“Jen?” I said when I walked down one of the hallways of the restaurant I hadn’t tried yet.
“Oh, hey, Penny,” Jen said and looked over my shoulder. She ran her fingers through her bangs and adjusted the strap on her dress.
“Oh my God.”
“What?” She awkwardly cleared her throat.
“You just had sex.”
“I did not,” she said and then immediately laughed.
“I dared you to ask Ian on a date. Not to have sex with him!”
She laughed. “Fine you caught me. You were right about Ian.”
I smiled. “You two didn’t waste any time.”
“We’re both adults and we’ve both liked each other for years. What’s the point in waiting when you know it’s right?”
“There is no point.”
“Exactly. Besides, we’re at a wedding. Of course we were going to sleep together. I mean, have you seen him? He’s mouthwatering.”
I laughed.
“Hello, ladies,” Ian said.
“Hi, Ian.” I smiled at the fact that Jen had probably asked him to give her a head start so it wouldn’t look like they had just slept together. “I’m going to leave you two alone.” I stepped around them and walked down the hall. Love was certainly in the air tonight. And I couldn’t judge them at all. I was about to do the same thing with James.
“James?” I whispered as I opened the door to the room that he and his groomsmen had been in earlier today. I had already tried the small room that I had finished getting ready in, but it had been dark and empty. That wasn’t the case here. Dozens of candles were lit in the small room. It reminded me of when James had proposed. The only thing missing was him.
“James?” I whispered again and slowly turned around. He definitely wasn’t here. There weren’t even any places he could be hiding. I couldn’t explain it, but it felt like something was wrong. James had to have been the one that had set this up. So, where was he?
My pulse quickened. What if something had happened to him? What if Isabella had shown up and… what? Hurt him? I just had this awful feeling that something terrible had happened. I tried to take a deep breath, but it just made my heart race even more. I had passed Porter on the way into the building. He would help me find James. I quickly opened up the door and ran straight into Porter.
He grabbed my arms to steady me. “Are you alright, Mrs. Hunter?”
It was the first time someone had actually addressed me that way. But I was too upset to savor how great it sounded. I shook my head. “Where is James?”
“Isn’t he in there with you?”
Shit. “No. Porter, something is wrong. Is it possible that Isabella is here? I just have this awful feeling…”
“No,” he said with a frown. “Briggs is doing a border patrol and we have extra security posted everywhere. No one is getting onto the premises that wasn’t on the guest list. Mr. Hunter must have just slipped past me. Give me a second.” Porter touched something on his watch. “Who has eyes on Albatross?” He placed his finger on his earpiece.
I swallowed hard. Normally I’d find something like that codename hilarious, but my stomach was twisting into knots.
Porter nodded and let go of his earpiece. “He’s at the bar getting champagne, ma’am.”
“Getting champagne?” Oh, thank God.
“I’m sorry,” Porter said. “He told me to keep my eyes on you. I shouldn’t have…”
“No, it’s fine. I was just overreacting.” I wasn’t sure why I was so on edge. Everything was fine. I took a deep breath.
“I promise we have everything under control,” Porter said. “He just slipped away from me.”
“Thank you, Porter. I know you do. I’m sorry that I bothered you.”
Porter smiled. “It wasn’t a bother. And here he is now.”
I turned my head to see James coming down the hall. He was holding two glasses and a bottle of champagne.
I didn’t want him to know how worried I had been. This moment wasn’t going to be tainted by a stupid fear. I took a deep breath to calm my nerves and opened up the door for him.
James walked into the room and placed the glasses and champagne bottle down on the table. I heard the pop of the cork. But I didn’t want champagne. I wanted him.
I grabbed his arm so that he’d face me. Nothing mattered right now except for us. We had both been waiting for this moment for so long. “You’re my husband.”
The smile that spread across his face was contagious. “And you’re my wife.”
I grabbed his tie and pulled him toward me. “There’s still one more thing we need to do before it’s official.”
“And what is that? I just thought we’d have a private toast and take a few moments to talk.”
“Seriously?”
He laughed. “Fuck no.” He grabbed my waist and pulled me against him. “If it was up to me, I’d be making love to my new wife for the rest of the night.” He leaned down and kissed me softly.
I wanted to make love to him too. But I was amped up from worrying. I grabbed a fistful of his hair and deepened the kiss. I was on edge and I knew that the only thing that would calm me down was him deep inside of me. I reached down and unhinged his belt.
He groaned into my mouth as he pushed my back against the wall.
I made short work of his zipper and ran my fingers to the waistline of his pants.
He grabbed my hands and lifted them above my head. “Not so fast, baby.” He pressed the backs of my hands against the wall.
“You have your whole life to torture me.” I squirmed under his grip. I wanted to touch him.
I felt him smile as he kissed the side of my neck. “I promised you that I’d make love to you tonight.”
“At the hotel, later. Right now we’re just consummating our marriage real quick.” I hooked my leg around his waist.
“No, not quickly.” He kissed the side of my neck again and slowly left a trail of kisses down the front of my chest and between my breasts.
“I need you, James. You have no idea how much I need you.”
“Then you know how I feel all the time.” He grabbed my ass and lifted my legs around him.
I could feel how hard he was. His erection was pressed against my stomach as he lowered me onto the table.
“I’ve been waiting my whole life for this moment. I’m going to savor every second of it.” He bent down in front of me and kissed the inside of my ankle as he slowly pushed my dress up.
I wasn’t going to be able to take his torturous ascent. “James, please.”
“Insatiable as ever,” he said once he reached the inside of my knee.
I knew my whole body was trembling with want. All I could feel were his lips on my skin.
“I like this,” he said and snapped my garter against my thigh.
I squirmed and he tightened his grip on me.
“It’s hard to know how I should make my lovely wife come first.” His breath was hot between my thighs.