Broken

Chapter 34

I woke up the next morning to something tickling my hand. I flinched trying to get it to stop, then I felt Stephen laugh as I laid on his chest. Opening my eyes, I looked up at him to see him smiling. Turning my head to look at what was tickling my hand, I felt it again as Stephen lightly brushed his finger over my ring.

"Sorry. I couldn't help myself." He whispered.

I smiled as I pushed up to his lips, and kissed him. Slowly I moved my leg over his body so I was straddling his hips. As I lowered over him, a chill ran up my back from how sensitive I still was from last night. Stephen chuckled as I closed my eyes and he ran his hands up my waist.

"I'll go slow." He whispered just before I felt him pulse from under me.

I bit my lip as I pushed back up, and he positioned himself. I very slowly sank all the way down as my head fell back. I slowly started to move, but Stephen rolled us over so he was on top of me.

He placed soft kisses over my chest and up my neck as he ran his hands over my body. This was a different side of him that I hadn't really seen during sex. Everything about his movements were so loving. He stayed slow, but something about how passionate it was we both finished with mind blowing orgasms. Stephen stayed on top of me, kissing my neck as I caught my breath.

"What do you want?" Stephen asked.

"What do you mean?" I asked him, confused.

"For the wedding. What do you want?"

He sat up slightly so he could look at me. I smiled as I looked up at him and ran my fingers through his hair.

"I just want you." I said after a minute, "Nothing else matters."

"Do you want to start looking at places?" He asked.

I shook my head, "Just take me to the courthouse."

He raised his eyebrows in shock, "Claire, really?"

"Yeah." I said as I pushed up and gently kissed him. "I had the big wedding with Parker, and it was so stressful. I don't want that. I want to just be yours."

"Whatever you want. If you're sure..." He said.

"I'm sure."

...

First thing on Monday morning, we went to the courthouse and got our marriage license. After work, we went to see Mom and Daddy and told them that we were getting married on Thursday. Of course Mom protested. She wanted us to have a big elaborate wedding with hundreds of people. After a long talk, she finally let it go, thankfully, when I agreed to still go dress shopping with her.

The next morning, Mom and I went to find me a dress, while Daddy went with Stephen to get him a suit. We had appointments at a few different places throughout the day, but I was really hoping it wouldn't take that long. \

"What about this one, Claire?" Mom said as she held the skirt of a very detailed dress.

"I'm thinking I want something simpler, Mom." I said with a chuckle.

"Claire, this is your wedding dress, it's supposed to be extravagant." She said with a chuckle.

"It doesn't have to be, Mom. I would marry him in jeans." I said as I continued to look through the dresses.

"That's not happening!" Mom said, making me laugh.

I handed a few dresses to be put in my room, and of course, so did Mom. I tried on all of the dresses she picked out first to keep her happy. She loved all of them, but they just weren't what I wanted.

I tried on a couple of the simpler dresses I had picked out, and Mom wasn't liking them at all. Slipping into the last dress, I looked it over as the woman helping me zipped it up.

"Well?" I heard Mom ask from the other side of the door.

"I actually like this one a lot." I said as I adjusted it.

Stepping out of the room, I did a slow turn for Mom so she could take it all in. She set down the glass of champagne she was sipping, and walked over to me.

"This is nice." she said as she felt the material between her fingers.

"I think this is the dress I want." I said as I looked at myself in the mirror.

Mom brushed my hair back so it was off of my shoulder, and looked at me through the mirror.

"You're beautiful." She said with a smile.

Mom insisted on buying the dress for me. I thought it was silly, since it was just a few hundred dollars. But it was 'tradition'. Charlie dropped me off at home, and Mom held onto my dress so I didn't have to worry about Stephen seeing it.

When I walked inside, I set my purse down on the kitchen counter, and started to walk to the bedroom.

"Hey beautiful." I heard Stephen say, making me jump.

"You scared me!" I said as I saw him sitting on one of the couches in the living room.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to." He said with a small smile.

He had obviously just gotten home too. His hair was wet from a shower, and he was just wearing sweatpants that were teasingly low on his hips. I turned and walked over to him, and sat next to him on the couch. Curling into his side, his slowly rubbed my back.

"Did you find a dress?" He asked.

"Yeah, Mom has it with her." I said as I nodded, "Did you get what you wanted?"

"Mmhmm." he said as he kissed my head.

"I'm going to go get comfy." I said as I sat up.

"No, stay here with me." He said with a pout.

"I won't be gone long." I said as I leaned in and gave him a quick kiss.

When I went to pull away, he wrapped his arm around my waist and held me close to him. Running his hand up my back, he grabbed the zipper of my dress, and slowly lowered it.

"Just stay here." He said in a whisper.

I let my dress fall to my waist, then pushed it down off of my legs. I was now next to him in just my bra and panties. Stephen smiled at me as his eyes roamed my body.

"I'm going to freeze." I said as I shook my head.

In one swift movement, Stephen pulled me into his chest and laid us down on the couch. Reaching behind me, he pulled the throw blanket over us, and pulled me as close as he could into his chest.

"There, that's perfect." he said as he kissed the tip of my nose.

We found a movie to watch, and we stayed curled up for the rest of the evening.