Throwing back the covers I wandered over to the jeans I’d discarded and pulled them on before I padded out to the pool house living room. Seconds later my brother came wandering out in his boxer briefs, scratching his head and yawning.
“Morning,” I muttered, as I grabbed some bacon, toast and cheese and made a sandwich of it all. I sat down next to Hammer and James pulled the chair out opposite me. Spinning it around, he sat back to front and I noted this had been one of the things that had irked our mother about him.
“All ready for the big day?” James asked and clapped his hands together.
“The ball and chain?” Hammer teased.
“You bet. I can’t believe I’m doing this,” I confessed, staring nervously, first at them then the sandwich I had little appetite for.
“You and me both, Little Brother,” James replied, with a warm smile.
“You got a good one, Saw,” Hammer admitted, slapping my back.
“I did. When you finish that food, get your ass over to the house and speak to Tricia, I don’t want Billie backing out,” I said, voicing a deep-seated fear that this was too good to be true.
“Oh. Get the fuck over yourself, that’s not gonna happen,” Hammer responded with a shake of his head. “The girl’s so into you.”
“You think?” I said, flashing a cocky grin when he instantly bolstered my confidence, and he chuckled.
“One day a gorgeous woman’s gonna look at me like that,” he mused, sticking his knife into the butter and spreading it onto his toast.
“When she stops staring at you in shock, you mean?” I teased back, and James chuckled.
“Dunno what you’re laughing at, where’s your girl?” Hammer asked in the heat of the moment then shook his head. “Fuck, sorry, dude, I didn’t mean it like that. I mean at your age…” he glanced at me looking sheepish before he burst out laughing. “I think I’m just gonna get dressed and go find Tricia while I still have my nuts.” He gestured with his thumb over his shoulder in the direction of his bedroom.
“Good move,” I replied. My brother, on the other hand, looked a little more affected by Hammer’s remark. I knew Hammer wasn’t usually insensitive, but I couldn’t change how old James was any less than I could change his past.
The enormity of the occasion hit me when my cousin, Matt, arrived at the pool house door with our wedding attire draped over his arm. Silver gray, white and ruby red were the colors Billie had chosen. Grabbing my attire for the day, I retired to my bedroom and began to get ready to meet my bride.
“Oh. My. God, you shaved,” James muttered when I walked out of the bathroom having shaved my beard off. He stroked his own smooth chin as he stared at me, and I figured he was reflecting on how alike we looked.
“The first time she met me I was wearing a suit, clean-shaven, and dressed to the nines. I figured I should do this again, at least until I’d made her mine. Who knows, it may be the last time she sees this chin.”
“She’s going to get a surprise all right. Just as well, I’m standing next to you or in the wedding photos it may look like she’s married twins,” Hammer said, shifting his eyes from James to me. We all laughed.
“Right, it’s 10:45 a.m. We need to head over to the ballroom,” James stated, and as soon as his words were out of his mouth, I had an attack of nerves similar to those I’d felt right before I stepped out onto a stage in the early days of my career as a musician.
Entering by a side door, I cast my eyes around the beautiful space and noted how the wedding décor enhanced the elegance of the room. I figured my grandma would have been proud. The wedding event planners my mom had selected with Billie to decorate the ballroom had done a stunning job
Gold chairs with red velvet cushions brought a touch of opulence to the room, with large ruby red bows draped at the back of each one. Their placement set in rows on either side of a red-carpeted aisle and right at the front the florist had placed two huge arrangements of flowers, lilies and something else I didn’t know the name of.
I was thankful I hadn’t walked down the aisle as the sea of familiar faces felt much more daunting than looking out at an audience I’d never seen before. It struck me it would be one of the most, if not the most, significant performance of my life and for a second or two I felt naked as I stood there with all eyes cast in my direction.
As I’d expected, my mom sat smiling up at me, teary-eyed in the front row and placed her hand across her heart the moment she saw me enter. My father’s chair was empty, having been given a special role in the proceedings by Billie. The one next to his was also unfilled.
