A/N I now pronounce them man and wife. Now on to the honeymoon! I hope you enjoy reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it (any time I can conjure up naked Rick is tremendously enjoyable for me!). Thanks so much to my wonderful reviewers. I hope I've lived up to Carollee's sexpectations here. ;) Let me know…
(and after seeing that new trailer – please let the next three months fly!)
Chapter Forty-nine
Wearing the pale pink nightie beneath a long white terrycloth bathrobe that Maggie had insisted she take, Erin reaches into the small pocket at her hip to finger the rings tucked secretly inside; a sterling silver band with the right amount of scratches to create the most meaningful design for her, and a thick platinum band with a block pattern that reminds her of a very special blanket, its center row of squares edged on either side with a thin strip of rectangles.
On the dresser before her, a trio of tall taper candles burns slowly, casting a warm romantic glow on the lavender coverlet as the portable CD player hums with an old love song – another gift from Maggie. Heavy footsteps on the stairs echo the tracks of a size eleven cowboy boot and her belly flutters lightly. Stepping to the bed, she turns down the covers and adjusts the pillows against the headboard as the footsteps get higher and higher. Her flutter dips, dancing way down beneath her navel. With her back to the door, she straightens her shoulders and tightens the belt at her waist, anxious for Rick to see the negligee behind it but also wanting to prolong the moment as well.
She doesn't need to hear the boots in the upstairs hallway to know that he is close; she senses him more with her heart as her soul calls out for its mate. She closes her eyes and breathes deeply, waiting to feel his warmth at her back and his arms around her middle. Mmm, there they are. She covers his hands and basks in their strength as his lips brush sweetly against her ear.
"Hi," he murmurs softly and nothing has ever sounded so sexy or carried so much promise in a single syllable.
She rolls her head back against his shoulder as he tightens his hold around her waist. "Hi, honey."
His body begins to sway to the music coming from the CD player, rocking her slowly within his arms. "I like your new outfit." His hands glide down to her rear as she turns to face him. Looping her arms around his neck, she presses her body to his as they continue to sway to the music in a slow sentimental dance filled with chemistry, courtship and commitment. The rich, seductive voice of Elvis Presley floats on the smoke curling up from the candles.
"Wise men say
only fools rush in,
but I can't help
falling in love with you."
"Shall I stay?
Would it be a sin,
if I can't help
falling in love with you?"
Erin feels the tune humming against her neck between a number of soft gentle kisses just below her ear. Threading her fingers through his hair, she begins to drift along on a whisper of heaven.
"Like a river flows
surely to the sea,
darling, so it goes
some things are meant to be."
When Rick's smooth tenor joins the King's high baritone to sing softly against her temple, Erin feels completely weightless. Her head falls to his shoulder as the words lift her up and carry her away.
"Take my hand,
take my whole life too,
for I can't help
falling in love with you."
She feels his lips brush against her hair before she senses him pulling back. Lifting her chin, she looks up to see him gazing down at her as Elvis continues to croon.
"I am so incredibly in love with you, Red," he says softly, his blue eyes shining with such tenderness that her own eyes sting with a well of affection. "My wife."
He leans down to meet her lips and she pulls away after the briefest touch, suddenly remembering the jewelry in her pocket. "Oh wait, I almost forgot."
"What? That I'm your husband now?" His adoring eyes fade to a teasing smirk. "Ah hell, you've finally realized what a mistake you made and you want to forget the whole thing. Well I won't-,"
"Never!" She cuts him off with a kiss pressed hard against his lips. When he angles his head to deepen the connection she pushes him away with a chuckling apology as he glowers at her, his libido clearly affronted.
"Hey," he begins, tightening his embrace as laughter dances in his eyes despite the scowl on his adorable face. "I have a marriage license that says I can have my way with you any time I want."
"Do you now?" She can't fight the grin that splits her cheeks.
"Yes. It's written in the branches of that tree out there and wrapped in a red bandana."
