We’d beenat Mama and Daddy’s house for nearly a week getting ready for the wedding. Noah lounged back on the bed naked. The windows were open and the sultry Texas air blew in, shifting the curtains so his face fluttered in and out of shadows while he smiled at me. His dark hair was ruffled and a lock curled down over his forehead. I loved every inch of his beautiful skin—the dip of his belly, the slight flare of his hips. Carefully I used a red henna pen to write the wordbitableon the inside of his left thigh, then tickled my finger along the line where his leg met his groin. He chuckled, and I loved the sweet, deep sound. Humming, I went to the right side and wroteheaven when wrapped around me.
“What is this supposed to be for?” Noah asked, but his soft words nearly didn’t reach my ears. When I glanced up from where I was on my knees on the bed in front of him, his eyes held all the love in the world, and gratefulness had my stomach tumbling and my chest swelling with warmth.
“I’m no good with saying emotional crap out loud, and I know you wanted us to write our own vows, but I talked you into going with the standard ones.” My heart lurched. “So, I wanted you to know how I really felt. Be able to see it for a few weeks, and maybe... have it stick in your head how amazin’ you are, darlin’.”
He bit his lip, then smiled at me. “Okay, but don’t write anywhere the guests will see.” A mischievous grin snuck across his lips. “We wouldn’t want to shock anyone.”
I laughed and moved down to his calves, catching a whiff of cum. I’d fucked him no less than twenty minutes ago because he’d been strung tight at the idea of being in front of a crowd, even one that was only our friends and close family. Not that I minded, I could barely keep my hands off him these days.
Humming, I wrotelove when you’re on these for meacross each of his kneecaps. His smile never dimmed, so I lifted his right foot—Use me to kick Alton’s ass if he needs it.He laughed. I kissed his left foot, and across the arch I wrotesexy. He raised his eyebrows, and I shrugged, kissing that part of his body that always seemed strangely erotic when he was naked. My face heated, and I loved that there was no judgment between us. We liked what we liked. Across his abs I wrotebest place to lay my head, then alsolickable. I went toward his soft cock with my pen, and he gasped, covering it with a hand. Laughing, I wrote above the trimmed, dark pubes,something I always like to eat, with an arrow pointing down. He groaned and rolled his eyes. There was no missing the way his cock had plumped when he moved his hand.
“You’re terrible.”
“Yep.” I winked, and he shook his head.
On each bicep I scrawledalways use these to hug your husband. I underlined that last word twice. Over his heart I carefully printedproperty of Alton Bouchard, who promises to treat it well. Below that I listed my favorite qualities about my second-time soon-to-be husband:intelligent,kind,considerate,observant,sweet,loving,artistic. When I got tocompassionate, I must have found a ticklish spot on his ribs because he began to giggle. When I was done, I leaned back, my throat feeling tight. It was difficult to swallow. He covered his face with his hand and his titanium wedding band, which he’d started wearing again about a week after he agreed to marry me, winked in the sunlight.
“You really think all of these things about me?” he asked, glancing up with wide eyes.
Nodding, I tossed the pen aside and crawled up the bed to hug him close. We weren’t doing the traditional thing, where the couple doesn’t see each other before the wedding—instead we’d opted to get dressed together in my old room before our outdoor wedding on the farm. I kissed his neck, licking the soft skin and loving how fresh he smelled. He’d showered before I fucked him, and I wanted to bite and suck and mark him up but held back.
“Husband,” I whispered in his ear.
“Almost. You have to take me outside and marry me.” He grinned. “I bet your mama wonders what we’re doing in here.”
Laughing, I hopped up off the bed and went over to the dresser, where I snagged a pair of boxers out of the top drawer. “Oh, I bet she doesn’t.” I winked at him, and he groaned. Quickly I put on my underwear. I felt reverent as I lifted a gold box from the top of the dresser and carried it to the bed. He stared at me as I slid lacy white underwear free of the gauzy paper that hid it. It was different from the pair I’d bought him before our last wedding—diamonds and pearls made up the waistband and the seams on the sides, and the rest was white silk lace that would be soft for the rest of the day on his sensitive skin. He stood and I slid them onto his body, and then I adjusted the fabric and even reached inside the crotch pouch to move his cock around so it sat right.
