“No!” Lola cried, pulling away. “No! No tears, damn it! You’re going to make me ruin my makeup.”
The door to the suite opened and Dominic walked through, sending my heart rate spiking through the roof. The only thought that filtered through my head at the sight of him in a tux was dayum!
He was wearing everything but his jacket, which he laid across the back of the club chair close to the door as he closed it behind him. It was so not an ideal time to get aroused, but my body was completely out of my control, hence my nipples growing painfully tight beneath my dress.
“Holy shit, shorty.” Dom’s whistle pierced the air.
“Language!” Elise snapped.
Dominic ignored her and moved to his sister, cupping her cheeks. I used that as my opportunity. Pulling the pages I’d printed out the night before from my clutch, I moved to his jacket and slipped them into his inside pocket to find later.
“You look beautiful, little sister.”
Lola’s grin wobbled as her eyes welled. “I swear to God, big bro, if you make me cry I’ll junk punch you right here and now.”
He chuckled and placed a kiss on her forehead. “Okay, shorty. No uber-emotional scenes that’ll make you sob like a baby.”
That did the trick. The tears dried up and she punched him in the arm with a laugh. “God, you’re such a jerk. Why do I even put up with you?”
“Because I’m your big brother and you secretly adore me even if you aren’t willing to admit it. Now, it’s almost time. You ready?”
Lola’s entire demeanor changed, going from loose and calm to excitedly nervous. “I’ve never been so ready in my life.”
“Good. I just need to borrow your friend for a second, and then I’ll be back to get you.”
Lola and Daphne both turned their attention to me, smiling knowingly. I bit down on the inside of my cheek to keep from breaking out in a ridiculous grin as a blush spread from the top of my strapless dress to my immaculately styled hair. Without preamble, Dominic took my hand and pulled me from the room.
“Is everything okay?” I asked once we were alone in the hall.
He didn’t answer my question. Instead, he smiled down at me and said, “You take my breath away in that dress, butterfly.”
I fiddled with the bowtie at his throat and grinned back. “You don’t look so bad yourself, handsome. You were always good at rocking a tux.”
He chuckled. “Good to know. I need to get back in there so I can walk my sister down the aisle to Grayson before he loses his mind and charges in here to see her, but there’s just one thing I have to do before we get this show on the road.”
“Yeah? What’s that?”
He took my face and moved close, whispering, “This,” before pressing his lips to mine. I immediately melted into him, hungry for anything I could get. Unfortunately the kiss didn’t last long, and it wasn’t nearly everything I’d wanted him to give me just then, but that was okay. I could wait. Because I’d already made the decision that tonight was our fresh start.
I lifted my hand to wipe away the lipstick that had transferred from my lips to his. “Well, let’s do this, then. Time to give the bride away.”
I stood at the front of the immaculate ballroom with my eyes trained on Dominic as he walked Lola down the aisle to the soft notes of Pachelbel’s “Canon in D.” The pride that shone on his expression as he led her to her future husband and proudly announced that he and their mother were giving Lola over to Grayson stole my heart a little more.
The ceremony started and I tried to concentrate on what was happening, but my gaze kept diverting to the man who held my heart as he sat in the front row. Every time my eyes turned to his, I found he was watching me as well.
Through the vows and the exchanging of rings, our attention kept going back to each other. I watched as he reached into his jacket pocket for a handkerchief for his mom, and I saw the second he encountered the e-mails I’d put in there.
His head shot up, confused eyes on me. I winked at him before focusing on the minster as he announced, “I now pronounce you man and wife.” I reached behind me so Daphne and I could clasp hands and share in the moment when our best friend got her happily ever after. “You may kiss the bride.”
We all cheered and clapped as Grayson did just that, bending Lola over his arm and kissing her with exuberance.
Then it was time to head back down the aisle and get the party started.
