Chapter Six: Will
I obeyed her, rolling her to her back so I could run my hands all over her body. Like silk, she was soft and smooth and warm, and she was mine. She tangled her fingers in my hair and moaned against my lips as I caressed her breasts, rolling the pert pink nipples between my fingers.
“You like that?” I asked
“I like everything.”
Her voice was low and velvety with desire. I liked that. “You haven’t seen everything yet.”
“I’ll like it all.”
“Such trust,” I said and then kissed the alabaster skin at the top of her breast. “Such loveliness.” I kissed her nipple. “Such perfection.” I closed my mouth around it and sucked.
“Yes,” she sighed.
I slid my hand down to meet her wet heat and caressed her. I watched her reaction to the sensations. I watched as my touch drove her wild.
“Will…” Her voice was rough and broken. “Will… Please.” Her whimpers reached higher and higher until she broke and screamed, her body arching under me, lifting from the bed.
She was strong, my wife. She was strong and lithe and exquisitely responsive. But she wasn’t done, although she was panting with her release and coming back down. She clutched at my shoulders and drew me up to her lips so that she could kiss me.
She claimed me with that kiss, claimed my soul. Just sex? No. This was everything.
“Take me,” she said in between desperate nips at my lips. “Please, Will, I want you inside of me.”
I needed no more urging. I wrapped her long, slim leg around my hip, plunging into her. She was so wet, so hot, so tight. We groaned together at the feeling, and she rose to meet my thrusts. We worked together. Our bodies understood this rhythm between us, this connection.
She came again, her nails digging into my back, and I liked it. I came with her, the light bursting in my head and filling me up with euphoria. I wasn’t sure what happened there for a moment or two, but I found myself collapsed on top of her, sweating and enervated.
Her long, slender fingers stroked up and down my spine, and I liked it all. This was not just sex. This was something new. This was something real. She was my wife.
I moved to lift my weight off of her, but she held on tight.
“I must be crushing you,” I said.
“No. I like it. Don’t go. Stay with me.”
So I did a little longer until I rolled off of her, wanting to touch her again, wanting to see her turquoise eyes and her smile. I hoped she was smiling. She was, and that made me smile, too. That made me want to share her with the people I cared about.
“Hey,” I said. “Let’s go out and celebrate our marriage. All we did last night was fly back from Hawaii.”
“You know, we could have just gotten married at the courthouse here. We didn’t have to spend a whole day flying.”
“But it wouldn’t have been as romantic. You know that.”
“I suppose. So now you want to throw a party?”
“Too much trouble. I know a place we can go where people will be happy for us.”
An hour later, Birdie and I were standing in Duke’s bar in Brooklyn, and my cousins, my brother, and all their various partners and friends were all gaping at us.
“Surprise.” I said, holding up our linked hands, with rings.
“I thought you said they’d be happy for us,” Birdie said quietly.
“Well, happy, completely shocked. Something like that.”
A pretty girl with brown hair and huge blue eyes pushed through the staring crowd. “Birdie!” she said. “I’m so happy for you.”
“Maya! What are you doing here?” Birdie dropped my hand and hugged Maya.
“I’m part of the family. I married Matthew.”
“Matthew?” I didn’t think there was a Matthew in Will’s family.
“I’m Matthew. I’m his cousin April’s step son.” He grinned engagingly. “I’m also his cousin April’s half brother-in-law. Since their father had a—you know what, don’t worry about it. All the family entanglements get confusing. Welcome to the family.” He hugged my wife, and I stared at him.
“Wait a minute, how do you know Maya?” I asked.
“I used to tutor her when she was in high school, and we used to work together, catering for my mother. Maya was at the wedding, too,” Birdie said.
“She was?” I asked.
Maya nodded. “We all were.”
I felt slightly shocked. “All of us?”
Duke, the bartender, leaned on the counter. “All of us.” He waved his bar rag to indicate the family. “And by my count, all of us have married someone from that wedding except for…”
Everyone turned to look at my twin brother, Dave. Dave, as usual, stood slightly away from the group, glowering at everyone.
“Don’t be stupid,” Dave growled.
“Yes, and if I recall,” Jack, my cousin, said. “A prediction was made that Will would marry the redheaded waitress. That would be you, wouldn’t it?”
“Me?” Birdie asked, and I had to draw her into my arms. She looked so befuddled. I didn’t blame her. “I don’t believe in predictions.”
“Believe or not, my ex-fiance predicted it. She predicted everyone. Me and Mona, Duke and Elisabeth, April and Beau, Matthew and Maya, and you and Will. Quite remarkable, actually.”
“You’re making that up,” Birdie said.
“No, he’s not,” Duke said. “I was there. I remember it. She got everyone right except for Dave and… I remember, it was the DJ. But I’ve never seen her again.”
“The DJ?” Birdie got a line between her eyebrows as if she was trying to remember. “I didn’t know her. I never saw her again, either.” Everyone agreed they neither knew nor had ever seen the woman again.
“This is ridiculous,” Dave said and pushed through the crowd of cousins and near cousins to get to me. He grabbed me for a hug and pounded me on the back. “Congratulations, asshole.”
Then he tossed me aside and moved in for Birdie. His hug with her had a lot less pounding, and he kissed her on the lips.
“Hey,” I warned. “Watch it, buddy.”
“You don’t trust your brother? Don’t you know me?”
Dave was as much a reprobate as I was, and I didn’t trust him not to charm any woman. However, I’d never felt this kind of possessiveness before. I was jealous. It was a new feeling. “It’s because I do know you that I don’t trust you. Get your own wife. I hear there’s a DJ available.”
Everyone laughed, and they all moved to welcome Birdie. Duke opened up a couple of bottles of champagne and handed out celebratory drinks.
The night was a good one. Birdie was welcomed by my family, and she got along with them. She fit right in. I watched her laughing with the girls and standing up to the teasing of the men. She was perfect. Everything about her was perfect, and I was so glad she was mine. It struck me how lucky I was to have found her, picked out of a list.
How odd life was that a plan that was meant to be a calculated move with no genuine meaning behind it turned into something that would change my life and bring me to Birdie—to love.