Grip Trilogy Box Set - Kennedy Ryan Page 0,302

Still no response. After three minutes, I’m pounding the door and saying Bristol’s name maybe a little louder than the situation warrants. The door is yanked open from inside, and my beautiful bride stands on the threshold glaring at me, her hair all around her head and her face free of makeup. A silk robe is tied at her narrow waist.

“You better have a really good reason for being here.” Though stern, her eyes and voice soften the longer we stare at each other. I slip into the room before she can stop me.

“Grip, no.” She swats at my shoulders when I pull her into my arms. “You cannot be here. We cannot see each other.”

“Bullshit.” I bend to kiss her, my lips searching, seeking out her sweetness.

“You have to go,” she mutters against my lips, but her fingers cling to my arms.

“I miss you.” My whispered words catch fire in the air between us, and I feel her nipples bead against my chest. My fingers fumble at the tie at her waist, and I push at the shoulders of her robe.

“No!” She catches the silk lapels and pulls them tightly over her breasts, her eyes wide. “You have to go.”

“Babe, come on.” My hands slide down to her waist, the flare of her hips, the curve of her ass. “We got time. Don’t make me beg.”

“Beg?” She steps out of my arms, clenching the neck of the robe at her throat, showing me even less skin. “Yeah, right. When have you ever had to beg?”

“I used to have to beg,” I remind her. “When you wouldn’t give your boy a shot.”

Her face softens, the tousled hair around her face and shoulders tempting me to shove my fingers into the shiny strands. A smile so sweet I want to taste it teases the corners of her lips.

“That was a long time ago, and don’t remind me what a fool I was all those years.”

We share a smile, and before she kicks me out, I take her hand and press it between my palms.

“I saw the gift you gave my mom,” I say, my voice low with gratitude. “And I ran into Iz on the elevator.”

“Two of your greatest influences.” She shrugs her slim shoulders under the brightly patterned silk. “It wouldn’t be the same without them. You wouldn’t be the same without them, and for that I’m grateful.”

She opens the door and shoves me into the hall. The door is closing in my face when I stick my foot in to stop it. I peer around the heavy wood, needing the last word.

“The next time I see you,” I say with a smile, “you’ll be Mrs. Marlon James.”

She pauses in closing the door long enough to lean forward and drop a quick kiss on my lips.

“I can’t wait,” she whispers. “I love you.”

The door slams in my face, but if those are her last words, I’ll let her have them just this once.

Chapter 27

Bristol

I’M JUST beyond the entrance. I can see Grip. I can see in, but no one knows I’m here yet, and I take in the ethereal beauty of the small chapel. A mix of artificial snow and white roses, a juxtaposition of blooms and blizzard, sprinkles the aisle from the chapel door to the altar. Potted trees march along the wall, naked of leaves, branches adorned with snow, warmed with tiny lights. Lanterns suspended from the ceiling cast a glow over the old chapel, hallowed by years and a thousand services and ceremonies before this one, but to me, none more sacred.

I absorb all the details, happy to see the small group of people assembled, our closest friends and family. This isn’t a day for selfies or pictures that will be sold to magazines. It’s a day for us, for Grip, me, and the people who mean the most to us.

Well, most of them. Ms. James and Dr. Hammond are here. Rhyson stands at the altar as Grip’s best man, and Jimmi is already there as my maid of honor. Amir, Shondra, Kai and Aria, Luke, Charm—all here. Jade is noticeably absent, but I won’t let that cast a cloud over today, not with all these people here celebrating our love.

“Are you ready?”

My father’s question draws my attention. He’s handsome, and Rhyson looks more like him every day. I considered not asking him to give me away, but that thing I can never shake, that need for my family to be family compelled me to include my