Chapter 17 #2
In the kitchen, Tori’s kiss had stopped my world on a dime. Tonight, the soft touch of her lips put everything back into motion again. This wasn’t practice this time. It wasn’t a tentative rehearsal of something we had to do for cameras or wedding guests. It was…
It was everything.
Warm. Gentle. Passionate. No one had ever kissed me like Tori did right then, and no kiss had ever made my knees this weak.
I held on to her both for balance and because I could .
Because her arms were around my neck, and sliding my hands around her waist was the most natural and perfect and sexy thing in the world.
How had I ever thought I belonged with any other woman than Tori?
Because right now, no other woman existed but her.
She was my whole world, and my God, she was kissing me like I was her whole world too.
Just the thought of that had me ready to break down crying with relief and love and a million other emotions I couldn’t name.
It was Tori who finally broke the kiss, but she didn’t let me go. She touched her forehead to mine and stroked my cheek. “I love you so much.”
“I love you too,” I whispered. “I can’t believe I didn’t realize…”
Tori laughed softly. “Everyone’s been saying forever we’d be the perfect couple. Guess we were just the last to know.”
I laughed too and pulled her back in. This kiss was gentler and less loaded with all those emotions crashing in, but it was still intense and perfect.
Seriously—how did we go this long without crossing this line?
As I let her go, I said, “To tell you the truth, I didn’t think you were interested in me. You never flirted with me or anything, so…”
“You never flirted with me either.”
I straightened. “I… oh. I guess I…” Then I snorted and rolled my eyes. “All those times I’ve told my friends, ‘She’s flirting with you, dumbass’, and now look at us.”
Tori laughed, which was beautiful anyway, but such a relief after she’d been a wreck just minutes ago. “Good thing everyone already thinks we’re together, or we’d never hear the end of it.”
“We’re never going to hear the end of it anyway,” I said dryly. “They’ve been all ‘I told you so’ ever since we said we were dating.”
“True. Bullet dodged, I guess.” She paused. “So what do we do?” She motioned toward the hotel. “This isn’t a legal marriage, but it’s still a wedding, you know?” Her forehead creased. “We haven’t even dated yet.”
“No, but we’ve lived together.” I shrugged. “We’ve been in each other’s lives all this time…”
She chewed her lip. Then she laughed quietly.
“My brother asked me a long time ago what exactly would be different if we were dating. Like what would change.” She snickered.
“I asked him if he wanted me to spell that out, and he was like, eww, no, I don’t want to know.
” Exhaling, Tori took my hand. “But now that I think about it… I mean, what would change?”
I considered it. Of course friendships and relationships were on different levels, but they were on a lot of the same ones too. “I think sex is about the only thing we haven’t done.”
Her blush was adorable. So was that shy smile. “I think you’re right.” She drew me back in. “We could, um…” She gulped. “We don’t have to rush into that part, but I’m… not opposed to it.”
The delicious frisson rippling up my spine almost made me gasp. “I’m not either. Something to look forward to, isn’t it?”
Oh, hell. The fire in Tori’s eyes was… wow. Yeah, I had definitely missed the clue bus when it came to my attraction to her, but I was onboard now.
And then I remembered where we were and what we were doing.
“So… do you think we should get married for real?” I asked. “Or go through the motions tomorrow and then see how things go?”
Tori gazed at the venue for a moment, unaware of how the warm light pouring out through the windows lit up her gorgeous face and picked out golden highlights in her hair.
When she turned to me again, that light added a beautiful spark to her pretty blue eyes.
“Do you think we need to wait?” She shrugged.
“Because I think we’re the only ones who didn’t know we’ve been practically married all this time? ”
A rush of humor, love, and certainty almost knocked me off my feet. “Let’s do it. We’ll do the wedding tomorrow, and then quietly do the legal thing next week or whatever.”
Any worries I had about doing that impulsively fled when she smiled that sweet, adorable smile. “Okay! Let’s do it!”
I laughed as I pulled her in. Just before our lips met, though, I paused.
