In the Wake of Wanting (67 page)

“I do, yes… I do. Where’s Nyall?” I ask. He waves from the back, where he stands with his parents. “Can you come up and sign, please?”

He quickly makes his way to the stage with his parents standing right off the side of it.

“Thank you, Nyall. First of all, I’m sure I have my mother to thank for that humiliating display of pictures that’s still going on behind me.” All of my guests laugh, and I look around until I find my parents. “Mom, Dad, thank you for believing in me–from the first moment you learned of my existence until this very second. I am beyond blessed to have you in my life. I will always strive to make you proud.”

“That’s all you’ve ever done!” Dad shouts back at me.

“He didn’t say that at
Livvy’s
twenty-first birthday party,” I mutter into the mic, getting a few more laughs. Jon kisses her cheek and keeps her from throwing a cocktail napkin at me. “Speaking of Livvy… you’ve been the best big sister a kid could ask for. And thanks for marrying into the Scott family. Jon, Will, and Max? I just can’t imagine a life without my brothers.

“Thanks so much to the rest of my family for coming out. I know we are an anomaly–a family as close as us–but I wouldn’t have it any other way. You’ve always been there for me for guidance and advice. Even when you give me bad advice, ahem, Uncle Chris, I still love you all the same.”

“A man can be wrong once in his life,” my uncle retorts.

“But just once!” I return, laughing.

“And wow… to all of my friends who are here tonight. I can’t believe you all came just to wish me a happy birthday. What’s that? There’s an open bar? And tons of free food? And Ubers for all? Shit, I thought I was special.”

“We love you, Trey!” Pryana yells from the back.

“Awww… give that girl anything she wants. It’s on me.” The crowd laughs again.

“Lastly, I want to thank my fiancée.”

The room gets eerily silent.

“Uh… Trey?”

“Yeah, Will?” I ask, going by the script we’d gone over last week.

“You don’t have a fiancée.”

“Whoa,” I say, running my hand through my hair and looking at Nyall, embarrassed. I probably should have let him in on the surprise, because he looks hesitant to translate anymore. “Well… that’s something that can be remedied.” Finding my place in the center of the stage, I get down on one knee.

I can hear a few gasps from the crowd.

“Now… I think there may be a woman in the crowd who’s in line to be my fiancée. Will, do you see Coley Fitzsimmons anywhere?”

“I do, Trey,” he says from off-stage. I look in her direction and see him taking her by the hand, leading her up the stairs. “Is this the right girl?” he asks as she stands in front of me.

I can’t breathe when I see her from this angle. He places her left hand in my right one, and the touch of her warm skin revives me. “The one and only.”

She doesn’t say a word to me. She just smiles wide and struggles to fill her lungs. I can tell by the movement of her shoulders. I turn off the microphone for a second to talk to her.

“Are you all right?”

She nods and blinks out one tear from each eye.

“Okay,” I whisper, then lean around her and look at Nyall. “You okay?” I ask him.

“Ask her!” he yells, making her laugh.

“Okay!”

I flick the mic back on. “Laureate, you seized my heart on the day we met. I’m convinced that there are some girls that everyone has a crush on the first time they see them. They’re the ones people call ‘everyone’s sweethearts’ or the ‘it girls.’ I’m pretty sure you’re one of those girls. That first day of spring semester last year, I thought–and hoped–that was all you would be to me.

“But on the third day I knew you, I accepted you were going to be more than that. You wrote me those sonnets. I thought of the consequences of you turning them in to Professor Aslon–that she would likely separate us. I knew, above all else, that I couldn’t be apart from you.

“This wasn’t how I’d planned it. The planner. That was always me.

“What have I learned? True love doesn’t give a damn about your plans. True love, herself, can be pretty selfish, when you think about it. She only cares about one thing: making sure the right people are together, no matter what.

“And wow. She did an amazing job with me and you, Coley. True love was a thing of movies and books until I met you. It was a concept I thought I knew. It’s a concept millions of people think they know, but until they find a Coley Fitzsimmons of their own, they can never know what it’s like to be truly loved or to truly love another person.

“We have been together on our most challenging days and come out of them stronger. I can’t imagine having anyone else next to me. No one comforts me the way you do. No one understands me the way you do.”

“I feel the same way,” she says to me. “I don’t want anyone else.”

I smile at her declaration and continue with confidence. “I would put all my plans by the wayside to love you another day, Coley. I will do anything to make you happy. All I ask in return is for you to never stop being you. Always laugh. Always cry. Always feel. Always write. Always question things. Always speak your mind. Always love–your family, yourself, and me.

“I want you to make plans with me… don’t push them aside. We’ll do them together,” she says.

“Let’s start with this one, then.” I pull the box out from my pocket and open it up for her. “Nicolea Jeanne Fitzsimmons, I love you. Will you marry me?” She pulls her hand away from mine to cover the surprised look on her face when she sees the ring presented to her.

I’m startled by squeals from the crowd. I’d actually forgotten that we weren’t alone.

“Yes, Trey. I love you, and I want to marry you.”

I motion for her hand. Trembling, she lowers her arm and lets me slide the diamond ring onto her finger. She leans over to kiss me, but after a few seconds, I stand up and give her a more memorable one. The guests are still applauding when we separate. I pick up the microphone in one hand and grasp her hand with my other one.

“Like I was saying before, I want to thank my fiancée, Coley…” She laughs through tears now, and I kiss her again, finally shutting off the mic before letting it fall to the stage. When we’re finally finished, Will hugs us both and Damon follows right behind him. Nyall’s waiting for us at the edge of the stage with her parents and mine, as well as Joel, Livvy, Jon and my closest friends.

“This ring is unbelievable, Trey,” she says as we stand in front of my parents.

