Page 28 of Desire

“Okay, okay,” he says. “Calm down, Jussie. It was just a suggestion.”

“Let’s go get her married before Sebastian changes his mind,” Billie states.

“Witch,” I murmur so Hadley doesn’t hear.

“Absolutely, but you got that first letter wrong.” Giggling, we leave the room to go line up.

Sebastian

“You’repositive you want to marry into this crazy family?” Rayne asks after we hear Hadley shrieking about something. Normally that wouldn’t be a bad thing, except the room the women are in is on the other end of the hallway.

“Absolutely,” I declare, straightening my tie. “She’s been mine for a long time now. This is just a formality.” He snickers and punches me in the shoulder.

“Good because we need more testosterone around here. Too many women,” he grumbles.

“Yeah, let your woman and sisters hear you say that,” I retort.

“I wouldn’t admit to saying it,” he says, grinning.

“Of course, you wouldn’t.” I glance at my phone and say, “I think we need to go get in place, the women will start heading down the aisle in less than five minutes.”

He chuckles as he follows me out of our staging room and down to where Jacey and her crew set up the wedding. There’s holiday greenery around the chairs and the archway where the preacher is standing has clear twinkling lights along with deep red poinsettias as well as white intertwined. “She’s going to love this,” Rayne says as we move into position. “She’s such a Christmas geek. It’s a good thing you’re not a Scrooge, man, because then you’d be a house divided.”

Both the preacher and I chuckle at his words. We’re kind of divided, at least about sports teams we both like to follow, but as long as we don’t play against each other, we’re good. A photographer that Jacey found is snapping pictures already and I know that she went ahead and took the women’s as well as ours so all we’ll have to get are the full wedding party shots. I’m glad about that; I want to spend this time with our family, not being told to move this way or that way.

Soft music starts playing and I look toward the back of the room to see Hadley, her doll Annabelle clutched under her arm, skipping down the aisle throwing flower petals. Rayne starts snickering and I shoot him a look because the little princess looks very sincere in her efforts. When she makes it to the front, she grins up at us and says, “Hi, Daddy, Uncle Sebastian. Hello, preacher man. I got my own tiara!”

We all chuckle as Justine’s mom motions for Hadley to come to her. Typically, she would come just before my Jussie, but she’s so full of energy that we all decided to let her go first. I watch as first Sibley then Billie glide down the aisle and take their places before Jacey, as Justine’s matron of honor, starts her walk. Once Hadley sees that, she moves to stand in front of them then clutches her mother’s hand as we all wait for Justine.

The music changes, the traditional wedding march plays, and I lose my breath completely at the vision standing at the end of the aisle.

Perfection. Sheer perfection. She smiles at me as tears slowly track down her face. “Radiant, absolutely radiant,” I murmur, so low I’m sure the only one who might have heard me is Rayne.

“She cleans up pretty good,” Rayne retorts, also quiet. As her dad reaches us and goes to place her hand in mine, she leans up and kisses him on the cheek and I watch him swipe a finger under his eye to catch the water leaking.

“Who gives this woman in marriage?” the preacher intones.

“Her mother and I,” Jussie’s dad states before he kisses her forehead then goes to sit by her mom.

The rest of the ceremony is an absolute blur. I know I speak when I’m supposed to but honestly, until I hear, “You may kiss your bride,” and she leans toward me, I couldn’t tell you what was said.

“I love you, Mrs. Tallo,” I whisper against her lips.

“I love you more, Mr. Tallo,” she replies.

In typical Jussie fashion, she doesn’t turn our first marital kiss into a major tongue dueling contest which is good because seeing her in her dress has me harder than I’ve ever been, and I don’t think it’s good form to bend her over a chair and fuck her. At least not in front of her family. Now, when we get home? All bets are off, that’s for damn sure.

“Introducing Mr. and Mrs. Sebastian Tallo,” the preacher says, which has everyone cheering and clapping as we walk back down the aisle, her arm looped through mine. I catch her rings glittering thanks to all the twinkling lights and feel a deep satisfaction that she’s well and truly mine now.

* * *

“It’s after midnight,Sebastian, why can’t we open our presents?” Justine asks from her prone position in front of our Christmas tree. True to my inner thoughts, when we got home, I did flip her dress up and bend her over the couch. Now, after several hours of lovemaking, she’s sated, I’ve got a fire going since it’s colder than we expected, and now she’s bargaining to open up presents.

“I know, Jussie, but we can wait a few more hours, can’t we?” I ask, leaning in to kiss her temple.

“No! We have to get up kind of early and get ready to go over to my parents’ for brunch and presents there.”

“What if it’s a surprise?” Unbeknownst to her, I finally found the RV that I felt would work best for us and it’s already loaded up for our trip. The dogs are coming along as well, which I know will make her happy.

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