by Monroe, Max
But I only get halfway into preparing a sandwich when Merl shouts, “Hey, lookie here, Theo! I think we’ve got some visitors!”
I squint my eyes and stare out toward the water where a sleek, wooden boat is headed up the Grand Canal, but they could be heading any-fucking-where.
“Oh boy! I think I see a lady on there!” Merl yells, and sure enough, the boat is actually maneuvering itself toward our dock.
Besides the man driving, there is only one other person on board.
A woman. With familiar wild, blond curls.
My heart all but jumps into my throat and I blink my eyes open and closed just to see if what I’m seeing is actually real. If she is real.
But the closer the boat gets, the more I can make out her features.
Her slender neck. Her full lips. Her big, beautiful eyes.
It’s her. It’s Lena.
What the hell?
“Over here, sweetheart!” Merl fucking catcalls toward the boat as they slow to a stop at his dock. “Come on up here and have a little lunch with us, sweet thing!”
What is she doing here? In fucking Venice? At Merl’s villa, of all places?
I don’t hesitate to stride out of the kitchen and down the stairs toward the front entrance of the home, and by the time I step outside, Lena is right there, already off the boat and standing at the foot of the dock.
She’s all windblown and gorgeous, and it makes my chest ache.
We just kind of stand there, staring at each other, until I finally ask, “What are you doing here?”
“I…” She takes a deep breath, glances down at her shoes for a brief moment, and then brings her gaze back to mine. “I came to apologize for the way I acted,” she says softly and closes the distance between us. “I fucked up, Theo. I was an asshole, and I’m so sorry I hurt you.”
“You came all the way to Venice to tell me that?”
“Well, truthfully,” she starts, and an embarrassed smile slides across her mouth,
“I went to Paris first. But yeah, I came all the way here because you deserved to hear all of this in person. Not through a cowardly letter or a fucking phone call, but directly from me.”
When I don’t say anything, she keeps going.
“I know this seems crazy, but when you finally fucking realize you want to spend the rest of your life with someone, seeing them again becomes urgent…”
She pauses, and I just watch her closely, taking in the way a light blush forms on her cheeks and the way her eyes are filled with tears.
“I’m in love with you, Theo,” she says, and my heart kicks up a pounding rhythm in my chest. “And I don’t know if you love me or maybe you hate me, but I needed to tell you those words. Face-to-face. I just needed you to know that. I needed you to know that I love you.”
“You love me?”
“I love you,” she whispers, and more tears well up in her eyes. “So much, Theo. So fucking much. I don’t want anyone else but you, and I don’t want to slow things down. I don’t want that at all. I was just scared and freaked out with how consumed I am by you. And I let my mom get inside my head with her bullshit, and I know I fucked up. I really fucked up, and I’m so sorry for that.
“But God, Theo, I want an us. I want you. I am certain of that.”
I don’t even take a breath before returning the sentiment. It’s been resting on my lips for a long time—too fucking long—and getting it out seems so much more necessary than basic human function. “I love you too, Lena.”
Her blue eyes go wide. “You do?”
I nod. “I do. I’ve known it for a while.” I smirk. “Way before the rules allowed for it.” Her lips shake with emotion as her tongue peeks out to lick them nervously. I don’t make her wait for the rest. “And I forgive you for all of it. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t really love you the way I should—unconditionally.”
“Oh, thank fuck for that!” She launches herself into my arms and starts kissing me like a maniac. “God, I love you so much.”
“Fucking hell. I missed you,” I say in between her kisses and hug her tightly to my chest.
“I missed you too.”
More kisses.
More tears.
More smiles.
More love.
“So, I guess it’s safe to say we’re officially boyfriend and girlfriend now?” I ask playfully, and she shakes her head.
“No.”
“Still no labels?” I tilt my head to the side, and she brushes her nose against mine.
“I don’t want to just be boyfriend and girlfriend, Theo. That’s not enough for me when it comes to you. I want to be with you. For always. For fucking ever.”
I lock my gaze with hers. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying marry me, Theo. Fucking marry me. Be my husband.”
“You want to get married?”
“I have never been more certain about anything in my life. You are the man for me, Theo. You make me stronger. You make me so happy. And you just understand me. You know me. When I think about us, when I think about me and you, I see the rest of my life. I see my future. Our future.”
Fuck. If my heart gets any bigger, it’s going to explode.
“Do you want to know what I see when I think about us?”
She nods.
“I see home.”
Tears fill her eyes again. “I’m your home?”
“You’re my home,” I say. “Marry me, Lena.”
“Hey, but I asked you first,” she teases as tears drip down her cheeks.
“Then, how about this? On the count of three, we both give our answers.”
She giggles. “Okay.”
“One…Two…Three!”
“YES!” we shout together in unison, our eyes locked the entire time.
We both smile and laugh and seal our forever with one hell of a fucking kiss.
And then, while we’re still kissing, Merl decides to join in on the festivities.
“Yoo-hoo! Angel! Do you happen to have any friends you can invite over to keep me company?”
Lena leans back to look at me and then over my shoulder to spot Merl sitting on the balcony. “Who is that?”
