Never Boring (3/3)
Title: Never Boring
Character/Pairing: Wash/Taylor, Mark Reynolds, Malcolm Wallace, Reilly
Word Count: this part, ~5286
Genre: Romance, friendship, shameless fluff and general naughtiness
Rating: R/NC-17
Summary: When you have a colony to run, enemies about and distant leaders to answer to, it’s not always simple to just live your life.
Author’s Note: This is, as usual, set in the context of my other stories. I was asked over on FF.net for the wedding story. Here’s the finale of it.
I am terrible. I know it has been forever - real life and other writing projects keep interfering. As penance, it gets nice and smutty, along with some definite fluffiness. Also, if I can get my muse in gear, this has me thinking about a few Nathaniel-perspective one shots starting with him leaving her behind for the eleventh through right after getting her back at the end of my “Phoenix By Any Other Name” story. So, be on the lookout!
Part One
Part Two
Disclaimer is the same as always - don’t own them, just borrowing, no profit here.
Because it’s been so long, where we left off:
He squeezes her tight before releasing her. “So, Lieutenant, you ready for this?”
She grins, reaching up and cupping his cheek. “Yes, sir. Let’s go get hitched, sir.”
Never Boring, Part Three
They slip out of Alicia’s house, Alicia going first with him close behind her, neither of them too worried about being seen together during the day. Over the years, they’ve made a point of having dinner together often, sometimes with Guz, sometimes without, both at the market and at their homes.
As they walk towards the command center, they’re probably slightly closer together than usual, and she can feel his hand occasionally brush hers. She’s amused by it, but they need to be careful. Knowing she’s walking on his uninjured side, she elbows him lightly. “Behave, Nathaniel.”
She doesn’t look up at him, but she hears his indignant snort followed by a chuckle. “Yes ma’am.”
He drifts away slightly as they continue on, putting a more circumspect amount of distance between them. When they get to the command center, they dismiss the guards at the foot of the stairs, and then she goes up in front of him. As she climbs the stairs, she can almost feel his eyes on her. She has to stop herself from rolling her eyes when he lets out a low, feral-sounding growl.
Loud enough for only him to hear, she hisses, “Stop ogling my ass, Commander.”
He laughs and replies much louder, “But it’s such a nice ass, Lieutenant.”
She stops and gives him a sharp look. “Stop it, Nathaniel, and keep your voice down when you say things like that.”
He stops too, and he looks slightly abashed. “I’m sorry, Alicia.” His face takes on a conciliatory expression. “I gave the guards and all of the usual staff here the afternoon off. Told them we had a private meeting with some of the staff. No one would overhear, but I should have told you that.”
Her face softens. “Yes, you should have. But it’s OK.” She shakes her head and rolls her eyes before starting up the stairs again. “Come on. You better hurry. I might change my mind if you make me wait too long.”
In an instant, she hears him follow, and she laughs out loud when he bounds past her to the top of the stairs. He opens the door for her and bows with a glint of laughter in his eyes. “My lady.”
She snorts. “Where?” But she goes in ahead of him.
He chuckles, following close behind her. When they enter the office, Reilly and Reynolds are already there, looking slightly nervous. Alicia is puzzled for a moment, and then she looks past them to the conference table. On it, there is a small cake, five glasses and a pretty bouquet of bright-colored flowers tied with a red ribbon.
Footsteps on the stairs make them turn before Alicia or Nathaniel can comment on the items on the table. Malcolm comes in with a shopping-type bag in his hand. “Sorry I’m late, all. I had to make a stop, and Boylan was less cooperative than I’d hoped.”
Alicia glances at Nathaniel, and he shrugs. “What is all this, and what did you need from Boylan?”
Reynolds and Reilly, exchange a look, and Reynolds gives her an encouraging nod. Reilly clears her throat. “We know you said it was going to be short and simple, sir, ma’am, but we thought it needed at least a little celebrating. I made the cake and Mark bought the flowers. The vendor just assumed he was buying them for a girl.” Mark looks embarrassed at that, and Alicia can’t help but smile.
Malcolm steps over to the table and, with a flourish, pulls a bottle of wine from his bag. He turns and grins at them. “The booze was my idea.”
That seems to break the awkward tension in the room, and they all laugh quietly. Nathaniel nods. “Thank you all. Now, can we get this show on the road? I don’t want to give this one,” he reaches over and takes Alicia’s hand, “Any more time to change her mind.”
She squeezes his hand, blushing lightly. As comfortable as she is with him, she’s not as comfortable with being affectionate with him in front of other people. He, on the other hand, clearly has no such discomfort, pulling her tight into his side and pressing a kiss to her temple.
She doesn’t say anything, but she sees Malcolm nod and busy himself pulling out his plex. Reynolds and Reilly both wear slightly silly grins, and Reilly in particular is giving her a look that says almost audibly, “Awwww.”
Alicia huffs a little, and she gently pushes away from him. He laughs and releases her, likely knowing that she’s a little self-conscious about the display. Malcolm seems to pick up on her discomfort as well, and he clears his throat. “I’m ready when you are.” He waves his plex in the air.
They step over to him, Reilly taking a place next to Alicia after passing the colorful bouquet to her, Reynolds standing next to Nathaniel. Alicia looks at the plex and a wave of nervousness flows through her, not at getting married but at how vulnerable it makes her feel. “How will the records be entered, Malcolm?”
“All of us have to enter our ID numbers for validation, including me as the officiant and these two,” he motions to Reynolds and Reilly, “As the witnesses. Then, in case anyone gets curious or we somehow lose control of the file, I have an encryption program I’ve worked up to protect files, so I’ll encrypt it myself.”
Nathaniel nods, and he puts a reassuring hand on her lower back. “Then let’s do this, Doc.”
Malcolm nods in return, and a moment later he reads from his plex, going into the traditional, simple vows most people have heard many times before. For Alicia, it’s almost a blur until Malcolm asks if they have the rings. Nathaniel must have given them to Reynolds earlier, because the younger man pulls them out and hands them to Nathaniel. Alicia passes the bouquet back to Reilly to free her hands.
As they slide the rings onto each other’s ring fingers, Alicia feels uncharacteristic tears pricking at her eyes. She swallows hard and manages to blink them back, and she looks up at Nathaniel. She’s not entirely surprised to see his own eyes shining a little with the sheen of tears. At that, she relaxes entirely, studying his face and committing this moment to memory.
