by Lane Hart
“Okay, let’s go,” he said as he jumped up and headed for the door. He had the audacity to look over at me like I was the one holding us up.
…
It was six-thirty-nine when we met the minister on the beach. I’d called Joselin to tell her it was time, and for her and Kate to head down.
Sam’s normal confidence was back, without even a shred of the concern he showed just a few minutes before.
When Kate walked out with Joselin I finally saw her as the woman she’d become, instead of the little girl I’d raised and protected.
“You look beautiful sweetie,” I told her with a kiss on her cheek.
“Thanks,” she said with a smile. There wasn’t the faintest hint of nervousness from her, which made me relax and turn to the amazing woman who accompanied her.
“Joselin, you look just as gorgeous as ever,” I told her with a quick kiss, after drinking in the sight of her in a bright blue dress.
“Thanks Tom. You clean up pretty well yourself,” she said with a smile. “I’ve missed you today.”
“I’ve missed you too, so let’s get on with this, shall we?”
“I’ll see you two on the beach,” she said. She snapped a few pictures of me and Kate before turning and heading down to stand near the surf where Sam and the minister waited out of sight.
“So, are you ready?” I asked.
“Yes,” Kate said in an exhale of breath.
"Sam wanted me to give this to you. It’s a little something from him before you get married, since he didn't pick out your engagement ring."
I held the wrapped box out to her, and she opened it, reading the card first. A tear escaped before she pulled out the Angel Caller.
"He's an amazing man, and I'll never forget how lucky I am to have him," she said. "Will you put it on me?"
"Of course."
She turned around and I fastened the long silver chain around her neck. The heart locket with a blue bola hung down almost perfectly to where she'd soon have a pregnant belly. Then it was time.
I took her arm and we started down the wooden walkway that led to the beach. As soon as Sam looked up and saw Kate his face broke into a wide grin, almost identical to the one on her face.
When Kate and I were finally standing in front of him, it was time for me to bow out. I was happy for them, but I felt a heavy weight on my chest knowing that she no longer needed or depended on me. But I’d kept my promise to Elizabeth to always make sure she was safe.
"Who gives this woman to this man to join in marriage?" the minister asked.
"I do,” I said, as I let go of Kate’s arm to place her hand into Sam’s waiting one. Giving her one last kiss on her cheek I stepped aside.
I blinked back the moisture in my eyes, willing myself not to let anyone see a grown man breakdown at his daughter’s wedding ceremony. I looked over at Joselin who was standing beside Sam. She gave me a smile, like she knew what I was thinking, and was giving me her warmth and support. She was the perfect distraction. I couldn’t help returning a smile and a wink before the minister started. We'd given him their real first names, and then an alias for the last names that would go on the marriage certificate. It was risky, but they didn’t want to say their vows in any other names.
“We are gathered here today to witness and celebrate the joining of Kate and Sam in marriage. With love and commitment, they have decided to live their lives together as husband and wife. Now you will feel no rain, for each of you will be shelter for the other. Now you will feel no cold, for each of you will be warmth to the other. Now there will be no loneliness, for each of you will be companion to the other. Now you are two persons, but there is only one life before you. May beauty surround you, both in the journey ahead and through all of your years. May your marriage be full of happiness and your days together be good and long upon the earth.”
I couldn’t have said it better myself. I was bound and determined to give Kate as many days as possible with him.
“Do you Sam, take Kate to be your wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish all the days of your life?"
“I do,” Sam said as he squeezed Kate’s hand. He hadn’t taken his eyes off of her for even an instant. The way his face lit up when he looked at her was like she was the one and only thing in the world he’d ever wanted.
“And do you Kate, take Sam to be your husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish all the days of your life?"
“I do,” she quietly answered. Sam reached up to brush the single tear that fell from her cheek.
“Now for the presentation of the rings,” the minister said. I knew Kate’s ring was in Sam’s pocket, and I saw Kate remove Sam’s wedding band from around her thumb.
“Kate, repeat after me. Sam, I give you this ring as a symbol of my love. As it encircles your finger, may it remind you always that you are surrounded by my enduring love."
She held his hand steady while she pushed the ring onto his finger and repeated the words.
“Sam, I give you this ring as a symbol of my love. As it encircles your finger, may it remind you always that you are surrounded by my enduring love."
“Now Sam, present your ring to Kate and repeat after me. Kate, I give you this ring as a symbol of my love. As it encircles your finger, may it remind you always that you are surrounded by my enduring love."
He took her small hand and guided the ring as he said the words.
“Kate, I give you this ring as a symbol of my love. As it encircles your finger, may it remind you always that you are surrounded by my enduring love."
"Now, by the power vested in me, I hereby pronounce you husband and wife. Sam, you may now kiss your bride."
And then my little girl was a married woman, and I uncomfortably watched the two of them embrace each other like it was their last second on earth, and they’d die if their lips separated.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Joselin
Tom and I said our goodbyes to Kate and Sam before heading back to our own room. We’d decided to give them space, and time to themselves for the next several days. They were going to stay here for the rest of the week, and Tom and I hadn’t really talked about our future plans.
