“What was that for?” he asks with a slanted smile, his breath a little uncontrolled.

“Because I’m your wife … and I can kiss you whenever I like,” I say with a huge smile, causing him to chuckle.

“You sure can, but does that apply to sex too?” His eyes shimmer with amusement.

“If you mean airplanes and family pools, then no …”

“God, we’ve only been married for a few hours and already you’re putting restrictions on our sex life.” He mockingly pouts and I softly laugh.

“Hardly, babe. We’ve had sex so much this weekend that I’ve already lost count.”

“We didn’t last night,” he points out, but the smile is quickly wiped from his face when he realizes his mistake. Last night. My heart clenches at the reminder of what last night almost cost us, but instead of letting it wedge another war between us, I just let it go. Last night is in the past.

“Well … it seems you have some making up to do then,” I say flirtatiously, making light of the situation. He blinks with shock before a smile fills his handsome face with a masculine beauty that takes my breath away.

“Oh baby, I will …” He leans in and whispers in my ear, “I will go all Boyz-II-Men-I’ll-Make-Love-To-You romantic on you.”

My gaze turns dark and seductive as he pulls away. I edge closer to him and whisper, “I’d much prefer you to go all R-Kelly-Bump-and-Grind on me.”

His eyes fixate on mine with a mixture of amusement and lust, his pupils widening. He inclines forward and rests his mouth against my ear, causing shivers to shimmer down my body. “The moment the night comes to an end, I will definitely be going all R-Kelly-Bump-and-Grind on you, and even a little Ginuwine-Pony too.”

A giggle bursts from my mouth as he steps back. “We’re such dorks,” I say. “How is it that only we could make up a sexual innuendo game with songs during our first dance?”

“Because we’re dirty like that.” He smirks as he continues to sway me gently from side to side. Ed Sheeran begins to fade away and is replaced with the sounds of ‘At Last’ by Etta James. I feel a little sad now that our first dance is over, but my sadness is short-lived when I see Ashton’s dad lead Alana onto the dance floor, followed by even more couples. I watch as he gently brings her into his arms and they gradually begin to sway to the music, gazing lovingly into one another’s eyes. Ashton’s eyes follow mine, and he smiles when he sees what’s captured my attention.

“This song is so beautiful,” I hear myself say as I allow the music to ease through me as my eyes stay focused on Alana and Samuel.

“It’s their song. It’s what they danced to on their wedding day.” The smile I’ve had on my face since I became Mrs. Ashton Bailey widens even more.

“That’s so sweet. How long have they been married?”

His brows narrow as if calculating in his head. “Um, thirty-nine years, I think. I know they were married a couple of years before they had me.”

“Wow, that’s such a long time … I hope we’re that happy in thirty-nine years.”

“There’s no doubt about it,” he adds confidently, and his belief in us inspires me. That it is possible to be as happy as I feel right now after thirty-nine years of marriage.

Time passes by and minutes turn into hours. I’m still wrapped in the arms of my husband when Alana and Samuel approach the table we’re sitting at.

“How’s the happy couple doing?” Alana chirps out over the sound of the music playing, with a huge smile on her face.

“Perfect,” I sigh dreamily.

“What my wife said,” Ashton says with a goofy grin on his face as he pulls me even closer to his body. His fingers loosely caress the back of my neck and I’ve spent the past fifteen minutes struggling to keep my eyes open from the sheer pleasure that his touch brings to me.

Alana and Samuel take a seat beside us. “We have something for you both,” Samuel says as he holds out two beautiful gold wedding rings in the palm of his hand, one thinner and daintier than the other. “Since your marriage was such a spur of the moment thing …” he smirks, and I can feel Ashton’s laughter vibrating beside me. “We know that you haven’t had time to get rings, so we’d like you both to have Grandma and Grandpa Bailey’s wedding rings.”

I glance at Ashton with my mouth agape, noticing how he’s matching my shocked expression. Ashton speaks about his grandparents often, always telling me stories of how he and his brothers used to go fishing with their grandpa and how they used to try out their grandmother’s baking or, more accurately, steal their grandmother’s baking; whether it was home-baked chocolate chip cookies or fresh out of the oven peach cobbler. They tried to deceive her, but she always knew which one had had their finger in the pie; usually Ashton, since he was always the one raiding their first aid kit for burn spray for the scalds he inflicted on himself because he was too impatient to wait ten minutes for the desserts to cool down.

They were incredibly close to them, and they passed away within a year of each other when Ashton was in his mid-twenties. Ashton was convinced that his grandpa died of a broken heart; he simply couldn’t live without his wife after she had lost her battle with cancer.

Ashton shifts from under me, sitting up straighter with me on his lap. It takes him a few attempts of opening and closing his mouth before he’s able to speak. “Are you serious?”

“As serious as a heart attack,” Samuel responds with a chuckle under his breath.

Ashton shakes his head in astonishment. “Wow, I don’t know what to say … I mean, they left the rings to you and Mom. It doesn’t feel right accepting them.”

Samuel shifts forward in his seat, focusing his eyes intently on Ashton. “Me and your mom want you to have them, and your grandpa and grandma would want you both to have them too. You know how much they loved a good ol’ love story … and they would have loved you, Ava,” he says shifting his gaze to me before returning his attention back to Ashton. “It’s just such a shame they couldn’t be here to witness how happy you are, but there is no doubt in my mind that they wouldn’t want you to have them.”

Ashton’s smile brightens, but he still seems a little hesitant to accept the rings. “And is this okay with Tyler? I have kind of taken the shine away from his wedding a little. I don’t want to take this from him too.”

This time Alana is the one to speak. “Yes we’ve spoken to him, and he’s happy for you both to have them.” Ashton glances at me with a smile before looking back to his parents. “We would be honored to have them, thank you,” he says sincerely. Samuel passes Ashton the rings and Ashton looks down at them with admiration. I find myself mesmerized as the fairy lights surrounding us flicker against the antique gold bands. They’re simply beautiful. Ashton takes hold of my left hand and slowly slides his grandmother’s wedding ring on my finger. What begins as an elegant move ends drastically when the ring won’t even pass my knuckle. I look up to Ashton’s eyes in amusement and we both laugh, along with Alana and Samuel.

“Well that isn’t as romantic as I’d hoped,” Ashton laughs.

“Yep, my mother sure had petite fingers,” Samuel says.

“You can say that again,” I giggle as Ashton pulls the ring from my wedding finger and slides it on my little finger, where it fits perfectly.

“You can wear it on your little finger until we get it resized,” he says, placing a kiss against my temple. He attempts to put his ring on, but I stop him by clasping his hand with mine.

“Um, my turn,” I say with a sharp tone that causes his eyes to widen.

“Yes, ma’am,” he responds with a slanted smile. I take hold of his grandpa’s wedding ring and gently slide it onto Ashton’s finger. Thankfully it slides easily over his knuckle, but I snort when it’s unable to go any further.

“It looks like mine needs resizing too,” he chuckles. “Why do they always make it look so simple in the movies? It’s total crap.”