Heart of the Hunter (83 page)

Grant loved me for who I was. He didn’t want me to be someone else.

And the dress. The dress was just stunning. The bead work was so intricate and precise that I was astounded Grant had managed to get it for me. There was usually a waiting list of months for a dress like that. How had he managed it?

I looked at my engagement ring. He’d managed that too. I couldn’t believe it. He was magical. He was like my wildest dream, my deepest fantasy, coming through.

I was alone in front of the mirror in my dressing room. Faith was out taking care of a few final arrangements for our limo. Everyone else was packing up their things and leaving. I looked in the mirror. I looked like the most beautiful bride in the entire world. I was certain Grant was going to love me. How could I doubt it? He’d loved me so deeply, for so long, and I’d felt the same way about him.

I thought back to that first time I’d seen him. Or the first time I’d watched him from my bedroom window. Or the first time I’d discovered that I could pleasure myself, just by looking at him as he showered with the hose after a long day’s work. This was the completion of everything my life had been leading up to. It had always been the final destination of my life, of my heart. Ever since the day my father discovered Grant, and brought him into our home.

I said a silent prayer of thanks to my father, for finding Grant and bringing him to me.

Chapter 49

Lacey

A
FTER WE WERE BOTH DRESSED,
Faith and I rode in a limo to the highest overlook in the Socorro Mountains. From up there, we could see for miles and miles. The sun was an enormous orb in the sky, slowly sinking into the Pacific Ocean, setting the entire evening sky on fire. To the south, we could see deep into the valley, the place I’d grown up, where everything I knew and loved existed. I’d never been to this lookout before, but now that I was there, I knew it was the perfect place. It was exactly what I’d described to Grant when I’d told him what I wanted for my wedding. I marveled at the fact that he must have had this place in mind, even back then when we’d been in the flower market in the city, me innocently telling him about my dream.

How had he known that all this was going to happen? How had he been able to plan for all of this? I’d been so confused at the time. I thought I was going to marry Rob. Had Grant really known that all this was going to follow? He’d bought the engagement ring as soon as he saw it, even though Rob was supposed to be the one buying it. Had he known then? He must have. Or maybe it was all just fate, our destiny, and it was God who was making it happen. It made my heart pound in my chest just thinking about it.

Sometimes you think you know what you’re doing with your life, you think you know what you need, and what you want, and it can be extremely overwhelming to realize that someone else is holding your entire future in the palm of their hand. To learn that someone else loves you, and they know what’s best for you, and they’re working on making it happen, making your dreams happen, before you’ve even realized you have them, that’s what it’s like to realize you’re loved.

How would I ever be able to repay Grant for doing all this? For knowing that it was what I’d wanted, even before I did?

I put my hand on my stomach and smiled. I knew how I’d repay him. I already was, and he didn’t know anything about it. I was giving him a child, I was creating life, right inside my body, and Grant had no idea. He was giving me a miracle, and the thought of it made my heart soar. But I was giving him a miracle too. A miracle that was going to make his heart explode with love.

I looked over at Faith. She was beautiful in a lace and bead dress designed to complement mine, and when she led me up the paved path to the overlook, the sight before me took my breath away. Overlooking a steep, sharp cliff, was a freshly built chapel of white wood.

Standing in a row in front of it were Sam, Jackson, Forrester and Grady. They all looked at me with such love and kindness, I knew they were my family, and would be forever.

Next to them was Grant, my groom. My heart leapt as I made my way toward him, following Faith. Music was playing. I looked to my left and saw a band next to the chapel. Beyond them was the magnificence of the setting sun. Where had all this come from? Had Grant built this chapel himself?

My eyes locked on Grant’s, and I could see that he was crying as I walked slowly along the path that led to him. It was like the path of my entire life. I realized that it had always been leading to him, and only him.

I saw Grant give a signal to Sam, and Sam pulled a string hanging from the roof of the chapel. Instantly, thousands of red roses, more than I could ever count, started falling from the roof. They fell in drapes down the front of the chapel like a waterfall. They’d somehow been attached to strings so that when they fell, they hung, creating curtains of beautiful crimson around the entire chapel. All its walls were covered. The sight took my breath away. Even the priest, the same Spanish priest who’d performed Faith and Jackson’s wedding, looked awestruck.

