by J. P. Comeau
17
_____
CRYSTAL
Gavin and I got back to the hotel after having an awesome dinner. The entire day had been so romantic. From the moment we landed, I felt as though he had gone out of his way to make sure that I was enjoying myself. He knew just how nervous I was about us pretending to be married that he had allowed me to relax for a change.
It was the first time in a long time that someone else had taken care of me.
As we opened the door to our apartment, I felt a nervousness in my chest. It wasn’t the wrong type of nervousness, though. It was the complete opposite. There was something about walking into that apartment with Gavin after our day together that caused my nipples to pucker.
It felt like our first night together, all over again. I had the same feeling I did when I was on the floor in my apartment, when I reached up and pulled him down to kiss me. This was odd since we had made love many times since then. I suspected that our lovemaking tonight, however, would be our most intense one yet.
Outside of our windows, the lights of Moldova lit up the sky. Gavin poured us some champagne, and we enjoyed it along with strawberries. We sat that way, looking out at the nighttime sky for about an hour, not saying a word to each other, just as we had done earlier at the beach.
After we finished the champagne, Gavin helped me take off my necklace. It was one that my mother had given me many years ago and consisted of bright red rubies. I also had matching earrings and a ring to go with it, but I had left that back in River Valley. Whenever I wanted to feel connected to my mother, I wore this jewelry.
Gavin held it up to the light after he took it off. “I can’t get over how much these match your hair, Crystal.”
He placed it on the end table, bent down, and kissed me. I instinctively spread my legs apart, and Gavin pushed his body up against mine. I was wearing a loose-fitting red dress, and he had no problem sliding my panties off from underneath. As he flung those to the side, I reached down and unzipped his pants.
With one thrust, he buried his erection deep between my folds. I closed my eyes and felt my clit swelling as he began pounding me. At some point, he ripped off my dress and threw it on the floor, not once letting himself fall out of me. All I could think about was how badly I wanted him inside of me all of the time. I wanted to sleep with him there and wake up with him in the same spot. Gavin being inside me was the most natural thing I had felt in a long time.
Our bodies rocked back and forth as I used my feet to slide his pants off. Every time Gavin pulled out, I begged him to thrust his cock back inside. Our moans became louder as the bed shook, with my breasts bouncing up and down.
He flipped me over onto all fours and took me from behind, burying his manhood yet again in that same spot. I arched my back as his hands caressed my flesh, moaning my name as the heat between us intensified. My legs began to shake as he pounded harder and harder, demanding that I release my juices onto him.
“Gavin!” I yelled his name so loudly that I was sure everyone in the hotel heard me, but I didn’t care. There was more passion between us that night than all of our other nights combined. I needed him more than I needed to fake a marriage to get the inheritance.
I rolled over and put him on his back, not once letting him slide out of me. Just like that, I rode him until he filled me with his love juices.
When we had finished making love, I rolled over, and we stared out at the lights of Moldova. It was such a beautiful country with wonderful food and people. If all we did on that vacation was make love and stare out the window, I’d be a very happy woman.
Gavin sat up and looked at my dress on the floor. “Didn’t I rip your clothes the first night we had sex?”
“You sure did, mister, and I’m still waiting for you to buy me a new set of clothes.”
“Well, make that two sets because I think I tore this dress too.”
I slid out of bed and picked it up. Sure enough, it was ripped.
“So let’s see, you owe me a blouse, a skirt, at least two pairs of panties, and a red dress. When will you ever learn that you can’t go ripping off clothing, Mr. Tillery?”
“Are you going to punish me?”
I playfully pushed his chest, then rolled over onto my back. “Not tonight, but maybe another time. It wasn’t one of my favorite dresses anyway. Besides, there’s something kind of sexy about the way you rip things apart to get what you want.”
I slid back under the covers and rested my head on his shoulders, and at some point, I fell asleep.
The next morning I woke with a smile on my face until I realized what day it was. It was the day we pretended to be married, and suddenly I was nervous all over again. Bad scenarios started playing out in my mind, and I thought maybe we should back out. My biggest fear was going to jail over forged marriage documents, and the second one was never seeing Gavin again.
I reached over and shook his arms. “Gavin! Gavin! Wake up! Wake up!”
He yawned and looked up at me. “What’s wrong? Did I sleep in?”
“No, but today’s the day. Oh, God. I can’t believe we’re going through with this. Are you sure you think we can pull this off, Gavin? Okay, I have to find something to wear. It should be professional but not too cold because then it’ll look like I’m trying too hard. Or maybe, I shouldn’t go with this business suit that I packed for today. What do you think? Never mind, I need to shower first. Wait, did I pack my shampoo? Oh no, Gavin. I can’t think straight!”
He rushed out of bed and came running over to me. “Sweetie, you must calm down. We’re going to get through this, alright? You and me, together. I promise that nothing is going to go wrong. All of the documents look legal, and I’m cool as a cucumber.”
I simply nodded at Gavin and headed into the bathroom, where I splashed cold water on my face to calm my nerves. I also planned to take a hot shower, but I just stared into the mirror for about fifteen minutes. My thoughts were so jumbled that I also had to remind myself I was in Moldova and not at home in my apartment or in Gavin’s mansion.
