Chapter 7 ~ Alexander #2
I watch our parents get up and dance. My father is smooth on his feet, guiding my mother across the floor. My mother looks up at my father with tenderness, and I know Isabella will never look at me like that because I can’t give her what my father gives my mother.
My stomach clenches as I watch Robert lead Sophia into the waltz. He is clumsy and steps hard. He has no grace and Sophia looks stiff at every turn. The anger gurgles up and I want to go out there and choke the fucker on the dance floor for all to see.
It is our turn to dance with the bridal party.
I retrieve Anna from Danny’s arms, and I lift my eyebrow at him as if to say, ‘when did this happen?’ He gives me a cocky grin and pats her ass as I take her to the floor.
I expected her to lip off at me, give me shit, and tell me to be nice. But she doesn’t say a word.
The song ends and we switch. Rebekah comes over and we dance. She’s as smooth as her sister, only she feels too light in my arms. There’s nothing solid under my hand, just hipbones and knuckles so I lighten my grip on her palm, scared I’m crushing it.
Sweeping her in a turn, I’m facing Sebastian and Isabella for the next few steps. They smile and chat as they dance, then her face changes. He turns her and now he is facing me.
His face is pinched in apprehension. They turn again, and Isabella says something. I lead Rebekah through a few more steps, and Sebastian’s face looks miserable. His eyes are shining, and they stop dancing.
They look at each other as if their world has crashed, and he bows to her and walks off, leaving her at the side of the dance floor.
Anna runs over to Isabella, and she turns to Anna, crying again. Sebastian is storming out the door.
What the fuck?
Very few people catch their intense exchange as I walk Rebekah over to Christopher. He takes out her chair and pushes it in as she sits.
“What the hell was that all about?” Christopher asks close to my ear.
I can guess, as jealousy tightens in my stomach and my chest aches. I rub it again, and I say nothing. What good would it do? He has affection for her. She may very well feel the same, not that she would ever tell me.
But she’s mine now.
The need to know what the hell that was all about urges me toward her but I stop mid-step as Anna drags Isabella over to the far corner table and they sit down.
I stop and watch them for a few minutes; she needs Anna more than me right now because the possessiveness rising in my chest will only lead to me saying something to upset her.
I walk a few feet and sit down in my chair, watching the girls. After a few minutes, Isabella is laughing with Anna now and I blindly reach for my wine. A heavy hand lands on mine and I look up. My father set a glass of water in front of me.
Christ, I’m not a teenager.
He winks at me and walks on. I take the water and have a drink. Carlos pulls out Isabella’s chair and sits beside me. Taking my full glass of wine off the table, he spreads his knees wide, leans back, and takes a sip.
“Prick, you saw that?” I stay watching Isabella.
“Yep, good call too.” He chuckles into his glass.
I say sarcastically, “Enjoy.”
We just watch the girls, and then Anna drags Isabella to the snack table and starts to pile the plate like she’s feeding an army.
“That’s a shit ton of food for Mighty Mouse,” His laugh echoes around the rim of the wine glass as he takes a sip.
“I don’t think it’s just for her, look.” I point.
Anna drags Isabella away from the table, one hand in Isabella’s, the other carrying the enormous plate of food. She comes to a door and hip-bumps it. They slip through and they are gone. I try to get up, but Carlos grabs my arm.
“Give them a minute. From what I saw, she needs it, brother.”
Carlos chuckles at me, tipping MY wine at me. “I’ve seen you silence a room with your fists, a gun, sometimes even words... but never with a song.”
I clap my hands behind my neck and look up at the ceiling. I fucked it up again.
Carlos slaps my back and says, “It was a good choice. Even if the entire room thinks you’re a heartless dick, I know what you were trying to say.”
I snort and give him a blank stare. “Well, someone told me she needed to be loved. I can’t do that, but I can shelter her and keep her safe. That’s all I know how to do.”
He clinks my wine glass against my water, waggles his eyebrows, and finishes the glass in two huge swallows.
“You’re such a dick sometimes.” Taking a sip of my water.
We join the boys at their table, and we relax for once, laughing and teasing Danny. He takes it with grace as his face turns a shade of pink. Anna soon joins us, putting her arms around his waist. He picks her up and kisses her quickly before setting her back down and tucking her under his arm.
