by S. E. Lund
“There you are,” he said when I came over and gave him a kiss. “How did it go?”
“Good,” I said and touched my hair, which was still up. “Do you like this? And this?” I held up one hand and one foot to show him the mani/pedi results.
“Mmm,” he said and grabbed my foot, kissing my toes. “I like it. I like everything. The whole package.”
He pulled me down and kissed me on the mouth this time.
When I pulled back, I looked in his eyes, which were still bleary. “How are you feeling?”
“Rough,” he said. “Serves me right.”
“We have the rehearsal dinner tonight. I hope you’re up for it. Dave and Ken will be coming. Maybe you should check with them and make sure they’re good to go.”
“I already did,” Drake said. “They’re fine. They both moderated themselves all night. Colin kept up with me and isn’t feeling too good, but he’ll be fine. All of them will be ready for the wedding and reception at the Tea Room.”
I nodded and sighed, a twinge of anxiety about everything in my gut. “Is everything set? I’ve been checking things off on my to-do list.”
“Everything’s set. All we have to do is go to your father’s for the rehearsal and then the dinner, and then show up for the wedding. That’s it.”
“Good,” I said and glanced around the apartment. “Are you packed?”
“Packed and ready to go. I have a limo arranged to take us to The Ritz after the reception, and one to take us to the airport when it’s time to catch our flight on Sunday. Then it’s nothing but sun, surf and sex for a solid week. You can relax, Ms. Bennet,” I said and stroked her cheek. “I’ve taken care of everything. I’ll have you home and ready to get back to work on your thesis on the following Monday.”
I sighed once more, trying not to be too stressed out about everything, but I wanted things to go perfectly once we finished our vows. After the wedding ceremony was over, it would be a limo to Central Park for pictures, and then to the Russian Tea Room for the reception. I could relax. Someone else would make sure everything ran smoothly.
“Come,” Drake said and pulled me down. “Lie beside me for a while.”
I did, my arm around his chest, his arms around my shoulders. I scooched in closer to him, his warmth so comforting. Drake turned off the television and switched on the sound system using the remote and we listened to some soft music and cuddled for the rest of the afternoon, speaking in soft voices about our plans for the 8th Avenue apartment once we came back from our honeymoon.
Finally, at about five o’clock in the afternoon, we started preparing for the rehearsal dinner at my father’s. According to tradition, Drake’s family should have hosted it, but since he had no family around, my father wanted to have everyone over to the penthouse.
“But you’re already hosting the reception,” Drake protested when Elaine suggested it earlier in September. “Let me put something on for everyone.”
“Nonsense,” she said. “Besides, it’s easier for Ethan to do everything at our place and going out to the Tea Room for the reception will be stress enough. He doesn’t like to go to a lot of fuss, what with handicapped parking, the wheelchair, and everything. He’d prefer people to come to our place for the rehearsal diner. You understand.”
Drake nodded and held his hand up. “Of course,” he said softly. “I understand completely. I don’t want to let down my side of the bargain, that’s all.”
“Don’t worry,” Elaine said. “As long as you show up, you’re holding up your side of the bargain.”
“You have no worries on that score,” Drake said with a grin.
“We’re only too happy to host the dinner at our place,” Elaine said. “It will be fun. Besides, I have caterers doing everything so all I have to do is show up and smile.”
And so it was that both the rehearsal dinner and wedding were being held at my father’s apartment on Park Avenue. The wedding reception was still at the Tea Room but everything had been arranged so that there would be the least amount of hardship on my father.
I touched up my makeup and wore a new dress bought specifically for the rehearsal dinner. It was a sleeveless black chiffon dress over a black sheath, with a v-neck but not too deep to be vulgar. I was well contained, in other words, but still was sexy. I wore the diamond collar necklace with the black velvet choker that Drake gave me on New Year's Eve. The diamond fell perfectly at the base of my throat. I wanted to wear it because it was symbolic of our first commitment to each other and I thought it went well with the black dress.
