Chapter Two The Best Laid Plans . . .
~ Alex ~
‘Go get her!’
Myles nudged Alex in the side and offered an exaggerated wink. Alex chuckled. His best friend, lead guitarist, and best man was more than three sheets to the wind, and tact wasn’t his strong suit even whilst sober.
‘All in good time,’ Alex replied nonchalantly, even though lust was coursing through his veins. The wedding guests were gradually leaving; the photographer and DJ were long gone, and both sets of parents had already departed alongside Sasha and Emily.
‘I’ve got to go and tweet some more about how you’re in the Caribbean,’ Emily had joked when she left. ‘You take care of Casey, and enjoy yourselves on your honeymoon.’
This ploy of hers had kept the press away, allowing Casey and Alex to get married in peace. Alex was extremely grateful that his band had such a capable and inventive publicist who also had the good sense to chivvy the guests along when they were supposed to leave. There were only a few stragglers left, and, very soon, he would be alone with Casey.
‘Go on, man,’ Myles persisted, swaying on his feet. ‘Go get her, it’s your wedding night.’
Alex resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He loved Myles, in a best-mate kind of way, but he could be a bit much when drunk. Alex hoped the fact that he was now a married man wouldn’t come between them. It shouldn’t, really, given that he had been with Casey for well over two years, but you never know. Some blokes were funny about these things, and Myles had a crass streak that could get ugly. He was always cracking inappropriate jokes about Casey, not least the ‘I’ll have her’ one he had delivered that very morning. If one were on the paranoid spectrum, one might be inclined to suspect an ulterior motive, but of course Alex trusted Myles implicitly. As a bachelor, Alex had simply ignored Myles when he got out of hand, but he wouldn’t stand for crudeness at his wife’s expense, not any more.
He grinned and squared his shoulders. Time to get Myles shipped off to bed.
‘I know it’s my wedding night,’ he said pointedly. ‘My wife and I shall enjoy ourselves just as soon as you get off this boat.’
‘All right, all right, keep your hair on,’ Myles mock-grumbled. ‘I can take a hint. I’ll be off then. But give it to her good, won’t ya?’
Alex snorted. ‘Myles, I promise you’ll be proud of me. Now bugger off.’
‘Bugger off?’ Casey joined the conversation with a teasing reproof. ‘That’s no way to talk to our guests, not least your best man.’
‘You’d be telling him worse if you knew how very badly Myles has been behaving.’
‘Is that so?’ Casey burst out laughing. ‘I didn’t think he’d had his wicked way with any of the single ladies yet.’
‘I’m standing right here, you know,’ Myles huffed. ‘I can hear you.’
‘There must be something wrong with your hearing as you’re still here.’ Alex dropped another hint. ‘I thought you were going.’
‘I am. I know where I’m not wanted.’ Myles pulled a downcast face.
‘Aw, Myles, we love you.’ Casey wrapped her arms around the guitarist and hugged him tight. She whispered in his ear. ‘Thank you for being such a good best man to Alex.’
‘I did it for you, honey,’ Myles whispered back, wrapping Casey tightly in his arms. ‘You know you’re too good for him.’
‘Myles Baker, you are one maudlin drunk. Now be gone with you,’ Alex chided, beginning to feel a little irritated at his best man’s inability — or unwillingness — to make himself scarce. And never mind all the trust in the world, Alex was a little uncomfortable with the closeness of Myles’s and Casey’s embrace. It was inappropriate, somehow.
Casey released her hold on Myles, and Myles ambled off towards the gangway.
‘Night, guys,’ he threw over his shoulder.
‘Night, Myles,’ Casey and Alex echoed in unison.
Alex turned to his bride. ‘Phew. Alone at last.’
‘Alone at last,’ Casey confirmed, but she’d spoken too soon.
‘Alex! Love of my life!’ Liza skittered along the deck on her high heels and came to an unsteady stop in front of Alex. She swayed for a moment, then threw herself at him. ‘Sorry,’ she slurred. ‘This boat’s making me dizzy. I think I gotta go, though. Party’s over. I just wanted to say goodbye.’
