Sage
I’d made a mistake.
No matter how flustered and upset and all-around stunned I was last night, I should’ve asked Luke about our future. Definitely before he confessed to loving me. And definitely before I confessed the same.
“Sage?” Rose called my name as she opened the door to my room.
Tears pooled in the corners of my eyes on seeing her once more. We’d been in her old room all morning getting ready. From hairstylists to makeup artists to photographers, I’d never had so many people working on my appearance before, but when I looked at myself in the mirror, I couldn’t complain.
They’d done a great job, and the boost of confidence I felt at how good I looked helped ease the remnants of anxiety that still remained after last night.
“You okay?”
Smiling, I walked over and pulled her in for a hug, careful not to disturb her veil from where our mom had pinned it to the back of her hair.
“I should be asking you that,” I told her in a thick voice. “It’s your wedding day.”
“We’re sisters. We ask each other.”
I couldn’t help but squeeze her a little tighter.
“Love you, Rose,” I murmured. “Thank you for everything. I’m—”
“If you are about to apologize to me for last night, I will kick you out of my wedding. It’s not too late. I’m sure Ronnie will be thrilled to put on your dress and fill in as maid of honor.”
We both laughed, and I held back my instinctive ‘sorry.’
Sniffling, I stepped back and smoothed the long skirt of the dark wine-colored dress. I loved the color Rose had picked for her bridesmaids. I loved the empire waist and the three-quarter sleeves. And though it wasn’t completely my style, I felt beautiful.
“Are you okay? Are you ready?” I checked the clock on my nightstand. The ceremony was starting in thirty minutes, so we still had time for a few last-minute emergencies.
“Oh, I’m definitely ready.” She grinned. “I came to see if you were ready.”
“Of course.” My head bobbed, and I quickly checked the fake flower–embellished comb that we each had worked into our hairdo.
Since my hair was short, I’d settled on loose curls with one side pulled back by my ear with the comb. Not only was it simple, it also highlighted the earrings I’d made for all the bridesmaids to wear, along with the matching necklaces.
“Is there something you need me to do? Are the guys okay? Do they need anything?” I asked in quick succession, wanting to keep busy so my thoughts didn’t run away with me—didn’t run me back to Luke and all the things I was anxious to talk to him about.
Like it was going to kill me to wait until I saw him at the reception.
“They’re okay,” she answered, and then pulled her hand out from where it was tucked away in the folds of her dress. “But I do have something for you.”
She held out a white envelope.
My first thought was that it was a thank-you letter from Rose—something that she gave to all of her bridesmaids. But when I flipped it over, my heart stopped.
Holding the flap closed was a white owl sticker.
My eyes snapped to my sister, catching her small smile before she insisted, “Open it.”
My thumb popped the seal. Sliding out the thick parchment from inside, I sucked in a breath.
If I didn’t know any better—or didn’t know reality from fiction—I’d think this was my acceptance letter to Hogwarts; it certainly had all the makings of one minus the real owls.
Heat began to race through my body, the flurry of my pulse making my fingers tremble with impatience as I unfolded the paper and scanned over the handwritten lines.
Dear Ms. Walker,
I’m pleased to inform you that you are needed in a matter of utmost importance with regards to your wizardry, bewitchments, and all-around temptation. Please find below the necessary meeting location and time:
The Laundry Room
Now
Yours Sincerely,
Luke Chambers
Dark Lord, Master Brewer, and Loving Boyfriend
“Rose.” I choked, my chest feeling tight.
My sister shook her head, her eyes dancing as she picked up her skirt so she could back away from the door.
“Don’t look at me for answers,” she said playfully. “You know exactly where to find them.”
I tried to swallow over the balloon of hope in my throat and ended up biting my cheek to stop the trembling smile eager to take over my lips.
“Thank you,” I murmured, pausing in front of her on the way out of my room.
“Don’t thank me. Now remember, you have time, but you also have my wedding.” Her chin notched up. “And if you’re not there on time, I’ll turn into a pumpkin. So, tell Hot Luke that he has to wait until the reception to completely cocknap you.”
I shook my head and laughed all the way to the top of the back staircase that would take me downstairs.
I threw the door to the laundry room open, stopping short with my breath lodged like a ball of flame in my chest.
