Sweet Southern Betrayal (9 page)

“What the hell does my mother want with a vibrator?”

Chapter Eight

“Surprise!”

Risa jumped back at the wall of sound that hit her the moment she walked through the doorway of the Southern Comfort Diner. One minute before she’d walked into the restaurant just ahead of Teague to meet his mother for dinner, the patrons turned to look at them and then…bam! The place erupted in a jumble of people clapping, chairs pushed back on the floors with loud scrapes, and a rush of bodies heading right for them.

“What the hell?” Teague said behind her, his hands reaching out to grab her waist in a steadying gesture.

Risa righted herself on her high heels, eyes scanning the scene for some clue to respond to his question. She spied the answer in the middle of the diner in an area created when someone moved several tables out of the way: a wedding cake. A huge, three-tiered white confection covered in fresh roses and boasting a little bride and groom on top.

“It’s a wedding reception,” she hissed as she turned to face him. She knew she sounded a little crazed but this was freaking her out a little bit. “They threw us a wedding reception!”

“A what?” Teague looked over her shoulder and she knew the minute he got a good look at the cake topper. “Is the little groom hooked to a ball and chain?”

“Yep. And it looks like mini-me is holding the keys.” She grabbed his shirt, the crisp cotton of the button-up crinkling in her death-grip-of-panic. She couldn’t face these people knowing that her marriage was a sham and she was a liar. “I can’t do this. I’m all for meeting up with your mom, but a whole room of people? I don’t know if I can pull it off. What if they ask me things that a bride should know about you?” She tried to take a deep breath to calm the crazy tattoo of her heart. “I told you we should have rehearsed questions and answers. I told you but you were all ‘Risa, don’t worry about’ and ‘I’ve got it under control.’”

Teague cupped her face in his hands, bringing their faces so close their foreheads touched and she shut her eyes, letting her mind focus on him, his touch, and not on the three-ring circus behind her.

“Risa.” Teague’s voice was rough and deep, delivering a soothing dose of calm to her mind. “It’s a couple of hours and you’ll be great. Okay?”

She nodded. “Okay.”

“I
need
you to be okay. This is damage control. Got me?”

She owed him this. He didn’t know just how much, but she did, and she’d have to figure out a way to make it happen.

His warm breath caressed the skin in front of her ear as he grabbed her hand in his, giving it a squeeze. “You meet people from all over the world at the casino. This is just a group of nice ladies from a town west of Podunk who want to throw a party. I’ll be right with you the whole time.”

“Risa! Teague! Congratulations!” Risa was grasped by the shoulders and spun around into the arms of her sister-in-law, Taylor. Over her shoulder, her mother-in-law hovered, a smile of excitement on her lips and lighting up her eyes. Whether she was thrilled to have a surprise daughter-in-law or just happy to throw a party was anyone’s guess. Marian had been very sweet on the telephone and Risa thought they could have been friends if she hadn’t tricked her son into marrying her. That news would be a major buzzkill at Thanksgiving dinner.

Taylor loosened her hold on Risa just enough to allow her to plop a rhinestone tiara with a matching shoulder-length veil on her head. “Now you look like a bride.”

“Wow,” she said weakly, adjusting the headpiece so she could see. It felt heavy and awkward on her head, but she tried to ignore it and smile as though she wasn’t going to throw up. It was like the first night on stage at the Gold Coast, but with cake.

“Taylor. Mom. What’s this all about?” Teague asked, his smile tight but showing lots of teeth. He looked like a shark. “I thought we were having a small family dinner.”

“Well, since you didn’t have a
traditional
wedding we decided you needed a little party to let all your friends celebrate with you.” Marian moved in and hugged Risa, her cool lips brushing against her cheek. She linked their arms together and guided them over to where the cake was now surrounded by a mass of smiling people. “You can’t deprive us of the joy of celebrating your marriage.”

