Fan Girl (33 page)

Suddenly I’m being lifted with hands under my arms and spun around. My hands hit flat on the bed as I pant my want for this man, throwing my hair back as I arch my back for him. His strength is a definite turn on. Even this pregnant, he can lift me so easily. My bikini bottoms are the work of a second for Deklan to remove, and then he’s slamming into me. I cry out at the intrusion and push back for more, gritting my teeth.

Slipping the clasp on my top he fills his large hands with my breasts, which are so much bigger than when we met. Deklan slides his calloused hands up to hold onto my shoulder from under my arms, pulling me back against him. “God, I love you,” he tells me as he tunnels into me hard, bending to place open mouth kisses on my shoulder and the nape of my neck. I moan as I lean closer to the bed, causing his hands to leave my shoulders. I grip the sheets in my fists and push back against him hard, making him whisper, “Yes, baby.”

We both fight for our release. Pushing and straining until sweat is covering our skin and my hair sticks to us both, we find our release with Deklan pressed to my back, and our faces cheek to cheek. We shutter, shaking with the power we create together.

The rest of the week is more of the same, not that I’m complaining. I don’t usually get out to the beach during the day, so I have to lay out on the deck next to our room. Easy access to the bed seems to be essential. At night after dinner, we go for walks on the beach and watch the sunset then head back to our room. We also take advantage of the spa. We do couples massages every other day. He goes deep sea fishing one day, while I get a facial and mani-pedi. When he goes golfing, I go shopping.

Saturday is our last night there, so I get all made up for the first time since we’ve been there. I put on makeup and do my hair. I wear a spaghetti strapped gauzy empire waist dress that’s white. It flows around me and flutters in the breeze like the curtains.

Deklan is wearing khaki shorts, and a white button, collared shirt with the sleeves rolled up. We walk to dinner that has been set up on our deck. There are candles everywhere and soft music playing from hidden speakers. Deklan pulls my chair in for me and sits down. “I’m so sad to leave. I want to stay here forever,” I tell him.

He smiles. “I know, this was awesome. We needed this, as busy as we’ve been.”

“I can’t wait to get back though, and start getting baby stuff ready. I feel like we’re running out of time.”

“We have nine weeks left.”

“If she comes on time,” I remind him.

“True.” He nods. “You look so beautiful. Your tan has gotten a lot darker here. It makes your eyes shockingly bright.”

Aww, so sweet. “You too, babe. I love you. Thank you for bringing me here.”

He smiles at me and says, “I love you, too. I have something else for you.”

I look around. “What do you mean?” He leans back and pulls something out of his pocket before running his tongue over his teeth and setting it on the table. My breath stutters to a stop as I look at the red Cartier ring box. I stare at it. When I can move my eyes to look at him, he finally leans forward and holds my hands in his. He watches our hands as he clenches his jaw, making the muscles tick.

He takes a deep breath and opens his mouth, but doesn’t make any sound for what seems like forever. He lets the breath out slowly and looks me in the eyes. “I love you Ali. I slowly fell in love with you as DD, and I fell instantly in love with you as Ali. I love the way you laugh, I love your mind, your creative imagination. I love that I’m just a guy to you and you have never treated me like anything more than a man. I love this baby we’re about to have and I want both of you to have my last name. Will you marry me, baby?”

I’m breathing funny, stifling sobs, trying to hear his speech. I’m pretty sure all I heard was I love you… Ali, fell instantly, last name, marry me. But I get the gist. I nod my head and put my hand to my heart to keep it in my chest. His look of relief would have been comical if I wasn’t an emotional wreck. He reaches for the box and opens it, taking out a ring that I have yet to see. I hold out one hand and quickly change it for the other one. That ring is supposed to go on the left hand, duh.

Deklan slides the ring on my finger and holds my hand, blocking my view of it. I’m about to climb the table to see what he’s seeing when he kisses my finger and finally lets go. I pull my hand up to my face and gasp. The ring is a huge princess cut diamond with smaller diamonds all around it and around the whole band on the front and sides.

“Deklan, it’s beautiful!”

“I’m glad you like it. You’re gonna be wearing it for the rest of your life.”

I look up at him and smile so big my cheeks hurt.

“So you ready to get married?”

