Author's note: This chapter has a lot of rainbows. Hot rainbows.

Happy reading!

Chapter Twenty-Five

Jill gave me a smirk to rival anything Adrian had sent my way.

"Maybe you should work a little harder to get out of his head." I felt my face turning bright red.

She laughed. "So how was it?"

"You know how it was." I sipped my coffee.

"I know how it was through him. I got a burst of pure joy and it still hasn't gone away. So you see this smile on my face? I'm sure it perfectly matches his."

"It does, actually."

"So?" She shook my arm. "Tell me."

"It was amazing. It was different. I liked it. And that's all I'm telling you." I drank a little more of my coffee.

She groaned. "You're not a real girl at all."

"I am a real girl. But you're like my little sister."

"And?"

"And I don't feel entirely comfortable talking to you about it."

"Fine. I'll have you know, you interrupted a lovely make-out session Eddie and I were having."

"You usually can block it out."

"I can. But this was really strong. I'm still working on it." She smiled. "We made up for it though."

"Well, good. I guess." I chuckled. "We're going to start looking for a house."

"Fantastic! Like now?"

"Yes." I sipped my coffee. "Still have a lot to do with the wedding plans."

"I'll help you any way you need. I'm best lady, so I don't have a lot of duties. Speech, bachelor party."

I laughed, "Have fun with that."

"I could pass all that off on Eddie and help Carly plan your bachelorette party. Male strippers are more my taste than female ones." She chuckled. "Or we could just hang out. Like a middle school slumber party."

"I'll get the best hotel I can find around here. We'll have a blast." I assured her. "I'd much rather you were hanging out with me than my fiancé. You can sneak a peek into his mind and let me know he's not getting too crazy."

She giggled. "As long as he doesn't drink too much."

"If he knows what's good for him, he won't come to my wedding hung-over."

"Talking about someone I know?" Adrian asked nearby.

I looked up and smiled. "You. You're my favorite subject."

He took a seat close to Jill and draped an arm over the back of the booth. "They're getting my mother ready to transport her back tomorrow."

"I'm sorry, sweetheart." I reached across the table for his hand.

He curled his fingers around mine. "I'm going to try to get her to our wedding. I'm going to try really hard."

"We'll add her to the invite list anyway." I rubbed my thumb against his skin.

He nodded and leaned over to kiss my hand. He smiled at Jill beside him.

She smiled back and nudged his side. "So…How's it going?"

His smile shifted and his neck turned a little red. "Oh, it's going." He squeezed my hand. "Did you know that this woman across from us is a wonderful mixture of beauty, adorableness, and sexy?"

"Don't forget just plain hot." His friend added.

I felt my cheeks heating up at their scrutiny. "Don't we have a plane to catch?"

Adrian chuckled. "True." He tapped his cheek. "How about a kiss for your favorite spirit user?"

She smiled and pressed a quick kiss to his cheek. "Keep me updated about the house hunt." She requested. "And anything I can to do about the wedding planning."

"Of course." He assured her and returned her kiss.

I hugged her tightly for a moment and then stepped away. "Sorry about last night."

"Don't be. I haven't felt this good in a long time."

We went our separate ways. Jill had places to be and Eddie was going to bring us to the airport. We met him at the main garage where our things were already packed away in the back of one of the cars. I sat in the back and let the guys talk up front. I wasn't paying much attention. I played with the necklace Adrian gave me and thought about the events from the previous night.

I replayed every moment from the time we stepped through his apartment door to the shower. After our shower—which took so much longer than a normal shower because we kept kissing and Adrian kept touching me all over—Adrian and I had made some more hot chocolate and curled up on the couch together for a while.

"Our new tradition." He had said.

We watched the lights on his tree changing colors. We dozed together and somewhere in the late morning, we stumbled back to Adrian's bed for a more proper sleep.

I got a text from Jill, waking me up. It had a wink face. I showed Adrian and he laughed.

"Sydney?" Adrian said from the front seat.

"Hm?" I looked up, taken out of my thoughts.

"We're here."

I looked out the window. "So we are." I got out of the car and took my suitcase from Eddie. I hugged him tightly. "You take care with Jill." I said softly.

"I plan on it." He assured me. He nodded toward Adrian. "He can use compulsion on me and make me hurt myself if I hurt her." He shook Adrian's hand. "See you soon."

My fiancé took my bag. I resisted, but he insisted. He smiled, "I'm trying to be a gentleman."

"You don't have to try." I grabbed the tail of his coat so I wouldn't lose him in the crowd.

We boarded our plane and once again hunkered down together in the back. I raised the armrest between us and leaned close. I asked for a diet coke as soon as we took off. Adrian got his normal alcohol. I shook my head and leaned into him anyway.

He kissed me and slid his hand down my chest and stomach. It came to rest inside my thigh.

"That's going to be a gigantic no, Adrian." I pushed his hand away.

"Aw, come on." He slipped his hand between my legs again. "It's fun."