When I came back out a few minutes later, he had ordered breakfast for us.
“I’m not hungry.”
Gavin motioned for me to sit at the table. “Listen to me, Crystal. I want you to enjoy a good, hearty breakfast because you’re going to need your energy today. Then take a shower, get dressed, and we’ll head over to see the judge. Alright?”
I looked into his eyes and realized that now, more than ever, I needed him. I never wanted to need him or anybody, but I wasn’t mentally prepared for what was about to happen. If it were just me going up to the judge and lying about being married, without a doubt, I’d mess it up.
That wouldn’t happen with Gavin by my side, though.
“Alright,” I said, eager to let him take the lead.
After some pancakes, bacon, eggs, and coffee, we got dressed and headed down to the building that looked sort of like a courthouse. My mind was numb the entire time, and it felt as though I were in robot mode. Whatever Gavin told me to do, that’s precisely what I did. He knew that I needed him.
As soon as we walked inside, the local attorney, my lawyer from home had arranged for me, walked up and was surprised to see Gavin.
Since I was unable to say much of anything coherently, Gavin took it upon himself to do the introduction. “I’m Gavin Tillery, Crystal’s husband. It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir.”
We sat down with my attorney and showed him all of the paperwork. Gavin held my hand from underneath the table and used his thumb to rub it and calm me down. As the attorney looked everything over, I could tell that he was suspicious. I felt my heart drop into my stomach and wanted to pass out.
Gavin saw the color go from my face, bent down, and kissed me on the cheek.
“Well, congratulations, Crystal. Per your attorney in California, I was advised you had been single, and yet you seem to have gotten married just in time.”
Gavin spoke for me yet again. “We’
ve been together for a while, sir.”
My attorney looked at both of us, back down at the documents, and eyed us suspiciously. Gavin squeezed my hand a little tighter at that moment, and it gave me a burst of confidence.
“Yes, sir, yes, Gavin is correct.” I agreed.
“Now, it’s time for you to see the judge.”
I was relieved that he bought our lie, but somehow I managed not to breathe a sigh of relief. That would only make everything seem even more suspicious.
We waited in the courtroom for what felt like forever until a judge finally came out. “Miss Hotchkiss, will you please approached the bench?”
Gavin squeezed my hand one more time, and then I stood up. I don’t remember how I got from the table in front of the judge, but I did it somehow. By the time I got up there, I had started to feel as though I’d pass out. I practiced my mother’s silent breathing techniques that she used to calm herself, though, and within seconds I was focused on the task at hand.
“Yes, your Honor.”
“You are here to collect an inheritance from your uncle, is that correct?”
“Yes, your Honor.”
“And to collect that inheritance, you must be married and living a stable life before the second anniversary of your mother’s death. Is that correct?”
I felt beads of sweat forming on my face. “Yes, your Honor.”
The judge looked over the paperwork—all of the legal documents that Gavin had forged. I tried not to think about it. Instead, I convinced myself that I was genuinely married to him.
He took off his glasses and gazed into my eyes. “So, when did you two meet?”
I opened my mouth, but all I could do was stutter. That’s when the room started to spin. I felt lightheaded and dizzy but pulled myself together while recalling my mother’s breathing techniques for the second time.
Then I remembered what Gavin said and turned around to look at him. He winked and smiled back at me, and at that moment, I knew that I was in love with him.
18
_____
GAVIN
I tried not to take an obvious deep breath to calm myself. It was nerve-wracking watching Crystal tell our fabricated story to the judge, but she was doing very well, so far. She told him every little detail about our relationship, from the moment I hit her car up until we flew to Moldova. I listened as she explained how she had never meant to fall for me so quickly, but it wasn’t long before she knew that I was the one. Except for the getting married part, everything she told him was the truth.
Even though I had been calm and collected on the outside, I had been a ball of nerves on the inside during the last few weeks.
Crystal had been under the impression that’s just how I was wired, but it was far from the truth. So much was at stake, but I was relying on my business skills to get us through the whole ordeal. However, I had come to realize that even though the stipulation Crystal’s uncle made seemed archaic at best, it really didn’t matter what Crystal and I thought or what contacts the Truman family had, our fate laid in the hands of the judge.
After she finished speaking, the judge looked over the papers and then directly at me. “Mr. Tillery, will you please approach the bench?”
I gave Crystal a reassuring look as I stood up. “Yes, your Honor.”
My heart began beating pretty fast, but I remembered an old trick that I learned from the yogi in India. Whenever you feel your anxiety getting out of control, simply count back from one-hundred in sevens. By the time I reached the judge, I had convinced myself that I was married to Crystal.
“Now that we’ve heard your wife’s testimony, it’s time to tell us the relationship from your point of view.”
“I met Crystal a few months ago, initially after I scratched the bumper of her car as she was backing out of a parking lot. She was justifiably upset, but the damage to her bumper was minimal, and I found her outrage adorable. Anyway, I was running late for a business meeting, so I gave her my business card and hoped to hear from her. Later on that evening, we attended the same party and were surprised to see each other.”