Malcolm finishes the ceremony, and Nathaniel pulls him to her to kiss her. She allows him to kiss her gently on the lips before pushing away and then up on her toes to hug him to her. With her face next to his ear, she murmurs, “More later, Nathaniel.”
He tightens his arms around her in reply. He hugs her closer to him before releasing her, and as she steps away she sees Malcolm and Reynolds both grinning at them. She turns to Reilly, and she’s surprised to see that unlike Alicia and Nathaniel, the younger woman was unsuccessful at holding back tears. Her face is streaked with them, and she shrugs sheepishly before thrusting the bouquet at Malcolm and surprising Alicia with a tight hug. “I’m so happy for you two, ma’am,” she pauses and then makes them all laugh by adding, “Even if you didn’t let me wear a dress.”
After that, as Malcolm opens and pours the wine, they enter their ID numbers into the plex to confirm their participation in the ceremony. Reilly goes first and then she, after being told that they don’t need to do any traditional bride-and-groom cake cutting, slices up the cake for everyone, leaving a decent piece of it behind for Alicia and Nathaniel to take with them.
Over the wine, Malcolm asks, “So, I’m assuming there won’t be any big honeymoon plans?”
Alicia shakes her head, and Nathaniel responds, “No. We’re just going to hole up at Alicia’s house until early Monday morning. With Guz OTG, we’re making Shannon keep an eye on things. He just thinks we’re taking some time to ourselves, doesn’t know why.”
“Wait, at ‘Wash’s’ house? You’re keeping separate houses?” Reynolds speaks up, surprising all of them. He immediately looks contrite, but Alicia can also see confusion.
She explains it. “Mark, we can hide being married, and we’ve relatively successfully hidden being in a relationship. But if we move in together, there won’t really be a way to hide that. Until we can figure out how this will sit at Hope Plaza, we need to keep flying under the radar.”
He looks irritated. “Well, that just plain sucks.” He then appears to remember his audience. “I mean, um, that sucks, ma’am, sir.”
Nathaniel reaches over and gives Reynolds’ shoulder a squeeze. “That it does, young man.”
Reilly smiles a little. “What do you mean by relatively successfully hidden?”
Alicia snorts, and Nathaniel grins and replies, “Well, the three of you all found out in a less than preferable way, as did one other. We told one person, and two others found out by accident, though not as awkwardly as you.”
Malcolm interjects, “Who else found out like we did?”
In unison, Nathaniel and Alicia say, “Boylan.”
Reilly laughs. “I’ve got to know, sir, ma’am, who handled it the best and who handled it the worst?”
Alicia rolls her eyes. “You and Malcolm are tied for the middle. You maybe did a bit better than he did. Boylan was by far the best. He thought it was hilarious.” She looks at Reynolds. “Mark here nearly fainted. I swear to God, I thought he might actually have a stroke.”
Clearly trying to cover his embarrassment, Mark asks, “Who are the other two? I figure the one you told is Lieutenant Guzman.”
They both nod, and Nathaniel answers this time. “The Shannons. They came by Wash’s house looking for me the morning after the virus that gave some of us temporary amnesia. The doc had been trying to find me to check on me, and when she couldn’t, thinking I’d had a relapse, she and Shannon went to Wash’s house. Conveniently, I was there, having spent the night.”
They continue to talk for a while, eating the cake and finishing the wine. Reilly boxes up the remaining cake and puts it into the bag Malcolm brought. She also shows them that there’s a second bottle of wine in there - Malcolm’s gift - and she carefully stows the flowers in the bag. Malcolm and Reynolds leave first, but Reilly stops and hugs Alicia again and then, much to his clear surprise, she hugs Nathaniel. “Congratulations, ma’am, sir. Have a good night.”
He blinks as the young woman bolts down the stairs. After a moment, he says, “Never would have pegged her as a hugger.”
Alicia laughs. “I know. It’s always the quiet ones, isn’t it?”
He nods as he closes the door to the office, and then he turns to Alicia, drawing her close and pressing his lips to hers, one arm going around her waist while his other hand slips into her unbound hair. Her hands, trapped between their bodies, grip his shoulder and leather holster. The kiss deepens quickly, but it’s not urgent. There is something soft and languid about it, completely out of character for them, but Alicia rolls with it, acknowledging in her mind that it’s already been that kind of day.
They pull back some time later, and there is something soft and nearly reverent in his eyes. His hand moves out of her hair and down to her cheek, and he softly brushes his thumb over her now slightly swollen lips. “Thank you.”
She cocks her head slightly in confusion. “For what?”
He gives her a crooked half-smile. “I don’t know. Everything? For putting up with me? For being there for me all these years? For looking after me like you do?”
She smiles and shakes her head, leaning up and nuzzling her face into his neck. “Anytime. And thank you.”
“For what?”
“Pretty much the same stuff.”
“Anytime. But I wish you’d let me look after you more.”
She kisses his cheek and pulls away, heading to the table to make sure everything is in the bag. “Maybe someday, Nathaniel.”
He follows her to the table. “I’m going to hold you to that, you know.”
She rolls her eyes a little, but she still nods. She looks out the window to see that it’s getting dark. “We should head home.” She pulls her tags off and slips off her ring, adding it to the chain. He does the same with his own tags and ring, and a moment later, they both are tucking their tags back under their t-shirts, the metal of their rings clinking lightly against their tags.
Taking her left hand and looking at her once-again bare ring finger, Nathaniel frowns and shakes his head. Before she can ask what’s wrong, he mutters, “The kid is right. This just plain sucks.”
She weaves her fingers through his and raises their joined hands so she can drop a kiss on the back of his. “I totally agree. But we can make the best of it, Nathaniel. We always do.”
*****
Ten minutes later, she slips into her house. He’ll be following soon, but they ran into a patrol as they passed Nathaniel’s house, so she kept going while Nathaniel went inside so as not to attract attention. He’s going to follow her in fifteen minutes or so, once the patrols have moved out of the housing area.
She puts the bag with the wine, cake and flowers in it down on her kitchen table, and then she goes into her bedroom to change her clothes. Knowing that he loves it when she wears his shirts, she has a special outfit in mind for the evening. It’s not particularly fancy, unless you count what she’ll have on under it.
She grins a little and shucks her clothing, stripping down to nothing. She opens her dresser and pulls out a new blue and black lace bra and matching boy short type panties, thanking her lucky stars for the woman in the market who makes these things. She puts both on, adjusting the bra in the mirror. She shakes her head and grins more fully at what she sees. Her breasts aren’t particularly large, but the bra works wonders with them, subtly and miraculously pushing them up without much in the way of padding.
