Here Comes The Bride (17 page)

Apparently I hadn't hidden it too well.

"What?" She looked over her shoulder.

"Nothing," I fought my grin.

She stopped walking.

"What? Is there something wrong?" She started looking over herself. I felt guilty for making her feel like she looked anything less than gorgeous.

"Lilli, you look beautiful. It's just that...well...it's a turtleneck..." I pressed my lips together trying not to laugh.

"Oh..." then she started laughing too.
"Well, that's your fault!" She stepped to the door, slipping on her coat as she walked.

Taking larger strides, I reached for her arm and walk her out to the car waiting for us. After helping her into the car, I sli
d in next to her. That’s when I noticed Lilli's shoes.

As I got situated in the backseat with her
, she crossed her legs. Immediately drawn to her beautiful, long, toned, legs wrapped in brown, knee-high, leather boots. My imagination went crazy; Lilli on our bed only wearing those boots, my head beneath the hem of her dress, knee-high, leather boots on my shoulders. I shivered at the images I conjured.

"Are you cold?"

I shook my head.

It didn't take long to arrive to the restaurant and soon the door was being opened. I stepped out and held out my hand for Lilli. She took my
proffered hand and stepped out, those damn boots making their appearance before anything else.

Damn fuck me boots. Jesus!

"Thank you," she smiled and straightened. Offering my arm, we entered. "Isn't this the –?"

"The Tavern on the Green? Yes." I smiled as we were met
by the hostess. "Mr. and Mrs. Iverson."

"Of course, Mister Iverson, please follow me." The hostess smiled a little too friendly, but we followed her.

"Why are we going away from the tables?" Lilli whispered into my ear.

"Because, I reserved a private table."
Just as I finished my sentence we were shown into a private room large enough to seat thirty to forty people easily. However, it was currently filled with red roses and a single table.

"A private table
, huh?" I looked at her face just in time to see her raise her eyebrows at me.

"Okay, so it's an entire room," I shrugged.

She laughed.

"You always have to be over the top
, don't you?" I pulled her chair out for her.

"Sometimes it's good though, right?" I took my seat.

Her smile was bright and wide – infectious. She nodded.

"Sometimes, it’s very good."

The waiter was quick to get our wine selection, appetizers, and anything else we desired. Once he returned with the wine, water, bread, and small appetizers, he took our main entrée orders and was on his way again.

I took a drink of wine and cleared my throat.

"Did I tell you that you look gorgeous tonight?" I raised one eyebrow and smiled crooked at her.

"No, you said beautiful earlier."

"Oh,." I smiled.

"You know, you're giving mixed signals the way you change your mind. Is it beautiful or gorgeous?" She teased and sipped at her drink.

"Hmm...how about delicious?" I offered.

"Wow, delicious. Do you plan on eating me later?" She blushed and put her hand up before I could answer. "Never mind, don't answer that." She giggled.

"Favorite movie?"

She gave me an amused look before shaking her head. "I didn’t mean you had to go the whole
twenty questions route when I talked about slowing down.

"Honestly, I don't have a favorite.  I like a lot of movies, though, I'll say I've seen Breakfast at Tiffany's the most.  What about you?"

"Hmmm...well, that's not an easy one to answer. I have different favorites for different reasons. I mean
, I love The Godfather movies, James Bond and Team America World Police; however, there are others."

"America...Fuck Yeah!" She sang, just before she brought her wine glass to her mouth.

"Durkah, durkah."

I thought wine was going to come out of her nose. Once she calmed down, she removed he
r hand from her mouth and nose.

"Don't do that when I'm taking a drink." She teasingly scolded.

"Here, try this," I stabbed some of the lobster bisque close to me and held it up to her. She leaned a little and took the fork into her mouth. She moaned and licked her lips. My pants became increasingly tight.

"That's really good," she sipped her water.

"I know, it's one of my favorites, which brings another question." She looked at me with her full attention. "Favorite food?"

"Oh, now that’s almost impossible to answer," she seemed to really have to think about it. "I really can't answer that." She sighed. "I like a lot of different things; pizza is a consistent staple, along with Chinese."

"Okay. Favorite book?"

"That's easy, Little Women." She smiled and I couldn't help but smile at her.

Our food arrived and we fell into a comfortable silence as we enjoyed our dinner.

"What about musicals, do you like those? Or plays?" I hoped I wasn’t being
too obvious or giving away my surprise.

"Well, I really have only seen musicals made into movies. You know, like My Fair Lady, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, etcetera, but I like them. My Fair Lady is one of my favorites
. Though, that may be because of Audrey Hepburn, who I adore."

"Hepburn fan?"

"Definitely." She pushed her plate away and leaned onto the table again.

"Really?"
She nodded and sipped at her wine.

"So what about you, Iverson
? What are you hobbies?"

"Hmm...I guess baseball. Or at least it was my hobby." I sighed.

"What?" she asked with concern.

"I don't have the time anymore to meet up with the guys and play. It kind of sucks." I chuckled halfheartedly.

"Sorry," she mumbled.

"It's not your fault, why are you sorry?"

"I brought it up." She shrugged.

When I realized time had flown by and it was passed seven
, I had to hurry us out of the restaurant to our next destination. Pulling up to The Gershwin Theater, Lilli looked a little perplexed.

