"You just can't help it, can you?" I say with a grin as he stands upright once more, pushing my now naked body flush against his.
"I can't. I just have so much fun with you, Tumbles."
His lips start to pattern over my collarbone, combined with long, luxurious strokes of his tongue. My heart beats loud in my ears, and my fingers brush over his pulse, and I concentrate, focus, pinpoint our matching beats, as if we are of one heart.
"Liz … " he breathes against my skin. I'm not even doing much, just clinging to him, letting him love my neck, and yet he acts as if I'm the one bringing him to the brink of insanity.
"I want more of your skin on mine," he says. And I let out a breathy laugh and drag my nails down his back. He shivers against me, pushing me into the wall slightly. The skin along his sides is puckered with goose bumps as I pull his boxers down his muscular legs. I wait for him to step out before planting a tiny kiss on his roller-coaster scar, making the very awake Lord Landon twitch.
He pulls me up by my elbows, presses his body with mine, and starts walking us toward the shower. Over the course of our entire relationship I've never felt more in tune with him than I do now. That I didn't just fall in love with him, but I choose to fall in love every day. And even more exhilarating, he chooses me every day, too-despite the money arguments, despite the socks on the floor, despite the nagging and the annoying habits and the late nights away from each other.
Despite the fact that we are peas and carrots.
"So is this what marriage will be like?" I muse as he lets go of me briefly to start the water. He comes back to me, though, holding our bodies close.
"This is what our marriage will be like."
Chapter 33
I wake up in the soft warmth of Landon's naked body … for about two seconds. Then I'm doused with a giant bucket of ice water, followed quickly by Landon dropping f-bomb after f-bomb and grappling the blanket to make sure I'm covered.
"Get up! We're kidnapping you," Theresa says, empty bucket in hand. I wipe my eyes and turn to Alec, who has a matching bucket, and Jace, who is attempting to pull out his phone and take a picture, but Landon is putting up a good fight.
"What the hell … get out of here!" he shouts, punching Jace in the upper thigh while simultaneously holding the soaked comforter over his crotch. I secure the blanket around the ladies and raise an eyebrow at Alec.
"You're condoning this?"
He holds his hand up. "Hey, as Best Man, it's my responsibility to … " He looks at Theresa. "What was it again?"
She huffs out a sigh and says, "Y'all have twenty minutes, then we're coming back for you." She grabs Jace by the collar and motions for Alec to lead the way out the door.
"We need new friends," Landon says, swiping his hand through his wet hair. I let out a laugh and swing a leg over his hips. I don't care that we're both soaked, that we got caught buck-ass naked in bed, or that our friends are in the apartment. We've got twenty minutes alone together before we become husband and wife, and I'm not wasting a second of it.
My smile widens and I try to kiss him full on the lips, but it's so hard with how happy I am. "We're getting married tomorrow!"
His grumpy brow smoothes out, and he attempts to kiss me back, but really all he gets is teeth.
I shove him down to the pillows, and he shivers under me as the ice hits his back. And it looks like morning wood beats out ice water, because when I roll my hips, Lord Landon stands up at attention, ready to knock down the gates to the Land of Liz.
"You really think that's a good idea, Tumbles?" he says, nodding to the bedroom door.
"Just keep your outbursts to God to a minimum," I tease, then without warning I sink down. He immediately ignores my request.
"Liz?"
"Mmm?" I ask innocently, keeping my hips still but my muscles pumping.
He grips my waist, fingers digging into my ass. "I'm cold."
"I'll warm you up."
"Our friends are right outside."
"Then we'll be quiet."
"I wouldn't put it past them to come back in here."
"Then we'll be quick."
"Damn," he mutters, then sits up. "I love you … and I promise you will never forget tomorrow night."
"Tomorrow?" I fake pout, and he pulls on my bottom lip.
"Tomorrow." He gently coaxes me off him, wiping my wet hair from my forehead. "And I'll never forget last night either."
"Stop being romantic or I will just climb right back on you."
He inwardly gulps, then belches. I push his face away with an "Eww!" But my libido is tamed for now, so I suppose I can get ready for whatever Theresa has in store for me today.
