Lee wasn’t smiling. He stood frozen and was, no other way to put it, staring with slightly parted lips as if he’d never seen her before in his life but he stil was going to carry her to a deserted island and ravish her the instant their toes touched the sand.
Hank was best man and standing next to Lee then it was Eddie, Darius, Luke, Monty, Mace, Vance and Wil ie. Al y was maid of honor, then Andrea, Marianne, Ava, Jet, Roxie, Daisy then Jules.
Lee’s eyes never left Indy, not when Tom was giving her away and not when Tom gave her the father’s kiss.
But when Tom placed Indy’s hand in Lee’s, his fingers closed around hers and you could see the sharp tug right before her body slammed into his. One of his arms went around her waist, the other hand bunched in her hair and he kissed her right then and there.
And it wasn’t a chaste peck on the lips either.
He went whole hog. So whole hog it took Al y doing a catcal and the preacher touching his shoulder to stop the make out session.
Everyone in the congregation and wedding party chuckled except Lee and Indy. Lee took his time finishing the kiss. When he’d lifted his head an inch, he whispered something to her that made her press her lips together, probably in order not to cry.
Then he turned to the preacher and said in a deep, authoritative voice, “Carry on,” like he was officiating the ceremony.
Lana, who was sitting next to me, leaned in and whispered, “I think I like Kai’s boss.”
I grinned at her because I knew I did.
I grinned at her because I knew I did.
Other than that, the ceremony was simple and short.
Neither bride nor groom were traditional, they didn’t bother with the reception line, they stood smiling at folks, embracing, talking and shaking hands while they let their guests and their photographer take pictures (Indy wanted no posed photos, only candids and that’s what she got) and then they took off in Lee’s Crossfire.
Indy had built in a goodly amount of time for them to get to Cherry Hil s Country Club but, Daisy confided in me, mostly it was so they had time to get home “to consummate the marriage, compende?” and get to the Club.
They arrived half an hour late.
No one cared.
The Brian Setzer Orchestra finished, Lana and Indy stopped swinging each other around and Nick’s voice came over the sound system.
“Got a request,” he told the crowd. “From a man named Kai.”
There was some general muttering but my eyes flew to Nick, my breath caught and before I could unhinge it, a hand was at the smal of my back. I looked over my shoulder and Mace was standing behind me. He started pushing me toward the dance floor as Bil y Joel’s “And So It Goes” started playing.
We were on the dance floor, one of his arms sliding around me, the fingers of his other hand drifting down my forearm when I found my voice.
“Mace…”
His arm went tight around my waist bringing my body ful frontal to his. The fingers of his other hand laced with mine, he brought our hands up, twisted his wrist and rested the back of mine against his heart.
“Dance with me, Kitten,” he whispered.
That was al he had to say.
I melted into him.
Mace and I had never danced before and he was good at it. Not like he was a bal room dancer, just that his body fit perfectly into mine, his swayed with a natural grace and he was so strong, mine went along for the ride.
“Got a confession to make.” He’d tipped his head forward so his smooth cheek was against mine, his mouth at my ear.
“What?” I whispered into his.
“Went to The Bear to watch you play. I don’t like missin’
your shows and I wanted to talk to you after the gig, work out our shit.” His hand gave mine a squeeze. “I saw you singin’ this to me.”
My head jerked back, my face coming to the side to look at him. His head lifted an inch and his eyes locked on mine.
Before I could say a word (not that I had any words to say), he kept talking. “Watchin’ you sing that, hearin’ the words, knownin’ what it meant, it was then I knew I loved you, Stel a.”
I wanted to find words but I couldn’t. So instead, I slid the hand he wasn’t holding from his shoulder to around his neck and I got on my toes and kissed him.
He kissed me back. When he was done, he put his cheek back to mine and we finished the song, bodies pressed together, cheek-to-cheek.
For your information, it was the single most beautiful moment of my life.
Outside of the first time he told me he loved me, of course.
When it was over, he touched his mouth to mine again.
We disengaged and he started to guide me off the dance floor but our eyes hit Chloe and Lana who were standing together at the edge of floor and watching us. Chloe (definitely a crier) had tears in her eyes.
Lana smiled at me.
I smiled back.
Mace caught the smile exchange, his hand slid from the smal of my back to around my waist and he gave me a squeeze.
We arrived at Lana and Chloe and I was going to say something but I saw movement at the entryway. Roam and Sniff were standing there. Sniff was bouncing on the bal s of his feet and grinning ear-to-ear. Roam gave me a chin lift.