30. Joey
True to his word, John Samuels married me the next day. We dropped his father and brother at the airport, and drove straight to the county offices to fill out paperwork and say our vows in front of a judge.
Our witness was a woman named Marge, who wore an eyepatch and a brightly colored dress with feathers in her hair, and the man reciting our vows was certainly not going to win awards for being passionate about his job.
But none of it mattered. The only people I was really aware of in that little room were me and John.
He stood in front of me, holding both my hands in his, and his warm smile penetrated every cell in my body.
”I, John Martin Samuels, take you, Josephine Adelaide Baxter, to be my lawfully wedded wife.”
Wife... the word wove through me and left a trail of sparkly joy behind it. I smiled back at him and said the same words to him. ”I, Josephine Adelaide Baxter, take you, John Martin Samuels, to be my lawfully wedded husband...” And the word husband left a twin trail inside my heart as John”s dark eyes filled with emotion.
”Not everyone does it, but if you want, you can kiss now,” the officiant told us.
John grinned and stepped close, wrapping a hand around my waist and cupping my cheek with his other. ”Oh, I”m gonna kiss her,” he told the man. ”Stand back.”
The officiant actually did take a step back, and John”s lips met mine with an explosion—or maybe that was only in my head. Warmth and joy flooded my body at the contact, every living part of me celebrating the total rightness of the moment, of the future we were planning together.
The kiss went on for a while—I wasn”t timing it, but the officiant did clear his throat at one point to try to break it up. But John took his time, his tongue meeting mine and flushing my body hot with desire as my arms wrapped his strong back, holding on for all I was worth.
When he finally set me upright again, my head spun, and I flashed a smile at the officiant. ”Thanks,” I told him.
”You should be thanking him,” the guy said, pointing at John. ”That was some kiss.”
”Thanks,” I whispered to John, laughing. ”For loving me.”
”Any time,” John said back. ”And forever.”
We held hands as we left the courthouse, the smile on my face so wide it felt permanent. I couldn’t imagine ever being unhappy again—with John at my side and our life stretching out before us laden with promise and possibility...
”What about the honeymoon?” John asked, stopping me on the steps of the courthouse.
”What?”
”Do we do it now or after the next wedding?”
I thought about that for a brief moment. ”Um, both?”
John grinned. ”Good plan.”
It was still off season for hockey, but all of this happened so fast, and I knew John was still hoping to make All Star this year to cement his spot. ”You probably don”t have time for a trip though, do you?”
”I”ll make time,” he said. ”Where should we go?”
Ideas rushed through me, but I found I didn”t care at all, as long as we were together. ”Clara told me the team is headed to Deck Gillespie”s lake house next weekend...” I tried to imagine honeymooning with a hockey team. John”s face said he couldn”t picture it either.
”Not sure about that... but I could get into you and me, alone in a cabin on the lake...”
”Ohh, yes,” I agreed. ”Maybe we go a bit early and catch up with them when they all arrive?”
”Plan,” he agreed.
* * *
Two days later, we were ensconced in a little A-frame cabin on the edge of a Virginia lake, Gillespie”s massive lake house directly across from us. The team wouldn”t arrive for several more days, and we planned to make the most of our accommodation, which was mostly just a king-sized bed, a tiny kitchen, and an enormous deck on the waterfront.
”It”s not quite the lap of luxury,” John had said when we arrived and unlocked the door. In his voice I heard the tone I recognized from high school, from before high school. The one that apologized for coming from a family that didn”t use a finger bowl at place settings and didn”t consider cotillion as fundamental as getting one”s teeth cleaned.
I dropped my bag and turned to him, feeling every bit of the glorious isolation and beauty that our setting provided. ”Mr. Samuels.”
John”s grin crept slowly across his face as my hands rested on his chest. He turned to face me fully. ”Yes, Mrs. Samuels?”
”This is the single best vacation I”ve ever been on. We have absolutely everything we will ever need right here.” I pressed myself into him. ”You, Sammy. You are everything I”ll ever need.”
His arms enclosed me, and we stood there for a moment, drinking in the cool lakeside air, the silence of the woods around the cabin. John”s body was warm and hard against me—hard in one spot especially.
”Mr. Samuels?”
”Yes, Mrs. Samuels?”
”Did you bring a pepper grinder in your pocket?”
”What?” John laughed but didn”t let me go.
”Or is it maybe a candlestick?”
”It is not.”
”Glass banana?”
”While I often carry a glass banana, I left it home for our honeymoon.”
”Hmm,” I said, letting my hand slip lower to press against the front of John”s pants. ”Mind if I investigate?”
John walked us backward to the bed against the back wall. ”I wish you would,” he said, his voice dropping low.
I let my hands move to his waistband, unbuttoning his jeans and then pressing them down, along with his boxers.
”So not a banana, then,” I said, giggling. I let my hand slide over John”s very impressive not-banana, and he hissed out a sharp breath.
”Have I mentioned how much I like it when you wear sundresses?” he whispered, tugging me down onto the mattress.
”No,” I said, playing along and climbing to sit astride him as he pulled off his T-shirt. I pressed myself along the hard ridge of his erection, loving the heat and pressure exactly where I wanted it. John”s voice rumbled in his chest as his hands found my waist. ”I really, really like it.”
”Why would that be?” I asked, letting him control the motion as I slid up and down along his length.
He dropped one hand, rubbing me through the thin fabric of my panties before pushing them to the side and notching himself to enter. ”This,” he hissed, guiding me onto him. ”Because of this...”
I let my head drop back as he filled me completely, enjoying the sensation of being utterly and totally full, impaled on him in the best way.
We moved together, the lake as our backdrop and the distant call of birds the only soundtrack besides our own labored breathing. Soon, I felt sensation building toward a climax, my nerves tingling and my legs beginning to shake as my rhythm broke down.
”I need...”
But I didn”t have to tell him. John knew exactly what I needed—he always had. And when we finished, I collapsed to his side, curled in the nook of his arm, my hand resting on his solid chest and loving the feel of him breathing beneath it.
”What do you need?” he asked softly, picking up where I”d left off when my orgasm had overtaken me.
”Only this. Just you. Us,” I told him, sleepy.
”You”ve got it. For as long as you want.”
”Just forever,” I said.
We had four days like that—and on the fifth day, a speedboat careened across the lake carrying a crowd of noisy men, and we joined them, celebrating life and love and hockey ahead of the start of the new season.
* * *