“What Mother means is that she decided to have a party so all the old biddies will stop wagging their tongues about you showing up with a wife no one ever heard of.” Taylor winked at Risa as she continued. “Here in the South we celebrate our crazy and our scandal so nobody else can use it against us.”

“Mary-Taylor,” Marian sighed.

“It’s true. The best defense is offense, and your new BFFs decided you needed to be offensive.”

Marian shook her head at Risa, rolling her eyes at her daughter’s explanation. “My dear friends Dolly Cantrell and Sissy Landon agreed that we couldn’t let you head back to Las Vegas without giving you a big Elliott welcome. Especially since we don’t know how long it’s going to take you to move back here.”

Ah, that. Another lie she had to keep straight. Teague had told his family Risa had to return to Vegas to sell her house and they weren’t sure when she would get back. They’d agreed to let a little time pass and then break the news that the marriage was done due to distance issues et cetera. Risa was going to disappear and he was fairly certain that once the marriage was over, if he played the heartbroken groom, the good people of Elliott would never openly talk about it again, at least not when he was around.

Teague had it all under control.

“Can I get everyone’s attention?” Lucky Landon stepped up and handed them each a glass of champagne and turned to face the crowd of guests. Jack Cantrell and Beck Sutherland, Teague’s two other best friends, and Jack’s wife, Michaela, flanked him. “Now, I don’t know if anyone was more surprised than I was when Teague showed up with a wife. I mean, who would have thought that this asshole would have snagged such a gorgeous, smart woman like Risa?”

“Well, so far you boys have all married up!” Someone shouted from the back and the whole crowd broke into laughter.

“True enough.” Lucky lifted his glass and boomed out, “To Risa and Teague!”

The crowd echoed his toast loudly and Risa took a sip of the bubbly, taking a quick peek at her husband. Teague was smiling, his face the picture of newlywed bliss, but the arm he had draped around her waist was stiff and tense. In spite of the lovefest he was as uncomfortable with the spectacle as she was.

“You okay?” Teague leaned in to murmur in her ear.

“What?”

“You were looking at me…” He cocked his head to the side, examining her face for the answer. “You had this sad look on your face.”

Risa took another sip of her bubbly, focusing on the golden liquid swirling in her long-stemmed glass. Damn straight she was sad—goddamn furious was more accurate. What would it be like to have this for real? A husband? A family? A wide circle of friends? She’d been stupid and foolish, and now this kind of life was so far out of her grasp she wanted to scream. If she got out of the mess with Big Tony she was going to make this happen for herself.

“What would I have to be sad about?”

Teague opened his mouth to say something when the distinctive sound of metal silverware tapping against glass started in one corner of the room.

Lucky leaned over to them and whispered loudly, “You’re supposed to kiss each other when that happens.”

Risa’s head whipped up to meet Teague’s gaze and she cursed the sweep of heat along her cheekbones. She didn’t need a mirror to know her pale skin was flushed and cherry red on her cheeks. She wasn’t sure if it was the attention from the crowd that had her reacting this way or if it was the dip of Teague’s gaze to her mouth that had her overheating. He returned his eyes to look into her own and she knew the answer to the question—it was all Teague. Damn.

Teague quirked an eyebrow at her, his silent request for permission to kiss her shorting out the part of her brain that processed the word “no.”

He took her dumbfounded silence for agreement because suddenly he was kissing her. Unlike the lip-lock in his room earlier today, this one was slow, sweet, and sexy enough to make her toes curl in her peep-toe pumps. Teague retreated a little and Risa leaned in, chasing his mouth with her own without even thinking about it.

And man was he a good kisser.

The man kissed as if he’d saved up all that banked fire and passion and poured it into every press of their mouths and every dip of seeking tongues. And that fire burned hotter than the sun on her beloved Nevada desert—scorching her down to the marrow.

