The heavy fabric and faux-fur cuffs and collar of her wedding gown’s coat-like outer layer had kept her plenty warm throughout the short outdoor ceremony, but the heat of Nick’s hands as he clasped her face was heavenly, chasing the chill from her cheeks. With a tantalizing lack of hurry, he kissed her to seal their marriage, and almost on cue, snow began to fall as he drew her body against his, adding a hint of magic to an already perfect moment. The simmering impatience that had been her faithful companion for the last year faded away.
“At last,” he whispered against her lips.
Grinning, she nodded in agreement. After twenty-one years of friendship, their year-long engagement had crept by, but now they were husband and wife, and she melted into him.
“It is my absolute pleasure to introduce for the first time Mr. Nicholas William and Mrs. Elizabeth Anne Hammond,” the minister announced. “Join me in congratulating them and wishing them a long life of happiness together.”
Beth wrapped her hands around Nick’s arm and turned with him to face the more than two hundred faces of their friends and families. They strode down the aisle in a shower of snowflakes and lavender-colored rose petals, followed by their wedding party—Sam and Michelle as their best man and maid of honor, Aaron and Henry as the groomsmen, and June and Aelissm as the bridesmaids.
The wedding had been everything Beth had ever dreamed of and more, held in the hayfield next to the Lazy H’s main house with the snowy eastern Northstar Mountains as a stunning backdrop. Even the threat of snow had only added to the beauty of it, a reflection of the storms she and Nick had weathered together. And Nick looked so handsome in his storm-gray tux with the ice-blue vest and lavender accents that matched the dress peeking out from under her thick white wedding coat.
Excitement built as everyone climbed in their cars and trucks and drove across the Northstar valley to the High Country Lodge for the reception. By the time she and Nick stepped into the massive great room of the log structure, the snow had tapered off again to a scattering of fine flakes. Long tables adorned with rustic winter decorations filled the rear of the great room, and in the front, a dance floor had been set up below the enormous windows that looked out across the valley at the Lazy H Ranch and the mountains beyond.
It was breathtaking, and Beth bit the inside of her cheek to assure herself it was real.
Within minutes, the heat from the fire crackling in the stone hearth on the left wall and the press of bodies made the outer layer of her gown suffocating.
“All right, ladies,” Michelle said to June and Aelissm, “let’s get out of these before we all overheat.”
All three women were dressed similarly to Beth with thick outer layers lined with faux-fur, but where hers was white and accented with a belt of glittering rhinestones, theirs were ice blue and accented with belts of lavender silk rosettes. Michelle led the way up the stairs to the dressing rooms in the loft, and they took turns helping each other out of the warm outer layers. As the other women’s pale lavender gowns and her own ice-blue gown were revealed, Beth took a moment to appreciate the genius of Michelle and June’s design. They’d both be incredible teachers, but if for some reason that path didn’t work out for them, Beth could see either of them doing very well in wedding planning.
As they returned to the main floor, Beth let her eyes roam over the room.
The best decision she’d made regarding her wedding was to turn the execution of her ideas over to these three incredible women and her mother and Nick’s. While June and Michelle and Natalie and Tracie had handled the softer side of it all, Aelissm had done an amazing job creating the rustic centerpieces—log candle holders and wrought iron candelabras. Nick had complimented her own decorative prowess on several occasions, but she wasn’t sure she could have pulled off her ideas without her bridal party.
Nick, leaning against one of the heavy log posts supporting the loft, beamed as she approached. “I’m not sure which look is my favorite. The outer gown was exquisite, but this… this is more fun. More you.”
He held out his hand to her, and she took it, turning it over to admire his wedding band. It was gold filigree to match her engagement ring, and the sight of it on his finger added another layer of contentment. Everything was as it should be now.
Throughout the meal, the cutting of the cake, the heartwarming toasts, and after as she and Nick moved through the room to chat with their wedding guests, that happy glow stayed with her. As afternoon faded into evening and the time to dance approached, that glow shifted into a heady anticipation. Plates and glasses were cleared, and the band began their warm up. It was the very same she and Nick had danced to at the Club Bar on the night Trey had raped her, and Beth couldn’t explain it, but that had played a role in her decision to hire them. They were good, of course, and that was her primary reason, but there was something about bringing everything full circle that appealed to her. Yes, what had happened to her that night had shattered her life and Nick’s, but they had rebuilt themselves and their relationship from the pieces and created something amazing.
