by Jerilee Kaye
“Okay so now that we are all in agreement, we have one more announcement to make,” Justin began. Everybody fell silent once again. They were staring at Justin and Adrienne, eager to know what they had to say. Justin took a deep breath and said, “You’re all going to be grandparents soon.”
The silence that followed was thick. It was like they all stopped breathing as they absorbed what Justin just said. Then finally, Adrienne’s mother walked towards her and gave her a hug. “Oh my God, my baby!”
Soon, their parents were on their sides, congratulating them. Their mothers couldn’t stop crying, tears of happiness rolled down their cheeks. They were ecstatic about the news. Even Adrienne’s father looked excited. They surrounded the newlyweds, putting all their issues aside, like nothing happened at all.
Justin’s parents began arguing if they preferred a boy or a girl. Adrienne’s mother already considered moving temporarily to the States so she could be with Adrienne throughout the pregnancy. Pierre considered how to juggle his work load between him and Jin so both of them could visit Adrienne and Justin frequently. Even Adrienne’s father suggested the best hospitals in Chicago that they should consider.
Adrienne looked up at her husband and smiled happily. It seemed like their families may have missed planning their wedding, but they sure would not miss out on her pregnancy or her delivery. They finally found their common ground, enough to give them peace throughout the reception.
It lasted for four more hours. Finally, Justin approached Adrienne and told her that it was time to leave.
“Time to go where?” she asked.
He grinned and then he leaned forward and whispered in her ear. “To our honeymoon. You’ve kept me waiting far too long,”
She laughed. “And our guests?”
“Abi will give them their room assignments later. They’re welcome to stay here for a couple more days, if they wish. But in any case, that is not your problem. Let’s leave them be. And they should leave us be.” When Adrienne stared up at him, he grinned mischievously at her. “Your chariot awaits, my queen.”
True enough, a Cinderella chariot awaited them at the foot of the stairs of the main entrance. Their guests lined up to bid them goodbye. Their mothers gave each of them a hug, awash in tears while doing so. Adrienne’s father and stepfather shook Justin’s hand and told him to take good care of her. Their friends and family cheered and threw rose petal confetti in the air.
The carriage took the path that led to a smaller castle structure. It seemed secluded, more private. Once they set foot by the door, the carriage left, leaving them to themselves.
“Welcome to your honeymoon, Mrs. Adams,” Justin said. He bent and swept her off her feet. Adrienne shrieked and laughed, afraid that Justin may not be able to hold her with her big Cinderella gown.
“Easy, tiger,” she said, giggling. “Remember, you’re carrying two now.”
Justin smiled. “I will never forget that, honey. The two most precious people in my life are right here in my arms. I will never drop you, honey. Always remember that.”
They entered the castle. The outer façade looked old and medieval, but from the inside, it appeared quite modern. There were glass walls on one side, giving a perfect view of the lake. Adrienne saw crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. The furniture inside included various woods and fine white textiles with gold trimmings.
Justin climbed up the white staircase that led to the second floor. No door existed. The top step immediately revealed the huge majestic bedroom. The walls were all white. Off-white sheets covered the king-sized bed along with white, tassel-edged pillows.
Justin settled Adrienne at the foot of the bed. “This is going to be your home for the rest of the week, Mrs. Adams. We will have complete privacy. Everything we need already sits in the fridge and the cabinets downstairs. People still will bring food over whenever we wish. There is a private pool, too, should you wish to go for a swim. There’s also the lake. And yes, we can swim naked if we want, since no one else will see us.”
Adrienne walked over to the glass windows to take a look at the veranda overlooking the lake. The moon looked big and full and the stars were shining brightly in the sky. It was a magical night indeed. Justin couldn’t have picked a better night to get married.
She felt his arms around her as he nuzzled her neck. She felt a tingle in her spine and the hairs on her body seemed to rise up. Electricity seemed to flow from his lips to her skin. Her husband has always had this effect on her. “Justin,” she moaned.
She felt a tug on the strings of the corset closure of her gown. She turned around and her lips met his in long, passionate kisses. Her dress slowly slipped off her body. It fell heavily into a pile on her feet. She stood before him in a white chemise and glass-like slippers. Justin bent and swept her into his arms and carried her to bed. Then he gently untied the laces on her bodice. He leaned forward and planted soft kisses on her knee, moving upward to her thighs.
Her heart pounded inside her chest. Slowly, she felt herself slipping, getting lost into the abyss. He pushed her gently up towards the head of the bed as he slowly took off his jacket, loosened his tie and unbuttoned his shirt. She held her breath as he revealed his magnificent body before her eyes.
When he took his shirt off and revealed his six-pack abs and muscled chest, she almost forgot to breathe, although she’d seen his body a hundred times before. He grinned at her, knowing so well the effect he had on her. He leaned forward, gently putting his weight on her, he claimed her lips once again.
“Justin…” she breathed as he nuzzled her neck. She felt overpowered by desire, more than she thought she could handle.
“My wife…” he whispered to her. “I love you.” And he kissed her lips once again.
She smiled against his lips. “I love you, too…my husband.” She felt good saying those words. To know that finally, there was nothing standing between them. He was hers now and nobody could take them away from each other.
