by Yvette Hines
The soft pleading in his voice drew me. Turning, I faced him. He had removed the necklace and was now holding the ring out to me.
Frowning, I looked from it to him, but didn’t take it.
“You’re right. I did buy it for someone. Someone that I love very much. I felt like I was losing the person. That she was drifting further away from me.” He exhaled hard and dropped his hand, clutching the ring inside of it.
I could see the toll it was taking on him to reveal this to me. His eyes had darkened, become shadowed.
“You don’t have to tell me.”
“Yes, I do,” he growled. “This woman I love. Had another man. I didn’t care. I was willing to put it all on the line for her. That’s when she called me.” He paused.
I sat there, completely intrigued by his tale, and waited.
“I was already in the airport. Had just gotten off the plane with the ring in my pocket.” He looked at me. His eyes holding mine.
I couldn’t look away. The room had an eerie silence to it, like right before a summer storm when everything was still, even birds had already flown away.
“What happened?” My voice didn’t sound like my own, I couldn’t explain it.
“She called and said that the guy she was dating was jealous of our relationship. Our friendship. He’d told her he wanted to marry her, but he wasn’t comfortable unless he was the only man in her life.”
The cry broke from me. Like a thunderbolt it hit quick, hard and out of nowhere. I never saw this coming. How much of a fool was I?
Char’s face blurred in front of me, but I recognized the gesture, he was holding the ring out to me again.
“Read the inscription, Katy.”
I was shaking all over. Fiercely wiping my eyes, I took a steady breath. A little calmer, I reached for it. Looking into the ring I saw the engraving read:
I need you, Katy.
“I need you, Katy.” His hand covered mine. “More than the air I breathe. This time away from you almost killed me.”
Staring at him, I said, “But you came to my wedding.”
“Yeah. I knew it would be the hardest thing I did, but I needed the closure. I needed to let you go and move on. I wanted you to be happy. If this guy did that for you. If I had seen it with my own eyes I would have done it.”
I had to ask the next question. Know how far Char would have gone for me. “If it appeared that I wasn’t happy?”
“If anyone can show just cause why this couple should not be joined together, let him now speak—”
“Or else hereafter forever hold his peace,” I finished.
“I would have stopped it, Katy.” Lifting my hand he kissed it. “If another man wasn’t going to make you happy, I would.”
“My mother had been so insistent in that part being in the ceremony. Michael had become furious with her, but she told me that it was tradition and that I shouldn’t spit in the eye of tradition. I told the minister to keep it in.”
He smiled at me. “I do love your mother.”
“Good. I think she feels the same about you.”
We laughed.
Then Char became serious again. “I love you, Katy. I always have and I want you to be my wife.”
My heart was soaring on a cloud of joy. “Are you sure, Charles?”
“Yes, Katherine, I am.”
I scrunched my nose at the name. “Touché.”
Releasing my hand, he got up from the bed. In the buff, he rounded the bed and kneeled before me.
He was handsome. The co-geek I knew in childhood had grown into a devastatingly handsome, smart and compassionate man.
He reached for my hand, still holding the ring. “Will you marry me?”
“Yes.”
Rising, he pulled me to my feet and kissed me. Pressed against each other we let the passion build and ignite.
I found myself on the bed again, flat on my back with Char inside of me. Pausing, he took a moment to slip the ring on my finger and then placed a kiss next to it.
Pulling his face down to mine, I kissed him and made love to my true fiancé.
Two hours later, as we got out of the shower, the phone rang. Char hustled around the bed and picked up the receiver of the hotel phone.
“Hello.”
I continued drying off as I listened to him.
“Good morning, Mrs. Heely. Sorry my cell must have shut off.” He winked at me as he lied to my mother.
Last night he’d turned his cell off saying he didn’t want us to be disturbed.
I mouthed, ‘You’re in trouble.’ Even though I knew that between the both of us, if my mother was calling him I was in trouble.
“Don’t worry, ma’am. I’m sure she’ll turn up soon. Yes, I’ll look for her. I promise you I’ll find her and get her to the church.”
Teasing him, I dropped the towel and enjoyed seeing the desire brighten his eyes. I got on my hands and knees and crawled toward him.
“Just give me a few minutes.”
I slowly licked my lips as I reached out and pulled the towel from around his waist. His cock was rising under my perusal.