Luke stood at the far end of the room, facing out the window. He wore a dark navy suit that fit every corner and plane of him to perfection, and his thick hair was combed back into contained waves I itched to run my fingers through.
“Luke?” The door clicked shut behind me.
He turned slowly, and that was when I saw it: the Voldemort mask.
I wanted to laugh, really, I did. But it was physically, humanly, and most likely magically impossible because if I thought Luke could make the villain look hot in draping black robes, that was nothing compared to the Dark Lord in a tailored suit.
“Jesus, you look beautiful,” he said, breaking his persona because he couldn’t seem to stop himself once he’d looked me over.
I bit my lip, feeling my body come to life at the compliment. My nipples tingled and a low ache for him settled between my thighs.
“What are you doing?” I asked with a breathless laugh, trying to ignore the desire ignited in my blood.
“I wanted to tell you in person that you have a new escort for the ceremony this afternoon,” came his rich reply.
I gasped. “W-What?”
I’d thought Callan was going to do a double loop, walking Donna down and then swinging back to escort me.
He held out his arms. “You said you’d prefer Voldemort.”
My smile made my cheeks quiver.
“I changed my mind,” I said, taking a step closer and then resting my hip on the washer. “I’d prefer my boyfriend, Luke.”
My body hummed, referring to him as my boyfriend.
A low, possessive growl rumbled through the air before he reached up and slid the mask from his face.
“Good.” He took the necessary steps to erase the distance between us and cupped my face. “I love you, Sage.”
I sucked in an audible breath, his words sending my pulse into an ecstatic flurry and my mind into a swirl of happiness that was both incredible and overwhelming at the same time.
“Luke—”
He kissed me gently, not letting me interrupt his declaration. “The thing is, Sage, for so much of my life, I forced myself to want what everyone else told me I should. I thought maybe I didn’t know—was too young or too dumb, so I believed them. Thing is, when you really want something, it’s not work to want it. It’s not a struggle or something that takes convincing. There’re no questions when it comes to why or how or how much, the doubts only come when it’s something that’s not meant to be.” He paused. “And when you know something is meant to be, that’s the only right time that matters.”
I couldn’t breathe. Happiness quaked through my cells like mini earthquakes, breaking whatever was left of the foundation of fears and worry.
“And since I know what it’s like to try to want things that have no place in my life or my future, I can see clearly when something—or someone—walks into my life that is a thousand percent supposed to be there.” He drew a shuddering breath. “And when you walked into my brewery, I knew you were meant to be in my life. Forever.”
“Luke—” I blubbered, trying to catch my tears before they ruined my makeup. “You’re making me cry.”
“What can I say…” His big hands took over the job, making quick work of drying my cheeks. “I like to make all of you melt.”
I bit my lip and then laughed, wondering if it was possible to feel this happy.
“I love you, beautiful.”
“Luke, I love you, too, but we need to figure out how this is going to work. I mean, my apartment is in Portsmouth, and I just signed a lease for my store there. And you—you live here. Your business—”
“Is expanding to Portsmouth,” he finished definitively.
Everything else I was about to say collided in my throat like a car crash, words piling up because I couldn’t have heard him right.
“W-What?”
“I was waiting for everything to be finalized to tell you, but I just got the email last night,” he went on. “I’m buying an old restaurant that I’m going to turn into the Fantasy Brewpub.”
I stared, stunned speechless but only for a second. “But the brewery…”
“Does well here, but a separate brewpub has been in the works for some time, sitting in my mind as what I wanted to do, but something always felt off about it. But then while we were carving our pumpkin the other week, I realized why,” he continued, taking a step toward me and sliding the mask off his face. “I kept thinking about where to put the second location here in Laconia… and that was what was off. I don’t want a second location here.”
My heart began to thrum wildly.
“And when you told me about your store, it hit me that I should’ve been looking in Portsmouth; I knew that was where Fantasy needed to take its next step.”
He continued to walk closer until he could reach out and gently hold my arms.
“So, you don’t want me to move back here?” I asked, my voice thick with emotion.
“No, Sage,” he said with a low chuckle, the sound pooling like hot embers in my stomach. “I mean, it’s going to take a little transition and some commuting back here, but no, I don’t want you to move—”
I gripped his suit jacket and sealed my lips over his. The details didn’t matter. Nothing else mattered except that he was mine and I was his and what we had was meant to be.
