Giving You Forever

by Ashley Wilcox

  “Hey, baby doll, what’s up?”

  “Hey, babe. I just got off the phone with that wedding planning company.”

  “Oh yeah, how’d it go?”

  “Good…I think. At first I thought it was a no go, but she took our information and said she’d see what she could do. She’s gonna call me back later,” I tell him, not being able to hold back my hopeful enthusiasm.

  “Good news, doll. Hopefully she can work something out. I feel awful that this is all on your shoulders.”

  My heart warms when I hear the sincerity in his voice. I know he’d be more involved if he could be and honestly, I’m okay with having full control over our wedding. I mean, who wouldn’t want a complete say in everything? It’s just that I have a lot on my plate with this being my senior year and all. Having to plan the wedding on top of my classes and student teaching is enough to send me over the edge and into bridezilla mode. Thank god I was able to quit my part-time job this summer so that I didn’t have to do deal it that on top of everything.

  “Well, I gotta get to my next class, but I wanted to call and let you know. I’m so excited! I hope to god they can do it.”

  “I’ve got a good feeling about it. Who could resist your sweet voice?” Nolan flirts.

  “I’m pretty sure since she’s a girl, my sweet charm that works on you every time isn’t going to give me any extra brownie points.”

  “I don’t know… it’s pretty damn good. It may even work on women.”

  I laugh at his statement.

  “Alright, doll, I’ll see ya in a little bit. I love you…let me know if you hear back from her.”

  “I will. Love you too,” I respond before we both say our goodbyes and hang-up.

  – NOLAN –

  Although I’m running behind and I’m still scheduled to meet with the floor plan designer for the inside of the warehouse, I’ve got to bail. I’m not the “all work and no play” kind of guy, and I need my alone time with my girl to avoid becoming pissy and irritable.

  Just as I’m packing everything up Mike, my project manager, walks in. He’s not going to be happy with the news, but he’s going to have to deal with it because my very hot fiancé will have my ass if I’m late.

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa…where do ya think you’re going?” he asks when he sees me walking towards the door, briefcase in hand.

  “Sorry man, but I’ve got plans with Alexa. You’re gonna have to meet with Steve about the floor plans for me. I really can’t stay tonight,” I spit out in a hurried voice, clasping his shoulder with my hand.

  “What the hell? I’ve got a wife and family at home too, ya know,” he says annoyed.

  “Yeah, well you’ve got a ring on the finger already. I don’t and you know how I want everything. You’ll be fine.” I grin. “I owe ya one,” I add as I back into the door to open it.

  I laugh when I hear him call me a prick in response. Mike and I have been colleagues for a while now. We’re both personal trainers at a different gym and opening this new one is a dream come true for both of us. Since I’m the one forking over all the money for everything, thanks to my inheritance, I’m the owner and he’s the manager. We’ve got pretty much the same vision for everything, though. It’s just way more time and energy than we had envisioned. Especially since we still have clients over at the other gym to juggle, so we can continue making money on the side. Thankfully, we’re already months in with the renovations and are hoping to be open by the first of the year when everyone makes those infamous new year resolutions to drop fifty pounds.

  Still feeling like the ass for standing Alexa up, I make sure to go all out for out date tonight. No expense was spared when I booked a reservation at the most expensive restaurant in town. When we moved in together, I kept my old apartment and we’ve been using it as storage, but tonight I’ve set up a very special surprise over there for Alexa.

  To the minute, I pull into our driveway at exactly six o’clock and go to the front door to ring the doorbell. I smile to myself as I picture Alexa’s face; she is probably wondering who the hell could be ringing the doorbell when I’m supposed to be home by now. As expected, she swings the front door open wearing a less than enthused smile, but also wearing a jaw dropping, instant hard-on, tight black dress.

  Holy fuck!

  Her forced smile turns genuine as she sees me standing on the other side holding a large bouquet of calla lilies–her favorite.

  “I’m not sure I have the right address…” I look at a random scrap piece of paper in my pocket. “I was supposed to pick up a pretty girl at this house number at approximately six o’clock, but you are too damn sexy to be just considered pretty.”