-
It has to be at least ten inches. It smells like a mix of meat sweat and pungent cologne. He really should shave, but I guess some women like that sort of thing.
Well, looking around, a lot of women like this sort of thing.
Theresa fixes my bachelorette veil on my head while the ten-inch-long beard on the guy lap-dancing on top of me tickles my chest.
"Okay … " I laugh, sticking a buck in his electric blue briefs-that match his do-rag. That's enough for me.
Bearded stripper winks and moves on to the next. Apparently it's biker theme night. Lots of leather and facial hair. Theresa laughs behind her hand when I stand up and tell her to lead me to the stage, where Penny, Jaycee, and even my mom are waving bills at the dancers. Watching gyrating penis dances from afar is more my style anyway.
My phone buzzes in my pocket again, and I sit at the table, order rum and Coke-and don't get ID'd, which is a first-then pull out my cell.
Landon: 12 hours!
Lizzie: I am not going to sleep at all tonight.
Landon: That's cute, Tumbles. I probably won't sleep either.
Lizzie: I'll be having nightmares of sweaty, bearded men.
Landon: ?
Lizzie has sent an image.
Landon: Yeah … I'll be having those nightmares too.
"Put your phone away!" Theresa bats at my hand. "It's singles night."
"Sorry, Mom," I tease, but I turn the screen off and tuck it away. The stage performers are dancing to "Wild Thing," and the guy in the assless chaps keeps making eyes at me. At least he's just got scruff and not a full-out ten-incher.
Normally, I'd give Theresa a "hell no" to a place like this, but maybe bachelorette nights are more for the best friend than they are for the bride. Tonight will be our last night together like this. She's keeping me company while Landon crashes at Alec's, and I'm going to make sure she's okay after the robbery. They still haven't caught the guy, and though Theresa puts on a brave face and says she's over it, I find her rubbing her neck and frowning at times. And I wonder just who that necklace was from and why it's so important. I've asked, but she told me it wasn't a big deal. She just really liked it.
"Hey!" Theresa calls over the music, and I lean in close. "I wanna know … who caved?"
"What?"
"We didn't exactly catch y'all clothed this morning."
The music thumps louder, covering my laugh.
"Looks like I'll be packing a winter coat."
Her mouth drops open and she tosses her hands in the air. "Liz! You had two days! You couldn't wait two days?"
I shrug with a wide grin, and bring my rum and Coke to my lips.
"Well, damn you. All this attitude, all the chocolate, everything you went through just to give in two days before. And you don't even look sorry about it!"
"I'm not."
"You should at least apologize to me. I had to deal with your uptight ass."
"I'm sorry."
"No, you're not."
She's right. "It was well worth it."
"It better have been. Now, give me that veil so I can get a group lap dance." She fights the veil from my head, since that thing has been attracting almost every stripper in the place, and Mom and Jaycee come join me at the table. Mom doesn't sit down, but leans right up against the stage, and her Southern accent really comes out when she starts yelling at the dancers to "take off them clothes!"
I take a sip of my drink, trying to stay in the moment and be single for one more night, but the truth is, I haven't been single since I met Landon. And my mind keeps drifting to last night.
He washed me in the shower. I don't remember the last time he did that for me. I washed him too, and there weren't many kisses shared, but we touched in other ways. His fingers ran over every inch of me, and I did the same to him. And I knew when I'd hit his hills, his valleys, his ridges, and though it didn't feel new … it felt better. I knew the stories behind all the marks and muscles. I knew why he had a tattoo and why he hated it. I knew about the roller-coaster scar and the table-saw scar and the tattoo he wishes he had but hasn't been able to afford.
And because I knew every one of these things, and he knew every inch of my body and the stories under the skin, we didn't have to say anything. We did, because both Landon and I can't help but open our mouths during foreplay, but during the quiet moments I knew I didn't have to ask about anything to bring us closer.
He helped me out of the shower, and we didn't make it out of the bathroom for another twenty minutes. He laid a towel across the counter and his strong arms lifted me from my feet and he kissed me as deep as he ever has. It was swimming in an ocean of fire, and it swept me into a storm of heat that leaves me breathless just thinking about it.