by Alexis Gold
Julia looked around the handle and tried to flip the lock but it wouldn’t budge.
“The lock doesn’t work!” she whispered frantically. “The lock doesn’t work!”
Derek tried to move it and he couldn’t get it to budge either. He sighed and looked at her. “I’m sorry, but I think you’re right. They could walk in here at any point.”
She covered her face with her hands and then looked up at him with wide eyes. “That means you’ll have to sleep in my bed with me,” she whispered to him.
He nodded. “I thought as much. I’ll put my bag in there.” Then he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her. “It’ll be okay. The hardest part is over. I met your parents and they took it well, much better than you thought they were going to, so let’s count that as a win and move forward. Okay?”
She nodded and laughed lightly, amazed at the fact that her parents hadn’t lost it like she thought they would when they met her white boyfriend. “I guess I was wrong about that. I thought it would be awful.”
Derek shrugged. “Well, they surprised you in a good way, and that’s really nice.”
He set his bag in the bedroom and looked at the bed and then raised his eyes to meet hers. “I promise not to kick you in my sleep,” he told her with a straight face.
She laughed a little, and her tension began to ease up. “I don’t promise that I won’t talk in my sleep,” she told him honestly.
“Well, if you do, I promise to keep all of your secrets.” He winked at her.
She took a deep breath and it came out as a laugh, diluting her nervousness and easing her worries somewhat.
“Well, we’d better get ready for dinner. We don’t have much time.” She opened her bag and pulled out the yellow dress, and Derek’s hand went to his mouth in realization.
“Why don’t you go ahead and take the bathroom, and I’ll get ready out here, all right?” he offered with a smile.
Julia smiled back gratefully. “That’s generous of you,” she told him, taking her bags into the bathroom to ready for the rehearsal dinner.
She came out a short while later, her hair pulled back up at the top of her head and her curls cascading down the back a short way. She had refreshed her makeup and her dress hugged every one of her curves like a lover, moving with her as she walked, and making her look like a summer afternoon dream.
Derek stared at her when she came out, his eyes drifting over all of her as his breath escaped him. “You look amazing...” he breathed.
She couldn’t help the grin that took over her face as she nodded in thanks and then looked at him. He was wearing navy pants and cobalt blue silk shirt with a navy tie. His shirt brought out all the bright blue of his eyes and made them stand out even more than they already did.
“You look really good too!” she told him with a grin. “Thank you for doing this,” she said gratefully.
“Hey, I’m glad to help you.” He smiled at her, letting his eyes move over the fine features of her beautiful face and linger for just a moment, taking her in and memorizing every detail of her.
He looked away from her and she took a deep breath, reminding herself that she hired him to be her pseudo-boyfriend.
They walked down the hall together toward the banquet room and as they entered, he placed his hand on the small of her back and followed her into the room. One by one, people in the room began to turn and look at them, and several of their eyes widened in surprise, but they stood and greeted Julia and shook Derek’s hand as they met him.
“Theo! It’s so good to finally meet you!” Samantha said as she hugged him and smiled up at him. “I didn’t think we were ever going to meet you! Thank you for coming for this special weekend. It means a lot to us that Julia is here, and that you’re here with her!”
Julia looked as if her smile might crack in half at any moment, she was so tense, but Derek just wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close. “Oh, I couldn’t miss it. I had already asked for the time off ages ago but we have a new manager who didn’t realize it and I was scheduled to work by mistake. They fixed it for me pretty quickly, but it took a few days and poor Julia here was so worried I couldn’t come. Luckily it all worked out at the last minute. She’s been so excited! This is all she has talked about since she found out about it! I’m just so glad to have this chance to meet all of you and share what is undoubtedly going to be one of the most special days of your whole life. I am truly, deeply humbled and honored to be a guest here for this wonderful occasion,” he said to Samantha and her fiancé.
