Blended (Redemption #1) (56 page)

I glance up, and my eyes meet his. The smile on his face dazzles me, making my head spin as emotion rips open my insides. In the one look, he gives me the strength to continue, erasing all doubt that I’ve held about this day. I see my home at the end of the aisle as I take another step toward him. His body language tells me that he wants to run up to me and carry me the remainder of the way, lead me into what is yet to come, but he doesn’t.

Today, nothing is stopping the savage feelings of love from surrounding me. When I reach him, he takes my hand, pulling me another two steps closer toward him when the pastor begins. I glance at him, his Scottish accent catching me off-guard for a moment.

“We are gathered together on this beautiful afternoon to share with Hadley and Waylon as they exchange their vows for a love everlasting. You may be seated.”

There’s a rustling as the guests take their seats and the pastor continues his speech. Wade squeezes my hands, bringing my attention back to him. He’s still wearing the same smile that he was when I first looked up from the end of the aisle.

He’s dressed in a tailored tuxedo, his hair styled, and I’m having a difficult time concentrating. He beguiles me, leaves me breathless and needy beyond what is natural. Before I snap back to the present moment, the pastor asks for our vows.

“Today, Hadley and Waylon have chosen to recite their own vows. Waylon . . .”

Wade clears his throat before he starts. “Rye, I vow to love you and give you my heart. You have my word that I will not walk away in the difficult times, and that I will be your home. I promise to love and respect you, but above all else, I promise to remember that no one is perfect. I vow to be with you through each step of our future. Hand in hand. Step by step. I choose you, from the best parts to the worst. In you, I have found myself and the piece that I was missing. I’ve got you.”

An unexpected tear slides down my cheek as he says his truths to me and everyone else in the room bears witness.

“Wade,” I sob quietly.

He reaches over and wipes the tear and the one preceding it away with his thumb. He runs the pad of his thumb down and over my lips. I kiss it before he removes his touch from my face and takes my hand again.

“Hadley . . .” the pastor gestures toward me.

“Whiskey, I vow to let this moment live in my heart until the day it stops beating, and through that time, I vow to remain by your side.” I take in a ragged breath in an attempt to steady my shaky voice. “This marriage will take you from a single malt to a blended whiskey, a blending of different substances into one to make it uncustomarily unique. Today, I promise to love you. I vow to communicate with you instead of shutting you out. I promise to stand by you through each stage of life. I vow to be your wife, your partner, your supporter, and your blended love. I’ve got you.”

His chest rises with the breath that he takes, showing me his emotion without allowing the world to see what he only lets me in on.

Lola and Liam step forward and each of us lets go of each other’s hand and we take our rings from them. After giving each other an eternal symbol of love and commitment, the pastor says, “By the power vested in me by the Registrar General of Scotland, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride.”

A chill wracks my body as he says those words and Wade leans into me, locking his lips with mine. I think that I hear applause, but I can’t be sure. All of my attention is on the unbelievable man in front of me—the one who just promised me his life, and I him. I wrap my arms around his neck as our lips move against each other’s in a kiss that I will never be able to replicate. I’ll simply only be able to replay it. His hands move to the small of my back, pressing his fingers into the dress until he’s able to feel the studs of my piercings.

Our kiss turns from innocent to fiery, passionate, and demanding, which is when we get a couple of louder cheers from those in front of us. Wade is the one that releases my lips first. If it were left up to me, I’d allow him to take full advantage of our situation and whisk me upstairs, but Lillian has planned an incredible reception that I couldn’t imagine missing.

The applause starts again as Wade takes my hand and begins to walk back up the aisle. A few people reach out to us, congratulating us on our way up the stairs where he unexpectedly sweeps me off of my feet and carries me up the second half of the staircase, ignoring my warning regarding his back, until we get to our joint room. He manages to unlock the door without setting me down first.

“Wade, we have guests waiting.”

“All I need right now is you, Mrs. Brass.”

I purse my lips and tighten my arms around his neck, kissing his cheek before he lays me down on the bed to ravish me for the first time as his, entirely his.

His wife.

Holy shit.

We’re a week into our honeymoon, and aside from our scheduled events, food, and alcohol, we haven’t left our hotel room. This last week has consisted of private tours of whiskey distilleries, and tonight, we will be having a private dinner in the midst of the Macallan distillery just outside of Inverness, and tomorrow, I’ll be gifting her Blended Rye, Scotland’s newest Scotch distillery.

While she does her hair across the room from me, I lie back and watch her, realizing that I’ll get to do this until I take my last breath.

“What are you staring at?”

“My wife and everything that I’ve wanted in this world.”

She turns around and stands, wearing the hotel robe as she crawls up the bed toward me. “What were you thinking?” she asks as she unties the robe, presenting me with her bare skin.

She moves her hands up the thin fabric of my shirt. “Thinking about you and a place that I’ve not been yet.”

“Oh?”

“Yes, Rye. Come here.” I wrap my arms around her top half and pull her up the remainder of the way to me until she’s lying on top of me.

“I trust you,” she tells me with no pretense.

Her trust in me has become an intimate act in itself, satisfying me through and through. She no longer winces when I touch her, physically or emotionally.

Relationships are a give-and-take; each of us takes part in giving as well as taking, which somehow makes what we have grow and forms us into something more than a mere two people loving each other endlessly.

We meet hundreds of people each year, but none of them truly understands the person that you are. Instead of trying to change and mold me into an ideal partner, she accepts me and connects with me for who I am. I’ve walked through life struggling to find myself, to find the niche where I belong, and I’ve finally found it in her.

Pain changes people, leaving scars that are physically visible as well as ones that are not. Each of us has lived through lives that have made us become who we are, and through those circumstances, we’ve found what suits us best to find resolve in our souls.

“What comes next?” Hadley asks about our day, but I give her the purest of answers that I am able to muster up about our lives.

“Blended love and intertwined lives.”

The End

Thank you for reading this novel, and taking this journey with me while these two characters fought for love when no one took the time to fight for them as individuals. Always fight for those you love.

With love,
Sasha