“What?” I ask distractedly. The sunset is making my ring shine and sparkle, I can’t concentrate.

Deklan laughs and stands up. He holds out his hand for me and pulls me up.

“We’re getting married,” I say dazed.

“Yes, we are.” He starts walking me toward the beach.

“When do you think we should do it, where? Oh man that’s another something we have to plan before the baby gets here.”

“Nope,” he says smugly.

I look over. “What do you mean, nope?”

“We’re not planning anything.”

“So when are we getting married, then?”

“Right now.”

I stop and look down the beach. There’s an arbor with a man in black down close to the water. Deklan keeps going and shakes the guy’s hand. I walk toward them, and when I get to Deklan, the sun is right behind the preacher.

I turn to Deklan and he says, “I wanted to carry you across the threshold of our house as your husband.”

My eyes fill with more tears. He grabs my hand and the preacher starts in an accent. “We are gathered here today to witness the joining of two people in Holy matrimony.”

When it was time to exchange the rings I freak, and my eyes get huge.

Deklan laughs and says, “I got this one. If you want me to wear something else, we can do that. But I wanted this done tonight.” He holds out a platinum band that has tiny diamonds on the edges running parallel to his finger, so that if he had his hand up, to say hold a microphone, it would glint and sparkle in the lights.

I smile. “It’s perfect.” I slip the band on his finger, and the preacher tells us to kiss. Deklan takes my face in his hands and tilts my head to where he wants it. We make out for a little bit. It’s by far the best kiss ever, but that may be because we’re married now. The preacher clears his throat, and we pull away to follow him so that we can sign the marriage certificate.

I sign my name shakily, and Deklan takes two seconds to sign his. He is an old hat at that. But this is one autograph we’re both glad to have. We walk with arms wrapped around each other back to our room. “I’m so sad we have to leave now!”

He squeezes my shoulder. “We aren’t. We have one more week. That’s been the plan for everybody
but you
this whole time.”

“Oh my God, you really pulled one over on me! I can’t believe no one at work told me.”

“They were sworn to secrecy, duh,” he says, mocking me for saying it earlier. Our smiling lips come together, Deklan bringing his hands to my face, and cupping my cheeks lovingly. Shortly after, there is no more talking. In fact, we hardly talk at all to anyone but each other for the whole last week we’re there.

Chapter 35

Nola picks us up from the airport. She hugs and gushes over us like she hasn’t seen us in months. She tells me I’ve grown—my stomach—and how we’re going to get sun cancer, we’re so dark. It takes her until Deklan grabs the first of our luggage and the light to hit the diamonds on his ring for her to notice we’re wearing them. She looks from his hand to his face over and over and then snatches my hand up. As soon as she sees my ring, she starts sobbing and rocking us both. “Oh my babies, my babies.” She rocks and cries.

“Mom, it’s okay. You’re causing a scene, and you’re going to get us recognized.” He chuckles to her.

“Oh my goodness, you’re right.” She pulls away and wipes her cheeks. “Oh, I’m so happy. I wish I could have been there.”

Deklan and I had talked about this the last week. “As soon as we have the baby, we’ll have a reception at the house,” I tell her.

“That’s perfect!”

“And we have pictures,” Deklan tells her.

I turn to him. “We do?”

“Yeah, you must have been so lost in my eyes to not hear him clicking away.”

I give him a droll look before saying, “I want to see the pictures!”

He laughs. “They’re already up at the house. He emailed them to Dean.”

We’re all excited to see what they look like. “You continue to surprise me, Dek. Your birthday is coming up you know,” I tell him slyly.

“No surprises. Don’t even think about it. I don’t need anything.”

I put my finger to my chin and tap. “This is true.” I let the subject drop because I have a plan.

When we get home, all of the lights are on in the house and outside. We park in the garage and walk around to the front, because Deklan is determined to throw his back out carrying me over the threshold. He picks me up, and doesn’t grunt or noticeably strain at all that I’m aware of. He smiles at me and carefully, angles my feet first, then my head and sets me down in the middle of the foyer.

I turn in a circle and look at our house. The walls are tan, and there’s white crown molding and baseboards. The floors are an espresso brown hardwood. The stairs are white with dark railings that match the floors. I can see in the kitchen. There’s a circular window and a huge archway leading into it. There’s a long black dining room table and chairs. Deklan turns me to right beside the front door where I thought a mirror and entry table were supposed to be.