I kicked off my sandals then laid down on the bed, tired from the whirlwind of a day. Tom did the same, lying down facing me, his hand covering my hip.
“So how are you doing with everything?” I asked after several minutes of silence.
“Good. Almost too good. I feel like at any second all hell will break loose and take away all our happiness, you know?”
“Yeah, I know what you mean. Like when you were with the woman you loved, starting a family, on top of the world, and then she was gone in the blink of an eye?”
He rolled over to his back and rubbed both hands down his face. “Yeah, like that.”
I scooted closer to him so I could put my arm around his waist and my head on his chest. “I don’t think you have to worry about that. Fate couldn’t be so cruel as to give you any more suffering.”
“Fate, that bitch. Sometimes I feel like if I hadn’t married my first wife and cheated on her, or gone to work for the D.R.A., then maybe I wouldn’t have lost Elizabeth. It seems like I created the bad karma in my life, and losing her was the price I had to pay for my mistakes.”
I raised up to see his face. “Tom, you don’t really believe that, do you?”
“I’ve felt like the last nineteen years I’ve been living in hell. Especially when all this horrible shit started crashing down on Kate.”
“Well, I know you’re a good man. You said your wife was a bitch; maybe she got what she deserved when you cheated on her. If you hadn’t worked for the D.R.A. you probably would have never met Liz. Then you wouldn’t have had Kate. So fate gave you Liz and Kate, and gave Sam a happy life with Ka
te. That’s what came out of those horrible situations.”
“And Sam and Kate being together gave me you,” he said, as he grabbed and twirled a strand of my hair that was hanging over him.
“Yeah, they did. So why don’t you enjoy life, let go of the worry of what could happen in the future, and have fun with me today and tomorrow and however long we get to be together?”
“I think I can do that, but the idea of not being with you scares the shit out of me.”
“I missed you today, even though it was only a few hours. I couldn’t wait to be with you again,” I told him as I leaned down to softly kiss his lips.
“Joselin, you are so fucking perfect in every single way,” he said as his hand skimmed over and down my thigh to the hem of my dress. His hand slowly caressed its way up underneath, heading to my hip and rubbing along the line of my barely there thong.
“Goddamn that’s hot,” he said, looking up at me, his blue eyes darkening as he watched my reaction to his hand being under my dress. His hand followed the line around to the triangle on my lower back, down the split that led him to the wet heat as a result of just being in the same room with him. “But you’re even hotter here,” he said, pushing up into the fabric covering my opening with his finger. My body lit up with heat from that small touch, causing my thighs to clench, seeking relief from the pulsating pressure that was building.
“More?” he asked when I closed my eyes and moaned.
“Yes,” I finally managed to say in response.
I gasped when his fingertips teased and stroked me under the fabric. Tom still refused to kiss me. Instead, his heated gaze watched my every move as he fucked me with his fingers, arousing me even more. The pressure inside me increased, and just when I was about to find my release Tom’s hand left my body.
My eyes opened to beg him to keep going, but my hazy, aroused mind couldn’t form the words. He pushed me onto my back, pulling my dress over my head before standing up to undress.
“Tom?” I asked, getting impatient. Finally he climbed back on the bed and hovered above me.
His finger dipped between my legs, teasing me through the fabric again. I wanted to scream in frustration.
“Take them off,” I groaned.
“What? These?” he asked as his palm cupped my sex and tugged at the thin strip of the panties.
“Yes, please,” I begged.
“But your ass is so fucking sexy in them, I want them to stay on. They’re about to get even wetter when I make you come wearing them,” he said, before he lowered his head and tongued my covered entrance. The warmth from his mouth seeped through the thin material, making my body ache for more.
“Oh! Tom, please,” I gasped as my pelvis came off the bed.
“Show me what you need,” he said and he didn’t have to tell me twice.
I grabbed his head with both my hands, pushing him back down to where I had to feel him, or I was going to explode. I wanted, I needed to explode. His hands curved around to hold my thighs down while my hips continued to thrust uncontrollably against his tongue. My breath was coming in pants around whimpering moans until finally, oh finally, I felt the tightening before the eruption.
My back arched, causing my entire upper body to come off of the bed.
“Don’t stop! I’m almost … oh God! Oh!” I trembled as the orgasm racked my body. Before I could come down, Tom had flipped me onto my stomach. I cried out when I felt his hand on my still sensitive sex, then he slid the fabric of my panties over and plunged his thick erection into me from behind.
My orgasm kept going, or a new one slammed into me, I didn’t know which. All I knew was how incredible my body felt with him filling me and the weight of his body bearing down on mine as he drove himself into me over and over again. Just when my body started to relax, Tom reached around and massaged my clit through my panties until I came again.
After Tom stilled above me with his own release, he continued to grind against me, sending jolts of pleasurable aftershocks through me.
“You feel so damn good, I don’t want to move yet,” he said as we lay there recovering.