  Licking her lips and letting out a sweet little giggle, her cheeks flush an adorable shade of pink as she shakes her head and smiles.

  “Well, I guess you’re gonna have to settle for sexy tonight then,” she responds in a hot as hell seductive voice.

  Suddenly I’m thinking the fifty dollar cancellation charge for the restaurant would be money well spent if it meant having my way with her in our bedroom right now, but my girl deserves a night of being spoiled and pampered, so that’s what she’s going to get. Ripping off that sexy little number will have to wait until later.

  “I can deal with sexy,” I answer, taking a step forward and pulling her in close.

  Alexa rests her hand on my chest and leans in to me. When she is only inches away from my mouth, she purrs, “I bet you can.”

  Swallowing hard, and trying not to think about the overwhelming urge to push her back into the house and fuck her in the hallway, I take a handful of her sweet little ass instead. “We better get going, Mrs. Pratt, or we’re going to be late for our reservation.”

  Shaking her head with a devilish grin, she says, “Not yet, Mr. Pratt. I’ve got ten more months of being single before I become a Mrs.”

  “Uh, you’re far from single, sweetheart. This…” I glance down her body, “is all fucking mine–certificate or not.”

  Clearly turned on by my words, she bites her bottom lip and runs her hand down my chest and over the bulge in my pants.

  “And this, my dear…” she gently squeezes my junk, “is all fricken mine.”

  Yup, dinner is gonna have to wait!

  Pulling her in tight, I push into the house, slamming the door behind me. She giggles at my forcefulness and starts unbuckling my pants.

  “We’re gonna have to make this quick, baby doll,” I growl into her neck as I help her get my pants undone.

  “Uh huh,” she agrees, pulling down her thong.

  Picking Alexa up and pressing her against the wall, I push two fingers deep inside of her, checking to see how ready she really is.

  “So wet,” I grin before pulling them out and licking her arousal from my fingers. I wish I had time to indulge in her sweet taste, but knowing that time is of the essence, I slide my cock hard inside instead, making her scream for the lord.

  “Yeah, baby…harder!” she cries out, turning every last ounce of me on as she holds her legs so tight around my waist.

  I push in harder and faster, seducing her mouth with mine. Just as I promised, within minutes we’re screaming each other’s names, and I fill her with what will someday make our babies. Alexa’s on the pill, so it’s just a trial run for my boys now.

  “After you.”

  I hold open the door for her, then lace our fingers together as I head towards the hostess area with Alexa. The man behind the podium smiles and greets me before his eyes quickly wander to Alexa, and stay on her a little too long for my liking. Just as I’m about to make it extremely clear to this fucker that she’s mine, and he needs to keep his ugly ass paws off my girl, Alexa lets out a cute little cough, covering her mouth with her left hand.

  That’s right, doll. Show him that rock on your finger!

  He takes the hint and ushers us to our table. Releasing Alexa’s hand, I reposition mine to her lower back so she can walk in front of me, squeezing her ass first
and acknowledging her faithfulness to me.

  Damn, I love this girl.

  Sometimes I wonder how this blonde bombshell is mine, but of course it isn’t something I’m going to question. She’s mine, and that’s all that I care about.

  Once we reach our table, I pull Alexa’s chair out and politely, but not friendly, thank the gentlemen. He looks at me for a tip, but I give him the fuck off look instead.

  You lost that, fucker, when you visually undressed my fiancé as we walked in.

  “Wow, Nolan, it’s really nice in here,” Alexa says with her sweet smile as she rests her napkin on her lap.

  “I’m glad you like it. Only the best for my girl.” I wink. Her cheeks flush the adorable shade of pink that makes me weak as I stare at her like the porcelain god that she is.

  “Good evening, sir,” the waiter looks at me, “ma’am,” and then at Alexa. We both smile in return. He fills the two glasses on our table with sparkling water, then presents us with a chilled bottle of wine. “Tonight we’re featuring our homemade red wine—”

  Knowing that my girl is a white wine kind of woman, I politely interrupt. “Sorry, but are you featuring any whites tonight?”

