The Beast in Him

EPILOGUE

It was bad enough he was in a tux. It was bad enough they made him cut his hair. But the sobbing had to stop, and it had to stop now.

Smitty started to stalk across the room, but Mace stepped in front of him and held him back. “No, you’ll regret it in the morning.”

“But it’ll make me happy now.”

“As soon as the wedding is over, I’m sure he’ll stop.” They both looked at Smitty’s father. Bubba had been crying for nearly two days straight. He said it was because the “boy” was bringing shame on the Smith Pack by actually marrying someone. But at the same time he clearly adored Jessie Ann. He kept hugging her, telling her how pretty she looked. Then Jessie assured herself the lifelong love and protection of Bubba Smith when she asked him to walk her down the aisle because her own daddy wasn’t there to do it. After that everything had to be perfect for Jessie Ann, and anyone who looked like they might even think about annoying her had to face off against Bubba Smith. They’d already changed caterers three times. At least one was filing charges for assault.

Lord, the man would be an absolute mess during the ceremony.

“Why don’t we get your mom to handle him and you go for a walk. The ceremony doesn’t start for another thirty minutes.”

“Yeah, okay.” Smitty glared again at his father before walking out through the sliding glass doors of the lower floor bedroom. The dog, he’d named him Shit-starter after Sissy Mae, right by his side. He finally had to start bringing the damn mutt to the job since wherever Smitty went the dog went too. He seemed to think of himself as more wolf than dog and refused to hang out much with the other dogs of the Pack house. As far as Shit-starter was concerned, he was a Smith Packmate and expected to be treated as such.

Not that Smitty minded. He liked the little bastard, although he’d never say it out loud.

He had no idea how this wedding got so out of control. He’d thought Jessie had been exaggerating the first time they talked about it when she said 300 guests. She hadn’t been. Between the Kuznetsov Pack’s business contacts, the Smiths from all over the Southeast, nearly half of Kenshin’s entire Pack, and an unhealthy number of geeks, they were nearing 400. They actually had to rent a castle on Long Island. A real, honest-to-God castle. Smitty thought you had to go to England to find those.

In the end, though, Jessie and Smitty had little to say about the entire event. Momma, Sabina, and May had taken over, the three of them getting along like they’d known each other for the past century. They went mostly for traditional except they couldn’t have groomsmen or bridesmaids. Sissy and Ronnie Lee had every intention of standing up with him. Phil and Danny with Jess. They ended up with the more politically correct “grooms-people” and “bridespeople.” Smitty still thought it sounded ridiculous, but he was glad his sister would be with him while he stood there in this stupid monkey suit waiting for the torture to end.

Mace, not surprisingly, was his best man, but Jess couldn’t and wouldn’t decide between May and Sabina. So both would be her matrons of honor, although they hated the “matron” thing. Said it made them feel old.

Lord, he just wanted this thing over with.

He rounded one of the giant bushes dotting the property and Smitty smiled when he saw Jessie Ann sitting on one of the white stone benches. She leaned back, her hands propping her up. Her face lifted to catch the bright afternoon summer sun, her eyes closed.

She wore her wedding gown and looked beautiful in it. She had two. This one would be for the ceremony, styled after some medieval gown she saw in a movie. Only his Jessie Ann. The other, which would be easier to move and dance around in, was a sexy little strapless number he told her to buy.

Smitty didn’t worry about seeing the bride before the wedding. True, he could be a superstitious man when necessary, but at the same time he didn’t really believe in marriage. No piece of paper would make him any more committed to his Jessie Ann. The woman meant everything to him. Absolutely everything.

And last Thursday, when they woke up and realized she’d gotten pregnant the night before, everything became perfect... and just the beginning.

He sat down next to her and kissed her cheek. “Hey, darlin’.”

“Hey.” She opened her eyes and smiled at him.

“Couldn’t take it, huh?”

“All the fussing... and the crying.”

“Who? Momma?”

“Are you kidding? That woman is a Marine. Ordering everybody around. Keeping everybody in line. It’s been quite a sight to see. And Sissy Mae looks like she’s a few hours away from going after her with one of your team’s guns.”

“If there’s one thing my momma knows how to do it’s push Sissy’s buttons.”

“She wasn’t pushing, Smitty. It was much more of a stabbing Sissy’s buttons.” Jess smiled. “I’ve really been enjoying it.”

“If Momma’s not crying, who is?”

“Ronnie Lee.”

“You’re kidding?” he demanded on a laugh.

“I wish I was, but that woman is balling like a baby. I couldn’t take it; I had to go before I punched her.”

“I’m sure Sissy punched her after you left.”

“That I believe. She looked pretty fed up between Ronnie Lee and your mother.”

He leaned back on the stone bench, his hands braced to keep him up, just like Jessie Ann.

“Tell me again this is almost over,” she practically begged.

“It’s almost over, darlin’. Tonight we go on our honeymoon, and I have every intention of fucking you silly. Startin’ on the plane.”

“Sweet talker.”

“How are you feeling otherwise?”

“A little cranky.”

“I’m guessing it’s going to be that way until she’s here.”

“Well, I remember my mom telling me that when she was pregnant she glowed and was unbelievably happy.” Jessie squinted at him, the sun full in her eyes. “But my daddy said she was a liar.”

They laughed, and Jessie added, “So buckle up, cowboy. It looks like it’s going to be a wild ride.”

