Enjoying the Chase (74 page)

When we had to kneel to get the blessing
and say the prayer, murmurs and chuckles erupted behind me but I just ignored
it and did my thing, determined not to screw anything else up.

I remembered all of my words, I didn
’
t stumble over her name, I didn
’
t even drop the ring like I was worried about.
The rest of the ceremony passed without a hitch.

Finally, after what felt like hours of
staring at
Rosie
and dying to kiss her, the vicar said
the words I had been waiting to hear for the last half an hour. We were
married. As soon as he started to say, “You may now kiss your bride” I was
already kissing her.

The feel of her lips on mine, the way her
arms went up to loop around my neck, the way her body crushed against mine as I
pulled her closer, all of it made my heart race in my chest. I was married.
Married to the most thoughtful, incredible, funny, smart and beautiful girl on
the planet.

I pulled her impossibly closer as everyone
else seemed to disappear around me; all that mattered was the taste of her
tongue and the feel of her hand gripped into the back of my hair. When she made
a little whimper into my mouth, I almost lost it completely. I needed her and
couldn
’
t seem to get her close
enough to me. My arms tightened around her, lifting her off her feet and
spinning in a little circle which made her giggle against my lips.

“I love you, Mrs Peters,” I whispered,
looking into her eyes. My whole future was mapped out before me. It didn
’
t matter what happened from here on out, as
long as I had this girl in my arms every single day I could cope with anything.

Instead of replying, she just crashed her
lips back to mine again in a scorching hot kiss that was seriously
inappropriate for people to be watching, especially standing at the front of
the church. The vicar obviously thought so too.

“I think your guests are getting
impatient,” he said tersely. Rosie broke the kiss immediately and stiffened, as
if she forgot where we were and that we weren
’
t on our own. She blushed and hid her face in the side of my neck as
I wrapped my arm around her tightly.

“We
’
re just starting as we mean to go on,” I joked, winking at the
vicar.

Rosie pinched my stomach playfully as she
giggled against my neck. That was a typical Nate and Rosie moment. In my eyes,
if the wedding had gone beautifully, then it wouldn
’
t be fitting for the pair of us. I smiled down at her and pressed my
lips to hers again, just for a second before we turned around to clapping from
the guests.

George looked like he was having trouble
restraining DJ because he was fighting to come to the front with us again. I
smiled and motioned for him to come over with us. Immediately, George let him
go, and DJ skipped to our sides with a huge grin on his face. “
So we
’
re all Peters now?”
he asked.

I nodded. “Yep. We
’
re officially a family,” I confirmed, leaning down and picking him
up, smiling as the cameras flashed everywhere around us.

“If I could just get you to sign the
register,” the vicar said behind us.

I smiled over to Ashton and Anna, who were
acting as our witnesses today. Anna skipped over,
beam
ing
from ear to ear. “Didn
’
t I tell
you years ago that I would help you find a girl?” she teased, kissing my cheek.

I couldn
’
t help but laugh as I remembered the first time I had ever met
Anna
in the kitchen of my apartment where she
’
d been making coffee for Ashton. She
’
d promised to help me find a girl
;
of
course, she
’
d only meant for the
night. 

I nodded. “It
’
s just a shame you didn
’
t let me meet her years ago.”

She shook her head. “You wouldn
’
t have been ready years ago; you would have
run a mile at the first mention of commitment
.
” 

I
would never know how I would have reacted
to Rosie back then. My guess would be that she would have charmed me then, the
same as she charmed me now. I was destined to fall for her; she was the one for
me – five years ago or this year, we still would have ended up together.

We took our time signing the register,
making it all official. I made sure every single thing was correct and clear. By
the time we had finished, people were assembling outside the church ready to take
photos and throw their confetti.

As we stepped out of the church doors, the
crowd erupted into cheers and a rainstorm of coloured paper and rice fell over
our heads. Rosie laughed and looked up at me with eyes that were so loving that
it almost brought me to my knees. I hoped she never stopped looking at me like
that. I led her down to the car, confetti still being thrown from all angles.
Once she was in, I headed around to my side of the old
-
fashioned
car that she
’
d chosen for us for
today. DJ was riding with George and Tracy, and we
’
d been told not to worry about him all day and night because the two
sets of grandparents wouldn
’
t let
him out of their sight. 

As soon as we were on our own, she looked
at me and we both just burst out laughing for no apparent reason. “I
’
m pretty sure I have more confetti in my bra
than what landed on the floor,” she stated, trying to dig it out from the top
of her dress.

I smiled and leant over, holding her hand
still. “Leave it in there; I
’
ll
get that out later. Hopefully some of the guests chose edible paper,” I
flirted, brushing my nose along her jaw. She looped her arm around my neck,
pulling me closer to her. “You look so incredible, Stripes. I just don
’
t have the words for you right now
.”

She laughed quietly. “I have a word for you
in your tux,” she replied, running one hand along the edge of my lapel.

I raised one eyebrow curiously, wondering
what her word was going to be.

“Overdressed,” she whispered. Her lips
crashed onto mine, and
we made the most of there being blacked out
windows and an opaque barrier between us and the driver as we sped
to the
reception
venue.

