Full Circle (59 page)

A chorus of awes broke through the room.

She tilted her head to the side and placed
her hand over the center of her chest, moved close to tears by his
words.

Then a thoughtful expression overtook his
face as he set the remainder of the rose on the table and stiffly
squared his shoulders. “Many of you know I used to dance.” He
tipped his head toward his parents. “I wasn’t as good as my mom and
dad, but I could hold my own. And I enjoyed it. And
then . . . I stopped enjoying it. And I stopped
dancing.” He turned back to her. “But Karma has shown me how to
dance again, and tonight, for the first time in over eight years,
I’m going to dance. Truly dance. With her.” He held out his hand.
“My lovely bride, may I?”

Her cheeks burned in such a pleasant way as
she placed her fingers in his, rose from her chair, and let him
lead her away from the table toward the center of the dance
floor.

“Are you ready?” he said quietly.

She smiled. “Yes.”

“Are you nervous?”

“A little.”

He slowed, stopped in the center of the room,
then faced her. “Just pretend we’re in our living room. Just the
two of us. And this is just another lesson.”

Just another lesson.

Ironic how their whole relationship revolved
around lessons. And chocolate. Chocolate had definitely played a
role in their relationship. But in one way or another, they’d been
teaching each other through lessons from the beginning. He had
taught her about sex. She had taught him about life. He had taught
her how to make truffles. She had taught him how to trust and let
go. And over the last several weeks, he had begun to teach her how
to dance.

And the culmination of all those lessons was
for this moment. Their first dance as husband and wife.

The music began.

His gaze locked to hers.

And then they took their first synchronized
step.

Two months ago, she never would have thought
she could dance like this, and while she was nowhere near an
expert, she loved how it felt dancing with Mark. Their nightly
rumba lessons had become her favorite part of the day. The
closeness, the sensuality, the intimate sharing of trust and
passion for something they could enjoy together.

And, honestly, dancing had become her
favorite kind of foreplay. It had unlocked a whole new element in
their sex life.

Most importantly, though, she finally
understood exactly why he’d stopped dancing eight years ago and why
he’d written
I want to dance again
on his confession list.
There
was
something magical and special about dancing with
someone you loved. Someone you trusted. And not the kind of trust
where you know the other person wouldn’t drop you or fail to grasp
your hand during a spin. This was the kind of trust that only two
people who loved one another unconditionally could understand.
Trust that there were no lies or secrets between them. The kind of
trust that shattered walls, banished fear, and opened souls.

No way could she dance with anyone else the
way she danced with Mark. It just wouldn’t have felt right.

And now he was her life partner, and she was
his. Life partners in the dance. Dance partners for life.

As he guided her expertly through the simple
yet elegant rumba he’d choreographed, she briefly glanced toward
the pockets of guests bordering the dance floor. Those who knew
Mark’s history appeared moved close to tears. They knew what he’d
gone through to get to this moment, and many of them had probably
thought they would never see him dance again.

But it was his mother who was most affected.
Tears streaked her cheeks, and she held her delicate fingers over
her mouth as if stifling a sob. Even so, her shoulders shook.
Seeing Mark find his way back to the dance floor had clearly
overwhelmed her.

“I think you’ve made your mom’s whole
decade.” She lifted her gaze to his.

“I think you’ve made
mine
.” His own
eyes glistened with unshed tears.

“Well, you’ve made my entire life.”

He led her through a spin then pulled her
back against his body, his hips moving like they had a mind of
their own. Watching the way his body moved was almost as much of a
turn-on as when he spoke Italian.

“It’s
our
life now, Karma.” He
blinked, and a single tear dropped from his lashes to the apple of
his cheek as he pulled her even closer and tipped the side of his
forehead to hers. “To honor . . .” He kissed her.
“To love . . .” He kissed her again. “To have and to
hold, forsaking all others, I do solemnly vow to cherish you until
my heart expends its final beat . . .
Mrs.
Strong
.”

