Sweet Dreams (14 page)

She panicked, a riot of emotions attacking her from all sides when he released her hand.

He was going to walk!

She couldn’t let him walk!

“Yes!” The single word was a shriek. “Yes, Preston, I will marry you.” She was shaking, tears were flowing, and Chandra wasn’t certain how much longer her quivering legs would be able to aid her in remaining upright.

Preston felt his knees buckle slightly before he drew himself up to his full height. He’d gambled
and
he’d won. He hadn’t seen Chandra in five days, but it’d taken only one for him to realize why he’d been drawn to her and why he wanted her not only in his life but also a part of his life.

He’d dated women much more beautiful, women who could buy and sell a man with the scrawl of a signature on a bank check and women so eager to please that they’d sell themselves for any price. Women whose
names and faces paled in comparison to the one standing before him.

Preston knew Chandra was the
one
within seconds of the elevator doors opening, and he’d come face-to-face with the woman who’d recorded her erotic dreams.

Cradling her face between his hands, he kissed her quivering mouth, then her tears. “Shush-h-h. Don’t cry, baby. We’re going to have a wonderful life together.”

Preston’s attempt to console Chandra elicited more tears. Moving closer, she cupped his hands. “I love you so much,” she whispered against his parted lips.

“Come home with me, baby.” He’d punctuated each word with a kiss at each corner of her mouth.

“Why?”

“I want to make love to you.”

Chandra smiled through the moisture shimmering on her lashes like minute raindrops. “We don’t have to go to your place. I have protection. And I’ll treat you to breakfast in bed if you decide to spend the night.”

Preston kissed the end of her nose. “You are incredible.”

“Thank you.” She wanted to tell the man she’d promised to marry that
he
was incredible, because he’d gotten her to fall in love and agree to marry him within the span of a month.

“We can’t sleep in too late tomorrow because I want to take you shopping for an engagement ring.”

Chandra nodded numbly. The enormity of what she’d agreed had become apparent with the mention of a ring. She’d taken a step forward, and now it was too late to backtrack.

“I think there’s something very wrong with us, Preston, if we always end up sucking face in public.”

Preston smiled. “On that note, we should head upstairs.”

Chandra and Preston shared a secret smile as they rode the elevator to the sixth floor. No words were needed. Everything they wanted to say had been said.

After closing and locking the door, Chandra reached for her fiancé’s hand, leading him in the direction of her bedroom. She hadn’t drawn the silk drapes and sheers at the wall-to-wall windows and the light from a full moon silvered every light-colored object in the room. She took her time undressing Preston: shoes, socks, jacket, tie, cuff links, shirt, belt, slacks and briefs. Smiling, she presented him with her back.

Fastening his mouth to the column of Chandra’s scented neck, Preston nipped the delicate skin. He’d become Pascual and Chandra, Josette, he undressing Josette with the intent of claiming her innocence. But instead of a flowing gown with an Empire waistline it was a circa twenty-first-century jacket, dress, stockings and shoes. He searched for the pins in her hair, letting them fall, one by one onto the floor, the sound reverberating in the stillness of the space.

The sound of Chandra’s breathing quickened when he removed her bra, followed by her bikini panties. “I love you so much,” Preston whispered reverently, pressing his mouth and body to her soft, scented flesh.

Splaying his hands over her back, fingertips tracing, sculpting her ribs, the indentation of her waist and her rounded hips. He pulled her closer to feel the heaviness of his sex stirring between his thighs.

Throwing back her head, Chandra gasped when his rising hardness moved against her mound. Going on tiptoe, she looped her arms around Preston’s neck in an
attempt to get closer. She was on fire and needed him to extinguish the blaze that threatened to incinerate her.

A shudder ripped through her, bathing the area at the apex of her thighs with a rush of moisture. “Please!”

Preston heard Chandra’s desperate cry, echoing his own need to bury his flesh inside her. Bending slightly, he swept her up and carried her to the bed. Supporting his body on his hands, he smiled at the dreamy expression on her face. It was his turn to gasp with the back flow of blood to his penis.

