by Kelly Oram
She still hesitated, so I arched a brow to let her know I meant business when I said, “Don’t make me do something drastic like ask you on live TV so that you have to say yes. Because you know I will.”
She let out a hysterical bark of laughter, and burst into tears as she threw her arms around me. “No!” she cried, and my heart skipped a beat until she said, “Absolutely no live TV proposals. I will kill you. This proposal was perfect and the only one you need to make.”
I pulled back so that I could look into her eyes. “Is that a yes?”
She grinned through her tears and laughed again. “It’s a yes.”
She started to say something else, but talking was not something I was in the mood for any longer. I was overcome with passion and overwhelmed with so much love for the woman sitting in front of me that I had to kiss her right that second.
I planned on never stopping kissing Val, but she kept ruining the mood by giggling beneath my lips. Before I knew it, we were both laughing too hard to keep up the kissing. “You like me,” I teased her, remembering a joke from ages ago. “You like me one hundred percent.”
She laughed again and shook her head. “I like you eighty-nine percent at best. But I love you one hundred percent.”
I tried to act hurt but couldn’t wipe the smile from my face. “Good enough.”
For a minute we sat there grinning at each other like idiots. Val covered a yawn with her hand and stretched. “Please tell me you have coffee around here somewhere.”
“I do.”
“Practicing?” Val snickered.
I rolled my eyes at the cheesy joke. Getting engaged had turned us both into mush brains. “So, Miss Not-A-Morning-Person, what would you like to do today?” I grabbed her hand and kissed it. “Want to go shopping so I can put a proper rock on this finger? It was bad form for me to ask you to marry me before I had one.”
“Hey, don’t knock my accidental proposal,” she said. “It was not bad form. It was perfect. Your heart spoke before your brain could stop it. It was actually very you.”
That earned her another kiss. “Coffee maker’s in the kitchen. Coffee should be right next to it. Why don’t you get it started while I get dressed, and then I’ll take you shopping. We’ll get you a change of clothes while we’re out too because I don’t want to take you home first.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
Val smiled and wrapped her arms around me. After she kissed me again, I flashed her a wicked grin. “I get to pick out your underwear.”
She smacked me playfully on the arm, but I noticed as she left the room that she hadn’t said no to the idea.
. . . . .
Val was out on the deck with her cup of coffee when I found her. She stood at the balcony railing staring out at the ocean, still wearing nothing but my dress shirt. I took a moment to enjoy her mile-long legs, but that only made me desperate to touch them so I walked up behind her and did just that.
“You see, it really is meant to be,” I said as I ran my hands over her hips and down her legs. “You already know the routine. I drink my coffee out here every morning.”
She shivered again and leaned back into my chest. “It’s such a gorgeous view.”
“It’s improved vastly as of late.”
She smirked up at me. “Let me guess, because my just-rolled-out-of-bed look is sexy?”
“You know it is. And you know I have a weakness for these legs. You should wear nothing but this from now on,” I said, making her kiss me again. I was never going to get tired of kissing her. Not even those quick little pecks. Fifty years from now, I was still going to make her kiss me every time I saw her.
We took our steaming mugs over to a patio couch and sat quietly for a moment, simply enjoying the peace between us. Val broke the silence first. “So,” she said, “I was thinking about this whole getting married business.”
“Cold feet already?” I teased. “You chicken.”
She smiled but kept herself on track. She had something on her mind and she wasn’t going to let me make her lose focus. “What’s your take on weddings?”
Ugh. The wedding talk was starting already. I held back a groan and reminded myself that Val was worth it. “What do you mean?”
“Do you have a preference? Big, small, destination…theme?”
Theme? I shuddered and cut a glance at her. “I want whatever you want.”
She snorted. “Spoken like a true man.”
“No, spoken like a man who’s known a few brides. A wedding is for the woman. It’s your day, Val. We can do whatever you want.”
We fell quiet again and I cast my gaze out to the ocean as I tried to figure out what kind of wedding Val would like. I didn’t think she’d be as crazy as Adrianna was, but after watching her work the crowd with my mom yesterday, I could see some big political event-type wedding in my future with a high-profile wedding planner and my mom calling all the shots. Hell on Earth.
On the bright side, I’d be away on tour for most of the planning, so hopefully I could just let them take over and I wouldn’t have to do much.
Val pulled me from my nightmare thoughts. “What if I don’t want one?”
I didn’t know how to respond. What did she mean? I’d been teasing her before, but was she actually backing out? My pulse sped up at the thought. “What do you mean? You don’t want to get married?”
When she laughed, my chest loosened up.
“I want to marry you,” she said, “but what if we just skipped the wedding part? Would you be disappointed?”
No wedding? Just get married? Was she kidding? I was afraid to answer. “Is this a trick question? Some kind of girl test?”
She laughed again and shook her head. “It’s not a test. I just know how much you hate all the fancy stuff, which I’m assuming includes weddings. Plus, you said you wanted to wake up with me every morning and it sounds like a good plan to me. Why not just make it happen?”
“Wait, are you saying we should elope?” There was no way in the world she really meant that. I am not that lucky.
