Always You (52 page)

I heard Tom groan beside me, I flicked my eyes to his face. He had turned around and was watching the other direction, a lustful expression on his face, a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. I turned back to see what he was looking at and realised it wasn’t a what, it was a who. Rachel was walking down the aisle in a ‘off white’ dress with a yellow ribbon tied around her waist. Her hair pulled up in an elegant twist, she looked beautiful even I could see that. She smiled at Tom, blushing slightly as she walked up the aisle.

When she got to the end she stood on the other side of the aisle, before turning back to look at the door expectantly. Oh God, this is it!

When I saw her step round the corner my breath caught in my throat. She looked beautiful as I knew she would, but I never could have imagined just how utterly breathtaking she would look. The ivory off the shoulder silk dress, clung to the top half of her body before flowing out at her hips, layers and layers of silk falling to the floor and trailing behind her a little way. It molded to her in all of the right places, showing off everything she had to offer, but at the same time concealing everything so only I knew what was underneath.

She looked like something that had walked straight out of one of the bridal magazines she’d been fussing over for the last two months. The veil covered her face but was still thin enough that I could see her flawless face. Her hair had been pulled up at the back, with loose curls escaping around the front. She was carrying a bouquet of yellow tulips, her favourites.

She looked stunning, and I really was the luckiest guy in the world.

Brian smiled down at her proudly, his arm looped through hers as they started walking towards me. I couldn’t take my eyes off of her, my mouth was dry, my hands sweating even more than they were and I could barely stop myself from walking down the aisle and meeting her halfway just so I could be closer to her.

Brian looked up at me and smiled happily and I couldn’t help but grin back at him like the cat that got the cream. I could see Riley chewing on her lip as she walked towards me, a little blush on her cheeks as people all “Ahh’d” as she walked past them. It took forever for them to get to me, when they finally stopped at my side I was attacked by her familiar scent. I resisted the urge to moan, she looked so incredible that I couldn’t help but rake my eyes over every inch of her. Her dad lifted her veil, folding it over the back of her hair and Rachel stepped forward and took her flowers.

Riley looked back at me and I felt the proud smile stretch across my face that this girl was mine. “Hi,” I mouthed to her.

She smiled her beautiful smile, “Hi,” she mouthed back.

The Priest cleared his throat slightly so I looked away from the love of my life as he started to give his little “We are gathered here today” speech. Finally he was done talking and looked at Brian, I saw that Brian’s eyes were all glazed over with unshed tears as he smiled down at his daughter and he put her left hand in mine. I gave him a small reassuring nod as his eyes met mine in a silent exchange, I knew exactly what he wanted to say, he was begging me with his eyes to look after her. He didn’t need to say anything, I would always look after Riley, always.

Riley kissed her dad’s cheek just before he stepped back and wrapped his arm around Sarah, who was still crying silent tears with a happy grin on her face. I squeezed Riley’s hand gently and she sighed contentedly as we both turned back to the front to make our promises to each other. I made sure I memorized every single second of the wedding, every word, ever gesture she made, every breath she took. I missed most of this last time in Vegas because we were drunk, I wanted to be able to picture this moment with crystal clarity.

I slipped the ring on her finger for the second time, hopefully that would never come off this time. This time was definitely legal, her mom and Brian had consented so there was nothing to stand in our way this time.

“I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss your bride,” the Priest said, smiling and nodding at me.

About time!

I smiled and leant in closer to her, her blue eyes met mine and I let out a sigh of relief that we were married. She was Mrs Preston again, all was right in the world.

As my lips touched hers, she made a small whimper noise and I stepped closer to her, kissing her more forcefully. Her hand gripped the side of my grey suit jacket, as she kissed me back just as passionately. I pulled out of the kiss and put my forehead to hers. She didn’t open her eyes straight away, her hand tightened on my jacket, pulling me closer to her as a smile pulled at the edges of her lips.

“I love you, Riley bear,” I whispered.

