July was a hot time in Emerald Port. Thank God the Casa de La Playa had an ample number of fans and air-conditioning, even though all the windows were open. The ocean breeze wasn’t enough.
Jersey straightened his collar. “How do I look?”
“Like you’re ready to walk down the aisle. What about me? You think the new highlights are okay with the purple?” Belle had added these blue-ish tints to her purple hair—for an upgraded look—she’d told him.
“They go really well with the blue dress.”
John and Starr had picked a simple, light blue for their wedding color, claiming it had something to do with them meeting along the marina and the water being so blue and stunning. Belle fit into the dress like a dream, and he was lucky enough that he got the version of her wearing no bra and panties when she’d tried it on at home for him.
His eyes went to her chest. The dress didn’t have any straps and darted down the center of her torso in a V and because she had the best tits in the world, the swells were exposed where the dress cut off. He reached forward and slid his fingers between the fabric, dying to feel her perky nipples.
“Would you stop?” Her eyes were wide, looking around the dressing room.
“I can’t.” His fingers moved past the weird little cup thing and landed on her jewelry. “I’m going to be wishing my mouth was all over these through the whole reception.”
She glanced down. “You think those are nice, you should feel what you do to me between my legs.”
Jersey pushed the fabric of her long ass dress up, his hand meeting her thigh.
“You lovebirds ready? It’s time,” Judge said from the doorway.
Jersey dropped her dress and removed his hand. “Hold that thought,” he said to her. “We’re ready.”
The guests were already seated, and classical music floated through the atrium as the three of them made their way to the double doors where the rest of their siblings were standing in their wedding attire. Through the glass windows, on the sides of the French doors, John stood at the front of the ballroom looking calm and steady. The ballroom had been decorated to look like a church, complete with church pews and holy water.
Jersey squeezed Belle’s hand. “You ready for this? What about when it’s our turn? Church or beach?”
“Neither. On the Sweet Escape.” She rolled her eyes. “You think I’m gonna marry you just because you accept me for who I am and give me multiple orgasms on a daily basis?”
Jersey grinned. “Damn right.”
“Whatever. Ask me nicely and we shall see.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Jersey kissed her cheek.
The wedding planner moved her hands around frantically, buzzing between the bridal party and groomsmen. “Line up, line up. Everything’s ready. If we leave Starr in there any longer, the whole place will smell like patchouli.” She propped open the doors with the help of Judge and everyone took their places with their appropriate partner.
Since Jersey was the best man and Summer, Starr’s sister from Colorado, was the Maid of Honor, he reluctantly stepped away from Belle and went to the back of the line. Summer came out of the hallway, waving her hand under her nose, walking toward him. “Pee-you. It’s like I’m back in Boulder. I forget how much she loves her oils.”
Jersey laughed and put out his arm. “Let’s do this.”
He watched everyone walk down the aisle, eyes firmly planted on Belle. What would she wear on their wedding day? Summer tugged his arm, pulling him out of his daydream and the walked arm in arm to the rest of the group, smiling at his mom along the way. When the orchestra started playing the bride song, Jersey winked at Belle before turning toward the guests and Starr. Jersey’s dad was escorting her, since Starr’s parents weren’t on speaking terms with her. At least her sister was around. Starr seemed content with the Davenports and all that entailed.
She reached the steps and faced John. He gave her a brief kiss before they turned to the pastor. Jersey kept steady despite the wobble in his legs and the pastor going on about the importance of wedding vows. The ceremony didn’t take long. Everyone clapped and whistled when John kissed his bride.
“Congratulations,” Jersey said to the bride and groom. They formed a line just outside the venue for everyone to say hello and congratulate them before they were expected to meet near the boardwalk for pictures. The wedding planner had suggested pictures be done before the ceremony, but Starr was too superstitious to agree to that.
“Thank you. Thank you for being in the wedding.”
Belle came up next to Jersey. “You look so cute in your dress with your baby bump.”
Starr patted her belly. “Roughly four months to go. Our Christmas baby.”
“You know that poor kid is never going to get Christmas presents and birthday presents if it’s born on Christmas day? I had a friend in high school who had a Christmas birthday and they never got both like a kid normally should. It was always like, ‘happy birthday and Merry Christmas’ rolled into one gift.”
“That is so sad,” Belle said.
“That’s not going to happen to our son.” The second John said the word son, Starr shot him a look like she couldn’t believe he’d just spilled the beans.
“Son?” Belle squealed. “The secret is out. But I thought you had to be six months along before you could find out the baby’s gender.”
“I cannot believe you just did that,” Starr nudged John in the side.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to, it just slipped out.”
Starr turned back to Belle. “Normally, five months, but the doctor had concerns with genetic abnormalities so with that kind of testing, you can find out.”
“Great. The first-born son is now having the first-born grandson.” Jersey rolled his eyes. “Fucking figures. It must be rough being so perfect.”
“Did I just hear something about that baby being a boy?” Jersey’s mom beamed with appreciation. She reached between Jersey and Belle, engulfing Starr into a hug and that was his queue to leave.
He tugged Belle’s hand through the throngs of people. “I can’t believe John just did that.”
“At his wedding.”
“Yep. He might be in the doghouse tonight,” Jersey said.
“It’s their wedding night. As long as Starr doesn’t see it as some weird sign, they’ll be enjoying sex all night.”
Jersey led her down the steps to the last step of the boardwalk before it met the sand and stopped, not wanting to get sand between her heels. The waves were minimal today, sliding along the sand and back out with zero effort. He reached in his suit pocket for her ring.
“Starr looked so adorable with her pregnant belly.”
He hopped off the last step, sinking into the sand before turning to her and getting down on his knee. Her eyes widened and she put a hand on her hip. “What are you doing?”
“Asking you to marry me. You’ve always been my best friend. You’ve completed me in so many ways. Will you do me the honor of committing to be my wife? For life?” He held out her ring. “I had to size you while you were sleeping, so if you say yes, it should fit perfectly.”
“You already knew I would say yes. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me, Jersey.”
He cocked his head. “So, that’s a yes?”
She laughed and stepped off the step, kneeling into the sand with him. She flung her arms around his neck, catching him off balance and he fell onto his back, into the sand, with her on top. “Yes, yes, yes. Oh, my gosh, Starr and John are going to be so mad when we come back with all this sand on us for the pictures.”
The ring.
“Bad news. I dropped your ring.” He lifted his head, patting the sand next to his hand. It couldn’t have gone far. “I lost your engagement ring.”
Belle crawled off him, panic in her eyes. “Oh no. I didn’t even get to touch it.” She glanced around, patting the sand like he had done. Tears sprung to her eyes.
Jersey grabbed her wrist. “Don’t cry. Don’t even think about it. It’s fine. I’ll make Jake bring his metal detector down here. And it’s just a ring.” He nodded to the little jewelry shop next to Jasmine’s coffee shop, Blue Marine Coffee Bean. “We can go in there right now and find you a temporary one.”
“That’s crazy. You already spent all this money on this one. How could I be so careless?”
Jersey shook his head. “You weren’t. This isn’t a problem. This is our engagement story for the rest of our lives, Queen B. It’s just money. But this,” he gestured between them, “this is the important part. What matters. You said yes and so far, it’s one of the best days of my life.”
A tear slipped down her cheek. “Happy tear. It’s a happy tear because you’re the most-amazing man I’ve ever known. Thank you for being you and for allowing me to be authentically me.”
She lunged forward and wrapped her arms around his neck, plunging them back into the sand. His head landed softly and then her mouth was on his and Jersey’s heart exploded with love and gratitude, knowing that their new life would have a million other inconveniences, but it would never take away their love for one another.