Alex grinned and shook his head. ‘You’re steaming. Get yourself to bed.’
‘Yessir. But do I get a farewell kiss?’
Alex squirmed uncomfortably but obligingly placed a kiss on Liza’s cheek. Why couldn’t Myles have taken her with him?
‘Thassnot a proper kiss,’ Liza pouted. ‘Thissisa proper kiss.’ She lunged forward and pushed her lips against his, thrusting her breasts against his chest and her tongue against his teeth. Goddammit, woman!
Alex put his hands on Liza’s shoulders and bodily pushed her away from him. ‘Good night, Liza. Time to be going now,’ he said firmly.
‘All right, lover boy. I’m off.’ Liza teetered and veered off towards the gangway. ‘Congratulations again, I think. Myles, wait up.’
Alex rolled his eyes and kissed Casey on the nose as he watched Liza’s retreating figure. ‘Sorry about that.’
‘Don’t worry about it. It’s just Liza. It’s how she is,’ Casey offered airily. ‘Plus she’s totally drunk. She won’t even remember this tomorrow, and she’ll have one hell of a hangover.’
‘Deservedly so.’
‘Now that’s just mean.’ Casey smiled widely and changed the topic. ‘Wasn’t it the most divine day?’
‘It certainly was. And the best is yet to come.’
Alex pulled Casey into his arms. The swell of her breasts against his chest made his pulse race. Seeing her cleavage all day without being allowed to touch had been an exquisite torture, but now he was ready to take what was his. He dipped his head and planted a series of kisses along the plunging neckline of Casey’s dress. Casey shuddered and wriggled.
‘Is that so?’ she breathed.
‘Is what so?’ Alex was mentally undressing Casey, stripping off layers and layers of exquisite but inconvenient wedding dress fabric until she stood before him in all her naked glory, and he had lost the conversational plot.
‘You said the best was yet to come,’ Casey reminded him. ‘I wonder what you might be talking about.’
‘Want me to show you?’
Without waiting for an answer, Alex swooped Casey off her feet and carried her along the deck, determined now to reach their cabin.
‘Wait, wait! Not so fast,’ Casey protested. ‘Hang on a moment. I want to memorise all this.’
Alex obediently stopped.
‘Put me down,’ Casey pleaded. ‘I’m too heavy for you.’
‘You’re not,’ Alex replied automatically, but he set her down anyway.
‘Look at it all.’ Casey made a sweeping gesture with her arm, taking in the upper deck festooned with fairy lights, the wide sea glittering silver in the moonlight, the twinkle of lights on the shore. She sighed happily. ‘It’s so perfect. I wish I could package it up and store it forever.’
‘You’re doing that, aren’t you? Memorising it?’ Alex couldn’t quite follow.
‘I am, but I wish I could make it real. You know, something to take out and touch, and feel, and hear all over again when I want to.’
‘We have the wedding video,’ Alex reminded her.
‘Very true.’ Casey smiled. ‘But that’s still not what I mean. Anyway . . . it’s probably the drink speaking. It was perfect, and I don’t want it to end.’
‘Tell you what,’ Alex mused out loud. ‘We could always come back out here with a glass of bubbly afterwards and talk the night away until the sun rises.’ He didn’t need to explain what he meant by afterwards.
‘Oh, now there’s an idea,’ Casey enthused. ‘You don’t think the crew would mind?’
‘I should think they’d be fast asleep by then. After all, we’re supposed to set sail for Spain in the morning.’
‘Go on, then,’ Casey gushed as if suddenly possessed by a second wind. ‘Let’s be Mr and MrsMorgan at last.’ She smiled and beckoned at Alex like a wanton sex goddess. ‘Take me to thy lair, man.’
‘My wish is your command,’ Alex quipped. He made to pick Casey up again, but quick as lightning, she gathered up her dress and set off running along the gangway. ‘Catch me if you can!’
‘Oi! Wench!’ Alex shouted after her, allowing her a few seconds’ head start before giving chase. Man, he loved this woman and all her crazy traits.