Heading into her closet, she gets a button-up shirt of his, a BDU shirt, black and short-sleeved, and she puts it on over her bra and panties, buttoning it up to right at her bra, leaving a generous amount of cleavage on display. She shakes out her hair, not caring if it looks messy, and she gets one more thing from her dresser, a pair of thick, slouchy socks. She pulls them on in counterpoint to her sexy underwear and hair, knowing that he likes the juxtaposition. The fact they keep her feet nice and warm is just a bonus for her.
The last thing she does is take her ring from her tags, slipping it on her finger and leaving her tags on the dresser. She stops briefly to admire the etched platinum band, marveling at the notion that they’re actually married. She grins again, unable to help herself. Still smiling, she heads to the kitchen to make them some dinner.
After rescuing her bouquet of flowers from the bag and putting them in water, she takes out the wine and leftover cake and leaves them on the counter. She peers into the bags Nathaniel left here earlier this afternoon, and she sees more wine and some different food for them to eat tomorrow, things requiring little preparation, so they can relax and not leave her house.
She sets those bags aside to make room on the counter. She then puts out the makings of a salad - one of the few types of food preparation she’ll allow Nathaniel to undertake - and she goes about assembling the meat and vegetable kabobs she started marinating this morning.
Once that’s done, she puts the kabobs in the broiler, and she gets out some of the rice-like grain they’ve been able to cultivate here. She keeps working without turning around when she hears her front door open and close, knowing it’s Nathaniel. As she puts the rice on the stove to cook, she listens to his footsteps approach the kitchen. When she guesses that he’s close enough, she purposefully drops something on the floor and bends over to pick it up, her shirt riding up to treat him to a full view of her lace-covered rear.
She grins when she hears a sharp intake of breath and then his voice breathing out, “Holy shit.”
She slowly straightens up, tossing her hair over one shoulder and attempting to school her face to an innocent expression. “Is everything all right, Nathaniel?”
He drops the small pack he was carrying, she assumes filled with clothes for him, and he stalks up to her, looking vaguely like a predator on the hunt. He changed his clothes too, and he’s dressed in the comfortable clothes he usually wears when they spar in the gym, in this case light sweats and a t-shirt, along with his ubiquitous leather holster and combat boots.
Moving quickly, he gets to her and immediately leans down to kiss her, his hands moving down to cup her rear. She automatically puts her arms around his neck, knowing what he’s going to do. He doesn’t disappoint her, picking her up and perching her on the edge of the counter without breaking the kiss. She hums in approval, wrapping her long, bare legs around him and pulling him tight to her as her tongue plunges into his mouth. He groans a little, his hands kneading her backside through the lace.
Some time later, he finally pulls back, and she shakes out her hair again and gives him a wicked smile. “So, are you trying to tell me that you approve of my outfit?”
He squeezes with his hands. “It’s not bad. Not bad at all. Excellent use of that shirt, too. You have to keep that now, you know. I’ll never be able to look at it again without the lower commander coming to attention.”
The broiler timer goes off and she laughs, unwinding her legs from around his waist. He releases her and steps aside, letting her hop down off of the counter. She can feel his eyes on her as she pulls out the kabobs and turns them over. She puts them back in the broiler and resets the timer, and she turns back to him. “What?”
“I like the socks.”
“Thanks.” She grins, and then she points to the salad ingredients on the counter. “Salad duty, Commander.”
He gives her a salute. “Yes ma’am.” He gets to work, wielding the knife quickly and efficiently, one piece of military training paying off.
About an hour later, they’re sitting at the table, dinner eaten, talking as they finish Malcolm’s bottle of wine. The room is softly lit with large candles, all the other lights turned off. He’s laughing hard as she tells him about a small prank that she and Reilly played on Shannon and Guz earlier this week as punishment for the men failing to call her when Nathaniel was shot by the Sixer during the blackout. He grins at her. “You actually glued their body armor to the wall of the gym?”
She nods. “I did. I stole it while they were teaching a class, and Reilly got some of the soluble glue Malcolm developed. She also made Malcolm promise to hold out on them with the solvent they needed for at least a day or two,” she pauses, “Apparently, our dear Laura Reilly has something on Dr. Wallace, because he went along.”
“How did I miss this?” He looks incredulous and slightly disappointed.
She shrugs, getting up to take their dishes to the kitchen. He takes them from her as she replies, “You’ve been busy, Nathaniel. It was a pretty long week.”
He stacks the dishes in the sink. “Fair enough. How long were they up there on the wall?” He grabs her hand, shaking his head when she goes to wash the stacked plates and cooking pans. “We’ll clean up in the morning.”
He drags her to the couch with him, dropping onto it and pulling her with him. After kicking his boots off, he leans back and props his feet on her coffee table, and she curls up into his right side, dropping her head to his shoulder. “They were there just over two days. The other soldiers, with my permission, decorated them. Dunham and some of the other guys borrowed some ribbon from one of the vendors and put bows all over them, and Reilly used some water-soluble paint to add flowers and their names in pretty script.”
Nathaniel snorts. “How did they get them down?”
She nestles further into his side. “I finally relented and let Malcolm give them the solvent when Guz was going OTG.” She chuckles. “Despite some serious scrubbing, his armor still had remnants of the painted flowers on it. He was less than pleased. But Tasha high-fived me at the gate. I think she really enjoyed it.”
He laughs again, wrapping his right arm around her. He runs his hand through her hair, and she feels him relax into the cushions. She reaches out and takes his hand, her fingertips tracing over his ring.
“I haven’t done anything that silly in a very long time. It reminded me of the old days with our unit back in the future, the pranks we used to play on each other back before it all fell apart.” She sighs. “That feels like yesterday sometimes. How is it possible that over ten years have passed?”
He presses a kiss to the top of her head. “I miss those days sometimes. I miss the bond we all had.” They both fall silent, briefly lost in memories of that time, both bad and good. He shakes his head, she guesses trying to shake off the melancholy that the memories bring with them. “You know, it’s been well over an hour, and no one has bugged either one of us.”
She nods against his shoulder. “I told Shannon we needed a break. He’s only to call in an emergency. You know, like things actually on fire or something.”
“I pretty much told him the same thing. Great minds really do think alike.”
She releases his hand and wraps her arms around his waist. After a few more minutes of companionable silence, Alicia can’t help but say, “Hey, Nathaniel?”
He hums in response. “Yes, Alicia?”
She grins against his shoulder. “We got married.”
