Alyssa took a deep breath and met his gaze. Her usually self-assured expression was gone. She looked shaken, anxious. Was she worried he’d discover her lie?
Tamping down the ironic smile, he took her hands in his at the justice’s prompting. The older man paused and sent him a weighty stare.
“Kiss your bride.”
Now, this was something he’d been waiting for since she’d suddenly reappeared in his life last Saturday. Since that moment, they’d talked wedding details by phone and e-mail, the tone infuriatingly businesslike. Earlier this week, he’d had to take a damn PR trip to New York and hadn’t returned to Lafayette until yesterday. The simple ceremony hadn’t required a rehearsal, so he’d arranged a quiet dinner with his parents last night so they could meet her. He hadn’t been alone with Alyssa for a single minute this week. He hadn’t touched her since that disastrous night in her bedroom above the club.
He was dying to kiss her.
Luc cupped her face and leaned in. Alyssa clamped her hands around his waist, as if he were her anchor, and waited, breathless. Slowly, he pressed his lips to hers. Soft, a brush. A shared sigh. He lingered, slanting his mouth over hers again, a firmer press. Hunger crashed through him, sharp, fresh, demanding. Beneath him, Alyssa went pliant and opened to him. Luc was so tempted to sink deep into her, drown, guests be damned.
Later. Now was about their first kiss as husband and wife with family and friends looking on. Later, she’d understand exactly what he wanted from her and how badly he wanted it.
After savoring the meeting of their mouths a moment more, Luc eased back and stared down into her flushed, golden face. She sent him a nervous, tentative smile.
“Ladies and gentleman,” the justice said. “Mr. and Mrs. Lucas Traverson.”
Their guests politely clapped as the couple walked back down the aisle. Jack Cole reached out to shake his hand. Kimber kissed his cheek, whispering, “Be happy.” Sadie hugged Alyssa. Tyler still scowled.
The photographer, a friend of Luc’s, awaited them. He snapped a few pictures, posed them close together. Something greedy leapt inside Luc when the man suggested they kiss again so he could get a shot.
Restraining himself this time proved more difficult. The first taste had merely whetted his appetite, made the hungry beast inside him roar to life. Whatever lay between them, this—touching her— was always gripping and exquisite. To have the right to do it whenever he wished was heady.
The rest of the luncheon passed in quiet festivity. They cut the cake he’d made early this morning. Simple and all white fondant with beads of frosting decorating the edge of each of the three stacked tiers. White ribbons of fondant ran along the sides, so it resembled an elegant package. Fresh flowers circled the cake on the pristine white tablecloth.
He and Alyssa hadn’t talked specifics after he’d volunteered to handle this part of the reception. Now Luc was oddly nervous that she’d had something else in mind.
“You made this?” Her voice was barely more than a whisper. “It’s gorgeous.”
“Amaretto with Swiss buttercream filling. I hope you like it.”
Together they cut the cake, and flashbulbs went off. Gently, he fed her a piece and she moaned, to his satisfaction. Then, with shaking fingers, she fed him as well. The desire inside him surged, tearing at his restraint.
Luc was still grappling for self-control when Deke rose and toasted them. “After one of the most inauspicious meetings, you’ve elected to share a future that I hope will be filled with love and all the best life has to offer. Congratulations.”
Holding her sparkling water, Alyssa leaned to him. “He couldn’t possibly have written that on his own.”
Luc laughed for the first time today. “I’m sure Kimber helped.”
Then Sadie rose to make her own toast. “To a great boss, friend, and human being, who’s always there for her employees, whether that’s lending a shoulder to cry on or a helping hand. You deserve great happiness. Luc, I haven’t known you long, but I’m hoping you’ll be a strong, positive force in her life and will love her as she is. To a long and happy life together.”
Moments later, the soft instrumental music he’d chosen sounded over the restaurant’s speakers. Luc rose and extended his hand to Alyssa. She bounced a surprised gaze up to him.
“Dance?”
She bit her lip, then stood. The guests were dead silent as they watched him take her in his arms. She felt good against him, too good. Hunger kicked up another notch, and Luc buried his face in her neck. Her peaches and cinnamon scent mixed with a light perfume, driving him mad with the need to hold her, strip her, take her.
“I thought the ceremony was lovely,” she murmured. “I’m sorry . . . I’m sure your parents would have preferred a fancier wedding.”
One that wasn’t rushed, in which the bride wasn’t a pregnant stripper—Luc heard regret in her voice. He lifted her chin with his finger. “They want whatever makes me happy. Proposing was my choice, and I don’t regret it. Sadie wants us to have a long and happy life together. Let’s start it by looking forward, not back.”
LUC’S earlier words on the dance floor echoed in her head. Could they really look forward without the past coming back to haunt them?
“What am I doing?” Alyssa asked aloud as Sadie helped her out of her wedding gown in Bonheur’s bathroom.
“You asked me this question when you were putting on your wedding dress earlier. The answer is still the same.”
“I know I’m providing a more stable home for this baby.” She sighed into her hands, regret crashing through her. “But I’m going to fall for Luc completely and utterly, and I’ll never be more to him than the great lay whose egg happened to meet his sperm.”
“You don’t know that. When he looks at you, I see something more.”
“Annoyance?”
She knew that wasn’t true, but she didn’t understand why he’d married her. She’d been perfectly willing to allow him whatever parental rights he wanted. Luc had given her some reasons for the wedding . . . but they all benefited her. What was in it for him?
And the uncertainty on his parents’ faces concerned her. It wasn’t disapproval . . . yet. But what if that came? What if her job, her life, her past, became a bone of contention between Luc and his family? Or between Luc and herself? There was a whole lot about her he didn’t know. And God willing, he never would.