“Make that an hour. Yes, see you in an hour.” He ended the call and leaned down and kissed me hard.
I was panting.
“If we had enough time for another shower I’d be between those beautiful brown thighs, right now. But we don’t. We have a date with a preacher man.”
Pouting, I said, “Fine. But, you owe me tonight.”
Reaching out, he swatted me on the ass. “You’re going to get more than you can handle tonight. Trust me.”
Squealing, I got up from the bed.
“Now let’s get you back into that dress you love.”
“Only if you slip into your suit.” I crossed the room to the closet and slid the door open.
“Deal.”
“We just need to stop by my room for under clothing, shoes and so I can do something to my hair.”
“I’ll get management to meet us up there. Mrs. Randle.” He pulled me into his arms.
“I like the sound of that.”
~YH~
“Char, you found her.” My mother, Martha, stepped away from my father in the vestibule of the church and pulled me into her arms. “Katy, your father and I have been so worried. First, we couldn’t get you on your cell, then you weren’t in your room and your dress was gone. I didn’t know who else to call. I got that damn Michael…sorry, Michael on the phone but he just said I needed to talk to you and hung up. No sign of Lenzy either.”
The ass. How dare he be rude to my mother.
“I’m fine, Mommy.” I said as we pulled away.
“What’s going on, baby girl?” My father, Jason Heely, asked as he slipped his arm around my mother’s shoulder as if he wanted to give her support for whatever I was going to drop on them. “The church is packed with guests and we don’t know what to tell them.”
I smiled, hoping to reassure them. “I’m getting married. You still want to walk me down the aisle, Daddy?”
“Absolutely.” He frowned. “But, Michael hasn’t arrived. No one has even seen him or his best man.”
“We don’t need him,” I told them.
My parents were looking at me oddly, then they turned those same curious eyes to Char as if hoping he could enlighten them.
Char stepped forward, just as tall as my father and giving him direct eye contact. “I’m going to marry, Katy. If you two give us your blessing.”
“Well, I’ll be damned,” my father said. Stunned, he grabbed hold of Char’s hand and pulled him into a fierce hug as he pummeled the younger man’s back, showing his approval.
“Oh, my…” my mother’s voice faltered as tears welled up in her eyes. Stepping to me, she cupped my face. “I’ve always thought the two of you would be perfect together.” She kissed my cheek.
I looked over at the man who was my best friend, the real love of my life and smiled. “I should have listened to you a long time ago.”
When my father finally released Char, Char hugged my mother and smiled broadly when she kissed him on the cheek.
“Your mother will be so hurt she missed this, Char.”
“I’m expecting an earful when Katy and I go visit after the twins are born. However, I think she will be happy that Katy is a part of the family officially.” Char winked at me.
I wondered how I’d missed that so many people in both of our families wanted us together. How I’d been so blind to the love that was even now shinning in Char’s gaze as he looked at me.
“Are you ready to do this?” Char held his hand out to me.
Slipping my hand into his, I confessed, “More than I’ve wanted to do anything else in my life.”
He squeezed my hand as he led me into the sanctuary and down the aisle to the altar to begin the rest of our life together.
~The End~
About the Author
I've been penning erotic tales since 2006, on the hedonistic side of the romance genre. However, I've been writing romance under a different pen for a while. I'm eclectic by nature.
I'm married to my best friend. A guy that makes me laugh 'til I can't breathe and one who steals my breath every time he walks into a room. I believe in happily ever after like the rising of the sun depended on it.
http://yvettehines.com
Nubia Swanson is tired of waiting for Quentin Randolph to come to his senses and love her. Supposedly, fired from her job, Nubia shows up to stay with her sister, Quentin's temporary roommate and sets her plans in motion. She knows all about Quentin's dark secrets and she's going to get him to see her as woman enough to take his whip and not as his best friend's little sister. When she discovers Quentin is harboring years of pain behind his indifferent façade, she struggles to figure out how to tear down the wall.
Quentin has wanted Nubia for years, but a friend got to her first. Even worse he allowed his friend to get killed when he should have been protecting his back. Over the months he's managed to hide behind his job, guilt and a dark world of pleasure. When Nubia, the half Black and half Korean seductress, shows up in all areas of his life begging for him to take her and make her his own. He starts running, but every direction he turns leads to her.
Table of Contents
Wedded in Passion
Midpoint