The Trustworthy Groom (Texas Titan Romance) Read online

  “Splash Mountain, definitely.”

  She backed away so she didn’t give him a hug. He’d gone from this seductive man to an overexcited boy quickly, and she liked it. It made her happy that he was excited about Disneyland. Tomorrow would be fun. They could forget about William Fonnesbeck and Brady’s stalker for a while and just have fun as friends. It had to stay as friends between them. She would never date a football player, and if things ever got serious, she’d have to tell Brady why. That wasn’t happening when even her parents and sister didn’t know the truth.

  Chapter Seven

  Brady woke before the sun rose and sprang out of bed, hurrying into the bathroom and walk-in granite shower. Disneyland and Hailey. He had the feeling this was going to be one of the most exciting days of his life. It felt weird to shower without working out first, but it was his honeymoon. He’d hit the workouts hard next week. He paused as he wrapped up in a towel and stared at his broad frame in the mirror. Would Hailey work out with him next week? How fun would that be? To have one of the team’s trainers in his home gym pushing him. He smiled. Marriage to Hailey just kept getting better and better. If only she would let him kiss her at some point. Last night, she’d seemed uncertain about his intentions and almost scared of him. That bugged him on so many levels. Was he scary? Had someone else hurt her? There was no way to know the answers to the questions until he got to know her better. Hopefully, she would let him in on her secrets.

  He dressed in a t-shirt and golf shorts and hurried out of his room, intrigued by the delicious smells coming from the kitchen. Hailey stood by the counter, staring out at the ocean. He knew the view was probably fantastic, but he couldn’t draw his eyes from her, his wife. Those two words still made his stomach heat up. He had to continually remind himself the wedding wasn’t real. Well, it was real, but it didn’t give him permission to make her his. Hailey seemed to have no problem remembering, or reminding him, of that fact.

  She was wearing a fitted red v-neck shirt and black and white floral print shorts that hit her about mid-thigh. Her legs were incredible, all tan and sleek muscle. He forced his focus back up. Her hair was up in a ponytail, and the curls cascaded down her back. Her smooth neck was revealed, and he drew in a quick breath as he imagined bending down and kissing the curve where her graceful neck met her collarbone.

  She turned and gave him a hesitant smile.

  “Hey,” he said. “Something sure looks … I mean smells good.”

  Her smile grew, and she gestured to the counter. “Help yourself.”

  Brady walked over, focusing on the food instead of the woman. There were silver containers, like a caterer would use, overflowing with omelets, sausage, bacon, scrambled eggs, and French toast. A bowl with cut fruit sat on the counter, and there was milk, orange juice, and apple juice.

  Brady took a plate and began filling it. “Did you wake up at four and start cooking?”

  Hailey laughed. “No. I like to cook, but Daddy arranged all of this.”

  Brady’s spine straightened. Her dad had followed them to California?

  “You should see your face. My daddy’s not here. There’s a company that caters our meals when we stay here. They brought this in a few minutes ago.”

  “Oh.” He slid a veggie omelet onto his plate. “I didn’t hear anybody.”

  “You were in the shower.” She took a sip of her apple juice but not before he noticed a becoming pink tinging her face. Maybe this beauty wasn’t as unaffected by him as she seemed.

  “Have you already eaten?” he asked, sitting down and spearing a bite of eggs.

  “I can’t eat before I go to amusement parks. I get too excited and puke on the rides.”

  Brady laughed. “So after your stomach settles, I can buy you a churro?” He’d heard from friends growing up how the churros at Disneyland were the best.

  She returned his grin. “Yes, please.”

  “Should I be worried? I’ve never ridden a roller coaster ride.”

  “What?” She stared at him like he had two heads. “How did you trudge through life without ever riding a roller coaster?”

  He shrugged and cut a bite of his omelet. “My family didn’t have a lot of money, and with seven kids, going to an amusement park was kind of out of the question. We also started working at twelve doing lawn care and commercial cleaning, so we never had weekends off.”

  “Wow. That’s both sad and impressive.”