He squeezes her to him. “I know.” Without warning, he twists slightly, reaching his left arm down to fit under her legs. He lifts her, making her squeak a little in surprise. A moment later, he has her sitting sideways in his lap.
She loops her arms loosely around his neck. “Nice move, Commander.”
He looks down at her cleavage, now almost directly in front of his face. “Nice bra, Lieutenant.”
“It matches the panties, sir.”
He arches an eyebrow. “Those up to military standard, Mrs. Taylor?”
She grins at that. “If they are, the military sure has changed.” She turns in his lap, straddling him. She can feel his body react to her new position, and his feet come off of the table to rest on the floor. She leans back a little as his hands slide down and grip her hips under her shirt. With her eyes locked on his, she begins to unbutton the shirt she wears from the bottom up, first revealing the top of her panties, then her waist and the lighter skin of her usually covered torso, and finally her bra.
His eyes waver from hers, taking in the picture she presents as she drops the shirt from her shoulders and lets it slide down her arms to the floor. If his body’s initial reaction was a ripple, the reaction now is a tidal wave. In moments, his hardness is pressing up into her through the layers of fabric between them. His hands flex on her hips, and he leans forward to capture her lips in a possessive kiss, their tongues immediately battling for dominance.
Suddenly impatient, she reaches down and grabs the edge of his t-shirt, breaking their kiss in order to pull it up and over his head. She leans away and pushes up enough to put her feet on the floor. He seems to be about to protest, so she puts her finger over his lips. “Shhhh.” She leans down, replacing her finger with her lips, silencing him with a kiss as she uses her hands to remove his hands from her hips.
She pulls away again, straightening up and standing with her legs on the outside of his. She slowly slides her hands up her own body, stopping to cup her lace-covered breasts with her hands, squeezing lightly. He watches her intently, clearly making an effort to not reach out to touch her, his eyes growing darker and more aroused by the second. She reaches back and unhooks her bra, sliding it down her arms and letting it drop to the floor.
He can’t stop himself from reaching for her then, pulling her close enough to put one hand on her ass, squeezing hard as his lips find one of her breasts, drawing the nipple into his mouth and sucking hard. His free hand massages and teases her other breast, and she moans softly while running her hands through his hair.
As much as she’s enjoying the sensations singing through her upper body, she wants to regain control. She pulls back again, too fast for him to stop her, and she drops to her knees in front of him. His protest is cut off when she curls her fingers around the waistband of his sweats, pulling both his pants and his boxers downward. Clearly knowing what she wants, he lifts up from the couch just enough for her to remove his pants and underwear with ease.
She grins her wicked grin again when he springs free of the restrictive clothing, and she pauses long enough to remove his socks as well. Still on her knees, she leans forward. After dragging her tongue from the base of him to the tip before engulfing him in her warm mouth. He groans, his head dropping back, and she bobs her head up and down his length, licking and sucking lightly as she does.
One of his hands buries itself in her hair, and she notes with satisfaction that the other one grips the sofa cushions. After a few minutes, she can feel his thigh muscles begin to twitch lightly, and his hand tightens in her hair. “Alicia, enough. I won’t last much longer.”
After one last long lick, she leans back on her heels. His hand releases her hair, and she trails her hands down his thighs, scratching lightly with her nails. She looks at him with hooded eyes. “Can’t have that.”
She stands up and pushes her panties down. She’s so wet by now that they were soaked through, and they drop to the floor easily. Straddling him again, she steps forward and drops onto the sofa, one knee on either side of his thighs. She reaches for him, and in seconds, she is holding his throbbing length to guide them together. Once she feels the tip of him at her entrance, she simply slides down, taking him completely into her body with one smooth motion.
She lets her body weight press them together, and his hands return to her hips, guiding her as she begins to move over him, rolling her hips as she slides up and down him. She’s been wanting him this way, slow and gentle with her in control, since their sensuous kiss in the command center this afternoon, and she loves him even more because he seems to realize it, resisting his natural urge to take over.
As she continues to move, his hands squeeze her hips so hard that she’s sure she’ll have some well-earned bruises in the morning. She leans forward, kissing him hard before shifting the position of her hips. The new angle makes her gasp and drop her head back, and one of his hands shifts up to support her back as he starts to thrust upward into her.
He groans, his breathing becoming shallower, and she knows he’s close and trying to wait for her. His wait isn’t long. It only takes a few more powerful upward thrusts from him for her to cry out, arching her back and gripping his shoulders tight as she spasms hard over him. Moments later, he follows her over the edge, calling her name as he holds her to him and spills himself inside of her.
She collapses forward against his broad, heaving chest, and his arms go around her waist. He holds her tight to him and buries his face in the fall of her hair. She wraps her arms around him and sighs.
Several minutes pass with them in that position, him still inside her as they both get their breathing under control. Eventually, her knees begin to protest, so she gently pushes up. He slips out of her, and she carefully moves until she’s sitting sideways again, still in his lap but able to stretch out her legs.
He kisses her neck. “We should go to bed.”
She rests her head on his shoulder and wraps her arms around his waist. “Yeah.”
Belying his own words, he raises his legs again, propping them back up on the coffee table. He relaxes back into the sofa. “Or we could stay here.”
She smiles, and she sits up for a moment. She reaches behind her and grabs a small pillow before gesturing to his feet. He nods, lifting them enough for her to put the pillow under them. She then grabs the large afghan she keeps on the back of the sofa and covers them with it. She snuggles back into his chest. “It’s not very late.”
He runs a hand through her hair. “I know. And you know, last night, I think one of the activities you promised me was dancing. Slow dancing, to be precise.”
“What we just did doesn’t qualify?” There is a teasing lilt to her voice.
He chuckles. “It was a good start, but nowhere near enough.” He tilts her face up to his and presses a kiss to her lips. “Let’s take a nap, but then later, you’re going to put your little outfit back on and we’re going to dance.”
She looks up at him, a curious expression on her face. “You’re very serious about this.”
His eyes are soft when he brushes a lock of hair out of her eyes. “I am. It’s our wedding night, and I want to dance with my wife. It’ll be a long time before we manage to get a night like this again. We need to take advantage of every moment of it.”
She smiles and nuzzles her face into his cheek. “I love you, Nathaniel Taylor.”
He hugs her tight to him in response. “I love you more, Alicia Washington Taylor.”
They both drift off, but a few hours later, true to his word, they get up and re-dress. They spend the rest of the night as promised, slow dancing in her living room, enjoying the peace and quiet of the night in the soft light of the flickering candles.
