Chapter 24
Scott had thought he was in trouble before, but that was barely scratching the surface. Now, though, he was in deep mires of shit. A real quicksand situation.
Scott had told himself that he was trying very hard not to fall in love with Dina. No way should he feel this happy; it was unnatural.
Throughout the wedding afternoon he’d found himself attuned to her. The way her face had crinkled in delight as she’d presented Immy and Eric with the tower of cinnamon buns. When he’d given his speech, reading out a passage from Eric’s teenage diary, it was her laughter he heard the loudest.
Dina’s insistent joy was wearing down the guards he’d placed around himself after Alice. It had taken every single ounce of his strength not to tell Dina about his growing feelings when those sparkles had popped out from her. She’d been literally glowing for him; and from the elated post-orgasm surprise that had been written all over her face, he’d known this was special for her too. From somewhere deep in the back of his mind, the logical part of his brain cried out that it shouldn’t have been possible. But that was Dina for you. Everything about her defied expectations.
Christ, he wanted to lavish this woman for the rest of their lives. He couldn’t get enough of her taste, her smell. The way her eyes widened as she took him all in. The way he’d woken up to a mouthful of her giant octopus hair in the morning and wouldn’t have had it any other way. Her kindness, her intelligence; every newly discovered facet of her personality made him care for her more deeply.
Was he kidding himself? After this weekend was over, and the glitz of the wedding faded into memory, would she still want to be with him? An ache grew in his chest at the thought of not seeing Dina every day for the rest of his life.
But it started off the same with Alice, didn’t it? that evil little intrusive voice piped up. He’d been smitten then too, not that that had ever changed on his part during their time together. But perhaps that was his problem.
He fell in love too easily, trusted too quickly. He hadn’t noticed the signs with Alice; the sex had been good, and he’d known his way around her body, but there were times he’d sensed her heart wasn’t init.
That he was just a body there to fuck her and be fucked. With Dina though, she’d been all there. She’d wanted him—Scott—the whole time they’d been together. Fuck, he was hard again just thinking about the way she’d taken him in her mouth last night—eager, so eager.
She didn’t mind the way he became possessive in the bedroom, the way he took charge. In fact, she liked it. Like she was made to be pleasured by him.
He wanted her pretty mouth around his cock again, and the red lipstick she was wearing now was definitely not helping. It made her lips look plump, edible. He wanted to see it staining his body.
He had to at least try to simmer down a little or he was never going to get through the evening. They’d made a pact earlier in the closet, after all the floating lights had faded (he couldn’t wait to make that happen again), that they wouldn’t escape to any more closets, or back to the cottage, before the night was over. They were best man and maid of honor after all; they had duties to fulfill.
Duties which had mostly involved force-feeding water and espressos to drunken uncles who seemed to have started on the prosecco too early. One of whom was now snoring away on a loveseat in the corner of the ballroom.
The stewards of Honeywell House had really outdone themselves with the decoration. As with the rehearsal dinner, everything was lit by candlelight. Delicate crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling, light danced from the brass sconces on the walls, and there were pillars holding bowls of water with small tealight candles floating on the top in the shape of water lilies. It was like a set from one of those Nancy Meyers movies his mums had made him watch growingup.
Earlier, during the reception, Scott had seriously considered taking Immy aside and asking her to throw the bouquet to Dina. And then he’d thought better of it because he’d realized that would make him look like a crazy person.
Was he really thinking of marriage already? Of course. It was impossible not to when he looked across the dance floor and saw Dina busting out some seriously dorky moves with Immy. Somehow she made even silly air punches look graceful. And the way the candlelight set her warm brown skin aglow, she was perfect to him.
“You’re not being very subtle you know,” a voice said from beside Scott. Dina’s father stood there, a wise smile on his face. He could see how Robert Whitlock could have used his height and build to seem imposing—for someone who he’d been told was an accountant, the man was built like a competitive weightlifter.
“What do you mean?” Scott replied, though his innocent tone was fooling no one.
