by Goda, Julia
“Yes,” I breathed. “No…I need you inside me.” I was panting, my hands gripping his hair tightly.
“Like this?” he asked right before he pushed his tongue inside me. I arched my neck, my body bowing off the bed. “Or like this?” Two fingers entered me, circling, scissoring, pumping, while his mouth went back to my nub. It felt so good I knew I wouldn’t be able to hold on for much longer. Cole was really good with his mouth and fingers. “Tell me, Liz.”
“I want you,” I whispered. “Please, Cole.”
“You’ve got me. Tell me how you want me.” His lips closed around my clit once more, his tongue flicking, while his fingers kept playing with me. God, I was getting close now. “God, baby, you’re so wet. And you taste so fucking good.” He gave his tongue another turn while his hand spread me wide, opening me to him. My breath hitched. I could feel my muscles tighten, the heat pooling. I was ready to explode.
“Cole,” I screamed.
Then he was gone, and less than a second later we were face-to-face and his cock was pushing inside, stretching me oh so perfectly. “You’re not coming without me, baby, not today,” he whispered as he held my eyes. “Wrap me up tight.” I did as asked, wrapping both my arms and legs around him, holding him as closely and tightly as possible, while his arms went around my back, pulling me up and into him. “Keep your eyes on mine. I need to see those gorgeous greens when you come for me.”
“Okay,” I whispered.
Then he started moving, slowly at first, and shallow, then faster and deeper. Our eyes stayed connected, both of us completely open and vulnerable as we looked deep into each other’s souls.
It was building again. Quickly. “Cole—”
“I feel it, baby. Your pussy is starting to clamp down on me. God, baby. You have no idea how good you feel. Let go!”
“Come with me.” I held on, needing him to join me.
“I am. Let go, sweetheart,” he ground out through clenched teeth. He increased his thrusts, going deeper, then grinding, then pulling out to the tip and thrusting in again, once, twice, three times. I let go. His eyes grew wide, just like I knew mine did, and he came on a shout of my name while I came gasping his, our eyes staying locked while we joined each other in pure bliss, making this the most perfect pre-wedding sex ever.
Cole
I was standing by the cottage windows, looking out over the water, sipping a cup of coffee. Lizzy was finishing up in the bathroom.
Only a few more hours until she was my wife.
Four to be exact.
It was busy out on the beach where our ceremony would be performed. People were milling about, setting up chairs and arranging flowers. It had been a long time coming and I couldn’t wait to finally give the love of my life my last name.
A lot of things have happened after that night at my parents’ house.
When the doctor told us that George had made it through the surgery and was optimistic towards his recovery, Lizzy and I had gone to the hotel after a quick visit with a still half-unconscious George. We had stayed in town for a few days until Lizzy was reassured enough to go back to Boston and back to work. She had bonded with George. For her, he was just another victim of the games and deceit our families had started, and she had forgiven him. I hadn’t been as forgiving. For me, George had played a big role in that whole scheme, but after seeing the love and adoration in his eyes whenever they were on Liz, and after he had proven that he regretted everything he had done or not done, that he wanted nothing but to get to know her and be a part of her family, I had relented. But not without giving him one last talking-to.
“You hurt her once, you lie to her once, you deceive her once in any way, you’re gone. She’s had enough of that shit in her life and I won’t let her big heart lead her to more pain. You treat her like the diamond she is every time you see her, every time you even think of her. If you don’t, if I get even the slightest inkling that you’re not being true and honest with her, I will make sure that you are gone from her life forever. You understand?”
“I understand. I absolutely do. I have learned my lesson, Cole. You can count on me. I love her like my own daughter, like I should have all those years. There is nothing and no one in this world that could make me hurt her ever again,” George had replied without hesitation.
I still kept my eye on him, but during the past few months I had relaxed somewhat. He was genuinely interested in being Lizzy’s family and I wanted that for her. I knew she needed it, to know she had at least one blood related family member who wasn’t embarrassed by her existence.
George is now back on his feet, his slow recovery being the reason why we had postponed the wedding. Lizzy had wanted him here and I had understood. I’m not gonna lie and say I wasn’t disappointed when she told me, but I had understood. Better yet, I had come up with an idea that would have earned me her eternal love if I hadn’t already owned it.
“I’m sorry, Cole. I want to marry you; everything in me wants to be your wife. But can we wait a few months until George is feeling better so he can come?”
I sighed and hung my head. I wasn’t a patient man, especially when it came to officially making the woman I had loved all my life mine. But I understood her need to wait for George to be able to attend. “How long?” I asked her.
“I don’t know. The doctors say anywhere from six to nine months for him to be back to normal.” Six to nine months would make it anywhere between May and August. My face had split into a wide grin as an idea formed in my mind. “What? Why are you grinning like a crazy loon all of a sudden?”
“I have an idea,” I said through my smirk. “A great idea, actually.”
“Uh oh. Do I want to hear it?”
“Yeah. You do. Come here.”
“I am here. I’m sitting right next to you.”