I casually glanced back at Crystal, who had the biggest smile on her face.
“Anyway, I drove her home that night, and that’s when we began dating, your Honor.”
The judge looked me up and down, and for a moment, I was concerned. “Can you tell me some details about Crystal?”
That was easy to answer. “Of course, your Honor. Crystal practices holistic health, and one day she wants to open up her medical practice. She’s taught yoga with her life-long best friend for the past few years, too. When she wakes up in the morning, her hair immediately cascades over her face as though she were leaning forward.”
I snuck another glance back at Crystal, who had a surprised look on her face.
“Her favorite foods are Italian: tiramisu, pizza, Italian roast coffee, and biscotti. She prefers the outdoors to being inside all of the time and misses living near the ocean in Hawaii. Crystal also talks to the plants in our garden, encouraging them to grow and flourish. It may sound crazy, but it works. I can honestly say that she’s the most down to earth person I have ever met.”
The judge looked over at Crystal, whose jaw was a bit slack. “The court needs to know that you married her out of love, not so that she can collect this money, Mr. Tillery. I’m an expert at reading people, so keep that in mind as you continue talking.”
I looked back at Crystal one last time. “Before I met her, your Honor, I never saw myself settling down with anyone. I work upwards of sixteen-hour days, have to travel the world for my job. And the women I’d met in the past were only interested in my money, not Crystal, though. My wife is not someone who wants or even needs a lot of material items. If my wife had the choice between living on the beach surrounded by nature or having a fat bank account while living in a mansion, I’d go so far as to say she’d be happier with the former. That’s when I knew that I was in love with her, your Honor.”
Everything that I had said was the truth, even though Crystal might have thought it was a line.
I didn’t know if the judge had believed me, though. “Thank you, Mr. Tillery. You may be seated.”
Crystal, her lawyer, and I sat silently as the judge looked over all of the paperwork. Once again, I held her hand underneath the table, doing my best to reassure her and myself that we had convinced him of our marriage and that it was perfectly legal. Yet the longer he shuffled through the documents I had prepared, the more nervous both of us became. We kept waiting for him to find something that proved they were fake, or for him to say that we had only married so she could collect her inheritance.
After a few minutes, though, he picked up a pen and signed the paperwork. “I’ll be honest with both of you. Before you spoke about each other, I was wary about the validity of your marriage. I also took my time reviewing all of these documents to make sure they were legal. After hearing your testimony, it’s apparent that you are together and not for monetary purposes. At this moment, I authorize the courts to release the funds into Mrs. Tillery’s bank account.”
“Oh, excuse me your Honor.” Crystal raised her hand and my heart skipped a beat, not knowing what to expect.
“Yes, Mrs. Tillery?”
“There is just one thing. I haven’t changed the name on my bank account, so it’s still under Crystal Ann Hotchkiss, sir.”
“Noted,” the judge struck his gavel, “court dismissed.”
I rubbed the back of my neck, relieved, and followed Crystal through the courtroom’s heavy doors. As soon as we were outside, both of us let out huge sighs and hugged each other.
“We pulled it off.” She whispered, giving me a quick kiss. “Thank you, Gavin. I’m so blessed by all of this.” Crystal sniffed and wiped away a few tears as we held each other’s hands and turned away from the courthouse, making our way back to the President Hotel.
Later on that evening, Crystal and I dined at Vatra Neamului. Our driver had recommended it b
ecause they served local wine, which we learned was often made my Moldavians in their home. Crystal especially loved the red wine while I was partial to the white.
She swirled her glass and inhaled the aromas. “I can’t believe we did it, Gavin, and I don’t think that I could ever thank you enough.”
“You don’t have to thank me, Crystal. I’m just happy that we got the judge to believe us.”
I suppressed the urge to tell her that everything I had said to him was true. We had yet to say ‘I love you’ to each other, and as we sat in that romantic restaurant, I wanted to blurt it out for everyone to hear. I wanted to shout from the rooftops that I was in love with Crystal Hotchkiss, and that I knew, without a doubt, that she was the one for me. But I couldn’t help but wonder if she felt the same.
“I did my best to calm my nerves up there, too. As soon as I looked the judge in the eyes, I felt my knees buckle and thought I was going to pass out.”
“You did an excellent job of keeping it together, sweetie. No one would have ever guessed you were nervous. How did you stay focused?”
“I thought about Mom and what she would have said to me at that moment. I try to do that whenever I get stressed out, but it’s not always that easy. As I steadied my breathing and looked back at you, suddenly, it wasn’t so hard to speak.”
“Well, you did a great job telling him our story.”
I reached across the table and held her hand. Maybe it was everything that we had gone through together, the wine, or the whole trip in general, but my heart was bursting at the seams. In the back of my mind, I knew that she was the one.
Crystal started to play with her bracelet. “You said a lot of interesting things about me up there, too. Although, saying my favorite cuisine is Italian is pretty cliche. Isn’t that everybody’s?”
“It used to be mine, but after that Moldovan pie and all of the food we’ve been eating here, I’d say it’s now my second. I would love to revisit this country.”