“And I can’t wait.”

“You always were a glutton for abuse.”

Smitty rested his head against Jessie’s. As different as they were, he always felt right when she was around. Centered. Without even trying, she made his life so much better and it hadn’t been that bad in the first place.

“Explain to me how I’m supposed to get through the next six hours.”

At first Smitty didn’t really hear her, too busy nuzzling her neck and kissing her cheek. She always smelled so damn good.

“Well?”

“Well what?”

“I’m trying to figure out how I’m supposed to get through the next few hours.”

They looked at each other at the same time and, after a good three minutes of mutual staring, they shook their heads and moved to opposite ends of the bench.

“We can’t,” she said.

“You’re right,” Smitty said, even as his cock begged him to argue with her.

“You have to be in there in, like, what? Ten more minutes?”

“Somethin’ like that.”

“And then the whole thing starts in another half an hour with my dumb butt walking down the aisle.”

“Right.”

“So we’ll just have to wait. It’s no big deal. It’s like an hour.”

“Right.”

She stared up at the trees for a while until she finally said, “But you know, there’s all the toasts and the dinner and the dancing and the photographs, and it’s not like we’ll actually have any time alone for quite a while.”

“That’s true.”

She grabbed his hand. “That’s asking too much of me.” She yanked him off the bench with a strength he had no idea she possessed and dragged him behind the bushes. She slammed him up against a tree; then her hands were making real short work of his pants.

“Jessie Ann—”

“You’re not going to stop me, are you?” she snarled, her brown eyes burning into his. “I’m a pregnant female predator. The most dangerous animal on the planet. Give me what I want or I’ll show you how dangerous I really am.”

He’d never had a woman tell him how much she wanted him in such an artful way before.

“No, no. Not going to stop you, just thinking we need to watch out for your dress or I’ll never hear the end of it from the nightmare trio.” Their nickname for Momma, Sabina, and May.

“Good point.” She yanked up her dress to get it out of her way. “I’d give anything to be in my jeans,” she muttered.

“Nice shoes, darlin’.”

She lifted up her foot so he could get a better look. Another pair of gorgeous “hooker shoes.” Five-inch heels with thick white laces that strapped around her ankle and up her calf.

“You like? Phil picked ’em out for me.”

“That boy’s got some interesting ways about him.” He’d learned to tolerate Jessie’s relationship with Phil and Danny. They were simply too weird for Smitty to see them as a valid threat.

“I don’t question Phil and Sabina’s male–female dynamic. They’re happy and he dresses me in the best clothes—that’s all that counts.” She unzipped his pants, and as she pushed them down to his ankles she glanced at the dog and said, “Go keep watch.”

And Shit-starter did just that. Yup. She had a way with canines.

Her hand wrapped around his cock and Smitty let out a sigh, his head dropping back against the tree. “Damn, girl.”

She leaned in and nipped his neck. “Bobby Ray, don’t make me wait.”

He had no intention of it. That would be later. When they were on that little island out in the Pacific somewhere. Just the two of them, the dog, and lots of prey. Then he’d tie her to the bed and make her wait for hours. Oh, yeah. He had some serious plans for their honeymoon.

But at the moment, the only thing they both had on their minds was fulfilling their needs before they had to put on this dog-and-lion show. So Smitty tore off her panties and slid his hands up and under her legs, lifting her until he had her at the right angle. He slid his cock inside her and Jessie let out that moan that drove him absolutely crazy while she wrapped her arms around his neck, gripping him tight. She braced those shoes against the tree and squeezed her muscles until his eyes crossed. He gripped her ass hard, pulling her in snug against him. They kissed, tongues teasing, breaths mingling, as he used his hands to rock her back and forth on his cock. He didn’t rush it. Didn’t want to. This had to last them for a while.

Jessie gasped, her body stiffening. Her legs shaking as she came hard. She sobbed into his mouth, dragging him with her when her spasming muscles locked around his cock like a vise.

He shot hard into her, everything draining from his body into hers. Then, weak and sated, they held on to each other for long, long minutes until they heard Shit-starter bark, followed by the words, “I knew you two were up to this.”

Smitty dropped Jessie’s dress to cover her ass, but he loved the fact she didn’t jump anymore when his mother came out of nowhere.

Panting, they looked at her and she smiled.

“Everybody’s looking for you. You’re already ten minutes late.”

“We are?” Jessie asked, shocked. She looked at her wrist and saw only the bracelet Smitty had given her on her birthday. “Shit. I forgot my watch again.” She frowned in thought. “I think I threw it at somebody’s head.”

“Well,” his momma cut in, “we don’t have time to look for it now. That preacher looks fit to be tied.”

“We’ll be along in a minute, Momma.”

“All right. I’ll try and stall. Shouldn’t be too hard. That preacher’s been checking my ass out for the past two hours.”

Jessie buried her face in his neck and giggled quietly out of respect for—and most likely some fear of—his mother.

When he knew they were alone again, he lifted her chin and smiled. “I love you.”

“I love you.”

“Come on, woman. Let’s legally make you a Smith.”

Smiling, Jessie said, “You know, Smitty, I’m never sure if that’s a promise or a threat.”

He shrugged. “It’s a little bit of both, I suppose.”

And Smitty let out a prayer of thanks when she laughed, kissed his cheek, and went through with the wedding anyway.