Jensen
“I have met my dream girl!” I shouted in my head before I ran my tongue along the seam of her beautiful lips. To my amazement, she opened her mouth enough to allow me in and once I tasted the inside of her warm mouth, I was lost. She was going to be mine…she was fucking mine. There wasn’t anything about her that didn’t appeal to me. Instant attraction. Instant chemistry. Instant lust…love. I could only imagine our sexual compatibility and if I had anything to say about it, I would be sampling that later tonight in the comfort of my hotel room bed.
Those thoughts were quickly dashed by my no-longer best friend, Novak, simply because he pulled me away from my woman’s lips. “What the hell?”
“I think you might cool it out here in public. Future wife-to-be. Remember?” That wife-to-be phrase had me sitting up straighter and had me wanting to kill Novak.
“You’re married?” Ireland leaned close to me. Which surprised me since most women or all of the ones that I had been involved with over the years would’ve made a big scene. I hated the hurt look I saw in her eyes before she put her sunglasses back on. “I should’ve known and thank you, Novak. I needed that reality check.” She was about to move away from me and I reached out to still her movement.
“No, please. Don’t leave me…ever.” I stared right into her hidden eyes. “I’m not married, yet. I’m sort of engaged, but I don’t want to be…not to her anyway. My parents are—” She put her finger to my lips and finished my sentence like she had already on several occasions throughout our conversation.
“—making you get married.” I wondered if she was being sarcastic until she continued, “I would call bullshit on you, but I know that it still happens…” She removed her finger from my lips and touched it to her lips, making me wish for another kiss. “I’m here for my bachelorette getaway weekend.”
I have never wanted to scream “no” at the top of my lungs more than I did at that moment. The world was unfair. God was cruel…or my parents were cruel for putting so much pressure on my shoulders to please people that I didn’t know. Foreigners…foreign to me in every way. This unknown woman, until minutes ago, didn’t exist when I agreed to make other people happy. I never believed my dream girl would ever materialize, but she did.
“You can’t marry him.” I placed my hands firmly but gently on her upper arms as I spoke. Damn! Even her skin felt wonderful under my touch. Warm and smooth, I wanted to feel every inch of her from that moment until the end of time.
Her words were music to my ears. “I don’t want to marry him. I want to be a career girl. I want someone to take me serious for a change…and support my ideas. My parents think my online PR business is a silly hobby. They want me to have babies, stay home, bake cookies, chair school fundraisers, and host playdates. I don’t want that life. I don’t want to be my mother. I want my own life and to make my own choices… But, I’m going to be thirty soon and my parents insist that I marry before my birthday.”
I just sat there, gently touching her as she reached up and swiped a fingertip under her hidden almond eyes—I knew they would be exactly as I wished them to be.
I couldn’t let her go.
“Marry me and you can have your career. I have a house. You work online. You can work from anywhere.” Did I really just propose? Yes, apparently I did and it felt great! Amazing! I just hoped that her silence and gaping open mouth was a good sign or a “yes.”
“You can’t be serious.” She stilled and looked at me before shaking her beautiful chestnut hair. “Of course you’re not.” Then she laughed and fell back on the chaise lounge away from my grip.
Not giving up that quickly, I slipped off the chaise we had been sharing, and got down on one knee. “Marry me, I promise to make you happy and let you be who you want to be.” I had one of her hands cradled in mine and brought it up to my lips.
She rolled over to face me. “You are serious, aren’t you?” I nodded and she used her free hand to caress my face. “You’re my saving grace. You’re my dream man. You’re not real.” She smiled and kept touching me as if I was a mirage.
“I’m dead serious and to prove it, we’re getting married tonight if you say yes.” I removed one hand so that I could lower her sunglasses as she had done to mine moments before. “Eye to eye, tell me you want me to be your husband.” She nodded. “I love that nod of your beautiful head, but I need to hear it from your kissable lips.”