Character/Pairing: Wash/Taylor, Mark Reynolds, Malcolm Wallace, Reilly
Word Count: this part, ~5286
Genre: Romance, friendship, shameless fluff and general naughtiness
Rating: R/NC-17
Summary: When you have a colony to run, enemies about and distant leaders to answer to, it’s not always simple to just live your life.
Author’s Note: This is, as usual, set in the context of my other stories. I was asked over on FF.net for the wedding story. Here’s the finale of it.
I am terrible. I know it has been forever - real life and other writing projects keep interfering. As penance, it gets nice and smutty, along with some definite fluffiness. Also, if I can get my muse in gear, this has me thinking about a few Nathaniel-perspective one shots starting with him leaving her behind for the eleventh through right after getting her back at the end of my “Phoenix By Any Other Name” story. So, be on the lookout!
Part One
Part Two
Disclaimer is the same as always - don’t own them, just borrowing, no profit here.
Because it’s been so long, where we left off:
He squeezes her tight before releasing her. “So, Lieutenant, you ready for this?”
She grins, reaching up and cupping his cheek. “Yes, sir. Let’s go get hitched, sir.”
Never Boring, Part Three
They slip out of Alicia’s house, Alicia going first with him close behind her, neither of them too worried about being seen together during the day. Over the years, they’ve made a point of having dinner together often, sometimes with Guz, sometimes without, both at the market and at their homes.
As they walk towards the command center, they’re probably slightly closer together than usual, and she can feel his hand occasionally brush hers. She’s amused by it, but they need to be careful. Knowing she’s walking on his uninjured side, she elbows him lightly. “Behave, Nathaniel.”
She doesn’t look up at him, but she hears his indignant snort followed by a chuckle. “Yes ma’am.”
He drifts away slightly as they continue on, putting a more circumspect amount of distance between them. When they get to the command center, they dismiss the guards at the foot of the stairs, and then she goes up in front of him. As she climbs the stairs, she can almost feel his eyes on her. She has to stop herself from rolling her eyes when he lets out a low, feral-sounding growl.
Loud enough for only him to hear, she hisses, “Stop ogling my ass, Commander.”
He laughs and replies much louder, “But it’s such a nice ass, Lieutenant.”
She stops and gives him a sharp look. “Stop it, Nathaniel, and keep your voice down when you say things like that.”
He stops too, and he looks slightly abashed. “I’m sorry, Alicia.” His face takes on a conciliatory expression. “I gave the guards and all of the usual staff here the afternoon off. Told them we had a private meeting with some of the staff. No one would overhear, but I should have told you that.”
Her face softens. “Yes, you should have. But it’s OK.” She shakes her head and rolls her eyes before starting up the stairs again. “Come on. You better hurry. I might change my mind if you make me wait too long.”
In an instant, she hears him follow, and she laughs out loud when he bounds past her to the top of the stairs. He opens the door for her and bows with a glint of laughter in his eyes. “My lady.”
She snorts. “Where?” But she goes in ahead of him.
He chuckles, following close behind her. When they enter the office, Reilly and Reynolds are already there, looking slightly nervous. Alicia is puzzled for a moment, and then she looks past them to the conference table. On it, there is a small cake, five glasses and a pretty bouquet of bright-colored flowers tied with a red ribbon.
Footsteps on the stairs make them turn before Alicia or Nathaniel can comment on the items on the table. Malcolm comes in with a shopping-type bag in his hand. “Sorry I’m late, all. I had to make a stop, and Boylan was less cooperative than I’d hoped.”
Alicia glances at Nathaniel, and he shrugs. “What is all this, and what did you need from Boylan?”
Reynolds and Reilly, exchange a look, and Reynolds gives her an encouraging nod. Reilly clears her throat. “We know you said it was going to be short and simple, sir, ma’am, but we thought it needed at least a little celebrating. I made the cake and Mark bought the flowers. The vendor just assumed he was buying them for a girl.” Mark looks embarrassed at that, and Alicia can’t help but smile.
Malcolm steps over to the table and, with a flourish, pulls a bottle of wine from his bag. He turns and grins at them. “The booze was my idea.”
That seems to break the awkward tension in the room, and they all laugh quietly. Nathaniel nods. “Thank you all. Now, can we get this show on the road? I don’t want to give this one,” he reaches over and takes Alicia’s hand, “Any more time to change her mind.”
She squeezes his hand, blushing lightly. As comfortable as she is with him, she’s not as comfortable with being affectionate with him in front of other people. He, on the other hand, clearly has no such discomfort, pulling her tight into his side and pressing a kiss to her temple.
She doesn’t say anything, but she sees Malcolm nod and busy himself pulling out his plex. Reynolds and Reilly both wear slightly silly grins, and Reilly in particular is giving her a look that says almost audibly, “Awwww.”
Alicia huffs a little, and she gently pushes away from him. He laughs and releases her, likely knowing that she’s a little self-conscious about the display. Malcolm seems to pick up on her discomfort as well, and he clears his throat. “I’m ready when you are.” He waves his plex in the air.
They step over to him, Reilly taking a place next to Alicia after passing the colorful bouquet to her, Reynolds standing next to Nathaniel. Alicia looks at the plex and a wave of nervousness flows through her, not at getting married but at how vulnerable it makes her feel. “How will the records be entered, Malcolm?”
“All of us have to enter our ID numbers for validation, including me as the officiant and these two,” he motions to Reynolds and Reilly, “As the witnesses. Then, in case anyone gets curious or we somehow lose control of the file, I have an encryption program I’ve worked up to protect files, so I’ll encrypt it myself.”
Nathaniel nods, and he puts a reassuring hand on her lower back. “Then let’s do this, Doc.”
Malcolm nods in return, and a moment later he reads from his plex, going into the traditional, simple vows most people have heard many times before. For Alicia, it’s almost a blur until Malcolm asks if they have the rings. Nathaniel must have given them to Reynolds earlier, because the younger man pulls them out and hands them to Nathaniel. Alicia passes the bouquet back to Reilly to free her hands.
As they slide the rings onto each other’s ring fingers, Alicia feels uncharacteristic tears pricking at her eyes. She swallows hard and manages to blink them back, and she looks up at Nathaniel. She’s not entirely surprised to see his own eyes shining a little with the sheen of tears. At that, she relaxes entirely, studying his face and committing this moment to memory.
Malcolm finishes the ceremony, and Nathaniel pulls him to her to kiss her. She allows him to kiss her gently on the lips before pushing away and then up on her toes to hug him to her. With her face next to his ear, she murmurs, “More later, Nathaniel.”
