I caught my breath and looked up at him, not daring to hope that I was understanding him correctly.
“I don't care if this is too fast or if people think I'm crazy.” His expression was fierce. “I love you, Namisa Carrmoni, and if you'll have me, I want to marry you.”
I wanted to say yes so badly, but I couldn't. Not when I knew why he was saying it. Maybe we would get there in some distant future, but I didn't want it to come like this.
“I won't let you do that,” I said.
“Won't let me?” he asked.
“I won't have you marrying me just because I'm pregnant.”
He shook his head and released me, taking a step back. “If you don't want to marry me, Nami, all you have to do is say it. I would never force the issue.” He looked away. “I just thought, that since you said you wanted me, that you chose me...”
“I do,” I said. “And I did choose you.”
“Then why won’t you marry me?”
The question was so sad that my heart broke. “I do want to marry you. I just don't want it to be because...”
I didn't get to finish because Reed's mouth was covering mine, swallowing my protests. The towel fell to the floor and his hands were on me, running down my back to my ass and back up again, leaving burning trails of fire along my skin. His tongue slid between my lips, curling around mine and drawing it into his mouth. I moaned, everything else forgotten but the feel of his chest under my hands, the way his teeth were scraping against my bottom lip.
I made a muffled squeak as he picked me up and felt him smile. He lowered me to the bed, finally releasing my mouth so that he could kiss his way down my neck. His lips danced across my skin, up my breasts, pausing to circle my nipple with his tongue, then moving to the other one. I expected him to either return to my mouth or move lower to the aching place between my legs. Instead, he stopped at my stomach, placing a kiss just above my bellybutton. He ran his fingers across my skin, his expression thoughtful as he looked at my stomach.
“Is that really the only reason?” he asked softly, not looking up at me. “You don't want me to feel obligated?”
“Yes.” I reached down and ran my fingers through his hair.
He looked up at me, his eyes deep pools of black. “I love you, Nami. And that has nothing to do with...this.” He spread his hand across my stomach. “I want to marry you.” He smiled softly, his fingers moving slowly over my still-flat belly. “Not in spite of, or because of.” He leaned forward and kissed my stomach again. “I want to have a family with you. It doesn't matter to me that things are moving faster than I'd thought they would. It's what I want because it's you.” He looked at me again. “What do you want, Nami?”
I gave him the truth. “You.” I cupped his chin, using it to pull him back up my body.
“Then marry me,” he whispered against my mouth.
“Yes.” I pulled his head down so that our lips crashed together.
His hands moved down my body as we kissed and then I felt his cock between my legs, pushing against me. He pulled his mouth away long enough for our eyes to meet and me to nod my consent. Then he was sliding inside me and the world was reduced to just the two of us. Our bodies moving together, hips rising and falling in perfect sync. The pleasure was building fast inside me, driving me towards the inevitable explosion. And when it happened, Reed was there with me, calling out my name.
This was what I wanted. Not only the sex, but the completeness that came with joining with someone who knew me, understood me on some level that no one else did. Reed wasn't just a great lover, he was my other half. He made me a better woman. He was the one I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, the man I wanted to be the father of my children, no matter what biology said.
I didn't know how the people of Saja would react to any of this, but for the first time in my life, that wasn't what mattered. For the first time, I was going to have something I wanted.
Chapter 19
Reed
We left Philadelphia Friday morning and Nami didn't ask why I hadn't gone to see my parents before we left. I'd been a little worried that she would think I didn't want them to know about the engagement or the baby, but she seemed to understand that I wasn't ashamed of her but rather didn't want to deal with all of the shit that would inevitably follow a visit to my parents.
I did, however, take her with me into the bank where I'd kept a small safe deposit box with a few things I didn't want to take with me as I traveled. One of those things was my grandmother's engagement ring. It hadn't been expensive enough for Britni, but I knew Nami didn't care about that. The moment she saw the ring, her face lit up and she held out her hand.
Judging from the expression on her parents' faces when we met them at the airport, the ring came as no surprise. Halea, however, was thrilled. We took a private plane back to Italy and she spent at least half of it talking to Nami about what the wedding would be like. The queen joined in, assuring Nami that before the plane landed in Saja, the marriage to Tanek would be annulled. The only question was how long we wanted to wait before we held the wedding.
I felt Nami's eyes on me when her mother asked the question again. I looked up from where I'd been on my phone, reading all the emails I'd ignored over the past week. My parents were responsible for at least half of them, some business, some personal. I supposed they figured that at least this way there was a chance they'd get to have their say. I put all that aside though. My parents could wait.
“Whatever you want,” I said quietly. I understood what she was asking and I would let it be her decision. If we married quickly, then announced the pregnancy in six weeks or so, we might be able to pass off the child as having been legitimately conceived on our wedding night, just born early.
I didn't know what Saja annulments required, but there was a chance that they were the same as American annulments which, as far as I knew, required a marriage not be consummated. In my mind, consummation meant consent, but I didn't know about the laws in Saja. If an announcement of the marriage being annulled meant that the people of Saja believed Nami and Tanek hadn't slept together, then they would believe that the child was mine.
