by Jessie Cooke
The congregation loudly answered in the affirmative, and Bella felt her eyes misting again. She glanced at Luke, his copper hair a little darker in the light of dusk, but his hazel eyes gleaming at her. She heard his voice above all the others, confident and assured. He mouthed the word “Beautiful” to her, and Bella could feel herself blush at his attention. She sent him an air kiss in response, and had she been able to read his mind, she would have read him thinking, “I could marry that girl.”
“Your toast was great,” Luke said as he walked Bella out onto the dance floor.
“Well, I didn’t want it to be your typical ‘best man’ toast since I’m not your typical ‘best man’,” she said amusedly.
“I think you did a good job of combining light humor with poignancy,” Luke said.
“Listen at you—a pure critique,” she wrapped her arms around his neck as they settled into a slow dance.
“I’ve been waiting to get myself this close to your gorgeous body all night,” Luke whispered in her ear, and the feeling of his trimmed beard tickled all the way down to her center.
“Well, I wouldn’t have let you earlier. Too much of a chance you could have mussed something up. It takes a lot of work to look this good, let me tell you.”
Luke thrust his pelvis forward ever so slightly, alerting Bella to his desire.
“You don’t need all that paint and all those accessories to look good, but I must say, the added details merely enhance your already obvious splendor.” He tilted his head as he kissed her lips, first softly, then a little more urgently, hoping she was getting the message.
“You can talk to me like that all night long,” she said as she closed her eyes and kissed him back. There was nothing more romantic than a wedding, and Bella was feeling pretty damn romantic.
“How much longer do you think we need to stay?” she asked, a twinkle in her eye as she pulled back to look Luke in the eyes.
“I’d say your work here is done. The crowd is beginning to thin out, and I’m sure if you explain to Christo that you have a good-looking man ready to take you home that he’d be very understanding.”
Bella laughed and nodded her head in agreement. She and Luke had begun their relationship pretty hot and heavy, and there had been conversations that she had initiated about slowing down, scared she would end up in the same predicament as she had less than a year ago. She did not want a repeat of Reece Hamilton.
At the same time, however, she kept finding herself comparing him to Reece unintentionally. For some reason, she could not get the masked man out of her head. No matter how many pep talks she gave herself, no matter how often she worked to shut him out of her head, he snuck in there and before she knew it, a memory would surface, or she’d catch sight of him in her mind’s eye. She began to wonder if perhaps she was the reason Luke hadn’t slept with her yet. Maybe he could tell that she still thought of Reece occasionally.
But there was a nagging itch in the back of her mind that made her wonder why Luke hadn’t pushed harder to get her in his bed; he was almost too chivalrous about not sleeping with her, and while he was plenty aroused at the moment, there were times that Bella couldn’t really tell for sure. She’d had to fight back urges to strip him down and see what was really going on at times; had to tell herself that no matter how much she might want to, she was not going to shove him down on her pink suede covered bed and mount him to show him just how hot she could get him.
Perhaps after a wedding, though, their night would end differently. She felt more confident in herself and definitely believed six months was plenty of time to give them both to get to know each other. She kicked back another flute of champagne and headed over to the happy couple to say good night.
“I’m out of here,” Bella said as she approached Simon and Christo. “The best woman is off duty.”
“You performed all duties wonderfully,” Christo said as he kissed her cheek. “Honestly, Bella, it was even better than I had imagined.”
“Better than we had planned,” Simon chimed in, and he unashamedly kissed his new husband on the lips sweetly.
“I’m just happy to have been a part of it,” Bella answered.
“We wouldn’t have it any other way,” Simon responded and wrapped his arms around Bella in a big bear hug. “I’ve grown to love you almost as much as Christo does.”
“Not possible,” Christo said, cutting in. “My Bella-boo is my first love,” he smiled. “Now, go get some rest . . . or maybe just go get some.” They glanced over at Luke who was approaching to tell the newlyweds good bye as well, but for a second—just upon glimpse-- Bella thought she saw Reece when she looked at Luke.