Next to her were my sisters, Tammy, with baby Bethany, and Caitlin, their husbands sitting immediately behind my parents, ready to control all the children, no doubt. I looked over at the bride’s side of the aisle and saw an older lady and gentlemen who I knew to be Tricia’s mom and dad, Betty and Lester, Tricia’s sister, Marnie, and her husband, Franco. I recognized them from the party the week before.
Seeing them had made my thudding heart feel calmer until the music began to play “Crazy Love” by Van Morrison. My heart stuttered as the grand, ornate double doors of our ballroom opened at the back, and my two, cute little nieces appeared dressed in white ballet-style taffeta and lace dresses.
Grinning from ear to ear at our relatives and friends, they wandered down the narrow aisle throwing ruby red petals on the floor. My throat closed when I saw Brock holding a deep ruby velvet cushion with gold piping around the edge and two heavy gold bands tied with a small ribbon placed at its center. We’d initially thought Colby this role for Colby until Billie came up with a much better one.
James quickly steered Brock over beside Hammer and as I looked up again, Billie was there, sweeping slowly toward me dressed in an ethereal, boho chic, flowing chiffon wedding dress. She looked a vision, her eyes cast downward so it had been difficult to see her expression.
In that moment, my chest tightened and I wondered what was going through her mind and hoped she felt truly happy with what she was about to do. I swallowed back the lump in my throat when she looked up at me and bit her lip. I’d never ever seen a woman look more beautiful, and I silently thanked any gods that may be listening that she was mine.
Billie wasn’t veiled and I liked that, her hair simply curled over her shoulders with a small flower tucked in at the side over her right ear. I vaguely registered Tricia and my sister, Lorna, dressed in similar dresses to Billie, but in the same color as our ties and vests, but they were incidental to the woman in front of me—my bride.
Billie’s face froze and I initially wondered what was wrong until she grinned, and I remembered I’d shaved my beard off. Colby stood looking proud by her side and my father was placed behind him, his role had been in support of them both, and I thought that this had been the perfect way for Colby to feel invested in the union of our two families.
“Hello, beautiful, look at you,” I stated, my eyes taking in her hair, her face, her subtle makeup, the dress. “You look enchanting, like a Grecian goddess,” I mumbled, my hungry eyes scanned from her face to her simple ballet pumps peeping out from the incredible perfect dress. My chest tightened, a lump threatening to grow in my throat, so touched by how perfect she looked.
“You have no idea about the thought that ran through my mind when I saw you’d shaved your beard off,” she muttered back. I leaned forward and whispered in her ear.
“Oh, but I do—that kiss,” I told her, my cock stirring in my pants when I remembered how she’d made me feel the first time my lips had touched hers. She smiled as heat stained her cheeks and my heart clenched again with my love for her.
“Who gives this woman to be married to this man?” I heard the pastor ask, and my eyes fell from Billie to her son.
“Me … I … I mean, I do,” Colby stammered. A flash of guilt and uncertainty he’d blown his moment of glory flashed through his eyes as he glanced nervously at my father, who winked. I had never seen my father wink in my whole damned life
until that moment, and I had to stop myself from laughing.
Colby grinned from the reassurance, grabbed his mom’s hand, and placed it in mine. I nodded a gentle thanks and squeezed Billie’s hand as my father led Colby to sit between him and my mom.
Chapter Seventeen
Our wedding service wasn’t a long drawn-out affair, at Billie’s insistence, and in less than ten short minutes we were both wearing our shiny, new, matching wedding bands and kissing each other like there was no one else in the room. I got lost in Billie’s kiss and our guests cheered loudly as we got carried away, until I felt Colby tap my arm hard enough to distract me.
“You guys need to stop now, you’re embarrassing me.” He growled loud enough for our family and friends to hear and they burst out laughing. I stared in disbelief at my new stepson, not believing he’d managed to cockblock me on my wedding day. I admit right then I thanked the heavens his father’s parents were looking after him while we went on our honeymoon.
