Enlightened (32 page)
I felt really ashamed of myself for ever doubting Nathan’s speech; although not the most comical of best men’s speeches, it had been beautiful, sincere, and packed with heartfelt emotions and I found tears were still flowing down my cheeks as Nicholas gave my hand a firm squeeze and stood up.
Almost ignoring the crowded room Nicholas stepped behind me and pulled Nathan into a hug, slapping him on the back and murmuring some quiet words that I couldn’t hear. Stepping away Nicholas seemed to need a moment to gather himself and took a sip of his water before looking up at the room and clearing his throat nervously.
‘Like my brother, I’m not the most talkative of men, but
unlike
my brother I don’t regularly talk in front of large crowds of people at work, and I have to say I’m already starting to sweat a bit with all your eyes on me and I’ve only been stood up for …’ Nicholas glanced at his watch and gave a nervous chuckle, ‘… thirty-seven seconds.’ Looking down at the table for a second Nicholas reached out for me. As I linked my fingers through his he looked across at me in surprise as if he had reached for me subconsciously, but then smiling at our linked hands he nodded as if he could continue now he knew I was here with him.
‘My brother was right when he said I have always been quite withdrawn, it’s just how I am. Well, it’s how I
was
until I met Becky. She swept into my life looking like this sweet, unassuming young woman, but then almost immediately knocked me sideways with her spark. There’s just something about her. I can be intimidating, but Rebecca pretty much just brushed that aside and persevered with breaking down my barriers.’ Pausing, Nicholas cleared his throat and it was at this point I realised he was adlibbing, the speech paper in his hand forgotten and replaced by him simply staring at me and spilling the contents of his heart. ‘Most of you sat here are friends or family of Rebecca, so you’ll know what I mean by her spark, and you’ll also know just how special she is. It’s like she lights up a room when she enters it. Well, she has certainly brought light to my life.’
Taking another sip of water Nicholas shifted nervously on the spot. ‘As you can probably tell, I’m really not my most expressive talking in front of a crowd like this, I do however, manage to successfully play my piano before very large gatherings with no problems. It’s a very different sensation, I can lose myself in the music. It’s a way I can express myself, so to save you all having to listen to me failing to be humorous or heartfelt for the next five minutes, I’d like to simply express how much I feel for Rebecca in the way that I know best.’
Dropping a kiss on my lips Nicholas walked to the side of the room as a light came on above a grand piano in the corner. ‘Before I start I’d like to say thank you all for coming and sharing our special day with us. This is a piece I wrote in the first few months of knowing Rebecca – we weren’t even officially together when I wrote this, but just by entering my life she had already changed it immeasurably. I hope you can hear through this piece just how much purpose she gave me, how important she is to me, and how very deeply I love her.’ Blushing at his open emotions Nicholas then took his seat on the stool, bowed his head to the piano, and closed his eyes.
I held my breath as I waited for him to play, and judging by the complete silence in the room around me, I think most of the guests did too. You could have heard a pin drop. When his fingers finally began to grace the keys it was in a series of soft, gentle notes. Rocking and swaying Nicholas looked completely lost in his music as the pace began to build. It was incredible, there were obviously no accompanying words, but they weren’t necessary; the piece itself was enough, beautiful and emotive and rising to a crescendo that somehow seemed to almost fill the room with how much he felt for me.
By the time he brought the piece to a close, tears of happiness were streaming down my face. Through my blurry eyes I watched as Nicholas stood and strode back over to me. Taking his champagne in one hand he dragged me up to stand with his other as he raised his champagne flute. ‘To Rebecca, my amazing wife.’ His voice was thick and gravelly too, and although I’d only ever seen him cry once before, I suspected he was pretty close now. As the room around us erupted in applause Nicholas held me against him and rocked us gently as I clung to my wonderful husband.
It wasn’t hard to find Rebecca amongst the crowds of revellers at the evening do of our wedding. There was the obvious fact that her gorgeous wedding dress stood out from the crowd, but it was more than that that drew my eyes to her; she was by far the most beautiful woman in the room, almost seeming to radiate pure happiness. Her eyes were twinkling, head thrown back in laughter at something Louise had just said to her, and she had a carefree relaxation in all her movements. I might not be a hugely open man, but I’d like to think that tonight even I might be exhibiting a little of the same happiness as Rebecca. I was certainly feeling it.
