The hairdresser, makeup artist and photographer had arrived forty-five minutes ago and now she looked like someone she didn’t recognize. Oh, God, what was she doing?
“Can I have a few minutes to myself?” she asked.
“Yes, ma’am.” All three filed out of the room.
Larissa walked to the mirror staring at the woman there. A woman who was sleek and sophisticated and not at all like the woman Larissa knew herself to be. She looked in the mirror like a woman suitable to be a Danforth wife.
She reached toward her reflection, touching the glass. This wasn’t real. This was all pretend. Game face and all that.
But it felt real. It felt like the dreams she’d secretly harbored since she’d given birth to Peter. It’s not real, she reminded herself again.
There was a rap on the door and Larissa went to answer it.
“Sorry, ma’am, but it’s time to go upstairs for the ceremony.”
She nodded. The hairdresser took the veil from her hands and placed it on her head. Tears burned the back of her eyes. She was alone with strangers, people paid to help take care of her because she had no family of her own to help with these moments. No mother to help her with her veil. No sisters to help pick out flowers or choose bridesmaid dresses. Just her. Alone. The way she’d always been.
The chapel was small and intimate. Jake stood at the front, talking to the photographer and Artie O’Neil, the reporter that Nicola had arranged to have write about their wedding.
Larissa tried to smile. Tried to pretend that this was what she wanted. That she was marrying a man who loved her. But she felt sick.
She turned and blindly ran down the hall. She heard voices and someone calling her name, but she didn’t stop. She escaped through the fire exit and paused on the stairs.
She leaned back against the wall and wrapped her arms around her waist. She was crying. Crying for things that she’d never had. Crying for the dream that now seemed so childish and ridiculous. Crying for something that she’d never realized she wanted until now.
The door opened and she felt raw, exposed.
“Rissa, what’s wrong?” Jake asked softly.
She tried to swallow so she could speak, but she couldn’t. She turned her head from him.
He closed the door and walked toward her. She put her hand up. “Don’t.”
He stopped and she tried to pull herself together. But her mind was filled with pictures of perfect families. The kind of family she’d been trying to create for Peter. What she wanted and what she would have were very different.
“Talk to me, baby. I don’t know what you need.”
She didn’t, either, and that was the problem. How was she going to be able to explain that she wanted something she’d never had? That today, when she was standing at the back of the chapel, she realized she wanted a mother? A real mother who would have noticed her daughter and not stayed mired in her own bitterness.
“I…I’m sorry.”
Jake closed the gap between them and pulled her into his arms. “About what?”
She shrugged. When he held her like this she didn’t want to leave. She wanted to believe the illusion they were presenting to the world was true. “This. Being so emotional.”
Jake tipped her chin back and she stared up at him through the filmy lace of her veil. “A wedding is a big deal in a woman’s life.”
“What about a man’s?” she asked.
“What?”
“Is this a big deal to you, Jake?” She should have kept her mouth shut, shouldn’t have worried about what he was going to say, but she did. She didn’t want him to answer unless he said the words her wounded heart needed to hear.
He pushed her veil up and smoothed it back away from her face. Without the barrier between them, his breath brushed her cheek and his eyes were very sincere. He leaned close to her and whispered, “You’re the only woman I’ve ever asked to marry me. You know this is a big deal.”
She sighed. She did know that. Jake was a good man. A good man who she was falling more and more in love with each moment she spent with him.
She realized suddenly that her tears had nothing to do with the family she’d never really had and everything with wanting Jake to marry her for love and not convenience.
He handed her a snowy handkerchief that bore his monogram. She wiped her face and saw the residue of the makeup she wore on it.
“I just felt so alone,” she said.
“Well, you’re not. We’re in this together.”
“Sorry I made a mess of my makeup.”
“I don’t care about that.”
“You don’t?”
“Rissa, you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”
Suddenly things didn’t seem quite as desperate as they had earlier. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Are you ready to get married now?”
She nodded. He gently kissed her forehead and lowered her veil once again. Then taking her hand firmly in his, he led her back to the chapel. When they exchanged vows, a part of her began to believe that Jake never would leave her.
Larissa smiled for the pictures after their wedding, and even though Jake knew that they were playacting, it felt real to him. A little too real, he thought uncomfortably. He’d always been a loner even though he’d been surrounded by siblings and cousins. There’d been a core part of himself he’d kept private. Larissa was the only person he’d ever let get a glimpse of it.
And now they were married. Jake moved away to have a few final words with the reporter.
Larissa was standing by herself. She’d clung tightly to his hand throughout the ceremony and he remembered promising her he’d help shoulder her burdens. He knew she didn’t believe his words. But when he’d looked into her eyes and given her his vow, he’d realized he meant them. Legally she was his and there was a sense of rightness that accompanied that feeling.
Artie promised to send a rough draft of the article to Nicola for approval before his magazine printed it. Soon they were alone. Just him and his bride. The primitive part of Jake’s soul was ready to claim her. To throw her over his shoulder and carry her upstairs and push aside her doubts. To prove to her that she’d made the correct decision when she’d pledged her life to him.
