A Merry Vested Wedding Read online

  I spent so much time in the cold water of the lake, even my father was beginning to notice. Every time I would see Addi, my dick would spring up, and I had no choice but to escape to the water to settle him down. I started avoiding her, unsure what to do about my feelings and how they had changed toward her.

  Unable to sleep one night, I padded down to the beach, listening to the sound of the water. The breeze was light and felt good on my bare chest, the sand cool under my toes as I walked. I leaned against a pile of rocks, admiring the moon hanging high in the sky. I startled when a soft voice broke through my thoughts.

  “Couldn’t sleep either?”

  I turned and met Addi’s eyes. She was sitting five feet from me, cross-legged on a large, flat rock. I had been so deep in thought, I hadn’t even noticed her.

  I noticed her now. Her hair was up, loose curls hanging around her face and shoulders. Her skin gleamed in the moonlight. She was wearing a baggy shirt and leggings, one shoulder bare. She was sexy and beautiful, and in that single moment, everything became clear. I was totally in love with her. I always had been. It was all I could do not to groan out loud.

  “Uncle Bent know you’re out here? Alone?” I asked, my voice low and gravelly, even to my own ears.

  She shook her head. “He had to go back to the city. Mom is asleep. Everyone is. But I was restless.” She shrugged. “I’m perfectly safe here, Brayden. Even Uncle Aiden admits that.”

  The grounds were protected with a private fence and gate. There was a security system in place. I knew all that, and still, I didn’t like it.

  “No swimming alone,” I snapped.

  She huffed and scampered off the rocks, crossing her arms. “I’m not stupid, Bray. I know that.” She shook her head. “I don’t know what your problem is or why you’re mad at me, but when you stop being a jerk, let me know.”

  She turned to leave, and I grabbed her arm, spinning her back to face me. I was shocked to see the tears in her eyes. “What? Why are you crying?”

  “Why do you suddenly dislike me too? You’ve been avoiding me all week!”

  “I don’t dislike you,” I replied. “That’s the problem!”

  “What?”

  I didn’t think; I only reacted. I yanked her into my arms and covered her mouth with mine and kissed her. She flung her arms around my neck and kissed me back. I slid my hands to cradle the back of her head, and deepened the kiss, groaning when her tongue touched mine. I lifted her to the rock, stepping between her legs, and for endless minutes, we explored each other. Learning and tasting. Our tongues stroked together, our breath mingling. I was aware of everything. How she fit against me. The subtle shiver that ran through her body as I touched her. The air surrounding us, the sound of the waves. How her nipples brushed against my chest. She fit against me seamlessly, melding against my chest. She tasted of chocolate and moonlight and all things Addi. It was a life-changing kiss for us both.

  Breathing hard, I broke away. Our eyes met and held, hers wide and shocked, mine pleading and determined.

  “I don’t want you dating Todd or Derek or anybody else.”

  “Oh,” she breathed out.

  “You’re mine, Addi. You have been your whole life. No one knows you the way I do. No one will ever understand you like me.”

  “But you’ve never…” She trailed off.

  “I didn’t know. Until this week. But it hit me. That’s why I’ve hated every guy who looked at you twice. Why I go crazy thinking about someone else kissing you. Holding you. Because you’re mine. You belong to me.”

  She swallowed, the tears spilling over her cheeks.

  “What?” I asked again, wiping away the wetness. “Tell me.”

  She gripped my wrists, a shaky smile ghosting her lips.

  “I thought you’d never figure it out.”

  Laughing, I kissed her again.

  The next week was filled with ups and downs. I was on a high the next morning until I saw Addi on the beach. She looked pensive and upset.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “We can’t do this, Bray.”

  “Do what? We’re not doing anything wrong,” I insisted, yanking a hand through my hair.

  “We’re practically family. And I’m older than you.”

  I rolled my eyes with a snort. “By a little over a year. We grew up together, but we’re not family in that sense, Addi. We’re not related in any way.” I grabbed her hands. “Don’t overthink this. We’re perfect for each other.”

