Passion Fish, page 43
Skye sat forward and untied the white lacing on the back, pulling the satin until it hung loosely off her body, allowing Gage to peel it off.
“That’s what I’m talking about.” Gage exhaled and leaned in to kiss her glorious breasts, lightly running his tongue over a nipple before taking it between his teeth. As fire shot through Skylar’s body, she moaned incoherently, which only urged Gage on.
He ran his tongue the length of her body, finally finding the spot that would bring her the most pleasure. Skye gasped as he took her into his mouth, his tongue teasing the sensitive skin.
Reaching her limit quickly, Skye’s body arched into him as he took her over the edge. Gage’s lips never left her skin as he kissed his way back up her body, lingering at her belly. Skye heard him whisper loving words, and she wasn’t sure if he was talking to her or the baby. When she heard him whisper the promise to always make them both happy and protect them, Skye’s heart nearly stopped.
By the time Gage made it up to pull Skye’s lips to his, tears rolled down her cheeks. Immediately Gage panicked. He had made this beautiful woman cry on her wedding day. What kind of man did something like that?
“Are you okay? What’s the matter? Did I hurt you? Did I hurt the baby?”
“No.” Skye cupped her hand to his cheek. “I am just so happy. I love you so much.”
Gage relaxed and smiled. Stretching up to kiss him with all that she had, Skye wanted him to know just how content she was, how much she loved him, and how badly she wanted him.
“Make love to me, Mr. Vandenberg,” Skye pled breathlessly.
“With pleasure, Mrs. Vandenberg,” he replied as he moved himself to be fully merged with the woman he loved.
***
Eve and Will’s ride back to his house was spent laughing and talking, but once they were inside, Will’s mood changed immediately. Upon closing the front door, he pulled Eve to him and pinned her against the wall, a passionate hunger in his eyes.
“God, Eve, I’ve been wanting to do this all night.” He ravaged her neck with wet kisses and ran his hands across her body.
“Well, Mr. Prentiss! What brought this on?” she teased, weaving her hands into his hair and pressing her breasts against his chest.
“Do you really want to know?”
His hesitation made her curious. “Mmm hmm,” she hummed as she nuzzled his neck and nibbled on his earlobe.
Will brought his head up to face her, gazing deeply into her eyes. “Seeing all of them tonight, two married couples and the third engaged… It just got me thinking. It got me thinking a lot.”
He cupped her face. She placed her hands gently on his chest. Eve could tell he really wanted her to hear him—not just his words but his heart.
“I don’t want to rush you, Eve, but I do want to marry you. If you were ready, I’d marry you tomorrow. I’m so in love with you.” Will’s eyes brimmed with tears. “I love you, Eve. I want you to be my wife. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. If you think you could love me enough to someday say—”
“Yes.”
“Wha—?” His eyes flew open, and he moved his hands to her shoulders.
“If you’re asking me to marry you, Will, the answer is most definitely yes.” Eve smiled brightly, taking in every detail of this moment: Will’s beautiful eyes as they gazed at her in amazement, the grin that slowly formed as he understood she wanted to marry him, too.
He crushed his mouth to hers and lifted her in his arms. Their kisses were full and passionate as he moved them from the front entry to his bedroom. Over the many nights they’d spent together, they’d become less bashful with each other. Eve was able to let him know what she wanted, and he knew where to touch her to bring her the most pleasure. It was the same for Will: Eve had learned what made him moan and was more than willing to please him.
Their lovemaking was intense because of the teasing and foreplay. Tonight, the talk of marriage was neither, yet as they stood by his bed their desire for each other skyrocketed. Eve had imagined what passionate lovemaking was supposed to be like, having read her share of romance novels in college, but Will surpassed everything any writer had ever put into words. They truly belonged together.
Will pulled the sheet up to cover them and snuggled her, kissing her hair. “You are amazing, Eve Carwyn.”
“Yeah, all the guys tell me that.”
He stiffened a little and Eve knew it had been the wrong thing to say. They’d never really discussed their past sexual encounters.
“So…how many guys, if you don’t mind my asking.”
Will had basically proposed marriage to Eve tonight; she wanted him to know the truth.
“Only one other.”
He jerked his head back, clearly surprised by her response. But then she felt his shoulders drop as he sighed. She knew what he was thinking: Julian.
“I never slept with him, you know.” Eve gazed at Will. “I didn’t love him.”
He pulled her closer.
“Call me old fashioned, I guess, but it never felt like the right decision with him or any of the other guys I dated. My first love was Shawn, and he and I had one fantastic weekend in college, but we both soon realized that ‘first love’ and ‘forever love’ were two different things.” Eve snuggled closer to Will, whispering now. “I decided the next time would be someone I wanted to spend forever with.”
“So you haven’t…?”
“Not in ten years.”
“I feel like I’ve stolen your virginity,” he said.
“No, Will, I gave it to you because I could see us together. I want us to be together. Like I said, I was waiting for ‘forever love’ to come along.”
