by Ellen Devlin
He pulled Liz’s chair close to his and tucked her under his right arm as soon as the speeches started, and she enjoyed his closeness, feeling warm and fuzzy and still slightly sex-drunk herself. She had her left hand on his thigh under the tablecloth, gently caressing him just because she could, not even really in a flirty way. Just because he was here next to her, and she could touch him.
Tom shifted slightly in his seat, turned his head, and looked down at her. This beautiful, surprising, confusing woman had turned his entire world upside down. She had done it again tonight—their earlier conversation had shocked the hell out of him. He felt his chest contract thinking about how much he loved her, how much his life was different, better, because they had found each other.
Liz felt Tom shift his arm off her shoulder and back next to her, in between them, to hold her hand on his thigh under the tablecloth. She shifted her absent-minded caress to his fingers and palm, loving the way her hands felt small in his very large ones. Then came a sensation she couldn’t identify at first—he was holding her hand still, but his other hand was moving. She had just figured out what the feeling was and was starting to turn to look at him when he leaned into her and whispered, “Will you marry me?”
She had never felt her heart beating so hard, and it sounded so very loud in her ears. Surely everyone in the room could hear it and knew what was going on.
He bent down to hear her whisper back, “Yes. And it’s perfect. I love it.”
He smiled and whispered, “I knew you would.” He moved his arm back around her and tucked her back into his side. She put her hand back on his thigh, caressing him, feeling the change of the weight of the ring on her third finger, and feeling her heart racing.
He wasn’t nervous or anxious. Or angry or irritable, for that matter. He had been planning on giving her the ring later that night, after the event was over. In private, maybe in their hotel room, maybe at her apartment. But then, this just felt…right. He hadn’t overthought it, he had just done it, knowing she would love everything—the ring, how he asked—everything. Not because she had some preconceived notion of how she thought it should be done, but because he had done it.
As the speeches ended and the music started up again, he covered her hand with his and said, “I want to look at you when you see it. Come dance with me.”
She laughed as he pulled her away to the dance floor.
Paige looked at Chris questioningly. “Do you know what’s going on?” Chris shook his head. “Something happened after dinner,” she said. “During the speeches. I looked over and something was different.”
“I have no idea, but he just pulled her to the dance floor. To dance. I feel like I’m in some sort of bizarro world.”
Tom draped Liz’s left hand around his shoulder and began swaying with her. “It belonged to my Grandma Ellie. She was amazing and tough and funny, and I loved her very much. When I was little, she promised me I could have her ring for my wife if I wanted. You are just the kind of woman she would have loved.”
“You realize I already feel entirely like I’m watching myself from somewhere slightly up and to the left of me, don’t you?” Liz had tears in her eyes. “And now you’re going to make me cry on top of this? I feel like my heart can’t even fit inside me anymore.”
“Please look now.”
Liz was shaking a bit as she brought her left hand down to rest on Tom’s chest as they danced. He was watching her face. Her eyes grew wide, and then her brows knit together a bit and her head tilted down and to the side as she looked, trying not to cry. She looked back up at him, and he thought he could die a happy man from what he saw in her eyes.
“Oh God, Tom. It’s perfect, and I love it. Truly.” She blinked back the tears and laughed.
“I really knew you would. You have no idea how much fun that made this.” He smiled down at her and then wrapped his arms around her waist and picked her up off her feet as she wrapped her arms around his neck. They stood there like that for a good ten seconds before he put her back down again.
***
Tom led Liz back over to the high tables, getting her a drink along the way. “You look like you could use this,” he said, chuckling. “I’ve gotta say it’s a very different experience looking to take care of you at one of these events.” He kissed her on the top of her head and added, “I want to kiss you very badly, but I know I won’t want to stop once I start—and I have to go take pictures right now.” His voice was getting low and his eyes were getting smoky.
It was making Liz’s heart start to race.
She rubbed her hand on his beard and said, “I still don’t feel I’m properly connected to the floor. I’m going to sit right here and wait for you, if that’s okay.”
He laughed out loud, a joyful sound, and turned just as Chris was walking up to the table with Paige. Chris said, “I was just coming to get you for pictures. Everything is okay, I take it…?”
Tom laughed again and clapped Chris on the shoulder. “Fantastic, my brother. Let’s go take pictures.”
“Christ, if I didn’t know you better, I would swear you’re high.” They walked off.
Paige sat down across from Liz. Liz turned and stared at her.
Paige looked very concerned. “Liz, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing. There is absolutely nothing wrong. Unless I was accidentally dosed with LSD. Then I’m on an acid trip, which would explain some things. But it’s a good trip, so I don’t want to come down.”
It was Paige’s turn to stare. “What in the living fuck are you talking about?”
Liz put her hand on the table between them. Paige stared at her hand and then back up at Liz. “When?”
“During the speeches.”
“During the speeches. During the fucking speeches?” She looked off into the distance. “Sweet Jesus, can’t you guys do anything normally?” She looked back at Liz and then broke into a huge grin. “Oh, Liz!” She jumped off her chair and came around to hug her best friend.