“Anyone with eyes can see that you have it bad for my daughter.” Uh-oh, was he about to have the “stay away from my daughter” talk with Robert?
“Sir,I—”
“Dina is a big girl, she can make her own mind up about who she wants to be with. I’m not going to stand in the way of that.”
Phew, thank fuck for that. He’d been ready to fight for Dina if needbe.
“But, my Dina is very special.” Robert trained a quizzical look on Scott. “I wonder if she’s told you just how special she is?”
It took Scott a second to register what he meant. The magic, he was talking about the magic.
“She has. I can’t say I fully understand it all yet, and it’s a lot to take in. But it doesn’t faze me, not one bit.”
Robert Whitlock’s shoulders sagged with relief ever so slightly, and he gave Scott a hefty pat on the back. “Good man. Good man,” he said, smiling.
For a brief second it made Scott wonder if Dina had shown anyone else her magic before, someone she’d been in a relationship with. He wondered how they’d taken the discovery.
“If you don’t mind me asking, how did you find out about Dina’s mother?”
“Oh, Nour was terrible at hiding it really. On our second date, we had a picnic, and she’d made these amazing puff pastry triangles called briouats. They’re filled with almonds and honey and some such. Well, it was the best damn thing I’d ever eaten. That evening, when I went to my fridge, there were three briouats wrapped in foil. I definitely hadn’t put them there. What was even stranger was that they kept reappearing in my fridge each day if I’d eaten them the day before. Just like, well, magic. Of course, she never owned up to it. But I had a pretty good idea of what I was dealing with from that day on.” Robert laughed as his wife swayed out from the growing crowd on the dance floor and came toward them.
“Did you find out if he’s her boyfriend?” Nour asked her husband, her eyes narrowing suspiciously as she looked at Scott.
Robert pressed a kiss to his wife’s head and laughed good-naturedly. “Between the two of us I think we might scare him off, cariad.”
“So you’re not dating our Dina?”
“I—not yet. I would like to be, but I think that’s up to Dina,” Scott replied. Having this chat with both of Dina’s parents was only slightly mortifying. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t a little afraid of Nour though.
“Hmmph, that girl,” she said, rolling her eyes. Then she reached out and took Scott’s hand in a firm grip.
“What is—”
“Shh. I need to concentrate.” Nour held up a finger, silencing him.
“Are you reading my palm?” he asked tentatively.
“No. I am reading your aura. It is very different, now stop asking questions.”
Scott stood there in silence while Dina’s mum read his aura, feeling strangely vulnerable. He had a feeling that the aura Nour was reading was not the same as the one that his mum Helene used to complain about seeing hours before a migraine kickedin.
She squeezed his hand and let itgo.
“Did that work?” Scott asked, unsure.
Nour looked up at him appraisingly and smiled.
“I knew it. You two are good for each other,” she said matter-of-factly. “But don’t tell her I said that.”
Scott smiled. “I won’t.”
Before Nour could attempt any other kind of “readings” on Scott, Robert dragged her back to the dance floor, where they disappeared among the throngs of dancers.
Scott chuckled as he watched Eric throw Immy into the air, twirling her around. He scanned the room. There Dina was, dancing in the candlelight, her brown and purple curls flicking back and forth, looking like a fucking goddess. And there was…what was his name? One of Eric’s extended family, some cousin who worked in finance, who appeared to be eyeing up Dina as he stalked toward her.
Not just eyeing her up, he was eye-fucking her. Unpleasant shivers crawled up Scott’s arms. Hell no, this was not happening.
Before he knew it, he was walking through the mass of tipsy dancers, making a beeline for Dina. Even with his long strides, he didn’t reach her until Kyle—what kind of a name was Kyle?—had already started chatting away, salivating all over her. From the way Dina looked back at him, she didn’t seem overly impressed.
“…Anyway, can I buy you a drink? You look like a cosmo kind of girl,” schmoozed Kyle, the walking ick, patting his overly gelled slicked-back hair. The smell of aftershave on him was overwhelmingly sour.
