by K E Osborn
He lets go of my hand, opens the box and inside is a gorgeous platinum ring; the centerpiece is a sparkling pink diamond with a circle of diamonds around it. The band is encrusted with white diamonds; it's so beautiful as it glistens in the setting sun. It's perfect; exactly what I'd imagined my engagement ring to be. He gulps a lump in his throat and prepares to talk while tears stream my face.
"Jenifer Taylor, from the moment we ran into each other literally ..."
I can't help but laugh.
"... I knew there was something different, something astonishing and so profoundly beautiful in you that I hadn't seen before in anyone else. You amaze me every day with your brilliance, and I want to be amazed by you every day for the rest of my life. The past few days have shown me that I couldn't be in a world where you weren't with me. Seeing you in that hospital bed made me realize that I want you to be mine forever. Jenifer Taylor, will you do me the utmost privileged honor of becoming my wife?" His eyes, those beautiful blue eyes, well with tears when I stare deeply into them.
I'm holding my breath; I exhale and then inhale sharply, filling my lungs. He starts to look worried, and I realize I haven't said anything yet.
Before another thought fills my head, I scream out, "Yes, of course, I'll marry you." Butterflies dance in my stomach as I start to shake.
He briskly jumps to his feet and lifts me in a bear hug, swirling me around. We both laugh as tears stream down our faces. Suddenly, I hear applause erupting from behind me. He puts me down, and I look toward the path to where our friends and family are standing, all dressed up, clapping and cheering.
I see Sarah and Brielle holding hands, jumping around in a circle. Aiden takes hold of my hands and places my engagement ring on my left ring finger.
"C'mon, baby, we have our engagement party to go to."
I look at him, scratching my head. "Our engagement party?"
"Yes, our engagement party. That's what I've been doing the past two days, inviting everyone, and they're all here."
I stare at him, my brow crinkled. "Wait, everyone knew you were proposing tonight?" I finally reach the conclusion.
"Yes, everyone except you."
"But how did you know I'd say yes?"
He winks at me. "Because I know everything, Jenifer." He takes my hand and leads me back down the path.
"Moronic smartass man," I say as he chuckles at me.
I notice our family and friends walking back down the path away from us. I stare down at my engagement ring on my left hand. Oh my god, I'm engaged. But we haven't been together for very long. I quickly remove that thought when Sarah comes running up to me.
"Oh my god, Jen pen, how awesome is this?" She gives me a giant bear hug. I laugh at her enthusiasm.
"I know, and you knew and didn't tell me. What's up with that?"
"Oh, like I'd ruin the surprise. Are you happy?"
I realize I'm beyond happy. I'm ecstatic. The man that I love, this gorgeous man, wants me to be his for the rest of forever, and that's exactly what I want. I love him so much beyond anyone else. He truly is my exception.
"I'm deliriously happy."
"C'mon, baby, everyone is waiting." He pulls my hand to his mouth and kisses it.
I walk with Sarah in one arm and Aiden in the other down the cobblestone path back to the pink Cadillac, where Mike is smiling at me. We continue to walk past the Cadillac and down another path. At the end is a quaint little building, and out in front waits our family and friends. I see Chris as he cheers and starts the crowd in a round of applause.
They all head inside the little building, and we follow in behind. Inside, there are tables set up, with chairs that have pink bows around them; they're very cute. There's a bar at the back of the room, and opposite the bar, at the front, there is a large dance floor with a DJ and a small table with a cake placed on it. I look up at Aiden in awe.
"You organized all this in two days?"
"It's amazing what you can do if you put your mind to it."
I take in a deep breath looking around the room. The ceiling has a center chandelier with sheer pink material draping out in sections to the walls with tiny fairy lights strung throughout the material. It's truly spectacular.
I start to feel giddy as I take in shallow breaths. Is this really for me? He takes my hand and turns me to face him.
"Is everything alright?"
"Everything's perfect."
