Still Human

Chapter Twenty-four Danny I love you too.

“Come to bed with me,” I whisper in Liv’s ear as she stands watching her sister and Jen tear up the dance floor.

She giggles. “We can’t just leave the party.”

“Half the guests have left since midnight, I’m getting impatient and those two could go on for hours.”

She looks like she’s considering it. “I should say goodnight,” she says.

“No! That'll take forever, please just sneak out with me.”

“We can’t!”

“Sure we can.” I grab her and scoop her up in my arms. Then I yell, “Night everyone!” I see people turn towards us but I don’t hang around, I take my wife inside as fast as I can. She’s giggling, while telling me off for being so rude to our guests.

“Relax, everyone important will be here for breakfast in the morning, my treat. We can apologise then. Right now, I want you and I don’t care about them.” She punches the code while I hold her. I won’t let her down in case she escapes. We’re kissing as we step into the hallway and I let her feet back down to the floor once the door is firmly closed behind us. Our kiss is hungry and we stumble slightly, trying to make progress on the stairs while greedily consuming each other. Eventually I step back and fall onto the step behind me. Liv climbs on top of me and I groan as she presses herself against me. I’m painfully hard. She has on that dress and I’ve been watching her all night, imagining taking it off, I can't stand it anymore, I have to shift her off me. As I do she glances up.

"Oh God, Danny, it's beautiful," she says.

I turn to see what she’s talking about. The stairs are strewn with white rose petals.

"It wasn't me," I admit. "Ali and Carla cleaned up after you got ready so that it was nice for us to come back to. They must have done it." She smiles fondly at having friends that would do this for her. "Come on," I say grabbing her hand and leading her upstairs. I'm slightly glad something interrupted our moment, the discomfort has eased now and I'm at least able to make it up the stairs without exploding. As I open the door, I scoop her up again, carrying her across the threshold. We notice instantly that they have done more than just tidy up, everything is perfectly neat and the petals lead straight into the bedroom, where the lamp is on, welcoming us. We cross the living room and stop at the bedroom door. It’s as if we are in a hotel. The bed, freshly made in what looks like new linen, has been turned down. Two fluffy white robes tied up like parcels sit on the covers. Petals surround the bed and on the nightstand is a basket.

A note tied to the handle reads 'Congratulations Liv and Danny. From Lady Luck’s Staff x' and inside is a wedding night care package. Champagne glasses, a bucket of ice (they must have added this not long ago) containing some expensive champagne, chocolates, some painkillers, bottled water, I stop looking at that point and turn back to Liv, she’s standing beside the bed staring at me. I reach out and pull her to me looking at her in that dress. I don't want her to take it off, but I know it’s just a moment in time, she can't wear it forever. Besides, I want to see what she’s wearing underneath it even more.

I take the ends of the purple sash and slip the bow open, like I’m unwrapping my gift. I slide my finger beneath the knot and ease it open, holding eye contact with Liv the whole time. Then I pull on one side of the sash to pull it free of her body. Tossing it on the bed behind me, I return my hands to her fabulous body. "I feel bad being the one with the gift to unwrap, it's your birthday."

"Not anymore." She shrugs.

I trail kisses around her neck, catching her necklace. I unclasp it and place it carefully on her nightstand, to keep it safe. I know what it means to her. She watches me. "Something old," I whisper, touching the diamond dangling from her ear. "Something new." I continue, unhooking them both and stashing them with the necklace.

"Something borrowed." She joins in, lifting her wrist to show me. I do the honors. Then I run my finger down the sharp V of her neckline and follow its path, sinking to my knees. I unlace her shoes and slip them off her feet, then start back up again, keeping my hands on the inside of her dress, running my fingers up her silky smooth legs. When I get to my feet again, I've let go and allowed her dress to fall. But as I explore her neck with my mouth, I find the zipper behind her and start dragging it down.

Liv lets out a moan when my tongue slides up behind her ear and I take her earlobe between my teeth, at the same time that my hand travels along the bare skin of her back. I deftly send her dress complete with its full petticoats to the floor and gasp as I step back to see her in her powder-blue lingerie. "Something blue," I breathe, taking her back in my arms. I gasp as she brings her hands around my belt and brushes her hand lower over my zipper. I try to focus, I need tonight to last.

She begins tugging at my shirt as I stroke the smooth skin of her lower back. "Wait, wasn't there supposed to be something in your shoe?" I ask absently, trying to distract myself as her hands find my skin.

"Oh! Yeah." She giggles, reaching into the cup of her bra and pulling out the old coin. "It was killing me and that dress doesn't have pockets!"

