“I’m not,” I laugh. “But I am into Leonardo Di Caprio.”
“Well, maybe it’s not goodbye just yet,” he murmurs, pulling me tight against him, his hands sliding down my sides, his hips grinding softly against me.
I know exactly what’s happening. He’s trying all his best moves on me, trying to get me worked up again. His hands are hungry; I can sense the urgency in them. And the way he’s cupping my ass, pushing himself against me, it’s turning me on, I can’t help it.
“Dylan, we can’t!” I gasp, using all my remaining willpower to pull myself away. “Nat’ll be here any minute.”
“Until tomorrow then,” he whispers, his last kiss so passionate it sends my head spinning. And then he’s gone, leaving me here alone in this room, leaning back against the door, breathing hard, still turned on and excited, all my nerves on fire, burning for him.
But no sooner have I caught my breath than there’s an urgent knock at the door.
I pull it open, exasperated, expecting Dylan all over again.
“I told you!” I begin. But I stop when I see who’s standing there before me.
“Told me what?” Nat replies, puzzled.
“Nothing,” I sigh, stepping aside to let her in.
At least I’m not going to be spending tonight alone.
“Oh, I get it,” she says, arching an eyebrow. “I’m sorry I’m not your hunky fiancé. But you know it’s bad luck to see each other tonight, right?”
“I know,” I sigh, feeling like a schoolgirl being told off.
“Why don’t I believe you, missy?” Nat grins. “I think I’m gonna have to keep an extra close eye on you tonight!”
“Anyway,” I say, “what are we even doing tonight? We cant just sit around waiting.”
“Oh, don’t you worry,” she replies, emptying a tote bag onto the couch, a whole colorful array of DVDs tumbling out. Damn! It’s every single girly film you could imagine. I scan the pile: Clueless, When Harry Met Sally, Mystic Pizza, Romy and Michelle’s Highschool Reunion, Mean Girls.
And then I gasp when I see it.
“This one, this one!” I cry.
It’s Dirty Dancing, of course. We’ve both seen it a billion times before but right now I don’t care. Because if I can’t have Dylan, at least I can have Patrick Swayze!
§
“Oh my god!” I scream, the following morning, as I hear the sound of fabric tearing over my shoulder. “Was that what I think it was?!”
“Okay, now just stay calm,” Nat says behind me, but if anything I feel my nerves and worry rising with each fresh second.
“Please, tell me that wasn’t the sound of my dress ripping, Nat,” I say, trying so hard not to just totally flip out.
When I pictured my wedding day, I never thought of myself as some crazy nervous type, but damn. Looks like I was totally wrong about that!
“We can fix this, we definitely can fix this,” Nat mutters, but I can hear in her voice that she’s starting to freak out just as much as I am. “We can totally, um, fix this.”
“Okay, step aside,” Bella says, taking control. “I’m sure it’s nothing.”
I stand there, stock still, looking at myself in the long dress mirror. From the front, I look great – just as I wanted. My hair is curled to perfection and my make up is on point. I just hope that this little hitch isn’t about to ruin my perfect look.
I wait patiently for Bella to inspect the damage.
“So?” I ask, when she doesn’t say anything after like a whole freaking minute. “It’s not too bad, right?”
“Um,” Bella replies sheepishly, “yeah, I think we’re gonna have to get my mom.”
I hear her rush off out of the room, and as we wait, Nat tries to keep me calm by giving me a shoulder massage.
“Don’t stress,” she says, but I can hear in her voice that she’s totally freaking out too.
I wonder how it even happened – I mean, it’s not like I’ve been piling on the pounds. So how did my beautiful dress – a gorgeous, one-of-kind, oyster colored satin Vera Wang – even end up tearing? At least I’m kind of thankful that I can’t actually see the damage right now. I think that might throw me over the edge into full Bridezilla territory.
A moment later I hear the door bursting open, and the voices of Bella and Gloria as they both bustle into the room.
