“That’s all behind me.” He stood and reached for her hand. “I want you. I’ve never been more sure of anything in my entire life.”
She held his gaze as her heart pounded wildly in her chest. “You don’t know anything about me.”
“I love what I do know.” He gently pulled her closer. “And I intend to spend the rest of my life learning everything that has made you into the beautiful woman you are.”
“And Nora?”
He laughed. “There has never been anything between Ms. Gibson and me. In fact, she’s no longer an employee at the company.”
Diana frowned.
“A couple of days after the ball, she turned in her notice.” Marcel shrugged as he frowned. “She did say something weird. She told me to congratulate you—but I have no idea why.”
Did Nora know she was Mayte? Probably did since Diana hadn’t even been able to fool Marcel.
He cupped her chin with his fingers and forced their gazes to meet. “So what do you say? Will you try on the magic sandal and give us a shot to live happily ever after?”
“I’m scared,” she admitted. “People I love always seem to leave me.” Louisa’s soft smile crossed her mind. “Or are going to leave me.”
“I’m not going anywhere, Di. In fact, I’m really praying that you don’t walk out of this room right now.”
Diana took a deep breath, too scared to believe his words. But how could she walk away from everything she’d ever wanted?
Marcel leaned in and lightly kissed her lips. He pulled the band from her hair. He watched it tumble and settle on her shoulders. “No regrets,” he whispered.
She nodded as hot tears spilled over her lashes.
“I love you,” he said.
She stared at him through blurred vision. “I love you, too.”
His mouth lowered against the soft lips. She went weak in his arms as she kissed him just as thoroughly. In no time her heartbeat quickened; her arms and legs tingled. The magic was back.
Diana clung to him, unable to hold anything back as they tumbled onto the bed of rose petals.
Marcel winced at the pain in his ankle, but he uttered no complaint. He was too busy relieving Diana of her clothes. Drunk from the sweet nectar of her lips, he ached to feel her naked form beneath him once again.
Rolling her onto her back, he covered her with his body and continued to kiss her as though his life depended on it. He was never going to let her go.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and held him close, but her hold loosened when his soft hands roamed her body.
Marcel didn’t want to stop kissing her long enough to get undressed, especially with his cast, but Diana pitched in and his pajama pants were removed with little difficulty.
Tears seeped from Diana’s eyes. She never thought this moment would ever come again. And she was thankful that it had.
Sweet words of love tumbled from the lovers’ lips as they savored the moment. This time, when they made love it was without games, pretenses, or masks.
They took their time giving and receiving oral pleasure. For Diana, it was all she could do not to crawl up the walls from his unrelenting mouth. Her orgasm slammed into her and caused small waves of aftershock to ripple clear down to her toes.
When her lips claimed his straining flesh, Marcel moaned her name repeatedly. He raked his hands through her hair as his hips surged forward.
“I need you now,” he groaned. “Now, Di.”
Diana pulled away. “Do you have any condoms?”
Panting, Marcel struggled to reach the nightstand.
“I’ll get it.” She opened the drawer and quickly found what she was looking for. She took her time sliding the condom down his hard shaft and torturing him at the same time.
“You’re killing me,” he panted.
She giggled and kissed him as she climbed on top. She eased down onto his hard shaft and thought that she would die from the sheer pleasure of it.
Marcel groaned as her sleek walls gloved him so hot and tight that he felt as if he were unraveling.
The tempo of their lovemaking started off slow and tender, but quickly escalated to something more hungry and primal.
His ankle be damned. He took over as the aggressor and secured her beneath him. He gladly gave all of himself—something he’d never done before. This was beyond lovemaking. It was the mating of souls.
After a long session, a fire ignited in the center of her and grew into a raging inferno. When her explosive release came at last, her body splintered. A part of her soared into the heavens while the other languished in the arms of her true love.
Marcel’s control shattered as his handsome face contorted with pleasure and he emitted a low growl of release.
As their steady heart rhythms mated with their languorous breathing, Diana pressed her cheek against his chest and listened to his heartbeat.
“Di?”
“Hmm?”
“I forgot to do something.”
Puzzled, she looked up. “What?”
Gently, he rolled away from her.
“Where are you going?”
At the edge of the bed, he took his time lowering to his knees before reaching for the jewelry box from the nightstand.
Diana gasped and drew the silk sheets around her.
“I want to make this official.” He opened the box. “Diana Guy, will you marry me?”
She glanced once again at the beautiful diamond and then looked back into his loving face. “Yes!” She scooted to the edge of the bed and then threw her arms around his neck.
He sealed the deal with a kiss. But before he climbed back into bed, he remembered one more thing. He looked around and found the high-heeled sandal on the floor.
“To complete the fantasy.”
Diana smiled and presented her right foot.
Marcel slipped the sandal onto her foot. “A perfect fit,” he murmured, climbing back onto the bed.
“Now what?” she asked, snuggling beside him.
“We live happily ever after. What else?” He kissed her. “This is forever, sweetheart.”