23
Bella and Luke stumbled into the front door of her townhouse as one. They were still lip-locked, and they had already begun the act of disrobing each other, their breaths coming fast in between heated kisses.
“It has an eye-hook,” Bella said, trying to help Luke with the zipper on the side of her dress.
“I know. It’s bent,” he complained, struggling to get her free of the chaste zipper.
Luke tugged and she felt the fabric give just as she heard the rip of fabric.
“It’s okay. I’ll fix it,” she said, and she kicked the door shut and slammed him up against the wall, her fingers flying through the buttons on his dress shirt.
“My, aren’t we adept?” he asked her.
“Do you want to talk, or do you want to do this?” she asked, but instead of waiting for an answer, she kissed him with an open mouth and allowed her hand to roam the region around his own zipper.
Luke was already hard, and his kisses probed her mouth. It was obvious what the answer was, but he wanted to make certain she knew his intentions.
“Oh, we are most certainly going to do this,” he said, a bit surprised at himself and his level of intense desire he felt for this girl. He kicked away the pool of her dress that had come to rest at her feet, then allowed himself a moment to take in the sight of Bella, standing only a few inches away in a black strapless bra and black lace thong with garters tight to black-lace-topped stockings. She pulled the bobby pins out of her hair and shook it free, and Luke watched in awe as it cascaded down her shoulders and back.
“I have literally never seen a woman more beautiful and more sexy than you,” he said, and Bella looked at him, her head cocked.
“Why do you sound so surprised?” she asked.
Luke simply shook his head, his mouth opened in wonderment. Bella watched him as his tongue darted out to moisten his lips, and then he swallowed around an obvious lump in his throat.
“You know, you are one fetching fella,” she said, feeling the need to compliment him back and be a little lighter at the same time.
“Fetching, eh?”
“Yeah,” Bella answered as she began slowly backing her way down the hallway towards her bedroom.
“I thought ‘fetching’ was something you country folks did after something was thrown at you,” Luke teased as he followed. He’d dropped his white dress shirt on the floor and was seductively unbuckling his belt.
“Well, I’m definitely throwing something your way,” Bella said, turning backwards into her bedroom. “You fetching?”
“Oh, I’m fetching whatever it is you’re throwing, darling,” he said, his belt now off and on the floor as he reached to unzip his pants.
Bella stopped and went forward, immediately slamming into the wall of Luke’s chest that was still in motion after her.
“Let me do that,” she said as she heard the familiar ZZZZITT of this zipper coming down quickly. She ran her hands inside the waistband of his slacks and over the humps of his buttocks as she simultaneously pushed his pants down to the floor. The sight of his sensible white boxer-briefs with the Calvin Klein waistband revved her engine up a notch.
“Better than any ad I’ve ever seen,” she said as she stepped back to appreciate his form. He was bulging with promise, and Bella dropped to her knees, her cheek rubbing aga
inst the soft cotton in the center of his underwear.
“We’ve been really good,” she said, her breath hot against his thighs. She allowed her lips to travel the outside of the seamed pocket where Luke’s treasure lay in wait. “And now we can be bad,” she said in a guttural whisper. She felt him throb against her lips, eager for her mouth to be more intimate.
“Go to the bed,” she ordered, and he obeyed willingly. As he sat, she pulled at the waistband of his Calvin Kleins and released him. She looked into his eyes, more green-gray than she’d seen them before, but a beautiful contrast to his dark coppery hair.
“You okay with this?” she asked him, finding it hard to read some of his sighs and the tension she sensed within his thighs.
“Pitch and see,” his eyes smiled seductively, and then she heard a sharp intake of breath as she closed her lips around him. He ran his hands through her hair as he leaned more onto his back, the sight alone almost enough to bring him the ecstasy he was expecting. But he wanted her; to be inside her fully, and so after a few more minutes of pleasure at her lips, he gently persuaded her to the bed.
