Kiss Me

Part Eighteen

Walker

"Wow." I said as Marcus walked out of the bathroom, hair neatly slicked back, charcoal suit hugging his body in all the right places, eyes sparkling. He knew he looked good, and that made him twice as sexy as he would have been if he didn’t. My heart rate jumped the second he smiled at me, pulse thumping in my ears as I looked at him and all my senses opened up just a little more to take as much of him in as I could.

"Is this good enough?" Marcus was perfect and none of us deserved him. No matter what angle I looked at this whole thing from, that was the conclusion I kept coming to. After everything he’d been through this week, it was a miracle that he was still here. The fact that he was standing in front of me, asking me if he was good enough, was outright impossible. And yet, here we were.

"It's good enough, so good."

"I...I need to tell you something." He stuttered as he came closer to me. The way he said it had me thinking that maybe he thought he made a mistake, with me. So I shook my head, praying it wasn't that. "Don't say anything," he said. "Just, just listen to me."

"Okay."

"I've had the opportunity all week to be with the kindest, most generous, patient, thoughtful person I’ve ever known. He was so good to me that I didn’t know what to do with it half the time, it just seemed like too much. Like I couldn’t possibly deserve it." I swallowed. Was this going where I hoped it was going? It sure was starting to sound like it. "And then I panicked and was ready to throw it away," he paused. And I thought fuck, he was ready to bail on me, when? Yet I stood still and let him finish, before my heart plummeted. "....Because I kept telling myself that it wasn’t real, that I couldn’t have it, that this was all a temporary situation. Because I’ve never had it before and I couldn’t imagine what it’d look like for someone to actually care about me for who I was, even while I was in the middle of it. Yet this wedding has made me see what it actually feels like to finally be accepted. By my dad and Lily...but most of all, by you Walker. I said maybe, maybe I love you too. But that wasn't true because there's no maybe about it. I do love you."

"Marcus…"

"Wait," he uttered, his shoulders tense. "I don’t know what I want," he said, now resting his forehead against mine. "In general, I mean. But I know now that it has to include you." I couldn’t have stopped smiling even if I wanted to. "That my every thought or decision has to include you. No matter what. That what I feel is finally something real. Something that finally feels real, do you get what I mean?"

"I get it, I do. It's real for me too. Always has been."

"I'm sorry I ever asked you to pretend. Even though I knew you liked me for more than just a friend. It was selfish. I was thinking of myself because I was scared to face everything alone. But then I'm also glad I was selfish, too. Because I've fallen for you and now I have you."

"Silly," I mumbled and ran my fingers down the back of his neck. "You can be as selfish as you want Marcus because not for a single second would I leave you. Even if you didn't love me."

"That's stupid." he chuckled.

"But it's true, so….lets get your sister's wedding out of the way so we can drink and I can take you to bed. You know….commemorate the moment. Seal the deal."

"I know I don’t deserve you, I know I don’t have anything to offer. But you cared about me anyway. Only someone who’d lost their goddamn mind would be stupid enough to let someone like you go, ever."

"I want you," I said, because that was all I could think of. "And you do deserve me. We deserve each other."

"Then we really do need to seal the deal, huh?"

"You got that right," The tiny hitched breath and wide eyes I got in response were all the confirmation I needed. Marcus nodded, shyly, blushing that pretty shade of pink I loved on him, just in case I wasn’t completely sure he liked the sound of that. I leaned in for a kiss, Marcus’s nose bumping against mine in his eagerness. A hum vibrated in my throat, the pleasant warmth of arousal pooling southward, my belly tightening in anticipation. "Let's go watch Lily get married."

He smiled and took my hand and we left our room. "You look so good too."

"I scrub up well." I said, grinning so much my face started to ache.

"When this is over, would you like to go with me to meet the others?"

"Others?" I thought. "Oh, right. Matt and Zeke, right?"

"Yeah. I want to introduce you to them."

"I'd love that, thank you." He smiles softly as we made our way through the hotel and into the ceremony room. So many people. Family we've not spoken to. Family Marcus hasn't even spoken to. But then again, watching him it didn't seem like he was bothered by it. He had two important people that had bothered with him. I guess for Marcus that's all he needed. His sister and father. Even as we walked past the other family members to our seats he didn't once look at his mother. I did. I couldn't help but stare at her for a brief moment, to see the look of disgust on her face and I guess a part of me wanted to blatantly rub Marcus's happiness in her face. Then again, I think we're already doing that and I took great pleasure in it. I was so damn proud of him. The perfectly imperfect Marcus.