  Alexa gives me ‘the look’ because I cut him off, but what’s the point of listening to his schpeel when we know damn well that it’s not something we want? He’s just going to go on and on about how long it’s aged and yadda, yadda, yadda. He’s probably secretly thanking me for stopping him right now before he has to say the same thing he has probably already rattled off to a zillion other tables just to be shot down. We want white, and that’s that.

  As expected, he smiles and says, “Yes, sir, we do.”

  Catching him before he starts his new schpeel about the whites, I respond, “We’ll take two glasses.”

  This time I get an eye roll, a little shake of her head, and the sweetest annoyed look from Alexa. “You just couldn’t let him do his job, could you?” she says once the waiter gets out of hearing distance.

  “The guy has probably said that same thing a hundred times tonight, I was doing him a favor,” I point out.

  Wetting her lips and exhaling deeply, she looks at me with an annoyed smirk even though I know she thinks it’s entertaining. She can’t help but love me; I can see it all over that beautiful little face of hers.

  – ALEXA –

  As much as Nolan can drive me crazy sometimes, it’s nights like these that I fall in love with him all over again. Although he was incredibly rude to our waiter, and I’m secretly hoping he won’t spit in our food, it’s just who Nolan is–no patience and straight to the point. The problem, though, is that he’s so darn sexy! With that natural twinkle in his eyes, you can’t help but not be mad at him.

  After getting our glasses of wine and ordering our meals, Nolan takes my hands and caresses the top of them with his thumbs. “Can I just say that I needed tonight?” he starts. “It’s so easy for us to get washed up with our hectic schedules and lose sight. Tell me that we’ll always make time for these dates?”

  God love the passion that this man has. Between the admiration in his eyes and the warmness in his smile, my heart is full of love and fluttering butterflies.

  “Always, babe.” I smile.

  Just as he leans into gently kiss me over the table my phone rings, interrupting us. Normally I wouldn’t care in moments like this and would just ignore the call, but I’ve been waiting all day for the owner of Simple Elegance to call me back.

  Giving Nolan a ‘hold that thought’ look, I fish my phone out of my purse and answer it quickly before it goes to voicemail.

  “Hello.”

  “Hi, is this Ms. Arnold?” the woman asks.

  Full of nervous excitement, I answer, “Yes, it is,” probably a little more enthused than I should.

  “Hi, Ms. Arnold. This is Meg from Simple Elegance.”

  “Hi, Meg,” I answer like I didn’t already know.

  “I talked to some of my wedding planners and looked at our schedules. Unfortunately, all of them are booked into the fall…”

  My excitement instantly drains, and an overwhelming wave of disappointment floods my body.

  This sucks.

  “But…”

  My smile instantly brightens.

  “I usually pick up a wedding or two during the summer to keep from getting drowned in boring paperwork, so I’d be glad to help you out myself,” she says in an encouraging tone.

  “Oh my gosh, I don’t even know what to say…thank you. Thank you so much!”

  Nolan smiles and continues to caress my hands, seeing the excitement on my face. His body language and expressions have been going back and forth, watching mine change as I talk to Meg. Obviously now he has picked up on that she has said yes.

  “It’s my pleasure…but we’ve got to get working on this,” she points out. “We don’t have much time. Venues, florists, caterers…they all get booked up fast.”

  “Yeah, definitely,” I agree.

  “Can we meet up tomorrow?” she asks.

  “Sure…I’m done with student teaching at three-thirty.”

  “Perfect. Just come into the office when you’re done. We can throw around some ideas and get the ball rolling.”

  “Okay. Yeah, that’s sounds good,” I respond, still in shock that this is even happening.

  “Great, I’ll see you tomorrow then!”

  After saying goodbye and ending the call, I look over at Nolan with an overly excited look; I’m on the verge of squealing.

  “We’re booked! The owner is going to do it for us! How awesome is that?”