The wedding dinner dishes were kept simple but they were delicious all the same. As I still had some unsettled nerves from our big day, I was thankful Billie had negotiated my mom down from the original five-course sit-down menu to the simple three we eventually had.
The sit-down dinner consisted of vegetarian, salmon, chicken and beef dishes, as Billie didn’t want this to be too fancy. As thanks for understanding Billie’s wish to have a simple formal lunch menu, Billie asked my mom if she would organize the evening food banquet. My mother was only too delighted to oblige.
Tammy, my sister, had provided the five-tier wedding cake as a gift, from the same caterer she’d used. It looked incredible. What I especially loved was instead of a bride and groom at the top tier, we had delicate flowers made from ruby red icing and in the middle were two huge strawberries covered in icing, dressed to look like a wedding dress and tuxedo.
I’d thought this was a touch of genius and very personal to me, since I used to steal all the strawberries from the top of the cakes my mom made when I was a kid.
With the customary speeches and cake cutting over, the entertainment began. The live band were friends of mine. I’d heard them many times in the early days, when we attended local festivals, and I knew they’d be perfect as they were the versatile kind of band that played most genres of music and sang everything from swing, rock and pop, to country.
When the band began to play the first song, through the crowded room Billie stood out like she was one in a million, and to me, she was the only girl in the room who mattered. I’d been exchanging pleasantries with a handful of people but the conversation stopped immediately when I’d sought her out and made my way toward her.
“How Long Will I Love You” by Ellie Goulding was the song she’d chosen and like the quiet girl I’d married, it was an understated rendition of an old classic by a Scottish band called The Waterboys. It was a soundtrack from Billie’s favorite movie, ‘About Time.’
Wrapping her tiny warm body in my arms in her hot-as-fuck dress, I pulled her into my chest. Inhaling her scent I found the combination of her fragrant violet shampoo, her sweet perfume, and the usual moisturizing cream she always used: a deliciously tempting aphrodisiac. Everything about her screamed her femininity and had our circumstances in that moment been different, I’d have taken her right then and there.
When her gorgeous eyes met mine, they shone with happiness, there wasn’t a hint of uncertainty about what she was doing, and I swore to make her feel this every day of our lives together. Sliding my hands up her back and over her shoulders, I gently took her head between my hands, brought it toward me, and reverently kissed her forehead.
“Have I told you how perfect this dress is for you?”
She looked back at me a little shy, but I could see she knew she looked great. “I know, I fell in love as soon as I saw it,” she confessed.
“I think I know this feeling. I think I fell in love with the woman wearing it the first time I saw her,” I replied. “I don’t think I ever mentioned how sexy you looked when you sat there soaked from the rain.”
Immediately she dipped her head like the compliment was too much and I cupped her chin. “You know, there’s only one place this dress would look even better?” She frowned like she was disappointed and shook her head.
Leaning forward I murmured low and seductively into her ear, “On the floor where I could see it after I’ve stripped it from your body, with my mouth on you, licking, biting, and sucking your pussy, your clit; tonguing you until you forgot you even owned it.” Immediately her body melded into mine and she buried her face in my chest, which made me chuckle.
Dipping my head to her ear again, I ran my hands down her sides and slid them around to the base of her spine. I felt her shiver, goosebumps radiating over her shoulders, and pressed her into my hard-on.
“See what you’ve done to me? My balls have been aching since the moment you walked down that aisle,” I ground out and heard her breath hitch. “You feel this? It’s all yours, darlin’,” I murmured in a cocky low tone. The pitch was a measured loud whisper and barely audible above the slow song Ellie sang.
Leaning back, she looked up, her eyes full of adoration. I grinned wickedly when I saw the naked longing in her eyes. I smirked seeing how my naughty words affected her. “I know your sweet little pussy is aching right now, are you wet for me?” I shook my head. “Just say the word, baby, and you can have it. Every. Last. Hard. Inch.”
“Stop it,” she hissed playfully in return, but I saw the fire of passion I had ignited inside her, her teeth biting her plump lower lip, her little tight body quivering weakly in my arms right as the song finished.