“Alton,” he whispered and ran his fingers through my hair. I shook my head. I helped him with white dress socks next, then put him in his suit, a light cream seersucker fabric that looked amazing on him and wouldn’t murder him off in the Texas heat. I had a pair of diamond cufflinks to go with his tennis bracelet, and he murmured a soft “thank you” as I arranged his sleeves and put them on him. His tie wasn’t fussy, a simple white silk that stood out against the cream shirt. I moaned when I helped him into the jacket. He ran a hand through his hair and smiled, then laughed when he glanced down my naked body.
“You’re not planning to marry me like that.”
“Unfortunately not,” I grumbled back, and he snorted with amusement. I rushed through putting on my own gray suit, and unlike the cream dress shoes he slid on, I grabbed a pair of old cowboy boots out of the back of my closet and slipped them on. He sighed but didn’t stop me, and I chuckled as I straightened.
“Don’t suppose you have a hat to go with them?” he murmured. I shrugged, went to the closet, and pulled out a brown Stetson from the shelf. He took it from me and settled it onto my head like he was putting a crown on me.
“You look amazing, husband,” he said, giving me a long look from under his dark eyelashes that had my cock warming up for him again already.
“I wanted to say the same to you.”
He tapped his chest where I’d written those words of praise and smiled, a sweet, shy thing as he glanced at the floor between our feet. “You already did.” He laced his fingers with mine, and we stood there quietly holding hands for a long time until I finally kissed him and led him downstairs and on outside.
Russ had been having fits setting up the spot for the wedding in the field that butted up against the orange grove closest to the house, so it was a short walk from the back door, and I hadn’t told Noah, but I’d found a white saddle for Willow. When we arrived at the barn where one of Daddy’s buddies waited with Willow and the mounting block, Noah laughed and groaned.
“You’re serious?”
“Yep.”
He glared at me but made no comment. “You behave, Willow,” he said in his best imitation of my mama, and I laughed at him as he climbed the mounting block and managed to get himself seated on her.
“You just hold on up there,” I said, taking her reins and leading the gentle mare forward. She seemed to know something special was going on today and I didn’t get any shenanigans from her. She walked sedately and smoothly while Noah leaned forward and patted her, cooing toward her like he thought she was a dove, not a horse. It was cute, and everything he did today made me happy I’d asked him to be my husband—again.
I felt like a primeval king showing off my spouse as I walked the horse with my husband on her back to the small gathering of guests. Overhead, a white canopy made of lace gleamed and cast beautiful shadows over everyone. Noah had said no business associates, but there were a couple of people I’d decided were actually friends, plus Mama and Daddy and a few of their cousins I hadn’t seen in years, but who apparently weren’t perturbed by a gay wedding.
On Noah’s side, we had his sister Athena, a nanny, and the younger Divine children, who were having the time of their lives by the smiles on their faces. Mama was sitting with them. All our house staff from New Gothenburg had chosen to attend; I’d sweetened the deal with a nice hotel stay and first-class plane tickets—minus Bailey, who had voluntarily remained home with Noah’s menagerie. Last week Noah had added a baby bunny no one was adopting at the shelter, and I was considering buying him a zoo as a joke this year for the holidays. The only thing that kept me from doing it was that I’d probably never see him again if I did.
Taking a deep breath, I steadied myself. This time the wedding felt far more serious. And real. And wonderful. My hands trembled as I stopped Willow at the aisle Russ had created out of white carpet on the grass and helped Noah down from the saddle, loving the way it felt to hold his body against me. One of the men who helped on the farm when Daddy needed a hand came and took the reins, walking Willow out to where she could munch on grass.
“Show-off,” Noah whispered, and I laughed.