“Yes,” Diana answered with a passion that matched his own and once again gave in to the pleasure that only he could give. Now and forever.
Epilogue
The wedding day
On a beautiful June day, Marcel and Diana took their vows before God, friends and family. It was a non-traditional wedding where Brandy served as the ring bearer, Tim stood as the maid of honor—in a tux—and Ophelia took her place as a groomsman.
After the priest introduced Mr. and Mrs. Marcel Taylor to the guests, a shower of rose petals descended on the smiling couple.
Louisa Mae couldn’t stop crying and now demanded that the couple get busy producing babies. Despite feeling the best she’d ever felt, Louisa no longer had an excuse not to visit her doctors. Everyone was amazed and ecstatic to learn that her cancer had gone into remission.
Donald and Camille said their congratulations to the couple and also pressured them about grandchildren.
Marcel was happy to see his parents back together and even enjoyed this new playful side of his father. Maybe the old edict “You don’t know what you have until it’s gone” was true. With a little luck and a lot of prayer, Marcel would never have to learn that lesson.
At the reception, Solomon approached Ophelia for a dance. He wasn’t too happy that she brought a date to the wedding, but hey, it wasn’t like he had any right to be jealous. It wasn’t the prom, but there was nothing wrong with pretending that it was.
“I’m glad you told me about their love story,” Ophelia said, gleaming over at the couple. “They look so happy.”
“I have a feeling they are.” He drew in a deep breath. “Ophelia, there’s something I’ve been dying to tell you.”
“There’s something I have to tell you, too,” she said, smiling.
“Oh?”
“Yeah, I told Jonas about Marcel and Diana—”
“
Who?”
“My date—Jonas Hinton.” She frowned. “You never pay attention to me, do you?”
“Of course I do.” He tried to cover up with a smile.
“Well, anyway, Jonas and I have been dating for a while and last night he popped the question.”
Solomon’s heart dropped. “What question?”
Ophelia slapped him on the shoulder. “The question, silly. Now, we haven’t picked out a ring, but…we’re getting married.” She bounced excitedly against him. “Isn’t that great?”
He stopped dancing. “What?”
Her smile started to ebb away. “Aren’t you happy for me?”
Slowly, he managed a butterfly smile. “That’s great.”
“I know it’s a shock.” She giggled. “But don’t tell Marcel and Diana. I don’t want to take anything away from their day.”
“My lips are sealed.”
She leaned in and kissed his cheek. “Thanks. You know, I want you and Marcel to serve as bridesmaids.”
He managed a chuckle. “I wouldn’t miss that for the world.”
He managed to finish the dance with some semblance of dignity, but soon found himself at the bar.
“What’s with the long face?” Marcel asked, slapping him on the back as he joined him. “No one should be frowning on my wedding day.”
“Don’t worry about me, man. I’m fine. Congratulations again.” He looked around. “Where’s Diana?”
“Upstairs changing. It’s about that time we leave you guys for our honeymoon in Bermuda.”
“Ah, white sands and pastel buildings.”
“Paradise for thirty days.”
“I’m jealous.”
“Shouldn’t be.” He draped an arm around Solomon’s shoulder. “I see Ophelia showed up with Jonas.”
“Yeah. Don’t remind me.”
“You know, you better get in there before he snatches up your girl. A woman can only wait for so long.”
“You’ve been married an hour and already you’ve turned into Dear Abby.”
Marcel held up his hands. “Just trying to help you out.”
Solomon nodded and glanced back at the dance floor to see Ophelia floating in Jonas’s arms.
Minutes later, Diana appeared at the top of the stairs dressed in an all-white linen suit. Below her, a small crowd of single women gathered around for the tossing of the bride’s bouquet.
The crowd gasped when an unladylike shove awarded Nora Gibson instead of Marcel’s thirteen-year-old cousin with the prize.
“I got it. I got it.”
“You sure did, honey.” Willy Bassett’s smile beamed at her as she slinked next to him.
“Now that’s a crazy match,” Marcel whispered to Diana.
Seconds later, Solomon won the garter belt toss. He gave Ophelia a long meaningful glance and then held it up for a loud cheer from the crowd.
More rose petals rained down on Marcel and Diana as they made their mad dash to the limo. They stopped briefly so that they both could kiss Louisa’s glowing face.
“You make sure that you call us if you need anything.”
“I’ll be fine. Tim and Caleb are going to stay with me and Brandy in this big house while you’re gone.”
“I love you, Nana.” Diana kissed her again.
“I love you, too. Now go and make us some babies.”
Marcel and Diana laughed and continued on their way to the limo.
Inside, Marcel pulled her close for a long kiss. “Are you happy?”
“More than I ever thought possible. Are you?”
He glanced down at her beloved high-heeled sandals. “Who wouldn’t be with his own real-life Cinderella?”
She smiled and kissed him again. “Good. I’m going to make sure you stay that way.”
UNFORGETTABLE
ISBN: 978-1-4268-8779-6
Copyright © 2011 by Adrianne Byrd
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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Unforgettable (Arabesque) Page 19
