Chapter Eight
Zayden
The wedding ceremony had gone perfectly, and I was rather thrilled that Aria wanted to keep that part small. It made it easier to let my emotions run wild. Her vows were still sending shivers down my spine. It felt so surreal to be loved so deeply and earnestly. It was hard to believe that a girl so small could harbor that much love. And for me!
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We were at the reception at The Plaza and it was as grand as could be. Hundreds of guests – all of my colleagues and business partners and all of Aria’s friends from college and her extended family had arrived – were admiring the fantastic decorations Fiona had put together. The hall really did look like an enchanted forest, mixed with Christmas lights. I wasn’t sure I had ever seen anything quite so beautiful before. Except my wife, of course.
I looked at her standing across the room and talking to my mother. It had only taken a few hours for them to start getting along. Of course, I should have thought that it would from the get-go. Aria wasn’t exactly an amateur at charming someone. She had done such a fantastic job with me. My mother was hardly tougher than I was. I felt a great sense of pleasure watching them chatter delightfully as I grabbed a glass of champagne.
The DJ was playing all of Aria’s favorite romantic songs, and I realized it was time for our first dance together. I motioned to the DJ with a nod of my head and he understood.
“Ladies and gentleman,” the young looking guy said. “The bride and groom will now have their first dance as a newly married couple.”
The song “You and Me” by Lifehouse began to play as Aria and I slowly began walking towards each other, with everyone watching in awe.
When I held her, she put her chin against my shoulder, standing on her tiptoes in the most endearing way. We began moving together to a song that seemed to perfectly describe our moment as it was happening.
“I love you, Mrs. Sinclair,” I whispered softly against her ear, and then kissed her temple.
“I love you too, Mr. Roberts,” she said with a slight giggle.
“Yeah right, so you hope.”
“How about this? We can both hyphenate. Roberts-Sinclair?”
“I really should have listened to you about that prenup, huh?” I joked, knowing that if that was what she wanted, she would have it. My name wasn’t nearly as important to me as she was. I had vowed to dedicate my life to making her happy, and that was exactly what I was going to do.
“Okay, we can be Mr. and Mrs. Roberts-Sinclair,” I said, after teasing her for a little bit longer. “Does that make you happy?”
“So, so happy,” she said and hugged me tighter. “Thank you, Mr. Roberts-Sinclair.”
We continued to dance into the evening, as the Christmas lights took over the wedding lights and everything was joyful and perfect. The music slowly took the form of Christmas music, as everyone danced delightedly, a little buzzed from all the champagne and wine, celebrating this extra-special occasion. Soon enough, I found myself dancing with my mother, then Aria’s mother, and then both of them at the same time.
After some wine got in their system, the two ladies found it surprisingly easy to get along, even bonding over the music of their times, which I specifically requested the DJ to play.
I danced with Stacey as Aria waltzed away happily with Nick, who seemed to have gotten emotional after seeing one of his best friends enjoy the best night of her life. He treated her much like an older brother. Aria didn’t have any siblings, and it was nice to know she had made her own family through the course of her life. Stacey, who had gotten humorously drunk, was saying some really random and funny things as we danced together.
“You know, Aria and I once went skinny dipping in our neighbor’s pool when we were 14,” she said giggling, while continuing to sip her champagne. “And I don’t think I am supposed to tell you this, so keep it to yourself. I hope I can trust you now that we are friends.”
“We are?” I inquired. It was nice knowing that I would now have close friends. People that looked out for you and enjoyed your company without any particular occasion to do so. It had been a long, long time since I had experienced friendship in that manner, and I was looking forward to this new phase of my life.
“You know, for a brilliant billionaire, you aren’t very smart,” Stacey said pointedly. “You got Fiona Davis to plan Nick and my wedding, without us so much as asking, and more importantly, you just married our best friend. And you still have to ask if we are friends? Maybe Aria didn’t make the best decision marrying you after all.” She shook her head.
“Since we are friends,” I said jovially. “I feel comfortable saying that if you repeat those words ever again, I will stab you with a dagger.”
“Do you even own a dagger?” She looked at me quizzically. “Because I do. Let me know if you ever need to borrow it. It will give much more weight to your threats, Mr. Sinclair.”
“Sure, I will gladly borrow it so that I can threaten you with it next time you call me that. For someone who calls us friends, you seem to have an awfully difficult time referring to me by anything but Mr. Sinclair.”
“Fine, Mr. Roberts-Sinclair then.” She giggled some more.
“Seriously, how do you girls find time to exchange news at such rapid speed? It has barely been half an hour since Aria and I made a decision to go with that hyphenated last name and I can swear on my favorite car that the two of you haven’t even been a foot within each other since, considering everyone has been dancing the whole time.”
“We have our ways.” Stacey said and shrugged as the Christmas carol ended. “You will get used to it soon enough. Now, dance with your wife, I think the party is about to come to an end.”
The final song was a perfect representation of the wedding and Christmas, as Mariah Carey sang “All I Want for Christmas is You,” just as Nick and I switched partners and Aria was back in my eager arms.
“Your friend is quite funny,” I said, starting to move with her. “And rather intoxicated, I believe.”
“She should be. I would never forgive her for being sober at my wedding. I don’t plan to be sober at hers!”
“You guys have the strangest friendship,” I said, screwing my nose. “Although, I suppose you develop a very special kind of bond after skinny dipping at a neighbor’s pool when you were 14. Wow, now that I think of it, that was only six years ago.”
“I am pretty sure you weren’t supposed to tell me you knew about this,” Aria said scornfully. “If you want to be friends with Stacey, you better learn how to keep her secrets.”
“That sounds like way too much work,” I joked. “I think I am fine without the friendship. I’m joking,” I added when she looked at me with almost murderous rage. “I really like your friends.”
“Good,” she said sharply and went back to placing her chin on my shoulders. “Now, on to some important things. You know what all I want for Christmas is?” She looked at me with a naughty glint in her eyes.
“Me?” I suggested. “That is what the song says, anyway.”
“I want to secretly disappear from our wedding reception and make our way into your hotel room. Then I want you to rip my wedding dress – and by that I mean carefully remove it from my body because if there is a single actual rip on it, I will have to kill you – and make love to me until we are both so tired we can no longer perform basic human functions, such as breathing.”
I got so hard that I had to employ all the strength I could muster to not fuck her right there with all of our friends and family watching.
“I’ll go first, through the back door,” I said quickly. “If someone asks, I am going to the bathroom. You should use the front door so we don’t raise any eyebrows. Just say you need some air. It’s pretty busy in here, people should understand.”
She burst out laughing. “We don’t have to plan so hard, baby,” she said. I couldn’t remember her ever having used that term of endearment before, and somehow it had the effect of making me harder than before. All I wanted for Christmas was to fuck her as my wife for the first time. “I am sure people will understand that as newlyweds, we cannot wait to take each other’s clothes off. Of course, we don’t have to tell them for the sake of not embarrassing them, and ourselves, but it is kind of understood. There is no need to play 007 here.”
“Alright,” I said, breaking off as the song ended. “The thought of my mother knowing what we are off to do makes me uncomfortable. The thought of your mother too, but since she has already heard more than she should have, she happens to be the least of my concern. I think my way is safer. I agreed to change my name, now you must agree to this little request. And hurry, because I don’t want to fuck you in the limo and make Ned uncomfortable. So the sooner we get to the hotel, the better.”
“I’ll see you in five minutes, Mr. Roberts-Sinclair,” she said, and kissed me hard on the mouth before turning on her heel and walking away.