I pushed her away from me and let go and instantly saw the full effect my sexy little seduction had had on her when she staggered a little before turning to walk away. I caught her hand and spun her back to me and everyone clapped and cheered.
Holding my hand up, I waved it up and down to quiet our guests then took Billie’s hands in mine. This part I had planned and I didn’t give a fuck who thought I was being cheesy. Billie deserved a man who was bold and unashamed to show her what she meant to him … to me.
“Those of you who have met my wife …” Our guests cheered loudly again, and she looked up at me like I was a god and grinned. I smiled affectionately at her in return. “Will know that when we met Billie was at a turning point in her life; one chapter was closing and yet a new one had already begun, she just wasn’t aware of it at the time. To be frank with you all, neither was I. Little did I know this unbelievably hot as hell, sweet woman would give me a chance.” Our guests made catcalls and whooped.
“I could say the same …” she started to say, but I released a hand and pressed my fingertips to her lips.
“Shush, wife. I have the floor right now,” I told her in good humor, and she raised her eyebrow like she was amused.
“From what I know of Billie, she is mostly a trusting soul, and I can say with my hand on my heart she has trusted me when it mattered, and in return I know she has much to teach me in the future in this regard.
“However, what you’re all probably unaware of was our initial meeting wasn’t how we eventually came to be a couple, and at the risk of sounding like a hippie, I think fate had a big hand in putting us together. Without going deep, Billie showed me trust when she was at her most guarded, and I can’t imagine the sheer guts took her to do this, but she did and here we are,” I said, throwing my free hand out and giving Billie one-armed hug at the same time.
“I love you,” she said, rising up on her tiptoes to brush my lips with hers.
“I’m not finished yet,” I said, sliding my hand down her arm and grabbing hers again. I led her over to the small stage and nodded for Hammer to bring her a chair. Turning her by her hips, I sat her down, picked up the mic, and nodded to the band to start playing.
When I began to sing “Hero” by Enrique Iglesias, her eyes widened and shone bright, her lips curving upward. The effect was like a sudden
ray of sunshine warming my heart. It wasn’t long before the words of the song began to touch her and she became emotional and her smiling eyes glistened with happy unshed tears.
Apart from the soft, simple score the band played to accompany me there wasn’t a sound in the room as everyone stood in a voyeuristic trance as I sang the song to my bride. A few times she inhaled deeply, like she had forgotten to breathe and she appeared to be mesmerized.
Watching her reactions left me in no doubt she felt every word in a personal way, and when she couldn’t stay still any longer she reached out and touched my cheek with one hand and placed the other to her chest. “Thank you,” she mouthed and swallowed a lump in her throat several times in succession.
I couldn’t have cared less what my bandmates, Strings and Hammer thought of my cheesy personal performance, and I knew I’d probably get shit for putting on such a pussy-whipped public display of affection. But I figured they could all go and fuck themselves, because Billie was my queen, and if I couldn’t treat her as such on her wedding day then when the hell else was I supposed to do this?
Although the romantic love ballad hadn’t been written for my wife, I was certain I’d have written very similar lyrics to mark her life’s journey after learning all that she’d been through, because I felt ferociously protective of her and wanted her to know she was treasured beyond anything else I held dear.
Thankfully the song was almost over by the time a single teardrop ran down her cheek, because when I saw it my voice cracked a little as my own feelings of what we were to one another almost caught up with me.
When the music died my beautiful bride leapt to her feet, threw her arms around me, and pulled my head down for a kiss. Again, the room erupted in a round of applause and cheers as I buried my face in her neck. For a few brief seconds we stood still and quiet as we breathed each other in.
Sometimes a hug was more meaningful than a kiss; more intimate than a kiss, and it had the kind of personal contact you never forgot. If you were lucky you’d remember where you were when you received it and who you shared it with.
Dare Me, Part Two Dare Duet Sawyer and Billie: Unchained Attraction Series Page 15