Muse [18+] • REVISING

Bonus Scene

D A M I E N

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Spring

There were no bouquets or flower arrangements, no grandiose decorations, no rows of seats with friends and family sitting in them. No long dinner tables done up with expensive silverware and centerpieces, and there wasn't any catering or waiters to hand out champagne glasses and appetizers. And once the ceremony concluded, there would be no reception or any kind of after-party either.

Instead, the two of us stood in my family's museum on a regular evening, where few people were still idling outside in the atrium, admiring the other exhibits. The only thing that varied this night from most was the long gown she was in, the suit that I wore, the officiant in front of us, and the new band of gold that sat on my ring finger along with a second one to match the garnet already on hers.

We were also tucked away in a little exhibit I hadn't been in since I first dedicated the space over two years ago. There was just the dim glow coming from the golden wall sconces along with the show lights above that shot down on the only two pieces of art in the room, one being the painting on the wall that I had done so many nights ago, and the other, my soon-to-be wife.

When I pictured marrying her, I planned on it being the event of the century with everything over the top and more, as I not only wanted the best of the best for her but to show her off to everyone who would attend and have the chance to tell the world about a woman as rare as her.

But as defiant as she is, she wanted to save the blown-out night for sometime in the fall because such a red-letter day belongs to us and only us, she told me, thus the choice of setting. And while she was right, a wedding with or without people, I'd still only ever see her. She had me forever stuck.

"Monsieur DuPont?" The officiant snapped me out of the short trance. My eyes have not left the woman in red next to me since our private ceremony began. I looked at him. "You may kiss your wife now."

Wife. I really fucking liked the sound of that. He didn't have to tell me twice.

Before she had the chance to fully face me, I hooked her by the waist and pulled her in, bringing my other hand up to cup her face and kiss her. I kissed her hard as if it was the last thing I'd ever get to do. Her lips melted into mine like they were made for me, and all I could focus on was how sweet she always tasted and how now, I could taste her for the rest of my life.

She pulled away, gently tugging my bottom lip before doing so, the little act sending billows of heat all over my body. Her hands found my face and she grazed her fingers over my cheeks while I noticed a little glass-like twinkle in her eyes.

"I love you," she whispers, a tear falling.

I wipe it away, feeling the same itch behind my eyes. "And I love you."

Keeping us still for a few moments more, I take in her face, just staring and soaking up every last bit of the residual high that getting married to the girl in my arms had caused me. I kiss her again, this time on her cheek before finally prying myself away from her. I exchanged a few words with the officiant, thanking him for his time, and then he found his way through the door, leaving the two of us alone. I look down at my wife again, feeling like the ground underneath me shifts every single time I see those eyes of hers.

"Shall we, Mrs. Adams DuPont? I'd like to get started on this newly married life of ours. Tonight, perhaps?" I held out my hand for her to grab as we walked out of the tiny exhibit. I leaned in, my lips nearly brushing her ear. "I'm just dying to kiss your lips again, and not the ones on your face."