“What’s wrong?” Her expression went serious. “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, yeah, but…” Heat rose in my cheeks, but I managed to get the words out even as I had to fight a smile: “Does this… Does this mean our first time will be on our actual wedding night?”
The laughter pouring out of her cemented the reality that I was stupidly in love with this woman. She was just so beautiful, and that smile lit up the whole evening.
Sliding her hands up my waist, she gazed at me with dancing eyes. “I guess it will be. So we should probably go easy on the champagne, huh?”
My spine tingled. Oh, I would definitely be going easy on the champagne. I wanted to remember everything tomorrow… including our wedding night.
“Easy on the champagne,” I murmured, drawing her in. “Got it.”
Then we were kissing again, her soft lips making my knees weak.
The thought of taking her to bed had me dizzy.
I kind of wanted to go home tonight and finally find out what sex with her was like, but we’d waited this long.
What was one more day so we could experience each other for the first time on our wedding night?
I wasn’t sentimental about virginity or anything, and we’d both had plenty of girlfriends, but there was just something sweet and romantic about it this time.
About Tori being my wife the first time we slept together.
Yeah, I could wait one more night.
Footsteps on concrete made me break the kiss and turn, and I looked just in time to see Marco coming around the corner. His face was full of concern, but as soon as he saw us, relief charged in.
“Are you two…?” He gestured at Tori, then me.
I laughed and looked at the woman I loved. “Yeah. Yeah, we are.”
“Jesus Christ— finally! ”
We both faced him.
“What?” I asked.
“Oh, please.” He waved his hand as he came closer. “I’ve been telling this dork for years to just get together with you already.”
I faced Tori. “He has?”
She blushed bright and shrugged. “I… probably should’ve listened.”
“ Probably .” Marco scoffed and gathered us both into a group hug, making us squeal with laughter as we tried to pull away. “You probably should’ve listened.”
“You’re such a jerk!” Tori said through her laughter. “You just have to say ‘I told you so,’ don’t you?”
“Obviously.” He let us go, but his expression turned surprisingly serious. “I really did want to make sure you were both okay, though. And I’m glad you’re on the same page.”
“We are,” I said. “Finally.”
Marco smiled. “Good. So we’re still…?” He nodded toward hotel.
My heart went wild. “Yeah. And we’re going to mean it this time.”
God, Tori’s smile was going to end me. Maybe Marco should’ve told me to get together with Tori, because I’d been as clueless as she was.
“Guess we’re a little late to file the paperwork, though,” Tori said. “Don’t we need like twenty-four hours or something?”
“Seventy-two,” Marco corrected. “But we can do the official stuff later. Just have it signed off at the courthouse and…” He gestured dismissively. “Tomorrow won’t be your legal wedding, but it’ll be your real wedding.”
The words brought a smile to my lips and a lump to my throat. “Our real wedding,” I said to Tori.
She squeezed my hand. “Kind of hilarious that we’re the last to know.”
“Um, excuse me?” Marco tsked. “I believe I was the last to know.”
“Brat,” she muttered.
He laughed and stepped back. “All right, I’ll leave you two alone and let your moms know everything is fine.”
I stiffened. “Oh. Shit. My mom noticed we’re?—”
“Honey, people notice when a bride disappears at a wedding rehearsal. When they both disappear?” He grimaced. “ Everybody notices.”
“Oh, crap. I’ll?—”
“I’ll take care of it.” He squeezed my shoulder. “You two have your moment and steady yourselves. I’ll take care of everyone else.”
“Thank you,” Tori said. “For everything.”
All the humor was gone from his smile as he said, “Anything for you, hon. You know that.” His eyes flicked to me. “And for you, especially since you’re shackled to this one now.”
“Oh, shut up!” Tori laughed.
He chuckled. “Oh, and by the way? I told you so.”
Tori rolled her eyes and gave him the finger. He just cackled and disappeared back into the venue.
Tori faced me again, a soft smile on her lips. “I guess we should go back inside.”
“Yeah. Probably.” I stepped closer and cupped her face. “But he’s got everything under control. We’ll be okay for a minute.”
Lips brushing mine, she whispered, “A minute?”
“Just a minute.”