CHAPTER 555: WEDDING BELLS ... OR NOT? (1)

Thornston Mansion....

"Brad!" Alicia whispered, trembling and making him chuckle.

"Alicia...." He growled, loving every single bit of what they were doing. The two were very giddy, with a whole lot of euphoria, but deep down, they felt like puppets, adhering to the directions of the puppeteers because of the drugs.

Brad kissed the tip of one nipple,

"You’re flushed," he said, voice low and ragged.

She opened her eyes a fraction, studying him,

"You look drunk,’ she countered, eyes dancing with a mix of concern and something else that made the haze in his mind thicker.

"Not drunk,’ he said, standing unsteadily. "Drugged. Those bastards!"

He got up swiftly with her in his arms, and staggered towards the bathroom door, and her hand brushed against his butt.

That touch was fire.

He muttered a curse, swerved, and quickened his pace towards the en-suite bathroom.

She laughed softly, thinking he was being dramatic. Alicia was like a different person in that moment, sending a thrill through Brad. Whatever they had ingested had pushed them to cross that intimate boundary between them. The thing was that he had taken the drug, but why was she also like that, he thought.

Alicia’s hands leisurely explored his backside and his muscled back, teasing him and making his mind even foggier than it already was. His shirt had come off sometime during their escapades—until the unmistakable whoosh of water hitting the tiles filled the air.

A second later came the sound of the glass door sliding open and a sharp gasp as he stepped directly under the blast of full-cold water, jolting them both back into their senses, temporarily.

"Are you insane?!" she cried out as Brad refused to let go, holding her tighter as the cold water cascaded on both of them. He planted a firm kiss against her cheeks as she screamed.

His answer was a shiver and a deep, focused breath as the freezing water worked like a slap across his fogged-up mind. "Needed clarity," he gritted out. "You... are not helping."

She paused, gasping as she acclimatized to the water, but started shivering. Alicia tilted her head, grinning now, as her mind also became clearer.

He reached blindly for the knob, turned off the water, then finally set her down and braced against the tile. "I’m trying to be a gentleman."

"Whatever!" she protested with mock innocence, but a pang of something missing hit her hard. Though she was a little embarrassed at her gestures before, she understood and appreciated that Brad had not gone all the way through.

He looked at her, hair plastered to his head, trousers sticking like a second skin, water streaming down his temples. Her upper body was bare, and the water was streaming down her now very hardened nipples, her dress hanging on by her waist, and the dress was also plastered on her lower body. "Exactly. You’re not doing anything, but wreaking havoc here...."

She followed his gaze to see the still protruding hard evidence of his arousal despite the cold blast. She turned even redder but did not do anything to help him relieve it.

Brad cursed in his mind, as his eyes found their way back to the heavy-hanging twin peaks. He shut his eyes tightly, then reached for a large towel and bathrobe.

He dropped the towel on her head and then helped her out of her wet clothes, trying hard to anchor his mind to something else. Brad rubbed his hands on her arms vigorously to stop the shivers.

They locked eyes.

The moment stretched between them, charged, intimate.

And then she chuckled softly, grabbed a towel, and also tossed it at his head.

"You’re in no better shape than I am..."

Brad dragged his eyes off and then swiftly stepped out of the bath. He pulled open a drawer and pulled out a small bottle, then popped a couple of pills into his mouth. HE stretched out his hand and handed one to her as well.

"Take it, if you want to be thinking for yourself!"

"You know too?"

"There seems to be something in the room. Give me a moment...."

Brad stepped out of the bathroom in the warm bathrobe. But as soon as he entered the room, his mind fogged up and his member throbbed painfully from a fresh wave of arousal.

"Damn! Ma!"

He moved fast, recognizing Geneva’s handiwork. He searched blindly till he spotted the incense burners. He picked all of them, four in total and dumped them in a sink, in an adjacent room. Then Brad rushed back into the bathroom, and under the cold blast, again!

Alicia had dried herself and was tying the bathrobe when he returned.

She took in his actions and shook her head, understanding dawning on her.

It took about a quarter of an hour before Brad stepped out again, panting slightly and trying not to shiver.