Liz started laughing, then crying, and then laughing again.
Paige got her a few cocktail napkins to use as tissues and helped her clean up her makeup. Liz still wasn’t sure about her legs working, so she stayed at the table and finished her drink. The guys came back a little while later, Tom still grinning and Chris still looking confused.
“Micky, seriously, you didn’t tell him? What the fuck is wrong with you?” Paige started swatting Tom with her purse. Tom was laughing and trying to fend her off, and then he just grabbed her and pulled her in for a huge hug.
“What the hell am I missing?” Chris was starting to get irritated. “God damn it, I’m getting sick of being the last person to know shit around here.”
Tom wrapped his arm around his oldest friend and said, “Becks, you know I would tell you, but I’m about to kiss my fiancée, and this is gonna take a while.”
He walked over and pulled Liz to her feet as Chris tried to process what he’d just said.
Tom put one hand on Liz’s waist, gently cupped her face with the other, and began to kiss her. Slowly. Like their first kiss. He pressed his lips against hers and then pulled back slightly and then brushed against them again. The third kiss he parted his lips, breathed against her, finding her lips parted to meet his. He tilted his head slightly and slid his hand up into her hair. They brushed their parted lips against each other again, he pressed in closer…and time stopped.
He was careful to keep one hand on her waist and the other hand in her hair—he didn’t want to lose himself completely while standing in a crowded ballroom and do anything utterly inappropriate or vulgar; he was even careful about tongues getting too involved, and that was difficult to resist—but he was going to kiss her until he was done kissing her, and that was going to take a bit of time to do properly.
When he finally stopped, he heard Chris say with a laugh, “Are you quite through, Micky?”
“For now.” He turned around and was startled to see quite a few more of his teamma
tes, including Zee, standing around behind Chris, who had gathered there during his little show. Some had noticed the kiss, but Chris and Paige had grabbed the closest guys and told them and had spread the word that way. So when Tom turned around, he got cheers and whistles. And he laughed.
Paige looked at Liz and mouthed, “He’s laughing! Holy shit!”
One of the guys had told one of the organizers of the event, and there was an announcement, and suddenly they were getting congratulations from everywhere.
“We are going to have very little luck sneaking out at this point, I’m afraid.” Liz twined her fingers into Tom’s. “That’s what you get when you turn yourself into a big hero.” She winked at him.
“No rest for the fantasy man, I’m afraid.”
She had never seen him in such a good mood. He was relaxed and confident, and nothing seemed to be able to bother him. It was astounding. And wonderful.
She grabbed the front of his jacket with both hands and brought him down to her so she could say, “You’d better fucking believe you’re getting no rest later, fantasy man. When can we leave?”
He stepped behind her and put his arms around her. He pulled her close and pressed against her, sliding the hardness of his arousal against her rear and hip. Bending so that his deep voice was directed into her ear, he asked, “Do you feel that?”
She gasped and nodded, not trusting her voice.
“That,” he said, pressing again for emphasis, “has been that way since I kissed you. So the second we can leave, I’m going to have you naked in our room.”
She was breathing hard.
“I don’t want you wearing anything except that ring.” He slid his hand over her stomach and gently bit her neck, then calmly took her hand in his and walked to find one of the event organizers.
“I just wanted to apologize—I actually tried to be very quiet about this and didn’t intend for it to become a distraction from your event. I didn’t count on the reaction of my teammates.”
The organizer smiled and shook his hand, saying, “Not at all. This kind of thing tends to be very good for fundraising, so I should be thanking you. Something about happy people feeling good makes for open wallets. It would be very helpful if we could use this—along with pictures—as part of a press release. Would that be okay with you two? We would certainly get more social media attention, and it would probably help us raise even more for the charity.”
Tom looked at Liz for her approval.
She said, “This is all you, sweetheart. I’m just along for the ride.”
He told the organizer, “Sure, whatever you’d like. I don’t know that there are any pictures, though.”
The woman laughed out loud. “I think you have no idea how long you two were kissing. There are a lot of pictures. Probably some video too.”
Chapter Forty
Liz had arrived at the pool party early to help Paige out with some final preparations. Apparently one of the people she had hired had become sick at the last minute, so reinforcements were needed, and Liz was happy to assist. There wasn’t really that much to do, anyway; Paige and Chris had hosted this enough times that they had everything down to a science at this point.
It wasn’t too long before Tom arrived and asked if he could steal Liz away for a few minutes.
“Really, Micky?” Paige rolled her eyes at him, and he somehow managed to grin and look sheepish at the same time. “Oh, for heaven’s sake. Go. You two are ridiculous.”
Tom grabbed Liz’s hand and pulled her away, sneaking them off into a back bedroom, shutting the door behind them, and then locking it.
“What has gotten into you?” Liz teased as Tom started kissing her neck and nibbling her earlobe, pressing her up against the door.
“I always feel this way when I’m with you.” He stopped and looked at her, his eyes still playful, but with more heat than before. “I thought you would have noticed that by now.” His hands were beginning to roam around her midsection, teasing her stomach and back under her shirt.
