Here Comes The Bride

by Sadie Grubor

  "Hmmm...well, that's not an easy one to answer. I have different favorites for different reasons. I mean, I love The Godfather movies, James Bond and Team America World Police; however, there are others."

  "America...Fuck Yeah!" She sang, just before she brought her wine glass to her mouth.

  "Durkah, durkah."

  I thought wine was going to come out of her nose. Once she calmed down, she removed her hand from her mouth and nose.

  "Don't do that when I'm taking a drink." She teasingly scolded.

  "Here, try this," I stabbed some of the lobster bisque close to me and held it up to her. She leaned a little and took the fork into her mouth. She moaned and licked her lips. My pants became increasingly tight.

  "That's really good," she sipped her water.

  "I know, it's one of my favorites, which brings another question." She looked at me with her full attention. "Favorite food?"

  "Oh, now that’s almost impossible to answer," she seemed to really have to think about it. "I really can't answer that." She sighed. "I like a lot of different things; pizza is a consistent staple, along with Chinese."

  "Okay. Favorite book?"

  "That's easy, Little Women." She smiled and I couldn't help but smile at her.

  Our food arrived and we fell into a comfortable silence as we enjoyed our dinner.

  "What about musicals, do you like those? Or plays?" I hoped I wasn’t being too obvious or giving away my surprise.

  "Well, I really have only seen musicals made into movies. You know, like My Fair Lady, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, etcetera, but I like them. My Fair Lady is one of my favorites. Though, that may be because of Audrey Hepburn, who I adore."

  "Hepburn fan?"

  "Definitely." She pushed her plate away and leaned onto the table again.

  "Really?" She nodded and sipped at her wine.

  "So what about you, Iverson? What are you hobbies?"

  "Hmm...I guess baseball. Or at least it was my hobby." I sighed.

  "What?" she asked with concern.

  "I don't have the time anymore to meet up with the guys and play. It kind of sucks." I chuckled halfheartedly.

  "Sorry," she mumbled.

  "It's not your fault, why are you sorry?"

  "I brought it up." She shrugged.

  When I realized time had flown by and it was passed seven, I had to hurry us out of the restaurant to our next destination. Pulling up to The Gershwin Theater, Lilli looked a little perplexed.

  "Ready?" I offered my hand and helped her out of the car. We headed into the theater, straight to the VIP section.

  "Mr. Iverson," the attendant nodded to me. "Mrs. Iverson," he nodded to Lilli.

  She paused momentarily, but quickly recovered.

  "I’m still not use to being called that," she giggled, quietly, into my shoulder. I chuckled.

  "Well, get used to it, Mrs. Iverson." We sat down in our box.

  "So, what are we watching?"

  I handed her the playbill.

  "Wicked? Really?" I nodded. "I've wanted to see this."

  "Good, cause I wasn't sure if this would be your 'thing'." Silently, I released a breath of relief.

  We talked a little more about each other before the lights started to lower and the stage lit up. Lilli grew very quiet and stared intently at the performance. I mostly watched Lilli. Every so often she would lick and chew on her bottom lip, which turned me on.

  She really did amaze me. She was clueless as to the effect she had on men. Not once did she seem to realize how the waiter stared at her or the way the men waiting to be seated at the restaurant turned to watch her walk by. The power she held was something she wouldn't believe.

  At intermission she excused herself to the restroom, but I insisted on escorting her. If she thought I was going to let her be alone, she was crazy. I felt justified in accompanying her when I noticed two men eying her hungrily on her walk to the ladies room. Then I watched as they moved to stand near the ladies room. When Lilli walked out, one man stopped her. She shook her head and started to walk away, but he placed his hand on her arm to hold her back. That was it.

  "Lilli, love, are you ready to return to our seats?" I stressed 'our' and stared daggers at both men.

  "Yes, of course. It was nice to meet you both." She smiled politely and latched onto my arm. I was more pissed at how uncomfortable they’d made her.

  I wrapped my arm around her waist both protectively and possessively, holding her to me tightly.

  "Calm down, caveman," Lilli teased. "They just wanted my number." She patted my chest.