He tightens his arms around her in reply. He hugs her closer to him before releasing her, and as she steps away she sees Malcolm and Reynolds both grinning at them. She turns to Reilly, and she’s surprised to see that unlike Alicia and Nathaniel, the younger woman was unsuccessful at holding back tears. Her face is streaked with them, and she shrugs sheepishly before thrusting the bouquet at Malcolm and surprising Alicia with a tight hug. “I’m so happy for you two, ma’am,” she pauses and then makes them all laugh by adding, “Even if you didn’t let me wear a dress.”
After that, as Malcolm opens and pours the wine, they enter their ID numbers into the plex to confirm their participation in the ceremony. Reilly goes first and then she, after being told that they don’t need to do any traditional bride-and-groom cake cutting, slices up the cake for everyone, leaving a decent piece of it behind for Alicia and Nathaniel to take with them.
Over the wine, Malcolm asks, “So, I’m assuming there won’t be any big honeymoon plans?”
Alicia shakes her head, and Nathaniel responds, “No. We’re just going to hole up at Alicia’s house until early Monday morning. With Guz OTG, we’re making Shannon keep an eye on things. He just thinks we’re taking some time to ourselves, doesn’t know why.”
“Wait, at ‘Wash’s’ house? You’re keeping separate houses?” Reynolds speaks up, surprising all of them. He immediately looks contrite, but Alicia can also see confusion.
She explains it. “Mark, we can hide being married, and we’ve relatively successfully hidden being in a relationship. But if we move in together, there won’t really be a way to hide that. Until we can figure out how this will sit at Hope Plaza, we need to keep flying under the radar.”
He looks irritated. “Well, that just plain sucks.” He then appears to remember his audience. “I mean, um, that sucks, ma’am, sir.”
Nathaniel reaches over and gives Reynolds’ shoulder a squeeze. “That it does, young man.”
Reilly smiles a little. “What do you mean by relatively successfully hidden?”
Alicia snorts, and Nathaniel grins and replies, “Well, the three of you all found out in a less than preferable way, as did one other. We told one person, and two others found out by accident, though not as awkwardly as you.”
Malcolm interjects, “Who else found out like we did?”
In unison, Nathaniel and Alicia say, “Boylan.”
Reilly laughs. “I’ve got to know, sir, ma’am, who handled it the best and who handled it the worst?”
Alicia rolls her eyes. “You and Malcolm are tied for the middle. You maybe did a bit better than he did. Boylan was by far the best. He thought it was hilarious.” She looks at Reynolds. “Mark here nearly fainted. I swear to God, I thought he might actually have a stroke.”
Clearly trying to cover his embarrassment, Mark asks, “Who are the other two? I figure the one you told is Lieutenant Guzman.”
They both nod, and Nathaniel answers this time. “The Shannons. They came by Wash’s house looking for me the morning after the virus that gave some of us temporary amnesia. The doc had been trying to find me to check on me, and when she couldn’t, thinking I’d had a relapse, she and Shannon went to Wash’s house. Conveniently, I was there, having spent the night.”
They continue to talk for a while, eating the cake and finishing the wine. Reilly boxes up the remaining cake and puts it into the bag Malcolm brought. She also shows them that there’s a second bottle of wine in there - Malcolm’s gift - and she carefully stows the flowers in the bag. Malcolm and Reynolds leave first, but Reilly stops and hugs Alicia again and then, much to his clear surprise, she hugs Nathaniel. “Congratulations, ma’am, sir. Have a good night.”
He blinks as the young woman bolts down the stairs. After a moment, he says, “Never would have pegged her as a hugger.”
Alicia laughs. “I know. It’s always the quiet ones, isn’t it?”
He nods as he closes the door to the office, and then he turns to Alicia, drawing her close and pressing his lips to hers, one arm going around her waist while his other hand slips into her unbound hair. Her hands, trapped between their bodies, grip his shoulder and leather holster. The kiss deepens quickly, but it’s not urgent. There is something soft and languid about it, completely out of character for them, but Alicia rolls with it, acknowledging in her mind that it’s already been that kind of day.
They pull back some time later, and there is something soft and nearly reverent in his eyes. His hand moves out of her hair and down to her cheek, and he softly brushes his thumb over her now slightly swollen lips. “Thank you.”
She cocks her head slightly in confusion. “For what?”
He gives her a crooked half-smile. “I don’t know. Everything? For putting up with me? For being there for me all these years? For looking after me like you do?”
She smiles and shakes her head, leaning up and nuzzling her face into his neck. “Anytime. And thank you.”
“For what?”
“Pretty much the same stuff.”
“Anytime. But I wish you’d let me look after you more.”
She kisses his cheek and pulls away, heading to the table to make sure everything is in the bag. “Maybe someday, Nathaniel.”
He follows her to the table. “I’m going to hold you to that, you know.”
She rolls her eyes a little, but she still nods. She looks out the window to see that it’s getting dark. “We should head home.” She pulls her tags off and slips off her ring, adding it to the chain. He does the same with his own tags and ring, and a moment later, they both are tucking their tags back under their t-shirts, the metal of their rings clinking lightly against their tags.
Taking her left hand and looking at her once-again bare ring finger, Nathaniel frowns and shakes his head. Before she can ask what’s wrong, he mutters, “The kid is right. This just plain sucks.”
She weaves her fingers through his and raises their joined hands so she can drop a kiss on the back of his. “I totally agree. But we can make the best of it, Nathaniel. We always do.”
*****
Ten minutes later, she slips into her house. He’ll be following soon, but they ran into a patrol as they passed Nathaniel’s house, so she kept going while Nathaniel went inside so as not to attract attention. He’s going to follow her in fifteen minutes or so, once the patrols have moved out of the housing area.
She puts the bag with the wine, cake and flowers in it down on her kitchen table, and then she goes into her bedroom to change her clothes. Knowing that he loves it when she wears his shirts, she has a special outfit in mind for the evening. It’s not particularly fancy, unless you count what she’ll have on under it.
She grins a little and shucks her clothing, stripping down to nothing. She opens her dresser and pulls out a new blue and black lace bra and matching boy short type panties, thanking her lucky stars for the woman in the market who makes these things. She puts both on, adjusting the bra in the mirror. She shakes her head and grins more fully at what she sees. Her breasts aren’t particularly large, but the bra works wonders with them, subtly and miraculously pushing them up without much in the way of padding.