“Closer.” I pulled her onto my lap and cupped her face. “Let me ask you something.” She nodded. “If we wait six to nine months, that would make it the middle of summer. Would you still want a destination wedding or would you like to get married here instead?”
She shrugged. “I don’t really care where we get married, as long as we get married.”
“Thank you for that, baby.” I softly brushed my lips against hers. Then I asked her a question that had her eyes go wide with understanding. “Do you remember the day we first met?” She nodded as tears filled her eyes. I am not embarrassed to say that I had to fight back my own. “It was in the beginning of July, two weeks before your tenth birthday.”
“I know,” she whispered as the first tear started falling. I kissed it away.
“How about we make that date our wedding day?”
“I would love that.” Her tears were now running freely.
“And how about we get married at that beach where we spent our first weekend together?” She had thrown her arms around me at that point, full on crying.
I smiled to myself at that memory and how grateful she had been that night.
George had been delighted, to say the least, that we had postponed the wedding so he could attend. Lizzy and he had spent a lot of time together in the past eight months. Every Sunday, he came to our house for dinner, and they talked many times on the phone during the week or met up for lunch. Through George, Lizzy got to know her father. He showed her photos and shared tons of memories and stories with her from when they grew up together. Something that Lizzy cherished. And George had helped me find the perfect picture of her parents I had framed as her wedding gift. In the picture, her mom was pregnant and her father was holding her from behind, his chin on her shoulder as he nuzzled her neck; her mother’s eyes were closed and she had a small, happy smile on her face. The same smile I see on Lizzy’s face when she is content and happy. The smile I live to see every day. I hoped seeing the picture, seeing her parents this happy, would give her some peace and help her overcome the pain I knew still lingered.
It didn’t take long for Ann to be convicted for attempted murder. It was a clear-cut
case and she was serving a life sentence at the Massachusetts Department of Correction in Framingham. She had the possibility of parole, but that wasn’t for another few years. Walter Matthews’ case had also been re-opened. A lot of time had passed and it was doubtful that they would find anything after all these years, but it was worth a shot.
Getting a divorce had been easy and quick for George, especially now that Ann had been convicted. He had sold their house in Ashford and was now working and living in Boston. He was starting over, which couldn’t be easy at his age, but he didn’t seem to care. Just like Lizzy’s father Walter had when he’d decided to go his own way, George had split from his family, and as a result, their business. He was good at his job as an attorney and I had no doubt that he was doing fine. He had even started dating again and was seeing a woman he had met at his new company, a widow with two teenage children. They were attending our wedding together.
Another important development had been the relationship my father and I were starting to build. He was still getting divorced from my mother, though she was putting up a good fight. My father didn’t talk to me about it; in fact, he never even mentioned my mother, but I knew through Max. I also knew that the only contact they had was through their lawyers. I was glad that my father would be rid of her soon. Over the months, I have come to see him in a different light. When he had told me at the hospital that I reminded him a lot of himself when he was in his twenties, I hadn’t quite believed him. How could I? All I had known was this reserved, removed, and indifferent man who never had time for his son. Now though, he made it a point to call me frequently. At first, those phone calls had been somewhat awkward, filled with many uncomfortable silences, but we had gotten over that and were finding our way to an easier and more relaxed father-son relationship. He was here today as well. My mother wasn’t. She hadn’t been invited. After that night, she had phoned me once, which hadn’t gone as she’d undoubtedly planned, a last-ditch effort to pull me to her side. Though she should have expected nothing less. Her shock over Ann trying to kill Liz and shooting George hadn’t lasted long and she had reverted to the cold-hearted bitch I knew her to be. Just like I had expected. That phone call was the last contact I had with my mother, and I didn’t intend to ever speak to her again.
The last major change, and something we were still dealing with right now, was Lizzy working with a lawyer to look into her father’s will. At first, it seemed like all she would get was the compulsory portion that she had been denied when Walter died. And she had been more than content with that. But when George went through one of Walter’s old boxes before he sold the house to find some pictures of her father he could give to Lizzy, he had come across a very interesting document: a copy of his changed will and testament. Before he died, Walter had changed his will in Lizzy’s, her mother’s, and Courtney’s favor. Ann was taken out and both Lizzy and her mother were added, splitting all his money between the three girls he undoubtedly loved. Lizzy and her lawyer were now using that copy to sue Ann. It was still in the works, but soon enough, Lizzy would come into a lot of money. She didn’t care about the money itself, but she told me that it felt good her father had wanted to take care of her and that being the reason why she was fighting for it. They had all been wronged. Not just Lizzy and her mom, but Walter too. And Courtney, though neither of us had any compassion left for her.
From what Max has told me, Courtney was fighting her own battle in court, over the custody of her two-month-old daughter. She had used the father to get pregnant so she could trap me, but she had tried to play the wrong person. When Max had found out who the father was, he had made sure that he got the information he needed to get custody of his child. And even though the courts usually favored the mother, it didn’t look good for her. Not that I cared, though I wouldn’t want a child left in that woman’s hands.