Breathing heavily, he lowered his head and tried to think of anything but the woman under him. “Give…me…the condom, baby,” he stammered.

Chandra’s response was to grasp his sex and ease it into her moist warmth. She gasped again. The impact of having Preston inside her without the barrier of latex was shockingly pleasurable. Raising her hips, she wound her legs around his waist, allowing for deeper penetration.

Preston rode Chandra like a man possessed, then without warning he reversed their positions. He cupped her breasts, squeezing them gently as an expression of carnality swept over her features.

He’d always liked assuming the more dominant missionary-style position, but having Chandra on top, she setting the rhythm, made it easier to prolong ejaculating.

Chandra stared at her lover as she raised her hips and grasped his testicles, squeezing them gently as he had her breasts. A grin split her face when he groaned and bucked like a wild stallion.

Holding the sac cradling his seed, she slid up and down the length of his sex, quickening and slowing and setting a cadence that kept him completely off balance.

She felt the contractions as the walls of her vagina convulsed, then Chandra didn’t remember much after that as she surrendered to the orgasms overlapping one another in their intensity to take her beyond herself.

Preston captured Chandra’s mouth as she exhaled the last of her passion. Tucking her curves into his, he reversed their position, his hips pumping as he released his passion inside her wet heat.

They lay together, bodies joined and moist from their lovemaking while waiting for their respiration to resume a normal pace. Supporting his greater weight on his elbows, Preston trailed light kisses over her forehead, cheek and ear.

“I never would’ve imagined you could feel so good,” he murmured in her ear.

“Nor I you,” Chandra whispered.

“We better think about setting a date, because I don’t want you walking down the aisle sporting a baby bump.”

Chandra opened her eyes, trying to make out Preston’s expression in the muted light. “That’s not going to happen.”

“What’s not going to happen?”

“I can’t get pregnant because I have protection.” She explained that she’d been fitted with an intrauterine device that could be easily removed whenever she decided that she wanted to become pregnant. “It can be left in up to five years.”

Preston froze. “You want to wait five years before we have a baby?”

“Of course not, Preston. In five years I’ll be in the high-risk category.”

“And I’ll be old as dirt. I don’t want white hair by the time my son or daughter goes to school for the first
time. The first time some kid asks mine if I’m his or her grandfather I’m going to lose it.”

“Don’t worry, sweetheart. I don’t intend to wait that long.”

“When do you want to get married?” he asked.

“How about June?”

Preston smiled. “June sounds good. How long do you want to wait before we start trying for a baby?”

Chandra loved children but she’d found it hard to imagine herself a mother. This was something she’d verbalized to Laurence after he’d proposed. His response was he would leave that decision to her. If she wanted a baby it was okay with him, and if she didn’t then he was content not to become a father. His rationale left her unsettled because she’d suspected he didn’t want children. But, on the other hand, Preston had let it be known that he wanted a family.

“We can start on our honeymoon.”

Preston felt his chest fill with an emotion that nearly overwhelmed him as he tried imagining the joy of becoming a father. “Thank you.”

C
handra and Preston spent more than two hours at Safian & Rudolph Jewelers on Seventh and Sansom Street Sunday afternoon. It took over an hour for her to select a setting, then she had to decide on the cut and clarity of the center stone. She’d watched in amazement as the jeweler set a near-flawless two-carat cushion-cut diamond into prongs that were surrounded by pavé diamonds. The center diamond, pavé and sixty round diamonds on, along and under the platinum band totaled three point twenty carats. Seeing the ring on her left hand made it all real. She was officially engaged to marry Preston Japheth Tucker.

She sat beside Preston in his SUV, her heart beating rapidly when they shared a smile. The light coming through the windshield reflected off the brilliance of the stones on her left hand.

“We’re going to have to tell our families.”

Preston ran a hand over her hair. “I’ll call my mother and sister later. You’re going to have to let me know when you can go to Charleston so you can meet my family.”