There is no mirror. There are the letters in a dark brown spelling MR & MRS with matching frames, two on top and two on bottom. There’s one of the sunset behind us, holding hands. You can only see the black silhouette of us because the sun is blocked out by our heads, but still bright. There’s another of us kissing with the same lighting. There’s us walking toward the camera looking at each other, as the sun had just fallen below the horizon, and one with us walking hand in hand down the beach in the last light of the sunset.

I put my hand up to my mouth as my eyes fill with tears. Deklan puts his hands on my belly from behind and asks, “You okay, baby?”

“Yeah, it’s exactly right.”

I hear Nola sniff and look to see her rubbing under her eyes. She notices me and smiles. “It is perfect. I’m so happy for you. I’m going to go to my house. Or apartment, whatever we’re going to call it. You guys have a good night.” We give hugs and Deklan and I explore the house.

I’m completely happy with the kitchen. Everything is there that I wanted. Deklan tests out the pull drawer below the wine cooler and gives a fist pump and a loud “yes” when he sees beer already stocked. I laugh and open the fridge to see that someone had been to the farmer’s market. There was fresh squeezed orange juice and free range eggs with bacon and sausage.

“I love this place, look at how healthy all of this looks.”

Deklan doesn’t answer me, because he’s become sidetracked out on the patio. I walk out and there’s a fireplace on one end with couches and a huge ottoman. On the other side of the kitchen doors is the built-in grill and bar. Deklan fiddles with the dials for a second and turns to smile at me. “Guess what we’re doing for dinner tomorrow?”

I laugh, and we go upstairs. I can’t wait to see the nursery.

I slowly open the door that has a pale pink T hanging on it by a gray ribbon. I walk in slowly, taking it in. The hardwood floor is the same dark brown. The walls are a pale gray with a white crib, and a pink chair and ottoman are next to the window. The bedding is white, dark gray, and light pink chevron. A dark gray shag rug is on the floor. There are ornate, white framed mirrors and a few of the better belly pictures we’ve taken. All of her clothes are in the walk-in closet. The changing table and dresser are dark gray, and there’s a pink chenille cover on the changing table.

“This is so beautiful,” I whisper to Deklan.

He nods. “It really does look fit for a princess, doesn’t it?”

I give a watery laugh. “Yeah, it sure does.” We spend a quiet minute looking at all of the details, then Deklan goes downstairs to get our luggage, and I go into the bedroom.

The walls are chocolate brown with white crown molding at the top. There’s a huge ceiling fan over the sleigh bed that’s a deep cherry. Under the bed is a tan rug, and the duvet is bright white. I walk into the walk-in closet off of the bathroom and groan, putting my elbow on the island in the middle of the room and covering my mouth with my hand.

Deklan rushes in. “Babe, what’s wrong?”

“I think I just had an orgasm.”

He’s still waiting for me to be in labor or something. “What?”

I wave my hands around. “Look at this room!”

His face goes slack with shock. “Jesus Christ!” he shouts then turns around and walks out. I chuckle behind him and look at my heaven of a closet.

The carpet is a thick plush white, there are built-in cabinets everywhere with rails and racks for shoes and purses. In the middle is a glass-topped island with drawers on all sides for jewelry and accessories. The whole thing is locked automatically with a keypad.

I sigh over my room for a few more minutes, then go into the bathroom to take a much needed shower after the day of travel. We opted for two rainfall shower heads that are in the ceiling. Deklan and I take a shower side by side laughing at the oddity.

When we lie in bed an hour later, I whisper to him, “Goodnight, husband.”

He moves his mouth to mine and whispers into my mouth, “Goodnight wife.”

The next morning, Deklan and I do our yoga in the backyard on the grass. After that, we take showers and get ready for the day. Deklan is having the guys over to record in the basement studio to test out all of his new toys.

I have plans for the day. At the county fair. It’s the second week of the three week fair. I had originally planned to get there on the first day, but with staying an extra week in Antigua, this is how it worked out. I put on a strapless, white, knee-length dress with a brown belt that goes above my stomach and brown cowboy boots.