A delighted shiver raced through her body.
Mrs. Strong. It was the first time he’d called her that.

“Until death do us part then?” She smiled up
at him as they gently returned to basic side-to-side steps.

He kissed the tip of her nose. “Absolutely.
And I plan on living a very long time.”

“Is that so?”

He nodded. “You’re stuck with me now.”

She placed her cheek on the front of his
shoulder. “There’s no place I’d rather be.”

He angled his head so it lay over hers. “I
completely agree.”

They had been destined for this night from
the moment he’d sat down beside her at that blackjack table.
Actually, their path had been set even before he sat down beside
her. The way Mark told it, their journey had begun the moment he
laid eyes on her from across the room. He’d known then that he
would have her. He had just thought it would be for the night, not
the rest of their lives.

How wrong he’d been.

Chapter 45

Most guys want to be a girl’s first. Smart guys want
to be her last. Lucky guys get to be both.

-Xuan Ta

Karma faced the mirror in the white marble and glass
bathroom in their suite at the Canterbury in downtown Indianapolis.
She was wearing the lacy negligee she’d worn the first time she and
Mark made love. How fitting that she should wear it again for their
first time to make love as husband and wife.

She checked the timer on the counter. Only
twenty seconds remained. Mark had drawn her a bath, laid the
negligee on the marble countertop next to the sink, set the timer,
and told her not to come out until it went off.

That was so Mark. Even on their wedding
night, he couldn’t just let things unfold naturally. He had to have
a plan.

She smiled at her reflection. Okay, so a plan
was fine. It meant he wanted to make the night even more special
than it already was. A night she would never forget.

She couldn’t hear anything from the other
side of the door. No music. No sounds coming from the TV.

Ten seconds left.

How would he react when he found out she’d
been on birth control for the last month and he no longer needed to
wear a condom? For that matter, how would
she
react when she
felt him slip inside her for the first time, skin-to-skin?

Five seconds.

She took a deep breath and stepped toward the
door.

The timer beeped once before she shut it off.
Turning off the light, she slowly opened the door.

Candlelight from a half-dozen white candles
scattered throughout the room greeted her. The curtains were open,
letting in the light from the city.

Mark lay on the bed, on his side, propped on
his elbow, wearing a pair of white linen drawstring pants. His gaze
raked her body as she approached. Then he slowly sat up, reached
behind him, pulled out two boxes wrapped in gold and white paper,
and set them in front of him on the comforter.

“What’s this?” She shyly bit her bottom lip,
eyeing the boxes.

“My wedding gifts to you.” He took her hand
and guided her onto the bed.

“Don’t you think marrying me is enough of a
gift?” She kissed him then sat cross-legged in front of him on the
plush white comforter.

Shaking his head, he picked up the longer and
flatter of the two boxes. “Open this one first.”

Trying not to rip the paper like an overly
excited five-year-old, she sliced it with her recently manicured
fingernail and peeled it back from the edge. Inside was a blue box.
She immediately recognized the color as Tiffany’s. When she pulled
it free from the wrapping, the black lettering that spelled
“Tiffany & Co.” confirmed her suspicion.

“Mark . . .”

“Go ahead . . . open it.”

She untied the bow then lifted the top to
reveal a black jewelry box. When she opened the lid, she sucked in
her breath, covering her mouth with her fingers. The diamond and
ruby necklace and matching earrings were beyond anything she’d ever
seen. For the necklace, rubies of graduating sizes were surrounded
by diamonds and strung together to look like dozens of flower heads
lined up side by side.

“When I saw this necklace, it reminded me of
you the night we met,” he said, lifting it from the box with both
hands and extending it toward her.

Speechless, she leaned forward as he fastened
the clasp behind her neck.

“When did you . . . ?
How . . . ?”

A pleased grin spread over his lips. “I have
my ways of getting what I want without you knowing, my lovely
bride.”

Her fingertips danced delicately across the
priceless gems collaring her neck. “It’s beautiful.”

