Private Affair (The Private Series) (35 page)

“For what? Jennifer or the hanky panky in the loo?” He jokes, he even fakes an American accent when saying
hanky panky
.

It’s the evening before the big day and his aunt and uncle have arranged a rehearsal dinner at one of the local restaurants. They figure we would want to dine out some place other than their gorgeous estate, which is ridiculous in my book. His family is extremely nice and lovely. I was afraid that they would hate me for my pink hair and piercing, but they are great. I was honestly kind of expecting them to be the stereotypical British up-tights, who enjoy tea time and crumpets and sip out of their fancy china tea cups with their pinkies up in the air. I am pleasantly surprised. I can see why Ben enjoyed spending time here as a child.

Their back yard, where the ceremony will be taking place is a beautifully landscaped garden with trimmed hedges creating paths through the expansive estate. They have hired workers to string lights and bring in tables and chairs, and I see a garden trellis arch being assembled where the alter will be. I try not to think about the amount of money that must have gone into this wedding. I honestly never expected something so elegant and well-orchestrated. I knew that Gwen, Caroline and my Mom would take care of it all, but damn.

His aunt insisted that we all stay in their home the night of the wedding, including Erin, James and Dan which was extremely nice of them. We are all heading out the front door to go to the restaurant, when we see a large limo waiting for us outside. My jaw drops open at the size of the thing, Erin starts clapping and pulls James right over to it. Ben pulls my hand up and kisses it sweetly, “Ready?” He whispers.

His closeness and the feeling of his breath on me, makes me want to say no and stay here instead. I nod reluctantly and take in a deep breath. We all climb in, but the
adults
take another car. We drive into the city of London which is illuminated at night and it’s just a gorgeous sight. I am gawking out the window, just watching it all pass by. We eventually pull up to a light stone building, with a great big red awning leading the diners into the restaurant. We step out and there is a red carpet following in line with the awning. This place looks expensive and I don’t know if I will fit in. I fidget with my royal blue dress, which has black tulle lining the bottom of the skirt, making sure its laying right.

Ben’s hand grazes my back side and Erin sees it and calls him out on it, “Save it for the honeymoon!” But he goes on ignoring her.

“You look stunning, just relax.” He assures me.

I take in a calming breath and take his offered arm and we head inside. We are greeted by an older man in a tux, bowtie and all led down through the busy dining hall and into a private room. Candles and flowers fill the long oak table, the plates are a stunning white, a contrast against the black table cloths and pale pink flowers. Crystal glasses glimmer by candle light as we all take our seats. Ben’s aunt insist we sit together at the end of the table.

Everyone looks beautiful and as soon as we are seated the waiters pour wine into our glasses. Jack rises and so does his glass, “Here is to the happy couple, may your glasses always be full just like your hearts.”

Everyone says cheers, and we are seated for dinner. As dinner goes on we go over how the day will go tomorrow and I am getting even more excited as we discuss it. I am smiling from ear to ear now and feeling much more at ease in my environment. I think the wine is helping in the nerves department.

After we all decide to call it a night we are all heading out. Just as everyone has loaded into the limo, Ben tugs my arm and I step back up onto the curb next to him, he waves inside the vehicle and closes the door. He knocks on the top of the sleek black finish and the driver takes off. I see Erin’s head pop out of the window, “Have fun, but remember you’re staying in my room tonight you little bitch!” He is laughing and pointing at us until they round the corner.

“What are we doing?” I ask Ben, who is now leading me down the side walk.

Putting his arm around my waist as we walk he tell me, “I want to show you the city tonight.”

We make our way down a couple of blocks and when we turn the corner, there is Big Ben, all lit up in its full glory. Red double decker busses are passing by and couples are arm in arm taking an evening stroll. I am in my zone right now. A city at night with my love.

“Welcome to London,” Ben kisses my cheek.

My knees go weak at the glory of it and I get a spike of energy and start bouncing up and down. We walk around the great tower that only makes me giggle, “What are you laughing about huh?” Ben pokes my ribs.

“Just about the first time I saw your screen name at Chatz, that first night I was in there. I thought that you must be a cocky ass to name yourself after a large slender tower. Then once I found out that you were English, it really got me going.”

He smiles and rolls his eyes, “Yeah, I know, not that clever, but hey it got your attention didn’t it?”

“Sure did.”

We stroll across a bridge over the river to the London Eye. Ben pays the man operating it and we board one of the gondolas. Good thing I am not afraid of heights, or I probably would have lost my dinner by the time we reached the top. As we hit the highest point the great Ferris wheel comes to a halt and I look at Ben. “Why did we stop? Are we supposed to stop?”

He shifts from his seat and kneels down before me. I look down at him and he responds to my look of confusions, “Tess, I am incredibly happy to have you in my home land and seeing you so happy makes me the luckiest man on the earth. To be able to see that, that smile right there,” He points to my goofy love struck grin, “just proves how much of a lucky bastard I really am. So I am going to ask you one more time, before we must depart tonight, the only night we will ever be apart again. Before the morning sun greets us, to asking you one more time if you will do the honor of marrying me tomorrow?”

