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That makes me laugh. “Well, I’m a sucker for this one beautiful woman who turned my life upside down.” Then I sober and cup her cheek. “I can’t imagine ever being this happy without you. Here’s hoping we have fifty amazing years together.”
She clinks her glass with mine. “I’m greedy; I want more.”
I could point out that if I live another fifty years, it would extend me beyond the average life expectancy of the American male and that we can’t know whether I have any heretofore unknown medical conditions or an unfortunate incident might cut my life short. But her point is sentimental, not logical.
“I want more, too,” I assure her. “But right now, I want you out of that dress.”
As I turn her away from me, I shuck my tuxedo jacket. Next, I lower her zipper. It’s a quiet, suggestive hiss in the room.
“It’s beautiful here,” she says, trembling. “Thank you. I can’t think of a more perfect place to spend our wedding night.”
The dress folds away from her body, leaving the smooth expanse of her back to gleam by the candlelight. As I ease it down her hips, I spread kisses across her shoulders and up her neck. “I can’t wait to take advantage of this romantic atmosphere—and you.”
“Evan…” she murmurs as I nip at her lobe.
“Yes, wife?”
I circle my hand around her middle and lay my palm over her flat-for-now abdomen. Tonight, I’m not thinking about the baby or what might happen. I’m focused on this moment, on her.
I shift up to cradle her breast, reveling when her head falls back to my chest with a little moan.
“Be with me. Stay with me. Love me.”
Her words fill me with something I can’t describe. Rightness. Not the sort of certainty that comes from being correct when I’ve solved a complex equation or a complicated business dilemma. It’s not straightforward. It’s not tangible. It…just is. This rightness comes from somewhere deeper than my brain. It’s louder than my logic. It’s pure bliss. It’s a certainty stemming straight from my heart that I am where I’m meant to be with the woman who completes me.
Until now, that’s another notion that always confused me. Each person is an individual unto themselves, so how could they need another person to complete them? Maybe it’s finally feeling genuine love that’s helped me to understand. But as sure as I’m standing here now, I know my world will never be the same again if I don’t have Nia by my side.
“My pleasure.”
I’m not even conscious of what we do next. Our clothes seem to melt away as we embrace. We stand closer with every touch. Suddenly, we’re in the middle of our king-size bed, and Nia is under me as I kiss her, looking for new places on her body to both conquer and worship. Those seemingly contradictory urges should strike me as odd, but feeling them simultaneously tonight seems somehow normal.
With my lips, I feel my way over her neck, across her breasts, down her stomach. With my tongue, I adore her hips, her thighs, her pussy. When she cries out and reaches for me, I have to be closer. I have to be with her. I have to be inside her.
As I ease into the snug heat of Nia’s body, I fit my mouth over hers and possess her in every way I know how. She opens her arms, her legs, her heart to me. I sink deep—body and soul. It’s more than a meeting of mere flesh and passion. Slowly, we move together. Until now I’ve never tried sex with this kind of unhurried reverence. I never needed my joining with a woman to be more than two bodies seeking mutual satisfaction.
Tonight, with Nia, everything is different. We’re making love.
As I stroke deep and steady into her, I bend to wrap my lips around her nipple, drag my way up her neck, then whisper in her ear, “I’ll never get enough of you.”
“As long as you love me, too, neither will I.”
Our pleasure rises, bright and inexorable. It’s as if the restraint we’re exercising to make it last makes the blaze between us burn hotter. Our feelings power the desire we share into something more mesmerizing than the mere rubbing together of bodies. I would never have believed how much emotions could heighten ecstasy if I wasn’t experiencing these stunning sensations for myself.
As we reach a gasping, cataclysmic, mutual end, I feel satiated, content, and far more wrapped up in another human being than I thought myself capable of feeling. This is my wife, to have and to hold from this day forward. I may have been married before, but for the first time, I actually know what that means. I’m going to love, honor, and cherish Nia for the rest of my days.
I tuck her damp body against me and wrap my arms around her. She closes her eyes with a sigh of satisfaction, making me smile all over again. If this is marital bliss, sign me up for more.
Chapter Sixteen
Seattle, Washington
Sunday, December 17
* * *
After a few idyllic days at our new place in Maui, we squeezed in a quick visit with the new obstetrician before heading back to Seattle. The next time we step foot on the island, we’ll be new residents.
Unfortunately, that means I have a lot of packing up of my penthouse to do in the next week, especially since I’ve decided to sell the place after all. Engaging a good Realtor to list it eight days before Christmas might be less than simple, but I’m determined to get rid of the old baggage and start fresh with Nia.