Heading into her closet, she gets a button-up shirt of his, a BDU shirt, black and short-sleeved, and she puts it on over her bra and panties, buttoning it up to right at her bra, leaving a generous amount of cleavage on display. She shakes out her hair, not caring if it looks messy, and she gets one more thing from her dresser, a pair of thick, slouchy socks. She pulls them on in counterpoint to her sexy underwear and hair, knowing that he likes the juxtaposition. The fact they keep her feet nice and warm is just a bonus for her.
The last thing she does is take her ring from her tags, slipping it on her finger and leaving her tags on the dresser. She stops briefly to admire the etched platinum band, marveling at the notion that they’re actually married. She grins again, unable to help herself. Still smiling, she heads to the kitchen to make them some dinner.
After rescuing her bouquet of flowers from the bag and putting them in water, she takes out the wine and leftover cake and leaves them on the counter. She peers into the bags Nathaniel left here earlier this afternoon, and she sees more wine and some different food for them to eat tomorrow, things requiring little preparation, so they can relax and not leave her house.
She sets those bags aside to make room on the counter. She then puts out the makings of a salad - one of the few types of food preparation she’ll allow Nathaniel to undertake - and she goes about assembling the meat and vegetable kabobs she started marinating this morning.
Once that’s done, she puts the kabobs in the broiler, and she gets out some of the rice-like grain they’ve been able to cultivate here. She keeps working without turning around when she hears her front door open and close, knowing it’s Nathaniel. As she puts the rice on the stove to cook, she listens to his footsteps approach the kitchen. When she guesses that he’s close enough, she purposefully drops something on the floor and bends over to pick it up, her shirt riding up to treat him to a full view of her lace-covered rear.
She grins when she hears a sharp intake of breath and then his voice breathing out, “Holy shit.”
She slowly straightens up, tossing her hair over one shoulder and attempting to school her face to an innocent expression. “Is everything all right, Nathaniel?”
He drops the small pack he was carrying, she assumes filled with clothes for him, and he stalks up to her, looking vaguely like a predator on the hunt. He changed his clothes too, and he’s dressed in the comfortable clothes he usually wears when they spar in the gym, in this case light sweats and a t-shirt, along with his ubiquitous leather holster and combat boots.
Moving quickly, he gets to her and immediately leans down to kiss her, his hands moving down to cup her rear. She automatically puts her arms around his neck, knowing what he’s going to do. He doesn’t disappoint her, picking her up and perching her on the edge of the counter without breaking the kiss. She hums in approval, wrapping her long, bare legs around him and pulling him tight to her as her tongue plunges into his mouth. He groans a little, his hands kneading her backside through the lace.
Some time later, he finally pulls back, and she shakes out her hair again and gives him a wicked smile. “So, are you trying to tell me that you approve of my outfit?”
He squeezes with his hands. “It’s not bad. Not bad at all. Excellent use of that shirt, too. You have to keep that now, you know. I’ll never be able to look at it again without the lower commander coming to attention.”
The broiler timer goes off and she laughs, unwinding her legs from around his waist. He releases her and steps aside, letting her hop down off of the counter. She can feel his eyes on her as she pulls out the kabobs and turns them over. She puts them back in the broiler and resets the timer, and she turns back to him. “What?”
“I like the socks.”
“Thanks.” She grins, and then she points to the salad ingredients on the counter. “Salad duty, Commander.”
He gives her a salute. “Yes ma’am.” He gets to work, wielding the knife quickly and efficiently, one piece of military training paying off.
About an hour later, they’re sitting at the table, dinner eaten, talking as they finish Malcolm’s bottle of wine. The room is softly lit with large candles, all the other lights turned off. He’s laughing hard as she tells him about a small prank that she and Reilly played on Shannon and Guz earlier this week as punishment for the men failing to call her when Nathaniel was shot by the Sixer during the blackout. He grins at her. “You actually glued their body armor to the wall of the gym?”
She nods. “I did. I stole it while they were teaching a class, and Reilly got some of the soluble glue Malcolm developed. She also made Malcolm promise to hold out on them with the solvent they needed for at least a day or two,” she pauses, “Apparently, our dear Laura Reilly has something on Dr. Wallace, because he went along.”
“How did I miss this?” He looks incredulous and slightly disappointed.
She shrugs, getting up to take their dishes to the kitchen. He takes them from her as she replies, “You’ve been busy, Nathaniel. It was a pretty long week.”
He stacks the dishes in the sink. “Fair enough. How long were they up there on the wall?” He grabs her hand, shaking his head when she goes to wash the stacked plates and cooking pans. “We’ll clean up in the morning.”
He drags her to the couch with him, dropping onto it and pulling her with him. After kicking his boots off, he leans back and props his feet on her coffee table, and she curls up into his right side, dropping her head to his shoulder. “They were there just over two days. The other soldiers, with my permission, decorated them. Dunham and some of the other guys borrowed some ribbon from one of the vendors and put bows all over them, and Reilly used some water-soluble paint to add flowers and their names in pretty script.”
Nathaniel snorts. “How did they get them down?”
She nestles further into his side. “I finally relented and let Malcolm give them the solvent when Guz was going OTG.” She chuckles. “Despite some serious scrubbing, his armor still had remnants of the painted flowers on it. He was less than pleased. But Tasha high-fived me at the gate. I think she really enjoyed it.”
He laughs again, wrapping his right arm around her. He runs his hand through her hair, and she feels him relax into the cushions. She reaches out and takes his hand, her fingertips tracing over his ring.
“I haven’t done anything that silly in a very long time. It reminded me of the old days with our unit back in the future, the pranks we used to play on each other back before it all fell apart.” She sighs. “That feels like yesterday sometimes. How is it possible that over ten years have passed?”
He presses a kiss to the top of her head. “I miss those days sometimes. I miss the bond we all had.” They both fall silent, briefly lost in memories of that time, both bad and good. He shakes his head, she guesses trying to shake off the melancholy that the memories bring with them. “You know, it’s been well over an hour, and no one has bugged either one of us.”
She nods against his shoulder. “I told Shannon we needed a break. He’s only to call in an emergency. You know, like things actually on fire or something.”
“I pretty much told him the same thing. Great minds really do think alike.”
She releases his hand and wraps her arms around his waist. After a few more minutes of companionable silence, Alicia can’t help but say, “Hey, Nathaniel?”
He hums in response. “Yes, Alicia?”
She grins against his shoulder. “We got married.”
