Dorian's Destiny: Altered (28 page)

She bit down on her bottom
lip, as she imagined herself blindfolded and handcuffed to a
bed.

I
can't even bring myself to read about that kind of sex, much
less participate in it. Relax. We're both virgins.
Besides, he's the son of a priest, where would he
get the idea of kinky sex – Thomas?

Lost in her assumptions, she jumped when he
placed his hand on her thigh.

“Are you okay?” He asked, concerned by her
heavy breathing.

“Yeah,” she squeaked.

“I promise. You will enjoy
my surprise. Blindfolds, optional.” He reassured as he gently
rubbed her leg.

His words calmed her but his touch caused
her body to reheat, making it impossible for her thoughts to veer
from the upcoming evening.

Pulling to the curb, a couple of blocks from
their destination, he turned to Megan. “We're almost there. For you
to be completely surprised, I would like to blindfold you, but only
if you're comfortable with the prospect. I promise it will be
brief.”

“Okay.” She turned her head to allow him to
render her sightless.

He removed the tie he had
worn to their wedding from his jacket pocket and carefully covered
her eyes. “Good?” He inquired, breathing softly in her
ear.

“Yes,” she whimpered, his warm breath
intensifying the heat her body battled.

He gently tied the ends of the tie, then
glided a hand down her back before returning his hands to the
steering wheel; his touch stoking her desire. The passion her body
experienced at the slightest touch both excited and terrified her.
She sat there in silence yearning for more contact until she felt
the car park and the ignition turn off.

“We're here,” he announced. “I'll come
around and help you get out.”

She waited, listening intently for the
opening of her door. She jumped slightly when she felt his hand
grab her arm. “Sorry. The blindfold won't be necessary for much
long,” he promised.

“Fine,” she sighed. “Next
time though, you're the one getting blindfolded,” she declared as
he helped her out of the car.

“I look forward to it,” he teased as he
steered her to their final destination.

Blindness was something
Megan hoped she would never get used to. The vulnerability and
dependence it produced was horrific. She worried it might become a
common occurrence since he had blindfolded her twice in three days.
Hopefully he could space his surprises out farther in the future.
Her inner thoughts distracted her from most of the
journey.

“We're here,” he announced
as he removed her blindfold. They were standing in front of a large
wooden door, with an elevator directly behind them. He opened the
door and scooped her up into his arms. “Welcome to your honeymoon
suite, Mrs. Murphy!” He announced as he grabbed her up and carried
her over the threshold.

She had been so rushed preparing for the
wedding, their honeymoon hadn't even crossed her mind. Speechless,
she graced his cheek with numerous kisses before being
released.

She stood in the doorway to
the fanciest place she had ever seen. Just the living area she
stood in was larger than her whole apartment. Several doors led to
unseen areas. One entire wall existed of glass. She walked over to
the window and took in the cityscape stretched out for miles
beneath her. They were at least fifty stories high. She carefully
took a few precautionary steps back.

He joined her. “Beautiful isn’t it?”

“Tremendously beautiful,”
she answered glancing to him and then back at the view, when the
danger of it hit her. “Dorian, are you crazy?!” She
shouted.

“Pardon me?” He inquired, confused by her
switch in volume.

“This place is beautiful
and I appreciate the thought, but we can't stay here. You can't
stay,” she blurted, waving frantically toward the wall of
windows.

He stared at her for a moment before
understanding the cause of her dismay. “Oh, you're concerned about
my reaction to sunlight.”

“Well yeah,” she huffed.

“Don't be.” He shook his
head.

“Why not? You told me that
sunlight turns you into a crispy critter,” she reminded him nearly
hysterical.

“Not anymore,” he stated simply. She stared
up at him confused, so he clarified. “There are pros and cons to
drinking animal blood instead of human blood. A less dramatic
reaction to sunlight is one of them. Sunlight is not much more than
an irritation now. Not sure exactly why the difference, maybe it's
a failsafe, a way of protecting humans from my kind. Besides, I can
avoid this room during the day, if necessary. I should have told
you, but I thought you noticed when I proposed.”