He reached his hand forward to them and the man with his arm around Samantha took it. “I’m Kevin. It’s nice to meet you. Thanks for coming!” he said with a wide smile. Samantha nodded at his side, her eyes shining happily.
Derek met the rest of them: Kevin’s best man Eli, and both of the other bridesmaids, Bea and Shelly, who both gushed over him, grinning and giggling. Then he noticed another man of medium height and a slight build, standing just off to the edge of the group, his eyes locked on Julia. Derek felt her tense and saw her looking everywhere but at the man who was staring at her and he knew. He led Julia to him, though he could feel her not wanting to go, but his strong arm around the back of her waist gave him no choice and she plastered a smile on her face as they approached the man.
Derek held out his hand and finally the man took his steady gaze from Julia and lifted his eyes to Derek’s. “I’m Theo. You must be Ronald Williams. I’ve heard so many good things about you.”
Ronald didn’t take his hand immediately, but rather looked at him intently and then shifted his gaze back to Julia for a moment and staring into her before looking back at Derek. “I’m Ronald,” he said quietly.
He shook Derek’s hand and Derek gave him a firm and friendly squeeze, though Ronald did not return it. Then Ronald moved toward Julia and gave her a half hug, kissing her cheek softly.
“It’s so wonderful to see you, Julia. I’ve missed you so much. I couldn’t wait for this day. It’s been a long time since we were around each other. Your mother told me that you were probably going to come alone.” His eyes flicked back to Derek for a split second, and then they returned to Julia’s face. “You look so beautiful. Even more beautiful than I remembered,” he told her quietly.
She looked supremely uncomfortable. She smiled and nodded. “Thanks, Ronald. It has been a long time. I hope you have fun at the wedding.” She couldn’t think of anything else to say to him. She refused to lie to him and tell him that it was good to see him; it wasn’t good, it was awkward and she didn’t want to see him.
Derek knew she had hit her limit with Ronald and he reached his hand to the smaller man and clapped him lightly on the shoulder. “Well, we’ve got to get over to our seats for dinner. I’m glad I got to meet you.”
With that, Derek turned Julia on the spot and led her closed in his one arm embrace over to where their seats were beside Samantha and Kevin. Ronald, not being part of the wedding party, made a quiet exit and gave Julia a long lingering gaze from the doorway before he left. She glanced at him and gave him a half-smile, but then turned her attention toward her sister. It was Derek who saw Ronald’s look.
Dinner was served immediately and the room grew a little more quiet as they ate. Julia had ordered the chicken and Derek had gotten the salmon. He smiled at her and offered her a bite of it, and as she turned to him, he lifted his fork filled with fish to her mouth and let her taste it. It was an intimate gesture that she wasn’t prepared for, and she tried not to look surprised at him.
“Do you like it?” he asked her with a smile.
Maggie, one of the twin sisters, looked at Julia over the table and made a face. “She doesn’t like fish,” she said matter-of-factly. “She never has.”
Julia’s eyes caught her sister’s as she swallowed the bite and looked back at Derek.
Derek grinned at Maggie. “Don’t you let her fool you, this lady of mine loves fish.” He winked at her sister in a friendly teasing way
and Maggie stared at Julia as Julia smiled.
“It’s delicious,” she said to Derek and he nodded at Maggie.
“She’s just pulling the wool over your eyes.” Then he looked back at Julia and winked slowly, leaning in to kiss her cheek and then smiling at her. “Aren’t you!” he said with a knowing gaze.
Julia kicked his foot beneath the table. “Oh, my tastes have just changed over time, that’s all,” she said quietly.
Maddie, the other twin raised her eyebrows and laughed. “Yeah, we all guessed that right away,” she said with a glance at Derek.
Derek just smiled and her and then kissed Julia just beneath her ear on her neck, making all of her nerves jump and her breath catch. She fluttered her eyes and looked at Derek with a soft smile. “How sweet of you to be so affectionate.” It was her way of asking him to slow down a little, but he just grinned at her.