“I can go during the winter recess.”

Leaning to his right, Preston kissed her. “I’ll call Yolanda and tell her to expect us.”

“Do you always stay with your sister?”

“Yes. But only because she’s a stay-at-home mom.”

“Speaking of mothers. I’m going to call mine to see if she’s home so we can give her the good news.”

Preston waited in the parking lot while Chandra called her mother. The call lasted less than a minute. The Eatons were home. Shifting into Reverse, he maneuvered out of the lot and into traffic. He found it ironic that he and Chandra had had prior engagements but hadn’t married their respective fiancée and fiancé for all right reasons.

“Mama didn’t tell me Belinda and Griffin were coming over,” Chandra said when Preston maneuvered into the driveway and came to a stop behind the hybrid SUV.

Preston cut off the engine and unbuckled his seat belt. “I spoke to Griffin the other night and he told me to ask you when it will be a good time to get together.”

“How about next weekend?”

“Friday or Saturday?” he asked. Preston needed to know, because he wanted to take Chandra and her sister and brother-in-law out to dinner.

“Friday.”

Resting his arm along the back of her seat, he angled his head. “What if we ask them to stay over?”

“I’ll ask Belinda. And before you ask, I think
spending the night in Kennett Square is preferable to the city.”

Preston gave her a wink. “I was hoping you’d say that.”

Chandra waited for Preston to get out and come around the vehicle to assist her. The front door opened before she rang the doorbell.

Roberta, wearing her perennial apron when at home, smiled at her daughter and the man who no doubt had settled her down. “Please come in. We were just sitting down to eat.”

Chandra kissed her mother’s cheek. “We didn’t come to eat, Mama.”

“Why did you come?”

She extended her left hand. “To show you this?”

Roberta pressed a hand to her ample bosom. “Oh, my word! You’re engaged. Dwight, come here! Your baby is getting married.” Chandra walked around her mother when Roberta began tugging on Preston’s arm.

“What is Bertie yelling about?” Dwight Eaton asked Chandra when she met him in the middle of the living room.

“You’ll have to ask her, Daddy.” She would let her mother break the news of her engagement. “Where’s Belinda?”

Dwight gestured over his shoulder. “She is in the kitchen. Griffin and the girls are in the family room watching television.”

Chandra kissed her father before she walked into the kitchen. Belinda stood at the stove stirring a pot. The high school history teacher wore a peach-colored cashmere twinset, black wool slacks and matching patent leather slip-ons. Although she’d admitted to being
pregnant, her body had not yet begun to show signs that she was carrying a child.

“Hey, sistah!”

Belinda put down the wooden spoon, replacing the cover on a pot of mustard greens. “Hey, yourself. I didn’t expect to see you today.”

“How are you feeling?” Chandra whispered.

Belinda hugged her sister. “Aside from hurling every morning, I’m good.”

“Have you told Mama?”

“Not yet. I told Griffin that I’m tired of hiding and that I’m going to make the announcement today.”

Chandra tucked her left hand behind her thigh. “I suppose that’ll make two of us making announcements today.”

“You’re pregnant?” Belinda asked, whispering.

Chandra rolled her eyes, while sucking her teeth. “No!” She extended her hand. “But I am engaged.”

Belinda closed her eyes, covered her mouth before screaming into her cupped hands. “Oh, my heavens! I can’t believe my sister is going to marry Preston Tucker.” She lowered her hands and reached for Chandra’s. “Congratulations. Your ring is gorgeous.” She glanced around. “Where’s your fiancé?”

“Daddy’s probably giving him the third degree.”

“I suppose he doesn’t want a repeat of what happened between you and Laurence Breslin.”

“Trust me, Belinda, there is no comparison.”

“I hear you,” Belinda crooned, raising her hand for a high five handshake.

Preston walked into the kitchen with his future mother- and father-in-law to find Chandra and Belinda laughing and hugging like teenagers.

