Tall Tales and Wedding Veils by Jane Graves

hurricane-force wind.

    “My God, you
are
crazy!” she said.

    Tony put his arm around her shoulder and gave her a smacking kiss on the cheek. “Heather, sweetheart, you have
got
to learn how to have a good time!”

    And just like that, she was sold on crazy.

    They waved and shouted to people on the sidewalks. Some waved back; some looked at them as if they were nuts. Some pretended not to see them at all, although how they could have missed two weirdos sticking their heads out of a stretch limo, Heather didn’t know. In some still-sober, still-sane part of her mind, she knew she was behaving like a lunatic, but the insane part of her mind told those other parts to shut up.

    Finally they collapsed back down onto the seat together, laughing, and Heather couldn’t seem to wipe the grin of delight off her face. Tony was right. Crazy was good. Crazy was fun. She couldn’t believe she’d gone through her whole life driving straight down the freeway when there was so much fun to be had on the side roads. Then Tony leaned forward to talk to the limo driver.

    “The woman of my dreams,” he said. “And to think she was right under my nose the whole time. Can you believe it?”

    “No, sir,” the driver deadpanned. “That is indeed unbelievable. I’ll drive straight to the courthouse so you can get a marriage license.”

    Heather giggled. “Well, that’s Las Vegas for you. Instant riches, instant weddings.”

    “But you’re not a spontaneous person?” Tony said.

    “Me? Nope. No spontaneity here. I used up all my spontaneity sticking my head out the top of the car.”

    His hand crept over to her thigh. “You sure about that?”

    At that moment, a lightning bolt could have zapped Heather, and she wouldn’t have felt the pain. Locking his eyes with hers, Tony inched his hand upward, slowly and tantalizingly, teasing his fingertips along her inner thigh. She tensed, and a tiny shudder shook her whole body. Just when she was about to jump out of her skin, he smoothed his hand back down again until it rested just above her knee.

    Angling his body toward hers, he shifted his hand from her leg and draped it along the seat behind her head. Leaning in, he brought his other hand up to cradle her face.

    “You have beautiful eyes,” he said, his thumb stroking her temple. “And such soft, soft skin.” Then he teased his fingertip along her bottom lip. “And look at this
beautiful
mouth.”

    And then he leaned in and kissed her. It wasn’t anything like the spontaneous I’m-twenty-thousand-dollars-richer kiss he’d given her in the casino. It was a long, slow, hot kiss that made her muscles liquefy and her mind turn to mush.

    Still cradling her in his arms, he leaned away a little and touched her collarbone, then dragged a single fingertip all the way to her cleavage, his gaze following it. She felt a glorious, swoopy sensation in her stomach, her breath coming faster.

    “Do you really live in Plano?” he asked.

    “Yeah. I really do.”

    “And you go to McMillan’s?”

    “Yeah. Don’t you believe me?”

    “So why do I not remember seeing you there? Shouldn’t I have noticed if an angel had dropped straight down from heaven?”

    He’s drunk. He’s delirious. He’s deluded. He’s anything but serious.

    “I’m no angel,” she said.

    “I’m not so sure about that,” he said, stroking his hand up and down her arm and then kissing her neck. “Have you seen that Jimmy Stewart movie? The one they always play at Christmas?”

    “
It’s a Wonderful Life
? I wouldn’t have taken you as somebody who likes sentimental movies.”

    “Ah, sweetheart, there’s a lot you don’t know about me.” He kissed his way along her neck, then swirled his tongue over her earlobe. “There was that guy who was Jimmy’s angel. He came down from heaven, fixed what was wrong in his life, and then when Jimmy turned around, he wasn’t there anymore.”

    “So I’m an angel who’s out to get my