She thought back to his proposal. It was
early dawn, but the sun was indeed up, or else she wouldn't have
been able to find her ring.

“I appreciate your concern,” he placed his
hand on the side of her face. She placed a hand on top of his and
closed her eyes, enjoying his touch. He leaned down to kiss her
before pulling away “There is much more to see,” he gestured back
to the living area.

The wall of windows and its spectacular view
was so enticing, she had paid little attention to the rest of the
room, except for the initial glimpse. The living room was decorated
mostly in white, with deep red accents. The end tables and coffee
table were stained cherry. She walked over and sat on the white
leather couch when she noticed a strikingly similar bouquet of
flowers in a vase on the coffee table. She turned to him after he
joined her on the couch. “Is that my bouquet from the wedding?” She
asked, reaching out and touching a rose petal. He nodded.
“How?”

“I can be rather speedy when necessary.” He
grinned proudly. “I grabbed a few things from the car and ran them
up here before I retrieved you.”

“Wow.” She frowned, trying to comprehend his
feat without her knowledge. “Did you use the elevator?”

“No, I took the stairs. The
elevator would have taken too long.”

“Weren't you out of breath?”

“I don't have to breathe. I
only do so out of habit. I'm not human anymore, remember,” he bowed
his head as he reminded her of this unfortunate truth. “I do try to
act as though I am for both of us,” he added sadly.

She felt a twinge of worry; there was still
so much she didn't know about him.

Stop it, Megan. You love
him and he loves you. Nothing else matters. You have the rest of
your life to learn everything about one another.

She placed a hand on his shoulder. “I'm
sorry. I didn't forget, but you are just Dorian to me. I don't see
you as human or otherwise.”

He raised his head and looked at her with a
smile. “Enough of this, we are supposed to be celebrating.”

She returned his smile. “Of course. One
question though, how did you do all this?” She motioned around the
room with her free hand.

His smile widened. “Well, while you and
Josie were off doing your own preparations, I was doing my own.
Knowing only a little about weddings and nothing about honeymoons,
I headed to a library. There may be a lot I don't know about, but I
know books. I read all I could find on both subjects, then I set
out to orchestrate the best honeymoon, my time crunch would allow.
I wanted to make up for our simple wedding as much as I could. I
know it wasn't what you always dreamed it would be,” he finished,
his smile fading.

“Our wedding was perfect,” she insisted.

He raised his brow. “Really?”

“Okay, it wasn't exactly what I had dreamed
of,” she admitted reluctantly.

He placed his hand on top
of hers, still on his shoulder. “Exactly, and I'm sorry about that.
In my rush to marry you, I forgot about what you were
missing.”

“It's not a big deal,” She shook her
head.

“It is too me. I want everything to be
perfect for my angel,” he gushed, squeezing her hand gently. “Now,
if you would accompany me into the kitchen, Mrs. Murphy, I have
another surprise.” Taking her hand from his shoulder and into his,
he led her into the kitchen.

There, she found a three tier, white wedding
cake. Each layer had a royal blue ribbon and a string of pearls
wrapped around it. White and blue fondant hearts dotted each layer.
At the top stood a brown haired groom and red haired bride tenderly
embracing, leaning in for their first kiss as husband and wife. To
the left of the cake lay royal blue napkins with Mr. and Mrs.
Murphy printed in silver. To the right, sat a bottle of champagne
and his and hers engraved wineglasses, DMM and MMM. Awestruck by
the room, the cake, and the glasses, she turned a complete three
hundred sixty degrees. He had done so much. Unable to contain her
enthusiasm, she leaped onto him, wrapping her arms around his neck,
her legs around his waist.

He took a step back to balance himself then
wrapped his arms around her waist. “I take it you’re pleased,” he
uttered before she pressed her lips to his.

After a few moments of passionate kissing
she answered, “Definitely. I have no idea how you managed all this,
but I am more than pleased.”