  She shook her head. “I need time to think.”

  That was never a good thing. Addi would think and analyze to the point we would never have a chance. She would talk herself out of this. Out of me.

  In desperation, I went to Sandy—the adoptive grandmother of all of us. She had been the assistant to our fathers, her role growing and adapting as the years went by. She became their nucleus and had been part of our world our entire lives.

  I confessed everything to her. My feelings. Addi’s sudden hesitance and worry.

  “Am I wrong, Nan? Am I wrong to have these feelings for her?”

  She studied me. “Wrong? No. But have you thought of all the implications if this doesn’t work out?”

  “It will,” I insisted. “Addi is mine. She always has been.”

  She smiled. “You sound just like your father.”

  “I know I’m young, but I see my whole life with her. As soon as I kissed her, I knew.” I lifted my shoulder. “Maybe even before.”

  “What do you need, Brayden?”

  “You know how she gets. Stubborn. She’ll overthink and decide the risks are too great. She’ll push me away.”

  “You want me to talk to her?”

  “She’ll listen to you, Nan. She always does.”

  I waited for two days. I was sitting on the rocks, watching the sun sparkle on the water. Addi lowered herself beside me.

  “Hey.”

  I peered at her warily. “Hi.”

  “Nan called me over. We talked for a long time.”

  “And?”

  She slipped her hand into mine. “Forgive me. I panicked.”

  Relief tore through me. “So, we’re good?”

  “She said a year was nothing, and I was being foolish.”

  “She’s right.”

  “She told me she isn’t shocked by this ‘development’—” Addi used her fingers to make the quotations “—and that we’re both more mature than most kids our age. She told me sometimes we’re lucky and find our soul mates early. That what was important was how we felt, not what others would think.”

  “Ah,” I murmured, hope beckoning.

  “She told me to look in my heart.” Addi squeezed my fingers. “She said that was where my future was, not in my head.”

  “Nan is a wise woman.”

  “I want to try.”

  “Then let’s do it.”

  After talking to Addi and letting it settle for a few days, I spoke to my parents. It was a surprisingly short conversation. They weren’t shocked, telling me they had seen it long before I did.

  “We were waiting for you to make up your mind,” my mother told me, cupping my face. “Your head had to catch up to your heart.”

  My dad had asked some good questions but informed me he wasn’t really surprised about my feelings for Addi.

  “You two have always had a bond.” He paused. “But you need to come clean with Bent,” he stated.

  “I am. Tomorrow.”

  The next day, I paid a visit to Uncle Bentley and Auntie Emmy. My dad came with me for moral support.

  Addi was sitting with her parents on their deck, drinking coffee, when my dad and I approached. I sat beside her, my hand finding hers under the table and squeezing her fingers. I swallowed nervously then met Uncle Bent’s eyes. His expression was stern, his brow furrowed as he looked between us. Then he spoke.

  “You are aware the table is glass and I can see that,” he said, indicating our clasped hands.

 
I glanced down then began to laugh. I had forgotten that fact. Addi joined in my laughter, and I relaxed when the adults did as well.

  “So, you’re together now?” Emmy asked, smiling at us.

  “Yes.”

  “Have you thought this out? What will happen if this doesn’t work?” Bentley asked. “How it will affect everyone around you?”

  My dad and Nan had asked the same question, so I wasn’t surprised to hear him ask it as well. I drew in a deep breath before I responded.

  “I’m young, Uncle Bent, not stupid. We talked about that. But it’s not going to happen.” I met his serious gaze. “Addi is it for me.”

  “You’re sixteen. She’s a year ahead of you. What happens when she goes to university and you’re still in high school?”

  I shook my head. “I’m in advanced classes, Uncle Bent. I’ll be going with her. And if we choose different schools, we’ll figure it out.” I didn’t bother to tell him we already knew we would be going together.