Sadie shook her head. “Annoyance, no. Serious lust, totally. But I think it’s even more.”
Alyssa was afraid to hope that Luc had genuine feelings for her. Pushing it aside, she stepped out of her wedding dress, then turned her back to Sadie. “Can you take this off?”
Her friend hesitated. “No. That white corset is hot! You’ll knock Luc dead with it.”
Biting her lip, Alyssa wondered if that was a good thing. She’d tasted the desire in his kiss, felt a surge of her own. Hell, she did whenever he was in the same room. In the same zip code. But they had to start building their marriage on something more than sex and the coming child. They couldn’t do that if he kept seeing her as a stripper.
“I’d rather not.”
“But it’s your wedding night,” Sadie reminded.
“Yeah, never thought I’d have one of those.” Hoped, maybe, but after fourteen years of pure shit romantically speaking, she’d learned to mistrust men. They’d do or say anything for sex. So why had she tied herself to someone who’d likely become a lying bastard and ruin her life?
Because you were dumb enough to fall in love, and you’re still hoping that the baby will round out the perfect family so you can all live happily ever after. Yeah, right . . .
In a million years, she’d never imagined that one man would get under her skin and that she’d be tempted to keep him forever. But she wanted Luc too much to refuse. What if he realized that she loved him? What if he moved on?
“Don’t you want to make an impression on your wedding night?”
Alyssa was pretty sure she’d already made it. “Just take it off.”
Sadie harrumphed. “You’d better have something sexier in mind.”
“Totally,” she lied.
With a cackle of glee, Sadie tore into the corset. Alyssa pulled the boning away from her body, then thanked her friend as she waved and exited carrying her dress in its protective bag.
She shoved the corset into her bag, then donned a white lace bra and a matching thong. From a hanger she’d left on the wall, she drew on a chocolate suit with a simple white blouse. After changing shoes, removing her veil, and packing up, she marched outside.
Luc talked in hushed tones with his parents near the door. The few remaining guests milled around outside Bonheur’s doors. Beyond the sidewalk, she saw Luc’s new Jaguar.
At her approach, he looked up, and her belly pulsed nervously. When she’d merely wanted him sexually, she’d been so full of confidence and swagger. Snaring a man for a night was easy. Keeping him when her heart was on the line . . . All her self-assurance had vanished. What the hell did she do now? Tomorrow? And every day after that?
Taking her bag in his hand, Luc guided her back to his parents. They looked somewhere between reserved and resigned. She knew Luc had told them about the baby—and suspected he’d told them about Sexy Sirens. But Alyssa couldn’t afford to be embarrassed or apologize. What would it change? Everything probably looked worse because she had no family at the wedding. They likely assumed her family had shunned her. In a way, she supposed they had.
What would her mother have thought if she’d been here today?
Alyssa shoved the thought away. While the woman who had died just a few months ago had given birth to her, the years and issues separating them had made her a virtual stranger.
“Thank you for coming a long way on short notice,” she said to them. “I’m thrilled you could be with us today. I know it meant the world to Luc.”
Luc’s mother, Clarissa, looked up at his father, Anthony, who sent her a vaguely warm smile. “We wish you and Luc every happiness.”
It wasn’t exactly welcome to the family, but it was a start.
“Thank you.”
“What time is your flight tomorrow?” Luc asked.
In a few short moments, he made arrangements to pick them up for lunch, then see them off to the terminal. Hugging and kissing their son, they shook her hand politely, then left.
She looked around the room. The guests had all gone now. Inside Bonheur, dirty linens needed washing. Certainly there was a stack of dishes in the kitchen she didn’t want to think about now. The floors were a mess and would have to be cleaned. She’d tackle all that in the morning.
First, she and Luc had a wedding night to get through.
“Ready to go?” he asked softly.
No. God, no. What do I know about making a marriage work?
Alyssa drew in a shaky breath. “Absolutely.”
LUC clearly wasn’t driving back to her house. As he headed west, beyond Lafayette’s city limits, Alyssa hesitated. The silence in the car was thick, expectant. She hated to break it, but . . .
“Where are we going?”
He sent her a black-eyed gaze that scorched her to her toes. Late-afternoon shadows lent an expectant, intimate feel to the car’s interior. Alyssa caught her breath.
“It’s our wedding night.”
Meaning he had something planned? “I—I thought we’d just go to my house.”
Luc shook his head. “We should celebrate our first night as husband and wife.”
They hadn’t talked about this. Being alone with Luc for a whole night—as his wife? Nerves clenched her stomach into a big knot. They’d have sex; that was a given. But he made this sound like . . . more.
Then again, he’d arranged their romantic wedding dance, made the cake, bought her this huge and totally unexpected ring. Why? What did all of this mean to him?
Of course, he’d married her, at least in part, for the baby. And for the sex, too? If so, she knew exactly what would happen once he tired of it. She saw those men in her club every night. So why plan something special tonight? The wedding had been a show for his parents; she understood that. Now that they were alone, what was with all the romance?
“You keep staring at your ring.”
His observation startled her. “It’s beautiful.”
Luc paused. “It reminded me of you.”
Alyssa tried not to let his words melt her. “Thank you. You didn’t have to—”
“Yes, I did. I wanted to and, while our marriage was quick, that was no reason not to have solid symbols of our union.”
She bit her lip. Luc said all the right things . . . but something troubled her, some hint of anger. Or maybe it was just her nerves.
“Where was your family today?” he asked. “I know your mother is gone . . .”
God, where had that question come from? “I’m an only child, and I haven’t seen my father since he left. I was four.”