His fingers began tracing her profile, then her shoulder, and on to her breast, circling her nipple a few times, making her harder and wetter. Soon his fingers were tracing below her belly button, sliding into her body. She arched her pelvis and begged him to go deeper.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” Luke replied.
“I don’t want to hurt you either,” she mumbled back, misunderstanding. “It’s okay. We’re consenting adults, you know.”
He thrust deeper, and Bella’s hand stroked him in turn. His lips sipped at her breasts, and she clenched her muscles around his fingers, in and out.
“Do you have a condom?” she asked, and he removed himself long enough to extract a shiny foil package from the wallet in his pants.
“Busted,” she joked.
“What do you mean?” he asked, his face the picture of innocence.
“You were hoping to get lucky tonight. You came prepared.”
Realization settled in on Luke, and Bella could see his shoulders relax with the epiphany.
“I’ve come prepared to see you for over a month now,” and he rolled the condom down his length.
“Why did you never tell me?” she asked.
“I—well—I guess I wanted it to be natural; for you to be ready. I wanted it to be something we both decided to happen together, not just my selfish desires trying to convince you of something you might not want at the moment.”
Bella pulled her to him, encircled his body with her legs, and guided him into the dark longings of herself.
“Dear God,” Luke moaned, and Bella answered with a wordless exhalation of her own. She slid herself forward until he was firmly embedded within her, and he began a slow plunging back and forth. His breath was hot on her cheek and in her ear, and before Bella knew what was actually happening, she felt Luke’s body shudder, and he cried out with a few mighty thrusts, and then collapsed his head on her chest.
She lay there, eyes wide, her body achingly unfulfilled, ready for more. She clenched her muscles around him, willing him to stay put for just a few more minutes, silently begging him to let her have just a few more heaves with her hips, but all to no avail. She felt him slip out and slip away.
And her first thought was: Reece never would have left me unsatisfied.
Her second was: What the hell is wrong with me?
24
Christo squealed with Bella on the telephone.
“That is so amazing!” he congratulated her.
She had just called to inform him that her firm had entered a design contest for the iconic Grayson Hotel chain, and Rita had called her personally to ask if she would represent the company and head up the design team.
“I’m not going to pretend that I’m not jealous,” Christo said. “Oh, I wish you’d been with me and Simon on our honeymoon. The resort where we stayed in Tahiti was a designer’s dream! You would have loved it. I told Simon at least twice a day that you would love the concept, didn’t I Simon?”
Bella could hear Simon’s voice faintly in the background groaning at the memory of the number of times Christo had made the comment.
“If he said it once, he said it a million times, Bella,” Simon called out. “And no offence, but I was right glad you weren’t on our honeymoon.”
Bella laughed.
“I’d have to concur with you, Simon. Not the greatest vacation to be third wheel on a honeymoon, especially of two who I’m sure could barely keep their hands off each other. But you took pictures, didn’t you, Christo? You’re constantly snapping pictures on your phone when you’re with me.”
“Oh, fear not, my dear. I do have plenty of photos. I just don’t think the photos will do the place justice. Still, you’ll love it, and maybe you can get some inspiration for your concept.”
“Well, I didn’t just call to brag,” Bella continued. “Remember when we did Reece’s holiday home?”
“Yeeess,” Christo drawled.
“I had so much fun with that project, and I felt like it was some of my best work. I attribute that to working with you.”
“It most definitely was fun for me, too, and I was very proud of what you designed for him. His home is something for your professional portfolio for sure.”
“Welllll,” Bella drew the word out to build suspense. “I’m thinking we should do that again . . . only on the Grayson Hotel project.”
“What?! Seriously?! Me?! With you?! On the contest?!”
Bella laughed, but it was drowned out by Christo’s excited trills and questions. Finally he settled down enough for Bella to be heard.
