Fall Into Place (Taking the Fall 5)

“Sounds good, Mom. Love you.”

“Love you, too, Anthony.”

Goddamn it. I hang up the phone and lay my head back on the headrest. I don’t need this right now. I take a second, and I make my decision. I need to focus, and this isn’t my priority. Mary is. There’ll be time to make money later. I want to marry my woman now.

“Sam, I need to get back to Mary. I’m gonna have to call this one. I’m out.”

Samuel pulls into the Snake Eyes casino and parks off to the side. We can see the entrance from here, and he’s squeezing the steering wheel so tight his knuckles are white.

“I’m sorry, Sam, but this is off. I haven’t had enough time to do some research on this skip. We’re going in blind, and I don’t like it. On top of that, I came here to get married, not chase a bounty. That’s enough for me, man. I’m going back to the room, I’m getting Mary, and I’m making her my wife. You coming?”

He looks over at me, and after a second he closes his eyes and shakes his head. Relief washes over me, but then I realize he’s not disappointed, he’s telling me no.

He turns off the truck, tossing me the keys. “Sorry, Tony. I’m staying.”

“What about walking Mary down the aisle?” I can’t believe he’d miss that for anything on this Earth.

He gets out of the truck and stands at the open door. He puts on his leather jacket, covering his weapons and winks at me. “Oh, I’ll be there. You guys don’t start without me.”

With that, he shuts the door and makes his way into the casino. I should probably be worried, but I’m not. No matter what happens, Samuel can handle himself, and if all else fails I’ve got every camera feed in Vegas at my fingertips and about ten trackers on his body. I can find him anywhere on the face of the Earth. I climb over into the driver’s seat and put the keys in the ignition.

Waiting just a few moments, I watch the feed on my phone as Samuel walks into the bar and heads straight for Nika. “Good luck, buddy,” I say out loud and crank the truck.

I turn around and head back to the Blue Diamond. I make one pit stop on the way back to the hotel. I’m thankful that nothing in Vegas closes. You can literally get anything you want twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

Once I’m back at the hotel, I go to our room and knock on the door. After just a second, Mary opens the door, smiling at me, and steps out of the way for me to come inside. My arms are full of boxes, and she looks at me with shock.

“What’s all this?” she asks, seeing me set them down.

“Well, I know this was last minute, so I stopped and got a few things. Sit your cute ass down and I’ll show you.” She laughs and goes over to the couch, and I walk over with the first box.

“New,” I say and set the box in her lap. She opens it up and puts her hands over her mouth in shock.

“Anthony, you bought me a wedding dress?” She pulls out the simple white dress that I know is going to look perfect on her.

“I know we’ll have a big wedding later, but I still wanted you to feel like a beautiful bride, even if it’s just for you and me.”

I see a few tears slip down her cheek as she touches the dress. I don’t want her to be sad, so I go to the next box and hand it to her.

“Old and blue,” I say, and watch her open it.

“Oh, my God. They’re beautiful.” She gently touches the vintage blue sapphire earrings.

“I tried to find a pair that matched your eyes, but nothing was as perfect.” I feel my face heat with embarrassment saying that, but it’s true. There’s nothing as perfect as she is. And no piece of jewelry can compare to her.

I wait for her to put them on, then I pass her another box. “Borrowed.”

“What’s this?” She pulls out the gold band and looks at it and raises her eyebrow.

I laugh and point to it. “That’s mine. I’m letting you borrow it for one hour, then I want it back.”

She laughs with me, and then I see more tears fall down her cheeks. I kneel down in front of her and kiss them away, then touch my forehead to hers. “Go get ready, princess. Don’t make me wait any longer.”

She closes her eyes and nods, taking her things with her to the bathroom.

While she’s getting ready, I check the feed on my phone and feel my smile spread from ear to ear. “Well, well, well. Looks like Samuel’s having fun.”

Five

Mary

“Damn. Seeing you in the dress makes me harder than this past Halloween when you dressed up like a slutty pussy cat,” Anthony growls against my mouth, taking my lips again. This time he picks me up and shoves me against the wall, my legs locking around him the best they can in this dress. So much for not kissing me again until we’re married, but fuck it, we’re at the chapel so close enough.

“Are you at least going to let me go outside dressed like this?” I tease. Pulling back, I try to catch my breath because he’s been all over me since I put this thing on. I didn’t even make it out of our bedroom with that Halloween costume on, but I hadn’t wanted to. The point was to once again try to bait Anthony into finally making love to me. He ended up doing everything but that that night, over and over again for hours. Who would have thought I should’ve just bought a wedding dress and walked around the apartment in it? My virginity would have been long gone.

“Only long enough to make you mine.” He pulls back, his voice husky as he nibbles on my neck.