Page 68 of Necessary Roughness

“Do you have the rings?”

“Let me check,” Harrison said. He was teasing, but Tanner looked panicked.

“I gave them to you. Goddamn it, H—”

Harrison pulled both rings out of his pants pocket. “They’re right here. Everything is cool.”

“Someday this is going to happen to you. Maybe. If you can find a woman who can deal with your being at my house all the time,” Tanner ranted. “I don’t know. What if I can’t make her happy?”

“Really? How long have you been together now?”

“That doesn’t matter. She wasn’t stuck with me twenty-four/seven.” He let out a long, tortured breath. “I can be a real asshole.”

“There’s a news flash.”

“Don’t be a dick.”

“She’s crazy about you. She figured you out a long time ago. Why do you think she hasn’t? Your girl’s smart.”

They stared at each other for a minute or so. Tanner shoved one hand through his hair and stared at his shoes.

“She’s probably going to think she made a mistake.”

“She’s had two years to make up her mind,” Harrison said. He gestured toward the French doors that led into Tanner’s backyard. “She’s going to be here in a couple of minutes.”

He gave Harrison a stiff nod. Harrison checked again to make sure the rings were still in his pocket.

The prank Harrison had planned was obviously off the table. Tanner’s composure was hanging by a thread, if the conversation they’d just had was any indication. Harrison reached into his other pocket and grabbed out a clean handkerchief.

He nudged Tanner’s arm. “Put this in your pocket.”

“I don’t need that.”

“Just take it,” Harrison said. He hadn’t been in a wedding yet in which the groom didn’t come unglued when he saw his soon-to-be-wife for the first time. Tanner’s wiping his nose with the silk pocket square from his tux was not a good look.

The string quartet struck up some peaceful-sounding music, and Tanner’s mom and dad walked up the aisle. They were seated in the front row. Tanner’s dad shook his hand before he sat down. “Congratulations, son,” he said.

“She’s not here yet,” Tanner said.

Jordan’s mom was escorted up the aisle by her husband, who settled his wife into a chair and gave Tanner a broad wink.

Seconds later, one of Jordan’s sisters walked up the aisle and took her place on the other side of the preacher. The peewee football team’s little QB, Kiernan, was the flower girl. Her parents had managed to coax her into a dress for the big day. She tossed rose petals like she was born to the job. She had decided she was standing next to Tanner during the ceremony. She held his hand. He did not object.

The French doors leading out of the living room to Tanner’s backyard closed briefly as the string quartet changed the sheet music on their stands and tried to look innocent. Tanner’s attempts to discover Jordan’s choice of processional before the wedding were fruitless. He hoped she wasn’t walking up the aisle to “I Hate Myself for Loving You.”

She’d mentioned that one of her dad’s clients found out that she was planning on using the recording of one of his songs during the wedding. He was in the Seattle area for a hearing in his case and offered to sing it live. Would she tell Tanner who it was? Of course not.

It better not be Nickelback. He hated Nickelback.

He noticed two things simultaneously: There was a piano on his porch. The French doors opened slightly as a guy who looked a lot like John Legend sat down on the bench and played the first few notes of “God Only Knows.” Seconds later, a tall, strikingly beautiful woman with honey-blonde hair and holding an adorable toddler stood next to her husband.

Kerri Mueller got to her feet, and a wave of their guests followed her example.

Jordan had chosen the perfect song. He’d listened to it so many times when he realized he’d fallen in love with her. He couldn’t imagine what his life would be without her. He hoped he’d never have to find out, and he could feel himself trembling.

He couldn’t think of anything or anyone else but Jordan. A glimpse of her in her wedding dress at the French doors took Tanner’s breath away. He was going to need some kind of defibrillator. His heart was banging around in his chest like a loose hurricane shutter, and he did his best to pull in a breath.

She wore a lacy gown that had sheer sleeves, hugged her waist, and flowed in a cloud of poofy layers to the floor. He had no idea what the decorations on her dress were called; it really didn’t matter. The poofy layers were covered in white embroidered flowers and vines. Her veil was sheer, trimmed in lace and sparkly stuff. It draped over her face. She carried a bouquet of several different kinds and colors of flowers. He couldn’t take his eyes off her, wishing her smile and the fact she looked at nobody else but him could be engraved on his memory for the rest of his life. He’d never seen a woman so beautiful before. He couldn’t believe she was about to be his for the rest of their lives. She held her father’s arm as she moved slowly toward Tanner, her eyes locked on him.

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