I didn’t either. After three orgasms you’d think my body would have said enough, but not with him. I wanted more. I pushed back against him and he groaned.
“You want some blood to keep going?” I asked, unsure of how he felt about drinking more of my blood. Too much and it’d eventually turn him. He was silent for a moment.
“Do male vampires have the same benefit?” he asked, moving my hair to the side and pressing soft kisses down my neck and shoulder. I knew he was referring to the benefit of having an endless amount of erections.
“Oh yeah,” I responded.
“That’s really fucking tempting.” I wasn’t sure if he meant the blood now, or being turned, and I didn’t want to get my hopes up for the latter.
“All you have to do is ask,” I told him, meaning for both, the temporary and the permanent offer.
His mouth on my neck stilled. I felt his tongue snake out and lick in a circle, before his teeth nipped at my skin.
“Can I bite you?” he asked softly. Cold chills spread down my arms and back, and I knew he could feel them too, since his chest was still against me. I had no idea that the thought of him biting me would be so arousing. Since I’d been turned, no one had ever done that to me.
“Yes. And I’ll tell you when to stop before you take too much,” I told him. I wasn’t sure if he’d thought about how it could affect him if he over did it.
“Oh shit, okay,” he answered, telling me he’d been too caught up in the moment to think about long term consequences.
I thought he might reconsider and just take blood from my tongue, but he didn’t. His mouth clamped down on the sensitive skin of my neck, licking and sucking on it while his hand went back down the front of my body still face down on the bed. Just as I became distracted by his hand heading under my wet panties he struck my neck. I couldn’t help but flinch with the first hint of the pain, but then it was gone, to be replaced by pleasure.
His massive body, holding me in place underneath him, came awake as soon as he swallowed a few times. I cried out when I felt him harden inside me, and he groaned as his hips began to rock. I was going under the wave of another mind-blowing orgasm when I remembered to stop him.
“That’s enough, stop drinking,” I said, and Tom raised his chest off of my back and fucked me senseless until the next afternoon.
...
“You’ve turned me into an insatiable monster,” Tom joked as we laid in a sweaty heap of tangled arms and legs.
“I’m not complaining. Are you complaining?” I asked him with a smile.
“Darling, I would never complain about being able to ravish you over and over. I just worry about wearing you out, or at least wearing a certain part of you out.”
“You don’t have to worry about that. Just being around you gets me wet and ready to go over and over again. Although, it’s a good thing I heal fast. I may not have a voice left after all those orgasms.”
“Fuck, now I’m hard again. I’m going to take a cold shower to give you a break, then maybe we can think about when we’re going to be able to leave this room,” he said, as he climbed out of bed and headed to the bathroom.
“Okay. But if the cold shower doesn’t work I’ll go down on you when you come back,” I told him. He had to catch himself on the wall when he staggered.
“Goddamn, woman. Now there's not a chance in hell of getting rid of this,” he said as he grabbed himself. Then his hand started moving up and down his shaft until his eyes closed.
“Need a hand?” I asked, then my giggle escaped my lips before I could stop it.
“No. Thanks to you, now I need a mouth,” he said as he continued stroking himself.
I climbed up to the head of the bed, flashing him my naked backside in the process, then stretched out. “My mouth and I will be waiting right here for you.”
“Uh-uh, I’m too far gone
for this one. Touch yourself for me,” he said as he leaned his back against the wall and his fist continued to move.
“What?”
“You heard me. I want to see you pleasure yourself while I pleasure myself.”
“Why don’t we just pleasure each other?” I asked as I rubbed my hand down my thigh.
“Because watching you get yourself off will be so damn sexy. Now, put your hand between your legs woman.”
“Okay, okay. I think I like it when you’re all demanding,” I told him, as I spread my legs to give him a better view. I trailed my fingertips over the crease between my legs. “Like this?” I asked with a gasp that closed my eyes.
“Oh yeah,” he said. “Make yourself come…I want to hear how much you like how it feels.”
“Yes, sir,” I said with a smile, opening my eyes to see him still moving his hand up and down himself. “I like watching you hold yourself too.”
He stood against the wall, all big and chiseled muscles, his skin slick with sweat, his blue eyes darkened by longing, short black hair wild from me pulling on it over and over again.
I realized my hand had started moving faster as I lost myself in watching him. I’d never been more aroused by any other man, and I was starting to wonder if I’d ever cared about any other man as much as I cared for Tom. Maybe I even loved him. Would he ever let himself love me too?
I didn’t get to finish that thought because he made a move like he was going to pounce on me.
“Oh no you don’t. Keep your hands on yourself mister,” I told him with a smile. “You wanted to watch, so watch.”
I closed my eyes and bit my bottom lip as I moved my fingers, and I didn’t even try to hold back the moan from my throat.
I heard Tom groan, and could hear his breath coming quicker. He was getting close.
“What do you want me to do Tom?” I asked.
“Push your fingers in and out. Now,” he said breathlessly, then added a strained, “Please.”