  "That's not all they wanted," I growled.

  "And how would you know?" She rolled her eyes.

  "I'm a guy and I've been thinking about it all night."

  "Then you are no better than they are." She snorted.

  "But I'm your husband," I corrected her, "and by law I can think about it all I want." Smiling, I wiggled my eyebrows.

  "You devious little shi –" The lights lowered to signal intermission was ending.

  "Shh, the show is back on." I coughed to cover my chuckle and she smacked me. Grabbing her hand, I kept hold of it for the rest of the show.

  When the show ended, Lilli smiled widely and joined in the standing ovation. She pulled her coat tighter around her as we exited and I wrapped my arm around her shoulders.

  "It's so darn cold."

  I caught her by surprise when I steered her away from the curb and toward a large horse drawn carriage.

  "Aidan..?" I coaxed her to climb in. She paused and looked at me. "It's too cold," she whined.

  "Just get in." She paused and crinkled up her face. I leaned in to her ear. "Do you think I would let you freeze?" she sighed and climbed up. I followed.

  The carriage driver urged the horse to move and I grabbed a heavy blanket from under the seat, wrapping it around us. When Lilli buried herself into my side to keep warm, I mentally gave myself a high five. Her glorious curves pressed against me. I could feel her from shoulder to leather covered toe.

  Heat collected between us and the cold disappeared. When she started to shift away, I held her tightly in place.

  We rode through the cold clear night, talking about ourselves and asking questions until the carriage came to the end of the journey. I quickly ushered her into the warm car, but pulled her to my side once more. It didn’t escape me that she didn't resist.

  Once home, I stopped at the front door before opening it. Lilli looked at me confused.

  "What are you doing? Open the door it's late and cold." She urged with a smile.

  "Technically this is our first date."

  She rolled her eyes.

  "So that means you have to freeze me on the doorstep?" She laughed.

  "No, but I want to do something." I leaned in and kissed her lightly. Her hands slid to my neck and she pulled me closer. Slipping my tongue between her lips, she parted her mouth, giving me entry.

  It took every tiny molecule in my body to pull away from her instead of going caveman again. I pulled back and smiled at her.

  "Thank you." I whispered, my forehead pressed to hers.

  "No, thank you. It was a really nice evening." She put her right palm over my heart. I felt her shiver so I opened the door and let us inside.

  We walked hand in hand to the bedroom. As much as I wanted it, there would be no sex tonight. Tonight was about making her understand. She was more than an arrangement to me, even if I didn't have the balls to flat out tell her. I could only hope this was one small step would prove what I was feeling for her.

  Chapter Seven

  Not Always Black and White

  Lilli

  We’d kept up the general conversation that started at dinner. I have to admit the date last night was wonderful and surprising. I hadn’t expected him to take such quick action to learn more about me. The last surprise had been getting ready for bed and not having sex. I’d been surprised and disappointed when he didn’t make a move.

&
nbsp; I woke the next morning with his arm draped over my waist, his breath warming my shoulder blade. For Aidan’s mouth to be at that level of my back he had to be further down the bed than I was.

  Craning my neck over my shoulder, I found I was right. I was almost eye level with his messy auburn hair. Smiling, I shifted my body to get up.

  "Where are you going?" Aidan mumbled against my back, quickly pressing his lips against my skin.

  "The bathroom," I rolled my eyes, though he couldn’t see me. I shifted to move again, but still couldn’t. "Aidan?"

  "Hmm?" The sound vibrated against my back causing me to shiver.

  "Can you let go of me please?"

  He stretched out onto his back, releasing my waist.

  "Sorry," he groaned.

  I stood up and went to the bathroom. Coming out I had the perfect view of Aidan on his back and shirtless. He was almost physically perfect. I took a deep breath to calm myself before heading toward my oversized closet. I was about to walk into the closet when he spoke.

  "Come back to bed," he yawned. "It’s Sunday." He was stretching again.

  "What does that have to do with –?"

  "It means that we should stay in bed all day." Aidan rolled his head in my direction so I could watch him wiggle his eyebrows with his crooked smile plastered on his face.