“It’s a wedding, weddings are romantic, aren’t they?” He looked at the others sitting around their table and raised his eyebrows in question. “Don’t you think so? Don’t you think weddings really bring out the romantic in all of us? I just can’t help it. We have a handsome groom, a beautiful bride, her lovely bridesmaids and proud parents, and all of the family and friends gathered to celebrate one of the most precious moments a man and woman can share. There’s nothing more romantic in the world, is there? Nothing that makes you believe in love more than a wedding.”
Everyone around them smiled and nodded in agreement, saying sweet things to each other and looking at one another, and then back at Derek.
“It makes me think of all the romantic times we’ve had,” he said wistfully. “Like the picnics we have on the beach, the walks through the redwood forest, the trolley rides we take to go get an ice cream... even going for tea in Chinatown. There are so many romantic times we’ve shared, even when it’s nothing special at all.”
Julia tried not to stare at him as she watched him spin her family tightly around his pinky finger.
“There was one time we were coming out of a ballet, she just loves the ballet, and it was a busy one. It was the Nutcracker at Christmas. Anyway, all these people were pouring out of the War Memorial Opera House and it was just pouring rain, the fog was coming in and all the cabs were full, so we were stuck there waiting for a free cab to come, and I took her over to the sheltered part of the building, where the overhang is, and I held her close to me to keep her warm. What did she do? She snuggled in to me like a little kitten trying to keep dry in the storm, and I just couldn’t help kissing her, and we kissed so long and so sweetly that we forgot about everything around us, and by the time we looked up, everyone from the theatre was gone. There wasn’t a soul on the street and all the cabs had vanished. We were standing alone it the rain. It was so romantic.... and silly, I know... but it is one of my favorite memories of us, and I’m always going to love that moment when we were the only two people in the whole wide world, kissing in the rain.” He looked at her as if they were the only two people in the whole wide world just then, and everyone at the table stared and smiled at them with romance in their eyes.
Samantha sniffed and grinned, wiping her eyes. “That’s the sweetest story ever! Julia, you are so lucky! You never told me about that!” Then she looked at Derek, “Theo, that’s not a silly moment at all, it’s beautiful! Cherish it!”
Julia stared at Derek, mesmerized by his tale and shook her head. “You amaze me sometimes, do you know that?”
He leaned over and kissed her full on the mouth, softly and sweetly, touching her cheek lightly as he did so. “You amaze me too. Every day. I never want to know a day without you,” he said to her softly, but within earshot of everyone around them.
Their table cooed at them with sighs of happiness, and Julia got lost in his blue eyes for a moment as he kissed her once more, her stomach erupting in heat, nerves, and waves of pleasure as his lips left hers and he smiled at her.
George coughed a little and Derek looked at him. “How was the trip down today?” he asked lightly, shifting the focus of the table, but Derek drew it all right back to him and to Julia.
“It was incredible. I’ve never seen so much natural beauty in all my life. We live in such a stunning state. If you haven’t been for a drive along the coast, I highly recommend it. This lovely lady and I got out at lunch and playing on the beach,” he laughed and looked down in mock embarrassment, “I did what I always do... I drew a heart in the sand and wrote our names in it, and added the word ‘forever’ to it. I guess I’m just a sentimental fool, but I love her, and I always enjoy showing her just how much. I know the waves will come and wash it away, but I just go along the next time we’re at the beach and write it again. No matter how many times the sea takes it off of the sand like a kept secret, as long as I live I will keep going back to write it again. Maybe the ocean is keeping all of those hearts somewhere in the deep, saving them like we save sea shells, and holding on to them for their beauty and special meaning.” Derek lifted Julia’s hand to his mouth and kissed her fingers softly, letting his lips linger on them and staring into her eyes.
She felt her stomach flip upside down and her heart began to pound and she had to remind herself that she was paying him to be that way with her. She told herself to stop being a silly romantic fool and focus on the wedding and on her sister.