It only took a second before he kissed me back hungrily, his tongue probing deep between my lips and laying a new kind of claim over my mouth.
I pulled back with a gasp when I felt my butt hit the washer and jostle me against the prominent ridge of thickness at his hips.
“I should get back to Rose. The ceremony starts soon,” I murmured breathlessly.
“Soon means there’s still time,” he rasped, kissing down my neck while his hands found their way to my breasts.
Moaning, I arched into him, his expert fingers finding my pebbled nipples where they beaded and begged for his attention.
“Luke!” I gasped when he pinched them, feeling his smile curve his lips where they pressed to the crook of my neck. “We can’t… it’ll be too loud.”
He shifted, releasing my breasts and reaching behind me. “Not like this,” he said, hitting the button to start the dryer. With a wink, he added, “A little trick someone taught me.”
I felt my cheeks flame. “I’ve never tried it for…”
“Good,” he growled possessively and then locked the door.
My throat bobbed and I rubbed my thighs together, wanting but also nervous. “You can’t mess up my dress.”
His tipped grin made me reconsider my declaration. Bringing his head to my ear, he murmured, “Don’t worry, sweetheart. I plan on leaving your dress perfectly intact. Just going to mess up your sweet pussy a little.”
My mouth popped open but he spun me before I could protest.
Grabbing hold of the edge of the bouncing dryer, I held on tight as I felt the cool air touch the back of my legs.
With painstaking care, Luke lifted my dress until my lower half was bared.
His low groan of appreciation made my core clench.
“One day, I’ll savor this ass. But right now, I need to be inside you.” He slid my panties to the side of my sex. “Need to feel you wrapped around my cock.”
I heard the hum of his zipper and the soft tear of a condom wrapper, and then he was there, the blunt head of him notching my entrance.
Reaching around my front, his fingers found my clit, pinching it with increasing degrees of force as he thrust completely inside me, bottoming out when his hips hit my ass.
“Luke,” I pleaded, the frantic and forbidden sensation of the moment overwhelming me with desire.
He hissed and then began to move, shunting hard and fast inside me as he rubbed on my clit. Pleasure exploded through my body, and I couldn’t tell if it was the dryer shaking me or if I was shaking from the sudden intensity of it all.
“I love you, Sage,” he grunted, his thrusts turning rougher.
“Yes,” I whimpered. “I mean, I love you, too.” I panted, need ripping my mind to shreds. “I need you. Oh, god, Luke, I need—”
His hand on my hip snaked around and covered my mouth as I came, holding my cry against my lips as my climax detonated through my body.
His fingers held on to my clit, prolonging my orgasm for a few extra exquisite seconds before he buried himself deep and I felt his cock pulse violently inside me.
It felt like I’d barely returned from the far-flung reaches of my orgasm before he slid out of me, righting my underwear and my dress almost as quickly as he undid me.
A minute or so more, and we were all buttoned back up with only the wrapped-up condom in the trash as evidence for what had really just happened in my parents’ laundry room.
“That was very naughty,” I murmured as he turned off the dryer and tipped my face up for a gentle kiss.
“Exactly what you should expect from your dark lord.” He smiled. “Now, let’s walk down this aisle, eat, dance a few songs, and then I’ll show you how wicked I can really be.”
Sighing, I sank into Luke’s strong hold as we gently swayed on the dance floor for the last slow song of the reception.
The wedding had been perfect. The ceremony had gone off without a hitch. And as happy as I was for Rose, I was even more selfishly happy that I’d spent the entire day with Luke by my side.
Not because I made him, but because he refused to let me out of it.
“Ready to go home?”
I looked up and nodded. “Ready for bed.”
I’d meant because I was exhausted, but the mention of going to bed sparked a heated stare that made me very willing to risk sleep deprivation for whatever it had in store.
He lifted his hand from my waist and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, his eyes roaming over every inch of my face.
“What is it?” I asked. “What do you see?”
He smiled a little, reminded of the last time I’d asked him that question.
“Forever, Sage.” He brushed his lips over mine. “I see forever when I look at you.”
Warmth washed all the way down my body, making my toes curl.
“And to think this started off as fake,” I murmured wryly.
“Sometimes magic is a little unbelievable at first, but undeniable in the end.”
And then he kissed me in a way that left no denying how either of us felt. Unbelievable. Undeniable. In love.