Glancing around the room it was clear the guests were gradually starting to retire after a long night of celebrating. There was smiling faces everywhere I looked, so it seemed that everyone had had a good time. The credit for that had to go to Rebecca, she really had pulled together a fabulous day.
My main input had been to keep the press away. Ever since my engagement to Rebecca had become public knowledge, journalists, newspapers, and magazines had all been clamouring to find out the venue so they could gatecrash our big day. But Rebecca was too special to me to put her through something like that, so everything had been kept extremely quiet. To my astonishment our secrecy had paid off; there were no paparazzi loitering outside the hotel this morning at all, but I’d still taken the precaution of hiring some security staff to man the gates for the duration of the weekend.
I might not have wanted our wedding to be flooded with press, but I
did
want the world to know that Rebecca was now officially mine, so I’d given an exclusive to one magazine only, one of the biggest celebrity gossip magazines there was. The deal had been that the journalist and photographer got to spend ten minutes with us after the wedding photographs, not a minute more. I’d stuck to it too, timing the interview on my watch and standing up as soon as the allotted time was over. The journalist had been mid-question at that point, looking a little stunned by my abrupt departure, but I didn’t care; it was my wedding day and I could do what I damn well liked. He’d gotten an exclusive out it, so I’m sure he wouldn’t be complaining too much either.
Checking my watch I decided that perhaps it was time to hand over the reins to Nathan so I could take my new wife to bed. I couldn’t help but smirk and roll my eyes when I saw Nathan and Stella’s position in the corner. Nathan had the shoulder of his right arm resting on the wall so that his sling hung in front of him, allowing his good arm to protectively rest across Stella’s stomach as he leaned down to speak to her, practically caging her in the corner. She didn’t look pregnant yet, not to my inexpert eye anyway, but it was in his body language just how thrilled my brother was by the baby. Stella was smiling up at him, one hand resting loosely around his waist and apparently more than happy to be the focus of his undivided attention.
Seeing my approach Nathan smiled at me, but I noticed with amusement that his good hand stayed firmly attached at Stella’s tummy. I thought I was bad with Rebecca, but my brother really was a living, breathing example of “possessive”.
‘For a miserable bugger you have certainly put together a fabulous party, Nicholas.’ Nathan said dryly.
‘Thank you. It certainly seems to have gone quite well,’ I agreed, ignoring his jokey dig. ‘I was hoping to retire for the night, could you deal with any last minute issues if anything comes up? It should just be a case of making sure everyone finds their room or manages to get a taxi.’
‘Of course, brother.’ I had been expecting a dirty comment, or some sort of sly reference to wedding night sex, but to my surprise he didn’t say anything like that, just nodded instead. Perhaps he was being polite because Stella was there.
‘Great, thanks. We’ll see you both at breakfast tomorrow then. Remember that family members are meeting in the conservatory for a private breakfast so that Joanne can join us,’ I reminded him.
Turning to walk away Nathan reached out and gave my shoulder a light punch. ‘Have a good night. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do …’ There was the sarcastic comment I’d been expecting. Don’t do anything he wouldn’t? Seeing as my brother had pretty much done everything sexual there was to do, that didn’t really set me any limits, did it? Rolling my eyes I nearly scoffed and made a comment about his extensive experience, but seeing as Stella was with him I refrained.
As I walked away from my brother I couldn’t help but shake my head in disbelief; me a husband, and Nathan soon to be a father, who’d have ever thought it after the shitty start we’d had in life? Certainly not me, that was for sure, and yet here I was approaching my beautiful new wife and feeling more settled and happy than I ever had in my life.
It was late and after the length of today I was feeling quite tired, but I was still fully intending on worshipping Rebecca and consummating our marriage. Sneaking up behind her I leant down without touching her so she would feel nothing but the tickle of my breath on her ear. ‘These people have had your attention for far too long. Are you ready to retire for our wedding night, wife?’ I couldn’t help the smile that spread on my lips as I spoke, I don’t think I would ever tire of calling Becky my wife.