“What do you think?” I said and stood in front of Drake, who was at the mirror in the bedroom, fastening his tie. “This is my new dress.”
He stopped what he was doing and came over to me, his hands on my shoulders. He glanced up and down and then turned me around in a circle.
“You look delicious. Completely edible.”
I smiled and smoothed the chiffon over the sheath dress. “A little sexy but not too much?”
“Perfect.” He leaned in and kissed me. “And I like the choker. It’s goes well with the dress and reminds me of last Christmas when I gave it to you.”
“That’s why I wore it,” I said and stood in front of him so I could see myself in the mirror. “I think I knew back then that I wanted to marry you, but I was probably too afraid to think that far ahead. The idea of you owning me, possessing me, in every way, made me so happy.”
“It made me happy as well, but when I say I own you, I mean I own your heart and body. Your mind is your own and I always want it to stay that way.”
“I know,” I said and turned to face him. “I want it to stay that way as well.”
“It will, at least on my part. I don’t want a slave, Kate. I want a life partner, who just happens to like to be manhandled during sex,” he said and grinned in that sexy way that sent a thrill through my body.
“Manhandled…” I said and smiled back, going up on my tiptoes to kiss him.
He grabbed me and then proceeded to manhandle me, rocking me back and forth and then picking me up and throwing me over his shoulder. I squealed in surprise when he took me to the bed and then plopped me down on my back.
“Yes, manhandled,” he said, wagging his eyebrows. “I can handle you, Ms. Bennet. I’m a man, so manhandled is perfect for what we have.”
I smiled and closed my eyes when he lay on top of me, his body between my thighs, his face over mine.
“Open your eyes,” he said, his voice low.
I did and looked into his baby-blues, which were very determined. A thrill ran through me just from the intensity of his stare.
“You. Are. Mine,” he said and ground his pelvis against me. “See what saying that does to me? What you do to me? Just the thought of you being mine makes me hard as rock.”
He was hard as rock and I gasped when he found my pussy and rubbed against me.
“We don’t have time,” I murmured when he kissed the skin beneath my ear. “The Hangin’ Judge is serious about punctuality…”
“No, we don’t, and I would never consider keeping the Judge waiting,” he said and ran his lips along my chin. “But we will when we get back. I can think of nothing more perfect than a good hard fuck on the night before our wedding.”
“Me, either,” I said and smiled up at him. “Anything less than a good hard fuck would be inadequate.”
He smiled and then kissed my mouth. “That’s my girl,” he said, his voice deep and smoky with desire.
Then he sighed and lay on top of me without saying anything.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“I’m fine,” he said and rose up to look in my eyes. “I’m just enjoying the moment. We’ve both been so busy, I feel as if we haven’t had time to really talk.”
“We have a whole week ahead of us,” I said and brushed hair from his eyes. “We can talk and laze around and eat and drink and sleep…”
“And make love,” he added with a grin.
&nb
sp; “And fuck, hard,” I said, my fingers threading through his. He smiled down at me.
“I love you,” he said softly.
“I love you,” I replied.
“We have to go,” he said and glanced at his watch. “Now. The officiant will be there soon, so we don’t want to keep him waiting, either.”
“Nope,” I said. “My father runs a tight ship. We should really be early or else suffer his wrath.”
Drake rolled off the bed and helped me up. I adjusted my dress, smoothing down the skirt while he did the same to his clothes and then pulled on his suit jacket. He looked like a million dollars in his slate grey suit with black tie and white shirt. It offset his black hair and blue eyes.
“You look delicious as well, and I can see why they call you Doctor Delish,” I said and eyed him up and down.
He laughed out loud at that. “Here at Morgan Enterprises, we aim to please,” he said with a grin. Then he held out his hand to me. “Let’s go.”