I grab her, laughing and lift her legs to wrap around me. The coin falls amongst her clothes on the floor, but I don't care. I lay her back on the bed and stand above her, between her legs, loosening my tie, my jacket and vest long gone. I unbutton my shirt, watching Liv. She is alive with need, I can feel it. She can hardly keep still, her toe strokes up my inside leg. Removing my shirt slowly, I keep her waiting. I'm killing myself, but watching her makes it worthwhile. She can’t stand it though, her hand drifts across her stomach and brushes across the lace of her panties, she sighs and draws back, sliding her fingers under the fabric.

I can't just watch while she does that when I need her so badly, so I quickly divest myself of my pants and underwear and bend to my knees. I pull her hand free and pin it to the bed with mine. She moans and wickedly pushes her other hand in its place. I tut tut, shaking my head and capture that hand too, pressing them both down with my weight so that she feels restrained. Then I lean forward and kiss the spot just below her belly button. She sighs. I kiss two more spots on the way to her underwear and then I run my tongue over the fabric.

Liv cries out when my tongue passes over her swollen clit, even through her underwear, the impact is incredible. I kiss my way back to the top of her panties and pause, watching her squirm. She tests the strength of my fingers at her wrists and realises I'm not letting go, so she surrenders to it. I take the delicate panties in my teeth and move them down as far as I'm able. It's not enough to reveal where she wants me to go, but enough to tease her some more.

When she can't take it anymore, I release her and slide her panties off, then I glance at her nightstand and spot the ice. I grab a piece and hide it in my mouth while she’s distracted, reaching to touch herself again. She is deliberately trying to get me to restrain her again, I know it! She liked it, so I grab both of her wrists in one hand, pinning them lightly above her head and pull down the cup of her bra with the other. She cries out as my icy mouth closes over her nipple and she writhes beneath me, almost trying to get away, but not convincingly enough.

I turn my attention to her other nipple, which gets an equally impressive reaction. I release her hands and they go straight to her shocked nipples, her back arching at the sensations. Then with the ice between my teeth, I slide my way across her heated skin, slowly all the way down until I reach her thigh. I move the ice over her and she gasps as I come close a couple of times, but I make her believe I won’t go where she is begging for me to go. Then just before I start the journey back up, I flash the ice right over her clit. She virtually leaves the bed, crying out a throaty scream of pure, unrestrained pleasure.

I trail the ice straight back up, all the way to her throat. She’s still panting when I brush the ice across her lips but she comes back from her high at its touch and grabs me, kissing me with abandon, forcing the half cube of ice into her own mouth. She gives me a lascivious grin and pushes me off her. I fall beside her willingly and watch her remove her bra. She bends to drop icy kisses over my stomach and chest. I suck in a sharp breath as it skates over a nipple, but it doesn’t linger.

She turns so that her back is to me as she works the diminishing ice down over my abs, the fact that I can’t see what she is doing only adds to the sensations. Suddenly, with no warning, she plunges her icy mouth straight down over my whole length. I’m sure the remaining wedding guests must have heard my cries. The feeling is phenomenal. The ice has gone, but every recess in her mouth is cold and my burning cock is engulfed. The contrast is shocking, but I don’t want it to stop. I can’t help my loud moans as she relentlessly works her freezing lips up and down. She takes me so deep, she is so good at it and the sensation changes again, as she takes me through the icy cold and into the tight warmth of her throat. Again and again…I have to stop it.

“Oh, yes…Liv…oh…please…stop…please.” I’m not sounding convincing, I have to stop her. I don’t want to use my hands, if I touch her I could very well push myself further in, that won’t help, even though she loves it. I have to stop now!

“STOP! Please, stop…” and she mercifully does. I lay panting.

She raises an eyebrow and laughs. “Sorry, I got carried away.”

“I’m not coming in your mouth on our wedding night.” I gasp. “Not while we’re trying to make a baby.” Liv smiles at this and turns back to kiss me, slowing the tempo right down. Now we lay side by side, kissing and touching for an eternity, making the most of this time, not rushing it. I glide my fingers down her body until they are playing against her swollen clit, she gasps. I continue to stroke her and she builds back up quickly. I know we can both come now with little effort.

I roll us over, so that she’s beneath me. Staring into her eyes, I smile. I push against her and she moans. I push again. I nudge her legs apart with my knee and position myself. She stares. We both know that as soon as we are joined it will be fast. She kisses my jaw, my cheek, my neck, then she reaches my ear and whispers. “I love being married to you.” I groan and sink into her, then pull back and push in again. Slowly and steadily with a lingering rhythm that belies my desperate need, I move inside her.

