“Hey, if I mis-read your signals earlier—”
“No!” I pulled him closer, pouring all of the words I was too emotional to say into that kiss. When we broke apart, I touched my forehead to his. “I love you too, so much. I was just thinking, what does this mean? Joel, we got married today.”As if he didn’t know that.
He closed his eyes, picking up the pace and driving all thoughts out of my head until he whispered, “It means I’m making love to my wife for the first time and nothing has ever felt so right.”
I let that be enough, knowing we’d have plenty of time to talk, but I’d only get to enjoy the experience of my husband making love to me for the first time once in my life… I hoped. I savoured every stroke, every kiss, every caress, allowing Joel’s love to warm all of the dark, empty, lonely places I’d lived with forever. He filled all my empty spaces. And I’d never felt more complete.
“This,” he said, brushing his lips against mine, “was meant to be. I didn’t know why I was coming back, what could be here for me, except this old farmhouse… and it was you, G. The whole time I was being led back to you.”
“You were.” Twin tears slid down my cheeks, into my hairline. His body was doing amazing things to mine, but it was the way his words were wrapping around my heart that really did me in. “I never thought I could feel this way about anyone. I’d almost given up hope.”
His kiss was possessive, and his eyes rocked me with their intensity when he said, “You’ll never love anyone else. You hear me? ‘Cause I’ll never let you go. This marriage may have started out fake for you, but it’s always been real to me.” He kissed the huge diamond on my hand. “You’re my wife now, Gia. And I want us to have those babies you’ve always wanted.”
My lip trembled as more tears slipped down my cheeks. “I want that too.”
We didn’t need any more words. The way he touched me, the way his body spoke to mine, said everything. My climax was a slow, delicious build, but powerful, with a force that shook me to my core.
His big body shuddered when he finally let go, trying to support his body weight with trembling arms so he wouldn’t crush me.
I tried to laugh, but it wasn’t easy when I was breathless. “Sex with you might be my very favorite thing.”
He drew back to look me in the eye before rolling over. “That wasn’t sex, sweetheart. Never has been with you.”
Aww. Just when I thought my heart couldn’t get any happier he put the squeeze on it again. I watched him walk into the adjoining bathroom, thinking how lucky I was to finally be able to call himmine.I wondered how many women had tried, unsuccessfully, to claim him over the years.
Didn’t matter. All that mattered was this day, this man, and the future he’d just promised me.
When he walked out of the bathroom and settled in beside me, I curled contentedly into his arms. “Today was perfect. Thank you.” I kissed his chest. “You made my wedding day everything I’d ever dreamed.”
He brushed my hair off my forehead before pressing his lips to my temple. “That was the goal.”
It probably shouldn’t matter, but I needed to know how long he’d felt this way about me. “So, um, how long have you been crushing on me, Mr. Wheeler?”
He chuckled. “Too damn long.”
The thrill of those three little words snaked through me. “Really?”
“When I left home I thought I needed to make my mark, prove myself.” He drew lazy circles on my back with his fingertip. “I hated like hell to leave my dad and my friends behind, but I thought I’d never know what I was capable of if I didn’t challenge myself.”
“Makes sense.” It was hard to concentrate with my hand resting on his stomach. Even lying down, relaxed, his abs were making my mouth water. Of course, a man with a six-pack had always been my weakness.
“I don’t know anymore. It did at the time, but now it just feels like I wasted a lot of time, trying to make money, be a big shot, shit that didn’t really matter in the end. And I can’t get that time back, G. Time I could have spent with my dad… and you.”
“Hey, you can’t beat yourself up. I keep telling you how proud your dad was of you.”
“I know.” He looked down at me. “He knew that we’d get married someday. Your dad gave me a letter from him today.”
“He did?” I was stunned. How could Mr. Wheeler have known I would marry his son? Joel and I were barely speaking when he was alive. “What did the letter say?”
He reached over and turned on a lamp before extracting a white envelope from the nightstand. “Read it for yourself. There’s one from my mom there too. Apparently Mike was supposed to give me the letter from my dad only if I was smart enough to marry you.”
Tears filled my eyes when I thought of Mr. Wheeler. He was such a good, kind, loving man. I wished, more than anything he could have been with us today. “Are you sure you want me to read these?” I asked, searching his face for some trace of hesitancy. “They’re so personal.”
“Read them.” He fluffed my pillow behind my head so I could sit up. “I know they’d want you to.”
I started with the letter from Joel’s mom and by the time I’d reached the end of the single page my tears were falling on the yellowed paper. “I’m sorry,” I sniffled, trying to dry it with the corner of the sheet.
“It’s okay.” He took the letter from me, re-folded it and placed it on his nightstand. “I love how big your heart is, Gia.” He kissed my neck. “That’s just one of the things I love about you.”
