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Tristan
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“They can wait,” I tell her. My presents, no matter what they are, are unimportant. Today is for Cami and no one else. But I can see she won’t let it go, so I dutifully go back to the tree, grab my presents and bring them back to the sitting area we’re in. I worried and worried over all the blueprints; the other stuff was minor, but the house — especially the house — was freaking me out for two reasons: one, how she would react to the amount of money; and two, because she’d done the same for me for my birthday a few months ago.
I sit down and ask her, “Which one?”
She shrugs. “Pick one.” So I do, and she blushes bright red.
“Hmm, wonder what’s in here?” I tease her, and tear into the paper.
“More for me than for you.” She smiles and I open the box.
“Hmm, to use on me or for me to use on you?” I ask her.
She shrugs again. “Either, or.” I like that idea. Inside the box are a pair of leather cuffs and a blindfold. We’ve played around with restraints before, but not recently, and I rather like the idea of restraining her, especially with the blindfold. The idea stirs my cock awake. “I can see your wheels turning,” she says, and laughs.
“Oh, of course.” I put the lid back on and pick another one. I made her wait patiently for each gift, but I know this is a little different for her and it’s not about me, so I move on quickly. I tear open the paper, and it is a sleek black box. I already have a watch. I open the lid, and lying on some black tissue paper is a key. A car key. I smirk. “What is this to?” I ask her.
“The R-eight.”
“No way,” I say, very excited. “Why?” I ask her, and she doesn’t say anything; she doesn’t need to. She just brings her hand to rest on her bump. “It’s still your car,” I say.
“Lift the paper,” she says, and I do; underneath the paper is the title to the car, transferred from her name to mine. “No, it’s yours. It is practically brand new, I couldn’t part with it because it is my favorite car, so I thought that you might like to have it.”
I smile and shake my head. “I love the crap out of you,” I say, and she busts out laughing.
“Go on, you have more to open,” she says as she watches me. I grab another package; this one is smaller, more gift card size than an actual present. I open it.
Inside is a gift card. “Skeleton Key?”
“It’s to X, my tattoo goddess. You once talked about getting a tribal done on your shoulder. I can’t take you to get it now, since we’re here, but I thought maybe you’d like to get it done another time.”
“Cami, it’s perfect. Thank you.” I hadn’t actually thought about it in some time, and it’s not that I couldn’t afford it on my own; she wants it to come from her, and I love that about her.
I finish with my presents: some clothes — well, more specifically, Ravens gear. I think we both did really well, considering neither one of us said anything about what we wanted for Christmas.
The rest of our friends join us early in the afternoon. Travis, the one man I never thought would settle down, has decided to move to Phoenix with Naomi — at least until the houses in L.A. are done. It makes me happy to see that he’s making a commitment to her, and that was his big gift to her for Christmas. Cami and I had gone together and gotten something for everyone, though it wasn’t anything huge because the trip is on me; well, after Cami and I talked, we decided that we’re going to split the cost. She said it was important to her.
The girls all disappear around four and are gone until dinner arrives in the suite and is set up at the big table outside at six. When the girls come back up, they join their men, but Cami isn’t anywhere to be found. “Where’s Cams?” I ask.
“She said she needed a minute.” Oh. I give her a few minutes, but she doesn’t come out to join us, so I go looking for her. I knock on the bedroom door.
“Come in,” she says, and I open the door, step inside and close it behind me.
“Hey, sweets, you okay?”
“I’m freaking out a little bit.” I look at her then: She has her shirt pulled up and her pants rolled down slightly, and her hands are on her belly.
“What’s wrong?”
She looks up at me and smiles. “Come here.” I take the few steps toward her. “Feel.” She takes my hands and places them on her belly.
It takes a moment, but then... “It feels like popcorn.”
She laughs. “I thought maybe it was either that I was hungry or had to go to the bathroom. Neither seemed to be the case, so I just sat here. I couldn’t take my hands off.”
It stops when she stops talking. “Say something else.”
“Like what?” And it happens again. It is the most beautiful feeling in the world, and I feel her thumb wipe away a tear before I even realize I’m crying.
“You’re so beautiful,” I tell her, and she smiles.
“So are you.” I lean forward and kiss her, keeping my hands on her belly. After a couple more pops it stops. We both wait anxiously for a few moments and decide that there is plenty of time to feel it again, and we join our friends.
Beau tries to convince Cami that she can’t see me tomorrow, and she refuses. “I’ve never imagined not seeing my husband-to-be on my wedding day. So forget it,” she scolds.
“Okay, fine, you can stay with him tonight, but come noon tomorrow, you’re mine,” she says as she and Mick leave our suite. They’re the last to leave for the night, and Cami and I fall into bed, exhausted, but that doesn’t stop us from enjoying each other one last time as boyfriend and girlfriend. “Mrs. Michaels. I love the way that sounds,” I tell her, and she giggles.
“Mrs. Tristan Michaels. That does have a nice ring to it.
I fall asleep playing her name over and over in my head. Cameron Celeste Michaels. Cami Michaels. It sounds so perfect.
I am kicked out of the suite promptly at noon. I’m trying desperately to figure out what they need seven hours for, but I decide not to argue when Beau tells me that she will be ready by five, at which time I need to be ready and she will find me, and I’m okay with that. I go downstairs to Travis’s suite, thankful that the girls are all upstairs doing their girlie things. Trav and I hang out, talk about anything and everything. I come to find out that Trav is completely in love with Naomi and that he’s been doing everything he can to prove to her that he’s committed to her. Short of putting a ring on her finger. He hates that she doesn’t travel with him, but I told him that could be arranged. He just needs to hire her. But he made a few good points about them working together. He’s afraid he will grow tired of her. But in reality, I think it is just Trav being a man and wanting something that is his own.
I am eternally grateful that Cami likes to travel with me, though in the coming months that will become harder for her to do and it makes me sad. But, while I’m filming, she does other things. She’s not hanging around the set bored or anything along those lines, so I have mine and she will soon have hers.
Three o’clock rolls around, and Mick and Ty show up in Travis’s suite. Mick has my outfit for today: white linen pants and a matching short-sleeved shirt. He says that it will go great with what Cami is wearing, and it is perfect for a beach wedding. We all finish getting dressed and the room phone rings. I answer it because I’m closest to it. “The photographer is ready for you guys. On Blu’s deck.”
“Thanks, Beau. Am I still to come up there at five?”
“Sure, or when you’re done with pictures, whichever comes later.” I roll my eyes.
“All right.”
“Bring the guys too.”
“Okay.” She hangs up.
Cami and I have agreed that we won’t officially have anyone standing with us today but that, because they’re here, they are automatically part of the ceremony. The girls will be walking down the aisle before Cami does.
When we get downstairs and onto Blu’s deck, it dawns on me that not only will Cami and I be getting married on the beach on the same island where we met, but that we literally will be getting married in the exact spot where we first met. It seems like a lifetime ago, but yet not all that long ago, either. She is who I want to spend the rest of my life with, no one else.