  I shook my head and walked into my closet. When I reached the built in dresser at the farthest end, I pulled out some yoga pants and one of my racer back yoga tops. Slipping both pieces of clothing on, I left my closet to find Aidan groggily getting out of bed. I giggled at him and left the room to work out.

  After all the food we ate at dinner last night, I needed to work out. I started with my yoga routine before heading over to the treadmill for some cardio.

  Setting up my work out on the treadmill was easy enough to do and once the belt started to move I put my ear buds in and turned on my IPod. After walking briskly, the machine picked up the pace to jogging speed. Next was running speed for about ten minutes before it brought me back down to a jog. I closed my eyes and tried to sidetrack myself from the burn in my muscles with the music pumping into my ears.

  More than halfway through the workout I was jolted out of my comfortable groove by Aidan. He had jumped onto the treadmill. His feet planted on both sides of the belt and his hands firmly on my waist holding me from falling down.

  "Jesus, Aidan!" I screamed and hit the stop button on the treadmill, placing my feet on the outside of the belt in front of his. His body shook with laughter. I turned on him.

  "You could’ve seriously injured me," I informed.

  "I had you," he smirked. In fact, he still had me by my waist.

  Pushing at his arms, I tried to be angry with him for scaring me and being careless.

  "Oh, calm down, like I would’ve let you get hurt." He still wore the smirk.

  "Let go of me," I said half amused and half irritated.

  "I don’t think I will," I was about to protest, but he continued "Unless you agree to go out with me on another date?" He raised his eyebrows.

  "Today?" I looked at him confused.

  He shook his head and pulled me closer to him.

  "No, next weekend," his breath washed over my earlobe. I shivered. His confidence and smugness took over the posture of his body.

  "Fine," I said quickly. "Now will you let me go?"

  "Hmm..?" his lips brushed my ear and his hands slid to my hips. Pulling my hips close to him, he pressed himself against me.

  My breathing caught and, like it was instinct, I wrapped my arms up around his shoulders. His mouth immediately found the skin between my neck and shoulder.

  I pulled back.

  "So help me God…if you leave another mark on me –"

  He shut me up by cover my mouth with his. The kiss deepened, the control panel of the treadmill digging into my back. My breathing turned into gasps and pants.

  "You’re way too hot covered in sweat," he growled into the side of my neck. His lips moved over my chin and down my throat.

  When his hands fanned across my ass, my hips thrust forward to meet his. He moaned against my skin and squeezed my ass tight. His fingers started traveling around my hips, slipping into the wide waistband of my yoga pants. He stripped them off fast and impatient.

  He dropped to his knees and grabbed my legs. I gripped the hand railings when his tongue found my clit. From his knees, he pulled my legs over his shoulders and buried himself between my thighs. My knuckles turned white from my grip on the railings. My gasps grew to moans.

  "Fffuhhckk Aid…da…ahh…huhhihh…Aidan…" My hips writhing against his face.

  "Mmmm…Lilli," Aidan murmured and kissed the inside of my thigh. His finger found its way inside of me, pumping in and out of me. "You taste fantastic." He licked my thigh and then returned his tongue to the throbbing between my legs.

  I whimpered when he pulled away the second time, but ground myself down as another finger entered me.

  "I want to taste you when you let go," he growled and ferociously returned his tongue between my legs.

  Yelling out his name, I tightened around his fingers, which disappeared, but were quickly replaced by his flexing tongue.

  He gave me only a second to gain my footing again before his fingers returned inside of me and he moved up my body, crashing his mouth to mine.

  Pulling his fingers out of me, his hands slid behind my thighs and picked me up. When he realized the beeps were occurring from my ass on the console he quickly pulled the emergency cord, shutting the machine down.

  Fingers began rubbing my still sensitive nub and I couldn’t help but rotate my hips against his fingers. Aidan’s fingers disappeared and, before I could complain, he filled me.

  His thrusts were feral. Squeezing my hips, he pumped. The familiar sensations began to build again. It was so amazingly primitive and intense.