It was mine, I thought fiercely. Nami was mine. My family.
“We would like to marry as soon as possible,” Nami said. “There is no need for something lavish. As we all know, that does not guarantee a happy marriage.”
“We will be arriving late and we will need to adjust to the time change,” King Raj said. “But if you wish, we could conduct the ceremony tomorrow.” He looked at me. “Do you have any specific religious affiliations that you wish us to include?”
I was surprised by the question. While the king and queen were honoring their word about letting Nami choose what she wanted to do with her life, I'd expected them to tolerate me, especially since they knew little about me save that I'd had sex with their daughter before she'd been married to Tanek. Well, that and the whole rescuing thing, which I sincerely hoped made them think better of me than the rest.
“My family attended church back in Philadelphia, but it was a social thing. They go because it's expected of them. I'm happy to follow whatever customs Saja follows.” I smiled at Nami. “Nami is my family now.”
I saw her hand go to her stomach and wondered at how quickly the gesture became natural.
“And speaking of family,” she said.
I was a bit surprised she was going to tell her parents and Halea, but I'd meant what I'd said. I would support what she wanted.
“I'm pregnant.”
Queen Mara's mouth tightened for a moment, her eyes going from Nami to me and back again.
“Who is...?” The king was obviously thinking the same thing, but couldn't quite bring himself to ask it.
Nami's eyes met mine and I knew she’d let me decide this one. It wasn't even a consideration. “I am.”
“For certain?” King Raj gave me a cynical look.
“Yes.” I stood and walked over to Nami. I reached down a
nd took her left hand, raising it to kiss her ring. “They're both mine.” Her eyes shown and she tilted her head up so I could kiss her lips. Mindful of the eyes on me, I kept the kiss chaste and brief. Still, it sent electricity through me and I had to remind myself that I only had to wait until tonight, tomorrow night at the latest, and I could indulge in a more thorough kiss. That and more. I ran the back of my hand down the side of her face. I'd never get enough of her.
“Tomorrow, then,” Queen Mara said. “We have plenty of time on the journey home to plan a wedding.”
“And a nursery.” Halea was beaming. “I wonder if it is a boy or a girl.”
I left the sisters to talk with their mother and went to get a drink for myself and the king. I had a feeling, with all of the wedding and baby talk, King Raj and I were going to need a drink. Him, because of the events of the past couple days. Me, not because of my impending marriage or fatherhood. I wasn't nervous about either one, at least not about my choices. No, I was going to do something else that was freaking me out.
I was going to send an email to my parents with an invitation to my wedding and an offer to pay for a private plane.
By Saturday afternoon, I still hadn't heard from my parents and I put it all aside as I made my way out of the guest chamber where I'd slept last night. Alone, unfortunately, but understandably. Very little about this wedding would be traditional, but I could at least stay away from Nami until the ceremony. A ceremony where I would have no one at my side. My parents had made their decision and my conscience was clean. I'd leave Philadelphia and my family in the past. Today was about moving forward. New life. New home. New family.
As soon as I walked into the garden – the little one that Nami loved so much, not the big one – I saw two familiar faces.
“Piper! Julien!” I stared at my friends as they hurried over.
“Nami called me when you guys landed in Italy,” Piper said, pulling me into a quick hug. “She wanted you to have someone here to stand with you.” When she stepped back to Julien's side, her smile faltered. “Unless you think this is too weird.”
“No.” I shook my head and gave them both smiles. “It's definitely good to see some friendly faces.”
“Yeah, those two don't exactly look like the friendly type.” Julien gestured over my shoulder.
I glanced back and laughed. Kai and Tomas were standing on either side of the entrance, looking very much like the menacing former linebackers I'd once thought they were. “Actually, they're good guys. Threatened to kick my ass a time or two...and one of them once said he'd castrate me if I got near Nami again, but we've worked out our differences.”
Julien glanced down at Piper, a smile playing on his lips. They had one of those moments of silent communication that I understood now.
“It's good to see you happy, Reed,” Piper said sincerely. “Ever since...well, it's all I wished for you.”
“I know,” I smiled at her. “I am happy, and I owe you two quite a bit for that.”
“Not at all,” Julien said. He held out his hand. “It's what friends do.”
“Yes,” I agreed as I shook his hand. “It is.”
The music changed as the string quartet saw the king and queen ready to enter. Piper and Julien hurried off to stand with a handful of other spectators I didn't know but assumed I'd be meeting later on. I took a step backwards until I was off the path and gave a slight bow as my soon to be in-laws walked past.
Halea followed them, dressed in a simple pale blue dress that made me realize that Kai and Tomas were going to have their hands full soon, keeping guys away from her. Halea and the queen moved until they were across from the other members of the audience and the king stood at the top of the path. He looked at me and I took a deep breath. It was my turn.
I walked up the path and took my place to the right, turning as the music changed again. It wasn't a traditional American wedding march, but that didn't matter. The moment I saw Nami walk between Kai and Tomas, nothing else mattered. The heat, the fact that my parents hadn't even acknowledged my invitation, not knowing how this country would accept me. Right now, I didn't care about anything except the beautiful woman walking towards me.
