Just Say Yes (Just Say Yes #2) (24 page)

Tears pricked my eyes for the third time that day.
What the hell has gotten in to me?
Not wanting to be the cause of any drama on Jess’s day, I dropped it.

Jess opened her gift from Noah. I clasped the sparkling, diamond bracelet around her wrist for her. There was another knock at the door about fifteen minutes later. It was Jess’s dad.

“Jessie, it’s time,” he announced, beaming down at his daughter in her wedding dress with tears in his eyes. They had a father-daughter moment, while the rest of us gathered up our bouquets and lined up at the door.

Sasha and I were going out first, so we hugged Jess and made our way up the aisle to our pre-assigned places. I walked slowly holding my flower bouquet, and made sure I remembered to smile like I was expected to.

As soon as I saw Andy, I became a little teary again. He looked so handsome standing in line with my brothers and Noah’s friend, Tyler, who was the best man. I was finally close enough to the front of the aisle so he could see me. He watched me with the biggest smile on his face.

I grinned back at him as I took my place on the bride’s side of the church and waited for the rest of the girls and Jess. Once all the girls were lined up in their spots, the bridal march started, and Jess walked down the aisle with her dad.

All eyes in the room were on them, but mine. They were on Andy, and he would not take his eyes off me. He mouthed, “I love you” to me, making me blush.

Sasha poked me in the ribs to make me pay attention to the bride like I was supposed to. She bent her body sideways toward me and whispered, “Z, you’re going to be next. Mark my words.” She had her usual shit-eating grin on her face as Jess made her way up to where Noah stood waiting for her.

The wedding party turned to face the pastor after Jess’s dad handed her over to my brother. Several minutes later, Jess and Noah said their vows to one another, and they were married. Once they were pronounced man and wife, they had the most romantic wedding kiss I’d ever seen.

It was so romantic, everyone in the entire church started clapping for them. They walked arm in arm down the aisle of the church, then the rest of the wedding party made their way behind them.

When Andy and I met to walk out together, he held my face in his hands and planted a sweet kiss right on my lips. “You look beautiful,” he whispered. He linked my arm under his and we walked out behind the rest of the bridal party.

We even earned a few cheers when we walked by my family.

The wedding party met in a huge room at the back of the church, where we hugged Jess and Noah and congratulated them. While Sasha and I struggled to tie up the train of Jess’s wedding dress, I noticed Kristen make her way over to where Andy and Jeremy were talking. She introduced herself to both men.

We watched as she ran her hand down Andy’s arm. He backed away from her a step and folded his arms across his chest, blatantly snubbing her.

Jess looked over at me. “Zoey, feel free to go slap the shit out of her, then let’s get to the reception. I’m ready to par-tay!”

“Thanks,” I smiled and walked toward Andy.

He saw me coming and excused himself from the conversation with Kristen, who turned around to see where he was going. Andy walked right up to me and stopped.

“I know I already told you, but you look so beautiful, Zoey,” he said as he wrapped his arms around me and picked me up off the floor.

It was probably childish of me, but I fought my own demons very hard for that man, and I was not taking any shit from anyone. I wrapped my arms around his neck and laid the most impressive kiss on him I could.

Our lips parted and I dipped my tongue inside his mouth to meet his. I pulled away with a little moan emanating from my throat as he set me back on the floor.

“We’re ready. Let’s get out of here and to the reception!” Jess hollered as I gently wiped my lipstick from Andy’s lips.

Andy kissed me on the cheek. “I don’t know what that kiss was all about, but you can do it again, anytime.” I just smiled up at him and linked my arm through his to leave for the reception.

On our way past Kristen, I glanced over at her and she had her mouth hanging open, glaring at me.

“Guess you better try another groomsman, Kristen.” I smiled sweetly, just to be a smartass. “This one is mine.”

After I walked a few steps, another thought popped into my head. I stopped and let go of Andy then turned back to Kristen.

“I take that back,” I stated. “Since two of the other groomsmen are my brothers, I suggest you stay the fuck away from them too.”

Not waiting to see her expression, I turned on my heel and went back to my man.

We hopped into my car to make our way to the reception venue. “What was that all about, Zoey?” Andy asked curiously. I explained to him what Kristen said earlier about me not having a chance with “someone like that.”

“Why would she even say that? I’m just a dirty, greasy mechanic,” he said, a hint of disgust in his tone.

I was floored. “Andy, why would you even think that? You are attractive, hardworking, and never greasy
or
dirty for that matter. Did I mention you are the sweetest, kindest, and most loving person I know?”

He took my hand in his and kissed the back of it. “Thank you. I guess being told I was pretty much worthless for two years by my ex-wife’s family kind of stuck with me.”

Are you fucking kidding me?

“They sound like a bunch of arrogant assholes.” Why would anyone even say that to him? We never really talked about his ex before, but I was very curious about her and why she left the way she did.
I guess this explains it.

“Why would they think you’re worthless?”

He sighed. “They’re very wealthy, Zoey. They thought I was after their money or something. They hated the fact their daughter wanted to be with someone who worked under the hood of a car for a living. They never even tried to get to know me or find out anything about me.” He smirked and shook his head.

Why were some wealthy people such jerks? It was as if having lots of money made them better than someone with no money.

Noticing the indignant expression on his face, I reached over and rubbed his arm. “All I can say is their loss is my gain, Andy. I don’t know where I would be if you hadn’t come in to my life.” I was getting a little teary again. He was my rock and my
reason
for everything.

He noticed I was upset, so he pulled into the closest parking lot and stopped the car. He put the Audi in park and unbuckled his seatbelt, then reached across and unbuckled mine too.