  “I guess we were raised pretty differently.” That was putting it mildly. Brady couldn’t remember a day, except Sunday, when he hadn’t worked hard. He’d only been allowed to play football because he worked extra hours, rising at four in the morning sometimes to fit in the work, and paid for all the fees himself. His siblings teased him that he was the spoiled baby of the family as none of them had been able to do anything extracurricular.

  “Yeah,” Hailey said noncommittally. She toyed with her glass, glancing out the window again.

  Brady followed her gaze. It was a beautiful setting. The pool and hot tub were surrounded with landscaped boulders, flowers, trees, and greenery. Beyond the patio, there was a quick drop to the ocean, and he could see and hear the waves constantly rolling in. He loved the ocean but had only been to it in Massachusetts, where it was too cold to swim. He couldn’t wait to go to Disneyland and fulfill some childhood dreams, but hoped they would have some time this week to play in the ocean as well.

  “I take it you have been to Disneyland before?” he asked, wondering if she thought he was immature to be thrilled about visiting a children’s theme park, but she’d planned this honeymoon, so she should be happy he was excited.

  Hailey turned to him with an eyebrow raised. “Yeah.”

  “How many times?”

  She pursed her lips and seemed to be thinking. Finally, she said, “I really don’t remember. A lot.”

  “Oh.” Brady kind of deflated. She’d planned this honeymoon. In the back of his mind, he had hoped it would be special for her too, but she’d grown up wealthy. Of course it was old hat to visit Disneyland. “There probably aren’t many places in the world you haven’t been.” He wished he could take her somewhere that was special.

  Hailey lifted her delicate shoulders. “I’ve never been to …” Again, she paused to think. “Jamaica.”

  He nodded. “I hear it’s beautiful.”

  “I’d like to hike up the waterfalls someday, especially Dunn’s River Falls. Wouldn’t it be amazing to climb right up a waterfall? My daddy and mama went there once. The people scared my mama though, so they never took me there.”

  “They scared her?”

  “I guess they’re really pushy, aggressive salespeople. Mama and daddy made the mistake of going in a flea market, and the people were grabbing Mama’s hair, trying to braid it, shoving items in their faces, and chasing Mama around shouting lower and lower prices when she didn’t want to buy something. Daddy said they were just really poor and desperate to sell their stuff. From what I’ve been able to gather from the story, Daddy bought a whole heap of stuff, but that just made the people more excited, and it scared Mama a lot. So …” She smiled kind of shyly as if she realized this was the first insight into her family she’d shared with him. “No Jamaica for me. The pictures look amazing though.”

  Brady decided then and there. Someday, he was taking her to Jamaica.

  “But today’s about making your dreams come true—Disneyland, baby!”

  Brady smiled. He really liked her, and being with her felt like a dream fulfilled much more than Disneyland. “It’s going to be great.”

  “Just give me a minute to finish getting ready. Then we’re headed to the happiest place on earth.” She set her cup of juice in the sink and walked across the great room area and into her bedroom.

  Brady couldn’t help but watch her go, wondering what she could possibly do to be more ready. She was already picture perfect. He focused on the food. It was really good. He glanced at the clock on the microwave. Six twenty-five. He
’d better hurry, or he wouldn’t have time to brush his teeth before the driver came for them. Hailey kept reassuring him that he wasn’t getting a kiss, but he wasn’t going to give up hope just yet.

  They had priority status so they were admitted earlier than the rest of the park goers. Hailey wanted to make this day amazing for Brady. To think he’d never been on a roller coaster just blew her mind. It was extremely impressive that he was such a hard worker, but she couldn’t wait to show him how to have fun.

  She grabbed his hand and tugged him up Main Street USA, the first part of Disneyland. He stared around at the cute shops and cobblestone streets. There were a couple of horse and buggies all ready to go. The sky was a surreal blue, almost like it was a movie set, and Goofy and Ariel were standing separately over by the theater, ready to start giving autographs and taking pictures.

  “This is so cool,” Brady said.

