Page 50 of The Phoenix Inheritance

“The ceremony will begin any moment now, whether you’re here or not!”

I slam my fists in the dirt when Isobel slithers out of my embrace and dashes to Warwick. Couldn’t he see we were busy with things infinitely more important than his makeshift nuptials? My arousal is stiffer than ever now, ready to dive into a woman now occupied with whatever foolishness my brother has planned for us.

After a few arduous minutes, I make it to the pair in a more respectable state. Isobel has weaved a garland with branches and flowers, while Warwick sweeps the dead leaves away to form an aisle. Even I have to admit the whole affair looks rather pretty, in an unassuming kind of way.

“Dane! You look…” My brother smirks knowingly as he notes the red flags across my cheeks. “Excited to be joined to your bride.”

“I couldn’t be more impatient,” I snap back at him.

Warwick proceeds to instruct us to hold hands and walk down the path he just paved. No music plays but the chirping of the birds, and yet somehow, the moment feels just as sacred.

“Dane,” my brother starts gravely. “Do you take Isobel to be your wife?”

My heart soars at the words, and I barely contain myself from saying my vows before the proper rite is pronounced. It’s out of respect for my brother’s efforts that I keep my mouth shut.

“To have and to hold, and…” Warwick frowns, visibly struggling to recall the handful of weddings we attended as children. “And…”

He sends a quizzical look at Isobel, who shrugs, apparently no better versed in the art of marriage vows than we are.

“And learn and grow older side-by side,” he improvises rashly, “and provide her with a shoulder to lean on when she needs it, and gift her with your fullest devotion no matter the pressures of the present or the uncertainties of the future, for all the days you have together?”

I’m nearly drowning in those twinkling brown depths by the time Warwick finishes.

I clear my throat. “I do.”

A sunny beam breaks through Isobel’s solemn air. I bend down to kiss her, but my brother stops me with a warning hand and a dark look.

I shuffle my feet restlessly while Warwick recites approximately the same pledge to Isobel, only jumbled in a different order and with an extra “even when he’s in an irritable mood,” at the end.

“I do!”

Pure euphoria blasts in my chest as I sweep her into my arms.

“Now you may…”

I don’t wait for my brother’s permission to kiss the bride. I plant my lips on hers and pour in every ounce of love I’ll shower upon her ‘all the days we have together’, as our impromptu priest’s so deftly put.

My hand reverently slides down the arch of her back to her hips, pulling close everything that’s now mine. Her impish smiles, her small victories on life, her most secret parts, body and soul. My heart blasts a concerto of its own, thanking the heavens for each complication that gave me this bright afternoon.

My fingers venture lower, just above the swell of her bottom.

There’s a sharp intake of breath, and the sound of feet padding through grass.

“Oh, whatever! You may do whatever you bloody wish,” Warwick grouses as he marches off, griping about respecting procedures and insatiable newlyweds.

I tease the collar of Isobel’s dress. “Shall we do that then?”

Her sole response is to push me against a tree with a desperate look of her own. When we’re hidden behind an appropriate amount of foliage, she hastily removes her dress. I waste no time in doing the same.

“I like it when you’re like this,” I comment huskily when her smooth hands are already all over me.

Fine fingers wrap around my shaft. That, and the racy simper she shoots me makes the member in question jerk eagerly.

“I can tell.”

I travel the distance between her perky breasts with my lips, suckling on the twin rosy peaks in the process. Isobel’s grip tenses from the sensations, causing my cock to throb to a painful degree.

“Honestly,” I pant raggedly against her skin, flushed from my kisses. “I’m starting to wonder if I wasn’t cheated. I’m not sure how long you would’ve lasted not being touched if I hadn’t yielded.”

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