“Heaven’s sake!” Gloria sighs. “Can none of you girls sew?”
“No mom,” Bella groans. “I was too busy learning Latin at that fancy prep school you sent me to, remember? You didn’t send me to Ayleford academy to learn to be a homemaker, did you?”
“Don’t look at me!” Nat adds, stepping aside to let Gloria assess the damage. “They didn’t teach us anything in my school.”
“Well?” I ask nervously, as I wait for Gloria to look over the back of the dress. “How bad is it?”
“Nothing a few simple stitches won’t fix,” Gloria replies calmly. “Now, Bella, run along to my dressing room and bring me the red velvet box in the third drawer of my bureau.”
As Bella rushes off, Gloria lays a comforting hand on my shoulder and gives me a little squeeze of reassurance, and the gesture makes me think again about my mom – about how much I wish she was here right now, wishing that she was the one who was comforting me.
“You look lovely, my darling,” Gloria says gently, catching my eye in the mirror from over my shoulder. “And remember, a wedding wouldn’t be a wedding without a little hitch or two to keep us all on our toes. On my wedding day, everything was going perfectly to plan, just like you thought things were until five minutes ago. Bailey and I married at the house in Rhode Island – his mother insisted on it. I had the most enormous dress. Darling, it was huge – a total meringue. But it was the eighties, remember, and everyone was doing it. Oh, I thought I was going to be the most stylish bride who’d ever walked down the aisle!”
I laugh, so glad that she’s here right now – taking my mind off things.
“It wasn’t until just before the service that Bailey rather sheepishly broke the news to me,” she continues, “that the photographer had come down with a vomiting bug and cancelled on us! Now, this was well before it was fashionable to have the photographer take photos of the bride getting ready. I mean, Bailey’s mother would rather have died rather than allow a male photographer document the private toilette of a young woman! But anyway, I’m babbling. So, the photographer cancels, right before the ceremony, and all Bailey can do is send his poor best man hurtling to the drug store to buy every single disposable camera they sold, before handing them out to the whole wedding party.”
Just Bella bursts back into the room, flushed with drama.
“It’s okay, it’s okay, I’m here now!” she announces, handing her mom the velvet box as seriously as if she’s a nurse handing a surgeon a scalpel in the operating theatre. But all through this, Gloria is obviously focused on keeping me calm.
“You may have noticed,” she continues as she begins to sew up the tear, “that there are no fancy photos of our wedding. That’s because there aren’t any. But when you next visit my apartment in New York, Julia, I’ll show you my wedding album. Because the photos are so much fun! Really, some of them are absolutely hilarious. But most of all, they remind me of how much I love my husband. I thought we needed everything to be perfect, but I think you’ll discover that a little hitch or two doesn’t matter. Not in the long run. And besides, the less evidence of me in that dress the better!”
I laugh again, and Gloria gives me a warm hug, before standing back to admire her handy work.
“You know what?” she says, “I think that dress looks good as new!”
I take a twirl in the mirror, and I have to agree.
“Hey,” I smile, “this fits even better than before!”
“Well, now that little bit of customary drama is out of the way,” Gloria adds, “I suppose I’d better leave you girls to it.”
And before she leaves, she shoots Bella one final despairing glanc
e, then adds with a sigh, “Perhaps I should have sent you to finishing school, after all.”
In reply, Bella gives one of her signature eye rolls.
Once Gloria’s left the room, we all look at each other.
Bella and Nat are dressed in delicate baby blue matching bridesmaid’s dresses (floor-length as is traditional, but strapless so there’s just enough skin showing to keep them both happy), flanking me on either side.
“I guess we’re ready,” I say, taking a final deep breath.
“Well in that case, girlfriend,” Nat grins, “I guess there’s nothing else for it. We’d better go get you married!”