He squeezes her to him. “I know.” Without warning, he twists slightly, reaching his left arm down to fit under her legs. He lifts her, making her squeak a little in surprise. A moment later, he has her sitting sideways in his lap.
She loops her arms loosely around his neck. “Nice move, Commander.”
He looks down at her cleavage, now almost directly in front of his face. “Nice bra, Lieutenant.”
“It matches the panties, sir.”
He arches an eyebrow. “Those up to military standard, Mrs. Taylor?”
She grins at that. “If they are, the military sure has changed.” She turns in his lap, straddling him. She can feel his body react to her new position, and his feet come off of the table to rest on the floor. She leans back a little as his hands slide down and grip her hips under her shirt. With her eyes locked on his, she begins to unbutton the shirt she wears from the bottom up, first revealing the top of her panties, then her waist and the lighter skin of her usually covered torso, and finally her bra.
His eyes waver from hers, taking in the picture she presents as she drops the shirt from her shoulders and lets it slide down her arms to the floor. If his body’s initial reaction was a ripple, the reaction now is a tidal wave. In moments, his hardness is pressing up into her through the layers of fabric between them. His hands flex on her hips, and he leans forward to capture her lips in a possessive kiss, their tongues immediately battling for dominance.
Suddenly impatient, she reaches down and grabs the edge of his t-shirt, breaking their kiss in order to pull it up and over his head. She leans away and pushes up enough to put her feet on the floor. He seems to be about to protest, so she puts her finger over his lips. “Shhhh.” She leans down, replacing her finger with her lips, silencing him with a kiss as she uses her hands to remove his hands from her hips.
She pulls away again, straightening up and standing with her legs on the outside of his. She slowly slides her hands up her own body, stopping to cup her lace-covered breasts with her hands, squeezing lightly. He watches her intently, clearly making an effort to not reach out to touch her, his eyes growing darker and more aroused by the second. She reaches back and unhooks her bra, sliding it down her arms and letting it drop to the floor.
He can’t stop himself from reaching for her then, pulling her close enough to put one hand on her ass, squeezing hard as his lips find one of her breasts, drawing the nipple into his mouth and sucking hard. His free hand massages and teases her other breast, and she moans softly while running her hands through his hair.
As much as she’s enjoying the sensations singing through her upper body, she wants to regain control. She pulls back again, too fast for him to stop her, and she drops to her knees in front of him. His protest is cut off when she curls her fingers around the waistband of his sweats, pulling both his pants and his boxers downward. Clearly knowing what she wants, he lifts up from the couch just enough for her to remove his pants and underwear with ease.
She grins her wicked grin again when he springs free of the restrictive clothing, and she pauses long enough to remove his socks as well. Still on her knees, she leans forward. After dragging her tongue from the base of him to the tip before engulfing him in her warm mouth. He groans, his head dropping back, and she bobs her head up and down his length, licking and sucking lightly as she does.
One of his hands buries itself in her hair, and she notes with satisfaction that the other one grips the sofa cushions. After a few minutes, she can feel his thigh muscles begin to twitch lightly, and his hand tightens in her hair. “Alicia, enough. I won’t last much longer.”
After one last long lick, she leans back on her heels. His hand releases her hair, and she trails her hands down his thighs, scratching lightly with her nails. She looks at him with hooded eyes. “Can’t have that.”
She stands up and pushes her panties down. She’s so wet by now that they were soaked through, and they drop to the floor easily. Straddling him again, she steps forward and drops onto the sofa, one knee on either side of his thighs. She reaches for him, and in seconds, she is holding his throbbing length to guide them together. Once she feels the tip of him at her entrance, she simply slides down, taking him completely into her body with one smooth motion.
She lets her body weight press them together, and his hands return to her hips, guiding her as she begins to move over him, rolling her hips as she slides up and down him. She’s been wanting him this way, slow and gentle with her in control, since their sensuous kiss in the command center this afternoon, and she loves him even more because he seems to realize it, resisting his natural urge to take over.
As she continues to move, his hands squeeze her hips so hard that she’s sure she’ll have some well-earned bruises in the morning. She leans forward, kissing him hard before shifting the position of her hips. The new angle makes her gasp and drop her head back, and one of his hands shifts up to support her back as he starts to thrust upward into her.
He groans, his breathing becoming shallower, and she knows he’s close and trying to wait for her. His wait isn’t long. It only takes a few more powerful upward thrusts from him for her to cry out, arching her back and gripping his shoulders tight as she spasms hard over him. Moments later, he follows her over the edge, calling her name as he holds her to him and spills himself inside of her.
She collapses forward against his broad, heaving chest, and his arms go around her waist. He holds her tight to him and buries his face in the fall of her hair. She wraps her arms around him and sighs.
Several minutes pass with them in that position, him still inside her as they both get their breathing under control. Eventually, her knees begin to protest, so she gently pushes up. He slips out of her, and she carefully moves until she’s sitting sideways again, still in his lap but able to stretch out her legs.
He kisses her neck. “We should go to bed.”
She rests her head on his shoulder and wraps her arms around his waist. “Yeah.”
Belying his own words, he raises his legs again, propping them back up on the coffee table. He relaxes back into the sofa. “Or we could stay here.”
She smiles, and she sits up for a moment. She reaches behind her and grabs a small pillow before gesturing to his feet. He nods, lifting them enough for her to put the pillow under them. She then grabs the large afghan she keeps on the back of the sofa and covers them with it. She snuggles back into his chest. “It’s not very late.”
He runs a hand through her hair. “I know. And you know, last night, I think one of the activities you promised me was dancing. Slow dancing, to be precise.”
“What we just did doesn’t qualify?” There is a teasing lilt to her voice.
He chuckles. “It was a good start, but nowhere near enough.” He tilts her face up to his and presses a kiss to her lips. “Let’s take a nap, but then later, you’re going to put your little outfit back on and we’re going to dance.”
She looks up at him, a curious expression on her face. “You’re very serious about this.”
His eyes are soft when he brushes a lock of hair out of her eyes. “I am. It’s our wedding night, and I want to dance with my wife. It’ll be a long time before we manage to get a night like this again. We need to take advantage of every moment of it.”
She smiles and nuzzles her face into his cheek. “I love you, Nathaniel Taylor.”
He hugs her tight to him in response. “I love you more, Alicia Washington Taylor.”
They both drift off, but a few hours later, true to his word, they get up and re-dress. They spend the rest of the night as promised, slow dancing in her living room, enjoying the peace and quiet of the night in the soft light of the flickering candles.