“I’m happy you like it. You can consider it a family heirloom. The diamonds are from a necklace my dad gave to my mother on their wedding day. And Mom helped me design it. It would not be nearly as pretty as it is without her help; I promise that.”

“Ohhh,” Coley says, clearly touched by the sentiment. Even though she’s already hugged my parents once, she embraces them each again and thanks them both.

“I couldn’t be happier with true love’s match,” my mother says to her. “We’ve been blessed in this family.”

“Thank you, Emi.”

“Thanks, Mom.”

After the party, Callen, Max, Coley and I hang around talking after all the other guests have left. Once Coley’s family was gone, she started drinking, and now we’ve both had too much to drive home.

“You take them, Max,” Callen urges his boyfriend. “I need a good night’s sleep, and I won’t get it with you around... no offense.”

“Still offended,” Max argues, pretending to be hurt.

“I have to be up in four hours to meet with these stupid executives of my dad’s company. It’s not like I want to do it, but I need to if I want a job here after college. Otherwise, we stay in California, far away from your brothers.”

“Shut up and go home to your daddy. You two drunkards ready to head to the apartment?”

“Wait a minute,” Coley says, putting two and two together. “On the night Trey and I get engaged, you’re staying with us, Max?”

“I’ll be watching from the chair in the corner of your bedroom, Coney.” He reaches out, offering his hand to help her up.

“That’s not funny,” she says, pointing in his face when she stands.

“I didn’t say I would record it.” He’s very matter-of-fact when he tells her this.

“Future Mrs. Holland,” Callen says, “it’s not like the two of you will be doing much. I see a bit of passing out or throwing up in the hours ahead of you.”

“Neither of us are that drunk, Cal. We have our final court date tomorrow, remember? I just don’t think we should be driving, that’s all. We’re just drunk enough to have a lot of uninhibited fun, though.” I grin mischievously and put my arms around her, making her giggle as I kiss her neck.

“You should take the guest bedroom farthest from their room,” Callen advises Max.

“No shit. I just hope they keep it to their bedroom.”

“For you, buddy,” I tell him, “we’ll do it.”

“All night…” Coley adds, getting a laugh out of all of us.

“Yeah, she’s had too much to drink,” I comment.

Coley and I get into the backseat of the Range Rover and I hand Max the keys. We make out half of the way home, until I happen to look up at an opportune time and ask my best friend to stop the car. Hopping out, I purchase three dozen red roses and then get back in. My fiancée bites her lip when she sees the glint in my eyes, hinting at what I want to do upon our return home.

“If you want me to go to my mom’s, I will,” Max says when we all get off the elevator into my penthouse.

“Coley and I aren’t going to be thinking about you, Max. That’s up to you.”

“I don’t want to wake her up.”

“We’ll have everything we need in our room,” I assure him. “There are earplugs in that drawer that’s built into the wall by the subwoofer, just in case.”

“Sold,” he says.

“You can make us breakfast as a token of your appreciation.”

“Frosted Flakes at five. Check.”

“If you wake us up at five, you won’t live to see another five.”

“No breakfast in the morning. Check.”

“Goodnight, Max,” Coley says, tugging on my arm and holding the three bouquets in her other hand.

“’Night, guys. Congrats to you both. And if I don’t see you in the morning, good luck at the hearing.”

“Thanks, Max. Goodnight.”

I return to the kitchen, fetching a pitcher of water and two glasses, anticipating our needs for the night.

“Smart,” she says as I pour us each a glass. After we take a drink, I stand behind her and run my hand up and down the zipper of her dress before I finally begin to unfasten it. A mass of sea foam speckled with red pools around her ankles. She turns to me and begins to undress me, leaving a similar pile of clothing on the floor at my feet, too. When we’re finally undressed, I grab the flowers and we both lie down on the sheets, her on her stomach and me on my side. She plucks the petals from the flowers and leaves them by her pillow while my hands and lips explore her backside.

I pick up a small pile of petals and distribute them evenly on her back, rubbing them gently against her silky skin and smelling their fragrance.

“That feels nice,” she says.

“They’re very soft. It’s just as sexy as I thought it would be.” I kneel over her and continue to drop the flowers onto her body, breaking only to deliver kisses to the parts of her skin they don’t cover.

“I’m really turned on,” she says, trying to turn over underneath me. I lift up, letting her do so. She continues to pull the fleshy petals from their flowers, but drops them on her breasts and torso herself, purposefully drawing my attention wherever they fall. Playing along, I kiss beneath each petal. I expect her to drop them lower, but she doesn’t. I decide to touch her anyway, discovering that she’s as turned on as she said she was.

The next item she drops is a condom. I smile, happily and quickly putting it on before slowly entering her.

I lie on top of her and what must be fifty rose petals between us. The perfume is romantic and intoxicating.

“I didn’t give you your birthday present,” she tells me.

“You can do it later,” I respond, pressing into her gently, but fully.

“Oh, God, yes,” she whispers, closing her eyes. “Slow, like this.”

“That’s fine with me.” Just the feel of her around me might be enough to get me off tonight. Her body rocks against the mattress with mine in a lazy rhythm. “Fuck, Coley. So good.”

“I can give it to you now.”

“You are, laureate. It’s a slow burn, but I feel it coming.” I cover her lips with mine; our tongues intermingle. We take breaths as we need to, and when I finally feel her beginning to climax, I take her hands in mine and I let go, allowing myself to get swept away with her.

“That was the second best birthday present I got today.”

She laughs lightly beneath me. “What was the first?”

“I got a fiancée today.” Moving off of her, I kiss her a few more times, feeling her smile with each one. She reaches out, wrapping her arms around me in a tight embrace.

“I love you.”