It was so beautiful. I continued walking toward the chapel, following Faith, everyone’s eyes on me, on my beautiful dress. Grant couldn’t have looked happier. A few yards from the chapel, Faith stopped, and I stopped next to her. The band stopped playing the beautiful music.

Grant stood next to me.

“Lacey, you look more beautiful than I even imagined,” he whispered.

“I can’t believe you planned all this,” I said. “Grant, it’s perfect.”

The priest started the ceremony, and it was all I could do just to keep myself from crying. Everything was so perfect. Standing next to me was Faith, my best friend in the entire world, and next to Grant were the men we knew would give their lives for us if we needed, Jackson, Forrester, Grady and of course, Sam. My father would have been so proud. This was the family he’d built, and maybe, if I played my cards right, I’d build a family just as strong.

I looked at Grant, my groom, tall and strong and handsome, the edges of his tattoos peeking out from his perfectly tailored tuxedo.

How had all this happened?

The flowers pouring over the edges of the chapel were so beautiful. I knew they’d come from the flower market. The sunset was just as I’d described. I knew Grant had done everything he could to make this ceremony perfect for me, and I couldn’t have been happier. I knew he’d spend his life making me happy, and I knew I’d do exactly the same for him.

When the priest finally asked, “Do you, Lacey Eden, take this man, Grant Lucas, to be your lawfully wedded husband?” my voice was stronger than I’d expected.

“I do,” I said, and there was no doubt I meant it.

Faith was crying.

“And do you, Grant Lucas, take this woman, Lacey Eden, to be your lawfully wedded wife?”

“I do,” he said, strong and clear.

When he kissed me, the taste of his kiss was mixed with the salt of my own tears. I couldn’t believe it had happened. Sam gave Grant a gold wedding band and he put it on my finger. Then he gave me a ring and I put it on Grant’s. And then the priest said those magical words. “I now pronounce you man and wife.”

Everyone cheered. I was delirious with happiness. A bell rang, and then, out of nowhere, something opened on the roof of the chapel and hundreds of white doves flocked out into the sky and filled it with their beauty. Their snow-white feathers reflected the orange light of the setting sun and it was as if a fire was burning in the sky. It was breathtaking.

I shook my head. I couldn’t believe it was all happening. It was too much to grasp.

Just hours earlier, Grant had showed me the house he’d bought, so that I could give a future to those boys, just as my father had done for him. He’d shown me that I’d been crucial in helping him, Jackson, Forrester and Grady become men. Then he’d proposed to me in front of an entire restaurant with the ring of my dreams. Now we were married. It had all happened so fast, and was such a surprise, that I couldn’t believe it was real.

I saw Sam and Forrester go off and come back with the most enormous cake I’d ever seen. Sam was obviously very proud of it.

“This was all me,” he said with a flourish.

He handed me a knife and together with Grant, I cut a slice. Then I picked it up and smeared it all over Grant’s face. Everyone laughed. And then I smelled it. Roses. The cake was also from the flower market.

“You remembered,” I said to Grant as I tasted the cake.

“Of course I did,” he said. “I remember every word you’ve ever said to me, Lacey. Every word. And I always will.”

And I knew he was telling the truth. It had always been that way between us. When one of us said something, the other listened. Even when we didn’t say anything, the other knew if we needed something, or had something to say. We were in tune with each other, and that would be the secret to our relationship.

I couldn’t have been happier. I know every bride says it, but I mean it as much as any of them. I felt as if God had reached down to earth from heaven and touched me. I felt like Grant was an angel, sent down for me alone, and that I’d be safe and happy in his arms for the rest of my life.

