It's been a couple hours since my request to abstain and the man is making me miserable on purpose. He sits across the room watching me with that smoldering stare, accidentally brushes past me, or sneaks up on me to whisper in my ear. When I leave the living area to take a shower, he follows me into the bath, "What are you doing?"
"Nothing I haven't done before," as he pulls his shirt off preparing to join me.
Two can play this game, I think as take my time slipping my nightie over my head, putting my body on full display for him before I step into the shower. His pants and socks get kicked off and he joins me in the enclosure. I monopolize the water first, wetting down my hair. Tilting my head back under the spray and closing my eyes, I spend more time than I really need just so I can tease him. This backfires when I feel his mouth close over one of my nipples, he manages one hard suck before I regain enough composure to pull free. "Prince!"
"Oops," he grins and begins lathering his body.
I move out of the spray to lather my hair, with my one erect, yearning nipple. Damn him, he knows that gets me going. Looking smug, he rinses quickly and exits the shower to let me finish in peace. The remainder of the time that we're getting ready, he surprises me by behaving himself.
At 5:30 we step into the elevator to head downstairs, we would rather be waiting alone than have any of our guests feel unwelcome. We walk into the banquet room and Prince can tell I'm tense, "What's wrong, Sugar?"
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"I don't know what's expected of me," I admit.
"Ah, okay. Well, we're going to greet the guests, all of whom you've met at the engagement party, the officiant will be here with his wife. We'll talk and eat, it's basically like the reception will be, except we're in more comfortable clothes," he laughs. "And no one will be taking our pictures every five minutes. So, just relax," he rubs my back.
"Sounds easy enough," I say and smile as I see Marcus, Angel and Derik walk through the door first. Two by two they begin to walk through the door and Prince and I separate as we make our rounds, talking, hugging, laughing as we go. Prince was right, and I relax almost immediately as I see all the familiar faces fill the room. He passes by periodically to kiss my cheek, or take hold of my hand, letting me know he's still close by, but when he senses I'm doing fine, or is approached by another guest, he disappears into the crowd.
After about an hour of noisy mingling, we take our seats as menus are passed out to the guests. Prince and I are sitting at a separate table with the rest of the bridal party and their spouses, our table faces the guests. The only added exception to our table is Marcus, and it is obvious that he and Angel have quite a serious long-distance relationship brewing. When I glance at the limited menu set before me, I see both a fish and chicken option. "There's meat," I whisper, to Prince.
He twists his lips, "I know. They'll get a choice tonight, but not at our wedding."
"What about Derik?"
"That's taken care of," he winks.
"Oh, jeez."
His hand strokes my knee under the table, "It's okay, I cleared it with Angel."
Orders are taken, wine and appetizers are served, Derik gets sparkling juice, carrot sticks and sliced apples. When they start serving our meals, I decide to ruffle Prince's feathers, I lean in a say quietly, "I ordered the chicken."
His relaxed face instantly sets into a stern expression and only his eyes flash over to look at me. His reaction was exactly what I had hoped and I bust out into belly laugh, dropping my head to his shoulder before I shake it, "I didn't." The vegetarian option gets placed in front of us, and a look of chagrin crosses his face. My jaw drops when I see what Prince had arranged for Derik, as a large serving of pancakes with sliced strawberries on the side.
We talk, eat, and talk some more, until guests start to trickle out just before 10:00. Honestly, I'm happy to see people starting to leave, because tomorrow is going to be a big day for me. Prince notices I'm getting quiet, and staying closer to him, these are two big indicators that I'm 'peopled out'.
"Sugar, start saying goodnight and go on upstairs," he suggests.
"Wouldn't that be rude?"
"We're among friends, Baby. They know you have a big day ahead of you tomorrow, they'll understand."
With his words, Kim approaches to kiss my cheek and say goodbye, not only is she attending the wedding, she is working, too. I feel bad for the ones that are supposed to be guests, but still at Prince's beck and call. "I'll see you bright and early," Kim calls over her shoulder as she leaves.
"What time and where?" I ask Prince on the sly after Kim's out of earshot.
"Upstairs, 6:30," he says quickly before others approach us to say goodbye.
We are now down to about ten people finishing conversations, and since it seems I'm working with a need-to-know basis for the wedding, I start with the questions.
"Sugar, there's an itinerary upstairs, but our wedding isn't really going to follow any set of rules. There's a reason I had this dinner tonight," he pauses our conversation as we're approached again, now we are down four people.
He continues, "The Wedding and reception are going to be relatively short by typical standards. Many of our guests will be flying out immediately after, or early Sunday." He stops, we both smile, our last remaining guests approach and we say our goodbyes. My quick glance at the wall clock, after the final guests have cleared the doors, shows 11:07.
Prince ushers me to the elevator with a kiss and promise to be right up, before returning to the banquet room to finalize the business end of the dinner.
I have only changed into a nightie and started to remove my makeup as Prince strolls into bathroom to also prepare for bed. I want to finish our wedding conversation, "So, a short wedding and reception?" I prompt.
"Um, hmmm, well, short by standards, yes," he pauses to come stand behind me at the sink. He kisses my right shoulder, then brushes my hair away from my neck, kissing lightly before he whispers in my ear, "I want everyone out of our vineyard." He moves to my opposite shoulder and repeats the whole process, "I have a private afterpartyplanned for just the two of us."
He flashes a grin at me in the mirror before he exits the bathroom.