Her eyes finally opened and met mine, they held so much passion and love that it almost shocked me to the core. I still couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that this amazing girl wanted me, I really didn’t know how I got so lucky.

“I love you too, Clay,” she murmured.

I grinned proudly and pulled away, taking her hand in mine as I turned back to look at everyone that had come here today to support us and watch us commit to each other. My parents sat just behind me, both smiling at us, I smiled back and flicked my eyes around the rest of the church. All of our friends were here, family I hadn’t seen for years, even a couple of the teachers turned up today too.

I smiled down at Riley again, “Are we ready then, Mrs Preston?” I asked, motioning my head towards the room at the back of the church where we were supposed to go to sign the register for our marriage. She smiled and nodded and I proudly led my wife back there, followed by Tom and Rachel, and Brian and Sarah parents who were all acting as witnesses and would need to sign the marriage certificate too.

Brian slapped me on the shoulder proudly, giving me a small nod. “Welcome to the family, Son,” he said, holding out a hand to me. I shook his hand and laughed, I had been part of their family for years, but those words were nice to hear.

When we were all signed and legal, we made our way back through the - now empty - church. I held Riley’s hand tightly, watching every move she made in her beautiful dress. When we stepped out of the church doors, confetti and rice were thrown at us from all angels, some of it went in my mouth and I couldn’t help but laugh as Riley giggled like crazy next to me. I kissed her again as it all fell down around us, I could hear the click of the cameras everywhere. I pulled back and looked at Riley, she had the biggest smile across her face, confetti was all in her hair, little coloured bits of paper over her shoulders and even a piece of it stuck to the side of her cheek. She had never looked more beautiful to me.

My whole life had been building up to this point. Standing here in a rain of coloured paper, I felt like I had truly come home, this was the happiest moment of my life and I was suddenly glad that the last marriage wasn’t legal. Not many people can say they get to marry the girl of their dreams, twice.

I took her hand and led her to the car waiting at the bottom of the steps for us and would take us to the after party. Just a few more hours and then I would finally get my hands on my wife again, I personally couldn’t wait.

After the food and the speeches, the music started. I recognised the song immediately. It was the song that was everything that Riley was to me. James Morrison, You make it real. I took her hand and smiled, “Want to dance?” I asked, nodding towards the dance floor.

She nodded eagerly and stood, allowing me to lead her over to the empty dance floor. I felt so proud to be leading this girl out to dance, presenting her as my wife for the first time. I really was the luckiest guy in the world to be married to my best friend, not many people can say that.

I pulled her into my arms and we swayed to the beat. I felt myself being drawn into her eyes, she had the most beautiful big blue eyes I had ever seen and I could almost drown in them they were so inviting. I traced my hand up her back slowly, loving the feel of the silky material under my fingertips. She looked incredible and I would remember the way she looked right now for the rest of my life.

“I love you, Clay,” she whispered, pressing herself to me tighter.

I smiled and brushed my nose against hers, letting her perfume fill my lungs, making my whole body tense up in excitement. “I love you more, Mrs Preston,” I mumbled through the fog of desire that was clouding my brain.

We’d agreed on the ‘no sex before marriage’ thing that I suggested, I think she was happy I suggested it to be honest because she was terrified about hurting me. The trouble is, as soon as I’d suggested it, I’d wanted to take it back. It had been way to long since I had my way with her. Riley was an incredibly beautiful girl, she literally drove me wild with desire for her, waking up next to her everyday for the last two months had been like torture. Not that we hadn’t been fooling around, I couldn’t completely cut her cold turkey because that would kill me, but I hadn’t made love to my girl for over four months now. I couldn’t wait for tonight, my mouth was watering at the thought of it alone.