Val shrugged. “Do you know what will happen if you and I announce our engagement? It will be a complete media circus. People would follow us around the entire time, wanting every detail and judging us on the decisions we make. They’d probably ask us to make our wedding a reality show. I want my wedding to be mine. I don’t want to share it with the entire world.”
Actually, I could totally see that happening. And Val had a point. She would hate all that attention.
“We could do something small,” I said. “You don’t have to elope. If you want your family and friends to be there, I’m sure we could find a way to keep everything private.”
Val shook her head and sipped her coffee again. “I’m Virgin Val, Kyle. Do you know what a marriage would mean to the world? It would mean the virgin is finally going to have sex. People will go crazy over that. Even if we managed to keep the wedding private, people would be in my face every second until the wedding day asking me all kinds of personal questions that I wouldn’t want to answer. And then they’d find a way to stalk us after. The paparazzi would follow us to our hotel suite that night and camp out in the lobby in order to get the first interview with The Virgin post sex.”
I sighed because she was right. I wished I could tell her we could keep that from happening, but I knew better. I’d been dealing with the paparazzi for way too long to be naïve about what they were capable of. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone were able to figure out which room was ours and find a way to snap pictures of us in the act.
Val was going to be nervous enough about her wedding night. She didn’t need that added stress. I wanted her to enjoy her first time, not dread having to face the world the morning after.
“I don’t want that,” she said. “I don’t want the media to ruin the first time we make love.”
My brain went completely haywire again. She said “we.” She said the first time “we” make love. She was talking about us h
aving sex, and suddenly I could think of nothing else. All I could do was sit there and picture exactly how that was going to go.
“I know they’re going to ask,” Val said. “I know I can’t run from the press forever. I’m Virgin Val. I will have to talk about it at least a little. But if we just go get married and don’t tell anyone, we could keep it a secret for a week or two. We could give ourselves some time to enjoy each other before the media circus starts.”
She kept talking like she didn’t realize she was preaching to the choir. She’d had me convinced way back at the “skip the wedding” comment.
Val set her mug down on the ground and turned to face me. She took my hands in hers and looked at me with so much intensity I could feel it. “When I give myself to you, I want you to be the only person in my head. I want to be able to think about nothing but you and me. Forget the world. This is about us. I may be a role model for a lot of people, but I saved myself for you, not them. I saved myself for me. This is what I want. As long as you’re okay with it. As long as it’s what you want, too.”
I don’t think I’ve ever cried. Not once in my whole adult life that I can remember. And I didn’t cry now, but this was the closest I’d come to it. My throat felt as if it had closed up, my eyes burned, and my nose tingled. She was perfect. She was absolutely perfect, and she was mine. Or she would be, very, very soon.
I covered up the emotional attack with a laugh. “Val, you’re asking me if I want to skip months of centerpiece crises, my fiancée becoming a bridezilla, my mother transforming into something a million times worse, and a party where I’d be forced to wear a tuxedo all day—all so that I can have you to myself and not have to share you with anyone. Are you crazy? I’m still waiting for the punch line.”
Val thought for a minute, searching my eyes for any hint that I wasn’t excited. She didn’t find it. Once she finally believed I was on board, her lips quirked up into a wicked smirk. It was the kind of look I gave her on a regular basis, but I’d never seen it on her face and it got my blood pumping like crazy.
“How’s this for a punch line,” she whispered, wetting her lips as her gaze fell to my mouth. The action made me forget to breathe. “Marry me today, and I’ll stay the night again tonight, only this time instead of asking you to stop, I’ll beg you not to.”
I sucked in a surprise breath and choked on my own spit. The way I grabbed her and devoured her in a kiss was downright animalistic, as primal as my need for her. My hands found her thighs, still beautifully bare, and I groaned.
“We’ll never make it all the way to Las Vegas,” I growled as I pulled her onto my lap.
“The county clerk’s office can do it,” Val gasped.
That sounded a lot closer. Closer was good. “Okay. Let’s go there. Right now.”
“It’s Monday morning. You have rehearsals in a few hours.”
“I’ll call in sick. I believe I just came down with something that’s going to take at least a week to recover from.”
“I don’t have anything to wear.”
“We’ll find a mall on the way. And now I really do get to pick the panties.”
We didn’t waste any time. We filled out the marriage license application online and scheduled the first available appointment for the ceremony. It gave us just enough time to stop and buy an outfit for Val to wear. I’d tried to convince her to marry me wearing just my dress shirt, but was unsuccessful.
We stopped at Macy’s and while Val was trying on a few different dresses, I bought out half of the lingerie section. There was just too much good stuff. All the lace and the silk was hard to say no to. Everything seemed like it would look good on Val.
Before we knew it, we were at the county clerk’s office. My knee bounced as I sat in the waiting room, Val squirming in her chair next to me. “Nervous?” I asked curiously.
I was surprised by the irritated look I got in response. “Not nervous. I’m uncomfortable because I’m wearing a thong, Kyle,” she grumbled as she shifted in her seat again.
