by Amy Brent
“That’s good to know, I suppose.”
Suddenly my heart was racing and I could feel sweat start to creep up onto my skin. Sure, while I had been planning for this moment for the past two weeks, suddenly I couldn’t believe it was here.
I sat there, a bit stunned in my realization, but Nicole took the pen and leaned over. I watched, taking in every iota of her reaction. Her face was stalwart and responsible, like she knew that she was doing what she thought was right but didn’t like the consequences of that. Or maybe I was projecting my own feelings on her in the hopes that what I was about to do wasn’t totally idiotic.
“What’s wrong,” she said, noticing my stare.
“Everything about this,” I answered matter of factly without answering anything at all.
“What-”
But I was already on my way to my knee, kneeling before her in the overly expensive chair she was perched in. “Nicole,” I said, pulling her hand into my own. She stared at me like I had grown another head, her face pale and her eyes wide, but I persisted. “I know that the only reason I came to this city was for this particular moment, but I have found so much more along the way.”
“You’ve given me an entirely different life, a purpose, and I am and always will be grateful to you for that. You’ve shown me emotions I never thought I could have and also helped me see life from a perspective that I never would have known on my own.”
“You’ve changed me irrevocably for that, and I never want to go back. In fact, I only want to go forward.” I reached into my suit jacket’s inner pocket and pulled out a medium sized, flat velvet box. Holding it out to her, I opened the top to reveal a bright, sparkling ring and a tiny baby charm-bracelet for Kireina. “So please, go forward with me into this next phase of our life as real husband and wife, because I don’t think I can live without either of you in my world.”
“Oh my God!” she cried, hands over her mouth. “Oh my God!”
“This was certainly unexpected,” Trevor said. “I guess you guys might have just made that top ten list.”
“But what about your job?” Nicole asked, ever the practical one. “I’m not sure I want to move that far from my mother, and my job is here, and-”
“Don’t worry about that,” I said, shaking my head. “After a lot of moving and shaking, we managed to work out a great merger deal with a company here in St. Louis, so we’re going to be opening another branch here, that I’ll be heading for two years to help it get on its feet and moving like a well-oiled machine. After that, we can discuss where we want to go.”
“Oh my god!” She repeated again. “Those were the details you meant before! You… you planned all of this!”
“Of course, I did,” I answered blithely. “I’ve known I was in love with you for months, but it took seeing Kireina’s beautiful face against your own to force me to be brave. So please, I feel like I’m being pretty brave now considering you haven’t said yes yet.”
“Oh my God, I’m an idiot. Yes! Yes!”
Abruptly she was throwing herself forward, then she was in my arms, hugging me with all her might. I returned the action in kind, holding onto her for all that I was worth. We kissed, the whole world falling away and leaving only the sparkling lights of our affection, until Trevor cleared his throat.
“So, uh, I’m guessing you’re going to want a minister?”
Epilogue
~Nicole~
“And do you, Nicole Arden, take James Hines to be your lawfully wedded husband?”
“I do,” I answered, eyes full of tears.
In a million years I never thought I would be here, standing in a white dress in front of James’ friends and my coworkers, pledging all of my heart to the love of my life.
But that’s exactly what was happening. And it was the most beautiful thing I could imagine. We had waited until the transition just between spring and summer, when it would be warm enough not to need jackets but cool enough not to melt into puddles. We had chosen an outdoor pavilion with a beautiful garden set up all around it, and a building nearby for the reception.
Our wedding colors were white, black and lilac, with James and his best man being dressed in black suits with purple vests, me in all white, and our flower girl in the prettiest lilac gown that had ever been made.
Of course, my mother, dressed in a similar outfit, was helping her by carrying her along and tossing flowers. As my only living family member who came, seeing her walk down the aisle from the back had made me tear up.
“Then you may kiss the bride.”
My breath hitched at those fateful words and then suddenly our lips were pressed against each other.
It was magic, pure magic. It felt like lightning shot through my frame and bound me to the earth and the man holding me. Everyone in attendance cheered, and I didn’t think I would forget that moment for the rest of our lives.
We parted, and I was just crying outright. Who would have thought that some girl from the backwaters of Illinois could ever end up in the position I was now? I certainly didn’t, and yet James and I were holding hands as we ran down the aisle, people pelting us with flower petals instead of uncooked rice.
And the enchantment didn’t end there. Our reception was perfect in every sense of the word, with dancing and laughing and even some terrible singing. We had opted for no alcohol at our celebration, and that seemed to be the right decision. There wasn’t a single fight, or awkward moment, or any of those other awful wedding stories you heard about.