Her legs wrap around me as she moves with me and once again I’m sure, the remaining guests must be able to hear our fevered cries. I can tell she’s close, she always does this pre-emptive gasp.

“Open your eyes,” I plead. “I need to see you come.” She blinks back to reality for me and our eyes fix on each other as I thrust just a few more times into her and finally feel her explode.

She keeps her eyes on mine and makes a croaky sound of ecstasy. “I love you,” she whispers, hoarse from her cries and I come long and hard into her. I manage not to close my eyes and I find the words. “I love you too.”

I wake with a start. A panicked feeling like I’ve missed something. This has been happening more, the closer we get to the wedding, I must be subconsciously worried about forgetting something or being late. Then the warm memory of yesterday floods over me. We did it! It’s done, I can relax, she said yes, nothing got in our way, she is my wife. I sigh with relief and drop my head back to the pillow.

“You okay?” Liv murmurs next to me.

I turn to face her. We’re so tangled it’s difficult, but I manoeuvre so that we are face to face. “Good morning, Mrs Morgan.” I grin, kissing her forehead, then the end of her nose.

“Morning my husband,” she purrs, closing her sleep heavy eyes again.

“I love hearing you say that.”

“Get used to it,” she says forcing her eyes to get with the program. “Why were you sighing?”

“Oh, I’ve been stressing a little in my sleep lately, but I just woke up and remembered it all paid off! It was a contented sigh.”

She thinks for a moment. “Thank you for everything. It was the most perfect day of my life.”

“I’ll do anything for you.”

Now she sighs contentedly. Then I see a flash of recognition in her eyes. “Is everyone really coming for breakfast?” she asks.

“Yeah, but not yet, it’s still early.” I glance at the clock. “We have a couple of hours.”

“Hmm.” She hums, snuggling in to me. “What can we do with a couple of hours?”

“Plenty.” I kiss her. “But I have to pee!”

“Me first,” she says suddenly and leaps up.

I fly after her and catch her at the bathroom door. “Oh no you don’t!” I grab her around the waist from behind and pick her up, she shrieks and slaps me, but I put her down on the other side of me so that I’m in the lead and easily win the race.

“You’re such an arse.” She sulks, hopping from one foot to the other behind me.

“Hey, you married this ass!” I chuckle, making her wait.

“Well, this marriage will work better when we have two bathrooms.” She teases as I finally step out of her way.

“Don’t worry, we’ll soon have more bathrooms than we can use,” I say walking back into the bedroom. I throw on some underwear, sitting on the edge of the bed, then I pick a bottle of water out of our basket. Opening it and taking a swig, I leaf through the contents. It was so sweet, but we were too distracted last night to use any of it. Well apart from the ice, I must be sure to thank someone for that! I pull out the paracetamol, I don’t feel too bad and I don’t think Liv drank too much either. It was a kind thought though. I notice that beside the chocolates are some other snacks in case we were hungry last night. I was, but not for an energy bar. I lift the ice bucket out. It’s now a bucket of warm water with an expensive bottle of champagne floating in it. I’ll put it in the refrigerator and we can open it in the new house. Tucked behind the bucket is an envelope marked MR & MRS MORGAN.

Liv wanders in wearing the silk robe I gave her yesterday. “Look.” I hold out the envelope.

“What’s this?”

I shrug. “A card I guess, it was in the basket.”

“We’ve got loads of these downstairs…and presents. I hope they’re okay. You whisked me away!” She grins, tearing open the envelope. She opens the card and some paper slides out. I catch it and hand it to her. She frowns as she opens it and then gasps.

“What?”

“They’ve got us a night in a really posh hotel, in a suite! Wow, this must have cost a fortune.”

I stand to look at the voucher over her shoulder. “Nice.” I say kissing her bare skin.

“We could use this after we do the legal stuff to make it official. Like a second wedding night.”

I smirk and scoop her up. “Can’t,” I respond. I hope she’s still naked under that robe. “Got plans.” I lay her back on the bed and crawl over her.

“Plans?” She stops me as I start to pull on the belt. She fixes me with a look that says that she won’t be kept in the dark over everything. Not happily at least.

I laugh. I suppose I’m going to have to tell her. “Don’t do your evil laugh, tell me what’s going on!”

“Alright, I’ll tell you!”

“Everything?”

I screw up my nose, maybe not everything.

“Danny!” She slaps my chest.

“Okay!” I roll off her and hold up my hands defensively. “Okay.” I prop myself up on one elbow. “We’re going on our honeymoon, but not yet. I wanted us to spend time with our families for a few days as they have come such a long way. So we’re leaving Friday.”

