up the chairs in the garden for the wedding tomorrow. She hadn't known he would be back so fast. She had hoped to get dressed and be out of the room before he had the chance to come in and slow her down with all his sexy moves.

"Tink? Are you there?"

Mark's voice pulled her back to consciousness. He was the only person who called her that. He had given her that nickname one day after she'd gotten a hair cut that she couldn't stand. The stylist had cut all her hair off, making her look like Tinkerbell in the cartoons. Mark had seen how much it bothered her and just continued to use it whenever he felt the need. Yup, she thought, and you used to be married to him. You used to have to suck his cock.

"Mark, I'm hanging up now, and I want you to not call me again. I don't want to talk to you. I have told you that. You need to get on with your life. I don't want to be with you," she mumbled into the phone. She tried to be as quiet as she could, but she could tell that Luke had heard whom she was speaking to. Before she had a chance to hang up, Luke rushed over and grabbed the phone from her. Emmie gasped at the expression on his face. Luke was livid. Steam seemed to pour from his ears as he checked the display on the phone.