Dominic
There were family photos and a formal sit-down dinner, speeches and toasts to the happy couple to get through before I finally had a chance to pull those pages out of my jacket and read them. It had been torture knowing there was something from her right there against my heart for the past hour and I couldn’t get to it.
When the dancing finally started, I moved off into an empty corner of the ballroom and pulled them out. Flipping them open, I saw they were e-mails that had been drafted and printed out, time-stamped from the night before.
To: BigSpoon
From: Sophia
Subject: Our fresh start
My heart clenched at the subject line, and I read faster than I ever had before.
Spoon,
I bet you’re wondering why I snuck these letters to you instead of saying everything I need to say face-to-face.
Well, there’s a reason for that. See, even when we were together physically, these e-mails were the only place we felt safe to speak freely without consequence.
So that’s what I’m doing now.
I love you, Dominic. With everything I am. When we’re together, everything clicks into place. You’re under my skin, so deep I’ve forgotten what it’s like to live without you, and I’m thrilled about that. Because I don’t want to live without you. Not for another day.
I knew when I was fourteen that you were going to be the man I spent the rest of my life with, and that hasn’t changed. Sure, the ride hasn’t always been easy. There have been some serious bumps in the road, but I think that only aided in making our relationship stronger, don’t you agree?
Do you remember that spring break I came home my sophomore year of college? You surprised me with tickets to a Yankees game and I was on cloud nine.
It was the middle of the third inning when the batter hit a home run. The ball came sailing into the stands, and you stood on your seat so you could catch it for me. Only you hadn’t really anticipated how fast the damn thing was going and ended up breaking two fingers and a couple of bones in your hand in the process.
I laughed to myself, recalling how I’d been so surprised at the pain that I’d cussed a blue streak, much to the displeasure of the family of four sitting a few rows below us.
We spent the rest of the night in the emergency room waiting to get your hand X-rayed and splinted, and you spent the whole time apologizing for making me miss the rest of the game.
You didn’t believe me when I told you then, but I didn’t care one bit. I was with the man I loved. He’d surprised me by taking me to a ball game because he knew how much I loved it, and he’d been so eager to get me that damn ball that he broke his hand.
There was nowhere I’d have rather been that night. I was with you, and you’d just shown me again, probably for the millionth time over the years, how much you loved me by catching that ball.
I know you said you wanted to leave the past where it belonged and move forward with a fresh start, but I can’t do that, Dominic. The past is where I first fell in love with you. It’s where we made some of our happiest memories. I don’t want to forget about the past, because with the bad came the good.
And there was so much good, Dominic. So no fresh start. I say we pick up exactly where we left off. Only this time we’ll do it better.
You’re it for me, Dom. You’re the love of my life. I no longer hope that we’ll spend the rest of our lives together. I know for a fact that we will, because that’s what soul mates do.
We’re going to be happy. We’ll get married and have a famil
y. You’ll piss me off, and I’ll be so stubborn your head will explode. But we’ll make it through everything.
You said you wanted me to be certain. Well, here it is. I’m absolutely, one hundred and fifty percent sure. And once you finish reading this, we’ll start the next chapter of our lives.
All you have to do is look up.
Forever your butterfly,
Sophia
I did exactly as she said—I looked up. And there she was, standing right in front of me.
“Can I have this dance?”
The uncertainty on her face made my chest ache. Wanting to put her at ease, I extended my hand for her to take and led her onto the dance floor. We held each other close, swaying to the melody of the slow song that echoed through the ballroom. It felt like an eternity before either of us spoke.
“So?” she asked hesitantly. “What do you say? Are you ready to start the next chapter with me?”
I didn’t answer with words. The letter crumpled in my hand as I pulled her tighter against me, sealing our lips together in a brutal, passionate kiss. Finally, I pulled back and looked into the blue eyes I’d fallen for fourteen years earlier.
“It’s already started, butterfly.”
Her shoulders slumped with a heavy sigh of relief. Her smile was so brilliant it could have lit the room all on its own. “You really mean that?”
