Chapter 127 127
“Aiden seems so happy to be back in the family fold,” she said to Adam as he twirled her around the dance floor. He’d just finished his own dance with Nina.
“Aiden does seem happy, doesn’t he?” Adam countered. “I still can’t believe what a number Dad did on him, but I’m glad he was able to see past it. I know for a fact that it hasn’t been easy for him.”
Sherry didn’t even want to think about the things that had come to light about their father and his volatile relationship with Aiden—years of misunderstandings, Aiden being passed over in favor of Adam. She only wanted to focus on the good, especially today. “I think it helped a lot that you two talked everything out. He needed to feel like you weren’t just toeing the family line because of your loyalty to Dad.”
“I loved Dad as much as anyone, but we both know that he could be stubborn and narrow-minded. It doesn’t mean he wasn’t a good man. It just means that he made mistakes. We’ve all made mistakes. I’ve made a lifetime of them.”
Sherry smiled. She wasn’t about to rub it in, even though she very easily could have as pertained to Justin. Adam and Justin’s friendship had rebounded nicely in the weeks since Justin had dared to demand a truce. They weren’t best friends, but they’d come to enjoy time together, and that was as much as she could’ve ever hoped for.
“We all goof up, Adam. It takes happy days like today to remind us that sometimes we have to let those things go.” That lesson had been no more important for her than when it had come to Justin. The minute she put the past behind them, the future had opened up beautifully.
“Speaking of letting things go, why didn’t one of us come up with the idea of running BenTel together as co-CEOs? It’s a brilliant move.”
She smiled. This had been Justin’s idea, since they were already doing some restructuring in the company in order to bring Aiden on board as a Senior VP of Marketing.
“Justin made an excellent point. No two people are capable of accomplishing as much as we are when we aren’t fighting.”
It wasn’t exactly the arrangement Sherry had expected. A few months ago, she would have said absolutely not, that she wanted the sole position for herself. But with her pregnancy progressing well, and with an early June due date, taking over as CEO would not leave her the time to be the kind of mom she wanted to be. Her career was important, but not so much that she wanted their child raised by a nanny. That existence had been so difficult for Justin. She didn’t care to repeat the pattern and understandably, neither did he.
“You don’t need to worry about any fighting from me. I promise. The co-CEO thing means I can go back to working on my own projects, as well. It’s really perfect for me.”
“It’s perfect for both of us,” Sherry added.
The song faded to its end and Justin came up behind Adam with a wide grin on his face. “Hey, Bennet. I don’t want to be a jerk about it, but I’d like to dance with my bride-to-be.”
Adam kissed Sherry on the cheek. “Sounds like somebody is tired of sharing you. I can’t say I blame him.” He clapped Justin on the back. If anyone had said six months ago that this particular scene would be indicative of the new status quo, Sherry never would’ve believed it. “I’ll leave you two lovebirds to it. I have a date with my own bride.” He excused himself and waved at Nina, who was extricating herself from a dance with her uncle.
Justin swept Sherry into his arms, twirling her several times, making the eggplant purple bridesmaid’s dress flutter around her. “Finally. I get you to myself.”
Sherry giggled, the swarm of wedding guests around them fading into the recesses as she became solely focused on Justin. He really was her dream man. He really was perfect for her. And she couldn’t have been any happier.
“We need to get in our time on the dance floor. Just a little more than a month until we’re in this same spotlight.”
They did, in fact, need to clock a few hours of dancing, although their wedding would not be anywhere near as extravagant—fifty guests, at Justin’s house upstate. Neither one of them cared to deal with anything more elaborate. Justin had actually said he was hoping for a blizzard so no one would be able to show up and he could keep Sherry to himself for an entire week or more. She couldn’t blame him. It sounded like the perfect plan.
He pulled her closer, his body heat enveloping her, or perhaps it was just his magnetism, the things about him that wouldn’t allow her to stay away. He was especially difficult to resist in a tuxedo.
“I can’t believe you’re going to be my wife. Honestly, I can’t believe I’m going to be part of the Bennet family. I’m having a hard time imagining what it’s going to be like. Especially after spending six years in exile.”
She reared her head back, looking deeply into his soulful eyes. “Things happen for a reason. I believe that. Maybe you and Adam will end up having an even stronger friendship one day. I certainly wasn’t ready to run away with you and have a baby six years ago. So maybe this was for the best, as difficult as it was for you to go through.”
He nodded, a slight smile crossing his face. “I’d go through it all for you. Every last minute of it.”
She smirked and shook her head. “You’re sweet.”
“Really I’m just angling to get you out of that bridesmaid’s dress.”
“You and me both. I can’t wait to change. It’s too tight on my belly.”
Sherry wasn’t showing much yet, but her tummy had pooched out a little. Justin liked to lie in bed and talk to the tiny baby bump. Then he would get out his Doppler for listening to the heartbeat, which had arrived shortly after the spotting scare. He made quite the doting dad-to-be.
Justin pulled her in tightly, moving her in time effortlessly to the music.
“Are you happy?” he asked.
“What kind of question is that?” Sherry whispered, leaning into him as she watched Adam and Nina sway in the tiniest of circles, husband and wife.
It wouldn’t be long for Justin and her. The thought warmed her from head to toe.
“It’s a perfectly valid thing to ask, especially considering everything we’ve been through. I want to know that you’re happy, Sherry. That this is what you want. It’s the only thing I care about.”
She looked up into his eyes, which shone down on her like sunshine on the first day of spring. She could get lost in those eyes for a lifetime and be deliriously giddy. “I don’t think it’s possible for me to be happier. Truly. Being with you is all I’ll ever want.”
“Good.” He slowed their dance to the most imperceptible of movements, lowering his head and planting the sexiest, hottest kiss she could’ve imagined on her lips. It was slow and seductive, a subtle parting of lips and the most tasteful bit of tongue. It left her ready to pass out.
“Justin. My family is watching,” she said when she came up for air, making a mental note that they absolutely would need to continue this when they got home after the reception.
“I thought we agreed that your family had interfered in enough of our kisses.”
“True, but it’s still a wedding. We don’t want to be those people, do we?”
He laughed and spun her around, then stopped and laid another steamy kiss on her, this time dipping her back in his arms. He left her breathless, ready to surrender in a ballroom filled with hundreds of people. “Tell me to stop.”
She smiled, caught in his eyes and the echo of the enticing rumble in his voice. “Justin Covington, I never want you to stop.”
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THE END
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