I laughed and pulled him into a hug. Thank God my friends with Tenor was still intact.
Now for Lyric.
28
Lyric
I stared out the front window of my apartment, wishing I could read lips. What could Preston possibly want now? What was he doing here? I’d told him I never wanted to see him again and I’d fucking meant it.
The guy was damn lucky I hadn’t gotten around to telling Tenor about that little stunt. I hadn’t known how to bring it up. How did you tell someone that a person they’d known and cared about their whole life could be so cruel?
But now—now the two men were hugging. What? Why would they be hugging and smiling? Preston was smiling, what the hell was going on? He’d been ranting and furious with me. I’d never seen him so angry. What could’ve possibly caused the turnaround?
Tenor headed down the steps, presumably to his car, but then Preston walked up and opened the front door. “Lyric?”
I folded my arms and steeled myself. I had no idea what was coming but I wasn’t going to take any of it lying down. I’d said I didn’t want to see him again and that I wanted a divorce and I meant it. I wasn’t going to let him keep breaking my heart.
“Yes?” I asked, my tone impressively cool.
Preston strode over, grabbed me, and kissed the life out of me.
I gasped in shock, grabbing onto the front of his shirt as he kissed me until my knees turned to jelly. This was—not at all what I’d been expecting. This was the exact opposite, in fact. I couldn’t deny that I wanted him to kiss me, and that I had wanted him this whole time, and so I kissed him back, giving over to it, even with my confusion and lingering hurt.
At last Preston pulled away, both of our chests heaving. I started to ask him what the hell was going on, but he spoke before I could. “I’m so sorry. I’m so fucking sorry, darling, honestly. I should’ve trusted you and I should’ve known you wouldn’t be vindictive like that.”
I stared at him in surprise. The use of darling sent a thrill up my spine. “I—I mean I’m glad but what—what changed your mind? What even happened?”
Preston loosened his grip on me a little. “I should have believed you, and I’m sorry. You were always upfront with me. If anything I was the one who wanted more between us and you didn’t.” He took my hands in his. “It was Katrina. She started the whole rumor about us in college and made sure that everyone knew the story, and she found out about our marriage from Bree and decided to try and sabotage things by going to my bank, pretending to be you, and submitting paperwork.”
I had to admit, that was a cleverer idea than I’d thought Katrina was capable of doing. “She knew that if she tried to submit paperwork that you would be notified, and you’d hear what I’d tried to do, and you would be angry with me for trying to steal you money, so you’d divorce me.”
Preston nodded. “I had lunch with her a few days ago and told her that I’d reconnected with you. I didn’t tell her about the accidental marriage but she hated the idea that I was with you again in any way, so she must’ve done her research.”
“And then she somehow got talking to Bree, and the puzzle pieces fell into place. So she went out to… sabotage us?”
Preston squeezed my hands. “I’m sorry that I didn’t believe you. I’m sorry that it took so little for me to think that you had betrayed me. I was hurt and angry and I wasn’t thinking straight. But if you give me a second chance, I’ll prove to you that you will never have to worry about my trust in you—my love for you—ever again.”
My jaw fell open a little. “Your—love for me?”
My heart was pounding. I couldn’t quite believe what I was hearing—was Preston in love with me?
It was all that I had once wanted, and it was all I’d dreamed about. And now it was the thing I’d been denying myself this entire time. I had fought so hard, so hard, against my desire to like him and trust him and be with him. And now—could I dare to hope that it was all paying off and that I really could let myself love him?
Preston nodded. “I’ve wanted you since I saw you. We fit together, Lyric, you can’t deny it. We’ve been fighting against the current this whole time. Fuck, I kept trying to tell you how I wanted us to be together for real, I tried to find ways to woo you, but then—the judge, and your brother, and now my sister—things just kept getting in the way and I could never manage to tell you how I felt. But I want to be with you. For real.”