I don’t even realize the tears streaming down my face until I taste the saltiness. I reach for the sides of his scruffy face and look him deep into the amazing mocha eyes that I have fallen so deeply in love with and nod my head, “Yes, yes! Of course!”

His right hand reaches for the back of my neck and he pulls me to him and his mouth is on mine and his hot tongue dips into my wanting mouth. He nips at my bottom lip and I gasp. Our gondola begins to move once again and he joins me on the bench. His hand on my knee, but he slowly makes his way up my thigh under the skirt of my dress. I can’t keep my eyes off of his, they are burning hot like a scalding cup of fresh coffee.

His hand is hot as it travels higher and higher. When he reaches the point of no return he groans when he discovers that I am not wearing any panties. “You are going to make me ruin my pants here, you know that right?”

I am happy with the way I make him feel. I just bite on my own lip as he pushes my legs apart. I look to Ben’s lap and I can see that he has gotten hard for me. As much as I want him to take me here and now on this great Ferris wheel, I want to wait until we are married. I put my hand on his chest and push him slightly.

He keeps his hand on my lap and looks at me with need. “What?” He asks.

“I want to wait until tomorrow night, besides you are staying with James tonight.” I laugh.

He scrunches his eyes and tosses his head back and groans, “What a way to ruin that moment.”

I laugh and pat his leg, “Sorry, but I am staying with the girls tonight. A little sleep over.” I am excited to have a night in with the girls, pajamas, movies and talk about the wedding. Then get some sleep and wake up on my wedding day.

“In that case we should get back then. I want you to have a good night’s sleep, because…” He leans in as our ride is coming to an end, “I want you to be wide awake when I take you as my wife tomorrow night.”

“Are you ready Tessy?” James asks me, coming into the bedroom I am getting ready in. He is in his tux and has a pink peony bud on his jacket, he looks so handsome.

The other girls are lining up by the door and waiting for me. “James?”

“Yeah?”

“I know you’re supposed to be a groomsman, but do you think you can walk me down the aisle? It would mean so much to me.” When he doesn’t reply right away, I start to ramble again, “You have always been there for me, ever since we were kids. Our father has never been there for me and nor do I want him to be. I know now that he isn’t worth the sadness of not having a supportive father. I am perfectly fine with that now. I have you…”

“Tessy, before you keep going we are going to be late getting you down that aisle.” He holds out his arm and leads me to the hall.

I can hear the soft music start to play and the girls rush over to me and fix my dress and hand me my flower bouquet, hot pink peonies and black roses. I hug Erin and Caroline and blink really fast to keep my tears back. They line up and Erin looks back to me and gives me the thumbs up and I smile. I watch them walk down the hall and round the corner to go outside. I take in a deep steadying breath and I start to shake a little.

“Hey,” James lifts my chin to look at him. “I love you and I am so very proud of you.” He kisses my cheek and I grab him for a hug. “Now let’s get you hitched.”

I giggle and we start out the door. The whole downstairs has been decorated for the wedding, I suppose for when guests need to use the restroom or something. The yard has a large white tent that has been set up for the reception, but I haven’t looked yet, I want it to be a surprise.

When we reach the French doors they are closed. Then I hear the wedding march begin. The doors open and I keep my eyes down at first. When I lift them, the first thing I see is Ben. No one else. I hear nothing, I see nothing but Ben. He is standing under an arch of flowers, in a black slim tux, white shirt and a thin black tie. His eyes are set on me too. I am walking closer to him and I want to run. I want to get to him as fast as I possibly can and kiss him even before we are told we can. We are almost there and I see a tear run down his cheek. It’s not often he cries, it takes a lot for him to shed a tear.

We stop right in front of Ben and the justice of the peace, who then asks “Who gives this woman to this man?”

“I do, her brother.” James announces. He leans in and kisses my cheek and takes his side next to Dan behind Ben.

Ben takes both of my hands and doesn’t let go through the whole ceremony. The things we want to say to one another speaks volumes in our stare into each other’s eyes. We keep it simple.

“I never knew what it was to truly love someone. I thought I did at one point in my life, but I was horribly wrong. My life was a mess and I didn’t care who I was hurting, including myself. I was so confused and torn when I met you. You were this exotic untouched creature, who put me in my place and put up a battle. I knew I was going to marry you the moment you let me in. I still messed up. I was still learning what it took to be a real man, a man worth your love. Do I feel like I am worthy of you yet? No, and I don’t know if I ever will. As cliché as it sounds, you really do make me want to be a better man. A man you can be proud of. We are not starting our lives together, because we started years ago, we just didn’t know it yet.” Ben chokes up at the last part of his vows. My heart is clenching and I have a lump in my throat. How can I even express how I feel for this man?