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But we had just pulled up in front of the guest house, and he was just getting out of the car, coming around to my side. When he opened the door for me, Damian offered me his hand to help me out. He was such a wonderful man and a gentleman to the core.
I clasped both his hands before he could even close the car door.
His brows crinkled. "Is something wrong?"
"No, everything is just right." I gazed into his eyes, my throat thickening. "I love you, Damian."
For a few seconds, his expression stayed frozen in that crinkled-brows look of worried confusion. Then the corners of his mouth kicked up, and his lips eased into a smile that gradually broadened into a grin. "I love you too, Heidi."
I grinned too.
He pulled me into his arms and kissed me. It was a long, slow, deliciously hot kiss, but it was also more than that. We imbued into it everything we felt for each other and so much more.
Once we finally forced ourselves to stop making out in the driveway, we headed into the gypsy wagon and made love for a long, long time. I fell asleep in Damian's arms.
In the morning, I woke up first and lay there luxuriating in the bliss of having his body entangled with mine. I listened to him breathing in a shallow, steady rhythm and combed my fingers through his hair while I reminisced about all the incredible times I'd had with him. Our relationship had barely begun. We had a lifetime to enjoy even better times. Life would bring bad days too, but for the first time in my life, I knew the good times would outweigh the bad ones from here on.
Damian had just started to rouse when my phone rang.
I tried to wriggle out from under him, but he was too sleepy to help much. So I resorted to gently smacking his cheek a few times until he woke up all the way.
"What?" he asked drowsily, pushing up onto one elbow. "Why are you hitting me? Spousal abuse can't start until we're married."
"Ha-ha. My phone is ringing." I clambered off the bed and snagged my phone from where I'd left it on the top step, near the head of the bed. I swiped right to take the call an instant before it would've gone to voice mail. "Hello?"
"Help!" Mara said, not actually screaming it but fake screaming instead, drawing the word out in one long exhalation.
"What's wrong, sweetie? Did something happen to Ollie?"
"No," she moaned, almost whimpering. "The wedding is in six days, and I suddenly realized I don't have any bridesmaids because I don't have any friends."
Oh boy, the wedding jitters had started early, and in true Mara fashion, she was freaking out. As her wedding planner, I supposed it was my job to calm her down. She was my friend too, despite what she'd just said, so it absolutely was my job to be there for her.
"Relax, Mara," I said. "Everything's okay. Why don't I come to your room? We can talk it all through, and you'll see there's nothing to panic about. How's that sound?"
"Yeah, okay. Thank you, Heidi."
I hung up and started hunting for my clothes. Damian had kind of ripped them off me and flung them wherever. And yeah, I'd done the same thing with his clothes. That suit lay here, there, and everywhere.
"What's up with Mara?" Damian asked.
"Oh, it's wedding anxiety, that's all. I need to take care of her this morning, so I won't be able to have breakfast with you."
"That's okay. The bride takes precedence." He sat up and stretched, yawning. "I'll check on Ollie. See if he's panicking on the inside. You know, the manly way men do."
"Uh-huh, sure. You boys go bang drums or measure your dicks or whatever."
We both got dressed—me in my dress from last night, since it was all I had, and him in his work uniform—and climbed out of the wagon. We both headed into the guest house, but we kissed goodbye on the first landing. Damian strode off toward the office while I continued up to the third floor where Mara and Ollie had taken up residence in one of the rooms ever since they got engaged. Yesterday, Mara had told me she and Ollie wanted to buy a little house near town, but they'd hadn't started looking yet.
After stopping off at my room to change clothes, I knocked on the door to Ollie and Mara's room.
Ollie swung the door open, looking harried. "Oh thank God. Maybe another woman can calm her down. Please, Heidi, she won't listen to me."
Poor Ollie. I wanted to hug him, in a friend way, but he pushed past me and hustled toward the stairs.
Mara sat on the bed hugging her knees and biting her lip. Her eyes were red and puffy.
I shut the door and walked over to sit on the bed next to her. "Did you guys have a fight?"