She felt the snap of her bra as he took it off her. And then he felt his wet kisses on the peak of her breasts. “Oh my God…” She couldn’t help breathing heavily. It had been too long since they were together. She remembered just how much she missed his lips on her.
He pulled away from her to unbuckle his belt and remove his pants. When he landed on top of her again, she felt the solid evidence of his desire for her. When she touched his most intimate part, he almost screamed. He felt her fingers on her. She couldn’t hide the wet evidence of her own arousal. When he teased her sensitive button, she almost fell over the edge. Almost…but not quite. Because Justin Adams was the one man who knew her body more than she did. He knew how to undo her, send her to the brink of passion, push her to the edge of oblivion.
“Justin…” she murmured while he teased her, holding off the one thing she craved the most at that moment.
The smile that he gave her was as charming as it was wicked. And she knew, he punished her, too, for making up the no-sex-before-marriage rule, making him suffer for days. He held true to his promise. He would make her beg for him, too.
He nuzzled her neck as he put pressure on her body with his, touching her sensitive cleft with his rock-hard manhood. He moved a little, adding more sensation to her already burning core.
“Oh my God, Justin…” she breathed. “How are you enduring this?”
He smiled at her mischievously, “I lasted weeks begging for this. I can wait a few seconds more,” he traced her lips with his tongue. “Until you give me what I want.”
She kissed him back, refusing to give in, prolonging both their agonies, trying to stay in the game she started since they came to Italy.
She felt him at her entrance. She took a deep breath, preparing herself for the intense sensation that would follow, anticipating their union after weeks of agony and celibacy. But instead of fully going in, he slipped past her entrance, rubbing his underside against her slit as he thrust upward.
“Oh God, Justin!”
she said in a hoarse voice.
“Fuuuck!” he cursed silently and she could tell that he barely held on, too.
One of them would have to give in to the call of their passion. One of them would have to lose…give up their pride and beg to consummate their marriage.
He pulled away again and once more, he was at her entrance. He wouldn’t give in. She barely held on. He rubbed his tip against her folds, teasing her to no end, hitting her in all the right spots. When he pushed upward and hit her sensitive bud, she lost hold of all control.
She screamed, “Justin, please!!!”
At the same time, he cursed, “Fuck it! I’m done waiting!”
And within a split second, they were one. She was screaming his name in ecstasy, as he rode her throughout her climax.
It lasted a couple of seconds, but to Adrienne, it felt like an eternity before she came down from the height of her passion. Justin looked at her intensely, as if he was in a trance.
“Justin…” she whispered.
He smiled slowly at her. “You… are absolutely beautiful,” he whispered. “I’ve never seen a more beautiful sight than you right now.”
In response, she pulled him towards her, kissing him passionately. He began moving in her again. Each thrust he took drilled her down, touched her in all the right places and pushed her back again to the cliff of no return.
“Oh my God, Justin. Please! Faster!” she begged. She was meeting his trusts with the same intensity. “Harder!”
He buried his face against the mass of her hair and breathed in the scent of her. “Honey…God, I can’t! I can’t be rough!”
She knew he was lost in his own ecstasy, but he tried to hold it back. He feared he could harm the baby growing inside her tummy. “We’re stronger than you give us credit for, hon. You can let it go.”
With an assuring look on her face, he unleashed the beast within him. He speared through her, hitting her most sensitive spots inside and out. His eyes turned a darker shade of blue as he allowed his desire to fully take over him, the beast to control him. He took Adrienne to a new height of euphoria. A few more deep thrusts and she screamed his name again, allowing herself to get lost in paradise.
When she let go of herself the second time around, so did he. He carried her to the highest peak of pleasure and then he jumped off the cliff with her, screaming her name as he entered Nirvana with her.
“I love you, Adrienne Adams!”
When it was over, he looked down at her. He gazed gently at her face while his eyes were dancing. He had sweat beads on his forehead and a triumphant grin on his face, like he had just conquered the world.
“I think if you weren’t already pregnant, you would be by the end of this honeymoon,” he said.
Adrienne laughed. “Was that part of your plan, too, when you asked Mason and Abi to prepare this wedding?”
“I think we both know I planned the pregnancy long before that,” he said, giving her a naughty grin. Adrienne pinched him on the side. “Owww!” he whimpered.
He slowly pulled out of her. Then he lay on his back and gathered her in his arms.
“Are you okay? Are you sure I didn’t hurt the baby?” he asked, concern all over his voice.
Adrienne looked up and kissed his jaw, assuring him. “We’re fine. The baby’s strong.”
They lay in silence for a while and then he asked, “Are you okay with everything? Moving to Chicago with me? I mean, you just found your real family in Paris.”
“You heard my Mom. She’s thinking of temporarily moving to Chicago, too.”
“I’m sure my mother is thrilled about that,” Justin said. “You know they’ve been planning this all our lives?”
“I know. They must be over the moon right now.”
“They are. Except for your brother, of course.”
“Jin? Why?”
