The Tycoon's Revenge(53)
He brought his lips back down to hers and kissed her with so much hunger and love, that she was tempted to skip out on the wedding and tell the driver to take them back home. As if he could read her thoughts he quickly pulled back and still not trusting himself jumped out of the carriage.
“You’re far too tempting, woman. We have a wedding to get to,” he said, with a brilliant smile. He spoke to the driver and then jogged back towards the church. This time when the carriage pulled up in front of the carpet, she was more than ready to step from its doors. The doorman looked more than relieved when she took his hand and stepped down on the carpet.
The driver must not have been taking any chances, because as soon as she was clear of the carriage, he drove away to go park. She giggled a bit at the speed in which he left.
She stood on the wide carpet and could feel her nerves overtaking her. She didn’t have any bridesmaids, nor someone to walk her down the aisle and she suddenly felt so lonely. She could now understand why the bride always walked down on her father’s arm. It was so she wouldn’t fall over, or run the other way. The thought of that long walk was intimidating when you were all on your own.
She saw the doors open, just as the attendants got her dress all situated. Daniel was once again walking down the steps and coming towards her. “I’m coming this time, I promise,” she told him, with her first real smile of the day. He leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. She was filled with warmth from the easy acceptance of this wonderful man.
“I don’t have any fears of you running away, Beautiful,” he started. “I wanted to offer my services to you. I know your own father couldn’t be here today so I thought you might like an arm to lean on,” he said to her.
Jasmine was so filled with love for this amazing man. He knew her father wasn’t there because he didn’t want to be there, not because he couldn’t be but he made sure to word his sentence in a way that wouldn’t hurt her. He was also standing in to be the kind of dad her own should have been. Her eyes once again filled up, causing the attendants around her to groan.
“Now don’t start crying again young lady, or we’ll never get you to that alter,” he said, with a gentle laugh and suspiciously bright eyes himself.
“It would be my honor to have you walk me down the aisle,” she finally managed to get past the lump in her throat.
Their arms intertwined and slowly they made their way to the front of the church. The double doors were opened and Jasmine was left speechless by what she saw inside. There were thousands of twinkling lights strung throughout and the scent of roses wafted in the air from the hundreds of arrangements placed everywhere.
The small church was packed from front to back, with guests who were all standing and turned towards her. She had to fight the tears to not fall once again. She looked down the aisle, strewn with rose petals, to Derek who looked so handsome standing at the front and Jacob by his side. Drew and Ryan were standing in the spot where bridesmaids would normally be so that her side didn’t look so empty.
The men were a stunning sight, all dressed in old fashioned tuxedo’s with tails and white shirts. They were all truly breathtaking. Jacob was smiling at her as she slowly made her way down the aisle and he looked like it was taking everything in him not to run up and hug her. She felt the same way.
When her eyes connected once again with Derek, the rest of the world seemed to fade away and she could look nowhere else. The man was beautiful and she couldn’t believe he was all hers. She picked up her pace, without even realizing what she was doing, until she heard a chuckle from Daniel.
They reached the pulpit and then Daniel reached down and gently kissed her on the cheek, before taking his place next to her son. The wedding party was complete, with all these stunning men surrounding her. She really did feel like a princess, in her fluffy white dress, in the middle of the masculine men but especially with Derek at her side.
She repeated the vows, while continuing to stare into Derek’s eyes and the whole thing passed in a blur. After the wedding, he took her around the back of the church, where huge tents were set up, with caterers running around, poring champagne and serving appetizers.
They did all the traditional things such as cutting the cake and having their first dance. He slowly pulled her into his arms, her heart bursting in pure happiness. He was looking at her as if she was a buried treasure he’d just discovered and the lump in her throat wouldn’t go away.
“Thank you for taking such great care of my son. I’m sorry you had to do it alone all those years. I’m sorry you thought I walked away from you. I’m a real fool to think anything could’ve made you do that. You’re the purest person I’ve ever known and I promise you I will spend the rest of my life proving how special you are to me,” he said as he spun her around.