We kiss and the crowd cheers, making me laugh. I look around the room to see everyone; my Mom, Callie, Blair, Benjamin, Brielle, Adam, Nana, Mike, even Bill is here, but no Alistair. In a way I feel relieved, but at the same time kind of sad for Aiden that his father isn't here to celebrate with him. I continue to look, and I see Chris standing with Mel, John, and Bob from ADF Automotive Repairs.
"Oh my god!" I yell as I look at Aiden. He smiles at me and lets go of my hand. I race over and give Mel a giant hug.
"Congratulations." Mel says as she hugs me.
"Oh, Mel, it's good to see you, and John and Bob. I can't believe you're all here," I say as tears start to well in my eyes.
"Oh now now, none of that. This is a happy day. No need for tears," John says while he hugs me, followed by Bob and Chris.
"You know you've started something now. Sarah is going to pester me about us getting engaged next."
I laugh at him. "Yeah, sorry about that," I say as I hug him.
"And how am I going to top this, huh?"
I see my mom talking to Callie; I figure I'd better go and say hello.
"Excuse me, guys. I have to see my Mom."
"Of course, it's your party. You have to mingle," Mel says, smiling. I hug her again.
"Hi Mom," I say walking up to her and Callie. Mom lunges toward me and hugs me so tightly I can barely breathe.
"Mom, air becoming an issue."
She laughs and lets me go. "Oh, darling, I'm so happy for you. Are you happy?"
"You have no idea," I say back to her and she hugs me again.
I can't help it as the emotions overwhelm me, and I start to cry.
"Oh, honey, what's wrong?" Callie asks noticing my tears.
"I'm so happy, and everyone is here for us. It's so ... overwhelming."
Mom holds me at arms' length. "Darling, hold back those tears, and let's party."
The music starts, and everyone moves around the room, some sitting at tables, some at the bar—mostly men—and a few stragglers on the dance floor. I look around the room at all these people, and my eyes lock with Aiden's. His bright blue, smoldering eyes stare back into mine from across the room. I walk toward where he stands with some people from work.
"Excuse me, guys," Aiden says walking toward me, our eyes targeted on each other. Our bodies connect, and he holds me tightly, still looking into my eyes.
"I love you, so much."
"I love you, more." He leans in and kisses me. It's like time stands still and we are entangled with each other for an eternity. I never want to let him go, ever. He's my one true soul mate, and I want to stay here, in this moment, forever.
I hear wolf whistling in the background as I come crashing back to earth. I smile, still kissing Aiden, and I feel him smile in return. We part our lips from each other to find the whole room full of people looking at us. I feel a sudden wave of embarrassment hit me and I hide into Aiden's chest. He holds me to him.
"Oops!"
"Guess we had better keep on mingling." He takes my hand and leads me to some more of our workmates.
***
The night continues as finger food is served. People dance, and we continue to do the rounds. Brielle comes up to me, looking a little tipsy.
"Now that you're my sister, can I borrow that dress some time? It's epic."
"Sure thing, sis."
She calls Adam over, and we sit talking to them for a while. It comes time to cut the cake. I haven't actually looked at it yet, so I'm excited to see how it looks.
It's gorgeous, a little bit playful, but still
elegant. It sits on a white board and written in icing is Congratulations on Your Engagement.
Blair comes over and takes photos of us cutting the cake and then continues taking photos throughout the night. A waitress hands out pieces of cake to our guests and we take to the dance floor. He holds onto me tightly as we sway to the music. This is a perfect night. It starts to get late, and people become more and more intoxicated and join us on the dance floor. Sarah comes and takes me from Aiden when the Macarena comes on. I've had a few champagnes myself, so I feel comfortable enough to dance in front of everyone. Aiden and Chris stand back and watch us while they drink their favorite Macallan whisky. Mom drags Callie out onto the dance floor, and they try to follow the dance steps as we do them, making everyone laugh.