“I can promise I’ll give you my love forever. I mean it that I want to marry you.” He gazed down at her, lifting her chin with his finger. “Will you marry me?”
“Yes, Will. Yes.”
Eve looked in Will’s eyes and saw his soul: his honesty, his love, his compassion, his intelligence, his strength, his beauty.
This man was all she could ever want. She buried her face in his shoulder, wrapped in his loving and protective arms. She fell asleep, blissfully happy at what the future would bring them together, forever.
Epilogue
There had been something between the two of them from the beginning. And while Will insisted his late mother had a hand in getting the two of them together, Eve only knew that whether it was kismet or divine intervention or just great timing, after the night of the “non-date” at Apex, they were meant to spend the rest of their lives together.
The night Will asked Eve to marry him—the same night Skye and Gage got married—was the beginning of a new life for her. The next morning, they called Eve’s mother, Gretchen, in Taos. She was surprised, but trusted Eve and welcomed Will with open arms.
Monday morning, they flew to Boston where they stayed in Will’s apartment for the week. Eve loved that apartment, and made him promise to keep it for when they were in the city for his work. During their stay in Boston, Will “officially” asked for Eve’s hand in marriage—even got down on one knee—and placed his mother’s three-diamond platinum ring on her finger. It was beautiful.
Will also met with the Boston Museum of Art Board of Directors to inform them of his relationship with Eve. It was important to the reputation of the museum, the foundation, and Will himself that they understood the relationship began after the grant committee had selected the SBMA to receive the $3 million. Fortunately, because Will had never given anyone reason to question his ethics, and he had worked with the board for many years, the directors accepted the truth for what it was, and did nothing but congratulate the couple on their engagement and issue a press release to quell any questions of impropriety.
One night during their stay, they were requested to attend an engagement dinner at Apex. Arlene brought first Eve and then Will into full bear-hugs as soon as she saw them exit the elevator. She beamed at Eve, while throwing a sideways glance at Will.
“He told me you were the one.”
When Eve looked at both Arlene and Will quizzically, she continued. “He had Megan make the reservations, but later that afternoon he called me himself to make sure that night would be very special. ‘Arlene, I’m bringing the most amazing woman to dinner,’ he told me. I’ve known Will since he was a boy and never, never did I see him like he was with you.” She switched her gaze to Will. “We both knew you’d be back to tell me you were going to marry this woman, didn’t we?”
Will smiled and bowed his head in embarrassment. “And you always told me, Arlene, that you’d know the right woman for me when you saw her. That’s why I wanted you to meet Eve.”
“Your parents would be proud, Will,” she said softly as she pulled him into another embrace.
After dinner, Arlene stopped them again before they could leave. “Now I expect an invitation to your wedding, young man!”
“Absolutely, Arlene. You’re family to me.”
“To us,” Eve corrected and received a teary-eyed smile from the woman as she hugged them both one last time.
At the end of the week, as they returned to California, Will surprised Eve with a quick side trip to New Mexico so he could meet her mother and her new partner, Sam. Gretchen could tell just by the way Will looked at Eve that he was the right man for her. And she didn’t even give them a hard time about actually getting married. Thoughts of being the mother of the bride and a future grandmother had her beaming.
When they arrived home—Will’s house—at the end of the week, Eve noticed he had been a little quieter than usual since leaving New Mexico. They were putting groceries away in the kitchen when she decided to ask what was wrong. After all that had happened because of Jeannette and her lies, they had learned that talking things out, even if the topic was uncomfortable, was better than shutting down.
Will hesitated, but Eve moved to him, wrapping her arms around his waist. Looking up at him as she placed a soft kiss on his neck, Eve said, “Talk to me.”
“We’ve never discussed this, but…do you want to have children?”
Thinking for a few minutes on how best to say what she wanted, Eve took a deep breath. She knew she needed to be truthful, and trust him to understand.
“Yes, but, I think we’d benefit from waiting a little while. How about you? I mean, I’m okay if you’re not sure or already have your mind made up and—”
“No, no! I do want to have children. God, Eve, I would love to know that we’ll raise a family together!” The relief he felt was clear in his voice as he quickly wrapped his arms around Eve and held her to him. “My only concern is the timing. I…I’m happy for Skye and Gage, but I’m not sure I’m ready that soon.”
Eve finally realized that her mother’s babbling on about grandchildren, coupled with their friends’ impending new addition had kind of spooked Will. She wanted to laugh, but the look on his face was still a bit fragile, so instead she reached up to caress his stubble-roughened jaw.
“No worries, Will. I have things under control.” She looked up at him with a hint of playfulness. “I am a modern woman, after all.”
“So, that means we can…” and he winked at her, “…any time we want to, hmm?”
“That’s my plan!” Eve purred back. With that bit of encouragement, Will picked her up and headed to the bedroom. The canned goods on the kitchen counter would just have to wait.