It took barely a second before she had swung on the spot and flung her arms around my neck, covering my jaw in feather light pecks of her lips. ‘There you are! I was wondering where you’d got to. One more dance and then we’ll go,’ she said, starting to sway in my arms and rub her hips against mine. The two of us dancing closely caused a round of clapping and whistling, just like it had earlier when we’d had our first dance, but this time everyone was little drunker, me included, and I let my inhibitions down more and took hold of Rebecca’s hips as I started to move to the music, causing even more excited calling and laughter in the dancers around us.
As the music died down and the next song started Rebecca turned her flushed face to mine, ‘OK husband, take me to bed.’ She blushed even further, almost as if she were embarrassed by the obvious knowledge that we would be having sex tonight. I wasn’t embarrassed at all, in fact, after that close pelvis to pelvis dancing I was more than ready, willing, and able.
Unfortunately being the bride and groom at a wedding did have one drawback, we were popular with
everyone
, which meant it took us a further thirty minutes to actually escape all the well-wishers and break out into the cool of the night air to head down the front steps towards the lake house.
As we reached the door to the lake house I unlocked it, pushed it open, and swung around to scoop Rebecca up into my arms, causing her to shriek and wrap her arms around my neck as she laughed and squirmed in my arms. ‘Shhh … you’ll wake your sister!’ I whispered as I carried her over the threshold and straight up the stairs to the suite of rooms we reserved exclusively. As originally planned, her parents and sister were in the rooms downstairs, but I’d organised it carefully and ensured that they were situated in the rooms to the right as far away from us as possible, which meant the rooms directly below our suite were empty. Oh yes, I planned on making my girl beg and scream tonight.
The door to our actual room was propped open and I felt a fizzle of excitement at what we might see when we entered. It had taken some persuasion, but Stella and Louise had eventually worn me down and made me agree to let them decorate our room for tonight, I had no idea what they’d done, I just hoped that Rebecca would like it. With her still in my arms we entered the room and I immediately drew to a stop and grinned like a kid when I heard Rebecca gasp loudly as she saw the room. ‘Oh my God, Nicholas!’
Placing her down I spun Rebecca in my arms so she was facing the room with her back pressed against my front. It was all a bit girly for me, but even I could appreciate that the room looked very romantic. The four poster bed had been draped with tiny white fairy-lights, candles lined every available surface in the room – orange blossom, from the smell of it, a bottle of champagne sat in a bucket of ice by the side of the bed, and on the actual duvet itself they had arranged several dozen red roses into the shape of a heart.
‘This is incredible,’ Rebecca breathed as she turned her wide eyes on me. ‘Did you do this?’
As much as I’d love to have been responsible for the pure delight on Rebecca’s face I couldn’t lie, so I shook my head slowly. ‘You have your bridesmaids to thank for this.’ Stepping fully inside the room I closed and locked the door and then turned back to Rebecca.
Lust, desire, and an almost primal need to claim Rebecca and make her my wife in every way possible was creeping up on me thick and fast, but it had been a long day, and as much as I wanted to pounce on her and have my wicked way I wanted to check she was up for it too.
‘How are you feeling? Tired after today?’ I asked as I stepped up and slid my hands around the silky material at her waist.
‘I’m good. Today has just been amazing, Nicholas. I couldn’t be happier. I love you.’ Her small hands slid up the front of my suit until they were buried in my hair and tugging me down for a kiss. Rebecca was initiating it, was she? Perfect. That was just fine by me. ‘I love you too, Rebecca.’
For a few moments we both just seemed content to lose ourselves in the kiss, exploring already familiar mouths as if they were new unchartered territory.
Finally breaking our kiss Rebecca sucked in some air and then smiled at me shyly, ‘Will you free me from this dress? I love it, but the bodice is so tight I can barely breathe!’ Those intricately tied ribbons had been catching my attention all day until my fingers had been itching to untie them, so I wasted no time in stepping behind her.
‘It would be my pleasure,’ I murmured as I found the neatly tucked ends and began unlacing her. With each new row undone Rebecca let out a happy little sigh that I couldn’t help mirroring. Fairly soon it became clear that Rebecca wasn’t wearing a bra underneath her wedding dress, and as well as speeding up my unlacing, this revelation also had my cock hardening at the thought of her breasts escaping at any second.
