The Wedding

by Sian Ceinwen

She was going to make a comment along these lines to Harrison, but she turned and saw his face. All of her previous thoughts flew out of her head, and the world was reduced to the two of them, as he set her suitcase down in the walk-in closet and came back out toward her.

  “I believe I promised you long, slow, and over many, many hours?” He raised an eyebrow at her.

  “I think I also recall you requesting to be sucked really fucking well and to completion…” she trailed off as she licked her lips, and her eyes flickered to his crotch where she could see a telltale bulge already forming.

  “On your knees, angel,” he instructed her.

  She dropped to her knees right where she was. Harrison strode over to her, unbuttoning his jeans as he did. He stopped in front of her and freed his erection, which she swiftly took in her mouth. He placed a hand on the back of her head, his fingers clutching her hair in their grasp, and watched her with lust-filled eyes. She took to her task with vigor and kept sucking him much longer than she usually would. Heather normally got too frustrated and eager, so she would jump on him to fuck him long before he could ever come in her mouth. She was determined to finish him with her mouth today, though, and was pleased when she got to swallow his offering.

  He took her over to the bed, instructing her to stand still as he stripped her clothes off her, slowly. His hands seemed to need to touch every inch of her exposed skin as he did it. With each item that he removed, he gained more and more access to her body. When she was completely naked, he walked around her in a circle, touching her and occasionally kissing some random part of her exposed flesh.

  “Harrison.” She could barely manage a whisper, her voice full of lust and longing.

  “On the bed, on your back, angel.”

  She climbed onto the bed to lay down with her head on the pillows. He parted her thighs and buried his face between them. It wasn’t long at all before Heather finally got the orgasm she’d been craving for hours.

  “So soon?” He raised an eyebrow, and she laughed.

  “I’m not sure what you expected, honey, you’ve had me wound tighter than a spring since I got here.”

  “What I expect,” he bent his head and softly bit her inner thigh, before kissing the flesh he’d bitten and then moving his tongue closer to her sweet spot, “is to hear you scream my name multiple times before I even consider actually fucking you.”

  Heather loved this man like crazy. He knew exactly how to torment her in just the right way, and they spent hours in bed together, as he had promised her. They had sex, but not until he’d driven her wild by teasing her and bringing her to orgasm several times, first. They also spent a long chunk of time just lying there together in each other’s arms before finally showering and getting dressed to head downstairs and socialize with the others.

  “Finally decided that we’re worthy of your company?” Hayden grinned at them as they walked into one of the rooms downstairs, where the other three guys were playing pool.

  “We figured we weren’t missing much; we’ve seen Seb whoop your ass at pool plenty of times before,” Heather smirked at him.

  “Ouch! You know how to cut deep, lady. Today’s the day I’ll finally beat him; I can feel it.”

  Heather looked at the pool table, where Hayden had about twice as many balls left as Sebastian did. She laughed and patted him on the back as she walked past him, “You keep telling yourself that, darling.”

  Heather sat down on a stool next to Gabriel at the side of the room, and Harrison went over to the bar that was in the corner of the room to pour them some drinks.

  “By the way, you don’t need to worry, Heather,” Sebastian spoke up, as he was chalking his pool cue before lining up his next shot, “I made sure that all the rooms in this house were soundproofed before I moved in. We couldn’t hear a thing.”

  She, Harrison, and Hayden all laughed, while Gabriel looked confused.

  “Seb had the room next to us in New York,” Harrison told him, by way of an explanation.

  Gabriel continued to look confused for a second until his expression cleared, and he laughed out loud, “Well, that doesn’t seem like it would be too awkward at all.”

  “They gave us quite the show,” Sebastian nodded at Gabriel, “honestly, it seemed kind of deliberate, to me. I think Heather just wanted to make sure she had a permanent place in my spank bank.”

  “Shut up, asshole,” she said. “You know that’s not true!”