Andy embraced me tightly over the top of the console. He had a rather intense expression on his face. “I love you more than anything. You are the great love of my life, and you always will be. I don’t
ever
want to be away from you…I have a quest—”

Overcome by the sweet words spilling from his lips, I didn’t let him finish his sentence. I pulled away just enough to kiss him hard. “It’s a good thing we’ll never need to worry about that. I’ll always be yours,” I said, slipping back onto my seat.

“Come on, Sexy. Let’s get to the reception so we can eat, slow dance, and sing our song.”

“Ugh, don’t remind me,” he grumbled quietly.

“Don’t be nervous. If you need to, pretend you’re singing it to me. You’ll be great.”

He drove us to the reception, and we walked in holding hands as the DJ announced for the wedding party to gather in our designated area for wedding photos. Andy and I had a few pictures of us taken together all dressed up, so we would have photos other than the snapshots we took on our phones. After the pictures, we had a delicious dinner with everyone laughing and having a great time. The best man and maid of honor did their toasts for the bride and groom, then mine and Jess’s parents said a few words.

When the toasts were over, it was time for Andy and me to perform our song. The DJ made the announcement for Jess and Noah to come out on the dance floor for their first dance, as we made our way up onto the stage.

There were two barstools waiting for us next to our acoustic guitars and microphones. Andy was nervous, so I let him know I would do all the talking.

The DJ handed me his microphone. “Hi, everyone,” I said to the crowd as Jess and Noah stood in the middle of the floor staring up at us, wondering what was going on.

“I’m Zoey. I’m Noah’s only sister and one of Jess’s best friends, and this is my wonderful boyfriend, Andy.” I motioned to him as he settled on his seat next to me. “I was finally able to convince him to do a special song with me for Jess and Noah’s first dance. They didn’t know we were doing this for them.”

Jess looked up at me with tears in her eyes as I spoke. “Thank you,” she mouthed to me. “Jess, Noah, we are so happy for you. We love you both and hope you enjoy this song for your first dance. It’s called “My Light.”

I handed the mic back to the DJ, and we settled in front of our own microphones on the barstools with our guitars. Andy was a great guitar player, much better than I was, so he started the song, and I backed him up.

He began to sing lead while I sang harmony with him. I had to admit, we sounded great together. The barstools were set up to where Andy and I were almost facing one another, so we could see each other as we sang.

Andy was extremely nervous that for his first time singing in public there would be over two hundred and fifty people watching him. It was very romantic. The crowd clapped along to the beat of the song as Jess and Noah swayed on the dance floor. Jess pretty much cried the whole time as Noah wiped her tears for her.

When we were close to the end of the song, I did most of the singing, while Andy sang harmony and played his guitar. By the time we finished, even I was teary. When we were done, we stood up to put our guitars back on their stands, and the crowd erupted in cheers. I took Andy’s hand in mine and pulled him close.

“You did it. You were flawless.”

He pulled me into his arms and laid a romantic kiss on me as he dipped me over backward in front of the entire crowd. They erupted in even more loud and crazy cheering.

“I love you, Zoey. I’m happy we did this together.”

We walked off the stage, and Jess and Noah met us at the bottom of the steps.

“Oh my gosh, you guys!” Jess squealed with tears running down her face. “I don’t even know what to say. Thank you so much. Andy, wow. Just…
wow
. I had no idea you sang.” She pulled us both into a bear hug after she stopped dancing around with excitement.

The rest of the night, we danced and had a fantastic time at the reception. At midnight, Jess and Noah left for their honeymoon. They were spending a week in Hawaii.

“Have a great time and take lots of pictures,” I called as they got inside their waiting car. We’d had a great night, but I was ready to go home. I was exhausted, and my feet were killing me.

Andy had shed his vest and jacket after our song. He was looking very scrumptious with his white shirt unbuttoned a bit and his untied bowtie hanging around his collar.

“Hey, handsome,” I said as I snuck up behind him, wrapping my arms around his waist. “Why don’t you take me home and help me out of this dress.”

He spun around to face me, cupping my face in his hands. “That
sounds like a great idea, Beautiful. Let’s go.” We found his jacket and vest, said our goodbyes, and began the drive home.

On the way, I checked my phone to find a text from Jason. It was a photo of his gorgeous, baby girl, Mya Rose, who was born just after ten p.m. After I showed the photo to Andy, I texted my brother back to tell him we’d visit them after Heather had some time to rest. I closed my eyes and began to drift off.

Once we arrived back at my apartment and stripped off our wedding clothes, we fell into bed, both of us worn out. We faced each other, and I noticed a serious expression on his face.

“Zoey, how do you feel about getting married again someday?”

Taken aback by his question, I tipped my head back to get a better look at his face. “Why do you ask?”

He reached up to brush my hair behind my ear and kissed me lightly.

“Well, I’m not getting any younger, you know? My birthday is coming up soon, and I’ll be twenty-nine. I always wanted kids by the time I was thirty.”

Shocked by his revelation, I felt my heart drop a little. I had no idea he wanted kids so soon. I didn’t know what to say to him.

“I know we talked about this briefly in Cabo, Andy, but I just thought it was a general thing we talked about. I didn’t know you actually wanted
to do it soon. With
me
.”

He propped his head up on his palm. “There’s nobody else I’d rather do it with. I’m not asking you to go off the pill or anything, not right now, but we should talk about this. I’d marry you tomorrow. You know that, right?”

“No, I didn’t. I’m not sure if I’m ready to share you yet. Babies are a lot of work,” I replied softly, not wanting to disappoint him. I looked up into his big, blue eyes and imagined children with the same blue eyes, exactly like their daddy’s.