As the last few laces slipped free, the dress – which was actually remarkably heavy – slid down Rebecca’s frame until it pooled around her feet like a large snowdrift. Rebecca was now stood before me dressed in nothing but a little pair of white lacy knickers. I took a moment to savour the sight of her back and its beautifully soft, flawless skin and ran my fingers in a trail from the centre of her neck all the way down her spine, eliciting a small shiver as I passed over her ticklish spots.
Quickly sweeping the roses from the bed I then scooped her up into my arms again, stepped past the discarded dress, and lay her down on the quilt before standing back to look at my beautiful new wife. A glimpse of something pink caught my eye as Rebecca quickly pulled her legs together and I frowned, an almost impossible vision springing to my mind. ‘Rebecca, open your legs again,’ I commanded softly, curious to see what had caught my eye – it surely couldn’t be what I thought it was, could it?
With an embarrassed wiggle Rebecca shifted on the bed, raised one knee, and slightly parted her thighs. ‘Happy wedding day,’ she murmured softly, as my breathing accelerated and I blinked rapidly while openly staring at her groin. Then I think I may have stopped breathing all together. Holy fuck – it was
exactly
what I’d thought I’d seen. Rebecca, my sweet, unassuming, innocent girl, was wearing crotchless panties. Admittedly they were an incredibly upmarket pair, but they were crotchless nonetheless. I’m not entirely sure that I didn’t black out for a second or two, but the next thing I knew I was on the bed pressing her thighs apart like a mad man and running a swift swipe of my tongue right up the exposed pink flesh between her legs.
‘Ahhhh! Nicholas!’ she cried, squirming in apparent shock at my sudden frenzy, but the sexy sight of her clad in nothing but a pair of exceptionally tasteful, lace, crotchless panties had been like a trigger and there was no way I could stop now. Over the next few minutes my tongue made a full exploration of her exposed flesh; licking, nibbling, and sucking at her clitoris until she suddenly bucked below me and came undone, her soft flesh throbbing against my tongue in climax and her hands sinking into my hair and tugging.
‘Have you been wearing these all day?’ I asked between breaths, the idea almost driving me insane with lust.
‘Not quite, I changed in to these after the meal,’ she murmured, her cheeks red and eyes large after her orgasm. Shifting my weight to my knees I continued to lick at her to ease her down from her climax as I tucked both hands into the delicate lace waistband. ‘Lift your hips, Rebecca, otherwise I’ll be ripping these things off you,’ I murmured. It wasn’t a false threat either; the only reason the knickers were still intact was because it was our wedding night and they might be something she deemed special. That, plus the fact that I wanted to see her wearing them again in the future.
Obediently, Rebecca lifted her hips and I dragged the thin material down her long legs and dropped them to the floor before kneeling up between her relaxed legs. ‘OK, sweetheart?’ I asked, trailing my fingers up and down the soft skin of her inner thighs. Nodding, Becky smiled up at me. ‘Mmm-hmm. I’m more than OK. Except for the fact that I’m naked and my new husband is very, very overdressed.’ Pushing herself upright Rebecca slid her hands inside my jacket and ran them across my chest until she came to my shoulders and began to slide it off down my arms. The tie that had taken me so long to perfect was next, and then her nimble fingers began to work on the buttons of my waistcoat and shirt.
As she finally released me from my shirt and it joined my other clothes on the floor I reached out and cupped her breasts in both of my palms, but to my surprise Rebecca gasped and grabbed my wrists to stop me. ‘Oh! They’re super sensitive after being trapped in that dress all day. Just give them a minute or two to recover.’ Not a chance in hell, I would make her feel better, it was
my
job as her husband after all. Twisting my wrists within her grasp I pulled a simple but effective self-defence move that circled my hands over hers and swapped her grip to mine. Then, once I was gently circling both of her wrists I pressed forwards with my body so she had no choice but to lie back on the bed below me. With her hands still trapped by her sides I lowered my head and licked gently at one nipple, flicking my tongue as softly as I could over the reddened tip. ‘Good? Or too much?’ I asked as I shifted my attention to her other breast.