I lean forward and kiss her neck. "You know me so well, wife."


She pushes me away as she slides the door open. "Yes, I do, husband. I won't be long."


"I'll be in there in two minutes."


"That only gives me time to get out of this dress."


"Sounds perfect to me." I love teasing her.


"No. You'll come in when I tell you I'm ready, and not a minute before." She grins before she leans forward and gives me a quick kiss. "You're cute when you pout."


I stick my head inside the door before she closes it. "Hurry. I'm anxious to make you my wife in all ways."


She puts her hand on my chest and pushes me back. "Hold your horses."


"I can't help it. My horse is trying to get out of the barn. He wants to play with your mare."


She reaches down and runs her hand over the crotch of my pants. "Down, boy!" That doesn't encourage him to relax.


I step back inside and reach around to smack her on the ass. "He's a bad listener, so hurry!"


"Okay. Okay."


She almost has the door closed when I remember we didn't make a plan for how I'll know she's ready. "Hey! How will I know when you want me to come in?"


"I'll call out for you when I'm ready."


That plan has all kinds of holes in it. "What if I don't hear you?"


"You think you need to make a plan B? Really?"


"Yes. I can't calmly sit here unless I know I'm getting in when it's time."


She shakes her head. "Good grief. I'll open the door if you don't hear me. I won't let you sit out here in the cabin by yourself for ten hours if you don't come when I call for you. Promise."


I slap my palm on the door and growl, "Hurry. Please," as she slides the door closed. I can't help it. I've never been more ready to have her.


A minute passes and it feels like an eternity. I'm watching the time on my phone and I swear the numbers have never moved so slowly. We're at twelve minutes and I'm restless, so I get up and walk the cabin because I know she'll call for me any minute now.


Fourteen going on fifteen minutes in, and I finally hear her voice. "Mr. McLachlan…Come and get me."


Fuck! That took long enough, but I know she'll make it worth my wait.


I slide the door open and she's stretched across the bed on her side. She's wearing white bridal lingerie—satin and lace cups conceal her breasts and sheer fabric veils her stomach, but I can still see her next-to-nothing knickers beneath. She rises to her knees and spins around to show me the back—a thong with a large satin bow sitting at the top. She swishes her bottom back and forth, causing the ties of the bow to swing, and looks over her shoulder at me.


"You like?"


"Fuck, no! I love!" I lock the door behind me and cross the room toward the bed. She turns around and meets me at the edge. I hold her face in my hands and kiss her slowly and gently because I'm about to do something I've never done before—make love to my wife. "You are the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. I don't know how I'm lucky enough to call you mine, Mrs. McLachlan."


"I love hearing you call me that."


"Good, because you're going to hear it a lot." I kiss the side of her face. "I'm going to say it every day." I move toward her neck. "And you're going to hear it every night."


"Promise?"


"I swear."


I examine the tie between her breasts. "What happens if I give this a little tug?"


"I don't know. Maybe you should see."


I grasp the satin between my fingers and pull until the bow is untied and the front of her lingerie falls open. "Oops. I just made my wife's clothes fall off."


"Yeah, and you thought it'd take tequila to do that," she laughs.


"No, Mrs. McLachlan. I was never under the impression that tequila was needed for that."


She puts her hands on her hips. "Are you saying I'm easy?" she laughs.


"No. I'm saying you're always my sure thing."


I push the straps from her shoulders and the barely there top falls to the bed. I cradle her breasts in my hands and rub her nipples with my thumbs. "I wanted to do this so bad today when I saw the way these looked in your wedding dress. It was torture to not touch you. And then the reception in the wine cave…all I could do was think about hoisting you up on the table and diving head first under your dress."


She rubs her thumb over my bottom lip. "You and that mouth of yours."


"You love the things that come out of it."


I lower my mouth and take her nipple in between my teeth and run my tongue over the tip. "Yes, but I like when things go in it and against it too."


I give her a hard suck and break the suction with a loud pop. "Mrs. McLachlan. You're a feisty one tonight."


She begins with the top button of my shirt and works her way down. "You haven't seen feisty yet. But you're about to."


"Mmm…As much as I love your feisty side, I was hoping our first time as husband and wife might be something a little slower. And sweeter. We've done almost everything in the book, and I want tonight to be different. I want to make love to my wife."


She slows her fingers at work on my buttons. "Anything you want." When she unfastens the last one, she pushes my shirt from my shoulders onto the floor. She puts her palms on my chest and rubs them over my nipples, hardening them. "You're beautiful. I hope our babies look like you."


"And I hope they look like their mother with her golden-brown eyes." I pull her close and press my forehead to hers. "I mean every word of my vows. Everything I've been, I am, or will ever be, I surrender it all to you."


"You're surrendering your all to me, and I can't think of anything more beautiful than that. I once thought of you as my beauty from pain—when I thought I'd never see you again—but you're something entirely different. You're my beauty from surrender because that's what you're doing—relinquishing the person you once were to give yourself to me wholeheartedly. And I love you so much for it. I couldn't think of a better gift to give your bride."


I kiss her mouth slowly. It's true; I am a different man because of how much I love this woman. She's my everything and that's what I plan to give her—everything her heart desires. All she has to do is want something and it will become hers. I have so many wonderful things planned for our future together, and this is only the beginning—today is the start of our happily ever after.