“That’s Merl. My grandfather.”
“Did he just downlow ask me to invite some booty calls over for him?”
“Yep.” I chuckle.
“Holy shit. I might like him better than your brother Brogan.”
I roll my eyes and set Lena back to her feet before holding out my hand toward her. “Come on,” I say. “It’s time for you to meet the man, the myth, the legend—your future grandpa—Merl Cruz.”
She puts her hand in mine and winks. “I can’t wait, future husband of mine.”
Her words grip me by the heart, and I can’t stop myself from sneaking one last kiss to her lips.
If home is where the heart is, then Lena has my heart for always.
Lena
It’s been six months since that day in Venice.
That glorious day where Theo and I became an official us and scratched all of our previous rules off the list and replaced them with only one, nonnegotiable rule: Get married and spend the rest of our lives loving each other.
And we took our new rule seriously.
No time wasted. We planned our wedding in a matter of months, and now, here we are, dressed as bride and groom and almost ready to say I do.
“You know, it’s bad luck to see the bride before she walks down the aisle,” I say, but a half whimper, half moan escapes my lips.
Theo does that thing with his cock where he pushes it as deep as he can go and pulls right back out so quickly that a gratifying, needy throb overwhelms my nerves.
Oh, hell yes. This is exactly why I knew we needed to fit in a little pre-wedding-ceremony fucking.
“I think that’s something you should’ve mentioned before you tricked me into coming in here to slide my cock inside you.” He smirks down at me before his lips part with a heady exhale of breath.
<
br /> “I didn’t trick you.”
“You told me you were having a panic attack,” he says, punctuating that statement by grabbing my ass and pushing himself so deliciously deep again that a moan jumps from my lungs.
“I did?” I feign confusion even though that’s precisely what I did—part of multipronged plan designed to get us into this exact position, in fact.
My bridesmaids—Maybe, Pippa, and Ruby—are successfully occupied on an errand to tell my wedding planner Tiffany that I’m all set, and Theo looks damn good in his partially removed tux. Dapper and handsome and fucking mine.
All in all, I’d say it’s going pretty well.
I’ve had his perfect cock in my mouth, his hands in my underwear, and now, the pièce de résistance—me sitting on the edge of this table, my white lace panties on the floor, my gorgeous wedding gown pulled up to my waist, and Theo deep inside me.
My soon-to-be husband smirks. “You know that’s exactly what you told me, you little minx.”
“I think I meant to say I was horny.”
Theo’s smile as he shakes his head at me—I’ll never forget it for the rest of my life. It screams love. For me and my quirkiness and my stupid tricks. It says this marriage isn’t only going to work—it’s going to thrive.
I laugh, but then another moan escapes my lungs when Theo thrusts inside me one, two, three times.
Fucking hell. I needed this.
“Maybe this is good luck?” I question.
I mean, wanting your soon-to-be husband so bad that you’re having sex in the bridal suite of the church before you walk down the aisle has to mean something good…right?
“This definitely feels like good luck to me, honey.”
I giggle, and then I whimper. “Goddamn, Theo. Once I’m done fucking you, I’m going to marry you so hard.”
“Damn straight, you are,” he responds and grips my hips tighter. “And then we’re going to spend the rest of our lives doing this.”
“Yes. Yes. Yes.” My eyes damn near roll into the back of my head. “Fuck, keep doing that. I’m getting so close.”
My climax starts to build, starting right between my thighs and slowly migrating down my legs and up my spine.
“Lena?” Three soft knocks to the door echo inside the room, mingling with Theo’s and my panted breaths. “Lena?”
It’s Maybe.
I should probably respond to her, but hell, I’m a little too busy right now to care.
“Hello?” The doorknob jiggles. “What the hell? Why is this locked?” she questions, and her voice gets louder with each word.
Shit. My matron of honor sounds a little worried, and maybe I should be too, but Theo? He isn’t worried. He’s fucking me harder.
“Lena!” The door shakes with several knocks. “Are you in there?”
“Y-yes! I’m here!”
“Are you okay?” Maybe asks through the door. “You sound weird.”
“I-I’m good!” I shout back. “I’m so flipping good right now!”
“Uh…” Maybe pauses, and her voice is filled with uncertainty. “That’s good to hear, but uh…we have a little problem…”
“W-what kind of problem?”
“Uh…” She pauses, and then Pippa’s voice chimes in from the other side of the door.
“Bloody hell, love, someone has gone temporarily missing.”
Missing? What the fuck are they talking about?
I open my mouth to respond, but when Theo leans down to lick his tongue across the hint of cleavage that’s revealed right above the bodice of my dress, I kind of forget what we were even talking about.
“Good God,” I whisper and grip his hair with my fingers. “Best fucking wedding day ever.”
His responding chuckles vibrate against my breasts.
“Lena, honey, it’s Ruby.” My soon-to-be sister-in-law’s voice fills my ears. “I hate to be the one to tell you this, but we can’t find Theo.”
“Can’t find Theo?” I question hazily, staring right into his eyes.