She turned to grin across the room at her husband. His lips lifted to match and he excused himself from her father and grandfather and headed for the dance floor. Making her way through the crowd, she took his hand, almost as eager for this next part of their evening as she was for what would follow.
“Everyone ready for Nick and Beth’s first dance as husband and wife?” Aaron called over the chatter.
A cheer answered him, and the band struck up a song of their own composition… but it wasn’t a lively, fast-paced song to swing to. Instead, it was deep, rich, and seductive. From the corner of her eye, Beth saw several faces shift into surprise. Everyone had undoubtedly expected them to swing for their first dance, especially since the band they’d hired was known for that style of music, but while she liked the idea of bringing things full circle, today was also about completing the evolution of their relationship. That night at the Club Bar had been the beginning, and their energetic dance that night had been fittingly flirty and fun. But today marked the final stage of that evolution. She’d decided—and Nick had agreed—on a sultry, sexy tango, and as he led her around the floor, everything and everyone else fell away. This was not their first tango, but it was different than any they’d danced before, and the closeness the dance required awakened a new and intoxicating awareness of his body. There was such effortless and graceful power in him, and she was suddenly impatient to get the rest of the reception out of the way so they could escape to their new home and she could find out just how seamlessly they moved together in ways they hadn’t yet tried.
As if he sensed the direction of her thoughts, he grinned. When he spoke, however, desire roughened his voice. “Think anyone will mind if we duck out early?”
“I’m not sure I care,” she replied breathlessly.
Even as they danced, she took his face in her hands and kissed him deeply with an insatiable fire burning in her core, not caring that the whole of Northstar was watching. How was she supposed to hold it back for another two hours?
As the song ended and he held her low over the floor, he kissed her tenderly, but it did nothing to quiet the hunger for more.
“You should see your face right now,” he said, chuckling.
“Oh?”
“You have the look of a woman with a single-minded determination to get what she wants. Do you remember me telling you I almost felt sorry for the man you married because he’d have no hope of telling you no?”
Frowning, she tried to recall the incident he referred to, and it took her a moment, but she finally brought it to mind. He’d said it the afternoon she’d pestered him into a double date with her and Trey. “Feeling sorry for yourself, are you?”
“Nope. Because tonight I finally get to tell you yes. But I think your dad would be horribly disappointed if he doesn’t get to share the father-daughter dance with you.”
She located her father in the ring of people, and his eager and hopeful expression was so sweet that her impatience cooled. Glancing up at Nick, she squeezed his arm.
“Savor every moment,” he reminded her.
Heeding his advice, she spent the next two hours dancing and enjoying every second of it. But when Aaron’s return from their house announced the end of the reception, she was ready for it to end and ready to focus her attention entirely on her husband. The elder Hammond twin begged one last dance with her, and when it was over, he leaned down and kissed her cheek.
“Fire’s going, sis,” he remarked, stepping aside so Nick could take her back. “Should be nice and toasty for you two.”
“Thank you, Aaron,” she replied, hugging him.
After Beth slipped into her wedding coat, their guests gathered around to send them off, and they stepped into the icy December night to clapping and cheering. Nick helped her into the passenger side of his truck before climbing in behind the wheel. Waving to their wedding guests, they drove away with the “just married” cans and horseshoes his brothers had tied to his bumper rattling against the gravel road.
As Nick turned onto Aspen Creek Road, Beth spotted their house at the base of the foothills of the eastern Northstar mountains. So far away, it was little more than a twinkling star amidst the dark night, but to her it was a beacon welcoming her to the rest of her life. It grew larger and brighter as they rolled down the long road, crossed over the creek, and climbed the rise toward the foothills. When Nick parked in front of the two-story log home, she didn’t immediately get out of the truck, too mesmerized by the beauty of it to move. Construction had only just been completed two weeks ago, and this would be their first night in it. Nick had rightly noted that it would make their first night living here together all the more special if they waited until their wedding night. Just like they’d waited to consummate their relationship.
Five bedrooms and three bathrooms was more than she thought they’d ever need, and she would’ve been happy with something smaller for now, but Nick had made an excellent point—they weren’t building something temporary. Not with their relationship and not with their home. And even if they never had kids or didn’t have enough to fill all the rooms, they’d have plenty of room for guests.
“You ready?” he asked.
With a start, she realized he was standing beside her open door.