Chapter 50

Lacey

A
FTER THE CEREMONY,
we all went back to the hotel. We had a delicious dinner there, followed by much dancing and merriment. We shared our happiness with the other guests at the hotel. Grant picked up the tab for every single guest eating at the hotel that night. Even though most of them didn’t know who we were, they were more than happy to join in with the partying. Everyone watched as Grant and I shared our first dance. The band from earlier played the music, and after our dance, everyone else started dancing too. It was so much fun, but it wasn’t long before Grant took my hand and led me quietly out of the banquet room.

“Husband,” I said, in the elevator, “where do you think you’re taking me?”

“You’ll see,” he said, a sparkle in his eye. “I may have married you,” he said, “but I won’t really have wifed you until I get you up to that bedroom.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ll see soon enough,” he said, and began opening the buttons on his shirt.

My heart fluttered as I watched him. He revealed that manly, muscular chest to me and all I could think, was that I hoped no one came into the elevator to join us. No one did, and by the time the elevator reached the top floor, Grant was holding his jacket and shirt over one arm, while carrying me in the other. He carried me to our suite. It had been tidied so thankfully there was no sign of the mess me and Faith had made when we were getting ready.

Grant laid me down on the bed and then looked at me with so much love I thought I’d melt under his gaze.

“What are you looking at?” I said.

“My wife,” he said.

He was the picture of manhood. His arms and chest rippled in the faint light from the lamps. The moon shone in through the window and reminded me of the night we’d spent in the barn at Faith and Jackson’s wedding. That was the night that had started all of this. Although, the real beginning of our story had been seventeen years ago, when we were both just kids.

“Good things take time,” Grant said, then he climbed down between my legs and found his way up under the folds of my dress. When his mouth touched my thighs, I gasped in apprehension.

I was about to make love to my husband.
My husband
.

He pulled aside my panties, and began sucking gently on the mouth of my vagina. I lay back and clenched his face between my thighs. I squirmed in pleasure as his mouth licked and sucked, my pussy and clitoris completely at his mercy.

“Grant,” I moaned. “Come up here and kiss me.”

He continued to kiss me, but not the mouth I’d meant. My pussy quivered with pleasure. I was ready for him and wanted his cock inside me. He was my husband. That cock belonged to me now, me and no other woman. I was the only woman who’d ever feel it, and I wanted it.

He thrust his tongue into my pussy and moved it in circular movements, driving me wild with desire. Then he came out from under my dress and climbed up on top of me.

“Kiss me, wife,” he said.

My heart skipped a beat when he said
wife
. I opened my mouth and let him put his tongue as far into me as he could reach. He was mine, and I was his too. He could do with me as he wished now. His hands gripped at my breasts.

“Take off this dress,” he said.

I obeyed. I opened the zipper at the back and the dress came right off. Underneath, I had on the most intricate lingerie I’d ever worn in my life. It had been made to go with the dress, and was of the same delicate lace. I felt beautiful and sexual in it, especially when I saw the way Grant was looking at me.

“Turn around,” he said.

I looked at him shyly.

“Go ahead,” he said. “You’re my wife now. You can trust me.”

Timidly, I turned my back to him. I was on my hands and knees, like a prize pony, as he admired me.

“You’re mine at last,” he said, running his hand over the soft curve of my ass and thigh. “Do you know how long I’ve coveted this body, Lacey?”

“Yes,” I said, because it was the same amount of time I’d been coveting his body.

“I can’t believe you’re finally mine. I feel like I’ve won the lottery. I’ve wanted you so greedily, ever since I was a kid.”

“Then take me,” I said.

“Oh, I’m going to do more than take you. I’m going to
wife
you.”

He got up behind me and I heard him unzip his pants. He leaned down and licked my vagina and ass, making me nervous and apprehensive as the pleasure built up in my vagina. Then he touched the lips of my vagina with the head of his cock. He just touched it, and it was as if electricity flowed up into me from the contact.

“Come inside me,” I said.

He slid the long, thick shaft of his cock right up into me, so far I thought he was going to impale me.

“Oh, God,” I moaned.

“That’s what it feels like to be my wife,” he said, his hands firmly holding my ass from behind.

He began to rhythmically thrust deep into my pussy, and then slide all the way back out. He did it gently at first, but as the pleasure built up inside him, be thrust faster and faster, harder and harder.