Redemption

Chapter Eighty-Four

The reception had been wonderful, the newly-married couple delighted to finally get some food in their empty stomachs as they mingled with their friends and family—a few neither of them had ever met; they mothers having been the ones to invite them. The food was magnificent; the hors d'oeuvres were like heaven for the taste buds—skewered roast chicken and tiny pieces of beef with a seasoning like neither had ever tasted before—the music being played by a local DJ simply perfect for the occasion.

Bobby and Danni's first dance as husband and wife had been simply magical. It had been Bobby's task to choose the song they would dance to, considering he was feeling a bit left out of the planning while Sue, Tara, Lucy, Danni's mother and his mother had basically cornered Danni and forced her to make all of the decisions. One day, she'd simply been fed up with everything and was about to call the whole thing off so the two of them could elope. That was when he'd stepped in and offered to take some of the burden off her shoulders, seeing as though she was still on bed-rest and shouldn't have been getting worked up over trivial things. At that time, he'd begun to wonder why they were rushing into the whole wedding thing, anyway, but one look from her reminded him and that got his feet moving to help her both plan and rest at the same time.

He'd wanted to make their first dance memorable and he'd achieved that by far. He just couldn't resist talking the DJ into letting him sing and choosing the perfect song for their first dance. When the time had come during the reception, he'd hiked up the collar of his shirt before grabbing a microphone and pulling Danni out onto the dance floor.

On cue, the beginning notes to the song "Fools Rush In"—the version sung by Elvis, no less—and the two lovebirds swayed to the music while Bobby serenaded his beautiful bride. One hand rested upon her waist, making sure she stayed close and tried to not run away from embarrassment. One look at the love in her eyes told him that she wouldn't run away from him and that theory was confirmed when he felt her arms circle his neck. Her head had rested upon his chest, her shoulders shaking with laughter—he'd even added the lip-curl and the voice—but enjoying the song nonetheless.

She loved the feeling of his heart pounding in tune with hers as he poured his heart into the song. Every time he sang the words: "but I can't help falling in love with you", he squeezed her hip gently and placed a kiss into her hair. She sighed contently as she followed his lead to the rhythm, her heart just expanding with all of the love she felt at that very moment, which made her both wonder and hope that she would feel this way years down the line.

They'd cut the cake in peace, their hands tightly clasped together as Bobby stood behind her to attain the perfect slice. That had been the easy part, but when it came to feeding the piece to one another, that was when trouble began to brew. Someone—who sounded distinctly like Myles—yelled: "shove it in his face!" and the temptation became too great.

Danni simply couldn't fight the urge and Bobby received a face full of cake, icing smeared all over his mouth and his nose. She was going to wish she hadn't done that, he plotted, when he gave her a grin that told her he was up to no good. Revenge would be sweet and Danni would pay for her crime. He chuckled evilly as he held up the slice meant for her, his eyes narrowing as ideas of sweet revenge revolved around his brain.

He didn't bother to shove a piece of cake in her face, though—that would have been too easy. No, he'd wanted to do it different way, one that would be both sweet revenge and ultimate torture. The only problem with that was that it would be ultimate torture for the both of them.

He grabbed her around the waist to prevent her from either turning or running away. Threatening her with the piece of cake was just mean, but he made up for his torment when he stealthily dipped her and attacked her lips with his icing-covered ones. He licked and nipped, his chest constricting when he felt her hand rise up to run through his hair and to also pull him closer. She didn't care about the icing, anymore; all that mattered was that Bobby would continue to kiss her until she was a quivering mass of flesh in his arms.

A familiar ache in her belly rose within as he attacked her mouth, tasting the icing on her lips as he pulled away slightly to only delve deeper once he received a proper amount of oxygen. This was a preview of what was to come later tonight, yet the feature presentation would be much more rewarding than the commercial.

The throwing of the bouquet had looked to be simply good luck on Sue's part, yet it had been a perfected plan of attack orchestrated by Bobby and Danni. While Danni had her back turned toward the bachelorettes, her eyes were focused on Bobby and the subtle hand gestures he was making. Of course, he could have been waving his hands like mad and no one else would have noticed since all eyes were on Danni, all except for Jack's that is.

At this moment, the Wisconsin-native was a bouncing ball of nerves that only seemed to get worse as time went by. He'd spilled his drink on himself at least twice during dinner, though didn't drop any food on the fabric. At least he was wearing black and the champagne wouldn't stain… much.