Blair takes photos of all the girls trying to do the Macarena, but we're all slightly tipsy to moderately intoxicated, making it an entertaining viewing spectacular for the rest of the party. The song ends, and I need another drink, so Sarah and I head to the bar. Aiden stands aside and lets Sarah and me in between him and Chris to get another drink. He stands next to me, playing with my hair as I order another champagne. Suddenly Chris starts tapping his glass, and soon everyone who has a glass taps along. I look at Aiden, and he leans in to kiss me. Everyone cheers as I kiss my man.
People start to slowly leave and the party dwindles down. Only a small remaining few sit with us at a table; Sarah and Chris, Callie, Mom, Nana, Brielle and Adam, Blair and Benjamin, Mike and Bill, the usual crowd of people. I take the last sip of my champagne and chew on the strawberry I find at the bottom of the glass. I lean into him, I feel myself starting to get tired from our emotional day. I take Aiden's arm and raise it so I can look at his watch to see the time; it's two fifty-seven a.m. I can't believe Nana is still up; she amazes me with how spritely she is.
I try to hide my yawn and I snuggle into him as he, Chris, and Adam discuss the quality of the local golf course, boring the hell out of the rest of us. Nana, Callie, and Mom swap recipes as Mike and Bill talk about their cars. Sarah and I stare at each other and roll our eyes, making us both giggle. I get up and decide it's time to go to the bathroom. I look at Sarah and Brielle, and they get up and follow me. Our guys don't even notice that we have left.
"Could they be any more boring?" Brielle says when we get far enough away from them.
"Tell me about it."
As we enter the restroom, I look at myself in the mirror.
"Oh God, I look tired," I say as Sarah pulls out a lip-gloss from her bag.
"How can they talk about golf for so long? You put the ball in the hole. It's that simple."
"I know. God, I can imagine how boring Aiden's bachelor's party will be," Sarah says, making us laugh.
"While I have you two here, I want to ask you something." I take in a deep breath and they both look at me curiously.
"You know how much I care about you both, don't you?"
They nod.
"So Bree, will you be my bridesmaid?"
She jumps up and down and claps her hands. "Of course I will, sis," Bree says.
I then look at Sarah. "Sarah, will you be my maid of honor?" Her eyes widen and she joins Brielle jumping and clapping.
"Duh, of course I will. Ahhh, I'm so excited. Your bachelorette party is going to be epic. We'll have giant blow-up cocks, dancing naked sailors, buckets of various cocktails, and we'll burn a hole in the dance floor. No, literally, I'm going to set it on fire. It'll be a night you'll never remember," Sarah says taking my hands and making me jump with them. We all squeal with excitement then we walk out of the restroom. We make our way back to our men, who are now all standing at the bar.
We walk toward them and Aiden puts his hand out for me to take. I take it, and he pulls me close into an embrace. I snuggle up to his chest and he takes another sip of his whisky.
"Honey, are you ready to go?" Chris asks Sarah.
"Yeah, it's time we all left I think," I say.
We all walk back over to the table where Nana, Mom, and Callie are still looking bright and lively. I shake my head at them and giggle.
"Guys, we're off," I say when we reach them, and they all stand up.
"I better go too, nice seeing you again, Callie," Mom says.
"You too, Ev, we should get together more often."
"Definitely." They hug.
We all walk out of the little building and back down the path toward the Cadillac. Mike opens the rear door for us to get in. I embrace my mother tightly as we say our goodbyes.
"I love you, Mom."
"Darling, I love you too. Congratulations." She kisses me on the cheek then hugs Aiden while I make my way to Callie.
"I'm so happy you're going to be officially a part of our family, honey. I couldn't ask for a better daughter-in-law."
"Thanks, Callie, that means a lot, and you're a perfect mother-in-law." She lets go to hug Aiden.
We say the rest of our farewells to everyone and enter the car.
"Guess who's gettin' some tonight," Sarah calls out and Chris wolf whistles.
We laugh as Mike closes the door. We wave to everyone and start the drive back to our apartment.
I lean in toward Aiden; he puts his arm around me and pulls me so close I'm almost on his lap. He leans his head into the top of my hair, kissing me gently.