“Yes.” With her answer, I reached behind her neck, gathered up a fist full of her hair at the nape and tilted her head so that I could capture her mouth in a deep and meaningful kiss.
Fuck Novak! Let him come try to break us apart. He might succeed for a few moments, but he would fail in the end because I would be kissing my Ireland for the rest of my life, whenever I wanted and wherever I wanted with the whole fucking world watching.
Sure enough, my friend thought he was coming to my rescue again.
“Dude.” I felt his hand on my shoulder and then my arm as he pulled me up onto my feet. “You really need to get ahold of yourself. The sun, too many cocktails, and that beautiful woman have corrupted you.”
I laughed. He was right on all accounts, but I was happy with the outcome of my day at the pool. It was the solution to my foreign problem that threatened to domesticate me.
“We need to celebrate my marriage tonight. Right, Ireland?” I reached down and pulled her to her feet once she grasped my hand. “And yours too.” I winked at her.
“You know that she is getting married?” Novak asked.
Montana echoed his words adding a few of her own. “She told you?” I nodded. “And so…why are you kissing her?”
“Yes. It’s her bachelorette party.” Montana nodded, listening to my rambling words. “Doesn’t every bride get to have a bit of fun?” Ireland giggled at my side and I kissed her forehead. “Break open the champagne, let’s toast to an unbelievable night ahead and to our good fortune.” Then I leaned down and whispered in her ear, “to you being my wife.” Kissing her neck before addressing the crowd that had gathered in the cabana, I received a dirty look from Novak. I didn’t care. I would deal with him in private so he didn’t make a scene after we cracked open a few bottles of expensive bubbly for a much needed toast.
“To marriage!” We all clicked glasses and laughed as several of the freeloaders said, “Fuck marriage!” Any other time, I would’ve echoed their sentiments, but I was a lucky bastard who was going to be marrying his dream girl in a few hours.
Little did I know that coming to Vegas for a conference and bringing along a suit would come in handy. My impulsive purchase earlier in the day was going to be put to good use as well—I just hoped that my new bride-to-be liked it.
“What’s with the goofy smile?” Novak asked me while I watched Ireland and Montana dancing around clicking champagne glasses.
“I’m getting married tonight.” I refused to look him in the eye.
“Unless there is another part to your pending nuptials, I believe you will be saying ‘I do’ in New York in front of your family and a bunch of foreigners who are flying in on the company’s dime.” Still not looking at him, I filled his glass and mine.
“Nope, right here and only you and Montana will be watching Ireland and I get hitched. She’s my way out. She’s the arrangement I am willing to go through with and I am helping her to be a career girl. The best part is, I get the ultimate dream girl.”
I had no choice but to look at Novak as he got right in my face.
“You have lost your mind completely. I’m all for you being happy and I warned you not to submit to your father’s wishes, but there are other people involved now. A family is pulling up stakes to fulfill the merger.” In the beginning I think he was more upset than I had been.
“It will all work out.” I patted my best friend’s shoulder and attempted to slip back down on the chaise where I had proposed to Ireland, but Novak grabbed my arm. I looked at his hand and then into his eyes. “Relax.” I removed his hand. “The mergers can go through as planned, just not all of them. They wanted me married to be in charge of the new division. That has to satisfy the new partners.”
I wasn’t sure if Novak was going to be sick the way he held his stomach and head at the same time.
“There is the matter of cultures and traditions. You have no idea how important the term ‘saving face’ is to foreigners.” Novak’s parents had come to the US as children so he knew first hand from his family and his studies in International Relations. He was our foreign correspondent for the company’s foreign affairs.
“I have to follow my heart, my friend. Please stand by me and I promise to make everyone happy in the end. Hey! Maybe you can marry the foreign girl or do you want to make it a double wedding…I see the way you’re imagining Montana spread out on your bed.” I laughed and he punched me right in the gut—doubling over, it was my turn to grab my stomach.