CHAPTER thirty-THREE
I take a moment outside the chapel. It’s a beautiful summer’s day, the sunlight shining down on us through the fluffy white clouds, and Nat and Bella are hanging back, giving me one final talk with my Dad before we go inside.
He fixes with a strange, unreadable expression.
“What?” I sigh. “Don’t tell me there’s another problem with my dress?”
“Nothing like that, Duckie” he smiles. “It’s just that you look so beautiful, so much like your mother. Of course, we didn’t get hitched on a private estate or nothin’ but she was just like you, beautiful inside as well as out.”
“Thank you, Daddy,” I say, hugging him tight. “I wish she could’ve been here today.”
“Don’t worry,” he murmurs, holding me snugly. “I’m sure she’s watching us from somewhere.”
“I love you,” I say, giving him a final squeeze. “Thank you.”
“So Junebug?” he says, breaking the hug to take a step back and look deep into my eyes. “You ready?”
I pause for a moment, looking first at my Dad – the same man I hadn’t spoken to in over two years when I first met Dylan – then over at Nat – my best friend and somebody I’ve been through so many ups and downs with, laughing and joking with Bella of all people – I mean, it’s crazy how wrong I was about her at first.
But then maybe the person who’s surprised me the most is Dylan himself. And what a journey we’ve been on together: we’ve come so far, and we’ve both changed and grown so much.
I turn back to face my Dad, then smile.
“I’m ready,” I say confidently.
I take his arm and as we step into the beautiful little chapel, the traditional bridal march striking up as we enter. It’s like a dream. As I walk down the aisle, I pass a mixture of faces from my past and my present, all smiling, all happy for me: there’s Madame Lyon and Liliya, there’s Tyler, there’s Alex – sitting next to her husband – and right in the front row are Gloria and Bailey and Roxy.
But then my gaze turns to the man standing at the alter waiting for me, dressed in a perfectly tailored navy blue suit, his face turning to meet mine, his blazing eyes full of love and happiness and desire.
The man of my dreams.
The man I’m ready to spend the rest of my life with.
The One.
And as I wait for the ceremony to begin, I’ve already totally given myself to him – now and forever.
Deep in my soul, I realize I’ve already said those two magic words that will tie us together, till death do us part, more binding than any contract:
I do.
CHAPTER thirty-FOUR
“Dylan, this is amazing,” I sigh with happiness, taking another lazy sip of my cocktail as I look out at our very own private beach, the crystal clear waves lapping against the sandy shore, not another soul around for miles. “I couldn’t be happier.”
“I’m so glad,” he says, from his lounger next to mine, his golden skin gleaming in the sunlight, his body so flawless I get tingles just looking at him. “Because that’s all I want for you, Julia – for both of us. I just want us to be happy.”
I close my eyes for a moment, savoring the feel of the sun warming my skin, listening to the gentle lap of the surf as I let my mind drift back for the millionth time over our totally perfect day – the beautiful ceremony, not to mention the fun and laughter of the reception afterwards; all our friends and family celebrating our love, everyone having such a wonderful time.
I can’t help but grin as I remember Nat setting eyes on a totally cute guy in a kilt, a guy who turned out to be one of Dylan’s older cousins, and how later on she danced with him to her favorite Beyoncé song.
I grin a little wider as I remember seeing Liliya dancing to that same Beyonce song, too, making Madame Lyon laugh and shake her head, no doubt wondering where in the world she picked up those fierce new moves.
I even start to chuckle, as I remember finally meeting Alex and her husband, realizing just how wrong I’d been about everything – especially when Alex took my arm and said, “Now I can understand why Dylan just won’t stop talking about you! You’ve made him a very happy man, Julia!”
And then my grin melts into a satisfied smile as I remember that moment after the speeches and the cake, when Gloria took me to one side, placed her hands on my shoulders, looked deep into my eyes and said, “Welcome to the family, Julia. I mean that, I really do.”
“Well, Mrs Campbell,” Dylan says, breaking me out of my happy thoughts. “I thought perhaps you might care to join me for a swim?”