  “Are you sure, Heather?” Harrison frowned at her. “I mean, you were very loud that day. I just thought it was because I was a sex god, but the more I think about it…” he trailed off and raised his eyebrows at her.

  “Don’t you start.” She laughed. “You know that I didn’t know Sebastian was staying next to us until afterward!”

  “What I’m hearing,” Gabriel said with a wicked grin, “is that your inner exhibitionist doesn’t care who is in the next room, as long as someone hears you. It just happened to be Sebastian on this occasion.”

  “You guys suck balls,” she growled at them.

  “Wait, isn’t that what you were doing in New York?” Hayden laughed at her glare.

  “I’m not discussing this further. Yes, honey, you’re a fucking sex god. These guys are just jealous that they’re not as good in bed as you are.”

  She blew him a kiss to emphasize her point and laughed as the other guys tried to defend their sexual prowess to her.

  “Just shut up and play pool,” she said and stuck her tongue out at Sebastian.

  He laughed and took his next shot. Harrison brought her over a vodka and orange juice, and she thanked him with a kiss on his cheek as she took it off him. It reminded her of Ariana, and she thought that now was as good a time as any to have a conversation with Gabriel about her.

  “How is Ariana?” she asked him.

  “She’s good, really good.” His voice and expression softened as he was obviously thinking of her. It was nice to see him happy.

  “Is she coming up this weekend?”

  “Unfortunately, not. She’s working as a real estate agent now, so she has to do open houses pretty much every weekend. She’s worked out with her boss to take a couple of days off each week this month to come up here, but they have to be mid-week to have the least effect on her work.” He shrugged.

  It was an interesting career choice for Ariana. When Heather had known her, she was generally pretty shy. It was hard to imagine Ariana as a salesperson, convincing people to purchase things took a certain quality that she hadn’t known Ariana had.

  “That’s really nice”—Heather hesitated but decided to continue—“I heard what happened with that reporter. I’m really sorry, that would have been awful for her.”

  Gabriel’s expression clouded over, and she could tell that he was furious just from thinking about it.

  “I don’t think I’ve ever been angrier in my life,” Gabriel’s voice was rough with anger mixed with concern for Ariana, “I’m lucky that I didn’t find out until after, to be honest. I would’ve fucking killed him.”

  “It’s so predatory and awful. My fashion show director thinks that we should all get personal security.”

  “Ally?” Gabriel asked Heather, much to her surprise.

  “Yeah…wait…how did you know?” she raised her eyebrows at him.

  “Ask Hayden.” He nodded over to him, and Heather’s mouth dropped open.

  “They didn’t!”

  “You’ll have to ask him, but I think she’s planning to come out here sometime while we’re here,” Gabriel informed her.

  “Wow! That’s awesome, she’s amazing.”

  Ally and Hayden, Heather liked it. They were both so cool, and she just wanted the people in her life to be happy. Obviously, you didn’t have to be in a relationship to be happy, but in their world, it was so hard to find someone genuine, that wasn’t after them for their fame and money, so the idea of Hayden hooking up with Ally was a relief t
o Heather. She trusted her.

  Gabriel was watching the pool game now; he was so relaxed and at ease. Heather hadn’t forgotten what it was like when Ariana had left them, but she also couldn’t deny that he was a different person when he was with her. At peace with the world, and she couldn’t resent him for wanting that again.

  “I’m sorry for being such a bitch the night that we were at Sebastian’s place,” Heather said, causing Gabriel to turn and look at her.

  He took a moment before replying, “You’ve been one of my best friends for a long, long time, Heather. That night really hurt me, though. I’ve had time to think about it since, and I think I kind of understand. You were hurt and lashing out, Ariana knows that, as well.”

  “I’m still hurt, Gabriel.” Heather was surprised to find herself fighting back tears that were threatening to fall. “She was my best friend, and she left. I still don’t know why. I can’t imagine why she would ever have done that to us.”

