by H. M. Irwing
We kissed… and kissed… overlong, ignoring the polite titters and then the not-so-polite guffaws that followed from the diverted audience. We turned to face them then, and I noticed for the first time that the crowd was littered with celebrities and models all dressed along the theme of the wedding. Everyone was being photographed for the magazines, but for once, I didn’t really care. I was fully and completely married to the man of my dreams, and that was all that mattered to me.
I turned to face Erin again and was caught up against him in another kiss before he lifted me up bridal style and carried me down the aisle.
Epilogue
It was nine months later—from my wedding day—that my son, Eric Robertson, was born to the curses of my agents but the adoration of his Godparents, Rafael and Tracy.
I bounced Eric soothingly before slapping away Erin’s searching lips and replacing it with Eric’s on my tits. He settled in quickly to suckle greedily. I grinned up at Erin’s disgruntled face and leaned forward to kiss his pout away.
For a time, at least both father and son would have to battle for their turns over my bosoms.
“I still can’t believe Tracy had managed to wrangle such a deal.” I shook my head wonderingly at the latest projection of figures. The couture wedding had progressed onto maternity lines and now baby line of clothing.
Tracy had wielded such a deal that I would profit a share over every sale made. She had been right in saying I would never need to work again. Not that I had a need to worry about that at all not with the secret billions from years of shrewd investments of the multi-millions Erin earned in first his modeling contracts and later his international modeling agency. And with baby Eric in my arms, I didn’t want to. My only ambition now was to fill my nursery with little replicas of Erin and raise my family. I had done it all. I had my career; I’d had my dream, and now, all I needed to do was to simply live it all. And what better way to find a happiness in both other than to raise my own family? Making them my career, my dreams, and my passion.
“I love you,” murmured Erin, watching Eric feed with a tenderness that almost brought tears to my eyes. I met his gaze with all the love I felt for him brimming in my own.
“I love you, too.”
The peal of the doorbell was a jarring interruption to our tender moment. I watched Erin strut his stuff as he casually strode over to answer the front door and couldn’t help shaking my head that he could be so oblivious to the power of his inherent grace. His predator like prowl was not limited to the catwalk as with most models who only walked like that for show. With Erin, he was what he was, the most beautiful man on earth. The most devastatingly stunning man to have ever lived. I couldn’t help but constantly marvel at all that was Erin. I watched him walk back in now and catching the slightest sardonic twitch to the corner of his lips couldn’t help but gasp a little out of breath. How was I still sane basking in his glory? Was beyond me. And at the sight of Tracy walking in behind him, my gasp turned into a chuckle of delight.
“Tracy!” I exclaimed happily.
“Claire,” she returned in a more subdued tone, her nose turning up a bit at the sight of my breastfeeding Eric. But then a suspiciously considering look crossed her eyes.
“Can I get you anything?” Erin asked, more of a need to fill the sudden silence of Tracy staring at me and my babe with cunning speculation and me reading her expression right and bristling about it. Tracy waved his polite query aside knowing it for what it was, an empty offer and she marched herself over to the mini-bar in the corner and set about preparing herself a drink. Scotch-on-the-rocks in hand, she returned to settle her delicate ass on the edge of the settee. I didn’t have long to wait before she spat out her latest hairbrained idea.
“Breastfeeding is all the rage now, you know,” she started conversationally, looking not in the least bit enamored by her choice of topic. I shook my head immediately, already knowing where she was going with this. “A breastfeeding cover shoot for the right magazine will keep the hype that still has your face selling things going. Out of sight is out of mind.”
“I don’t need to be on anyone’s mind. You made that happen remember.” I pointed out.
“That’s pittance,” she waved me off. “The money is rolling in now, but for how long? It won’t be long before your name loses its draw and then the royalty goes with it.”
She was right and she knew it. I hated it. “I plan to have lots of babies.” I declared petulantly, ignoring Erin’s raised brows at my pronouncement. It was news to him. I shrugged. The point was everyone in this room knew there was no place for a pregnant woman in modeling. Unless she was modeling for the maternity line of course. Which was sort of what Tracy was leaning at, that and…
“They are never too young to start.”
I sighed. Dropping my gaze away from her pointed stare, I peered down at my baby and couldn’t help but sigh again. He really was truly adorable. The kind of adorable that would have other babies tossing diapers at his feet adorable. I grimaced at that foul vision. Well perhaps the same visual that applies to father could not as yet apply to the son. But was bound to get there at some point. Still panty tossing at feet was years away. And in that meantime, it appeared Tracy had plans to sell not just the clothes off his back but the diapers off his little tush as well. I raised my gaze to Erin but Erin only shrugged back at me. It was my decision to make.
I sighed again, knowing what I was going to say and not at all liking it. “Fine. But there are rules.”
Tracy beamed back at me, her self-satisfied grin rubbing me raw. She lounged back into her seat getting comfortable as she lazily twirled the ice in her glass. “Yeah? I love rules. Tell me about it.”
I grimaced shaking my head at her. My eyes going past her to Erin who had retreated to the far wall and stood languidly leaning against it as he viewed Eric and me. His amusement at my predicament came through loud and clear and I frowned harder. I’d only just gotten myself out of the world of modeling and what Tracy was proposing was going to trust me right back into it. But I really wasn’t one to sit on my arse and let the world slide on by and if my world was now set beneath the glare of spotlights then so be it. I will make it work. We all will. Modeling wasn’t so bad after all. It brought me Erin and through Erin, Eric. What’s not to love about the idea of getting back into the thick of things? Erin’s knowing smirk heated my insides. I watched him turn to stroll towards the wall to wall windows and tug aside the curtains. The sunlight streamed in bathing his skin in delicious gold, highlights I never knew existed in his dark curls lit up with sparks of amber.
“Rules aside, its time we get you back on a diet and regimented training schedule. Features of healthy mums are all the rage….” Tracy’s voice went on laying out her sadistic plans, but my eyes and ears had stopped paying attention lost as my senses were taking in the sight of my husband basking in the morning light. And the yearning to go into his arms overwhelmed me. He must have sensed it for he angled away from the windows to blow me a teasing kiss. And my glare directed at Tracy shot up a notch. Couldn’t she tell? Baby or not, we were still in out honeymoon years. Erin grinned at my obvious frustration and taking pity on me returned to myside where he settled in the seat beside me and gathered both Eric and me close. Together we spent the next hour murmuring encouragingly, ooing and aahing at the right moments as Tracy laid out her elaborate plan to make my life a living hell for the next five to ten years.
The End