Lizzy’s mother hadn’t been found. There was no trace of her. We know that my mother paid for her bus ticket and we know that it was a ticket to California, as far away from Massachusetts as she could send her. But it had been two years and there were too many possibilities for her to disappear between here and California to find any leads. Nobody cared or paid attention to a woman in her late forties who was addicted to drugs and whored herself out to get her next fix.
Lizzy was struggling with it. Things in her life—in our lives—had never been better, and somewhere deep inside her I think she had hoped that she could somehow fix their relationship and help her. God bless her, but she was way too forgiving. Though I understood. Now that she had a fatherly relationship with George, she craved a relationship with her mother. But Sarah Watson was too far gone, had been for many, many years. I just hoped that Lizzy would eventually get over that sadness. Maybe George’s new girlfriend was a keeper and Lizzy would build a connection with her. I hoped she would.
My thoughts came back to the here and now when I felt Lizzy’s arms wrapping around me from behind. I lifted my arm and moved her under it, tucking her to my side and kissing her temple.
“I have to go. Sam is probably waiting already.” I could hear equal parts reluctance and excitement in her voice. She still wasn’t comfortable with people fretting over her and getting dressed up. Even for her own wedding. I chuckled.
“Want to make a run for it?” I asked conspiratorially, making her smile.
“No, but thanks for asking. I guess there’s no way around getting prettied up today. Though I would much rather stay here with you until it’s time to go.”
“Me too, baby. But I’m sure once you’re there, you’ll have fun. I want you to enjoy it, let yourself get spoiled, just this once. Do all that girly pre-wedding stuff.” I laughed as she scrunched up her nose, then couldn’t resist but kiss that nose.
“I’ll try,” she said, forced. “I don’t have a problem with getting my make-up and hair done, but at a spa? For three hours? Really? I didn’t even think this town had a spa.” She wouldn’t. She didn’t pay attention to things like that.
“Less than four hours and you’ll be mine for real,” I changed the subject.
“Yeah,” she whispered.
I kissed her one last time before I turned her and gently pushed her out the door. She had been right. Sam was waiting outside the cottage, waving from her car. I returned the wave then went back inside when they had disappeared around the corner and got ready to marry my woman.
Three and a half hours later, I stood in front of our friends and family, waiting for my bride to appear. Any second now she would come out of those doors and walk down the beach to meet me.
And then there she was.
She looked like a dream.
Jesus Christ. My woman was perfect.
From head to toe, she was pure perfection. I couldn’t contain the smile that spread across my face or the tears that sprang to my eyes. She was absolutely gorgeous in her vintage sleeveless lace dress as she walked barefoot toward me, her face equally alive with happiness. A light rose band around her waist made her legs seem like they went on forever. I knew she was carrying a bouquet, but I didn’t see it. All I could see was her in that dress, and her beautiful face, her green eyes that, just like mine, were wet with tears. I couldn’t stand here and wait. I had to hold her and tell her how much I loved her, how beautiful she was, and that I was the luckiest son of a bitch in the world to call her mine.
Right now.
So that’s what I did.
George chuckled as he saw me come up the aisle towards them and handed her over without argument. Not that he would have stood a chance. As soon as I was within touching distance, I gently grabbed her face and pulled her in for a long and deep kiss. Hollers and catcalls were erupting all around us, but I didn’t give a damn. I had to feel her, taste her, brand her as mine. When I ended the kiss, I kept my lips on hers and whispered all the things I had said to her a million times, all the things I couldn’t say often enough. By the time I was done, the tears in both our eyes had spilled over.
“Let’s
get married,” I murmured lastly.
“Please,” she answered.
Ten minutes later, to loud cheers of our closest friends and family, I kissed her again, for the first time as my wife, Mrs. Elizabeth Brooks.
Lizzy
Cole and I were on the dance floor of the small tent that had been erected on the beach. Twinkle lights shone from all around the tent, illuminating the place with a soft glow. I had wanted a simple wedding, so the decorations had been matched with the vintage theme. We used small, colored glass jars filled with wild flowers as centerpieces and simple vintage china as dinnerware. Some of the kids from the shelter had helped put them together. I had been touched that they had wanted to be involved and had been more than happy to include them. Some of them had even come to the ceremony, as had all my co-workers. We’d asked our colleagues from another shelter to fill in for us, since everyone wanted to celebrate with Cole and I. Of course, Jesse and Chloe were here as well. A live band was playing an old and romantic song while we danced. It was absolutely beautiful, more beautiful than I could have ever imagined.
And I was now Mrs. Brooks, dancing with my husband.
Was there anything more perfect?
My face split into yet another wide grin when I realized that yes, things could be more perfect.
“I have a surprise for you. Well, two actually,” I told Cole as we were slowly swaying to the music.
“Do you now?” His nose was stroking mine. All afternoon, he hadn’t been able to take his hands off of me, not since he had stalked toward me in the aisle.
“Yup. I do. And I have to give them to you now.”
“I’m not gonna stop you.”
“You’ll have to let me go.”
“Not a chance, Mrs. Brooks.” He kissed me. I smiled.