With a groan so low that only she could hear it, Teague released her mouth and her eyes fluttered open slowly.
When had she closed them and when had she wrapped her arms around his neck?
His hands coasted over her back to her waist while he looked down at her, his face more shell-shocked than cocky this time. Her heart was pounding in her chest and Risa squirmed uneasily at her own reaction. Teague was winded and his chest rose and fell quickly. It was only a small consolation that he’d also been knocked off his feet by that kiss.

“Holy shit,” he whispered unsteadily when they broke apart. The room erupted in catcalls and whistles around them.

“I know, right?” Risa choked out.

“We are going to talk about
that
later tonight,” he growled into her ear and she couldn’t decide if it was a threat or a promise.

The next few moments were spent hugging total strangers and accepting their congratulations and wishes for a long and happy marriage. These people were so nice, and Risa found it was becoming harder to quiet the voice in her head that scolded her for lying to them. She didn’t deserve their kindness.

“Teague, come down here and hug my neck.” A woman in her midsixties with hair dyed a black that Elvis would admire from the grave reached up and squeezed Teague so hard he grunted a little at the impact. Easing back from the embrace, he kissed her cheek, looking down at her with real affection.

“Mrs. Hilton. Thank you for coming,” he said.

“I had to come see this snazzy wife everyone was talking about.” She reached over and grabbed Risa’s hand and squeezed. “And you are very beautiful, honey.”

“Thank you.”

“So, my dear, do you really sell sex toys?”

“What?” Risa forced down the sip of champagne she had in her mouth hoping it went down the correct pipe. Talk about getting right down to it. “Umm…they are high-end marital aids. Yes, I do.”

Mrs. Hilton leaned in, her eyes full of mischief that had Risa smiling in spite of her shock. “Can you have one of those parties while you’re here?”

“I’m sorry. I’m leaving tomorrow morning,” she said.

“Don’t you have a website? I thought Marian said you had a website.”

“I do.”

“Well, then let’s have one of those catalog parties like the candle and cooking stuff people. I’ve got my iPad.”

“Right now?” Risa asked

“Why not? I’ve always wanted to buy some stuff like that, but I didn’t know where to start. You’re Teague’s wife so I trust you not to put me on a mailing list for some dirty magazines.”

Risa paused. The businesswoman in her was screaming that this was an almost guaranteed sale while the other part of her was wondering how normal it was to have a sex toy party at your wedding reception. She’d forgotten Teague was standing beside her until he leaned over and spoke with barely disguised panic. “Please don’t. She was my tenth-grade English teacher.”

Mrs. Hilton was having none of that. “Teague Elliott, do you think that more mature women don’t have needs?”

“I don’t think about it at all, actually,” he said, his skin a little paler than usual. “And I really hope the visual I just got from this entire conversation doesn’t cause brain damage.”

“Well, then scoot.” Mrs. Hilton shooed him away with a flick of her wrist and grabbed Risa by the arm to lead her away. “Go and have a beer with the other boys and I’ll take care of your wife.”

“Good idea. I’m out.” Teague raised his hands in surrender. “I’m going to have a beer with the guys. Send up a flare if you need help,” he said before turning to head over to where his buddies were all seated in a booth.

Risa watched him walk away. She couldn’t help herself. He walked with a runner’s grace, with long strides and muscle moving underneath the tailored lines of his clothes.

“Now, that’s the look of a newlywed,” Mrs. Hilton sighed and practically purred like the animals on her shirt.

“I like him,” Risa answered before she realized what she was saying.

“That’s good.” Her companion nudged her and smiled. “I’ve been married for almost forty years and believe me, you’ll need that foundation. Don’t get me wrong, the sex is always important but you need to like and respect each other too, unless you never plan to come out of the bedroom.”

That sounded good. Forty years. Friends and lovers. Maybe she’d have it one day.

But for now she had a sex toy party to throw for the fine ladies of Elliott.

She turned to Mrs. Hilton and smiled. “Why don’t I show you a few things that might keep you in the bedroom a little while longer?”