I brought my mouth down to touch hers softly, as soon as my lips touched hers she made a sexy little moan in the back of her throat and kissed me back fiercely. I smiled against her lips, maybe she was as eager as me for this party to be over! I could hear the click of cameras around us, people making Ooo’s and Ahh’s but all I could focus on was the taste and feel of my wife’s mouth on mine. I pulled her impossibly closer to me,

The rest of the night passed quickly, there didn’t seem to be enough time to actually talk to people, and dance with all of the people I was traditionally supposed to. I watched as Riley danced with her dad, they were having a little heart to heart on the dance floor, I could tell by the way she gripped his shoulder and had happy years in her eyes. She adored her dad and most of today wouldn’t have been possible without him. When he said he’d break out the wedding fund, he really did, everything we wanted was bought and paid for immediately. He really was a great guy and I was lucky to be able to call him my father-in-law.

When the party was finally over and we had said goodbye to everyone, I took her hand and led her slowly up the stairs of the hotel. We’d conveniently booked the honeymoon suite of the hotel that we had the party in, so we wouldn’t have to travel anywhere after. As we walked up the stairs I could barely breathe through my excitement. Was it normal to be this excited to see a girl naked? Maybe I was a little strange, but it was Riley that made me this way, the girl literally drove me crazy, she always had done.

As we got to the hotel room door, I suddenly got nervous. What if the accident was going to stop me from doing what I wanted to do tonight? I knew I would have no ‘elevation’ issues, because that had been fairly obvious in the last four months. One of her smiles and I was giving her a soldiers salute, but what if I couldn’t actually ‘perform’. Even if I could perform, then I was sure to be out of practice, maybe it would suck for her and I’d let her down.

I could feel my hands shaking as I fumbled with the key, trying to get it in the lock. I gulped, oh shit this was bad, I was going to let her down on the most important night of my life. Why had I suggested no sex before marriage? I wanted to punch myself for being so freaking stupid and not thinking everything through. Idiot, idiot, idiot!

The lock clicked and I pushed the door open. She smiled her sexy little smile, and I noticed that she looked a little nervous too, but hers was probably more along the lines of her hurting me, I know she was worried about that because we’d spoken about it numerous times before.

She went to step into the room so I grabbed her hand to stop her. She frowned, looking at me with the most adorable little confused expression on her face, and I couldn’t help but kiss her. I bent slightly and slipped on arm around the back of her legs as I kissed her. She realised what I was doing and pulled out of the kiss quickly.

“No Clay! For goodness sake, are you crazy?” she cried, pushing me away slightly.

I smiled reassuringly, “It’s fine Riley bear, I promise,” I whispered, kissing her again. I gave her a couple of seconds to get into the kiss before I swept her into my arms, doing it quickly, before she had a chance to protest. It didn’t hurt, I’d spoken to the doctors about it and apparently I was fine doing this, but I guess that didn’t stop her worrying about me, nothing would probably ever stop this girl from worrying about me. That thought was a little comforting.

She squealed against my lips but didn’t struggle, probably in case she hurt me or anything. I smiled and pulled back, carrying her over the threshold of our hotel room. I know we’d already been married once but I was going to do everything I could to make this right and traditional this time.

“Clay, please don’t hurt yourself,” she begged, wrapping her arms around my neck as I kicked the door shut behind me.

I kissed her again and carried her over to the bed, so eager to get her out of her dress that I could barely think about anything else. She giggled as we plopped down onto the bed, I didn’t break the kiss as she pushed my suit jacket off of my shoulders, letting it fall off onto the floor. She nibbled on my bottom lip wanting me to deepen the kiss, so I slipped my tongue into her mouth. The minute her taste touched my tongue I was so hard it was almost painful against the material of my pants.

Jeez, I needed her so much. All I wanted to do was grip fistfuls of her dress and rip the damn thing off, but I knew I couldn’t do that. I rolled onto my back, pulling her on top of me and started working on long row of little buttons that she had going down the length of her back. Trailing my fingers over the skin there lightly, making her shiver and moan into my mouth.

She was wriggling on top of me and I was so excited that I was actually scared I was going to finish before she even touched me or got my clothes off. I gulped and tried to calm down before I embarrassed myself and ruined it for her, I tried taking deep breaths as she kissed down my neck. She was pressed against my crotch, the pressure of it was driving me mad.