Loving what He Wants (Celine and Rhyland Series) Read online

  Rhyland snapped photo’s as she stood in awe. They snapped shots together and made faces. But after a while she noticed that the day had taken its toil on him.

  ‘I think we better get the driver,’ he said finally. ‘I don’t think I could stand another ride on the sub.’

  ‘Okay, yeah okay.’ She was worried. ‘Are you alright?’

  ‘I’ll be fine. Tiredness comes in flashes. I’ll be fine.’

  After the driver arrived and whizzed them back to the hotel in the thicket of traffic, Rhyland ordered in. They sat on the balcony of the hotel gazing out at the vibrant city, having their dinner. After their meal he drew them a bath and they just sat and soaked in the water doing nothing but enjoying each other’s company.

  ‘Come with me.’ he took her hand and carried her to bed.

  There was a tray of strawberries that had been left over for dessert. He wheeled it over, picked one up and ran the large strawberry over her wet body.

  ‘You have made me the happiest man in the world. I had a great time today.’ He ran it up towards her mouth, as she was about to eat it he took a bite and laughed.

  ‘Why are you teasing me?’

  ‘Because you’re so cute when you’re mad.’ He took another one and ran it over her body.

  This time she took a nibble of the juicy fruit. She chewed slowly watching him as he took the other half.

  ‘What do you want for Christmas?’ she asked.

  He smiled.

  ‘What?’

  ‘Do you really want to know?’

  ‘Of course I do.’

  ‘Okay but first tell me what you want.’

  ‘I have everything I want.’ She kissed him. ‘Now tell me.’

  He had a twinkle in his eyes. He leaned over to grab another strawberry and fed it to her playfully.

  ‘I’m waiting.’

  ‘I want to marry you.’

  She burst out laughing but he wasn’t laughing.

  ‘Are you serious?’

  ‘Dead serious. I want you to be my wife on Christmas day.’

  She was dead silent. This wasn’t what she was expecting. Get married. Marriage was a way a way in her life.

  ‘Life’s now right.’

  ‘Yeah, life is now,’ she said absentmindedly. ‘It’s now.’

  ‘So how about it, how about you become Mrs Chambers this Christmas?’

  He kissed her a bit at a time. The thoughts came rushing through like an avalanche. Her parents, they hardly knew him. Ava and Harvey, what would they think? Harvey would probably think he’s paid her. But as he gave of himself slowly and gently the noises in her head began to subside. So what? What did it matter what anyone thought? It was her life, her life with the man she loved.

  She wrapped her hands around him and took in his generous kisses. He was gently as he explored her body. His lips travelled down her body, kissed the side of her thighs and down to her very toes. He took in a toe at a time into his mouth and crawled back up her legs.

  She pushed him onto the bed and was on top of him.

  ‘Oooh I love a lady on top.’

  She kissed him while he spoke, ran her hands through his hair. She wanted to feel him. Feel every strand of his hair, smell him and feel his touch on her body. She wanted it to be imprinted on her mind forever.

  He put his hands on her waist; she sat up tall looking down at him. For a moment they just kept that position. He moved his hands upwards and took both her breasts into his hands and massaged them with might. She threw her head back as she took the feel of his strong hands and then she lowered back down to him. He took her and swapped positions, he was on top looking down at her. He met her lips gently and dipped his tongue into her mouth. She swallowed him, kissed him as if it would be the last time. Her body covered with goosebumps as he ran his hands down her legs and slotted between them.

  ‘Oh Rhy…land.’ It was a whisper, a cry, a call for him to take her.

  ‘Yes baby.’ He kissed her passionately. He could never get enough of her.

  He took in a nipple between his teeth and bit down on it. He planted kisses all over her skin trying to make sure he covered every area. He massaged her shoulders, rubbed her stomach, her thighs. He did things to her she never imagined and all she could do was surrender.

  She lay breathless and weak gazing up at him. His face was tender, his eyes full of love. She wanted nothing more than to give him what he’d asked for, for Christmas. He positioned his cock and as he was about to enter she said…

  ‘Yes…yes I will marry you.’