“Are you sure?” I had to double check, I just had to. “Do you really want to be tied to… me? I mean—your family might not approve. Katrina certainly won’t be happy. And I’ve made it so difficult for you. I was so resentful and angry.”
“It was understandable,” Preston reassured me. “And I’ve spent my entire life making my family proud of me. I’m lucky that I wanted to live the kind of life that they also wanted for me. I’ve been the fucking dutiful son my whole life, they can put up with me wanting to be married to the woman I’m in love with.”
My heart was pounding so hard I felt like it would fly right out of my chest. “I love you,” I blurted out. “I loved you that night at the party, I’d had a major crush on you for years, and this whole time I’ve been trying so hard not to be in love with you because I am, I very much am—”
Preston kissed me, and thank God for that, because I wanted him to so badly.
We stumbled backwards, the force of the kiss driving us, and I tugged on him to lead him back into my bedroom. My apartment wasn’t nearly so fancy as his, and I didn’t have a humongous fancy couch to sprawl out and have sex on, but I did have a rather comfortable bed mattress.
Part of me wanted to just rip his clothes off, but instead, I found myself slowing down. This was the first night of the rest of our lives, after all. I wanted to savor it. It felt like this whole time, we thought each time would be the last, and we were convincing ourselves (or at least I was trying to convince myself) that it meant nothing. Now we could let ourselves know that it meant everything.
“Great place,” Preston noted as we fell onto the bed together. I undid his clothes and then let him help me with mine. “Love the décor.”
I laughed. “You little shit.”
“Takes one to know one, Miss Sassypants.”
I got the rest of my clothes off, and Preston got off his, and we came together again without even asking about it, simultaneously reaching for each other. We had time, my heart seemed to sing. We had time to be together.
“God, you’re so beautiful,” Preston murmured. He pulled me down and I climbed on top of him, straddling him. I ran my hands over my body, squeezing my breasts, sliding my fingers down between my legs, showing myself off.
Preston groaned, grabbing onto my hips to hold me steady as I worked my fingers into myself. It was so hot, watching him do this to myself. His eyes were black, his mouth falling open, looking at me like this was the hottest thing he’d ever seen. I felt sexy, and truly beautiful, as he’d said, with Preston staring at me like this.
The temptation to just quickly work myself open so that I could get myself loose enough for his cock was strong, but I didn’t want to rush this. I took my time, enjoying it, showing off how I liked to be fingered. Preston was grinding up against my ass, his cock getting fully hard and thick beneath me, and I shuddered at the feeling of it. I wanted that inside of me, oh God.
But I wasn’t going to rush this. Oh no. I added a third finger inside of myself, scissoring my fingers, making sure I would be nice and open and could take all of that thick cock at once. Preston squeezed my hips encouragingly, his gaze darting between my face, my pussy, and my breasts as they shifted and bounced with my movements. I grinned down at Preston, feeling powerful, feeling confident.
At last, I slid my fingers out of myself and spread my legs a little wider, taking his cock in my hand. I sank down onto it in one smooth motion, and I could see Preston just about choking on his own spit. I smirked.
Time for the real fun to begin.
/> 29
Preston
Pleasure filled me with all the speed and pressure of lightning as she sank down onto my cock. Fuck. Watching her touch herself while she ground against my cock, seeing those gorgeous breasts moving and watching her get wetter and wetter—it had driven me insane. I loved seeing her confident and sexy, and all for me.
I had to breathe carefully to keep from just spilling inside of her right away. I had years with her, but I still didn’t want to end this right away because she was too hot and I couldn’t get a hold of myself. I was nearly thirty, after all, not a teenager.
“Fuck, darling, do you have any idea how gorgeous you are?” I asked, running my hands up and down Lyric’s body, getting to feel every inch of her that was now mine. Just as I was hers.