Her dress matched Halea's, a shimmering blue that contrasted with her darker skin and made her eyes glow even more brightly. She wasn't far enough along to be showing, but I found myself looking anyway. Beneath the soft curves of her body was a child. Our child. My heart constricted painfully and I wondered how my body could handle everything I was feeling. It was strange, I thought, how I'd once thought I'd loved Piper. What I'd felt for her was so small compared to what I felt for Nami, and even though it seemed impossible, I found myself loving Nami more with each passing day.
I barely heard King Raj speaking as Nami took her place at my side. As I'd been instructed, I held out my arm and she placed hers so that our hands were on top of each other. We'd agreed for a less formal ceremony, cutting out a lot of what the king had said at the prior ceremony, so it was only a short time later that I found myself repeating a vow to love and honor Namisa Carrmoni as my wife and my queen. Her voice was steadier than mine when she said her own vow, but I could see the tears glistening in her eyes as I slid her wedding band onto her finger. It was a beautiful piece of workmanship, surprisingly complementary to my grandmother's ring. Simple white gold, it had been handed down through the generations, though Tanek had refused to use it in place of his own mother's rings. I was glad he hadn't. It meant so much to Nami and there were no negative memories associated with it. While I knew both of us would never forget what had happened, neither of us wanted the memories to haunt us, taint what we had. Fittingly, the inscription on the inside of the band, roughly translated, said 'Your past is gone. We are the future’.
And then I was instructed to kiss my bride. I looked down at her and gently took her face between my hands. It didn't matter that her parents and sister were here, that people were watching. This moment was about her and me, a promise that this was it. Neither of us were going to run away. No matter what the future held, we would stand together.
I let her see all of that in my eyes and then I bent my head forward to, for the first time, kiss my wife.
Chapter 20
Reed
I stood over the cradle and looked down at my daughter. Four months and I still couldn't get over the wonder that was Angelique. My little angel. She'd been so small when she was born I'd been afraid to hold her.
I reached down and lightly touched the dark fuzz that covered her head. Her eyes were blue, like almost all infants were, but that could change. I knew the immediate family – the only ones who knew the truth of when Angelique had been conceived – were waiting to see if the eyes would grow dark like mine.
As the due date had gotten closer, I'd wondered if I would have the strength to continue to tell Nami that I didn't want her to do a paternity test. I'd truly believed that I didn't care who the biological father was, but there were times I'd doubted myself, wondering if I would feel the same if the child looked like Tanek. And then Angelique had been born and I'd known it didn't matter. She could have looked exactly like Tanek and she still would have been mine.
She didn't though. She looked like Nami. That was for the best, I knew. Even if people suspected that Angelique could be Tanek's, as long as she looked like her mother, the rumors could be kept to a minimum.
“Good-night, my angel.” Saja's native tongue came more easily now than it had a year ago when Nami had first begun teaching me. I'd actually caught myself thinking in it once in a while.
The people of Saja had been reluctant, at first, to accept me, but as Nami and I had toured the island on our honeymoon, they'd begun to thaw. Nami had told me once that it was because everyone could see how much I loved her. If that was truly the case, I didn't have to worry about it because I still loved her and I always would.
“She is sleeping through the night quite well.”
I didn't turn as Nami slid her arms around my
waist. I felt her kiss my back before resting her cheek there.
“I know you didn't want me to.” Her voice was soft. “But I had to know, for me.”
I turned and looked down at her. The light in the nursery was dim, but I could make out the expression on her face. She was worried I'd be angry at her.
“I had the paternity test done. I had to know.”
I captured her always wayward curl. “I don't need a test to tell me that she's mine. Biology doesn't determine family.”
Nami nodded. “I know.” She reached up and ran her finger along my bottom lip. “And I think we should start trying to give her a brother soon.” Her eyes were the deep blue-green of the ocean. “A full-blooded brother who looks exactly like her father.”
“Nami?” I made it a question.
She nodded, a smile breaking across her face as she pushed herself up on her toes so she could press her mouth against mine. It was a hard kiss, a fierce one. “After all,” she continued. “Her father is the most handsome man in the world.”
I wrapped my arms around her and lifted her so that we were face to face. “Do you mean it?”
“Yes.” She rested her forehead against mine. “The test...”
“Not that,” I interrupted. “About wanting to try for another baby already?”
She laughed, a soft sound so as not to wake our daughter. “It probably won't happen right away since I'm still breast-feeding her, but yes.”
“We should still probably get started.” I shifted my grip on her, moving my hands down to grab her ass. She wrapped her legs around my waist and I walked her back to the wall.
“Here?” She gasped as I kissed her neck.
“Yes,” I said. “Here. Now.”
I tugged on the belt of her robe, making a sound low in my throat as the silk fell away to reveal her amazing body. She'd worried, I knew, that I wouldn't find her attractive after Angelique was born, that the way her body had changed would repulse me. I'd spent an entire night focused on worshipping every inch of her so that she would never feel that doubt again.