***
As the girls got ready that morning, Eve kept humming a song that was stuck in her head. Before long, Josie, Skye, and Gretchen were all singing the bouncy oldie too. They danced around Eve’s apartment singing about chapels and getting married, knowing the men were at Will’s house, probably playing video games or some nonsense as they all got ready, too. Eve had never been happier and couldn’t wait to start the rest of her life with Will.
Noelle had opted not to be in the wedding party since she knew she’d be in no condition to stand up for long periods of time. She and Thomas would meet everyone at the church instead—unlike Josie’s wedding, when Skye was forced to stand up in front of literally hundreds of people in a maternity version of Eve and Noelle’s bridesmaids’ dresses. Skye enjoyed people looking at her…usually. But at seven and a half months pregnant, she was extremely uncomfortable and unhappy that day. Eve had learned from Josie’s mistake. Noelle would be there, and that would be enough.
Once ensconced in the limo with her mother on the way to the church, Eve couldn’t help the hint of sadness that crept up on her. Gretchen turned to her daughter because she knew immediately why.
“Eve, honey. You know your father would have loved Will. All we ever wanted for you was to be happy.” She wrapped an arm around her daughter, careful not to disturb the perfectly placed veil that rested at her shoulders.
“I know, Mom. It’s just that for the first time since he proposed, I thought about Dad, and how much I wish he were here to give me away.” A small tear formed in the corner of her eye that Eve wiped away with one finger.
“Oh, Eve. Don’t cry. Skylar will kill you if you ruin your makeup,” Gretchen tried to joke. Seeing her daughter upset was heartbreaking for her. “You know, Sam would have given you away…”
Eve loved Sam because he made her mother happy. But their relationship began after Eve was away at college, and she really didn’t know him. He wasn’t her dad.
“No, I want you to give me away, Mom. I’m glad you’re doing it.”
Gretchen gave her daughter a peck on the cheek. She had only been half joking about Skylar and Eve’s makeup. “I love you, baby. And Will does too. Otherwise I wouldn’t be giving you to him. Although it is kind of an archaic tradition when you think—”
“Mom! Please, not today.” Eve laughed as they pulled up to the church.
When they arrived, all the men were already inside. Josie had insisted they stick to tradition, just like she and Beau had five months earlier, so Will and Eve would not see each other until the doors opened at the end of the aisle. Standing to the side, Eve watched as each of her friends headed down the aisle to stand across from their love. She knew Will would be waiting for her, that heart-stopping smile on his face, and she couldn’t wait.
The doors opened as the beginning strains of Mendelssohn’s “Wedding March” began to play, and butterflies began fluttering in Eve’s stomach. Standing there, her arm linked with her mother’s, Eve could see Josie and Skye already waiting at the altar, Gage and Beau looking incredibly handsome on the other side.
Finally, Eve let herself look at Will. He was the most incredible man she had ever seen. He was amazingly handsome in his dark-gray pinstriped tuxedo, his sandy-brown hair perfectly styled, and his attention focused completely on the woman walking toward him.
A feeling of pride and joy bubbled up in Will at just the sight of Eve coming down the aisle. He had always heard people talk about their breath catching at the sight of something amazing, but this was the first time it had happened to him. Will Prentiss was breathless as the woman he loved got closer.
For a moment, Will looked out at the crowded church. Sitting in the front row were Thomas and a very pregnant Noelle. She looked tired and uncomfortable, but also at peace as she held a sleeping baby girl on her lap. Noelle had volunteered to keep Gage and Skye’s daughter with her during the ceremony. Chandler was a beautiful baby who seemed to have gotten her mother’s looks and her father’s demeanor. Will only hoped that when he and Eve were lucky enough to have children…years down the road…they would have a baby as good as Chandler.
Will smiled as he remembered Gage and Skye’s argument over the baby’s name. Gage had opinions on what he wanted his child to be named. When the baby was born, and a girl, things got ugly. There was no way Skylar was going to allow him to name her daughter Charger, Seau, or Fouts. The others were pretty sure she wouldn’t have allowed it even if the baby had been a boy. Instead, they compromised, and Gage convinced Skye to name their daughter Chandler, after a former San Diego Chargers wide receiver. He was pretty proud of himself for winning that argument.
Eve and Gretchen reached the front of the church, and Will’s attention focused on the beautiful woman he was lucky enough to be marrying. He watched Gretchen lean in to kiss her daughter, then squeeze Eve’s hand as she placed it into Will’s. He wished again that his mother and father be there to see this.
As Will and Eve turned to face the minister, Eve was nervous, ever fearful that she’d do something horrid—trip, faint, fall into a fit of hysterical laughter—that would, of course, be caught on film and used to embarrass her for years to come. Will held steady, until it was time for him to put the ring on Eve’s finger. In that moment, tears brimmed in his eyes.
As the minister pronounced them husband and wife, Will leaned down and kissed Eve heartily, and their friends and relatives clapped and cheered. Beaming as they headed back down the aisle, they made it to the entryway at the back of the church before stopping for another kiss. As Will wrapped his arms around his new wife’s waist, he lifted her up, twirled her around and kissed her long and deep.