  Addi leaned forward. “You tell me all the time I’m like mom—young in years with an old soul.”

  Uncle Bentley’s gaze grew warm, softening his stern look. “You are,” he admitted.

  “So is Brayden,” my dad pointed out. “Come on, Bent, we always said this was going to happen. They’ve always been entwined. You can’t possibly be surprised. It was inevitable.”

  He sighed and rubbed his eyes, then held up his hand. “Ground rules.”

  I bit back my grin. Uncle Bent always had ground rules.

  He pointed at me. “You be careful. She’s still young.”

  I felt myself flush, knowing exactly what he was saying.

  “We’re both too young,” I mumbled. I knew we were both still virgins. For me, sex and love went hand in hand, and Addi was the same way. Although we had dated a few people, it had never gone that far for either of us.

  “Good. Keep it that way until you’re thirty—or even better, when I’m dead.”

  Auntie Emmy burst out laughing. “Stop it, Rigid. You’re overreacting as usual. They’re both good kids and plan to take this slow.” She looked at us, one eyebrow lifted. “Right?”

  We were both quick to agree.

  “Same curfew and rules apply, Addi. I don’t care whose son he is.” He looked at me. “You pick her up and have her home at the set times. We prefer group outings. And no sneaking off while we’re here.

  “Same rules apply when we go back to Toronto. And when you start driving, you keep both hands on the wheel.”

  “Done.” I had my learner’s permit and planned on taking my test as soon as possible.

  “You both will be respectful to us. Both your sets of parents. If we think things are getting too serious or you aren’t following the rules, we’re addressing it.”

  I agreed, nothing he said surprising me. I was actually shocked he didn’t have more to say, but I had a feeling he would come to me later and talk to me privately. I also knew it was going to be far more personal and I wasn’t going to enjoy it. But I would take it because it was for Addi.

  “We’re just starting, Uncle Bent. We wanted to be upfront with you. I don’t want to hide anything or be deceitful.” My parents were big on the truth and had drummed that into my head my whole life.

  He smiled, some of the tension easing from his shoulders. “I appreciate that, Brayden.” He met my gaze. “You take care of my little girl, and we won’t have a problem. Otherwise…” He let the words trail off, then grinned. “I’ll set Aiden on you.”

  “I will,” I promised after the laughter had died down. I hunched closer, everyone else disappearing as I spoke directly to him. “I care about her a lot, Uncle Bent. I won’t hurt her. But seeing her with anyone else hurt me, so I had to speak up.”

  He clasped my shoulder with a firm nod. “I trust you, Brayden. If I didn’t, you’d be in the lake by now.” He winked. “We’ll save that for another day.” He squeezed hard in warning. “I’ll be watching.”

  I sat back, relieved. Addi watched her father with amused adoration. He shook his finger at her. “You behave. You’re too much like your mother.”

  She laughed. “Everyone says I’m like you.”

  “Then you’d be hitting the books, not mooning over Brayden.”

  She smirked and grinned. “I’m a woman. We can multitask.”

  He groaned. “Don’t remind me.”

  I smiled at the memories. The years that followed. School, work, growing, and learning. Together. We were always together, and neither of us wanted it any other way. Ours wasn’t a typical relationship. It never had been. Growing up together. Falling in love so young. We’d never been in a hurry to get married, because we knew how solid we were. We went to school, although Addi followed in Bentley’s footsteps and left before she got her degree, with the same bug he possessed in that she was bored and was eager to enter the business world. I pushed and worked hard, and at twenty-five, I held my CPA degree. Addi was a young president at the age of twenty-six, but she had earned the title. Bentley was too smart a businessman to entrust the role to anyone who wasn’t qualified—daughter or not.

  And today was the day I’d been waiting for since I first kissed her. Our lives had settled enough that we could move on to the next step in our journey—husband and wife. We were ready.