"Ready?" I offered my hand and helped her out of the car. We headed into the theater, straight to the VIP section.

"Mr. Iverson," the attendant nodded to me. "Mrs. Iverson," he nodded to Lilli.

She paused momentarily, but quickly recovered.

"I’m still not use to being called that," she giggled, quietly, into my shoulder. I chuckled.

"Well, get used to it, Mr
s. Iverson." We sat down in our box.

"So
, what are we watching?"

I handed her the playbill.

"Wicked? Really?" I nodded. "I've wanted to see this."

"Good, cause I wasn't sure if this would be your 'thing'." Silently, I released a breath of relief.

We talked a little more about each other before the lights started to lower and the stage lit up. Lilli grew very quiet and stared intently at the performance. I mostly watched Lilli. Every so often she would lick and chew on her bottom lip, which turned me on.

She really did amaze me. She was clueless
as to the effect she had on men. Not once did she seem to realize how the waiter stared at her or the way the men waiting to be seated at the restaurant turned to watch her walk by. The power she held was something she wouldn't believe.

At intermission she excused herself to the restroom, but I insisted on escorting her. If she thought I was going to let her be alone
, she was crazy. I felt justified in accompanying her when I noticed two men eying her hungrily on her walk to the ladies room. Then I watched as they moved to stand near the ladies room. When Lilli walked out, one man stopped her. She shook her head and started to walk away, but he placed his hand on her arm to hold her back. That was it.

"Lilli, love, are you ready to return to our seats?" I stressed 'our' and stared daggers at both men.

"Yes, of course. It was nice to meet you both." She smiled politely and latched onto my arm. I was more pissed at how uncomfortable they’d made her.

I wrapped my arm around her waist both protectively and possessively, holding her to me tightly.

"Calm down, caveman," Lilli teased. "They just wanted my number." She patted my chest.

"
That's not all they wanted," I growled.

"
And how would you know?" She rolled her eyes.

"I
'm a guy and I've been thinking about it all night."

"Then you are no better than they are." She snorted.

"But I'm your husband," I corrected her, "and by law I can think about it all I want." Smiling, I wiggled my eyebrows.

"You devious little shi –" The lights lowered to signal intermission was ending.

"Shh, the show is back on." I coughed to cover my chuckle and she smacked me. Grabbing her hand, I kept hold of it for the rest of the show.

When the show ended,
Lilli smiled widely and joined in the standing ovation. She pulled her coat tighter around her as we exited and I wrapped my arm around her shoulders.

"It's so darn cold."

I caught her by surprise when I steered her away from the curb and toward a large horse drawn carriage.

"Aidan..?" I coaxed her to climb in. She paused and looked at me. "It's too cold," she whined.

"Just get in." She paused and crinkled up her face. I leaned in to her ear. "Do you think I would let you freeze?" she sighed and climbed up. I followed.

The carriage driver urged the horse to move and I grabbed a heavy blanket from under the seat, wrapping it around us. When Lilli buried herself into my side to keep warm, I mentally gave myself a high five. Her glorious curves pressed against me. I could feel her from shoulder to leather covered toe.

Heat collected between us and the cold disappeared. When she started to shift away, I held her tightly in place.

We rode through the cold clear night, talking about ourselves and asking questions until the carriage came to the end of the journey. I quickly ushered her into the warm car, but pulled her to my side
once more. It didn’t escape me that she didn't resist.

Once home, I stopped at the front door before opening it. Lilli looked at me confused.

"What are you doing? Open the door it's late and cold." She urged with a smile.

"Technically this is our first date."

She rolled her eyes.

"So that means you have to freeze me on the doorstep?" She laughed.

"No, but I want to do something." I leaned in and kissed her lightly. Her hands slid to my neck and she pulled me closer. Slipping my tongue between her lips, she parted her mouth, giving me entry.

It took every tiny molecule in my body to pull away from her instead of going caveman again. I pulled back and smiled at her.

"Thank you." I whispered, my forehead pressed to hers.

"No, thank you. It was a really nice eveni
ng." She put her right palm over my heart. I felt her shiver so I opened the door and let us inside.

We walked hand in hand to the bedroom. As much as I wanted it, there would be no sex tonight. Tonight was about making her understand. She was more than
an arrangement to me, even if I didn't have the balls to flat out tell her. I could only hope this was one small step would prove what I was feeling for her.

Chapter
Seven

Not Always Black and White

Lilli

We’d kept up the general conversation that started at dinner. I have to admit the date last night was wonderful and surprising. I hadn’t expected him to take such quick action
to learn more about
me. The last surprise had been getting ready for bed and not having sex. I’d been surprised and disappointed when he didn’t make a move.

I woke
the next morning with his arm draped over my waist, his breath warming my shoulder blade. For Aidan’s mouth to be at that level of my back he had to be further down the bed than I was.

Craning my neck over my shoulder, I found I was right. I was almost eye level with his messy auburn hair. Smiling
, I shifted my body to get up.

"Where are you going?" Aidan mumbled against my back, quickly pressing his lips against my skin.

"The bathroom," I rolled my eyes, though he couldn’t see me. I shifted to move again, but still couldn’t. "Aidan?"

"Hmm?" The sound vibrated against my back causing me to shiver.

"Can you let go of me please?"

He stretched out onto his back, releasing my waist.

"Sorry," he groaned.