Promise

I washed my hands while giving my reflection a silent pep-talk. It didn't work.

'You've been awfully quiet and you hardly ate a thing,' Tristan said once we were in the car and headed for the highway.

'I know. I'm sorry. I ruined your special surprise.'

He laughed. 'That was not my surprise. I thought maybe we should eat while we had the chance. We have a long drive ahead of us.'

'Where are we going?' I asked once again.

'You'll see.' He put his hand on my thigh where the skirt had ridden up and squeezed gently. I fought back a shudder. He let his hand rest there, absent-mindedly rubbing his fingers back and forth as he drove. The electric currents shot through me like his touch was new again. The shudder won. He looked at me with concern. 'You're not okay.'

I thought about what he would want to hear, what I should say to him as his new wife. So I gave him the partial truth. 'Every time you touch me, it's like it's the first time.'

He grinned my favorite, most stunning smile. That was a good one . He moved his hand to caress the inside of my wrist and forearm. 'You mean like this?'

Goosebumps rose. He moved his hand to my neck and stroked around my jaw line, down my neck and along my collar bone. I shuddered again. He grinned again.

'You're making me crazy,' I said giddily.

'Good. You've been driving me insane all evening.' His foot pressed harder on the gas pedal. I didn't even want to know how fast we were going. 'I'll get us there as fast as I can.'

We drove in silence for a while, the road fairly dark and empty across Alligator Alley, the stretch of highway connecting southern Florida's east and west coasts. I wondered if we were going to Miami. It wasn't long—less than half the time it should have been—before we approached the lights of the city. He drove a little slower with the added traffic, until we hit US-1 and headed south. I realized we were going to the Keys.

'It's an awfully long drive for just one night,' I said. I'd checked into going to Key West for after our fake wedding and knew it was nearly a six-hour drive. Of course, Miami was over two hours and it took him less than one.

'Not when I'm driving.' He grinned in the lights of the dash. 'And we can stay as long as we want. We did it, my love. And with no problems. The sooner they know that, the better. It may prevent them from attacking unnecessarily.'

'That wasn't the plan.'

'It's the best solution I see now. As long as they don't know, we're essentially sending an invitation.' A moment passed and he changed his tone. 'Listen, this isn't what I want to discuss on our wedding night. This is a happy time for us. Let's see how we feel, check in with the others and we'll play it by ear, okay? You're done with summer classes and the semester doesn't start for a few weeks.'

'I'm pretty sure I'm not packed for more than a night or two.'

'No, but that's okay. I really don't plan on you wearing many clothes anyway.' He grinned again. And the butterflies, which had been subdued for a while, flew around excitedly.

We rode in silence again. I couldn't pull my mind away from the night ahead and almost regretted saving my first time for my wedding night. I felt too nervous to enjoy what should have been the best night of my life.

'Your silence concerns me,' Tristan finally said.

'I'm sorry. I'm just…' I couldn't say it. '…ready to be wherever we're going.'

He glanced at me. 'Too much hesitation. That's not what you're really thinking.'

I debated whether to just come out with it or push through it. I'd told him I trusted him. In fact, I'd just vowed tonight to trust him. I thought in silence for a while. What I ended up blurting out was not exactly what I'd been thinking.

'Tristan, when was the last time you were with a woman?'

He looked at me in shock and let off the gas. I thought at first he'd slowed down out of surprise, but then he made a turn off the highway. And he still hadn't answered me.

'You're not going to tell me,' I muttered. 'It's not like I ever thought I was the first. You've been around for…a long time.'

'This is another subject we shouldn't be discussing tonight.'

'I'm just curious.'

'Why are you suddenly curious on our wedding night?' He sounded angry and his jaw muscle twitched.

He turned the car into a private driveway ending at a large house. The moon reflected on the water behind it and bounced off the house's metal roof. He parked. I didn't move. All I could see in the darkness was a two-story house with the front door on the second level and stairs and a deck in front of it. I stared out the window at the lattice that wrapped around the ground level.

Tristan turned to glare at me and I finally looked at him.

'I know you don't like talking about your past and I'm sorry I made you angry. It's just...I'm just…nervous,' I finally admitted.

His face softened and he sighed heavily.

'Not for over twenty-something years and only when it was necessary. That was my old life, before… I hate that's how it is for us, but it is.' He watched me for a reaction and I gave it.

'So, at least it's not the blind leading the blind,' I blurted.

He laughed, apparently caught off guard. 'You are so…different.'

'That's what I've been told.' I scowled.

He leaned over and kissed me, then murmured, 'I have never made love .'

'That makes me happy to know I'm your first in that way.' The butterflies only strengthened, though, and I sighed. 'But it's not helping with the nerves. I seriously don't know what to do.'

He gave me a strange look. 'Who are you and what have you done with my Lexi?'

'Huh?'

'How many times have you started something with me and wanted to finish it?' His eyes danced playfully as his hand caressed my face and neck.

I smiled sheepishly. 'A lot.'

'So why the nerves now?'

'Because I know it's actually going to happen and I've had way too much time to think about it.'

'Ah. Maybe you need to stop thinking then.' He leaned over and kissed me again. 'You know more than you think you do. You certainly know how to turn me on.'

He brushed his lips against my neck and up to my ear. I shivered.

'That's you turning me on,' I breathed.

'Good. That's how it starts, by the way.' He kissed my lips before I could retort. 'Stay here, I'll be right back.'

He jumped out of the car and was up the stairs and at the front door so quickly, I was sure he flashed. He opened the door, pressed a code into the alarm system just inside, and flipped on a couple lights. I knew he flashed back down to me because he stood inside the doorway and then instantly he stood right next to me. I laughed as he bent over the car door and scooped me out, carrying me up the stairs and inside.

'The tradition is you carry me over our own threshold,' I said as he set me on my feet in the small foyer. The smell of fresh paint and lumber told me the house was either new or recently remodeled.

'This is. Well, yours anyway.' He took my hand and pulled me through a doorway into a fabulous kitchen open to a dining area and family room. He put his arms around me from behind and nuzzled his face against my ear. 'My wedding gift to you.'

He nodded at a small pile of papers on the counter with keys on top.

' What ?' Then I came back to reality. 'You mean while we're here. This little trip, right?'

'Well, that, too. But I mean the house. It's yours.'

'Tristan,' I gasped. 'A house ? Are you crazy ?'

He grinned and kissed my temple. 'Thank you for being my wife.'

I shook my head. 'This isn't right. I didn't even have time to get you anything yet and you got a house ? You can't give this to me.'