  Gabriel put his arm and her shoulders and pulled her into a hug. “It’s not my place to tell you. Ariana wants to talk to you sometime soon, whenever you guys can organize it and when you both feel ready. Just know that she has been your biggest champion since we got back together. She talked me out of quitting the band, the night we were at Sebastian’s place.”

  Heather was shocked to hear that he had considered quitting the band, and that must have been reflected on her face.

  “It would’ve been a dumb move, very irrational.” He laughed at her expression. “I was very angry. She told me to give you and Sebastian time. She’s”—he paused, searching for the right word—“different now. I know that what she did wasn’t right, Heather. You have every right to be hurt, but please give her a chance and just hear her out when the time comes.”

  Heather swallowed back the bitter words that she still wanted to say and nodded at him. This wound was deep, but she was willing to at least hear what Ariana had to tell her. Gabriel squeezed her shoulders, then let go of her.

  Reading between the lines to try and figure out what he wasn’t telling her, Heather came to the conclusion that there was clearly some sort of reason that Ariana had for leaving. She still couldn’t think of any reason that would make sense, but the haunted look on Ariana’s face the day they’d played Euchre had been playing on her mind ever since she had remembered it.

  Ariana had been well and truly initiated into their world, now. When she’d been a part of their lives previously, she’d always been slightly apart from them, owing to the fact that no one knew about her existence and importance in their lives. Now, though, Ariana was as much a part of “the band,” in the public’s opinion, as Heather was.

  Ever since Fashion Week, though, the media spotlight on Heather had intensified dramatically. She realized that at some point, she had been catapulted into the next echelon of stardom and was now becoming a celebrity in her own right. These days, she was frequently referred to in online articles specifically for her fashion line, and not simply in context as Harrison’s fiancé.

  It was nice to feel like her own person, but the flip side of that was that now people seemed to feel that same kind of ownership over her that they did over the band. She had been asked for her autograph several times, and she could no longer go out in public without being followed, photographed, and asked a thousand and one questions.

  People also felt free to give her their honest opinion on everything from her designs, down to what she’d chosen to wear that day. One day, she’d been flat out at the new workspace and left with her hair all over the place, barely any makeup on and wearing an old, comfortable sweatshirt with jeans.

  Unfortunately, she’d had to stop for milk on the way home and had been rewarded with no fewer than three different strangers telling her how bad she looked in person when compared with what they had seen in magazines and online. It was bizarre that people seemed to not realize that she was a real human being with feelings like anyone else.

  They still hadn’t really made any decisions about personal security. Nothing overly bad had happened since they’d returned to Chicago, though, and now the guys were safely ensconced here in Galena where nobody could bother them. Perhaps that was part of why people were hassling her so much more lately.

  “Penny for your thoughts?” Hayden sat on the seat to her right.

  “Just thinking about the whole security issue,” Heather said honestly.

  “We need to talk to Cooper about it,” Gabriel told them.

  “I’m still hoping that it’ll just die down,” Hayden shrugged his shoulders.

  “Cool. Meanwhile, my girlfriend is being harassed at her place of work,” Gabriel said with a frosty voice.

  “Whoa, Gabriel. No. I didn’t mean it like that.” Hayden looked abashed. “I don’t want Ariana being followed around. We should definitely talk to Cooper.”

  “I got what you meant, Hayden.” Heather came to his rescue. “It would be good if we didn’t need to consider getting personal security. I didn’t like the idea at first, either, but you guys have been out here, and I don’t know about Ariana, but it’s gotten much worse for me since you left.”

  Harrison and Sebastian walked over to where they were sitting to join the conversation.

  “They’re still going on with that dumbass rumor that you guys are splitting up, plus no one knows where you are, so they’re following me around to try and see where I go, or if I’m meeting up with any of you.” Heather cringed.

  “It’s pretty much the same for Ariana,” Gabriel confirmed, “they’re constantly bombarding her with questions about us breaking up.”