We left our venue happy and full and completely drunk off love, then immediately went to the airport to catch our flight. After asking me where I had always wanted to go, James had arranged a week’s vacation to the Bahamas for him, me, the baby and my mother!
I didn’t think I would ever get used to his generosity. It truly seemed to know no bounds, and the entire time we were on our way to the islands, I was simmering with the desire to show him just how incredibly grateful I was.
When we finally touched down on the ground, I was a burning ball of wanton passion, but I had to act like I was normal while we checked in, went to a fantastic dinner, and then got settled into our room.
It seemed like a shame to be anything but utterly enamored with the surroundings, the food, the drinks, and everything else, but I only had eyes for James. I was desperate for a little of that wedding night magic, and even Kireina’s little coos couldn’t district me from him.
Finally, it was night time, and mom was tending to our baby while James and I went to the beach. I was so happy she and I had patched our relationship up. Not just because she was a great babysitter, but because it turned out when she didn’t have my father constantly driving her up the wall, she was a pretty decent person. Not that it was all my dad’s fault. She definitely pushed all of his buttons on purpose and put him into situations she knew would make him uncomfortable. They were definitely a case of better apart than together, and now I appreciated the better version of my mom I never got to see as a kid.
“I can’t believe we’re here,” James said as we left the doors that lead to the patio that then in turn lead straight to the beach. “We almost didn’t make it.”
“It was close,” I agreed. “I was literally leaning forward to sign those papers.”
“Would you have really done it? Even though you loved me?”
I nodded resolutely. James and I had had many conversations since that fateful proposal, and a lot of the talking had revolved around the walls I built and how we both struggled with telling each other what we were feeling and what we wanted from each other.
“Of course. Because I thought that’s what was best for you. And I would have done whatever you asked me to do to make you happy.”
“You’re too good for me, you know that.”
“I would disagree, but I don’t want to argue on our wedding night.” I retorted, batting my eyes at him like I always did when I was being saucy. But for some reason he put up with me still and held out his hand.
I took it, allowing him to pull me to him, and we shared another kiss, our mouths moving together for the second time as a true husband and wife. So many emotions flowed through me, flooding my body with a thundering cloak of feeling.
We clung to each other, pouring everything into an infinite loop between our bodies. Eventually, if things were going to progress we needed to part, so I pulled away slowly.
But God, the look that James gave me made it hard to stand, so I hurried along with what I was planning to do. Lifting my hands to my shoulders, I slipped my thumbs under the sleeves of my dress and down my arms.
The chiffon-like fabric picked up momentum, sliding down to my feet in a pretty puddle, and then I was bare. Because of could I hadn’t worn underwear. Who the hell wore underwear when they wanted to be ravished on their wedding night?
“You’re the most beautiful woman I have ever seen,” he breathed, walking towards me again. But I stopped him with a palm on his chest.
“Sorry, you’re out of uniform.” I said, my lips curling into a naughty smirk.
“Oh am I now?”
“Yeah, you are.” I said, still pressing against the warm, chiseled muscles of his chest.
“Well I better get into, or out of uniform, I guess.”
I was having fun, but there was only so much banter a girl could take before ripping his clothes off myself. “Just take your clothes off, handsome.”
Now it was his turn to step back from me, and he started with the buttons of his shirt. Even after everything that we’d been through and how many rushed hook ups we had, he still favored those dress shirts with a million, billion, trillion fastenings. Oh well, atleast I wasn’t the one having to undo them, but I did have to watch in utter anticipation as he did.
For the first time in ever, he didn’t take his time. He didn’t draw it out and tease me like he usually did. I guess that for once he was in just as much of a hurry as I was.
Soon, we were both naked on our own little private slice of paradise, and I we were reaching for each other once again.
Our fingers intertwined, and we walked together to the ocean, slipping into the warm water. It was salty, and stung a bit, but that quickly faded away, leaving just the two of us.
We waded in until the water was just under my breasts and around his waist, then we joined each other again. Skin slid against each other, heated and salty, as our lips touched once again.
I loved the feel of his muscles under my fingers as I explored his form, and his own hands were busy, caressing me, touching me, driving me higher into my bliss.
I felt that bundle of pleasure driving me higher and higher, until his fingers dipped below the water and slid along my womanhood.
I sighed and let my head fall back. That just gave James my neck, and soon he was worrying at that with his teeth while manipulating me with his other hands.
My abdomen tightened more and more and just when I thought I was going to fall over the edge, he stopped.
I let out a whine, but he just smirked, the handsome bastard. His hands left me, creeping around to my behind where he gripped my cheeks and pulled me up again. It was a direct callback to our first time together, and it just made so much sense.
I wrapped my legs around his waist and one of his hands let go, reaching between us to position himself at my entrance. There was a moment of resistance as the salt water stole away my natural slickness, but eventually he made it in, and we were joined as one.
