Page 44 of Beneath the Surface

He quickly glanced at Nisha and swallowed. While Cora, as beautiful as she was, didn’t do a thing for him, the man standing next to her certainly did. The feelings building for Nisha were strong, and somewhat frightening in their intensity.

Nisha looked up and caught Kannon staring at him. A small smile crossed his face. Kannon knew then what he felt for Nisha might scare him… that this new world he’d stumbled into might be frightening… and that he wouldn’t trade it for anything.

“Hey, everyone. Brooke asked me to bring this to you, Kannon.” In her hand, she held a white rose boutonniere.

Kannon saw that it matched the one Brett was wearing. “Oh, thank you. It’s lovely.”

Nisha held out his hand. “Thank you, Cora. If you don’t mind, I’ll pin it on Kannon.”

“Of course.” She handed the boutonniere to Nisha.

Nisha slid his hand inside of Kannon’s shirt. Kannon swallowed roughly as he felt Nisha’s fingers slide across his chest. His cock perked up. Aw jeez, what timing. At this rate, he’d need to duck in the nearest bathroom and thump his cock to get it to go down. The sexy smirk on Nisha’s face wasn’t helping matters.

Kannon stared at Nisha while Nisha carefully pinned the boutonniere to his shirt. Nisha let his fingers linger a moment on Kannon’s skin before he slowly pulled them out. Kannon groaned. Oh yeah, a trip to the restroom was looking like a necessity.

“You enjoyed that way too much,” Kannon whispered.

Nisha looked up and winked at Kannon. “You bet.”

Kannon licked his lips.

“Jesus, I’d tell you two to get a room, but you probably would. And since I need Kannon, dial it back, Nisha, please, otherwise your mate won’t be able to walk.”

“Dude.” Kannon glared at Brett. “TMI.”

“Just saying.” Brett snickered then blew out a breath. “Okay, guys. Is everyone ready?”

“Huh. That’s the first inkling of nerves I’ve picked up from you.” Kannon pounded Brett on the back.

“Bite me.” Brett laughed as he pulled away from Kannon.

The man who was performing the ceremony walked up to the group. Brett introduced him as Tane, who also happened to be an islander. He briefly shook hands with everybody then bowed slightly to Nisha.

That answered whether or not Tane knew who and what they were, especially Nisha. Tane’s action reminded him of the guy on the beach who did the demonstration with the coconuts. Both islanders were very respectful, and acted somewhat intimidated around Nisha, it seemed.

Brett quickly led them to the beach. Not far from the water’s edge was a white trellis, covered with several kinds of snow-white flowers, with vibrant greenery mixed in. At the corners of the trellis, flowers trailed down the latticework toward the ground.

As they drew closer, Kannon saw the flowers were white orchids, white roses, and calla lilies, among several other kinds he had no clue what their names were. Sheer turquoise and teal organza draped the trellis. It spilled onto the sand and blew gently in the breeze. An aisle runner in white, with teal colored rose petals on it, led to the trellis.

“This is simply beautiful,” Kannon said breathily.

They took their places, and all heads turned back toward the resort. There was no music except for the sounds of the ocean waves hitting the beach, and the tropical birds singing from the nearby jungle. It struck Kannon how exactly right this was for this wedding.

Then Brooke appeared, and Kannon caught his breath. She left the resort and began to walk toward them. Her dress had a sweetheart neckline and a fitted bodice. The rest of the dress was loose, and ended right above her knee, even though the back of the dress was longer.

As she came closer, he saw that it was very simplistic. No lace, no beading… just pure silk that draped across her body perfectly. What surprised him, though, was the color. He’d assumed her wedding dress would be white. In actuality, it was the palest of blues.

He glanced down at his boutonniere. Now he understood why the light, light blue ribbon was interlaced with the turquoise and teal. With Brooke’s blue eyes and blue hair, the light blue of the dress was perfect.

She, like Cora, wore no jewelry. She also didn’t wear a veil. The look totally fit her and who she was. Brooke stepped up on the aisle runner and walked down it until she came face to face with Brett.

Kannon sighed happily as Tane began the wedding ceremony. Tane’s softly spoken words washed across Kannon’s consciousness. All he could see was the love on both Brooke and Brett’s face.

Finally Tane concluded the ceremony by saying Brett could kiss his bride. Kannon discreetly wiped a tear from the corner of his eye. He was so, so happy for his best friend. The wedding had been beautiful, right out of a storybook.

Funny, he never thought about weddings. Why would he? It hadn’t been that long since the right to marry had been denied him. Plus he’d never truly been interested in anybody since that day fifteen years ago. But if he was going to have a wedding, he suddenly decided the beach was where he’d have to have it.

Cheers and cries of congratulations floated around him, but he just couldn’t seem to shake himself out of his musings. And he really needed to—today was not about him.

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