I open my eyes and look over at him, just in time to see him pushing himself to his feet, his perfectly toned, muscular body shining and glistening in the sunlight, pecs flexing, abs rippling – the most perfect, gorgeous man I could possibly imagine. He pushes his sunglasses up onto his head and there’s that playful look in his big black eyes, that look I know so damn well by now, the look that tells me that maybe, just maybe, there’s a little more than swimming on his mind.
“Why, I’d love to, Mr Campbell,” I reply with a big grin.
He offers me his hand, and when I take it, I feel an intense flash of excitement.
Wow.
This might as well be the first time we’d ever touched.
I really am the luckiest girl in the world, I think as he lifts me to my feet and we walk, hand in hand, towards the crystal blue expanse before us.
I mean sure, when we get back to New York, we’ve still got to find a way to make our schedules work – my dancing and Dylan’s work abroad – but I just know that we can do it together, as husband and wife.
“You know what?” Dylan says, as we pause before the shimmering water, the sun warming our skin, our hands clasped together.
“What?” I reply softly, turning to face him.
“I feel like our life is just beginning.”
A NOTE FROM CHARLOTTE
Dear Reader,
Thank you so much for reading this book. I do hope you enjoyed it and I’d love to hear your thoughts, especially if you were kind enough to take the time out to write a quick review on Amazon or Goodreads. Not only would mean so much to me, but those things really do make all the difference for an indie author like myself!
And finally, if you’d like to be among the first to find out when I publish my next book and the chance to receive advance review copies, just drop me a line at: [email protected]
and I’ll be sure to add you to my mailing list!
Thank you so much for all your support,
Charlotte
xx
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Finally, I would like to say thank you to my lovely team of beta readers for providing such wonderful feedback on this novel. I couldn’t have done it without you! So a MASSIVE thank you to: Caroline Frimston, Mandie Moo, Ann Meemken, Renee Henson, Sabrina Owensby, Erin Patrick, Sheniq & Sloan!
ALSO BY CHARLOTTE EVE
THE TAMING BLAKE TRILOGY
WHATEVER BLAKE WANTS, BLAKE GETS ...
When aspiring interior designer Jessica Clark catches the eye of billionaire Blake Matthews, she finds herself thrust headlong into a world of glamor and riches: dining at New York’s finest restaurants, shopping at its most exclusive boutiques, a far cry from Jessica’s simple life back in Brooklyn.
; But there’s another side to Blake too, as Jessica soon discovers when he invites her to one of his private parties: a party where your deepest, darkest desires can finally come true. And as this secret world unfolds before Jessica’s very eyes, she finds herself falling further and further under the spell of this intense and complicated man ...
Due to adult themes, these novels are only suitable for those aged 18+.
All three novels & the Collected Trilogy out now!
ALSO BY CHARLOTTE EVE
THE GIRL AFTER DARK SERIES
WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOUR WHOLE WORLD CAME CRASHING DOWN AROUND YOU?
Melissa Lane has it all: a beautiful flat in London, great friends, a cute boyfriend, not to mention the most amazing job ever. Because whenever Melissa turns on her video camera, she transforms into VintageHoney, one of YouTube’s most popular fashion bloggers!
But one fateful day all that suddenly comes crashing down around her, and Melissa finds her squeaky-clean reputation in tatters. It feels as if the whole internet is gossiping about her now and she just needs to escape.
So Melissa flees to New York, a city where she can finally be anonymous and where she can try to start again on her own. But what she doesn’t realise is that love – and lust – are waiting just around the corner in the form of Carson, a mysterious hunky stranger that Melissa just can’t seem to escape ...
From the author of the Taming Blake trilogy comes this brand new, smoking hot four-part series!
Due to adult situations and descriptions, these books are only suitable for those aged 18 years and older.
All four books & the Collected Series out now!
Dance: The Collected Series Page 37