With each step she takes, my heart pounds in my chest. Seeing her in a beautiful satin gown takes me back to a time when she was walking down the aisle to me seven years ago tomorrow. The only difference now is the gown is a royal blue instead of white, and she's holding the hand of our perfectly gorgeous little girl.
London is wearing the same color dress, but she has little frills and flowers on her gown.
A smile stretches across my face, and my heart warms in my chest as they make their way down the stairs.
“Daddy!” London yells from two feet away.
“London!” I shout back just as excitedly.
“We look gaaawwwwgeous,” she over exaggerates, and the smile already on my face gets bigger. This is the life any man would dream of, and if he doesn’t, he’s stupid for not wanting this.
“The most beautiful girls I’ve ever seen,” I reply.
When she is steps away from me, she shakes her head. "I am a woman, Daddy," she declares, then flips her hair with her hand like only a little girl with major attitude would do.
God bless the man who marries her one day.
“All right, you are the most beautiful women I have ever seen,” I amend.
She beams up at me, and I move my eyes from London, who immediately darts to the kitchen, to Lena. She is taking in our exchange with a playful smile on her face. I cock an eyebrow. "She's a woman, didn't you know?"
Lena tries to keep back the laughter bubbling up, but fails. “Only every five minutes while I was doing her hair.”
“Come here,” I tell her.
It’s her turn to cock an eyebrow. “Don’t you even dare.”
“What?” I ask playfully.
"You'll mess up my makeup, and then we’ll be late.”
“You can’t expect me to wait all night to give you a kiss.”
“I can, and I do.”
“Come here,” I say a little sterner.
She purses her lips. “Nope, don’t think I will.”
Fucking stubborn.
“Selena…”
“A kiss, Lawson. One.” She holds one finger up, indicating just how serious she is.
I nod, giving her my approval, though she never said what kind of kiss, now did she?
She takes one step closer to me, and before she can move further, I reach out for her hand and pull her the rest of the way to me. My hand grasping hers lets go and slides around to her back just above her ass. My other hand moves to the nape of her neck. My lips are a breath away from hers. “So fucking beautiful.”
“Don’t tell me lies just to get in my pants, Mr. Brennan,” she jokes.
My hand lowers and squeezes her ass. “But I am gettin’ in your pants, right?”
She smacks my shoulder. “Don’t you always?”
I give her a devilish grin.
“Are you going to kiss me or wh—” I don’t let her finish before my lips are on hers. I don’t take the kiss I want, I give it to her tender and slow—a sensual kiss that doesn’t last nearly as long as I’d like it too. But like she said, I would ruin her makeup, and she'd spend the next hour in the bathroom fixing it.
I don’t want to delay getting my wife back home and in our bed any longer.
Truth be told I wanted to skip this year's anniversary bash. The unpredictability of Aria and then just having people in and out of the shop is way too unsecured for my liking.
I pull back, breaking our connection. “Better get going, yeah?”
She nods and then steps back.
“Lonnie, baby, you ready?” I ask as I make my way into the kitchen. I roll my eyes the minute I see what she is doing. She has a piece of cheese hanging from her mouth and another piece dangling from her fingers. “Don’t feed that to the dog,” I tell her.
“Why not?” she mumbles through a mouthful.
"Honey," Lena interjects. "We talked about this. The dog can't have our kind of food. It'll make him sick. Mom doesn't want to clean up dog barf when I get home."
London huffs but concedes.
"Then I'm ready," she says as she shoves the other piece of cheese into her mouth. The girls head for the door, and I get Ollie rounded up and put him in his kennel.
Ten minutes later, we are pulling into the parking lot at Skin Deep. Lena had spent the day prior and this morning arranging everything. From tables to decorations. She does this every single year, and every single year, I tell her she should just hire someone. However, I know she gets a kick out of doing it herself. The moment we walk into the shop, I take in the smile that spreads across her face. She created something magical in her eyes. Was able to walk outside the normal every day mundane, put on an elegant gown on, do her hair up, and become something different—the princess in her own fairytale. Who am I to deny that?
I’m not.
I might be a shit husband, but giving her something like this is priceless to me. This is what it’s all about. Seeing that smile on her face.
I pull her to my side and take in the building. The tables are set up on the outer walls, creating a path in the middle for gathering. There are fancy ass paper lights that look like big globs she handmade the first year we put this party on, and has used every year since, decorating the tables and hanging from the ceiling. The overhead lights are on, but only the front and back ceiling ones, so it gives it that “romantic feel”—her words, not mine. Lowering my head to her ear, I whisper, “You did good, baby.” Her body, already softening into me, does so even further.
“Thank you,” she says just as low.
“Mommy!” London yells from the snack table positioned in the back of the room. “Can I eat this stuff?”
I chuckle. I swear all that little girl does is eat.
“No, baby, you can’t eat those yet. Those are for the guests.”
London rolls her eyes, but concedes. She skips off to the playroom Lena setup in the breakroom of the shop.
“It amazes me every year that you can pull this off.” Her body sags further into me.
“It wouldn’t happen if it weren’t for you and Benny helping me move all the chairs out.”
“Hard work always pays off, baby.” I look down at her just in time to see a small smile splay across her mouth.
“Can you guys go an hour without being so gross with your lovey shit?” Carolina mutters as she walks through the front door.
“No, we can’t,” I say as I lean in and kiss the top of Lena’s head. I release her and move to the improvised bar.
“Jesus Christ, that woman is a goddamn mess,” Benny declares as he comes to stand next to me. I give him a shit-eating grinning, knowing all too well how much of a mess Carolina is right now. Leaning over the bar, I open the cooler where I know the hired bartender has placed the cold beer. I grab one, hand it to Ben, and reach back in to grab another for myself.
“She’s a good woman, just gotta sort her shit out.”
“She needs to hurry up on that shit.”
I let out a laugh and turn back to the room. A few more people have arrived, and my body tightens with the thoughts that have been present in my mind since Selena told me she was going through with the anniversary party. I let out a deep breath and scan the room for Lena, spotting her at the door welcoming our guests. Suppose I should get my ass over there and help her out. One foot moves to do just that when Benny clasps a hand on my shoulder, stopping me. I turn back to him.
“I see that tension in your body, brother.”
“Just waiting for that ball to drop.”
“We are closing in on her.”
“Won’t be soon enough.”
“Know that, but you gotta keep it together.”
I nod, and he releases his hold on me. I move to Lena and put a fake ass smile on my face. This is her night; she doesn’t need to see my worries.