“I think you’ll find I’m perfectly capable of enjoying the small, domestic things in life as well as smashing some desks beneath my Louboutins.”
“As long as it’s not my desk you’re trying to smash.”
“Why would I do that? It’s served me well so far.”
The hospital doors slid open to reveal a bright, sunny day. The Town Car was already waiting for them by the curb.
“Remember when we were in Chicago and you told me to find ways to show my devotion outside of the bedroom to you?” Alicia asked once they were in the car. “Well? Have I passed my training, Mistress?”
Danica forewent buckling her seatbelt to pull her into another fantastic kiss. The driver couldn’t ignore that as he started the car. “Don’t get cocky, Mrs. Moreau.” Danica searched beneath Alicia’s blouse to find her collar. The silver ring looped around her finger… and she pulled. Hard. “Unless you want me to put you back into your place when we get home.”
“Maybe,” Alicia purred against her lips. “Keep tugging that collar, and you might get your way, ma’am.”
She nibbled on Alicia’s chin, short nails tickling her skin. “I always get my way. Even when you’re running the show, Mrs. Moreau, I get my way.”
“Call me that again.”
“Mrs. Moreau.”
Danica’s lips were on her throat, hands frisky enough to dare diving beneath her skirt. There was no privacy window in the Town Car, meaning the poor driver got a grand show of the bosses making out the whole way back to the office.Don’t care.Alicia couldn’t be embarrassed. She couldn’t be made to feel ashamed about what she had with Danica Moreau, the woman who came into her place of work one night and changed her life forever.
Danica had stained her. She had trained her. Together, they would reign over the vast, global empire they carved out as their own. It was the simple kind of life they both always wanted.
Five Weeks Later
One month wasn’t ideal for planning the getaway wedding of the year, but when Alicia was married to Danica, anything was possible.
Having a wedding abroad was the best of both worlds. Alicia and Danica escaped the tabloid fodder back home and ensured that they could only invite a small group of guests to their public nuptials. Going to Europe became even more attractive after the couple decided they wanted their colors to be emerald green and white… and some snotty American wedding planner named Jenny dared to imply they could not use green because some other nobody high society couple already had that year.
What the Moreaus wanted, they damn well got. If this included a destination wedding to the Czech Republic planned in less than a month, then it was done!
Alicia wore an empire-waisted wedding gown that accounted for her ever-growing waistline while still showing off the rest of her physique and tastes. Silver embroidery flowed down with white silk, a short and convenient train gliding effortlesslybehind her. Silver appliques studded with diamonds covered her chest and dangled from her shoulders.This dress cost a fortune. Nothing for the Moreaus. Alicia considered it a point of pride that she was able to pay for her own wedding dress out of pocket using funds she earned from the investments her wife had made for her the day they were legally wed. Soon, she would be paying for things using money she actually earned at her new business.
Her blond hair was coiled on top of her head, also studded with tiny diamonds that twinkled in the Czech afternoon sunlight. A cold breeze tickled her bare arms as she walked through a garden hundreds of years old. Before her, a Bohemian castle set the stage for the wedding of a lifetime.Danica said I was her queen, and I damn well feel like one today!
Her wife was the stunning image of perfection in her black dress with an above-the-knee skirt and long sleeves, an emerald sash wrapped loosely around her waist. Danica hadn’t styled her hair that morning. Instead, she had her stylist clean up the split ends and give her hair a hundred strokes with a brush until her mane fell across her face and down her back. Alicia took one last sniff of her lily bouquet and passed it off to her mother. The Colberts were still suffering from whiplash when it came to their daughter’s whirlwind romance, but they had definitely come around. Even Alicia’s father sat in the front row with a huge smile on his face and a camera constantly going off in his hand. Linda was doing her best not to cry into her handkerchief. Terrence was on strict watch to not, for once in his life, play a handheld game while at a fancy event.I won’t hold it against him if he does, though.Seeing her brother smile at her was worth it.
The Moreaus’ vows were simple. Alicia found herself choking up more than once as she declared her love to the woman next to her, and as Danica tried to remain the strong, sober type, Aliciaknew her well enough by now to see the emotion twinkling in those amber eyes.
They weren’t the only pair of ambers in the garden that day.
Julia sat with the Colberts. She spent more time crying than anyone else. Linda occasionally reached over and offered her more tissues.
Then there was good ol’ Russell Moreau, propped up in his wheelchair with the sourest face in the world. That could’ve been the stroke that killed half the nerves beneath his skin, but Alicia would hazard a bet that he was the unhappiest man to ever attend his daughter-in-law’s wedding.Good. Alicia always spared her mute father-in-law a smile whenever she glanced in that direction.Feast upon my youthful beauty and the fact that I brought about your downfall, asshole.The smile she flashed Natsuko, sitting beside her fiancé, was genuine, however.
Since his unfortunate maladies, Russell Moreau had been forced to retire from the business world. He still had most of his mental faculties, even if he could only communicate through writing or typing with his right hand. The man was pissed off and defeated. Danica had spent three days with her father at his new home out in the countryside, going over the new structure of their family’s company and what Russell could still do for the good of the empire. The first thing suggested was marrying Natsuko Matsuda, with the understanding that this was purely for business, and the elderly Moreau was probably not getting much out of it. Besides lots of money to make sure he was comfortable in his final years, of course.
With any luck – and if he stopped being such an insufferable asshole with a serious megalomania issue – he’d even be allowed to see his grandchildren from time to time. Alicia wasn’t sure about that.We’ll see if he stops trying to get rid of me.The man had caused the deaths and misfortunes of how many people, again? Good thing all of his new staff at his country estate werepaid for by the ruling Moreaus. Anything shady going on was to be immediately reported to Alicia, Danica, and their security teams.
But Alicia didn’t want to think about any of that. She wanted to think about her beautiful wedding day with one of the greatest women on Earth.
Alicia loved how her emerald ring matched her wife’s sash and shoes. What she loved even more was taking off the hand-me-down wedding ring of cursed affections and replacing it with a brand new one that she picked out after a last-minute flight to Chicago to go back to the jewelry store where she got her collar, currently bedecking her throat beneath her dress.
She also spoiled Candice silly on that trip, but that was beside the point. Alicia needed to get her best friend a bridesmaid’s dress, didn’t she? Candice was divine in her green dress. She had it in her head that she would do some serious networking at the reception.Good luck, girl.Most of the men here were taken, although if she fancied herself a one-night fling in the Czech Republic, she could squeeze herself into an Anderssen sandwich. Both Lara and her partner kept fawning over Candice before the wedding.They fawn over Danica and me, too. Not happening.
The officiant pronounced them married for the second time. Danica clutched Alicia in her grasp and covered her in the kind of passionate kisses people associated with them. Applause and whistles broke out behind them. The one professional photographer they hired hopped into the aisle and took a flurry of photos. Alicia ignored the flashing and concentrated on how good her wife’s kiss felt. She did not miss how Danica pulled her stomach close to hers.
Their child was still a tiny bump, but at the end of Alicia’s first trimester, she already had treasured photos from the ultrasound.I thought I was obsessed with looking at the photos.Then she caught Danica staring at them for a few minutes everynight as she decompressed.The most unlikely devoted wife and mother in the world was about to prove that very same world wrong.We’re already planning for more if this goes well.Alicia had a hunch that the next round was on Danica, who already expressed jealousy that it wasn’t yet her turn to experience pregnancy and childbirth.I mean, the only thing stopping her is that it behooves us to not be both out of commission…