She laughs at his wonderful analogy and can almost believe his words to be true. She certainly feels that it is written in the stars, that their love is officially bound by the powers of fate and their union is certifiably ordained. "I know, honey, but I have something to give you first." Squirming within his arms, she reaches into the pocket of her robe and pulls out the two wedding bands.
"What have you got there?" he asks softly as she takes his left hand and presses her lips to his palm.
Gazing into his eyes, her throat swells with sentiment. "With all my heart and soul, I love you, Rick." She turns his hand over and slides the thick band over his fourth knuckle. A perfect fit, as she'd known it would be. "With this ring, I thee wed."
"Oh, sweetheart, it's wonderful." She watches his Adam's apple dip deep in his throat and knows he is swallowing his own husky emotion. "I'm so sorry I don't have one for you."
"You do." Turning his hand over again, she places the smaller ring in the center of his palm and watches him lift it to his eyes, examining the scratched-out design illuminated in the candlelight.
"My God, it's perfect," he whispers reverently. "It looks like our tree."
"That's what I thought, too." She swipes a knuckle against the moisture in her eye as she lays her left hand against his chest.
He collects her hand and turns it over before bringing it up to his mouth. He lays a gentle kiss on her palm and then turns it again until her fingers are aimed at his chest once more. Holding the ring at the tip of her fourth fingernail, he says, "With all my heart and soul, I love you, Erin." The band glides easily over her knuckle to sit comfortably at the base of her ring finger. "With this ring, I thee wed. Come here, Mrs. Grimes."
He cups her cheeks and lowers his mouth, punctuating the ceremony with a kiss that steals her breath. She parts her lips for his artful tongue and clutches his black tee shirt as gravity fails her yet again. Her feet go numb and her legs grow weak as his hands begin to wander, caressing her curves and setting her flutter on fire. Her skin comes alive at his touch, rippling with heat under a wave of sensations as he possesses her mouth like only he can – leading her tongue in a fiery tango, dauntless and dazzling and vigorous and valiant.
She releases the dark hair clutched between her fingers to run her hands over the muscles of his strong back. His hand drops from her breast to her belly where she feels a short tug on the belt of her robe. Reaching for the hem of his black tee shirt, she lifts it over his head and then waits for his hands to return to her now opened bathrobe. He parts the terrycloth to reveal the satin beneath and slowly slips the loose garment from her shoulders. It falls to the floor and she stands before him, all pink satin and lace and sun-kissed skin on fire from his touch and burning with desire.
"Erin," he breathes, enraptured as he rakes his eyes over her figure, one single finger tracing the column of her throat to the dip of her cleavage and across the lace hem decorating the swell of her breasts. "My beautiful bride." The candlelight glows warmly on his bare chest as he lifts her up in true bridal fashion and lays her gently on the bed.
She clings to his shoulders as he stretches out beside her, and then melts into his chest when he rolls them over in the midst of a long languid kiss.
Loving hands move slowly over heated flesh, savoring the contours of each other with sensual caresses in their quest to reach bare skin; his fingers lifting the satiny hem from her thigh, her fingers lowering the zipper that covers his arousal, his hand skating over her breast on its course to bare her body to the candlelight, and her hand gliding over his ass as she slides his jeans down his legs. They roll over each other and back again until he is lying flat and she is on her side, skimming a hand across his chest as their clothes lie in a puddle of denim and lace on the floor.
Erin throws her leg over his thighs and lets her hand drift down over the smooth skin of his belly, the silver band on her finger glinting in a beam of moonlight streaming through the opened window. Touching him for the first time as his wife, she feels almost as if she is touching him for the first time ever. There is a unique intimacy to their coupling that she'd never experienced before, something that may only be invoked by a ring and a vow. She gazes down at the man she now feels licensed to touch, with a freedom to explore his body as only she is permitted.