I look around for Isabella, but I don’t see her. Panic rushes up my chest and I stand, pushing my chair back. Anna holds her hand out to me, stopping me.
“She needs a minute, Alexander. She’s safe. I tucked her away with a plate of food to breathe.” She smiles at me. “She needs just a few minutes. Izzy’s not good with crowds. Today has been difficult.”
I sit back down. I said I would give her one night where I wouldn’t be a dick. As much as it pisses me off, I’ll give her space, as Anna says. Maybe she will actually talk to me at some point tonight if she feels better.
I look at my watch for the hundredth time as the night drones on.
It is nine-thirty. It has been over an hour and a half since she left me and my chest can’t take this any longer.
Standing up, I push my chair in, Carlos pinches his eyebrows together and gives me the ‘let her be’ look.
I growl back at him, doing up my suit jacket.
I’m going to find my wife.
Walking around the back of the room, I sneak through the same door that the girls did. I make my way down the hall and the service hall leads to the kitchen. They didn't go in there so I push the other door on the right and it opens into the hotel’s main corridor.
The music fades to a dull thump behind me as the door closes and I look up and down the hallway, trying to figure out where she would have gone for privacy.
I take a few steps away from the front of the hotel, and I see the door to the sitting room we used earlier today while we waited for the guest to enter the hall.
I push the door open slowly, looking around the dark interior for her.
The only light illuminating the room is the pale white-blue glow of the lights twinkling in from the garden.
My eyes catch a puffball of white lace on the couch and I grin.
I step in, closing the door as quietly as I can, softening my steps toward the couch.
My little bunny is sleeping, her white stocking feet crossed together, her knees drawn up to her tummy.
She has a pillow cuddled under her chin, her hands tucked around it, breathing deeply.
My chest aches, but for a different reason, and I don’t know what it is.
I am just content to be in the same room as her.
As I make my way to face her, I take off my jacket and lay on the couch. I take off my tie and undo the top three buttons of my dress shirt. I squat down to look at her. My shadow falls across her face, hiding her from me.
I move my hand under her head and lift it with the pillow. She mumbles and wipes her lip, and I use that movement to slip under her and put her head on my lap. I ease the pillow out from under her and she nuzzles her cheek on my thigh.
My eyes adjust to the dim light and I can see her face clearly now from the mini lights flickering in the trees from the garden as I stroke her hair with the tip of my finger.
She is warm and soft on my thigh and everything in my head stops.
Work, the wedding, the coupe. It all goes completely quiet as I gaze down at her.
There is only us in this soft blue light and the quiet of the room.
She nuzzles closer to my stomach, her chin brushing against my cock as she breathes deeply through her nose like she’s smelling me.
Fuuuckk!
I trail my fingers over her brow, stroking down her cheek to run it ever so softly across her plump lip. She licks her lips at the tickle. She bites her lower lip as I bring my finger across it once again, and I smile down at her. She is so sweet like this.
She shakes her head to the side, trying to dispel the tickle on her lips.
Her cheek rubs against my stomach, warming the silk of my shirt and she lets out a moan, tilting her head up and down like a kitten.
She moans again and rubs her cheek against my abs.
The button from my shirt catches in her hair, pulling it and she squeaks.
She reaches up to free it, and I still her movements.
I don’t want her to move away from me, not yet.
“Shhhh, let me free your hair,” I say, and she freezes, putting her head back on my lap. I free the few strands of her braid that got caught on the button. Something takes over me and I lie to her. I want to run my finger through her hair and feel the silky strands slide over my fingers.
Making an excuse that she is tangled I tell her the veil needs to go. I take my time removing each pin, every pearl, and flower that is woven into her hair and throw them on the floor.
Carefully holding the end of her braid to remove the elastic band, being careful not to pull it.
I tell her to sit up and she braces her hand on the cushion, pushing up.
God, she is stunning. Her dark hair mused around her head, her one cheek pink where she rubbed it on my stomach.
She looks so innocent, so fucken tempting.
I take her braid apart, running my hands through the silk of her hair. I can feel the heat coming off her head as I run the tips of my fingers over her scalp, pulling them through the full length of her hair, fanning it out around her.