“Do you remember the safe I stole from
Thomas?” He asked as he gingerly removed his bride from his front.
He didn't want to hurt her feelings, but if he intended on
continuing with the pomp and circumstance, she needed to be farther
away from him. Her enthusiasm had already spread farther down his
body than he would have liked at the moment. She nodded, seemingly
unbothered by her removal. “There was quite a bit of cash inside.
Now, there is much less.” He smiled slyly. “People become highly
motivated when paid well. I tried to include all the things that
were missing from our ceremony, the cake, the champagne...” He
pulled a royal blue garter from his pocket, “the garter.” He
twirled the lacy item around his finger a few times before tucking
it back into his pocket. “We'll save that for later,” he added with
a flirty grin.

She felt her face light up, so she turned
her attention to the spread on the table. Admiring the lovely
display with ample amounts of royal blue, she asked, “How did you
know about royal blue? I don't remember mentioning it was my
favorite color.”

“You have mentioned it many times, just not
to me. I learned a great deal about you, from my time as a creepy
stalker,” he joked, making her laugh. “Now should we have cake or
champagne first?”

“Champagne,” she exclaimed, though the cake
looked delicious. She hoped a little liquid courage would calm her
nerves.

“Champagne it is.” He responded, grabbing
the bottle out of its ice bucket. “Do you know how to open this?”
He asked as he inspected the foil-wrapped rim of the bottle.

“Not exactly,” she shrugged. “I know you
have to remove the cork that is underneath the foil,” she
instructed, pointing to the same spot he inspected.

He held the bottle slightly turned away from
them and removed the foil exposing the wire frame and cork.

“Don't aim it at the windows!” She
shouted.

While removing the wire
frame, he asserted, “I'm sure those windows are strong enough to be
undamaged by this tiny cork.” Just as he uttered the word cork, it
shot from the end of the bottle and straight at the window. They
stood staring, mouths open, half expecting the window to break and
suck them both out. When none of that happened, he inhaled a deep
breath and laughed, “Told ya!”

After inhaling her own deep breath of
relief, she punched his arm.

“Hey!” He rubbed his arm with his free hand
merely for show.

“I saw your face, mister.
You were just as worried as me,” she scolded before finally
laughing too.

“True,” he admitted as he filled the
engraved glasses with the remainder of the champagne. Most had been
spilled during the uncorking and his punishment. “Now, I believe
it's traditional to intertwine our arms,” he added, handing Megan
her glass.

“Yes, I believe so.” She smiled.

Both struggled not to laugh as they
attempted to intertwine their arms with as little spilling as
possible. Looking into her eyes, he toasted, “To us.”

“To us.”

After the initial sip and unwinding, she
downed the rest. He smiled as he placed her empty glass on the
table beside his half full one. He refrained from drinking more
than a few sips. He had become quite the lush during his time with
Thomas, and though the effects were short lasting, he didn't want
to go down that path again. He wanted his feet to remain firmly on
the righteous path she had led him to.

She observed his half full
glass sitting next to her empty one.
“
We have the same middle initial,”
she noted the middle letter on the glass as she picked up Dorian's
glass to finish it.

“Uh, huh,” he muttered, his smile gone.

“What does the M stand for? It's not Marie
is it?” She teased.

“Nope,” he replied, though his middle name
wasn't much better.

She waited a few moments for him to answer.
“Hey, I told you my middle name.” She barked, her free hand on her
hip.

“Fine, but you can't laugh,” he instructed.
“My middle name is Moses.”

“Really?” She laughed, dribbling champagne
down her chin.

“Yes,” his smile returned despite his
embarrassment, thanks to her accident. “I guess father saw
similarities in our discoveries.”

“I like it,” she smiled, wiping her chin
before drinking the remainder of the champagne left in his
glass.

“Sure you do,” he jeered.

“Now cake,” she suggested with a slight
slur, the champagne affecting her quicker than she thought.

Still smiling, he removed the bride and
groom from the top of the cake.