“Mm,” I agreed appreciatively. “A black, lacy one, I know. I picked it out.” I reached over to trail my fingers on her thigh. It was covered now, unfortunately, as Val had chosen a calf-length purple sundress to get married in today. “I can’t wait to see it on you.”
I got an eye roll for that, and she swatted my hand away when it got a little too close to the item of clothing in question. “For future reference, I’m not really a fan of the thong. They’re a little too trashy and extremely uncomfortable.”
I leaned over to murmur against her ear. “Then it’s a good thing I plan to take it off of you very soon.”
She hissed my name, embarrassed, but forgot her irritation when I kissed the sensitive spot on her neck just behind her ear. Her eyes fluttered shut and she sucked in a sharp breath. It drove me insane with desire. If one kiss could do that to her, I couldn’t wait to see how she handled everything else I planned to do to her.
My thoughts turned once again to our post Get Married plans. I trailed my lips along her jaw and captured her mouth with mine. The way she kissed me back, I could tell she was as ready as I was. For a second, we both forgot we were in public.
We pulled apart at the sound of a cleared throat and sheepishly smiled up at the large woman in her mid-fifties frowning down at us. “I take it you two are the kids with the marriage appointment?”
And cue the dopey grins. “Yes, ma’am.”
For some reason, the woman didn’t seem as excited about that as I was. “You have your marriage license?”
I pulled the paper out of my pocket and proudly handed it over. “Fresh off the press.”
She scanned the document and sighed. “Follow me.”
It was a short trip to the room they set aside for weddings, but it felt like it took an eternity to get there. It was a small room that could hold up to thirty people tops, but considering it was just Val, me, and the county appointed official, it would do the job just fine. There a few rows of plastic chairs set up on either side of the room that created an aisle up the middle leading to a small podium. Behind the podium was a small lattice archway covered with fake flowers. It was the room’s only decoration.
The man destined to marry us met us at the door. He was a short man with a full head of silver-gray hair wearing a crisp suit and a red power tie. So government, but at least he had a genuine smile for us. “Welcome! Come on in, don’t be shy.”
Val snickered at that. As if she thought the idea of me being shy about anything ever was funny.
The man greeted both of us with hearty handshakes. “I’m Gordon Pierce, and I’ll have the pleasure of uniting you in holy matrimony today.”
“Sounds good to me, Gordon,” I said. “Thanks for seeing us on such short notice. Make it quick, and we’ll throw a tip in there for you.”
Gordon chuckled. “In a hurry, son?”
“More than you know. We’ve been waiting.”
Gordon’s brows pulled low over his eyes. “Waiting for what?”
I was going to let Val say it, but she blushed and looked away so I chucked my arm around her shoulder and explained. “We’ve waited for marriage to, uh, you know…”
I wriggled my eyebrows at Gordon and gave him a huge smile. His eyebrows flew toward the ceiling and he chuckled. “I see. Well, good for you two.”
“It’s been a very long wait. Four years.”
Gordon looked back and forth between us and laughed again. “Okay then, I guess you are in a hurry. We’ll make it quick. Do you have anyone to witness?”
I’d forgotten about that. I turned around and smiled at the lovely woman who’d escorted us here and gave her my best smile. “Wanda?” I asked, glancing at her name tag. “Feel like being a bridesmaid today?”
I even batted my eyelashes for her and still no smile. Maybe she wasn’t capable of one. “It’s a thirty dollar fee for the county to provide a witness,” she said.
I pulled some cash from my wallet. I handed over the t
hirty dollars, then held up an extra fifty and my phone. “Want to play videographer, too?”
She looked at the cash, then back at me. “You want me to tape your wedding on your cell phone for fifty bucks?”
“Is that a problem?”
She clearly thought I was crazy, but she snagged the cash out of my hands. She glanced across the room at Gordon, who had gone to the podium up front and was now messing around with the marriage paper Wanda had given him. In a low voice she muttered, “Sugar, for fifty bucks I’d kiss your fine-looking little white ass.”
Val and I blinked and both burst into laughter. “She smiles!” I cheered when I saw Wanda’s lips curve up. “You’re a beautiful woman, Wanda. You should keep that smile on your face more often.”
Wanda blushed and she shooed up toward the front of the room. “Go on, you crazy lovebirds. Go get married and get out of here before you make the whole building start smiling.”
We didn’t have to be told twice. We walked up the small aisle to the podium where Gordon was now waiting for us. Wanda walked around next to Gordon so she could get a clear shot of Val and me with my phone. I winked at her and she blew me a kiss.
“Should I step aside and let you the two of you have a go at this instead?” Val teased.
She started to step back, but I grabbed her and pulled her to me. “Don’t even think about it. You’re here, and you’re finally mine, and you will say ‘I do’ today—even if I have to tickle torture it out of you.”
Gordon laughed. “I suppose we should get to it, then.”
“The short version,” I reminded him. My hands on Val’s waist were already starting to wander. “The Missus and I have plans after this.” I squeezed her tighter. “Lots and lots and lots of hot, steamy, wild, sexy plans.”
Both Val and Gordon blinked at me. “Sorry. Brain’s a little preoccupied at the moment.”