Her eyes follow her hand as it glides slowly back up and across the span of his chest, soft prickles against her fingertips from one nipple to the other as she skims through the thin layer of hairs covering his flushed skin. She waltzes back to his belly, her palm moving leisurely below his ribs and circling the small indentation at its center. Meeting his blazing blue eyes, she wets her fingertip with a sultry gesture and dips it into his navel. His stomach caves in as his penis dances, hard and hale and delightfully captivating.
He groans beneath her touch as she drifts lower, lightly sailing along the trail of fine hairs that leads into the tight curls surrounding his erection. With a delicate touch, she caresses the tender flesh of his inner thigh and lays her cheek against his belly. She continues to massage his legs, gliding up and down and down and up before landing upon his arousal with a soothing stroke that provokes a fiery moan from his chest.
With a loose fist, she moves leisurely up the length of his shaft and then tightens her hold, stroking him downward as she kisses a trail from his belly to his balls.
When she takes him between her lips, an extensive moan rumbles ardently beneath her as she slowly loves him from the tip to the base and back again. A shift on the pillow and then a warm hand tugs at her knee until she is centered above his mouth. At the first flicker of his tongue at the crease of her clit, her breath catches and she moans around his erection as she continues to please him as he pleases her, with lips and tongue and fingers and fervor.
When her legs are quivering with ripples of aftershocks, she falls onto her back beside him, her feet clawing the pillows like a full-bellied feline. He moves over her and spreads her legs to settle between her thighs. She grips his shoulders to keep from writhing in agonized pleasure as he holds himself at her opening, gently teasing the super-stimulated flesh at her apex. "I love you, Erin Grimes."
Overwhelmed by him, both physically and emotionally, her throat aches once again as she gazes into the blue depths of his eyes. "I love you back." She clings to him tightly as he captures her mouth with a passionate kiss that singes her soul as he jumpstarts her heart with one deep driven thrust, straight to her core. Filling her completely, he holds his hips and moves only his tongue, dancing along hers as she feels his arms wind slowly behind her shoulders. She basks in the warmth of him, inside and around her as her belly quickens and her flutter rekindles the fuse that still smolders deep within her center.
He buries his face in her hair and she clutches his back as she rocks her hips slightly to meet his gentle thrusts. "Always," she whispers against his neck as the exquisite friction takes her away. He moves slowly, as if savoring their union and she feels connected to him in a way that transcends their physical boundaries. They are one; one man, one woman, forged by fate to create one soul. With her feet curled around his thighs and his pushing off the headboard, they comprise a rhythm of tender forces, moving together in a soulful partnership and loving one another as husband and wife.
Though it is not their first time making love, she feels almost as if it is. The motions are technically the same, but it feels different somehow. It feels… more. More intense… more passionate… more tender… more powerful… more intimate… more meaningful... more wonderful. He feels harder and deeper than she's ever taken him and she can't tell where her body ends and his begins. Her eyes sting with tenderness as she gets lost in their rhythm and she knows that everything she has ever done has led up to this moment in time – in this man's arms; the arms of her husband. The depth of her love for him centers her at the same time that it rocks her off-kilter with every beat of the heart that is throbbing soundly against hers.
Moving in perfect harmony, her world exists only where his skin touches hers, from the fusion of their most intimate flesh to the strong muscles moving beneath her hands and against her inner thighs. The warm belly and solid chest lying firmly upon her obliterates everything beyond the existence of this man and her tremendous love for him.
Murmurs of endearment float between them, sung on a draft of ardent breaths as she meets him thrust for thrust until she clenches her thighs and he groans her name, each one coming apart as they come together, soaring as one on the edge of forever.
Lying in a tangle of limbs sometime later, her sleepy eyes gaze at his closed lids as his slumbering chest rises and falls in fluent breaths. Her left arm moves with him, rising steadily upon his chest and the weight of the silver band on her ring-finger feels like an anchor of hope, tethering her to the possibility of a wonderful future with, quite literally, the man of her dreams. Giving in to sleep, she closes her eyes as one final thought drifts on a lazy current from her heart to her head… Thank you baby Jesus.