  Here in this place I loved. We had all our firsts here. First kiss. First declaration of our feelings. The first time we made love. The day I asked her to marry me. Our entire world was linked to this spot.

  And it would continue. Our parents had gifted us a house here. BAM had slowly bought up every piece of land around the area. There was a bustling resort a couple of miles down the road run by a new division in the company. A successful winery run by another department—and where I would marry Addi today. The rest of the land was personal holdings of the company and its directors.

  Our house was set away, still overlooking the water, close enough to the main area we were still part of the group, but with a little more privacy. A bluff was a natural wall with an easy access path toward the other grouping of houses. There was room by our place for three other houses—and more space behind us if needed. For some members of BAM, this was a fun place to escape, a weekend getaway, or a place to vacation. For others, it was our home.

  I had lived here for a few months, while Addi divided her time between her parents’ place in Toronto and here. Addi amused me with her objections to our living together before we got married, even when I reminded her both her parents and mine had done so.

  “We’re not them, Brayden,” she replied, lifting her eyebrows.

  “So old-fashioned, Addi,” I teased back. “Let me get this straight. You’ll stay with me in a house our parents gave us on weekends, but you won’t live here until we’re married.”

  She had tossed her hair. “The occasional weeknight as well.”

  I laughed. “Right. You realize that makes no sense, right?”

  “It does to me.”

  I leaned close and kissed her. “Whatever makes you happy.”

  She cupped my cheek. “You do.”

  When she looked at me like that, and kissed me the way she did, I’d give her anything.

  I always would.

  Chapter 2

  Addison

  I woke up, throwing back the blankets and getting out of bed, regardless of the fact that the sun wasn’t up yet. I threw on my favorite robe, added a wrap to my shoulders and stuffed my feet into a pair of warm socks. I always felt the cold—not the way my mom did, but more than most people. Layers were my friend. And strangely enough, my favorite season was winter. I had learned to dress properly and not let it stop me.

  I headed downstairs, not bothering with lights. My feet knew the way, the incline of the stairs, the layout of the rooms I walked through. I pushed open the kitchen door, not at all surprised to find my dad sitting at the table, a pot of coffee at his elbow. His ever-present laptop was open, but he wasn’t busy typing or reading emails. Ins
tead, he sat at the table, staring out the window. The overhead light glinted on his dark hair, highlighting the shots of gray that were scattered throughout it. He was a handsome, distinguished man, his posture straight, his shoulders still broad. He worked out with my uncle Aiden daily and could easily run circles around my brother or cousins. Something he liked to do on the basketball court weekly.

  I smiled at him, crossing the room. “Hi, Dad.”

  His return smile was tight. “Addi.”

  I grabbed a cup and held it out. He filled it for me, indicating a plate. “Your mom made you some cinnamon raisin scones last night. I knew you’d want them this morning.”

  I loved my mom’s scones—especially the cinnamon raisin ones. I bent and kissed his cheek, sliding my arms around his neck for a hug. “Thanks.”

  He wrapped me in a fast embrace. “No problem.”

  I sat beside him, picking up a scone.

  “You’re up even earlier than I thought you’d be,” he observed, taking a sip of coffee.

  I peeked at the clock—it was barely after five.

  “Big day.”

  He huffed into his cup. I studied him in the low light. He looked weary this morning. Still calm and unruffled—stoic and stern, but weary.

  Bentley Ridge was a legend. He was known as a hard-nosed, brilliant businessman. Unflappable. Detached. His company, BAM, was synonymous with quality. What started out as a dream for him in college had grown beyond even his expectations. Together with my “uncles” Aiden Callaghan and Maddox Riley, they had built an empire. Land development, construction, office buildings, housing, house flips, and everything in between, they were known for their excellence. And now, the next generation, including Brayden and me, ran ABC, focused on the outskirts of Toronto and finding new income streams, concentrating on the commercial aspects. A successful resort, a winery I had rescued from ruin, and a small private grouping of retirement cottages were some of our most profitable triumphs so far.