An hour later, Jessie was enjoying the warmth of the sun on her skin. It was so soothing that soon it and the sound of the water lapping against the dock had almost lulled her to sleep.

Almost.

Until she heard the distant rumble of a couple of motorcycles.

She cracked one eye toward the house, but couldn't see anything as the drive was on the backside.

"That'll be the boys," Skylar confirmed for her, never turning her head.

"Great," Jessie mouthed unenthusiastically.

That had Skylar giggling and turning toward her. "Just pretend you're asleep, maybe he'll leave you alone."

"Right." Like that had a snowball's chance in hell.

A few minutes later the dock shook as some heavy boots walked down it. They came to a stop just above her head, and she cracked an eye open looking up. Ghost stood over her, his eyes meeting hers before they took a leisurely path down her body then moved to Skylar.

"Your ol' man wants you up at the house."

Skylar got to her feet.

"And take Tink with you," Ghost added.

Tink got to her feet as well, but not before giving Jessie a look that said, you're in trouble.

Oh, hell no. If Ghost thought she was going to sit here and listen to another barrage of how she'd fucked up, what a liar she was, and whatever else he had to throw at her, he had another thing coming. She felt her temper flaring, and that pissed her off even more. She'd been in such a nice Zen state of mind there for a minute.

"You're in my sun," she complained, not even cracking an eye open.

"You've had enough sun from the looks of it."

"You're right. Time to turn over." She flipped to her stomach in a pissy movement, and she knew his eyes were running over her ass. Good. Let him look.

"Any longer and that sweet ass of yours is gonna be red as a lobster. Of course, if that's your goal, I'd be glad to help you with that."

"You won't be touching my ass or any other part of me for that matter."

"Wanna bet?"

She had to laugh at that one. "I remember the last time you said that to me."

"Yeah, you ended up cuffed to my bed."

"And how long did that last?" She smirked, knowing she was rubbing salt in the wound.

"Seems not long enough."

"Bite me."

"Don't tempt me."

A second later he reached down and yanked her to her feet. She pushed him back with a hard shove to his chest, which caught him off guard. He lost his balance and fell off the dock into the lake.

She covered her mouth, not having meant to do that, but couldn't help the laughter that squealed out of her as he came up sputtering. Then she hauled ass up the hill to the house.

"Yeah, you better run, you little brat! You're ass is mine when I catch you!"

She ran shrieking into the house.

"Hide me, quick!" she said, slamming the door behind her.

Skylar and Tink turned from the kitchen bar area, wide-eyed and surprised.

Shades turned to look out the wall of windows that faced the lake in time to see Ghost hefting himself out of the water and up onto the dock, water pouring off him.

"Babe, you pushed him in the lake?"

"It was an accident."

Shades burst out laughing. "Yeah, right."

"Quick, lock the doors, he's coming up the hill!" Jessie shrieked.

"I'll do one better than that," Shades suggested, grabbing her by the wrist and pulling her toward the door.

Jessie didn't realize what he was about until he'd shoved her outside and locked the door behind her. She whirled to pound on it, but a moment later Ghost's arms clamped around her waist and lifted her off her feet. He trudged down the hill with her kicking and screaming the whole way and unceremoniously tossed her off the end of the dock.

When she came up sputtering, the shock of the cold water taking her breath, all she saw was his back as he strode back up to the house.

"I hate you!" she screamed, her voice echoing across the lake.

She heard his laughter echoing back down to her. "You can prove just how much later tonight, brat. I may even let you prove it twice."

"Aaarrr!! I wouldn't touch you again if you were the last man on earth."

"For you, babe, I am the last man. So you better fucking get used to it."

That night when they got back to Ghost's place, they were barely speaking. He left her in the living area as he stalked into the bedroom. A moment later, she heard the bathroom door slam. She moved silently into the bedroom, put her ear to the door and heard the shower come on. She hesitated, wondering how he would react if she joined him. She laid her palm on the door. She'd been wrong to keep things from him. He was right. If she didn't trust him, how were they going to make this work? They didn't stand a chance.

A man like Ghost couldn't have a woman that didn't believe in him. It just wouldn't work. Not a chance in hell. She knew that, she knew it. So why had she gone ahead and messed everything up by lying to him? Was she sabotaging her own happiness for some fucked up reason? Deep down, did she think she didn't deserve him? Or did she think she wasn't good enough for him, that she would never be enough to make him happy?

Perhaps that wasn't it at all. Maybe if she was going to be really honest with herself, she had to admit she was scared, and a part of her was still all twisted up with him moving out years ago. She was really afraid he'd leave her again, wasn't she? Was this all some fucked up test she'd devised in her subconscious mind to see how far she could push him? To see if this time nothing would push him away?

She pressed her forehead to the door as it all swamped over her. She had to stop doing this to herself, stop doing this to them, stop sabotaging any shot they had.

She took in a deep breath, and her hand closed over the knob.

The room was already filled with steam.

She pulled her clothes off, dropping them to the floor, and she opened the glass door of the shower stall.

He had his back to her, his palms high on the tile, his head dipped as the water pounded down on his shoulders. But he must have heard the door open, that or he felt the cooler air roll over him, for his head turned to the side, and she knew he saw her in his peripheral vision.