I let out another gasp, and the two of us stood there a moment, not letting go of a single shred of the moment.
“James Hines, I love you.” I said as my body adjusting to him.
“And I love you, Nicole Toshi Hines.”
My body and heart swelled, and I kissed him again, lifting my hips as much as I could, before returning back to him.
James took the cue just as I hoped he would, and began to thrust into me, increasing in space as we got more and more comfortable. It was amazing not to have to hold my voice back for fear of waking Kireina up, or waking the neighbors, and I let myself moan and groan as much as I wanted to.
It was all so perfect, the waves gently splashing against us, the moon reflecting on the water, the smell of salt and sand in the air and the warm breeze on our bare backs. It was the perfect culmination of everything we had worked for, and accidentally worked against.
I was already so close to the edge from James’ earlier ministrations, that I felt myself clamping down around him far sooner than I normally did. I also supposed that in the two weeks leading up to our wedding, we hadn’t had any time at all to be intimidate.
We were certainly making up for it now.
“That’s it, baby girl,” he soothed, his sole free hand caressing my breast and teasing my fingers between his calloused fingers. “Give me everything.”
“I will if you promise you’ll never stop.”
“I promise,” he answered, letting some slack in his grip so I could lean farther back from him and allow him more access to my front.
The change in angle was everything, though, and soon he was hitting a spot within me that I could never get on my own. The next thing I knew, I was crying out and clamping down on him with everything my body had.
To his credit, James didn’t let up, thrusting through my ecstasy and making it last that much longer. It was a strange sort of separation from my physical form, and yet I felt like I was acutely aware of everything that my body was experiencing. It was a strange sort of overwhelming sensation and I just wanted to wrap myself up in it and drown.
I felt myself coming down, my breathing ragged and my heart pounding, just in time for James to meet his end. He let out a masculine cry, and then he was pouring into me, completing the perfect moment just the way I wanted.
He set me down slowly, allowing the blood to get back into my legs, and we walked hand in hand on the beach, where we sat on a towel at the edge of the water. While I was open to Kiriena having a little brother or sister, I had made sure I’d gotten an implant so we could be in control of when we had them. After everything we had been through, the last thing we needed was another surprise child.
His strong, heated arm wrapped around my shoulder and I rested my head on his shoulder. Together, we watched the clouds move by the moon, enjoying a peace that we hadn’t known in a long time.
“Hey James,” I murmured, enraptured by the stars and beautiful sky.
“Yes Nicole?”
“If there was anything you could change about how we handled all of this, what would you have made different?”
“Is the assumption that we would still end up together and I wouldn’t be opening any strange holes in the time-space continuum?”
“Hah, yes, this is a love story, not a sci-fi epic.”
“Good point. Alright, let me think about it.” He rubbed his chin with his free hand for a moment. “That first night, I wouldn’t drink.”
“That’s it?” I asked, surprised. “You would make it so we never married, or I hadn’t run away, or that we hadn’t gotten pregnant?”
“That’s the thing, if I was sober, I would have known we were married, and I would have known that you were the most important woman to ever walk in my life and I needed to be with you no matter what.”
“Wow… that’s uh… possibly the most romantic thing you’ve said to me.”
“Well that’s good considering that this is the anniversary of that very first night in Vegas.”
“What, no it isn’t!” He nodded and I gasped. “You planned all of this! Holy crap! You’re even more of a romantic than I thought.”
He smiled and kissed the top of my head. “For you, I’m the most romantic. And don’t you worry, this is just the beginning. I plan to shower you with everything you deserve for the rest of your life.”
“And I’m going to remind you of how much you deserve too.”
“I think that sounds like a good arrangement.”
“Me too.”
&n
bsp; I let my head lower back to his shoulders and sighed happily. We had really done it. After all the drama, the drunkenness, the running away, we had finally found our happily ever after.
And I was never letting go.
The End
Teachers’ Pet: An MFMM Romance
PART 1
I don’t want to be some guy’s wife. I don’t want to be some guy’s girlfriend. Hell, I don’t even want to be some guy’s friend.
I want to be one thing and one thing only.
I want to be Teacher’s Pet. And I know exactly how to do that because I have done it every year since high school.
This year, Holden Moss is the teacher I’ve chosen to share my bed and my body with.
He’s a professor actually, a grad school psyche professor that’s as much muscle as brains, just the way I like them.
And if his reputation is any indication, the good Professor won’t think twice about taking me up on my offer.
Who better than the faculty stud to teach this pet everything he knows about sex. It’s going to be a fantastic freakin’ year.
CHAPTER ONE: Judith “Jude” Allen