His eyes met Alicia’s as she was leaning against the sink.

"I don’t want to take you like that.... Inasmuch as you are irresistible, I want us to do this in our clear minds and willingly."

Alicia still said nothing, "I think we fell victim to a lot of plans today, so if you step out, you’ll probably be back in my bed before an hour elapses."

That was enough to get a laugh out of her.

"I get it handsome. So, what do you propose we do?

Brad quickly wiped down and stretched his hand for hers, then he led them through another door and into a different room.

"My room is unhabitable with that incense."

Despite this, Brad could not help but pull Alicia close. Because there were still some remnants of the drugs in them, there was little resistance.

"Get some sleep, handsome. You’ve got a long day tomorrow."

She jiggled her but against his still very erect member. He smiled, gritting his teeth and inhaling her lovely scent deeply with a shaky breath. Brad needed all of his will to not flip her around and shove himself into her. They were about to get married anyway, so nothing would have hindered this.

"You’re evil."

She turned and winked, stealing a little kiss as well. That night, the two grew closer and all arrangements seemed to have been forgotten. But Alicia’s respect for Brad grew as well.

He had sacrificed his satisfaction so that she could get her edge off, before dousing them with the cold rush of the shower. It took a very mature man to withstand such temptation. That night, she had no idea that Brad had escaped a bigger plan by his friends and only thought of what she had witnessed.

Brad, on the other hand, also had a massive level of respect for Alicia for the way she had handled that annoying maid from earlier. It was each to himself, but all stepping in the same direction.

The room was dim now, save for the low bedside lamp casting a golden pool of light across the sheets of the two entangled figures. The faint scent of lavender lingered. It was hers, and he couldn’t get enough of it, but it calmed the last of the adrenaline still humming in his veins.

He was dry now, but his hair was still damp, as was hers. Silence stretched between them. A comfortable kind this time, and one not filled with lustful tension. It was still charged as the two had never finished what they had started. A taste of the forbidden always left one with a hunger for more, but this was laced with something quieter.

"I’m sorry," she said suddenly, her voice soft.

He turned his head slightly toward her. "For what?"

"For making things... more complicated." A pause. "Not that I regret it," she added quickly, smiling. "But I know this isn’t exactly what either of us expected."

"No, it’s not," he admitted. "But I’m not... unhappy about it. I loved that taste of you and can’t wait for tomorrow to complete what we started...."

She looked over at him then, surprised and struggling to think over her hammering heart.

He met her gaze, and for the first time in the day, he let himself be completely honest. "You’re strange for accepting that marriage request from my family, but bold as well.

I think you’re a little infuriating, though I am unsure of why, but most importantly, you’re way too calm for a woman getting married in less than 12 hours who has also been drugged. But you’re also smart, steady, and... you WILL keep me in check."

Alicia blinked, wondering how they got to this conversation, but was touched.

"Before I met you, I – I have done things that I am not proud of, had a lot of women... including making a pass at my sister-in-law....

Brad paused, wondering how she would take that news and why he had even said that.

Though Alicia was taken aback by this, she chuckled,

"I would make a pass at her myself if I were a man! Shelby is too bewitching!"

"Hahahahaha!"

Brad couldn’t help but laugh, "... then you... came in like a gentle storm. This is why I trust my mother’s vision. She may be unruly sometimes, but she always has my best interests at heart. Thank you for agreeing to this marriage. I will never let you down, Alicia Fanny Carmichaels!"

Her breath caught and he wrapped his arm around her tighter.

They lay there, warmth building, their breathing syncing. The silence wasn’t empty anymore, but it was full of unspoken things, of tentative hope, of a strange but welcome new beginning.

After a long pause, she asked, "Are you scared?"

He ran his hand slowly through her hair. "Not of the marriage. Just... of not doing it right. Of failing you."

"You won’t," she whispered against his shirt. "We’ll figure it out together."

He closed his eyes, heart finally settling.

Together.

Yes... Maybe that didn’t sound so terrifying after all. Their breaths lulled them to sleep, till another form of chaos broke out the next day, of which they were blissfully unaware.

*********

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