The rehearsal went off without a hitch and since our ceremony was so simple, and involved no church or priest, it was pretty much a walk through the process and then we were done. It was good to meet our officiant, Steve McLean, a justice of the peace who worked in my father’s offices back when he was on the Supreme Court of New York. Elaine had already arranged the furniture so that there were two rows of chairs for those who were taking part in the wedding. Heath and his family, Dave Mills, the O’Rileys, and members of Mersey and their families. All told about eighteen people.
I had said to Elaine that I didn’t want anything too elaborate or for her to go to too much trouble, but she insisted on chairs covered in fabric with big bows on them, lots of fresh flowers, and Heath’s son Ian was going to be our ring bearer.
Everyone who was going to be taking part was scheduled to arrive for dinner and drinks, so once the rehearsal was over and we all went through our paces, we had a meal together. Drake sat beside me and kept my hand in his most of the time, except when we had to actually eat our food. When we had to separate our hands, he shimmied his chair closer so that our knees and thighs touched and it put a smile on my face that he wanted to keep in contact.
When we were finished, and after having tea and coffee in the living room, we said goodbye to everyone and went back to the apartment. Before we could leave, my father stopped me at the door.
“You’re not staying here tonight?” He sat in his wheelchair in the front entrance and turned to Drake, winking.
“No, daddy,” I said and smiled. “Drake insisted that I stay at the apartment with him.”
“I said I never wanted to be separated from Kate again,” Drake said defensively, “and I meant it.”
“Good man,” my father said and nodded. “It’s a wise goal to have even though it’s sometimes hard to keep. You never know when someone might be taken from you. Cherish each other.”
“We will,” Drake said and shook my father’s good hand. “Good night, sir.”
“Please, Drake, call me dad, or father. Whatever feels right to you. I feel like I’ve been kind of a second father to you since your own died. I’d consider it a privilege to have you call me father.”
“I’ll try,” Drake said and smiled. “But I can’t promise I won’t lapse into Judge now and then.”
Then I kissed my father on the cheek and Elaine as well, and we left.
In the car on the way home, Drake took my hand and kissed my knuckles.
“I feel like I finally have a real family,” he said.
“Poor Drake.” I thought of him growing up without a mother and an absent father, a succession of nannies to look after him instead of real family. “You really do want a family and all its trappings.”
“All of them,” he said with a nod. “Every single one. Father-in-law, mother-in-law, brother-in-law, nephews and nieces, Christmas dinner around a huge table, holidays spent together… I want our children to have your life, not mine. I won’t be my father, Kate. I promise that.” I nodded, looking in his eyes when we were stopped at a traffic light. He kissed my knuckles once more and then we drove off through the busy Manhattan streets on a Friday night, back to our apartment
.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Drake
Once we arrived at the apartment, I stopped Kate and made her wait outside the door.
“I’ll be right back. Don’t come in yet.”
I slipped in and went to my bedroom closet to remove the blindfold I’d used many times with Kate during our scenes. Tonight, I’d use it to allay her superstitious fears that if we saw each other before the wedding, we’d have bad luck.
I returned and stood outside with her, the black blindfold in my hand.
“I’m doing this for you,” I said. “For your peace of mind, but I’m doing it under protest that it’s all a bunch of malarkey.”
Then I tied the blindfold around Kate’s eyes.
“Malarkey?” she said, smiling, touching the blindfold to make sure it had proper coverage. “It’s been a tradition for hundreds of years. There must be something behind it.”
“I already voiced my opinion about the purpose of the whole business,” I said and led her into the apartment. “I’ll tell you what’s behind it. It has nothing to do with luck and everything to do with arranged marriages where the groom and bride never laid eyes on each other. We’ve laid more than eyes on each other, so it really doesn’t apply. But seeing you like that,” I said and held her at arm’s length, looking her over from head to toe, “I am getting all kinds of ideas…”
She grinned. “You always have great ideas.”
“I do.”
Then I put my arm around her waist and one under her knees and picked her up, eliciting a squeal from her. She hated being carried, but I had to keep her off balance, so she’d give in and just let go.