“What’s all the noise about?” Everyone turned to find
Griffin, Layla and Sabrina crowding under the entrance to the kitchen.

Belinda winked at her husband. “Chandra and Preston have some good news.”

“They’re having a baby, too,” Griffin blurted out, then clapped a hand over his mouth.

“What do you mean, ‘too’?” Dwight and Roberta chorused.

Layla ducked under Griffin’s arm. “Who’s having a baby, Uncle Griff?”

“Yes, Griffin,” Roberta drawled, “who’s having a baby?”

“Belinda and I are having a baby,” he announced proudly.

Roberta put up a hand, mumbling a prayer of thanks. “I had to wait twelve years for another grandchild, then we get Adam, and now we can look forward to another one next year. The Lord surely is good.”

Sabrina pushed her way into the middle of the kitchen. “Layla and I are going to have a sister or brother, or will it be a cousin?”

Griffin hugged his nieces. “He or she will be whatever you want them to be.”

Layla smiled, showing off the colorful bands on her clear braces. “When will we see our sister or brother?”

Belinda’s gaze swept over those standing in the kitchen. “May. By the way, I’m not the only one with good news today.” Her eyebrows lifted when she looked at Chandra and then Preston. “Sis?”

Chandra took three steps, reaching for Preston’s hand. “Preston proposed and I accepted. We plan to marry next June.”

Griffin slapped Preston on the back. “Welcome to the family, buddy.”

Layla sidled up to Chandra. “Can Brina and I be bridesmaids?”

Chandra kissed her niece. “Of course you can. Lindy, I know we’re going to cut it close, but I’d like for you to be my matron of honor.”

Crossing her arms over her chest, Belinda gave her sister a long, penetrating look. “That may pose a problem. I’m due to deliver at the end of May, and even if you marry at the end of June, that’s not enough time for me to recuperate. And even if I did feel well enough to put up with fittings and rehearsals, I plan to breastfeed.”

Chandra bit her lower lip. “I’d planned to ask Denise to be in the wedding party. I suppose she’ll have to be my maid of honor.”

“We could always change the date.” Everyone turned to look at Preston.

Chandra stared at her fiancé as if he’d taken leave of his senses. “Change it to when, Preston?”

“Thanksgiving, Christmas or even New Year’s.”

“You’re kidding?”

“Do I look like I’m kidding?” Preston said, repeating what he’d said the night before.

Roberta stared at her husband, and he nodded. “Everyone, let’s go in the family room. Chandra and Preston need to discuss something.”

Sabrina balked. “I want to know when the wedding is.”

Griffin put an arm around his nieces, leading them out of the kitchen. “Your aunt and her fiancé have to—”

“Discuss grown-folk business,” the twins chorused,
completing the statement they’d heard countless times.

“How did my favorite girls get so smart?” Griffin teased.

Waiting until they were alone, Chandra gave Preston her undivided attention. “Do you really want to get married before the end of the year?”

Pulling her closer, Preston rested his head on the top of her head. “I’d marry you tomorrow if it were possible.”

Chandra listened to the strong, steady beats of his heart. “It’s not impossible.”

He eased back, staring at her with an expression of shock and astonishment freezing his features. “When, Chandra? Let me know the day, time and place and I’ll be there.”

“We can get married three weeks from now.”

Preston massaged her back. “What’s happening in three weeks?”

“It will be the Thanksgiving weekend. It’s a family holiday, so it shouldn’t pose a problem for our families to get together. We’re going to have to send out invitations, decide whether we want something simple or formal. And—”

“Slow down, Chandra. You don’t have to do anything. We’ll hire a wedding planner.”

A feeling of unease shuddered over Chandra as if someone were breathing on the back of her neck. She knew for certain that she loved and was in love with Preston Tucker. She also was certain that she wanted to become his wife and the mother of their children, but something from the nightmare continued to chip away at her confidence.

Shaking off the bad vibes as she would an annoying
insect, she forced a smile. “You’re right. I’m going to have enough to do when I go back to work.”

