Our Fault (Culpable Book 3)

I stared at that beautiful woman in front of me. She took my breath, my words away… Seeing her enter the church had almost literally floored me.

Our family and friends were there. Any and everyone we cared about had come to see us united in matrimony.

Noah was excited, and her eyes gleamed as she tried to hold back tears.

“I do,” I said, being sure my pronunciation was clear and loud.

“Noah, do you take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, until death do you part?”

She smiled and looked me in the eyes.

“I do.”

“Then in the name of God and by the power vested in me by this church, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.”

Nobody had to tell me that twice. I cradled her face in my hands, and we kissed until we could hardly breathe. Our families applauded, and finally I forced myself away from her.

“You’re all mine now, Mrs. Leister,” I said, happier than I’d ever been.

Noah smiled, and I kissed away a tear that fell from her eye.

We had decided to get married in front of the sea. It was a warm day, a perfect day, and Noah was a knockout. She looked so good in her dress, I wasn’t sure I wanted to take it off. The white lace hugged her body and gave way to a cloud of tulle below her waist. Her shoulders were bare apart from two satin straps that crossed in the back, revealing her stunning figure. Her freckles were brighter than ever…and she had a spectacular tan, which she’d been working on in the days before the ceremony. Long story short: she was driving me wild.

“Ready to go?” I asked her, hours later, while we were out on the dance floor. I’d asked them to put on “Young at Heart,” and Noah had cried, remembering that wonderful night years ago when I’d shown her what a good dancer I was. That was the last night we’d spent together before splitting up, and I’d wanted to remind her of it to say that interruption never should have happened. Now, four years later, we were redeeming that moment and, at the same time, swearing we’d love each other forever.

Noah looked around for her mother, who had our boy in her arms. He’d hung on longer than anyone could have hoped, running, playing, and dancing before finally crashing and falling asleep.

“He’s fine, Noah,” I told her, kissing her on the forehead.

“He’s never spent so long away from us…”

“He’ll have a blast playing with Maddie and eating your mom’s cookies.”

Noah grinned.

“I love you so much,” she said, touching the nape of my neck.

I kissed her again. I needed to be alone with her. Now.

We said goodbye to the guests and our family and Andrew. With him, we got a little weepy. Noah grabbed him and he woke up. In his teeny tuxedo, he was just to die for.

“My prince,” Noah said, kissing his cheeks. “You behave, okay?”

I took him from her to stop her from going into hysterics. If he started crying and she did, too, who knew where it would all end?

I tossed him in the air, making him laugh, then hugged him and rested his head on my shoulder.

“Nick, don’t you think…?”

There was a warning in my expression. It was time for me and my wife to be by ourselves. We weren’t taking the baby. That issue had been decided.

My mother came over and held her arms out for him. “You guys go… This little thing is in good hands.”

She kissed me on the cheek and walked off with him.

Any tears soon disappeared amid the noise, the crowd, the music. But Noah stayed there looking at the place where my mother had stood with Andrew.

“Come on,” I said, lifting her in my arms. “It’s time to go, Freckles.”

She tried to smile. “Yeah, I guess we should get a move on.”

Everyone crowded around the door, waiting to see us off. We ran toward the white limousine that would take us to the hotel where we’d reserved the honeymoon suite. We were staying near the airport, and the next day, we’d be flying to Mykonos in Greece. I’d rented a beach house just for the two of us. We’d be there for one week and would spend the next week at a five-star hotel in Croatia.

I didn’t want Noah to have to think about anything. She’d spent two whole years completely devoted to her studies and our child. She needed this vacation as much as anyone, and I was going to make sure she lived it up.

When we got to the hotel, they had all the usual stuff for newlyweds. Our room was huge and had a spread of champagne, desserts, and fresh strawberries.

Noah’s jaw dropped when she walked in. “Did you do all this?”

“Amazing what a phone call will do, right?”

I ran my fingers through her hair and pulled her close, asking, “Are you ready to make love until it’s time to go to the airport?”

Her eyes burned with desire. “Didn’t you say our flight doesn’t leave till noon?”

I smiled lustily. “I sure did.”

We spent the night making tireless love. I had finally made her mine, with everything that implies. We stripped bare and kissed and touched each other as if in a fever. We threw her dress aside and immediately forgot it. We did it carefully, passionately, tenderly, and hard. We gave ourselves to pleasure the way you only can with a person you’re insanely in love with.

Because if loving like crazy was a crime…then we pleaded guilty.