I placed another kiss against her lips, this one much shorter. “With all my heart.”
We continued to slow dance, content to just be in that moment. I held onto her like she was my lifeline, and she returned the gesture as we smiled at each other.
For two and a half minutes there was no one else in the room but us. That was until a ruckus on the dance floor drew our attention. We both turned just as Daphne reared back and slapped Caleb hard across the face.
I flinched at the power behind the blow. She spun on her stilettos and stomped off the floor. It took a few seconds for him to snap out of his daze, but Caleb quickly followed after.
“Damn,” I muttered. “That man just won’t give up.”
“I kind of hope he doesn’t.” At Sophia’s surprising declaration, I turned back to her. She shrugged and continued. “Lola got hers, I’ve finally gotten mine, now it’s Daphne’s turn.”
My brow furrowed. “Turn for what?”
She melted further into my chest. “To get her happily ever after.”
Just then the music changed and a painfully familiar tempo kicked up, causing my lips spread into a wicked grin.
“Wait, what are you doing?” She laughed. “I hate this song, Dominic!”
“Too bad,” I declared. “I promised my girl we’d do the Macarena, so we’re doing the Macarena.”
She stopped struggling, and joined me in the most hated dance in all of America, and I knew right then, without a shadow of a doubt, that she was finally mine.
Completely and for always.
Epilogue
Sophia
One month later
“Okay, that’s the last of it,” Dominic grunted as he dropped a box on the floor and wiped a bead of sweat off his forehead. “I’m officially moved in.”
I looked around at all the boxes crammed into my living room. I hadn’t expected him to have so much stuff. His apartment had been so small there was hardly anything in it, but what he hadn’t told me at the time was that he was keeping the majority of his stuff in a storage locker.
“Oh nuh-uh. I don’t think so.” I waved my finger at Dominic, then pointed to Grayson, Caleb, and Grayson’s brother Deacon, who’d come to help him move. “You guys aren’t finished. You’re not officially moved in until each box is unpacked and everything inside is put where it belongs,” I stressed. “The girls and I will start in the kitchen. You four have the rest.”
I waved at Lola, Daphne, and Fiona so they’d follow me up to the second level.
“But I hardly had any kitchen stuff!” Dominic shouted from the floor below. “There’s barely anything to unpack. That’s not fair!”
I propped my hands on my hips and looked down the staircase at him. “I’m providing pizza and beer for you guys, and you have a ‘welcome to your new home’ blowjob to look forward to tonight. How is that not fair?”
Dominic smiled up at me and stated, “God, I love you.” Then Lancelot had to go and ruin the moment by gassing the men.
Needless to say, changing his dog food hadn’t helped. I’d come to accept the fact that my dog had a flatulence problem, and I’d just have to deal with it. Besides, I had a man who promised to repaint the walls whenever the paint began to peel because of the fumes.
I had my friends. I had a great job. I had the man of my dreams, and a sweet farting puppy. There wasn’t much else I could ask for in life.
I had officially turned into Lola. I was blissfully, disgustingly happy.
And I didn’t give a damn who knew it.
“Fuck me,” Dominic panted as he collapsed against the pillows.
I released his spent cock from my mouth and slowly crawled up his body to lay beside him, all the while grinning like a maniac as I rested my head in the crook of his neck. I got off on giving my man pleasure just as much as he got off on doing it.
“So how was that for a ‘welcome to your new home’ blowjob?” I giggled.
He wrapped an arm around my back and pulled until he could reach my lips with his own. “It was fantastic. Then again, everything you do is out of this world.”
He gave me a quick peck before rolling out of bed and slipping back into his boxer briefs.
“Where are you going?” I asked, pushing up on an elbow to watch him as he slid open the nightstand drawer. A gasp lodged in my throat when he pulled out a small, black velvet jewelry box.
Sitting back on the bed, his hip resting against the curve of my stomach, he popped the lid open. My eyes instantly welled with tears at the beautiful solitaire ring nestled into the cushions.