"Thank you for tonight. Everything was perfect." I hold out my left hand, gazing at my magnificent engagement ring. He kisses my head again.
"You're welcome. I'm glad you said yes. Would've been slightly embarrassing if you'd said no." He chuckles. I bite my bottom lip.
"I'd never say no to you," I say, and with that, he turns my face to his and kisses me passionately for the rest of the car ride home.
We get to the parking garage, and Mike opens the door for us to get out of the Cadillac.
"Thanks, Mike," I say as I exit.
"My pleasure, Miss Taylor. Congratulations by the way." Aiden steps out of the car, smiling.
"Thanks, Mike, for everything," Aiden says, shaking Mike's hand. I know Mike must have helped Aiden set up tonight. He turns toward me.
"C'mon, baby. Time for bed."
He takes my hand, and I walk with him to the elevator. The doors open, and we step inside. Mike doesn't follow. I think he wants to give us a moment alone together.
He turns to face me; gently caressing my cheek as he stares into my eyes. He steps closer so our bodies are touching. The electricity surging between us is palpable and he leans down to kiss me. The doors open to our apartment, making us separate; we walk into the living room. As soon as the elevator doors close, he lunges at me, taking me in his arms and kissing forcefully, pushing me against the wall. The passion is electrifying, his kiss firm and sultry. My core starts to react to his touch as his hand runs up my thigh, lightly skimming at the bottom edge of my dress.
He moves both his hands to the bottom of my dress, slowly lifting it higher and higher until our lips part just long enough for the dress to be pulled up over my head. He throws it to the floor, leaving me standing there in my heels, panties, and matching bra. Our lips find each other again and I start to undo his pink tie, his hands caressing every part of my body then I move to his shirt. I start to unbutton the buttons one by one. Getting frustrated, I take hold of each side of the shirt and pull them apart, ripping his shirt open and popping the remainder of the buttons off. He exhales with excitement as he rustles out of the now button less shirt. He flings it to the floor and my hands make their way down his chiseled abdomen to his belt; forcefully, I undo his belt, button, and fly, letting his pants fall to the floor and freeing his large erection. He exhales again stepping out of his shoes and fumbling out of his pants.
His lips never leave mine as he moves to undo my bra, freeing my breasts into his grasp. He massages my breast slowly with one hand, the other moving its way down to my underwear. He skims the top of my panty line and abruptly pulls them down to my ankles and kicks them away. We stand completely naked, except
for my heels, holding each other.
He kisses me quickly, his hands moving to my ass and clenching it; he pulls me up and leans me against the wall. I wrap my legs around his waist and dig my heels in for extra support, also wrapping my arms around his neck; he looks at me and grins then he slowly positions himself at my entrance. This is hot, he holds on to my ass, his biceps bulging as he leans in and kisses me. He slowly enters me, making me gasp at the fullness.
"Oh, Jeni," he murmurs through our kiss as he slowly moves in and out, holding me against the wall.
Our breathing becomes erratic as he quickens his pace, in and out, in and out; the feeling is so intense. I'm shaking when he kisses my neck, and my head falls back against the wall as our hips move together in unison. My hands clench at his back, and he pulls out and re-enters me forcefully as he picks up the tempo.
"Ahhh," is all I manage when he kisses my décolletage vigorously, sucking on my skin in between kisses. The feeling is powerful as that electricity surges once more and his thrusts become deeper. My fingernails claw at his back as he continues to power into me.
"I. Love. You," I murmur through staggered breaths, and he exhales at my words and thrusts deeper.
"Ahhh," I call out as I feel it; the heat rises and he comes in to kiss my lips. He thrusts again and again as the heat intensifies. My body starts to quiver and I arch my back.
"Oh, Jeni," he murmurs.
I start to lose control. My fingernails dig in deeper into his shoulder blades as an overwhelming sense of pleasure hits me. I tense up as it continues, and I scream out in satisfaction.
"Oh God," I call out at when a full, climactic orgasm unleashes within me. My whole body clenches with pure delight as he continues pushing me against the wall. His face falls to my neck.