When Danni threw the bouquet, Sue had caught it without trying—she'd tried to hide in the middle of the crowd when Lucy and Tara had forced her along with them into the throng of women. The look on her face had been priceless when the flowers just landed in her grasp and no one tried to fight her for them. Usually, the bouquet catch was a women's version of a football game—some falling because of their heels or someone getting tackled until one is claimed the victor—but this was different. It was almost as if everyone had taken a step back to allow her to catch it.

This tactic might have been cheating on the happy couple's part, but they knew it would be all worth it in the end. You don't just find a love like Jack and Sue shared these days—it was rare and they needed to embrace it and they'd better embrace it in front of friends and family or Danni was going to pop them both over their heads with the closest thing she could find.

The garter-toss had been more of a spectacle. It wasn't the tossing of the garment that was so outrageous, though the looks in the other men's eyes as they stood, eagerly waiting to catch it told Bobby that Jack had better pull a defensive maneuver and catch it as quickly as possible. This event was just as fixed as the bouquet-toss had been, yet there was no telling if all of the men would cooperate once they saw the prize.

The real spectacle of the toss had been the removing of the garment. To ease Jack's tension, Bobby thought it would be amusing to lighten the mood and bury his head under Danni's dress as his fingers nimbly searched the lacy undergarment. Her shriek of surprise didn't deter him, though he'd removed his head to wink at her highly-flustered expression.

He chuckled. Her cheeks were tinted a deep red and she was trying to hide her face behind her hands. Removing on hand, he removed the make-shift shield to whisper a heart-felt "I love you" and kiss her softly on the lips before submerging his head once again under her skirt.

She could do nothing but sit there and laugh as she saw his head disappear again and felt his fingertips lightly run up the leg that the garter wasn't even wrapped around. Her skin tingled from the slight touch, but her other leg burned with a trail of fire as his lips scored the flesh of her upper-thigh. Her lower lip found its way between her teeth as she felt his thumbs loop around the garter and begin to pull it down, her flesh tingling from the feeling of his rough fingers sliding down her silky-smooth skin.

Somewhere down the line he'd added his tongue to the mix, which made her have to stifle the eager grown of pleasure that was threatening to surface. He was slowly torturing her, both her mind and self-control slipping with every touch from his strong hands. She swore that if he'd move his hands upward, every ounce of sanity would escape her until she pounced on her unexpecting husband.

His fingers continued to tickle their way down her calf, making her flex the muscle under his touch. He grinned to himself as he felt the heat from her face wash over the rest of her body. His plan for gradual torture was working, though with every touch he felt his own resolve slip just a notch. Soon he would be able to whisk her away to a night of passion, but that was only after he removed his head from under her skirt and let Sparky do what he'd come to do.

With one final kiss upon the top of her foot—the only spot they hadn't caressed yet—he removed his head and looked up at the flushed face of his bride. One look into her eyes and he knew her resolve was waning. She looked like she was ready to pounce and he was more than willing to let her, if it wasn't for the fact that one-hundred-and-fifty people were watching them with rapt attention.

Kissing her once more, an unspoken promise exchanging between them, he got to his feet and held up the garter to the awaiting crowd of men. Turning his back to them, he let out a stabilizing sigh, though when his gaze flitted back to his wife, his heart began once again hammering like a drum in his chest. He was amazed that, with just one simple look, she could make him crumble to his knees. Telling her he loved her just wouldn't be enough tonight; he needed to show her as well.

One side of his mouth lifted in that boyish, sideways smile he knew she loved so much and he winked. By the look on her face, that simple motion made her heart flutter uncontrollably and he couldn't be more proud of it. She was trying to gain her bearings and he was making it impossible; their life together certainly wouldn't be boring, he concluded.

He watched as she made a subtle hand gesture to his left. He took a step to the left and turned slightly when he saw her gesture for him to turn. When he was in the precise position, she nodded and leaned back in her chair to wait for the toss and to steady her still wildly-beating heart.

Taking in a deep breath and letting it out slowly, he tossed the garter, turning around to witness Jack snatching it out of the air as the other men crowded around him for the same prize. Letting out a huge sigh of relief, Bobby helped Danni to her feet and pulled her close, his lips immediately finding her bare neck so he could rest his lips upon the silken flesh. It was all up to Jack and Sue, now and they were going to stand by and enjoy the show.