Chapter 1
Collin
Panic. Disappointment. Yelling. Crying. I could hear my mom’s voice in my head, not to mention my dad’s. Family was everything to them. Not to say that it wasn’t to me because my life was my family, and now, my life was Amelia. They would have to understand. Would they understand? My dad, maybe because he knew. He got it. The connection. The love. The need to be with the one you were meant to be with. My mom, on the other hand, not so understanding.
Shit. I looked over at Amelia as she lay asleep. She looked so beautiful and she was my wife. My parents would have to understand. They’d get over it, eventually. This was my life, not theirs. Maybe I didn’t have to tell them we were married. We could come back from Vegas and tell them we were engaged, and they’d never have to know. Except we’d spend the rest of our lives celebrating two anniversaries. One in private and one with the family.
“Good morning.” Amelia smiled as she ran her finger along my chest.
I kissed the top of her head. “Good morning, baby. Did you sleep well?”
“Of course I did. Someone wore me out last night.”
I smiled as I flipped her on her back and hovered over her. “Is that so?” My lips brushed against hers in a passionate kiss. “I do believe that my wife took control and wore herself out.”
She shrugged. “That’s what my sexy husband does to me.”
My phone rang and I sighed. I climbed off of Amelia and took it from the nightstand. It was my dad. My stomach twisted in knots.
“Hey, Dad.”
“Good morning, son. What time will you be coming back today? Your mom wants the family together for dinner tonight.”
Shit. Shit. Shit. I rubbed my forehead. “Tell Mom not tonight. The plane isn’t even picking us up until noon and by time we get back to New York, with the time difference, it’ll be close to eight o’clock. We’ll be jet lagged and I have to be at the office in the morning and Amelia has an early class before her clinical’s start.”
“I understand, son, and I’ll let your mom know.” I heard him sigh. “She won’t be happy, but she’ll have to understand.”
“Thanks, Dad. Ask her if we can do it tomorrow night.”
“I will. Have a safe flight home and I’ll see you at the office tomorrow.”
I hung up and set the phone down on the nightstand. I climbed on top of Amelia and softly kissed her lips. “Now, where were we?” I smiled.
We walked into the apartment and set our bags down. It felt good to be home.
“Welcome home, Mrs. Black.”
“Thank you, Mr. Black.” She kissed me.
There was a knock at the door and Amelia and I looked at each other. I shrugged and opened it.
“Welcome home.” Julia smiled as she walked in with Brayden.
“Ah, Julia. What are you doing here?” I asked as I looked at Amelia. We both hid our hands behind our backs.
Julia glared at me. Suspicion was running through her head, I could tell. “I just left Mom and Dad’s and when I stepped off the elevator, I saw you two walk in. I thought I’d say hi. What’s going on?”
“Nothing’s going on. Why?”
“You’re acting weird. What did you do?”
I snorted. It was something I did when I was nervous.
“You snorted!” She pointed her finger at me. “Talk to me, Collin. Amelia?” she said as she looked at her.
Amelia caved and held out her hand with her ring on it.
“OH MY GOD! You got engaged!” she exclaimed as she looked at her ring closely. She must have noticed the wedding band. “Wait a minute.” She looked at me and grabbed my hand with my wedding band on it. Her eyes widened and she looked at me. “YOU GOT MARRIED?” she yelled rather loudly.
“Shh.”
Brayden started to cry.
“Here, let me take him,” Amelia said as Julia willingly handed him over to her.
“Oh my God, Collin. Why? I mean, I’m happy for you. But, oh my God, Mom! Dad!”
I walked away, shaking my head. “I know. I know. But this isn’t anyone’s business. I love Amelia and we were in Vegas and I wanted to marry her, and she wanted to marry me.”
“Isn’t anyone’s business? Are you kidding me?”
“Okay. I shouldn’t have said that.” I sighed. “I’m scared, Julia. Mom and Dad are going to flip out.”
“Damn right they are. You took a wedding away from them. You know what a control freak Mom is. You’re her sweet boy.” Suddenly, an evil grin took over her face. “Maybe you won’t be her sweet boy anymore.”
“Ugh, Julia. Stop it. You’re making things worse.” I sat down on the couch and buried my face in my hands.
She sat down next to me and hooked her arm around me. “I’m sorry, Collin. You know I love you. I am so incredibly happy for you and Amelia. I really am. I’m just scared for you.” She laughed.
“Thanks.”
“Aw, come here.” She pulled me into her. “When are you telling them?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, when you do, I’ll be there for you. When Mom explodes, I’ll do my best to calm her down.”
“Thanks, sis.”
“I’d better get Brayden home and to bed.” She got up from the couch and hugged Amelia. “Welcome to the family. I truly am happy for both of you.”
“Thank you.” Amelia smiled as she handed Brayden over.
“You better take off that ring before you come to work tomorrow.”
“I will. Have a good night, sis. I love you.”
“I love you too, Collin.” She walked out the door and I looked up at Amelia. She sat down beside me and placed her hand on my thigh.
“Do you regret getting married?”
My heart ached when she asked me that. I took hold of her hand. “Of course not. I wanted nothing more than to make you my wife and no apology will be made. My parents will just have to accept it and move on.”
“What if they won’t?”
“They’ll be happy we’re married. They love you. They just won’t be happy that we didn’t include them.” I sighed.
“Do I have to be there when you tell them?” She smiled.
“Yes. If I’m going down, you’re going down with me. Now enough talk about my parents. They are last people I want to think about when I’m about to fuck you for the first time in our home as my wife.”
She took her bottom lip in her mouth as her seductive eyes stared into mine. “Mhmm. I like that idea.” Her lips softly touched mine.
Chapter 2
Ellery
Life couldn’t be more perfect. I was married to the man of my dreams, I had two beautiful grown children, a perfect son in-law, and a beautiful grandson. The art gallery was thriving better than we had ever imagined, and Black Enterprises was strong and solid. Connor had talked about retiring and letting Collin take over, but he wanted to wait a couple more years. He still felt Collin needed to grow up a little bit. I disagreed, and we had our discussions about it, but I stood by his decision to wait.