Falling into You (Falling Stars 3)

Her chest squeezed.

“Violet and Richard…live your life. Run it together. Never stray. I know you have what it takes. Never let that light go dim.”

Everyone lifted their glasses. Richard turned Violet to face him, and she took a sip of the bubbly champagne while everyone cheered, and Richard did the same, their eyes never leaving the others’.

He set both their flutes aside and took her by the hand so he could lead her onto the middle of the dance floor.

On cue, the band struck up.

Richard gathered her in his strong, protective arms, and he began to sway her to the slow song that she hadn’t anticipated would play for their first dance.

But oh, was it familiar.

It hitched her breath in a lump at the base of her trembling throat.

Overwhelming.

Completing.

It was a song that Richard had written one long, beautiful night when they’d stayed up until the day was breaking with the dawn. When they’d dreamed and loved and made vows that would forever go on.

He sang it in her ear while he held her in the strength of his arms.

Life spent running

Chasing down a dream

Never saw you coming

Tripping up my feet

You had my heart stalling

Learning how to beat

Never expected love

Beauty breaking the mold

Ripping up the seams

Getting lost in violet

Colors and dreams

Your love a landslide

I’ll follow you to the end

And then I’ll find you all over againThey were giggling like mad when they burst into the tattoo parlor at just before midnight. Violet was still wearing her dress and Richard was in his fitted suit.

Standing out. They could hardly care about that.

Richard had arranged the appointment, so two artists were already waiting, the work done in a flash, but still, Violet felt every vibration of what they seared on their skin.

A tiny violet on the inside of Richard’s left wrist, and a miniature music note on the inside of Violet’s.

Music and inspiration.

Trust and fidelity.

Hope and commitment.

Her husband watched her as they marked her, those sage eyes staring right into her soul, that tether that bound them thrumming with devotion.

With the moment.

With the magnitude of what it meant.

They were giggling again as they rushed back out.

Richard pressed her to the wall the second they were outside. He kissed her hard.

“My wife,” he mumbled into her mouth and then he was sweeping her off her feet and into his arms.

She squealed.

Joy rushed.

Intense.

Profound.

She curled her arms around his thick neck, and he carried her up the sidewalk. The night was all around them, the bugs trilling from their shelter in the trees.

Refusing to set her down, he carried her all the way to the nicest hotel in Dalton where they were staying, right through the posh lobby and up the lavish stairway to the second floor.

He opened the door to their suite, still holding on, whispering, “My wife, my wife,” as he carried her over the threshold.

My wife.

His confession wound through her being.

The proclamation.

He set her onto her feet at the end of the massive, luxurious bed. He tickled his fingertips along her collarbone exposed by the dress.

Chills raced.

Those eyes traced her, took her in, memorized the moment.

“Beauty. Life. Light. Now I know what it all really means.”

“I love you,” she exhaled. “Forever.”

He slowly undressed her while she undressed him.

Reverent hands. Whispered promises. Their forever bounding out in front of them.

He laid her out on the bed, and he climbed over her, hovering an inch away.

Their bodies hummed.

Heat flooded the space.

Liquid.

Molten.

“My wife. My moonflower in the darkest night. You will always be the song of my heart.”

“My husband. My sun that ushers in the day. You will always be the beat of my heart.”

And their spirits sang together. Their bodies one. Their love abounding.

He held her wrapped tight as he moved over her.

Slow.

Treasured.

A revelry.

Sweat drenched their skin, their passion in sync.

He kissed her deep before he curled an arm around the top of her head, held her face with the other.

Nose to nose.

Breath to breath.

Soul to soul.

“I will never let you go.”Twenty-FourViolet“Hey, Violet, over here!”

I jerked around from where I stood waiting on the sidewalk in front of the single wedding dress shop in Dalton when I heard the voice calling my name from across the parking lot. Emily waved furiously from where she, Melanie, and Royce’s younger sister, Maggie, were climbing out of her car, a huge smile of excitement on her face.

While my insides twisted. Caught in a clamp of dread and this messed up hope that I knew I shouldn’t feel. A smidge of guilt for giving in the way that I had, letting that man touch me last night, all mixed up with the residual of that touch that was still coursing through my veins and heating my flesh.

I was a proper mess.

Bags under my eyes. No sleep to be found. Tossing and turning all night. Eyes still red from crying and body still flying from gettin’ sent to the stars when I’d least expected it.