  Each grunt, moan, and growl erupting from his chest sent me soaring to the highest edge. My fingers dug into his shoulders leaving marks, and perhaps even drawing blood.

  I tried to tighten my legs around his waist, but he grabbed behind my knees, his palms flat against the spot where my thigh curved into knee. Pushing my legs apart and up toward me, I screamed his name.

  "That’s it, come on, baby, give it to me." He demanded of me and I wanted to, I really did. "I need to feel you, Lilli! Shhh…" his growl grew more feral. It sent me crashing into a bright white oblivion of tingles, molten waves, and violent shivers of fervor.

  "Yessss, cummm arounn…uh…ah….fuck!" Aidan slammed into me a few more times as he let loose his own animalistic orgasm. He twitched and shivered as he slowed his thrust. My head collapsed to his shoulder. I tried to regain strength and regulate my breathing.

  He panted heavily and kissed my shoulder, rubbing my upper right arm, which felt like Jell-O.

  "That was…" he panted.

  "Amazing." I finished.

  He chuckled.

  "Mm-hmm," he responded. I could feel the smile on his lips as he brushed them over my shoulder.

  The rest of Sunday was spent relaxing around the house, after a quick nap from my morning workout.

  Monday brought back the work week. Aidan left that morning for work and I was getting ready to meet Viola. The next charity event for the foundation was the black and white ball. We had some work to do.

  As I was slipping on my clothes, a black pencil skirt, blue blouse, and black boots, I thought about Aidan’s ‘battle scars’. My face flushed with heat remembering the gasp that escaped my lips this morning when I noticed the marks on his back. It would take at least a week for those to disappear. I shook off the memory and grabbed the last of my things.

  With my purse, coat, and cell phone, I headed downstairs. Viola was standing in the foyer.

  "Viola, why didn’t you tell me you were here?" I walked toward her open arms and hugged her. "How long –?"

  "Oh, I haven’t been here long at all." She squeezed me tightly and then
released. "Are you all ready to go?" I nodded with a smile and we headed to the awaiting car.

  Pulling up to Grand Prospect Hall, I was in awe. I’d been in New York for a while, but this was the first time I was pulling up to this immaculate building. The entrance was amazing, large staircases, chandeliers, people in uniforms, marble flooring. It was breathtaking.

  Viola’s voice pulled me from my awe.

  "Ahhh, Pierre, it’s good to see you again." Viola and Pierre kissed each other’s cheeks before pulling away smiling.

  "Madame Iverson, it is a pleasure as always," Pierre spoke with a very heavy French accent. I was quickly reminded of Inspector Clouseau from The Pink Panther. Pressing my lips together firmly, I stifled my urge to giggle.

  "This is Lilli," she motioned to me, "Aidan’s wife." I held out my hand.

  Pierre grabbed my hand and pulled me to him, repeating the same cheek kissing he’d done with Viola.

  "An extreme pleasure to meet you, Madame Iverson," he smiled brightly at me. "Have you been to the Grand Prospect Hall before?" I shook my head. "Ah, well then, let’s show you around." He was beaming.

  I looked over my shoulder at Viola and she laughed.

  Pierre walked us through the first landing and to the left set of marble stairs that looked to be a creamy color. The whole staircase seemed golden, though. We reached a large foyer with marble flooring.

  "To the left we have the Elevator, Ladies Bathroom and Bridal Suite –"

  "Bridal suite?" I interrupted Pierre.

  He nodded.

  "Yes, typically weddings are held up here, so we have a special suite here for the Bride; however, it can be used for whatever," he waved his hand in a 'whatever' manor. "Anyhow, to the right is the Gentlemen's Bathroom, along with the hallway that leads to the Skylight Room, Atrium and Outdoor Plaza. Behind us is the Night Club, and in front of us is the Grand Ballroom Music Hall."

  My head started to spin from all of the information he was spewing out.

  "How about we go room to room?" Viola stepped forward, wrapped her left arm in my right one and led the way.

  Pierre caught up quickly.

  "Of course, Madame," he pushed open a set of large doors and we entered a large ballroom. "This is the Grand Ballroom Music Hall," he announced as we followed him into the room.