  “We can come back. I’ll let you get Ariel’s autograph and buy you an ice cream cone later. We’ve got to get to Splash Mountain before the line is two hours long.”

  “I don’t care about the autograph, but I do love ice cream.” Brady broke into a jog to keep up with her. “I was worried I wouldn’t get a workout in, but I can see you’ll be running me all over this park.”

  She grinned. “That’s right. Then this afternoon when it gets too hot and crowded, we’ll go to the beach to body surf and swim.”

  Brady squeezed her hand as they ran side by side. The park was pretty much empty except for workers, but that didn’t slow her down. “This is like my dream day,” he said.

  “Really?”

  He nodded.

  Dream day just because it was Disneyland, or was he happy to be here with her? Hailey upped her pace, determined to make this his best day ever and show him all the beauties and joys of the park.

  They hurried through the tunnels of Splash Mountain. Hailey slowed down just enough so he could see the animation from the Uncle Remus story and the characters from Br’er Rabbit to Br’er Bear.

  “Do you know this story?” she asked.

  He nodded. “Yeah, my mom used to read it to us.”

  “Oh, good. I was afraid you Northerners didn’t have any classic literature.” She winked and tugged him to the platform where a worker greeted them. There was one other couple behind them, but Brady and Hailey were able to load into the front.

  Brady sat behind her and Hailey had no choice but to sit between his legs. He wrapped his arms around her and tugged her back against his chest. Hailey enjoyed being cuddled up against him a little too much.

  “Glad you gave this Northerner a chance,” he whispered against her cheek.

  Hailey laughed and turned to him as the small boat started moving. His lips were centimeters from hers, and she quickly drew back. “You wish,” she said. “I told you I don’t date football players.”

  Brady chuckled and tucked his muscular arms around her midsection. “That’s something we need to talk about.”

  Hailey felt her insides chill, and the dark tunnel they were gliding through didn’t help. She wasn’t ever going to talk about why she didn’t date football players with him, or anyone else for that matter. Last night, she thought that someday she might open up to him, but it had probably been wedding night emotions or something. Now, in the light of day, she knew it wouldn’t do either of them any good for her to dump her wretched past on him.

  She pointed at Br’er Bear on the wall. “Even though Br’er Rabbit is funny, Br’er Bear was always my favorite for some reason.”

  “That’s a good thing because I’m built more like a bear than a rabbit.”

  Hailey drew in a quick breath. He was built like a spectacular man, and she loved the feel of his arms around her, but she had to remind herself not to get too comfortable. Just because Brady was her husband didn’t mean she could let go of her fears regarding intimacy.

  Still, she really did like his arms around her. Was it okay to enjoy the simple contact, yet never hope for anything more? Hailey didn’t know if that was fair to Brady. Sadly, it was all she could handle right now.

  “You’re right, bears are much better.” She blurted out. Then her face went red. Had she just admitted that she loved the feel of him?

  Brady chuckled as the ride swept them along, but nothing was sweeping her up quicker than his kindness and strength. Shoot. How was she going to stay strong when they were alone tonight when she couldn’t even hide her feelings for him on a ride?

  Chapter Eight

  Brady had never had so much fun. They raced from ride to ride, stopping to eat churros or iced lemonades and sign almost as many autographs as the Disney characters. A lot of people recognized them, probably from all the exposure of their wedding that was just yesterday. It seemed like more time had passed than that. Brady was always friendly to fans, especially children, so they got slowed down a lot, but it was still a ton of fun.

  He loved soaring through California on the California Soarin’ ride—smelling the citrusy scents, seeing Napa Valley, and taking in all the great California sights. Being part of Star Wars on Star Tours was fun and made him a little sick to his stomach. He and his brothers had loved Star Wars growing up. They would all be so jealous of him. He made a mental note to send all of them and their families on a Disneyland trip. Wouldn’t it be fun if Hailey would go with him and his family on a reunion at Disneyland?

