Page 32 of Husband Material
"And d-id you f-find this person?" Her eyes filled with shimmering tears reflecting the blue and white Paris sky as she waited for my answer.
I helped her off my lap and onto the bench before standing in front of her. I slipped my hand in my pocket and found the velvet box I'd brought with me. Then I went down on one knee.
"I did. I found a French beach fairy, or rather she found me." I pulled the box out of my pocket. "And I fell in love with her. She's everything I want…and need in my life. She's beautiful and sexy and funny and a wicked tease that catches me every single time. She's an incredibly talented artist, and so very generous and giving that I have to remind myself she's real sometimes. She's a gorgeous bohemian girl I barely know yet love with all my heart. She probably thinks I'm certifiably insane. But true insanity would be me not seeing the once-in-a-lifetime love in front of me right now."
I opened the box to reveal the ring I'd found in Charleston before I'd headed to the airport. An aquamarine the color of her dress set in a platinum band carved with rolling ocean waves. "So, there's only one more thing I need to know. Will you, my once-in-a-lifetime love, marry me?"
Giselle sat frozen, her hand over her mouth, her eyes wide and trailing tears. I hoped like hell they were happy ones.
She put a hand to my face and stared into my eyes. "Oui, mon beau surfeur, je vais t'épouser."Yes, my beautiful surfing man I will…I think.
"I'm taking that as a yes, but I think I should revisit French lessons." The smile twitching at the corner of her luscious lips was begging me for a kiss, but she still had more to say to me.
"It will be on one condition."
"Which is?"
She tugged me up from kneeling to sit beside her and looked out contentedly at the city. "Okay, okay, actually two conditions."
I gulped. If my time with Giselle had told me anything, it was that she could be stubborn about getting her way. "All right, what?"
"One thing I need to know is where will we live?"
I kissed her first, loving the taste of her lips after so many days without them, until she started making those wonderful French sounds and words I needed to hear for the rest of my life—and then I answered her.
"I will live wherever you are. We can live in Charleston at the beach house, or somewhere else altogether if you want. We can even live in Paris if that's what you need in order for us to be together. The point is, my gorgeous Gi, you are my home. Wherever you want to be is where I will live."
A look of relief passed over her beautiful face as she put her hand to my face again and caressed over my lips with her thumb. ”I want to live in Charleston on the beach…and draw pictures of you surfing and the sea and the sky…and bring strawberries to you at work and feed them to you. I will teach you French and even pick up your dirty socks when you forget to put them in the hamper. I want to grow a patch of sunflowers for us to lie under for picnics in the garden. I want a simple life with small surprises and a great deal of peacefulness. Ineedthat life to be whole again. I will come back here often to visit certainly and to see my family, but I want tolivein Charleston with my mon beau surfeur, Gage, who I love with my whole heart."
I couldn't answer her right away. I was too busy kissing her sweet lips again. And trying to keep my heart beating inside my chest.
"What's the second thing?" I asked once I could speak.
"You have to promise me that you will stay gullible to my teasing and never let on even if you know I'm doing it," she said with complete seriousness.
I swept her up in my arms and twirled her around and laughed. "I don't think you'll have a thing to worry about on that point, my lovely Gi. I’m American, so of course I’ll stay gullible!"
Now Giselle was the one who was kissing me as I held her above me with the view of Paris spread out before us. "Then I have just one word for you, my love," she said.
I hope it's my favorite word.
"Oui."
12
Six months later.
Folly Beach
Sprawled out on the blanket in a warm bed of sand, I pulled my wife to my chest.
"So how does it feel to have a husband?" Cheesy comments had become my favorite method of teasingher, and the levels to which I'd go were fairly limitless.
Her chin plopped on my chest, a small smile snaking along her lips. "It feels hard and warm and rather nice actually," she said as her hand wandered over my chest and then down my abs and over my shorts to palm my cock through the material. "How does it feel to be the luckiest man in the universe?"
I laughed—something I did a lot more often now Giselle had come into my life. "Still trying to hold on to the lower leg with the teasing. I told you there was nothing to worry about me ever losing my gullibility with you. But to answer your question, it feels like I won the wife lottery. Not every guy can put a ring on a French beach fairy and keep her. It's a helluva lot harder than it looks."
Giggling cheerily, she snuggled closer, her arms draping around me. "But you did it, so good job,husband. It is quite fun being married to you, even if it's only been for a day. After all, think how great our wedding turned out, mostly based on my suggestions."