“Just taking a moment to admire our home. It still seems so huge even though it’s no bigger than my parents’ and grandparents’ places.”
“It looks bigger because it’s on a hill.” He looked up at the L-shaped building with its wall of windows facing southwest and smiled. “It seems huge now, but just wait until we have both our families over for Christmas. It’ll get small real fast.”
She took his offered hand and walked up the steps to the covered portion of the deck, and even though she’d expected it, she let out a small squeak of surprise when he swept her off her feet and carried her through the French doors at the center of the towering wall of windows at the front of the great room. Concern momentarily flickered as a memory bubbled to the surface of her thoughts, but she brushed it aside. Nick’s shoulder had healed well with no lingering stiffness or soreness.
“I’m fine,” he assured her. His voice was achingly soft and sympathetic. “I had a feeling old memories might show up tonight.”
After he set her on her feet again, she tilted her head and studied him. “That’s not such a bad thing. Tonight we overwrite them with something better.”
As Aaron had promised, a fire burned brightly in the big river-rock hearth to her left. Straight back was the well-outfitted kitchen and dining area, and to her right, in the other leg of the L were a bathroom and two bedrooms. On the wall directly to her right was the staircase up to the loft above the kitchen, which held the master suite, and to the two additional bedrooms and third bathroom, which sat directly over the bedrooms and bathroom downstairs. With the chaos of last-minute wedding prep, they’d had no time yet to decorate, so the place was mostly bare except for the furniture, much of which had been donated by friends and family with the thought that they’d pick out their own furniture later. Glancing from the comfortably worn sectional couch and recliner to the scarred coffee table, Beth thought what they already had was just perfect.
“Is this real?” she asked, certain she must be dreaming.
Without a word, Nick pulled her into his arms and kissed her. “Does this feel real?” He ducked his head to kiss her neck. “How about this?”
Tingles danced delightfully over her skin, and she wrapped her arms around him, digging her fingers into his back. “It feels real… but I’m not convinced it is yet.”
After draping the jacket of his tux over the arm of the couch, he peeled the heavy white outer layer of her dress off her, he stepped across the room to turn off the lights and turn on the stereo. The soft notes of a quiet love song played through the surround sound system—a gift from Nick’s parents—and he held out his hand to her.
“Dance with me?” he asked.
She slipped into his arms with a shy smile. “Always.”
As they slow danced, she was acutely aware of the heat and firmness of his body, and when she rested her head on his shoulder, the familiar scent of him brought to mind memories of those nights right after the rape, of finding safety and peace in his arms when the rest of her world was in chaos.
She curled her fingers around a fistful of hair and pulled his head down so she could kiss him. As their lips met, she pressed her body against his, but sensing tension in him, she leaned back to search his eyes and noted a shadow in them. Certainty settled over her.
It was time.
Taking his hand, she led him upstairs to the loft. Another set of French doors—these with frosted glass—opened into the beautiful master bedroom. A king-size log bed dominated the room. The sexy turquoise nightgown she’d picked out for later tonight was laid out on the pillowy white bedspread, but she ignored it. It was nearly the same color as the sundress Trey had ruined, and that was another intentional decision she’d made about their wedding. One by one, they were smashing every ugly reminder of that night and replacing them with something beautiful.
Nick eyed it, and when his brows furrowed, she took him by the chin and touched her lips lightly to his. With deliberate care, she unbuttoned his vest and slid it over his shoulders and down his arms, then hung it over the top rail of the footboard of their bed. As she unbuttoned his dress shirt, anticipation ignited, and heat blossomed deliciously in her core when he reached behind her to unzip her dress.
She’d been waiting for this for over a year now, but now that it was here, she was in no hurry to get on with it, content to let her hands dance over the planes of his upper body.
Savor every moment.
He slid his hands along her jaw and down her neck and back as he trailed kisses from her jaw over the curve of her shoulder. She arched into his touches. As her dress fell away to pool on the floor around her feet, she inhaled deeply as if she had been freed.
The rest of their clothing followed soon after, and Nick paused in his caresses to turn down the blankets. Beth shoved him onto the bed with what she hoped was playfulness and straddled his waist, inhaling sharply as the action pressed his arousal against her entrance and primal need exploded. She dug her fingers into his shoulders.
“Not yet,” he whispered, gathering her in his arms with his hands splayed across her back. He pressed his lips between her breasts.
“I thought you weren’t going to tell me no tonight,” she replied, her voice rough with desire.