He had known that she was his kind of girl when she had suddenly materialised from out of nowhere on the stage in that pub all those years ago, flashing emerald eyes, wild russet curls, attitude and all. He had been quietly dying at the drums, listening to their latest trial lead singer butchering song after song. He smiled while he thought back to that moment.
‘We’ll never make it like this,’ he had seethed, bashing the cymbals to vent his anger. ‘Something’s got to happen, or we’ll have to call it a day.’ And right at that moment, something happened. Casey happened.
‘Excuse me, mate,’ she said to the hapless singer. ‘You’re awful. They’re definitely not loving you out there. Let me have a go.’ The crowd cheered and clapped, and Casey wrestled the microphone out of the singer’s hands.
Security appeared on stage to take Casey away, but Alex motioned for them to leave her alone. Obviously he hadn’t even known her name then, but there was something about her. Besides, that level of spunk deserved a try at the mic.
‘Right, guys, show me what you can do,’ she taunted the band. ‘How about some real rock?’
Myles shrugged, feigning indifference but evidently delighted at the turn of events. He strummed a few chords that morphed into the intro to Guns N’ Roses’ ‘Sweet Child o’ Mine’. The out-of-the-blue-woman punched the air with her right fist, assumed ‘the stance’, and launched herself into the vocals with gusto. She brought the house down, and Alex knew that he had to have her. As his lead singer, that was, not as his girlfriend. That came later . . .
‘And now she’s my wife,’ Alex concluded with pride as he loped after his bride. He managed to catch the hem of her dress in his hands and held fast. Casey stopped short, nearly tripping over, laughing wildly.
‘You caught me.’
‘Again! I’m a lucky man.’
They had reached the door to the cabin, and Casey pushed it open with her elbow. ‘Shall I make you really lucky?’
‘You’re doing that eyebrow thing,’ Alex said. ‘I daresay you’ll make me incredibly lucky.’
‘What eyebrow thing?’
‘That thing where one of your eyebrows goes up to your hairline, and you look like a wicked schoolmistress.’
‘I what? Never!’ Casey screeched and dashed to the mirror. ‘I don’t see it.’
‘Of course you don’t,’ Alex tried to calm her. ‘It’s a fleeting thing, but you do it a lot, and it usually means my luck is in.’ He was slightly breathless after their little run, and he fumbled to take off his tie.
‘He’s hot under the collar,’ Casey teased. ‘How sweet.’
‘Not just the collar.’
‘That’s good news. However, the bad news is . . .’ Casey turned her back to Alex ‘. . . you’ll have to undo these thirty-six buttons.’
Alex looked at the delicate, fabric-covered buttons and groaned. ‘This is going to take forever.’
‘I’m in no hurry.’
‘Hmm,’ Alex mumbled. ‘Are you sure I can’t rip the rest off?’ Alex enquired when he was about halfway down. ‘It would be quite romantic, don’t you think? Husband ravishes wife on wedding night and all that.’
‘No,’ Casey objected. ‘This gown cost a fortune. I’ll never own anything as expensive ever again, and I want to preserve it. For, you know, when we renew our vows in twenty years, or maybe even for one of our daughters to wear, should she choose to.’
‘Renewing vows,’ Alex repeated. ‘I like the sound of that. And I like the sound of daughters even more — if we can ever get round to making one!’
‘Nearly there,’ Casey spurred him on. ‘I can almost wriggle out of it now.’ She gave her hips a little shake, and all of Alex’s frustration melted away at the sight of the blue lacy knickers peeping through the gap in the fabric that his meticulous unbuttoning efforts had created. He swallowed hard. Even though they must have made love hundreds of times before, he suddenly felt like this was their first time.
‘This is so weird,’ Casey broke into his thoughts with a giggle. ‘It’s like we’ve never done this before. Everything is weird.’
Alex turned her around so he could look her in the eyes again. There they were, the emerald gems that had captured and held his heart. He kissed Casey’s nose.
‘Weird bad, or weird good?’ he prompted.