Kiss Me

Me: All's good bro. The wedding was perfecto.

I'd not spoken to Kyle in a couple of days. I guess I needed to let him know I was still breathing, because Marcus's bat shit family could have buried me in the snow. Well, not Lily or his dad, but definitely his mom.

Kyle: Glad to hear it. Although Marcus already messaged me and sent a picture of you sitting in a chair you're probably still sitting in. Dick head.

Wait. What? Marcus took a picture of me? Moments ago? Without me knowing? Cheeky shit. Although it made me chuckle.

Kyle: Have fun. Love you bro.

I brushed my thumb over the words on my phone screen. Turned out I needed to hear that more often, too.

Movement beside me caught my attention, and I turned to see Lily making herself comfortable in the empty seat Marcus had been occupying earlier. He was still dancing with Dana and I couldn’t bring myself to look anymore. Although I told him to. It's not her fault. It was his mother's fault. She put the idea into Dana's head. And Dana apologized for being an….ass, I guess.

"So, Marcus told me everything," Lily said. "About, y’know, the two of you." I blinked. Exactly what everything had he told her? "That he begged you to come here as his date," Lily clarified. "That you’re not really dating. Which means I owe you an even bigger thank you for everything you’ve done to keep this wedding together." I raised an eyebrow. Just being here had nearly been enough to tear it apart, and I didn’t feel like I’d done a whole lot to make up for that. If anything, Lily should have been banning me from future family events. "I wanted Marcus here," she said. "And he would’ve left early without you. But because you’re here. He still is."

"I…" What was I supposed to say to that? I hadn’t really done any of those things, they were just because I existed.

"Don’t deflect," she said, apparently reading my mind. It probably wasn’t all that hard to read.

"I really didn’t do much," I said, because I couldn’t follow a simple instruction without arguing about it. "Went along with a crazy idea, told your mom off, almost fell off a ladder, existed. You don’t need to thank me."

"I do," Lily said, reaching out to take my hand and holding it between both of hers. "And it’s my wedding, so you have to let me." She beamed. She was so pretty. Good looks definitely ran in the family.

"Well, you’re welcome, then."

"It's not fake anymore, though. I see it. I see how he looks at you. I hear how he speaks about you, like you're the most important person in his life and I absolutely love that. Especially after everything."

"I guess…."

"He's not told you, has he?" She asked, cutting in. No, he's not told me much about anything and I'm definitely certain I shouldn't be hearing it from Lily, although I more than loved her. It's Marcus's choice when or if he will.

"No, but I'll wait."

Giving my hand a quick squeeze, she leaned her head on my shoulder. It was strange. Her husband was talking to guests. My boyfriend was dancing with a woman his mother wanted to set him up with and I was almost huddled up with the bride. "I love you too, Walker. You're my family. I'll treasure you both."

"Isn't that something you should be saying to Darryl?"

She giggled. "He already knows. Anyway. Go steal him back from Dana." And then she squeezed my hand once more and left me alone. I looked at Marcus, he was having fun. I liked watching him have fun, but I also wanted to march over there, grab him and monopolize his minutes on the dance floor and then in the room. But as I was staring at him, thinking of how I'm going to steal him he'd started walking towards me. I froze. Eyes on him.

"Are you going to stare at me or are you going to show me some new moves on the dance floor?"

"Huh," I puffed out and stood up. Then wrapped an arm around his waist, pulling him against me. He smelt of him and alcohol. It was intoxicating. "I'll happily show you some new moves on the dance floor," I leaned in by his ear and sucked in his lobe, making his body involuntary shiver. "Then I'll show you even better moves up in our room."

"Walker," he softly said, pulling away so he could look at my face. "I will be everywhere you go and everywhere I am, you'll be with me."

"I couldn't have said it any better babe." And just like that I pulled him onto the dance floor. I already had a pretty good idea of how I wanted this year to turn out now. Hopefully, I’d be spending a lot of it exactly how we were now, happy. Laughing and loving a hell of a lot. And the next year, and the year after that. And the year after that. For as long as Marcus would have me. Hopefully forever.