He smirks down at me, and like a real champ, he doesn’t let the peanut gallery outside the door mess up our fucking flow. In and out, in and out, Theo keeps pushing me closer and closer to the edge.
“Yeah, he’s gone temporarily MIA.” Maybe whisper-yells the last part. “And since the wedding is supposed to start in ten minutes, we’re getting a little worried…”
“It’s fine,” I say, but my words come out all stuttered and breathy as my climax peaks.
And fuck, it hits me like a freight train, barreling into me in a pleasurable collision that steals my breath and has me digging my nails into the material of Theo’s tuxedo.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” he whispers on a groan.
My head falls back, and my jaw goes slack as my orgasm lingers for what feels like hours. Theo is right there with me, keeping his cock deep as he finishes inside me.
Best wedding day ever.
“What the hell, Lena!” Several knocks pound against the door. “What are you doing in there?”
The doorknob jiggles again. “Let us in so we can figure this out!”
“Just a minute!” I respond and lean back to meet Theo’s handsome gaze.
“Feel better?” he asks, and a ghost of a smirk crests his lips as he swipes a few beads of sweat off his forehead.
“Much, much better.”
“Bloody hell, Lena!” Pippa shouts. “Open the chuffing door!”
Theo quirks a brow. “It seems the bridesmaid natives are getting restless.”
“Yeah.” I snort. “I guess I better open the door before they break it down and see more inches of your beautiful cock than they bargained for.”
I turn back to the door and yell, “Calm your tits! Be there in just a minute!”
Theo flashes me a grin as he slides out of me. And while he zips up his pants and adjusts his tie, I carefully clean myself up and put myself back together again.
“What in the hell is she doing?” Maybe attempts to whisper. Too bad I can hear her talking through the door.
“I have no idea,” Ruby responds at the same volume. “I just hope she’s not panicking about us not being able to find Theo.”
“I swear to everything, if that wanker doesn’t reappear in the next two minutes, I will murder him,” Pippa adds.
Once my panties are back on and my wedding gown is smoothed back down over my body, I glance at my reflection in the large mirror in the center of the room.
This, right here, is a Lena Hawkins original.
A bridal gown created and designed by me for me.
It’s creamy silk in color and hugs my body in a sophisticated yet sexy way.
A first of its kind—no one will ever have a dress like this one.
But in the very near future, a lot of women will be able to wear their very own Lena Hawkins dress. Once Theo and I are back from our honeymoon in Positano, I will be opening up my first boutique in Tribeca.
A big-time career milestone for me.
And with Vogue’s recent review of me being an up-and-coming designer to watch, there’s a good chance that my first boutique will be followed by even more career milestones.
“You look so beautiful. The woman of my fucking dreams,” Theo whispers in my ear as he comes to stand behind me. We gaze at each other in the reflection in the mirror.
God, this man, he is my man.
My biggest supporter.
My confidant.
My lover.
My best friend.
My equal partner in all things.
He challenges me, loves me, supports me, encourages me.
He lifts me up so that I can be the best version of myself.
And when I need him to bang my brains out on our wedding day, he does it in spectacular fashion.
If that isn’t true love, I don’t know what is.
“Lena!” Maybe shouts again, and it’s more than apparent that her patience has just about run dry. “For the love of everything,
open the damn door or I will break this bitch down!”
“I think you better let them in, honey.” Theo chuckles and presses a soft kiss to the back of my neck.
When I finally open the door, Maybe and Ruby are visibly flustered, and Pippa looks one throbbing vein away from permanent high blood pressure.
“Oh my God! What were you do—?” Maybe stops mid-shouty-sentence when her eyes move from me to Theo.
“Hello, ladies,” he greets my bridesmaids, a hot little smirk on his lips.
Hot damn, my man, my almost-husband, is sexy as fuck.
“Oh, for crike’s sake!” Pippa looks back and forth between us. “Were you two just in here shagging?” she questions incredulously.
I shrug and flash her a little grin.
“We were just saying hello before the ceremony starts.”
“We thought your groom went missing!” Maybe exclaims, equal parts amused and irritated. “I almost had a heart attack because you two were in here banging it out like a bunch of fucking rabbits!”
“Holy hell.” Ruby bursts into giggles. “You were literally in here having sex while the church is filling up with all of your freaking friends and families for your wedding day.”
Theo leans down to press another kiss to my lips. “Looks like I better get to that altar, yeah?”
I smile. “You ready to marry me?”
“I’ve never been more ready for anything in my life.”
“I’m readier than Brogan in a room full of champagne and loose women.”
Theo rolls his eyes at my reference to his brother, but his mouth curves all the way up to the corners. “See you up there, honey.”
But just before he can walk away, I grip him by the tie and tug him so we’re nose-to-nose. “I love you,” I say and gently press my mouth to his again.
“Love you too.” He winks. “Now, let’s go get married.”
My responding smile consumes my face.
Yeah. Let’s go get married.
Theo
“You are my husband,” Lena whispers, pressing a soft kiss to my cheek, and I grin.
“And you are my wife.”
She giggles. “Do you think we’ll ever get tired of saying it?”