  Sebastian had a frown on his face. “So what do we do? Do Heather and Ariana need security now? Or do we wait until we’re all back from Galena?”

  “Fuck Cooper, I’m calling it,” Gabriel said in a firm voice. “I’m getting Ariana a bodyguard, and I think Heather needs one, too. We can worry about ourselves after we get back to Chicago. Nobody is hassling us out here, so we’re safe.”

  “I agree,” Harrison said, and Heather looked up into his warm, brown eyes that were full of love and concern for her. “What do you think, angel?”

  Heather thought that she might burst into tears right there and then. She hadn’t realized how stressed she’d been about the paparazzi. Now that she was faced with the prospect of having a bodyguard to assist with those interactions, it seemed absolutely crazy that she’d been handling this without one.

  “Please do it sooner rather than later.” Her voice was croaky.

  Harrison embraced her in a hug, and she melted into him. Feeling so secure, so safe, and so very glad that they’d come to this decision.

  Chapter 11

  SREĆAN TRIDESETI ROĐENDAN, HAIDEN

  HEATHER CLOSED HER LAPTOP and breathed a sigh of relief. She’d just been double-checking her itinerary for her trip to New York next week. She would be flying out on Thursday, in time for the Saturday Night Live rehearsals, and she was incredibly nervous. She had no idea why she’d ever agreed to do it—she wasn’t a performer; she was a designer.

  Cruise Control had to attend a massive Halloween charity function in Los Angeles, along with Cooper and his team. Now that she was one of Cooper’s clients herself, it was interesting to see how his management style differed with her.

  He gave Cruise Control a lot of attention in comparison. She wondered if his other clients ever got bitter about the fact that he would consistently drop everything to ensure the guys were taken care of. Then again, Cruise Control almost certainly earned him more than all of his other clients put together, so maybe he didn’t care about what his other clients thought that much, anyway.

  Heather put her laptop in its bag, grabbed her phone, and headed out of her office, turning the light off on her way out. She went out to check the main sewing floor and make sure that everything was switched off out there, but couldn’t resist walking past her wedding dress on the way out. It was already looking
so beautiful. There was still so much to do, lots of hand-embroidery, but it was coming together wonderfully.

  Everyone else at Serenity had left over an hour ago, and she’d stayed back longer than she’d intended to. She wouldn’t get out to Galena until almost nine now; it was Thursday night, and they were celebrating Hayden’s thirtieth birthday in a much more low-key manner than they had for Harrison’s, but she felt guilty that she’d be arriving so late tonight.

  “Are you ready to leave, Miss York?” Callum Archer asked her as she approached him near the entry of the building.

  “I sure am, I can’t wait to see Harrison.” She smiled widely at him.

  “I’m sure.”

  He was tall, well-built, and was wearing a black, fitted suit. Callum had been her personal bodyguard for over a week now, and they’d gotten into a fairly steady rhythm. He arrived at her apartment each morning to collect her and drove her around in a big, black Range Rover with blacked-out windows whenever she had meetings or appointments. She had driven her Tesla out to Galena herself last weekend, though, leaving him behind. They’d agreed that unless they started to have any problems out there, it was pointless to have him hanging around for no reason.

  All in all, it was working well and had been an incredible relief for Heather. Saturday Night Live had announced last week that she would be a guest on the show, and the reaction had been intense. She didn’t think she would have been able to handle it without Callum’s help. She didn’t mind signing autographs for people—and did it often—but as soon as people started to get too close or too handsy, he shut them down in an instant.

  There was a small group of people waiting at the front of the building today. Heather could tell they were mostly fans. Only one person had a heavy camera hanging around his neck. Callum opened the door and stepped through it, holding everyone off as Heather locked up the building. Once she’d done that, she turned and moved over to where the fans were standing.

  “Hi Heather, can you sign this?” The fan held out a Sharpie and a picture of her standing at the end of the runway at Fashion Week.