“You’re so hot,” Lyric admitted. Every time I complimented her she would make a joke, something along the lines of you’re not so bad yourself. But now those last walls were down between us, and she was telling me how she really felt. “The way you touch me, the way you call me darling, the way you look… Preston…”
I had no defense against that. I thrust up into her again and again, feeling like we weren’t two different people anymore but one. Like we were moving together in sync. I pulled her down onto me and kissed her, getting in as deep into her as I could. God, she was perfection. I never wanted to leave this moment with her. I had no idea what time was—it could’ve been an eternity—and I didn’t care. The two of us moving together, that was all that mattered.
“Preston,” Lyric repeated my name over and over, like a mantra. “Preston, oh God, Preston.”
I kissed her wildly. I loved her so fucking much. My darling, my fiery, brilliant woman.
We rolled over and over on the bed, Lyric on top, then me, then Lyric again. My hands were everywhere, our mouths everywhere, until I was losing myself in her completely and about ready to come.
I slid my hand down between us, rubbing at her clit. I wanted the two of us to come together. I wanted us to be connected in every way.
Lyric moaned, shuddering around me, and I came, the two of us reaching that blissful crescendo as one.
As I held Lyric in my arms, I knew that this was what I’d been missing my entire life. Fuck, I wished thigs could’ve been different. I wished I hadn’t been a coward all those years ago. If I’d said to Lyric what I’d really wanted to, which was yes, let’s be together, all the resulting heart ache could’ve been avoided. If I’d just decided that I could be Tenor’s best friend and be with Lyric at the same time, if I hadn’t been too scared to take the chance and be honest… Katrina never could’ve spread that rumor about Lyric, and Lyric wouldn’t have been hating me and alone and hurt all these years, and we could’ve had so much more time together. After all, tonight proved that I could still be friends with Tenor, if we were honest about our feelings. Why couldn’t I have done that all those years ago?
But I was going to make up for that lost time now. I was going to be with Lyric, for the rest of our lives.
I kissed Lyric softly. “You know I never stopped thinking about you,” I admitted. “For all these years. I kept wondering… what if. I couldn’t quite get over you. I told myself that it was stupid of me—sappy—that you’d moved on and so should I. That being hung up on you after one night was insanity. But… then I saw you and I just couldn’t stop myself.”
“I was really hurt,” Lyric admitted. “By what I’d thought you’d done. And then I met you again and you were just… wonderful. Supportive and patient and just… taking care of me while I was trying not to fall apart with that crazy wedding. And wooing me with the hotel and candlelit dinner and dancing and—I just—I couldn’t help myself. I wanted to hate you so badly but the whole time I was just trying to make myself hate you so that I could stop loving you.”
“I should’ve said ‘fuck it’ and been with you,” I told her. “I should’ve told Tenor that we were together and that I was going to treat you right. That he had no reason to worry. If I’d just done that…”
Lyric put her finger over my lips. “It’s okay. It wasn’t your fault, and we were young. It’s all worked out now.”
“Well. There is the matter of our marriage.” I smiled at her. “Would you hate me if I said I didn’t want a divorce?”
Lyric laughed softly. “No. Why not—give marriage a try? We’re already married legally so we’ll just… keep doing what we’re doing. But you might want to get a lawyer to draw up a real prenup for me to sign so that your assets are protected.”
“I don’t care about a prenup,” I told her.
Lyric tilted her head up to look at me, her eyes wide. “Preston, are you sure?”
“Would you ever take my money?”
“No!”
“Exactly. I trust you. You’re a good person, Lyric, I know that you’ll be responsible. I should’ve trusted you from the first. Besides.” I let my voice drop low. “You could take all of the money. I wouldn’t care. I don’t have anything if I don’t have you.”
Sappy, yeah. But I was done hiding how I felt. I had chastised myself all of these years for holding onto Lyric’s memory, calling myself a sap, deciding that it wasn’t good enough and that I had to do better. To be someone else, to ignore those feelings. That they somehow made me less-than, revealed me for a fool.
Well, let me be a fool, then. I was a fool in love. But Lyric loved me back, and so that was all I cared about.