  He pushed in deeper lifting her body up so that they were both in the upright position.

  ‘I will marry you.’ Her hands were wrapped around his neck.

  He kept his hands around her waist; his cock was straight up her middle as she was locked in him.

  ‘Yes?’ he mouthed against her.

  ‘Yes?’ she kissed him back. ‘Yes,’ she breathed.

  He shut his eyes and held her tight, his thickness planted deep inside her. After a moment he gently laid her back on the bed and moved his body in rhythm to hers. It was like they were listening to their own music. He swayed and she did so too. He panted harder and harder and she took him over and over until there was no more. Until there was nothing left to give.

  ****

  She woke up to sounds of terrible retching. The left side of the bed was bare. She threw back the covers and followed the sound. The door to the bathroom was locked.

  ‘Is everything alright?’ she knocked.

  ‘I’m fine babe, go back to bed.’

  But he didn’t sound fine; it was ten minutes later that he came out of the bathroom.

  ‘Is everything okay?’ she asked.

  ‘I’m fine; it’s just a bad morning.’ He fiddled for his bag. ‘As soon as I get my pills down I’ll be as good as gold.’ He tried to sound positive.

  She watched as he pulled out a packet of pills. He ran some water into a glass and took down the medication.

  ‘What are they for?’

  ‘Reflux. I get it really bad sometimes, my bowels aren’t working as they should so my whole digestive system is out of whack.’ He smiled.

  ‘Oh Rhyland.’ She began to cry.

  ‘Please don’t be sad. I’ve had time to adjust to all this, I’ve made peace with it.’

  She leaned into him as he lay down.

  ‘I didn’t want you to see me like this. This was one of the reasons I left before morning. Sometimes I have it bad for a while.’

  ‘I’m really sorry this is happening to you.’

  ‘Don’t be. The important thing is that I’ve had the chance to meet you even though it wasn’t under the best circumstances.’

  She looked up at him and playfully pulled on his nose.

  ‘I was stupid for ever thinking I could pay to have you.’

  ‘Yes you were because I would’ve gone with you anyway.’

  He kissed the top of her head.

  ‘Today I think I’ll stay in. Go out and explore and I’ll spend time with you later if that’s okay?’

  ‘Yes of course, take all the time you need. Are you sure you don’t want me to stay with you?’

  ‘No I’ll be fine, I’ll be sleeping anyway.’

  ‘Okay.’ She stayed in his arms just listening to his heartbeat. There was nothing more to do than just be there with him.

  Chapter Three

  ‘Are you coming inside?’ she asked Rhyland when they got back to her house.

  ‘No, I think I’m going to go straight home.’

  ‘About what we discussed.’

  ‘Take your time, I don’t want you to rush.’

  ‘Okay, you take it easy and I’ll be on the phone to check.’ She kissed his forehead. She stood taller than him on the doorsteps.

  ‘I look forward to it.’ He was glad in a way to have someone fuss over him. ‘Speak soon.’ He stepped back and made his way to the waiting car.

  Celine watched as he stepp
ed in and the car drove away, her heart happy and sad at the same time.

  The house was noisy, the television was on full blast and Ava was shouting something from the kitchen to Harvey. There was a red head on the couch next to him eating from a bowl of popcorn.

  ‘Celine, hello!’ he piped.

  ‘Have you been drinking?’ she asked rather amused.

  ‘Yes he has, I’m Violet by the way.’ The redhead introduced herself.

  ‘Hi, Harvey’s told me a lot about you.’ Celine smiled.

  ‘All good I hope.’

  ‘Celine!’ Ava entered the room with a tray of cocktails. ‘I didn’t hear you come in.’

  ‘That’s because the television’s blasting and you’re shouting.’

  ‘Oooh, what’s got into you?’ Ava asked.

  ‘Nothing I’m just tired I guess.’ She sat down leaving her luggage in the passage way.

  ‘Here have one of these.’ Ava handed her the lethal looking cocktail.

  ‘Can I trust this?’

  ‘No you can’t but drink it anyway.’ She took one herself.