“A honeymoon?” she says with a big smile. “You didn’t have to do that, you’ve done more than enough.”

“You get married, you have a honeymoon. Of course we’re having one. Besides this one’s on my parents so don’t sweat it.”

“Wow, really?” she muses. “Everyone is being so generous, are you sure we should accept it?”

I frown. “Damned right we accept it, are you nuts? My parents know how to do the vacation thing like nobody else, so if they are buying I promise it’s going to be great. Just relax.”

She nods, then smiles again. “So where are we going?”

“Do I have to tell you?” I ask but with resignation in my voice, so she knows she can win.

“Danny!” she moans because I’m driving her nuts.

“Mexico, okay. We’re going to Mexico. We fly out Friday to Cancun for five nights and then we fly on to Cabo for five nights. They want us to see the sights in Cabo, as they’re going to be making it home for half the year soon and they’ll want us to visit them there.” I hesitate, but I should at least tell her some of the rest. “Then we’re visiting LA for a few days or so before we come back so that I can look into doing that thing, you know for Jen and Scott. If that really is still okay with you.” I don’t know why it’s taken me so long to check back with her about how she really feels, I guess I’m just afraid she’ll say yes, but mean no. Or simply regret it later. I can’t have this affect our marriage or our future.

She strokes my face. “It really is still alright with me. I was going to come with you, whether you liked it or not, but this is perfect.”

I wince. “Is it okay to visit a sperm bank on our honeymoon, or is it just too weird?”

She laughs hard. “It’s a little weird I suppose, I doubt most people would get it, but surely we’re just weird enough to pull it off? Besides who will know other than us? You should do it and I support you completely.”

“I promise I won’t go ahead until we have our family. They will completely understand, Jen said as much herself.”

“It’s okay.” She rubs my shoulder. “It will be fine. You’ll donate and it will be kept until you say so. Do you know how many times you have to do it?”

I sigh. “I’ve read so many different accounts. But I think they will need a few because it’s only half as effective if its frozen. I just need to get out there and meet with them to find out more.” I smile at her. “You are a wonderful person, letting this happen, you know?”

“Me? I’m not doing anything, it’s you doing the wonderful thing.”

“You know what I mean. Most people wouldn’t be okay with this.”

“Well I am,” she says, putting an end to my fears. “Have you told them yet?”

This is my other problem. I shake my head, twisting my fingers between hers. “It feels like too much pressure. The odds aren’t great. I don’t want to build their hopes up. I’ll tell them once I know more.”

“It will be fine, I promise.” She kisses me gently. “Three weeks huh? You spoil me.”

I managed to shake off my funk and find a pleasing way to pass an hour or so with my wife. I hand her a towel as she steps out of the shower. I should never have worried, she loves our morning ritual as much as I do and we still shower together almost every day, even though she doesn’t need me to help her anymore.

She looks fantastic in her long black dress, so cool and casual, with her sneakers and her hair loose and still wavy from being twisted up yesterday. She picks up her sister’s bracelet from the nightstand before we head down and I hand her her shades as I hook mine on my shirt. It looks bright out and we're eating in the garden.

Everyone is here already when we get outside, my parents, Liv’s parents, Connie and Jack, Grace Andy and the kids, Jen and Scott, and Max and Charlie. Our family. They all greet us warmly and then some light-hearted ribbing about our disappearance last night gets a wolf-whistle from Scott. Jen slaps him and it settles down.

They have configured a long table and Liv and I take the last two spaces in the middle. Everyone is chatting and drinks are passed along the line, orders are taken, Matthew is hopping from one grown up to another, making the most of all the attention. Jen is holding baby Mia, which makes my stomach clench tightly. I want that so badly for myself right now but the responsibility I feel for her to have it too is almost overwhelming. It just isn’t fair that it’s so hard for her. I can remember a time when not getting pregnant was her only concern in life and now…this. It sucks. I’m going to do everything in my power to help her.

I’m intrigued with this new friendship between Grace and Jen. I guess they spoke a few times on the phone when Liv first left me and then again while we were planning this whole week. It’s nice, just weird, considering what Grace used to be like. Jen spies me watching her with Mia and gives me her best ‘I’m okay, really’ smile. I respond with mine that says ‘I’m just concerned that’s all’. She laughs a little and then turns her attention back to the baby.

After a predictably awesome breakfast, the crowd disperses. Some are going shopping, some are just heading off to relax. Liv and I go back to bed! Hey, it’s our first day as husband and wife and I don’t have to abstain from anything yet!