I giggled. "It may be fun, but I don't want to do it on the airplane."

He sighed. "Can I feel you up a little?"

"You'll do anything, won't you?" I threaded my fingers through his and rested our hands on my knee. "No. Nothing is happening on the plane."

He kissed my hair. "I love you, Sydney."

"I love you, too." I sighed, "Oh, Adrian."

"What?"

"I don't know. I just feel so…content."

"Like we're stuck?" He chuckled and kissed my hair again.

"Yeah, but in a good way. We're going to start looking to buy a house to make our lives together. We're another day closer to our wedding. Another step closer to completely…" I trailed off, unable to think of a good way to say what I wanted.

"Becoming one?" He supplied.

I smiled. "Yeah. That's it. I look forward to it even more now."

"Then we'll both be kept in delightful suspense until then. And do we want to wait for our wedding night for that? Or do you want to just let things happen as they happen?"

"I'd like to wait for our wedding night." I kissed his hand. "Is that okay?"

"It'll make it that much better." He kissed me. "I look forward to completely deflowering you on our wedding night.

I laughed. I kissed him. "I couldn't love you any less if I tried."

He smiled. "Could you be any more adorable?"

"I don't know."

He pulled me onto his lap. He kissed me softly, slipping a hand under my shirt. His fingers tangled in my hair. I balled my fists in the front of his shirt and kissed him back lazily. We remained like that for most of the flight. The flight attendant had to ask us repeatedly to get in our own seats and fasten our seatbelts for the descent.

Adrian took my hand and held it. "Your place or mine?"

"My car is at my place. And I have to work tomorrow."

"You like my bed better."

"I do."

"So we'll go back to my place and you can take my car to work. And I will start an internet search for houses. Then we can look over what I find and discuss it over dinner. I'll bring you to your car later."

"Are you going to cook for me? Be the doting househusband?"

"I'll be everything I can be for you, Sydney."

"Just because you work from home doesn't mean I expect you to do everything. I know you have stuff to do."

"On days that I'm blocked, and it happens a lot, I tend to organize things."

"I've noticed." I chuckled. "On those days, you can get the laundry caught up. On other days, I'll pull my weight."

"I paint all day. You change oil and rotate tires and drop engines into cars. You work hard. I don't expect you to do everything either just because you're the woman."

"Well, that's good to know."

We finally were released from the plane. I took my own things this time, freeing Adrian's hand for me to hold.

The house was cold when we got there. Adrian turned up the heat and pulled me close.

"I know the best way to warm us up." He said, pressing his face to my neck.

I laughed and pushed his coat off. "I bet you do."

He took my coat off and draped it over the back of the couch. "Come on, you sexy thing." He pulled me toward the bedroom.

I laughed again. "You demand a little too much."

"Well, it's late. If we're going to do anything, we need to get it done so you can get some sleep."

"I could always call in tomorrow. Mom said she wouldn't fault me if I did. She knows the schedule at Court." I pulled his shirt off and kissed him.

"Then we could do this all day." He took my shirt off. "I like that thought."

We finished undressing each other and climbed into the bed. We kissed lazily for a long time. Our hands explored slowly. My hand wrapped around his erection. He thrust into my hand as he slipped his finger into me. He knew what he was doing more than I did. I felt like I was fumbling. But the way he was responding felt like I was doing something right.

I kissed him over and over as I felt the pressure building in me. I moaned into his mouth and he responded in kind. He murmured against my lips as he grew closer. He pulled me on top of him as he met his climax, the warmth of his ejaculation spreading between us.

He pulled my hips forward and rubbed me harder and faster. I felt my breath catch. I fell forward and braced my hands on his chest. I pressed myself into his touch and groaned. I leaned closer and kissed him as the wonderful convulsions started. "You're so good at this." I was able to say, but only barely.

"I do what I can, baby." He kissed me again.

I sighed and rolled away. "Oh, wow."

He laughed. "Yeah." His hand found mine and he threaded our fingers together.

"I like when you call me baby like that." I said softly.

"You do?"

"Yes. My mom calls me baby sometimes. So it just seems weird for you to say it casually. That's why I told you not to call me that. But these last few days, and the day after you drank from me, you said it and it was so sweet and loving. Like it was a precious word. Like I'm special to you."

"You are special, Sydney." He moved over me. "Maybe we should shower." He trailed his fingers in the drying mess on my stomach.

I smiled. "It can be our nightly ritual."

"I like the sound of that." He leaned down and kissed my shoulder. "You're the best thing that ever happened to me. Do you know that?"

I combed my fingers through his hair. "I hate to think where either of us would be if we had decided to just follow the rules."

"Me too." He pressed his mouth to mine. "You are so incredible."

"You are ridiculous."

"But you love me. Right?"

"Of course." I pulled him to me and kissed him. I rolled him onto his back. "Shower. Then sleep. Then do this all over again."

"Sounds like the perfect plan."

"Come on." I rolled out of bed and tugged on his arm. "I think I've discovered my new favorite thing."