‘Just weird. Must be wedding night nerves or something. Exciting, though.’ Casey wriggled her body some more and shook the dress off her shoulders. With a soft swish, it slid down her side, over her hips, and gathered in a pool of silken delicateness at her feet.
‘You’re standing in a pool of moonlight,’ Alex whispered. ‘Hold that thought. Don’t move.’
He looked around frantically for something to write on — something, anything — and noticed a desk by the far wall of the cabin. Surely it would hold some stationery?
Crossing the floor in three giant steps, he rummaged in a drawer until he found a notepad and a pen. Without bothering to sit down, he scribbled furiously for a few minutes, reading out to Casey what he was writing.
‘Sorry,’ he apologised over his shoulder when he was nearly done. ‘A new—’
‘A new song, I know.’ Casey’s voice was sweet as honey. ‘And that’s what I love about you.’
‘You know me so well. We should get married.’ Alex grinned as he straightened up. His next joke died on his lips when his eyes fell on Casey, now reclining on the bed. While he had been making notes, she had stepped out of her gown and arranged herself for him in all her naked glory, exactly as he had dreamed. She was on her side, her head propped on one hand, the other arm tucked behind her back. There was the hint of a tan where her skin had been exposed to the sun during the day. The glow served to highlight the milky creaminess of Casey’s body as though she was wearing a dress in reverse. Her nipples were pink and taut like rosebuds, and Alex could barely contain himself.
‘Hello there,’ Casey purred. ‘Ready to join me at last?’
Alex nodded but didn’t speak. He undid his belt and buttons so that he could get out of his trousers. He began undoing his shirt but didn’t have the patience to deal with any more buttons, so he tugged hard until they pinged off with a satisfying ripping sound. It’s only a dress shirt, he reasoned with himself. Easy to replace, unlike Casey’s gown.
Casey wolf-whistled her approval. ‘Atta-boy, don’t hold back now!’
Undressed at last, Alex lunged onto to the bed, landing next to his wife with confident panache. She snuggled in to him eagerly, and he bent his head to kiss her properly. Her lips tasted of strawberries, and he sucked greedily. Casey responded like for like and ground her hips into his groin. He ran a hand down her back, and she moaned with pleasure. Then he turned his attention to her breasts.
‘Are you ready?’ he whispered into her ear.
‘I’m ready,’ Casey whispered. She smiled widely and he rose above her, poised for action. And then—
Nothing.
* * *
~ Casey ~
Casey had felt it building for some time. She couldn’t quite understand what was happening to her, but nonetheless, there it was. She had fought it valiantly — thought excited thoughts, mentally hurried Alex on — and yet, as he was poised to join her, she couldn’t hold it back any longer. She erupted into the most almighty yawn. Her jaws dropped open as if they were spring-operated, and tears rolled from her eyes while she gulped for air, waiting for the yawn to play out — unable to speak, unable to think, mortified, panicked at what Alex would say, think, feel, at this sexual faux-pas, and yet utterly unable to stop.
‘I’m sorry,’ she whispered feebly when the yawn had finally let go of her. She felt flat, spent. All desire for sex had vanished. ‘I’m so sorry.’
* * *
~ Alex ~
Nothing.
Alex could feel beads of sweat springing up on his forehead. He had never laid down on the job before. Never.
He pushed himself a little higher on his elbows, raising his hips away from Casey, and sneaked a peek down to his nether regions. He didn’t really need visual confirmation, but he sought it anyway. And there he was, flaccid and limp and utterly useless. He felt sick all of a sudden. And spent. And worried.
‘I’m so sorry,’ he muttered.
‘It’s not your fault,’ Casey assured him.
‘How can you say it’s not my fault? I vanished.’
‘My killer yawn,’ Casey replied. ‘It’s not your fault. I’ve totally gone off the boil, but I’m going to make a comeback, I promise.’
Alex shook his head and looked his wife in the eye. ‘I’ve no idea what you’re talking about.’ Then he noticed the tears glistening on her cheeks, and his heart broke. He dabbed at the droplets with his thumb, worried that Casey would bat his hand away, but she smiled.