  “Really? The owner?” he asks, just as shocked. “It’s that sweet voice of yours. People just can’t say no to it.”

  “Hey, whatever, I’ll take it,” I joke. “The owner, Nolan. The owner of this company is going to be planning our wedding!” I’m still in awe.

  Running his thumbs over the top of my hands and smiling at me with his mouth-watering grin, he sweetly responds, “This is great, doll. You deserve the wedding of your dreams.” He brings my hands up to his mouth and kisses them gently. “I love you so much. I can’t wait to make you officially mine.”

  Just as I’m about to melt into a pile of mush, forget about dinner, and bring my soon to be husband home to show him how much he means to me, the waiter returns with our meals. There’s no denying the grumble in my stomach seeing the delicious food now sitting in front of me.

  I will show him later.

  “Wow, this looks amazing… thank you.” I smile to our server before he leaves us to eat. “Mmm, this is so good,” I tell Nolan after taking my first bite.

  “I don’t know what’s better, the food in front of me, or watching you wet your pants while you eat yours.”

  Almost choking on the bite I just took, I look around before replying in a hushed tone, “Babe!”

  “Definitely you. I’d much rather watch you,” he smirks with a devilish look, completely disregarding his lack of filter in a restaurant.

  “You’re something,” I smile, not being able to stay mad at him. Not that I really was. It was more of a, shut up, we’re in public!, kind of thing.

  “Only for you, my love,” he winks before taking another bite.

  Gotta love him!

  Soon after taking our plates, the server returns with an array of exquisite desserts. As full as I am, I can always make room for dessert. Just as I lean over to study the tray, Nolan interrupts.

  “They look delicious but, unfortunately, we’re going to have to pass,” he politely informs the waiter.

  Um…

  I look at him, confused.

  “Don’t worry, doll. I’ve got dessert covered.” he winks.

  Yes, I’m fully aware that Nolan can fill me with sweetness, and I’m definitely looking forward to him providing me with that later, but darn it, I wanted some of that cheesecake!

  Giving him the lip, he laughs. “Don’t worry, baby doll, it’s not just my cock I was talking about.�
��

  My eyes bulge out of my head as I look around to see if anyone has heard him.

  “Nolan…”

  Of course, he couldn’t care less if anyone had, but I do.

  “Oh please. We’re young and in love. What do people expect?” He waves his hand like it’s no big deal.

  “Yeah, but I’m sure they don’t want a play by play of our…” I look around before saying it quietly, “sex life.”

  “Sure about that?” he questions with a raised brow. I look at him apprehensively as he points to an older couple sitting a few tables over. “I’m sure he’d love a play by play of what I plan on doing to you tonight.”

  With my cheeks getting increasingly red, I shake my head as I answer, “You’re awful. Are you ready?”

  “I’m always ready for you, sweetheart,” he flirts as he stands and takes my hand.

  “You’re unbelievable,” I flirt back, standing face to face.

  “Make sure you scream that to me later.”

  Chapter Three

  – NOLAN –

  I feel like a goddamn pussy when we leave the restaurant, feeling the nervous butterflies coming to life as we head over to the second part of our evening. Between meetings and appointments, I’ve been working my ass off today. Not to mention kissing ass to get this surprise just right for Alexa. Thank god my sister helped.

  Pulling into the back of my Kelly’s club where my old apartment is, Alexa’s face goes confused and I can see the worry form in her eyes. Let’s just say she’s not the biggest club goer anymore, and to be honest, neither am I. There does come a point in your life when you just are over that scene, and Alexa and I are there. But that’s not my surprise. My surprise is downstairs and nowhere near the club above.

  “Nolan…seriously? I really don’t feel like doing this tonight,” she says as we meet in front of the car, clearly disappointed with where we are.

  “Don’t worry, doll.” I kiss the top of her hand that’s now laced with mine. “It’s not what you think.”

  Giving me an apprehensive look, but trusting me regardless, she follows me through the back door. We make our way down the basement stairs and stop in front of the apartment door.