“Is that a ‘yes’?” she asked.
“Yes, yes, resoundingly, yes!” Christo said.
“Oh, and did I mention that the winning design team gets to be the first new guest with carte blanche treatment in this new resort?”
“Shut up!”
“No, really.”
“Where is it?”
“A private island off of Haiti. And from the pictures I’ve seen, it’s amazing.”
She heard Christo telling Simon that they were going to Haiti to a private island.
“We have to win first,” she interrupted.
“Oh, we’ll win!” Christo promised. “We can’t help but win—we’re a winning combination.”
“I’ll email you the pictures of the bones. We’re responsible for interior themes. It’s a lot of work, but I really think we can do this, and it’ll be awesomely fun to work together, even if we don’t win.”
“Bella Ryan, if you were here in person, I’d kiss you on the mouth,” Christo declared.
“I know you would,” Bella laughed. “Now, go get to work. We meet with someone from PR to go over all the rules and regs in the morning. She’ll let us know if she thinks we need to bring anyone else in. I’m thinking about asking Luke, but . . . his style is so different than mine, I think it may just cause clashing.”
“Don’t get me wrong, I want us to win, but there’s a part of me that hopes it’s just me and you, kid,” Christo said.
“I’m gonna ask for money to cover a trip to the San Luis Resort in Galveston. They just renovated about two, three years ago, and the interior has won awards. I’d like to see what that one’s like. The Grayson in Haiti is expansive, probably one of the largest resorts I’ve ever seen. I don’t want to overdo the tropical oasis thing. It’s getting old and tired, but it’s hard not to acknowledge its presence either when you’re on a tropical island. The San Luis did it well, and they’re relatively large. It’s a conference center too, for crying out loud, but so many critiques say it doesn’t scream ‘business’ so much as ‘pleasure’.”
“I’d love it, to travel with you again. Here’s hoping the PR team will like our proposal tomorrow. I’ll be ready with bells a’blazin’.”
And he was. Bella had never doubted Christo’s ability to charm even the toughest customer, and the
charm was on full throttle the next day in the meeting.
Bella learned at the last minute that she’d have to meet with Kennedy Scott, a real ball-buster at the firm. She had made a name for herself as being a cold-hearted witch to the people within the firm, and yet oozed gentle mildness to those she dealt with outside the firm. No doubt she’d enhanced the reputation of Dreamscapes over the past three years, but the price was paid by all of those who worked there.
Still, Rita declared Kennedy a genius, and the firm had received strict orders on several occasions that they’d better do whatever Kennedy said, no questions asked, or face probable termination.
Bella hadn’t told Christo any of this information as they approached the door to Kennedy’s office. She thought it better for him to go in blind.
“OK, Bella, let’s get going,” Kennedy said after shaking Christo’s hand perfunctorily. “I have a lunch meeting in an hour, and this is all the time I will give you today or any other day for a long time. Rita has confidence in you to represent us well, so I don’t have to use any threats or do any polishing lessons, which is what I like.”
All business, this Kennedy, she thought, but she sat down across from her desk and sat up straight in case she needed to head for the door quickly.
“Now, I’ve looked over the proposal you submitted last night at midnight,” Kennedy eyed Bella over the top of her cat-eye reading glasses. “It would have been a little better if you’d have gotten it to me sooner.”
“That was my fault,” Christo interjected. “I recently married the man of my dreams, and . . . well, you know how newlyweds are. It’s hard to tear yourself away from someone so incredibly yummy, and I held Bella up with my part of the proposal. I do apologize.” He smiled his award-winning smile, batted his long lashes in her direction, and Bella thought she heard the faintest crack of ice. “I mean, procrastination is not a policy of mine; can’t stand it myself. And so you have no reason to worry about it affecting any part of Dreamscapes’ reputation. I’d die before I undid the wonderful work you’ve done with this company. I mean, it has become a giant in the design world thanks to you.”