“Well, I’m a believer, Theo. You said weddings are the most romantic things and there’s been nothing but romance since the two of you walked in the door!” Shelly said as she gazed at Derek with a wide grin on her face. “I wish I could meet a guy like you!”
“Me, too,” Bea said, grinning at Derek as well.
Julia smiled and leaned in to him, resting her head on his chest for a moment. She was glad that she had made the split second decision to bring him along for the trip. If she hadn’t, there was every probability that she would have been sitting beside Ronald at that moment, trying desperately to avoid his attentions and his steady stare. As it was, she was trying to keep her emotions, her hormones, and her thoughts in check.
Dinner passed by with good conversation and there was no moment when Derek wasn’t complimenting Julia, paying attention to her, listening to her, touching her or kissing her, or making her feel as if there was no one in the room half as important to him as she was, and her family noticed it. She couldn’t help but be moved by it. When dinner was over, they went to the space outside where the wedding was going to be held. The staff played the music that would be played during the wedding and everyone took their places and ran through it twice. During the entire rehearsal, Derek watched Julia and when she was done, he took her in his arms and kissed her deeply, as he had on the beach, tasting her as he held her close to him, feeling her heart pound against his chest in front and his hands on her back.
When he let her go, her family was still around them, and though no one said anything, everyone had seen it. The music still played softly in the air near them and since she was still in his arms, he took her hand in his and let his hand fall to her lower back, and he led her in a slow dance, turning her and holding her close to him, as if they were a pair of music box dancers twirling in time to their own personal dance.
Julia wasn’t sure what to do at first, other than to dance with him, but as he held her and turned her, kissing her cheek, kissing her neck behind and beneath her ear, moving his lips over her skin, she let herself get lost in the romance of the moment, and she closed her eyes and swayed with him, letting him lead her anywhere he wanted to, letting him hold her close and brush his lips over the skin on her neck, sending shivers of arousal through her body. She laid her head on his chest and listened to his heart as it beat swiftly, and she closed her eyes and let herself go in the dream of it all.
George and Evelyn watched and smiled, looking at each other in surprise and nodding. The others of the wedding party did the same, and then each of them took up a partner, and as the song came to an end and Julia lifted her cheek from Derek’s chest and looked around, she saw
that her parents were dancing, Samantha and Kevin were dancing, Eli and Shelly were dancing, and even Bea and Maddie were swaying to the music from the edge of the group.
The romance of it touched them all.
After a long moment bidding each other all a good night, Derek and Julia headed back to their room hand-in-hand, and it wasn’t until they closed the door to their room that he let go of her and gave her a little space. He walked quietly over to the bar and poured them both a glass of champagne, and then he nodded to her and tipped his head toward the balcony that led out to the beach.
“Join me?” he asked softly.
She drew a deep shaky breath, not at all sure that she wanted to, and definitely sure that she didn’t want to miss a single moment with the incredible man who was asking her to share champagne on a moonlit beach with him. Julia breathed out and shook her head whispering, “Why not?” and she followed him outside.
They walked barefoot through the fine sand, closer to the edge of the water shining white in the moonlight and he handed her one of the champagne flutes.
He held his aloft in a toast and smiled. “To a successful first half of the weekend. You have your whole family convinced that we are lovers and have been together for at least two years.”
She shook her head slowly, “No, Derek, you have them convinced,” and then she smiled weakly and laughed a little, “and you almost have me convinced, too. You were amazing tonight.” They sipped their bubbles and she looked up at him. “Where did you get ideas for all of those stories you told everyone all night? All of your romantic memories with me?”
He shrugged and looked into her eyes. “Oh, well you told me what all of your favorites are, and I just embellished after that. That’s all. It was one of the easiest things I’ve ever done. I just... imagined what it would be like to be doing those things with you,” he said quietly, his eyes locked on hers as the space between them narrowed and warmed significantly.