Dina’s mouth was about to open in reply, but Scott couldn’t help himself.
“There you are,” he said, and he reached an arm around Dina’s waist, tugging her close to him. She fit him perfectly, her ass brushing against his thighs.
Dina looked up at him, fully aware that Scott was acting like a possessive asshole, the twinges of a smile tugging at the corners of her full mouth.
“Hey, you,” she replied, and pressed her body closer to his.
Fuck, this woman.
“Oh, hey dude,” Kyle slurred to Scott, “didn’t see you there.” His eyes flitted sheepishly between the two of them. “So you hitting that then?”
Scott felt the vibration of anger coursing through Dina. If it was up to him, he’d get Kyle kicked out of the party right now, the leery piece of shit.
“He most certainly is hitting that, Kyle,” Dina said, her voice silky soft, like she was a predator about to pounce. “You, however, won’t be hitting anything for quite some time.”
She framed it as an insult, but Scott noticed the spark of magic that jumped from her finger to Kyle’s drink.
Before he could respond, Scott gripped Dina’s hips and whirled her away into the center of the dance floor.
“What did you do?” he asked, smiling at Dina’s cat-that-got-the-cream expression.
“Let’s just say that Kyle will struggle to get it up for the next few days.” She giggled.
“You were nicer than I would have been. He looked like the kind of guy who would spike your drink if he ever managed to wrangle you into letting him buy you one,” he said, realizing now that Kyle had managed to rile himup.
“Well, it’s a good job that you were here to save me then.” Dina chuckled, winding her arms around his neck, her fingers playing with the curls at his nape. “That was very caveman of you. Me Scott. Dina my woman. Kyle no touch,” she grunted out, but she leaned into his touch just the same.
“I didn’t like the way he was looking at you,” Scott said, leaning in to inhale the sultry scent of her skin. He wanted very badly to plant a row of kisses on her neck, to send delicate shivers up her spine.
“And how was he looking at me?” One of Dina’s eyebrows curved upward.
“Like you were…well, not how a man should look at a woman.”
“I didn’t realize I’d stepped into the Regency era tonight. What’s next, pistols at dawn?”
“Ha-ha. Though you don’t seem to mind that he’s turned his attentions elsewhere?” Scott mused, bending closer to Dina, brushing his lips against her ear.
“No, there’s no one else I’d rather be dancing with,” she said, looking up at him with those fathomless dark eyes.
She shifted closer, her breasts pressing against his chest, the stiff peaks of her nipples visible through the velvet slip. All for him. He was already hard, his bulge pressing against the material of his trousers.
“Let me kiss you,” Scott whispered. And she did, their lips meeting, melting against each other. There was no universe in which he would tire of having her in his arms.
When they broke apart, Scott kissed the freckle above her eyebrow, and she didn’t move away. They stayed like that for a while, Dina’s cheek tucked beneath Scott’s chin, swaying in the candlelight.
Others moved around them, the songs changed, but they carried on dancing. Never moving an inch farther apart. Scott could have stayed there forever, feeling the gentle swell of Dina’s chest against his.
A peacefulness of the kind he hadn’t felt in a long time spread out through his body. Home; he felt at home with Dina. Had he ever felt like this with Alice? Scott racked his brains but couldn’t summon any memory with such clarity.
In fact, all of his memories of Alice seemed to be graying at the edges. Like they had happened in a past life, to another version of himself. A different man to the one who was slow-dancing with this magical goddess of a woman.
Dina shifted, tilting her face upward to look at him.
“Do you want to go back to the cottage?” she asked softly, the question carrying a weight to it. His body immediately reacted to her words, his senses tripping into a higher gear. He was aware of her breath against his neck, the supple curve of her belly and hips, the thickness of her ass. He wanted, he needed.
“Yes,” Scott all but growled, delighting in the unsuppressed passion which flared in Dina’s eyes in response.
“We should say goodnight to Immy and Eric.”
“We could do it together?”
Dina smiled. “I’d like that.”