Still he didn't move. He just stood there, motionless, perhaps waiting to see what she would do.

She lightly touched her palm between his shoulder blades, and gently stroked upwards toward his neck. Still he was unmoving, so she stepped closer, pressing her smaller body against his, her arms encircling his waist and her lips brushing a kiss to his back.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

"Sorry doesn't always cut it, Jess."

"I was wrong, so wrong. I never should have doubted you'd have my back. I was afraid."

"Of me?" At that, his palms slid from the tile, and he turned to face her.

She shook her head. "Just afraid. Afraid to be vulnerable. Afraid to be hurt."

"That what you think I'd do?"

She shrugged. "Not intentionally."

He grabbed her face and pushed her back against the tile, boxing her in. "Why can't you trust me, Jess? What do I gotta do to prove it to you?"

She shook her head. "You have nothing to prove to me. I'm the one that has to do that. I want you to trust me, Ghost."

She watched his jaw tick as he looked down at her. "I wish I could trust you, brat. I do. But it's not that easy."

"What can I do to get your trust back?"

"You want me to trust you, start doin' what I say. Earn it."

She nodded.

They stared at each other a long moment, and then he whirled her around to face the wall, moving in against her. Her hands pressed against the wet tile as he dipped his head to her. His mouth was at her ear, as his hands closed over her hips.

"I'm still pissed at you. That's gonna take a while to work through. You understand?" He squeezed his hands, pulling her back, and she felt his erection, big and hard press against her hip. And she understood, completely. And she was okay with that. More than okay. She rubbed the side of her face against his jaw as her ass rubbed up against him, and she spread her legs.

"I'm not gonna be gentle," he warned unnecessarily.

She nodded. "Okay."

"You gonna let me take what I want, however I want to take it?"

She nodded again. "Yes."

One hand slipped around her, and she felt his fingers sliding between her legs to separate her folds, opening her to his strokes. It brought her up on her toes, and her head dropped down. Suddenly, his other hand was in her hair, fisting, pulling her head up as two fingers thrust inside her.

She gasped.

"You ready for me?" he asked as he stroked, searching and finding that spot that drove her crazy.

"Yes," she panted, quivering from what he was doing to her with those fingers. "Always."

"Good fucking answer," he growled as he pulled his fingers out, and then replaced them with his dick, burying himself to the hilt in one deep stroke that had her sucking in a deep breath, tottering on her toes.

One arm locked around her ribs to hold her still, the other hand still buried in her hair as he twisted her head and brought his mouth down over hers, stealing what little breath she had left.

And then both arms locked around her hips, and he was lifting her, ordering, "Lock your legs around me, hands on the wall."

She pressed her hands to the wall, her heels hooking around his ass, her position almost horizontal as he held her tight and began pounding into her from behind.

He went deep, deeper than before, pounding into her until she knew her inner thighs would be bruised.

He tightened one arm and released her with the other so he could put his hand to the wall and hold them both up.

It wasn't long before he was grunting, "Fuck."

And then he was pushing her flat against the wall, the tiles cold against her breasts as he slammed into her one last time to groan out loud as he came inside her.

His breathing was heavy as he jerked once, twice more and then his muscles went limp as he slid her back to her feet, pressing them both to the wall in exhaustion.

After a moment, he pulled her under the shower spray, soaping her body tenderly, without speaking a word the entire time. While he said no words of love or tenderness, the way he touched her communicated to her that he cared about her, and that his feelings ran deep, perhaps even more so than words ever could have.

CHAPTER NINETEEN.

The next day, the boys had club business to take care of, which worked perfectly into the girls' plans. The only person that they confided in, swearing to secrecy, was Skylar's father, Undertaker. She'd called him at the clubhouse before the guys all left and told him their plan. He'd been all for it, but insisted on one thing, that he foot the bill, so he'd left his credit card with Boo and told her to get whatever she needed. And he promised he'd get the boys to the event at the arranged time tomorrow.

Next they drafted Sherry, who was as excited as the rest of them to help with the arrangements. They split into two teams. Sherry took Skylar out shopping for a dress and shoes, while Tink and Jessie took care of getting a cake, booze, catering, and some decorations.

Within an hour, they'd pleaded with a local baker to make them a simple two-tiered cake with a pretty dot pattern and some ribbon to adorn it. Their next stop was an amazing barbeque place that did off site events with a big grill they trailered to events. Fortunately, they'd been able to squeeze the job in for tomorrow. Then the girls hit the liquor store and bought up cases of booze, and a keg of beer.

When they finished their running around town, Tink and Jessie rushed back to Ghost's place to start setting up. Luckily, Jessie didn't need the key to his place to access the courtyard they'd be decorating.

Three hours later, Jessie climbed back down the ladder and brushed her hands off, surveying all their hard work. They'd strung strands of twinkling lights all around the beams and then used wire to hang dozens of glass mason jars at varying lengths from the ceiling.

They'd decided to have the ceremony at dusk, so that it would be dark enough for the lighting to have its full effect. It was going to be magical!

She looked over to the altar, where Tink was putting the finishing touches on two tall candelabras that she'd set up on either side of the fireplace. She'd wrapped trailing flowers all around them.

"Oh, Tink. That looks beautiful."

Tink stepped back. "Are they even with the aisle?"