‘I think maybe it’s the sea air. Or the alcohol. Or all the excitement,’ she offered.
Alex pondered this for a moment. She might have a point there. He had drunk rather a lot, he supposed. Although, they had made love after a lot more alcohol before.
Next to him, Casey yawned again, clapping her hand to her mouth. ‘So sorry. I don’t know what’s come over me. I’m all . . . I’m all dried up. And tired. Like all I want to do is sleep. One minute, we were going for it, and the next, I’m yawning and totally not turned on any more. Like someone threw a switch.’
Alex sat up a little, excited by the metaphor. ‘That’s exactly what it’s like, like someone has thrown a switch. But I’ll be damned if I can un-switch it.’
Casey sat up, too. ‘D’you know,’ she mumbled through another yawn. ‘It’s not a big deal. We’ve had a long day, we’ve been in the fresh air all day, and we’ve drunk a lot. We’re probably knackered out.’
‘You think?’ Alex was ready to grab onto this lifeline of an explanation and hold on tight. ‘You think that’s really all it is?’
‘Of course I do.’ Casey laughed, obviously failing to comprehend the seriousness of his self-doubt. ‘We’ve made love loads of times. Our bodies sing to each other. There’s no reason why we should suddenly be all frigid. It must be tiredness.’ She was warming to her theme, and a certain sparkle had returned to her eyes.
‘I bet you,’ she said, ‘I bet you if we looked up “sex on the wedding night”, we’d find all sorts of stuff about how couples like us don’t do it.’
‘Do you reckon?’
‘Shall we have a look?’
Alex nodded. Perhaps there would be some comfort in checking out the statistics. And then he would be able to sleep, and tomorrow would be another day.
Casey had already hopped out of bed and retrieved her tablet. She fired up the search engine and sat back next to him, showing him the results page. Agog, they stared as the screen filled with articles about sex on the wedding night — or lack thereof.
‘Look at that one.’ Casey pointed to a link.
‘“More than one in four couples don’t have sex on their wedding night because they’re too tired or too drunk or both”,’ Alex read out loud. He grinned. ‘Well, I’m both tired and drunk.’
Casey had already moved on to the next item. ‘Oh, read that one.’
‘Wow,’ Alex exclaimed after he’d scanned the article. ‘This is shocking. I had no idea. More than half of couples in this survey don’t make love on their wedding night, and nearly a fifth wait three days?’ He frowned. ‘I’m not waiting three days!’
Casey gave a soft laugh. ‘Nobody’s asking you to. But what say we stop freaking out and call it a night? We’re obviously quite normal.’
‘I hate being normal,’ Alex grumbled.
Casey poked him in the ribs. ‘You know what I mean. Normal is good, in this context. Stop fretting.’
‘But it’s so embarrassing!’
Casey rolled her eyes at him when he said that. ‘Why is it embarrassing?’ she challenged. ‘For whom? I’m not embarrassed. You shouldn’t be embarrassed. And anyway, who’s to know? It’s not like you have to tweet about it.’ She grinned. ‘You know what they say: “What goes on in the bridal suite stays in the bridal suite”.’
At this, Alex burst out laughing. Only Casey could twist an old rock star adage into something to break the tension in this situation.
‘I like that,’ he said when he could speak again. ‘What do we do now?’
Casey shrugged. ‘We can either go to sleep, or we can go outside and watch the sunrise. What do you want to do?’
Alex chewed his lower lip. What did he want to do? Truth be told, he would love to sleep. But what would Casey want to do now? How could he avoid any further disappointments?
‘Tell you what,’ Casey cut into his musings. ‘Let’s open the porthole, turn off the lights, and let ourselves be rocked to sleep by the waves. And tomorrow is a new day.’
Alex softly shook his head. It never ceased to amaze him how Casey could read him like an open book.
‘You are one wonderful woman, MrsMorgan,’ he whispered. ‘And I love you so much.’
‘I love you too, Alex.’