“He wanted to be here. He wanted to be the one to walk you down the aisle, actually. We had our arguments over the phone. I told him that privilege still belonged to your birth father. I think he won’t be pleased when he finds out that your father’s flight got delayed and Yuan gave you away. I changed my mind at the last minute and invited both our parents. Your stepfather asked him to stay behind, to look after important matters. I think he’s pissed that he couldn’t tell them they were actually coming to our wedding and that he deserved to be here as well.”
“Oh my God,” Adrienne said sadly. “He will not be pleased. Jin is so much different from Kimberly. He actually wants to be part of my life.”
“We’ll renew our vows after five years. He can come to that one. He can walk you down the aisle, if he wants.”
“Good luck telling him that. Jin Starck doesn’t like to be bossed around, either, you know.”
“He doesn’t have a choice. Since I married you, I have officially become his big brother.” Justin laughed.
“Good luck convincing him of that, too.” Adrienne also laughed. Although inside, she couldn’t be happier. She knew that Justin and Jin would get along just fine. They both loved her very much.
“Have you thought about what you’re gonna do with your apartment in New York?”
“Actually, not yet,” she replied. “I haven’t paid the mortgage in full yet. And I’m out of a job. Now, I’m a wife and soon I’ll be a mom. A lot has happened recently. Thinking about the apartment wasn’t on my priority list.”
“You know you don’t have to worry about the mortgage anymore,” he said. “I’ll take care of it.”
She shook her head. “Justin, that’s my obligation.” She propped up on her elbow so she could look him in the eye.
“You married me. Your obligations have become mine, too,” he said.
Her eyes widened. She didn’t like that idea. “Justin, no! I won’t allow that. I have money saved up. Or I can sell it to somebody who will be willing to continue the mortgage. But I won’t let you take over the payments! I won’t!”
Justin wrapped his arms around her. “Ssshhh…okay, okay,” he whispered. “Don’t get stressed out over such a small thing. Hear me out first.”
“Justin, you own a similar apartment. You know how much that costs. It’s not a small thing.”
“Compared to you, it’s nothing. Look, I know what that apartment meant to you. It was not just a home or a mortgage. It was your declaration of independence. You bought that to show your parents that you had done just fine on your own. And I feel like I’m taking you away from that place. Forcing you to marry me so soon, and asking you to leave your life behind in New York and live with me in Chicago.” He kissed the top of her head.
Adrienne sighed. Her husband knew her very well. He listened to her. He heard even the things she didn’t say out loud. And yes, she didn’t want to give up the apartment that was the embodiment of all she worked hard for…the apartment that was the reason why she met her husband in the first place.
“I’ll think about it. But you’re right. I don’t want to give it up,” she admitted.
He hugged her tightly. “I knew that’s what you were going to say.” He reached for the drawer in the bedside table and pulled out an envelope and gave it to her. “Please don’t get mad. Consider it a wedding gift.”
Adrienne propped up on her elbow again and took the envelope from him. Inside, she saw two property titles. She read the plot numbers and recognized one as her own apartment. The other one was on the same building, on the same floor, opposite hers. That was Justin’s apartment. Both properties were named to her.
“Justin, what is this?”
He took a deep breath. “I settled your mortgage directly with the real estate. They transferred the property to you completely.” He looked nervous, like he was waiting for her to shout at him.
“You can’t do that? Can you?”
“Well, I have the best lawyers in the country dealing with this, plus I know who owns the building.”
“And your apartment?”
He shrugged, “We both know how sentime
ntal those properties have become to us, right? We would never give them up.”
“Why did you transfer your apartment to my name?”
“Because I don’t see the point of keeping two separate apartments. We’re not separating…ever, so we don’t need to make provisions for such an occasion. I’m superstitious that way.” He smiled lovingly at his wife. “So, I’m having a plan drawn up to rebuild both apartments, to make it into one. It would have been easier if we lived beside each other rather than opposite each other. But I hired brilliant architects to work on the design. I’m sure they’ll come up with something amazing.”
“And the real estate broker and building owner agree?”
“Well, did the real estate company that manages the building agree? Of course not. But since my friend, River, owns the building, they couldn’t refuse my requests.”
“River owns the whole building?”
“Yep,” he replied. “Now, he’s scratching his head how he’ll explain to the other tenants the major renovations that will be done on our floor.”
“And he’s okay with that?”
Justin shrugged. “Consider that a part of his wedding gift to us.”
“Really, Justin Adams. You have a way of bossing your friends around.”
He laughed. “I’m not bossy. I’m just persuasive…and charming. I charmed you, didn’t I?”
“Yeah, you were pretty hard to resist,” Adrienne said, laughing.
She meant that. She tried to resist this…to resist him. To fight his charms, and not to let them affect her. She tried to think of all the reasons why they could possibly not be together. Little did she know, they were fated to be together, they were made for each other…perhaps even before they were born.
She could reason that they were so far apart in financial and social stature they could not possibly be destined for each other. Whatever reason she could have thought of, that wouldn’t stop them from being together in the end. This had nothing to do with their parents. Yes, we do make our own choices and that will make all the difference in the world. But some things are meant to be happen one way or another. You just have to believe that in the end, all is fair in love and war, and things will work out the way they were supposed to. Like destiny, like fate.