“Is that—”
“I love you, butterfly. I’ve loved you for fourteen years. In spite of the bumps in the road along the way, we somehow managed to make it back to each other. I want to spend the rest of my life at your side. I want to be your big spoon every night. I want you to have my children, and I want to raise them to love unconditionally. I want to spend holidays in New York with our family so we can visit your father. Even if he still threatens me with a shotgun every time I see him.”
I laughed at that. He was not wrong. When I called my dad to tell him that Dominic and I were back together and that he was moving in, he’d hopped on the first plane to Seattle to put the fear of God into my boyfriend.
Of course, Dom eventually won him over—again—but that didn’t mean my father didn’t enjoy torturing him just a little bit.
“I want you under my skin for eternity, and I want to be under yours for just as long. So I’m asking you, Sophia, will you make me the happiest man alive and be my wife?”
I laughed through my tears and lifted my hand so he could slide the ring on my left ring finger. “Yes,” I answered. “Yes. I’ll marry you.”
He fell on top of me and kissed me stupid. “I love you with all my heart, butterfly.”
“I love you too,” I whispered.
I was finally getting my happily ever after. And I couldn’t wait.
After making love to my fiancé, we settled in for sleep.
And as he had every night for the past month, he wrapped his arms around me and pulled my back against his chest, his big spoon to my little, and I fell asleep knowing that life couldn’t possibly get any better.
The End
*keep reading for a sneak peek from Enticing Daphne, coming soon*
Enticing Daphne Excerpt
Prologue
Daphne
Having two best friends who didn’t believe in true love had sometimes been a pain in the ass, especially since I’d been living in monogamous, sex-with-one-person-for-the-rest-of-my-life bliss.
I’d been one of the
lucky ones. I found the love of my life early, and was determined to hold onto him with both hands. The day Stefan proposed was the best day of my life. I hadn’t thought it possible to be any happier than I already was.
I had the perfect ring, the perfect dress, the perfect flowers. I had the perfect fiancé, and was going to have the perfect wedding.
Everything was just. Fucking, perfect.
Until it wasn’t.
See, that so-called love of my life? Well, it turned out I was the only one in our relationship who felt that way. Unfortunately, the inconsiderate son of a bitch hadn’t had the courtesy to give me a heads up that he’d changed his mind about the whole ‘until death do us part’ thing.
I could have been spared so much humiliation if he’d just manned up and said “Sorry, Daph, darling, but I’ve had a change of heart. I’ve decided that loving you through sickness and health is just too much stress to put on one man.”
Oh no. Instead, he decided to take the chicken-shit route and keep quiet about the whole ordeal. I don’t know what he intended to do once our wedding day finally arrived, but if it hadn’t been for the fact that I walked into my mother’s house to go over the seating chart and found them in bed together I probably never would have known he’d been cheating.
And yes, I said my mother! My own flesh and blood, the loins of my fruit was sleeping with my fiancé.
I’d been living on cloud nine, totally oblivious that the two people who meant the most to me had turned me into a complete laughing stock for months. Not only had they been carrying on their affair right under my nose, but, with the exception of Lola and Daphne, most everyone in my social circle already knew about it.
Apparently, unless one of the three of us was around, they hadn’t taken great strides in hiding what they were doing.
I grew up knowing my mom was different from all the other mothers I saw dropping their kids off at school. She dressed younger, she acted younger, and after her and my father divorced when I was little, she’d had one boyfriend after another, none of them coming even remotely close to her age. She acted more like my best friend than a parent, and for the longest time I thought that was cool. I considered myself lucky that I had a mom who’d let me stay up late, eat junk food, and watch movies most of my classmates weren’t allowed to see yet. But the older I got the more I started to realize that it wasn’t just her being laid back and lenient. No, turned out, she just didn’t care all that much to be a parent.
Tempting Sophia Page 22