Dipping his head, Preston placed soft, shivery kisses around her lips, along her jaw and down the column of her neck. “Let me know what you want, and if it’s within my power I’ll make it happen for you.”

Chandra closed her eyes, losing herself in the moment and the man pressed intimately to her heart.

Chandra sat on her bed, cross-legged, the phone cradled between her chin and shoulder. It was her third attempt to procure the services of a wedding planner, and hopefully her last. The first two did not have an opening for the next eight and ten months respectively. Her last hope was Zoë Lang. She’d searched Ms. Lang’s Web site and liked what she saw.

“May I make a suggestion, Miss Eaton?”

“Yes, and please call me Chandra.”

“Are you opposed to hosting an out-of-state wedding?”

Chandra stopped doodling on the pad resting on her crossed legs. “Where out of the state?”

“Isle of Palms.”

She searched her memory as to where she’d heard about Isle of Palms. “Isn’t that in South Carolina?”

“Yes, it is. In fact, it’s an island off the coast of South Carolina. When you left a message on my voice mail, you said you were willing to assume the expense of lodging out-of-town guests. I’ve checked with hotels and inns in and around Philadelphia, and most of them are booked up because of the holiday weekend.”

“How will Isle of Palms be more convenient?”

“Firstly, Miss…Chandra, it is a summer resort community and after Labor Day many of the vacation
properties become available. And secondly, what you’ll pay to lodge your guests is considerably lower when compared to a hotel for the Thanksgiving weekend. I’m looking at a listing for an oceanfront villa that will hold a maximum of twenty-two guests for a daily rate of twelve hundred dollars, or a weekly rate of fifty-three hundred. This is far below the average hotel rate of one-fifty a night for three nights. If you were to pay for twenty-two hotel guests for that weekend it would cost you more than twelve thousand dollars.”

Chandra jotted down the figures. “I’m going to need more than one villa.” Because she wanted a small, intimate wedding, she and Preston had agreed to keep the final count at fifty.

“You’re in luck, because I have three properties along the same stretch of beach. There’s one with ten bedrooms, ten en suite baths, plus two half baths. There’s space for ten cars for a maximum of twenty-six guests.”

“How many beds?”

“Six king and four queen beds. The property has three floors, an elevator, high-speed wireless Internet and a boardwalk that leads to a private beach. The total weekly cost for the Thanksgiving week is eighty-three hundred dollars. If you’re near a computer I’ll send you the link as we speak.”

Moving off the bed, Chandra walked out of the bedroom and into the kitchen. Tucked into an alcove was the pantry and a workstation where she’d set up her laptop and printer. “I’m turning on my laptop now.” She gave the planner her e-mail address while waiting for her computer to boot; she then logged on to the Internet.

Within minutes she clicked on the link. The seven-thousand-square-foot oceanfront property was exquisite.

It was furnished with a large flat-screen TV and DVD/ VCR combo. All of the second floor bedrooms had deck areas. The kitchen opened out to both the dining and living rooms. Photos of the kitchen revealed stainless steel appliances, gas cooktop, double ovens, subzero refrigerator and granite countertops. She liked the fact that each home came with an initial supply of linens and towels, washer and dryer, cable TV, air conditioning and a starter supply of paper products, detergents and local telephone service. The thing that made her consider holding her wedding on a sea island was the twenty-four-hour security in a gated community.

“I like what I see, Ms. Lang,” Chandra told the planner. “I know I’m working within a very tight time frame, but I have to talk to my fiancé before I commit to anything.”

“When will you get back to me, Chandra?”

“Either tonight or early tomorrow morning.” Preston had called to tell her he had a dinner meeting with a friend, and he would come to her apartment later that evening.

“Whatever you decide, I’ll put a rush on the invitations. Right now I need you to fax or e-mail the names and addresses of your guests so the envelopes can be printed.”

“I’ll e-mail them.” Chandra didn’t have a fax machine, but Preston did. He had one in the office at his condo and another at his home.