Though my own mother couldn’t be here, Regina practically dunked me in a vat of maternal love. My insides went gooey. Despite our differences, I really did feel like we were family now and I was truly grateful for that.
“You’re going to make me cry,” I said, the tears already sliding down my cheeks. I wrapped my arms around her as we made an awkward huddled hug around Tristan. I spotted Phillip and my dad off at a table in deep conversation. They paused to smile when they saw us hugging and for the hundreth time today I thought I was going to explode with happiness. Regina shooed me off back to the dance floor as she would watch Tristan.
An arm wrapped around me, and I leaned back into a strong chest. “Can I have this dance?” Calan’s lips were next to my ear, and I suppressed a shiver. His fingers closed around mine and he spun me out.
“What’s this?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at his sudden expert dance abilities.
Drawing me into his arms and moving us in a steady tempo with the song, it was like walking on air. The way he led me, moving came as naturally as breathing.
“The moment my mother discovered our engagement, she took it upon herself to teach her heathen son how to dance properly, like she would have had I been seven years old.”
“Dance lessons,” I said, pulling back to better look at him.
He nodded. “She insists that a man should be able to dance as well as he can fight, and the principles are similar.”
“Did you find that to be true?” I asked, glancing down at his feet which had yet to make a misstep.
Those broad shoulders shrugged. “More or less. I’m not used to moving to music but after a time I understood how music and movement marry together.” Then as if realizing what he said, he grinned. “Almost as well as we marry together.”
“Speaking of a match, I can’t decide if you should wear this suit every day or if I should rip it off right now,” I said in a low husky voice.
“Regina explained to me it would be more suitable for the occasion,” he said, pulling me close and swaying our bodies in time to the melody.
“Technically that is true.”
“You could have told me you know? That the attire I picked out was inappropriate,” he said, his lips suddenly next to my ear, sending heat waves down my body.
I shrugged in his arms. “You seemed so set on that plaid suit. I got the sense it was really important you got to make that one decision.”
“Do you know why I picked that suit?” he asked, his hand sliding down my back. Part of me wished it would slide lower but that was later.
“Because it was fun and wild?”
“It reminded me of a blanket that one would have a picnic on.”
A distant nagging piece at the back of my brain wiggled. “A picnic, you asked me once if we could go on a picnic.” It was after the Stygian had opened the first time and he’d saved my life, almost dying in the process.
“When I first saw you behind that cash register, reading your book, you inspired my first ever fantasy.”
I knew he wasn’t kidding. As a Chevalier, Calan had been forbidden from all manner of social interactions and normalcy growing up, the Order probably forbade any form of fantasy as well. Only meditation and focus on serving the light. It was crazy to me how much of his life and mind they managed to govern before I came in like a wrecking ball.
“I didn’t know the word for it,” he said, “but I’d seen a picture of it once. Two people sitting together on a blanket with food spread out and a beautiful sunset behind them. I wanted to do that with you. I’d never even eaten at the same table with another person, but I fantasized of breaking bread with you and listening to you talk about whatever you wanted. As long as I got to sit in your presence. The suit looked like that blanket from the picture I saw.” He pulled back to look deeply into my eyes, and electricity zinged through my entire being. “You told me weddings were about romantic meaning and nothing had been more life changing than seeing you and falling into a fantasy that I have yet to wake up from.”
My heart squeezed so intensely I worried it might explode. My fingers dug into his muscled arms as if I might float away. A picnic was such a simple little concept, but he’d somehow blown it up into such an important, meaningful event and I instantly wanted to give it to him. I was about to tell him we were definitely going to have a picnic on our honeymoon but I stopped myself. I’d make it a surprise.
I was smiling back at Calan like an idiot, but according to every romance book I’d ever read, that was how weddings were supposed to be. I didn’t expect this day to be perfect, but I couldn’t deny that I couldn’t remember feeling happier in my life. The world wasn’t ending, I’d just married the man of my dreams, and seeing all of our family and friends not trying to stab each other or argue was something of a miracle.
As the song switched to a slower melody, Calan drew me in close and we did little more than sway together. Inhaling the spicy yet fresh cologne he was wearing, my knees turned to jelly. I wasn’t sure which style of dancing I liked best, led by a practicing dancer or snuggled in. The soft bistro lights made the dancefloor romantic and cozy. I never wanted this night to end. I got to spend the rest of my life with a man who made my toes curl. Anything I’d ever gone through, or would go through was worth it if I could be here right now with Calan.
I hummed along to the song. “I want to live with you. Even when we’re ghosts.”
“Isn’t that a bit dark? Sounds like something from the Stygian,” Calan said into my ear. His hot breath on my neck inspired goosebumps. I snuggled in tighter.
“No, it doesn’t. It’s terribly romantic. Death ‘til we part is one thing, but committing to all eternity by entwining your soul to someone? That’s the epitome of high romance. I’d live with you if we were ghosts. We could fly around and haunt people together for fun.”
Under my hands, Calan stiffened.
“Kidding,” I said softly. When he didn’t relax, I said, “Still feels too good to be true, huh?”