He gave a sniff of laughter. “Not yet isn’t no.”
She wanted to beg him to take her now, but the words caught in her throat as a sudden shyness overcame her. She sat back in his lap, and he hesitated, studying her with a frown as he searched her face for signs of distress.
“Are you all right?”
She nodded but caught her lip between her teeth.
With his infallible instinct telling him what she needed, he gently pivoted them so he was on top and stroked his hands up and down her body, following his palms and fingertips with his lips. His touch was light and reverent at first, then firmer and less restrained until her need for him burned away everything else. She thought she would have to beg him to take it the rest of the way, but as with everything else in their relationship, he knew what she needed even before she was aware enough to put it into words. He positioned himself to enter her, scanning her face once more to make sure she was ready. She tilted her hips, and a small whimper escaped her. She was more than ready.
He’d told her once that what Trey had done didn’t count, but she hadn’t believed him. Not really. Now, as Nick slid inside her and a breath escaped her, she did. She had expected discomfort, but there was none, only relief that the ache for more would soon be satiated. The final lingering scars of that godawful night left her, drifting away like ashes on the wind as Nick pushed deeper into her with utmost tenderness and patience to give her body time to adjust to him.
He stopped for a moment, searching her eyes, asking silently if she was still okay. She had no hope of describing how much better than okay she was. There was no way she could have imagined how incredible it would be to feel him inside her, filling her, and her breath came in raggedly as she nodded. When he wasn’t convinced, she rocked her hips.
Just like everything else with him, this was right. There was no trace of hesitation or trepidation as she gave in to instinct and sensation and let the rhythm of their bodies mesmerize her. Closing her eyes, she sucked in a breath.
“Beth…?”
Hearing a note of worry in his voice, she opened her eyes, but she couldn’t bring the words together to allay his fears, so she grinned with feline satisfaction. Relief washed over his beloved face, and he lowered his head to kiss her fiercely as he let her set the pace. Curious, she tried a few different things to see what she liked, and when doubt infiltrated her mind, she shut herself off to everything but the sensations rippling through her body. She expected him to take over, but he didn’t, matching whatever pace she set, and the power that gave her was intoxicating.
Slowly, she inched them toward climax, but the closer they came to it, the more aware she became that she didn’t know how to push them over the edge. His control was breathtaking, but what she wanted right now was for him to let go, to claim her completely. She dragged his mouth down to hers, capturing his lip between her teeth and tugging on it with a growl. Sliding her hands down his body, she dug her fingers into his lower back and then his buttocks in a blunt demand.
“Please,” she whimpered against his lips. “I need you to take over.”
He met her eyes then, and she saw the moment his control shattered. Yes! A cry of ecstasy escaped her as he pushed deep and hard, faster and faster. Just when she thought she would break into a million pieces if she couldn’t reach the climax, it broke over her, and she gasped, clinging to Nick as their bodies quaked with the force of it.
The aftershocks trembled through her for a long time as they lay still joined. Her body felt a bit like Jell-O—deliciously relaxed and exhausted and not at all capable of standing. Not that she was planning to leave the bed and Nick any time soon. Sated and content, she cradled his head to her chest and combed her hand through his hair. She couldn’t imagine sharing this—with anyone but him. For a moment, she pinched her eyes closed and let the relief and gratitude wash over her. The rape had changed her, but it hadn’t broken her. Not even close. And the complete comfort and contentment that filled her right now was the most wonderful proof of that.
Nick rolled onto his back and held his arms open in invitation, and she wasted no time tucking her body against his. For a while, she rested her head on his shoulder, but then she propped herself up on her elbow and gazed at him. She raked her hand through his hair again, and the way his eyes slid closed in pleasure delighted her.
This right here, right now, was all that mattered in the world.
After a moment, Nick opened his eyes again and smiled. “You amaze me.”
Tilting her head with brows lifted expectantly, she waited for him to elaborate, drawing abstract patterns on his chest with her fingertips.
“I kept waiting to see fear in your eyes.” He tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear as a proud smile lifted his lips. “But it’s completely gone now.”
“I told you—I’m never afraid with you and I never will be.” She settled down beside him and pulled his arm around her before resting her head on his chest. “This is right where I belong. Where I’ve always belonged.”
He tightened his arms around her, capturing her hand as she started tracing patterns on his skin again. Pressing a kiss to her knuckles, he chuckled. “Yes, it is.”
* * * * *