  Celine took a cautious sip of the drink, it didn’t taste too bad, she took a few more sips.

  ‘So how was New York?’

  ‘Yeah how was it? I’ve always wanted to go to NYC,’ said Violet.

  ‘It was amazing. A bit tiring for Rhyland.’

  ‘Yeah I’m sorry to hear about his illness,’ said Harvey.

  ‘Yeah that’s sad,’ Violet added.

  ‘Ava?’ Celine could kill her for having such a big mouth.

  ‘You were going to tell him anyway so I did you a favour.’

  Celine shook her head and took another sip of the cocktail.

  ‘I have some news.’ She smiled wickedly.

  ‘News? Oooh I love news do tell.’

  She looked at them all eager for the news, including Violet who had settled into the group so easily.

  ‘Rhyland asked me to marry him.’ She beamed.

  ‘He did Wha!’ Ava almost chocked on her drink.

  Harvey scratched his head to make sense of it all.

  ‘I know I hardly know him that well but I love him and he doesn’t have a lot of time.’

  ‘I can’t believe he’s blackmailing you!’ Harvey suddenly found his voice.

  ‘He’s not blackmailing me, I love him. I love him so much.’

  ‘You haven’t even been together long enough to know whether you love him or not.’

  ‘I don’t need time to know how I feel. What I feel is real and why are you so uptight about it?’

  ‘Yeah why are you?’ Violet asked.

  He looked at both women not sure what he wanted to say.

  ‘This is amazing news Celine, if you’re happy I’m happy.’ Ava finally got over the shock.

  ‘Thank you Ava.’ She looked over at Harvey. ‘Harvey?’

  ‘I just think this is all going too fast, how about your parents do they know?’

  ‘I’ll deal with my parents, what I need is support from my friends. I was hoping you’d help me put everything together.’

  He was silent.

  ‘I don’t know how much time Rhyland has but I’ll be moving in with him. I want to be by his side.’

  This time Harvey got up and left the room.

  ‘What is his problem?’ Celine asked.

  ‘Too much to drink, I’ll go check on him,’ said Violet.

  ‘No let me… let me find out what’s really bugging him.’ She stood up to look for Harvey.

  He was in the kitchen pouring himself another drink.

  ‘Don’t you think you’ve had enough?’

  ‘You’re not my mother.’

  ‘Exactly, and yet you behave as if you’re my parent.’

  He gazed at her.

  ‘What’s going on with you, I thought we dealt with all this.’

  He sighed.

  ‘Talk to me please.’

  ‘I thought I had… I mean I have. I could deal with you seeing him but marriage and moving in with him is just too much.’

  ‘Too much for whom?’

  ‘For me. I guess you don’t just stop liking someone because they ask you to.’

  ‘Oh Harvey. You know how I feel about you, we can never be anything but friends. You’ve got to let this go.’

  He looked at her Violet stood at the doorway.

  ‘Is everything okay?’

  ‘I don’t think I can,’ he said to Celine. ‘I think we better go,’ he said to Violet.

  ‘Harvey…Harvey!’

  He chose not to respond and left with Violet.

  ‘Don’t worry he’ll come around.’

  Celine sighed.

  ‘He’s acting like such a child,’ Celine said as she walked back into the living room.

  ‘Yep but he’ll get over it soon enough,’ Ava answered.

  ‘Do you think he’ll come to my wedding?’

  ‘Yes, even if it means I have to drag him myself…hey look at you getting married!’

  ‘I know.’

  They screamed… it was so exciting!

  ‘Who would’ve thought?’

  ‘Isn’t amazing how your life can suddenly change in a split second.’

  Ava nodded.

  ‘I just feel so happy and so sad at the same time.’

  ‘This really must be hard. You have the man you love but only for so long.’

  ‘I’m trying not to think of it that way. One day at a time.’

  Ava nodded. They giggled and hugged each other and just talked about weddings and marriage. Celine asked her to be her maid of honour and she asked if she could help organise the wedding.

  ‘It would be an honour,’ Ava said.

  ‘It’s not going to be a big thing. Just us, my parents, I’ll try and find out if he has any close friends. He’s a very private man.’