Lyric got a look of such softness and love on her face that I felt my heart skip a beat. I couldn’t imagine living without her, and without that expression when she looked at me.
“I…” Lyric seemed to be struggling for words. She shook her head. “I just…”
She reached up and kissed me, and that said everything that I needed to hear.
Epilogue: Lyric
It was Valentine’s Day again.
Only a year later, and so much had changed. I was happily married—but I hadn’t gotten a wedding.
Since Valentine’s Day was also our anniversary, and Preston wanted to give me a proper wedding to go with our marriage, since our actual wedding was still frustrating to me, we were deciding to hold a second wedding, a proper one, for our one year celebration. Although I was happy with the outcome of our accidental wedding, I still wasn’t pleased with the event itself, so I was glad to get to do it right.
And oh, was Preston determined to get this right.
He was sparing no expense with this whole thing. I’d told him that I didn’t want anything too fancy or extravagant, and he listened, but he was also ready to drop however much money to get me what I wanted. It was a good thing I wasn’t spoiled! But it warmed my heart to see that he cared so much about making this nice for me, and officially welcoming me into his family.
We definitely weren’t doing a destination wedding, though. We learned from the mistakes of others.
Instead, we were hosting the wedding in a lovely garden venue in Boston. Tenor and Mom were playing at the reception, and Preston and I had the time of our lives picking out the catering. And my dress!
I couldn’t wait for him to see me in it.
We had been planning everything for the wedding together. Preston had been so excited for it, more excited than I’d seen most grooms, and he’d wanted to make sure that everything was perfect for it. “I don’t want you to do all the work yourself and be stressed,” he kept telling me.
I was far from stressed, though. Honestly, already being married took so much of the worry away from it. It was more like a fun party, a celebration of our union, than anything else. And I felt like that’s what weddings were supposed to be. Not a day that was supposed to be so perfect that you ended up panicking over every little thing. Not a day to be performative about your love because you felt that you had to be. It was a day to celebrate your relationship with your special person.
And I had to admit, after everything that had been done to try and sabotage even the chance that I could be with Pre
ston, I was looking forward to getting to say my wedding vows in front of a bunch of people, in public, including Preston’s stuck-up relatives.
I was just adjusting my dress, cracking jokes with my bridesmaids, when there was a knock at the door.
“Something wrong?” I asked, holding still so that my maid of honor could shove a final pin into my hair. Preston loved my curls, so I had curled my hair and then pinned it up out of the way. I was going to have it up for the wedding, but then take it down for the reception.
My other friend, Amanda, opened the door and Katrina stepped in.
Ah.
She’d been invited. Of course, she had been. I wasn’t going to create more drama by not having my husband’s sister attend the wedding, especially when the rest of the family was. And I wasn’t interested in continuing a feud, one that I didn’t even start. I didn’t want that kind of drama in my life.
But I’d figured that Katrina would probably just ignore me the entire time and stick to the back. I certainly hadn’t expected her to show up in my room right before the ceremony.
“Hi.” Katrina looked, for the first time since I’d known her, awkward. “Do you mind if we talk for a second?”
My friends all looked at me. “It’s almost time for us to head out,” I said. “Why don’t you guys get lined up to walk down the aisle?”
Amanda and the others cast dubious glances at Katrina and me, but they all obediently left the room.
I double-checked myself in the mirror one last time, then got up and turned around to face Katrina. “Everything okay?”
She wouldn’t be crazy enough to try and pull something right now, minutes before the wedding started, right? If there was a time to try and sabotage my relationship with her brother, now was not it. That ship had sailed.
“No.” Katrina shook her head. “Everything’s not okay and it’s because of me. I’m sorry. I’ve, um, I started going to therapy about six months ago. Preston told me that I should get help, in our argument, and for a long time I fumed and I refused to listen but eventually I… I had some other friends tell me that he was right. And I realized that nobody in my life really liked me.
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