5
Hip music blared from the speakers and almost every guest was on the dance floor, flailing their arms and swaying their hips. It was admittedly a nice scene to take. They all deserved to just let go now and flow through the celebration of having Martin and Zoe tying the knot this afternoon.
I was busy watching the merriment when I realized by instinct that someone’s pair of eyes was staring at me from a distance. My own eyes followed the path of the stare and found Dylan, two half-filled glasses of champagne in each of his grip. We met halfway and he dispensed one glass to me, not saying anything, though that smile of his’ spoke volumes.
I tried to go back to watching the festivity but under Dylan’s distracting gaze, the feat was highly impossible to accomplish.
“What?” I asked, smiling at him.
“Nothing, I just…I just want to make sure that you’re not going to disappear.”
I playfully rolled my eyes before I shook my head. “You’re not in that illusion you used to live in anymore, Dylan.”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
But then I dropped my gaze and bit my lower lip, suddenly feeling anxious.
“What are you thinking?” he asked, stroking his fingers along my bare arm that had desire swelling inside of me for him.
“Ten years,” I simply answered.
“Uh-huh. It’s been a long time coming, wasn’t it?”
“Well, yeah, but…” I nervously fiddled with the skirt of my silky old rose gown, “but what I meant was ten years is a long time we both have changed.”
‘Changed’ being the operative word. What if I wasn’t the girl he fell in love with anymore?
Dylan took my glass and placed it along with the one he’s holding on the nearby table. Then he held my hands and inched his face toward mine, so close I could smell the champagne on his breath. Or taste his lips.
“But our hearts didn’t,” he said.
And that one short but meaningful response was reassuring enough to steal every thread of worry and anxiety in me. Damn right. One lie may have separated us for a decade, but through it all, our hearts remained beating loudly for each other.
“I love you,” I murmured tenderly.
His face turned up an expression of delight, as though he just sampled chocolate for the very first time. “God, you have no idea how much I’ve always wanted to hear that.”
A scowl spread across my face. “You make it sound like I just didn’t say those words to you a few hours ago.”
As a matter of fact, I couldn’t count in my fingers anymore how many times I’ve already said ‘I love you’ to him just from the time at the corn field yesterday to this very second. Roughly a hundred!
Okay, I was exaggerating. But still, more than I could remember.
“I know. But imagine me having convinced for ten years that I never would have heard that line from you. Ever.”
I cradled his face with one hand, smiling adoringly at him. “Well, no worries, Dylan. I have a lifetime to make up for those ten years I wasn’t able to say ‘I love you’. That is, if you want to.”
His eyes blinked rapidly, looking at me as if I just said the most ridiculous nonsense thing. “Do I want to? You’re downright crazy to even think I wouldn’t.” Then he paused for a moment, seemingly contemplating about something. “Wait, did you just propose to me?”
I threw a mischievous grin on my face. What gave that away? The word ‘lifetime’?
“Did I?” I asked, feigning innocence. Then I attempted to walk off, only to be pulled forcefully through my wrist, colliding against Dylan’s chest.
“Where do you think you’re going?” he murmured, his voice seductively breathy. And the things it did to me!
“Maid of honor duties,” I managed to say.
Dylan’s arms snaked around my waist, locking me as tight as he could onto his body. “Wedding is over. Besides, Zoe’s looking already perfectly blissful and content where she is right now.”
I swung my head to where she’s at. Wrapped in Martin’s arms, his mouth dangling in her ear, she laughed. As if her newly-wed husband had whispered something very funny. Or maybe very dirty. And Dylan was right. She was perfectly blissful. Content.
I couldn’t say I wasn’t sharing the same feeling. Because damn I was.
“I could tell she’s not the only one though,” I heard Dylan say before he buried his lips on my neck and planted a light kiss on it.
I quietly moaned in pleasure for a response, tilting my neck to provide him more access, wishing this time he’d apply more pressure in his mouth. And he did. Except this time, the spot he kissed was the inward slope between my neck and shoulder. Gooseflesh instantly spread across my skin, delight rippling all over my body.
Dylan’s head shot right up to meet with mine, grinning wickedly at me. “Now about your proposal.”
“What about it?”
“I’m rejecting it.”
One eyebrow lifted to my forehead. “You’re rejecting the chance to be my husband?”
“You have to do a lot better than that, you know. I want a surprise. I want a mob of strangers dancing in front of me. I want you down on your knees with a ring…”
He went on with his demands but I had completely tuned out of his speech. Not that they were outlandish in every level (because they outright were!), but just that I realized how much I really loved him. That I’d try whatever I can to do anything for him. And yeah, no matter how outlandish they could be.
“So,” I said when he finished, “you expect me to do those things without getting anything in return from you other than your ‘yes’?”
He didn’t have to think deeply for an answer, but he stalled in any case to give it away and looked straight into my eyes first. I would have melted from it if that was possible.
“The world,” he eventually said. “I’ll give you the world.”
And then he kissed me. And I kissed him back. And I knew it was the end. To pave way for our new beginning.
~*~
Thank you for reading books on BookFrom.Net Share this book with friends