But he’d been raised with more sophistication than that. He’d arranged for them to have dinner on the rooftop of the hotel. Away from the prying eyes of any reporters.
Away from the intimacy of their suite. He crossed the chapel to her side.
“What else do we have to do tonight?” she asked nervously. He knew she hadn’t liked the public part of their wedding—the pictures that would be sent to magazines and newspapers, the questions that Artie had asked and they’d answered.
“Nothing. The evening is ours.”
She flushed a little and licked her lips. God, she was making all his good intentions hard to carry out.
“I’ve got a surprise for you.”
“Really? What is it?” she asked, tilting her head to the side. He noticed she did that when she was in a contemplative mood. What was going on in her head?
He wished he understood her better. But he was honest enough to admit understanding Larissa or any woman had never been a top priority.
“A secret that I think you’ll like. Now close your eyes and follow me.”
“Okay.”
He took her hand and led her to the elevator. He used the passkey he’d gotten from the casino manager to access the rooftop. When the doors opened, he pocketed the key and lifted Larissa into his arms. He walked to the table surrounded by candles and string lights. He set her on her feet.
“Open your eyes.”
Larissa looked around at the romantic setting. A dining tent had been set up on the roof. It was draped in sheer gossamer fabric and lights twinkled from underneath it. She saw a table set for two. Beyond the dining area, the night sky was bright with the lights of the Vegas strip. But the smooth sounds of Jimmy Buffett poured from t
he speakers.
“Stars Fell on Alabama” was playing. It was their song. The song they’d danced to at the reunion on the night they’d made love.
Jake led her under the canopy and they were secluded from the world. She felt that she was the wrong woman in the wrong place. This was a romantic dream and not at all anything that practical Larissa Nielsen had ever experienced. But she wasn’t Larissa Nielsen anymore. She was Larissa Danforth. And maybe romance was what she needed.
“Dance?” he asked.
She nodded and he pulled her into his arms. Her head fell to his shoulder and he danced her around the rooftop. “It feels like a lifetime since that night,” he said.
Jimmy Buffet sang…did it really happen? And it was a question that Jake had asked himself many times since he’d last made love to her. The memory of it was so vivid and so real, and yet unbelievable.
“I was so nervous about dancing with you,” she confessed.
“Why?”
“Because you’re a good dancer and I’m not.”
“I didn’t notice that.”
“I didn’t either. Once you took me in your arms, all my worries dropped away. It was…magical.”
He didn’t say anything, but he’d felt the same way. It had been a magical night. A moment out of time to be treasured for always. He lowered his head and dropped nibbling kiss down the side of her neck. She sighed and tipped her head to the side to give him greater access.
He sucked lightly at the pulse beating strongly at the base of her neck. She shivered in his arms. He soothed her with languid strokes of his hands down her back.
She pushed her fingers into his hair and pulled his head down to hers. Raising on tiptoe, she kissed him. Her lips moved over his with intent, arousing in him a need that had never been sated.
He wanted to let her take the lead so that later on there’d be no question of him seducing her. But he couldn’t just stand there. He stopped dancing and lifted her in his arms with his hands on her buttocks and thrust his tongue deeply into her mouth.
He craved her. He doubted that anything less than total surrender would satisfy the ache that kept growing inside him.
She pulled back, gasping for breath and watching him with wide eyes. He dropped his hands and stepped away from her, clenching his fists at his side.
“Let’s eat.”
“Jake?”
“Not right now, Larissa. Food, first.”
“I don’t want food.”
He paused and glanced over at her. “What do you want?”
“You,” she said, and walked toward him purposefully.
Blood rushed through his veins, pooling in his groin as she walked closer. He staggered back and had to sit down on one of the dining chairs. He’d expected to have to woo her slowly. He had, in fact, arranged for total privacy for them on the rooftop by asking the hotel staff to wait for his request before coming upstairs.
She continued toward him, a smile spreading over her face. The music still played in the background—no longer Jimmy Buffett but some smooth-sounding classic jazz. Miles Davis. Not an artist that was his favorite but one that he knew Larissa loved.
She paused. “Miles Davis?”
He nodded.
“How’d you know?”
“Woman, you’ve got about fifteen different CDs of his.”
“You’re observant.”
Only when something mattered, he thought. And Larissa mattered to him in ways he was only beginning to explore.
“I like that,” she said, still moving toward him slowly.
“Good.” He stood and crossed the small space between them in two strides. It had been an eternity since he’d last held her in his arms.
He’d been aroused since they’d stepped off the plane and no amount of work, exercise or cold showers had dulled it.
Her mouth opened under his and he told himself to take it slow, but slow wasn’t in his programming with this woman. She was pure temptation. He slid his hands down her back, pulling the zipper of her dress down at the same time.
Her bodice loosened, and from his angle looking down at her, he could see the tops of her breasts and the barest hint of her nipples. He lowered his head, using his teeth to pull the loosened fabric away from her skin.