“Mmmm, that’s true,” she replied, “and I always feel this way with you.” She captured his mouth for a kiss, which lasted somewhat longer than she had originally intended. “But you don’t, usually, randomly drag me off in the middle of a party.”
“Oh, really?” He shifted to her other ear, paying attention to that earlobe and running his tongue along the sensitive skin underneath her ear and down her neck. “It seems to me that you were the one that started all this, with hotel rooms…” He kissed her. “…and amazing blowjobs.” He kissed her longer and with a lot of tongue. “And insanely hot sex up against the back of a door.” His hands had reached her breasts, and he teased her nipples through the fabric of her bra.
“Oh,” she breathed, head back against the door. He took the opportunity to place kisses along her throat, biting her neck gently. “That was me, wasn’t it?”
“Yes.” He removed her shirt and bra and bent to take her nipple in his mouth, running his tongue around her peak as he sucked gently, while she gasped and moaned. “That was definitely you.” He moved to her other breast and repeated his attentions, while she ran her fingers through his hair.
“So,” he said, now dipping his fingers into her waistband and opening the button of her shorts, “I really want to take you right here up against this door.” He pushed off her shorts and underwear. “Unless you have another preference?” He took a step back for a moment and looked at her face to see if she had anything else in mind as he stripped off his clothing. “No?”
She was speechless watching his chiseled body.
“Okay, then.” He pushed her up against the door and kissed her, deep and hard, bent his knees to angle himself properly, and entered her, pulling one leg up over his hip, and then stood up, pulling her other leg up, supporting her ass with his hands.
She wrapped her arms and legs around him and whispered, “Oh, crap.”
Tom laughed in his deep voice, and she blushed.
“I love making you blush.” He started moving, pressing her against the door, sliding in and out of her in a steady pace that was making her lose herself. She put her head back against the door, and Tom gently kissed her neck as he continued to stroke himself into her. “I’ve been wanting to take you this way for a long time.”
Liz made a small short humming sound, her breathing picking up speed.
Tom continued talking to her, knowing it would make her crazy. “You’re beautiful and sexy, and I have wanted you wrapped around my body.”
She gasped, and he sped up just a little, shifting his hips.
“I can’t wait until Monday.” He breathed into her ear and heard her moan, felt her grip him with increasing desperation, grinding against him. Tom sped up, stroking into her quickly and deeply. He could tell she was close. He started losing his rhythm, and knowing he was close, too, he growled into her ear, “I can’t wait to fuck you as my wife.”
She spasmed, clutching her arms and legs around him, vocalizing against his neck, trying to be quiet, feeling her internal muscles grasping around him over and over, as he used his knees to push her harder into the door, thrusting as deeply as possible, emptying himself into her, gripping her hard, not breathing through the pulses to keep from yelling.
They were both panting and gasping, muscles shaking, trying to come down from the high. Liz put her feet back down on the floor and giggled as she found she really couldn’t stand very well. Tom leaned against the door and pulled her into him, chuckling with her.
“That was amazing,” she said as she kissed him. “Excellent idea. I love you, Tom.” He grinned at her, looking sated and pleased. “I suspect we need to get back out to the party, though…” She began the process of gathering her clothing.
“Oh, if we must.” He came up behind her and put his arms around her waist and said, “But I do love making you blush.” He turned her around. “I’m glad we’re not waiting.”
“Me too.”
They had decided on a civ
il ceremony at the courthouse, so they had gotten their marriage license on Friday and were going to say vows on Monday with Paige and Chris as witnesses. They would have a big reception in Minnesota with Tom’s family, but neither one wanted the formality of a wedding. Liz had insisted on getting the wedding rings—they were simple bands, but inside each was engraved, “I’m yours ~ You’re mine ~ I’m yours ~ You’re mine” around the entire band. Tom had loved it.
She had known he would.
***
When they came out of the house through the sliding glass doors, Liz saw there was a good crowd already.
Paige saw her and came over. “Jesus, Micky. ‘A few minutes?’ I don’t even want to know what the hell just went on.”
Tom just grinned.
Zee spotted Liz before she spotted him, and she ended up on his shoulders with a surprised shriek as he carried her to the diving board. She laughed, wondering if she was going to end up in the pool this time or not.
He stepped onto the board and then put her down, allowing her to step down. “You’re losing your touch, Zee. You didn’t even make people vote.”
Zee grinned and then stood up, puffed himself, and said in a grandiose fashion, “Dearly Beloved, we are gathered here today…” and Liz burst out laughing.
Tom was standing next to her and put his arm around her waist. She looked up at him, and he gestured up to Zee, who had resumed in a normal voice, “I have been authorized by the Commonwealth of Virginia to perform the marriage ceremony of Thomas McCullin and Elizabeth Williams.”
Liz said, “No.” She looked at Tom. “No, you’re kidding.”
Zee said, “Geez, Micky, you said she was willing to marry you.” The people in attendance, who were now clustered around the diving board, were laughing. “I can’t be party to some kind of forced marriage.”
Liz was looking closely at Tom.
“I told you I couldn’t wait until Monday.” He smiled at her with that cooked grin.