“No fighting,” I said and placed her down on the floor beside our bed. Then, I kissed her forehead. “Katherine…”
That was our signal that we both were to fall into proper Dom/sub headspace, but it didn’t always work. Right then, she had this wicked grin on her mouth, and I knew I’d have to work extra hard to get her into proper sub mode.
“Katherine…” Then I turned her over onto my lap, pulled up her dress and down her panties and gave her ass a nice smack. “Behave.”
“You sound like Austin Powers,” she said with a giggle.
I couldn’t hold back a grin, but I forced myself to squelch it, breathing in deeply to gain control over my mirth.
“Oh, fuck it,” I said and rolled her over on her back, lying on top of her. She spread her thighs for me and I lay between them, my face over hers, the blindfold still on, the grin still on her lovely pink lips. “I’m not going to worry about proper etiquette. We have our whole lives for practice. Tonight I’m just going to fuck you.”
“Hard?” she asked softly, biting her bottom lip because she knew she was out of order.
I grinned back even though she couldn’t see me. “Any way I want,” I replied.
So I did.
She left before I even woke the next morning, and I was upset because while she didn’t want to see me the day of the wedding, I wanted to see her, maybe take her in the shower with her blindfold on, hoping it would slip off and I could prove to her that she didn’t have to worry about any superstition. Our lives together would be faced with many challenges, as all marriages are, and so we didn’t need to worry about non-existent threats.
She had her own will, and I was glad of it in the end. It made her all the more attractive to me.
Being alone gave me time to myself, to roam around the apartment, have a coffee, check my email and make sure everything was ready for our stay at the hotel and then our flight to Nassau. I called Ken and made sure he was ready, so we could pick him up on the way to Ethan’s apartment. As my best man, he would arrive with me and walk down the tiny aisle in Ethan’s apartment.
“Just about ready, bud?” he said when I called him.
“Ready and waiting,” I said. “All I have to do is pick up the necklace I bought Kate. The jeweler is waiting for me so I’ll get it on the way when I come to pick you up.”
“Sounds good, and take a deep breath, Drake,” Ken said. “I hope you’re ready for the happiest years of your life.”
“More than ready,” I said. “I think I was waiting for Kate without even knowing it. Until she showed up, no other woman could come close.”
“That’s what I like to hear,” Ken said, his voice sounding warm and fuzzy. “She’s definitely the one, if that’s the case.”
“She is,” I said and smiled.
“When did you know?” he asked. “When did you know you wanted to marry her?”
I inhaled and thought back to the moment.
“We were at the Veteran's Day performance of Gorecki’s Symphony No. 3. Kate used to go see it with her mother and it was a tradition. It was the first time since her mother died that she went. I knew when I watched her that I wanted her.”
“She’s a music lover,” Ken said.
“Yes, very much. Maybe not Brit Invasion hits, but she loves music. She was in Africa during the famine working at a relief camp and wrote this really deep insightful piece on the politics of the famine. She’s beautiful…”
“I get it,” Ken said. “She’s perfect for you, in other words.”
I smiled. “Absolutely perfect.”
“See you at five o’clock,” Ken said.
I ended the call and stood at the window in my underwear, waiting for my fifteen-minute countdown when I’d get dressed and ready to go down to the limo and off to my wedding.
The limo arrived on time and I slipped in the back and gave directions to pick up Dave and Ken on the way. Then we’d go to the jeweler's and I’d pick up the necklace I was going to give to Kate before the ceremony, so she could wear it during the wedding. As we drove through the streets to pick up Ken, I felt elated that Kate and I were getting married. Once, I would have thought it meant I was being foolish, but now I knew I was being smart. Kate and I were good for each other. I’d been happier with her than I had ever been in my life and I wanted that to continue. I wanted us to be a couple, a family, parents, and then one day, an old married couple, our children grown and us enjoying our time together. That would be more than I could have imagined for myself less than a year earlier.