She wore a demure cotton bra under her wedding dress and that simple undergarment made something clench deep inside him. Her nipples stood out against the plain fabric. He ran the tip of one fingertip around her aroused flesh. She trembled in his arms.
He undid the front clasp of her bra and brushed the cups away. Lowering his head, he took one of her nipples in his mouth and suckled her. She gasped his name and held him to her with a strength that surprised him. He pulled back and blew lightly on her skin.
She shivered and tried to direct his attention to her other nipple, but he held back. Knowing that his control would shatter at any moment, he wanted to savor this feeling of anticipation while he still could.
Her other nipple pouted for his attention, growing harder under his stare. He lifted one hand to touch her and saw the differences between them. His hand was huge and her breast small, smooth…flawless.
He cupped her breast, rubbing her nipple with the palm of his hand. Rissa tilted her head back, her hands still clutching at his head. Her mouth opened and he heard her moan his name.
He took that other nipple in his mouth. Teased her with his tongue and then the edge of his teeth, scraping carefully against the nubby texture.
Her fingers drifted down his back and then slid around front to work on the buttons of his shirt. She took a half step back and pushed his shirt open. She growled deep in her throat and leaned forward to brush kisses against his chest.
He continued caressing her breasts until they were full and her nipples prominent. He slid his hands down her smooth skin. Everywhere he touched he wanted to linger, but tonight wasn’t for extended love-making. They had been apart too long.
She bit and nibbled at his chest. His groin hardened so painfully, he could take his pulse between his legs. He felt like her plaything. He wanted to lie back and let her have her way with him. But there was no room here.
He pulled her to him and lifted her slightly so that her nipples brushed his chest. Holding her carefully, he rotated his shoulders and rubbed against her. Blood roared in his ear. He was so hard, so full that he needed to be inside of her body now.
Impatient with the yards of satin pooling at her hips and down to her toes, he shoved them up and out of his way. He caressed the long length of her thighs. She was so soft. She moaned as he neared her center and then sighed when he brushed his fingertips across the front of her panties.
The cotton was warm and wet. He slipped one finger under the material and hesitated for a second, looking down into her eyes.
Her eyes were lidded. She bit down on her lower lip and he felt the minute movements of her hips as she tried to move his touch where she needed it.
He was beyond teasing her or prolonging their torture. He pushed her panties aside and plunged two fingers into her humid body. She squirmed against him.
He lifted her and crossed to the table in two long strides. He sank to the chair and pulled Larissa over his lap.
He turned Larissa in his arms. “What are you doing?” she asked.
“Trust me,” he said.
She murmured something he didn’t catch.
“Rissa?”
“Yes, Jake. I trust you.”
He guided her hands to his shoulders. “Hold on.”
Reaching between their bodies he freed his erection and then pushed the satin of her skirt to her waist. He held her hips in his hands. She was soft and womanly. Their naked loins pressed together and he shook under the impact.
He had to have her. Now. She was naked to the waist and he used one hand to pluck at her aroused nipples, the other testing the readiness of her desire for him. He found her wet and ready. He adjusted his hold on her hips and then entered her with one long, hard stro
ke.
She moaned his name and her head fell forward, leaving the curve of her neck open and vulnerable to him. He bit softly at her neck and felt the reaction all the way to his toes when she squirmed in his arms and thrust her hips toward him.
A tingling started in the base of his spine and he knew his climax was close. But he wasn’t going without Larissa. He wanted her with him. He caressed her stomach and her breasts. Whispered erotic words of praise and longing in her ears.
She moved more frantically in his arms and he thrust into her deeply with each stroke. Breathing through his mouth, he tried to hold back the inevitable. He slid one hand down her abdomen, through the slick folds of her sex, finding her center. He stroked the aroused flesh. She continued to writhe in his arms no closer to her climax than before.
He circled that aroused bit of flesh between her legs with his forefinger, then tickled it very carefully with his nail. She screamed his name and tightened around him. Jake pulled one hand from her body and locked his fingers on her hips, holding her still for his thrusts. He penetrated her as deeply as he could. Suckling at the base of her neck, he came long and hard.
He held her carefully in his arms and cradled her to him.
This marriage that had started out as a media Band-Aid had just become very real. And Jake didn’t know whether he liked that or not.
Ten
Aftershocks of pleasure still rocked her body. She closed her eyes and leaned fully into him. Jake held her with a strength that scared her. What had she done?
He was big and strong and more man than she’d ever known—the only man who’d ever seen the real Larissa and now she was his wife. And she wanted it to last forever. Not just until Abe Danforth won or lost his senate bid.
Forever…that elusive thing had always been just out of her grasp. She had Peter, but in her heart she knew one day he’d leave her as well. But Jake had never been hers and she had the feeling he never would need her as deeply as she needed him.
This couldn’t happen again. And yet she didn’t know if she’d be able to keep her hands to herself. One time wasn’t enough. She still wanted him. She hadn’t gotten to explore his body and relearn his shape. She doubted a lifetime would be long enough for that.
Sin City Wedding (Dynasties: The Danforths Book 3) Page 9