He pinned the earrings in her ears then set
the empty box and wrapping paper aside. “When I make love to you
tonight, you’ll wear nothing but this.” He caressed her skin around
the necklace. “But first . . .” He leaned back again
and picked up the other box. “Your other gift.”

He handed it to her, and she shook her head,
not being as careful this time as her trembling fingers tore away
the paper. “Mark, you’ve already given me too mu—” She cut off with
a laugh as she pulled their old Truth or Dare game from inside the
paper. “What is this?” She held it up in front of her.

“It’s been a while since we played. I thought
it would be fun to see how much we’ve changed.”

She set the box on the bed and opened it.
“Oh, we’ve changed. I can already tell you that.”

“Well then, let’s just see.” He pulled the
cards out and fanned them on the comforter as if he were a card
dealer in Vegas.

“Silly me for thinking I would come out of
the bathroom and you’d simply ravish me.”

He plucked a card from the deck. “Oh, I’ll
ravish you.” He gave her a roguish smile. “But I want to seduce you
first.”

“That’s sweet of you, honey, but I’ll let you
in a little secret. I’m a sure thing.”

Chuckling, he flipped the card over so he
could read it. “I never take anything for granted. Now, truth or
dare?”

She bit her bottom lip. This wasn’t what
she’d expected tonight, but given how hot and bothered this game
had made her the other two times they’d played, she could only
imagine how intense the sex would be later. After all, as the
wedding was all about the dress, the honeymoon
was
all about
the sex, and Mark more than understood that.

“Truth.”

His coy smile sparked mischief into his
features. “What’s the kinkiest thing we’ve ever done together?
Describe in detail what you liked about it.”

She thought back over all the kinky things
they’d done, as well as all the kinky things they still had yet to
do. “How do I narrow it down to just one?”

He looked like he was reminiscing on some of
their greatest hits himself. “You can do it. I have faith.”

She smirked at him, then, after thinking it
over a few more seconds, she said, “I think the kinkiest thing
we’ve done is when you took me into that stairwell during the
benefit.”

“Mmmm, yes. Nice choice.” He nodded
shallowly. “But something tells me our kinkiest moments are still
to come.”

“And something tells me you might be right.”
He’d teased her about taking her to a sex party—just to observe,
he’d said—but had yet to follow through.

She picked up a card. He said “dare” before
she could even ask.

She turned the card around and read, “Whisper
something in another language to me. Make it sound as sultry as
possible.”

What a perfect dare for Mark.

He leaned toward her, eyes hooded, lips
curved in a sexy grin.
“Quando stasera faro l’amore con te, ho
intenzione di farti urlare il mio nome e farti andare in pezzi,
fino a quando non ti tremeranno le gambe e non potrai respirare
senza lodare il giorno in cui ci siamo incontrati.”

She had no idea what he’d just said, but it
sounded hot. A delicious ache pulsed between her legs. “What did
you just say?”

He licked his lips and leaned closer so his
mouth brushed over her cheek toward her ear. “I said that when I
make love to you tonight, I’m going to make you scream my name and
come undone until your legs quiver and you can’t breathe without
praising the day we met.” His tongue flicked her earlobe before he
closed his lips around it in a gentle, suckling kiss.

“Oh.” The temperature between her legs
continued to climb.

As he sat back and picked up a card, his
self-satisfied expression oozed confidence that he would do exactly
as he claimed once the game ended, which caused a shiver to race
down her spine.

“Truth or dare?” he said, his voice smug yet
husky.

“Truth.” She didn’t think she could handle a
dare right now.

He read the card to himself then laughed and
dropped his head back.

“What? What does it say?”

With a shake of his head and still laughing,
he turned it around so she could read it.

“Have you ever had multiple orgasms?” She
giggled.

He tossed the card aside. “I already know the
answer to that one.”

She’d been having multiple orgasms with him
since their sex life had begun.

He picked another card and read it to himself
first. “Ah, this one’s much better. Do you think make-up sex is
better than everyday sex?”