  ‘You’re marrying a stranger.’

  ‘Yeah you could say that but he doesn’t feel like a stranger.’

  ‘You’re mad!’

  ‘I know!’

  ‘That’s what I love about you. You do what you want regardless of what anyone thinks.’

  ‘The thing about trying to please people is that you end up being miserable. I have to do what feels right for me.’

  Ava took her into a hug.

  ‘Thank you for being with me through all this crazy.’

  ‘I’m equally crazy that’s what makes us great flatmates.’

  ‘About that.’ She withdrew for the hug.

  ‘Don’t sweat it, I’ll find someone else to move in.’

  ‘I’ll cover my half of the rent until you find someone.’

  Again they hugged. It was such a great feeling and yet it terrified her. That evening they sat down and jotted down the details for the wedding. It was really going to be a small wedding. Ava was up to the task.

  ‘I hope it snows so the wellies idea works.’

  ‘Let’s pray it does.’

  ‘Now…’ She felt nervous as she said it. ‘It’s time to pay my parents a visit’

  ‘Good luck with that.’

  ****

  ‘Run that by me again,’ Celine’s mother said as she dished herself some salad potato.

  ‘I said I’m getting married.’

  ‘Honey we didn’t even know you were dating, when did this all happen?’ Her father was a lot more understanding.

  ‘It’s only recent.’

  Her mother put down the bowl and tilted her head. They had been fair parents and brought up their girls to be independent. Her father was generous and kind, the man she could run to when her mother was being too strict or unfair. Celine could tell her mother wasn’t going to let her get away with this one easily.

  ‘Celine are you dying, is something going on that we don’t know about. This is just odd and…’ She was lost for words.

  ‘My fiancé is dying.’

  Mrs Clarke looked at her husband but he chose not to acknowledge her instead he looked at his dau
ghter.

  ‘I met him a while ago, he’s an amazing man he just doesn’t have much time.’

  ‘But why marry him, it’s a huge commitment.’

  ‘I love him.’

  ‘Oh sweetness you don’t know that. You feel all fuzzy for him but that’s not love.’

  ‘You don’t know what I feel mother and I’m not a child anymore.’

  ‘But you’re young, you haven’t experienced life to understand fully what you feel.’

  ‘Mum I didn’t come here for your permission I came her to let you know and to invite you. This means a lot to me.’

  Again Mrs Clarke gazed at her husband, ‘Gerald aren’t you going to say anything? Talk some sense into your daughter.’

  ‘As she said, she’d not a child anymore we really can’t tell her what to do.’

  Mrs Clarke wasn’t please with his response and she wasn’t about to allow her child to make the biggest mistake of her life.

  ‘Marriage is a huge commitment. When he gets worse everything will be on your shoulders. You’ve got your studies how are you going to cope with all this?’

  ‘I will, I’m strong, just like you mum.’ She knew just how to make her Mother back down.

  Mrs Clarke wiggled in the chair and sat erect. It was true she was strong and she loved to hear it from her children.

  ‘Fair enough, I’m just worried for you.’

  ‘Don’t be, I’ll manage.’

  ‘You say that now but you have no clue.’

  ‘I think it’s a brave thing you’re doing.’ Her father interrupted.

  ‘Thank you daddy.’ She smiled. ‘I’ll ask Ava to send the invites once she’s done.’

  They both nodded. Her mother still not satisfied but there was nothing she could do about it. Celine helped with the dishes and later sat with her dad to watch the news. She stayed over a couple of days and those days weren’t without a fight and power struggle between the two women. But at the end when she was about to leave they were in each others arms, hugging as if none of the arguing had ever happened.

  ‘Please take care of yourself.’ Her mother said finally.

  ‘I will and I’ll see you at the wedding.’

  ‘Be proud, she’s her mother’s daughter,’ Gerald said to his wife.

  Chapter Four

  ‘Would you like anything to eat?’ Celine asked Rhyland while the lay in bed.

  ‘I’ll just have some fruit; my stomach isn’t too good at the moment.’ He kissed her.