  He thought Disney outdid themselves with the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. It was dark, dank, and creepy, perfect with Jack Sparrow’s voice accompanying them. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was probably his favorite of the roller coasters, followed closely by the Matterhorn. Space Mountain was awesome, but it scared him a lot. He would never admit that out loud, especially when Hailey teased him about screaming. What kind of crazy person designed a roller coaster in the dark?

  The crowds got really bad around one o’clock, and they might have been able to hit more rides with Fast Passes, but being stopped all the time for autographs and pictures made it hard. Brady knew this was exactly why they’d come here, to get the exposure. The thought of William Fonnesbeck and his stalker seeing him beaming next to his beautiful bride made him happy, but when Hailey suggested they head back to the beach at about two o’clock, he was ready.

  The driver picked them up, and they chatted excitedly about different rides on the way to the house. A spread of chicken and steak fajita salads was waiting on the counter for them. Brady shook his head. “How do they know to do this?”

  “I was starving from no breakfast, so I texted them.”

  He shook his head. “You’re pretty spoiled. You realize that, right?”

  Hailey gasped. Then her beautiful and impish smile came out. “We choose to call it well-loved.”

  Brady couldn’t help but roll his eyes, though he didn’t think it would be hard to love Hailey really well. He couldn’t blame her parents for spoiling her. Not at all.

  Hailey made herself a salad, and Brady followed suit. They sat down, and she offered a brief prayer before digging in. She stared out over the ocean and said abruptly, “You know James Knight isn’t my birth father, right?”

  Brady paused with his fork on the way to his mouth. “No. I had no clue.” He set his fork down and focused on her.

  “Oh.” She put a small bite of salad in her mouth and chewed before saying, “My real father deserted us when I was three. My daddy adopted me when I was nine. He’s been the best father anyone could ask for.” She looked down and cleared her throat. “It’s a really long story, but Izzy hated Daddy until recently, so the only daughter he could spoil was me.” She shrugged, but still wouldn’t look at him. “Sorry that was more info than you needed, but I didn’t want you to think I was a brat. I’m very grateful for all my daddy has done for me. I let him do it because I know how much joy it brings him to take good care of me, or spoil me like you said.”

  Brady set his fork down and scooted his chair closer to hers. Hailey finally glanced up at him, her eyes k
ind of afraid, as if he would make fun of her, or was there something else she was afraid of? “The term I prefer is well-loved,” he said.

  “Well, I like your term.” Hailey rewarded him with a tremulous smile then rubbed her fingers along the countertop. “Thank you. I’ve never talked to anyone about that. Even as a kid, I would lie to my classmates that James Knight was my real dad, which made things kind of awkward for him as he would’ve had to cheat on his first wife to have been my real father. We recently found out that partly because of my lies Izzy had thought he was my real father and hated him for years because she thought he cheated on her mom when she was dying.” She blew out a breath. “But as a kid, you don’t think about repercussions like that, you know?”

  Brady couldn’t resist brushing his fingers across her knuckles. She gazed up at him, her eyes filled with warmth. “Well, I’m your husband, so you can tell me anything.”

  Hailey arched an eyebrow. “Eat quick, my husband, so I can show you how to ride the waves.”

  “You got it.” Brady shoveled a bite in. He loved her calling him “my husband” so much that he had to remind himself to slow down and chew.

  When Hailey and her daddy had decided on the beach house and Disneyland, it had been more about exposure to media to help accomplish the purpose of her rushed wedding and keeping the alone time with Brady to a minimum. Both ideas suited her perfectly.

  She’d had no clue that Brady would be so excited about Disneyland and so much fun to be with. Her parents were great, but every other time she’d been at Disneyland, she’d pretty much dragged them from ride to ride. They’d put up with it, but it had been obvious they were only doing it for her. One time, when she was fourteen, she’d asked to bring a friend along on the trip. Izzy had refused to go anywhere with their family, as usual, and Hailey was sick of not having someone to run with. The pained expressions on both of her parents’ faces, as if she’d tried to replace Izzy, had told her all she’d needed to know. She’d rescinded the question before they could answer her and never asked again.