The afternoon and night passed quickly
and, if I was honest, I wouldn’t remember much after a couple of hours. I spoke
to so many people that, by the end of the night, I could barely remember who I
had thanked for coming and who I hadn’t. Dinner, speeches and first dances all
passed in a blur.

By the time the party finished, I was more
than ready to take my new bride up to our room and make this marriage binding.
As people started to leave, George came over with a sleepy DJ in his arms.

“We
’
re going. Congratulations again. And you look after my little girl,
you hear me?” George said, looking at me sternly as he shook my hand.

“You don
’
t need to worry about that, George,” I confirmed, nodding
confidently.

I held out my arms for DJ, who immediately
manoeuvred himself into my arms, hugging me tightly.

“
So, we won
’
t see you until we get back from our
honeymoon. You be good for Nanna and Grandad, okay?” I whispered, kissing the
side of his head.

He nodded, hugging me tighter. “I will. I
’
ll miss you, but we can talk on the phone,
right?” he asked, pulling back and pouting at me.

“We
’
ll call you everyday, I promise.”

Rosie came over then, taking DJ from my
arms and whispering to him. He nodded along with what she was saying, hugging
her and kissing her cheek.

“We
’
d better go, Stripes,” I suggested, nodding at the practically empty
hall. The cleaning staff were already sweeping the floors and discarding the
last of the buffet food. I smiled down at DJ. “I love you, Kid,” I told him.

He yawned. “I love you too, Daddy.”

I smiled, still loving my new title. At
some point during the thirteen weeks since the fire, DJ had officially started
calling me ‘Daddy
’
. It melted my
heart every single time. He
’
d
renamed Josh as ‘Daddy Josh
’
whenever
he spoke about him. I knew I wasn
’
t
supposed to be smug about his little demotion, but I couldn
’
t help but be a little proud about it.

George stepped in then, taking DJ. After
one last goodbye and an awful lot of instructions on how to look after DJ,
Rosie and I were finally alone.

The predatory smile crept onto my face as I
dragged my eyes over her.
Time to see if anyone bought edible confetti!

“You
’
ve been a bad girl, Mrs Peters. Go to our room,” I
ordered.

She giggled and took my hand, practically
dragg
ed
me out of the function room and into the
elevator. As soon as the steel doors closed, I pressed her against the wall
making her squeal with excitement as I claimed her lips with mine. By the time
we got to our floor, my shirt was undone, as was my belt, and I
’
d unfastened half of her dress. It appeared
neither of us were in the mood for going slow tonight.

We staggered down the hallway towards our
honeymoon suite, bumping into things as we walked because we were too busy
making out to look where we were going. When we reached our desired
destination, I fumbled with the key card, trying to get the stupid electronic
door lock to open while still ravaging her mouth with mine.

Rosie
took the card
from my hand, pulling away and shoving it in for me. “I hope you don
’
t have trouble getting anything else in the
right slot tonight,” she teased.

“
I won
’
t have any trouble, trust me.”

Before she could step over the threshold of
the room, I grabbed her and picked her up, making her yelp from shock. I laughed
and kissed her as I carried her, kicking the door shut behind me. I was so
excited that I could barely even breathe properly. This night was the start of
the rest of our lives, and I really wanted to make it start off spectacularly.

Rosie
kissed me hungrily as I stomped over
to the bed, dropping her down roughly onto the mattress, making her laugh as
she bounced a little. I straddled her hips and looked down at her excited face,
as her chest rose and fell rapidly.

She sighed dreamily, and her nails
scratched down my back gently, making my dick throb with anticipation. She was
still wearing way too many clothes for my liking
;
it
was definitely taking too long to get her naked. I made a little moan of
appreciation in the back of my throat and decided to get this show on the road.
I couldn
’
t wait another second.

Unfortunately, she had other ideas. As I
bent my head to kiss her, she shook her head and pushed on my chest to stop me.
I pulled back, eyeing her curiously, praying that what Seth said about only
having sex on birthdays and anniversaries wasn
’t true.

“I have a wedding gift for you.” She
smiled. “It
’
s in my overnight
bag,” she added, nodding off to the side where our bags were.

“Oh fuck, we were supposed to buy presents?
I
’
m going to fucking kill Ashton for not telling me that!”

She giggled and gripped my shoulders,
rolling me over onto my back as she sat up on top of me, holding one arm across
her chest, keeping her dress in place. “You didn
’
t have to get me anything; it
’
s not a tradition or anything. I just really wanted you to have this
tonight,” she assured me, bending and kissing my lips softly. When she pulled
back, my hands instinctively tightened on her waist. I didn
’
t want to let her go, I felt whiny and needy
and I just didn
’
t want her to get
off me even if it was only to get something from her bag three feet away from
me.

She smiled and pushed my hands off her,
climbing out of the bed and heading over to the bag. While she was busy, I took
the opportunity to slip off my shoes. As I pulled it off, something white
caught my eye on the sole of it. I turned it over to see I had two big letters:
L and P, written on the bottom of one of my shoes in white marker.