Page 39 of Iron

“Iron,” she said my name with almost a sense of relief like she couldn’t believe that I was here and I was real. And I sure as hell didn’t hate hearing it spill from her lips like that. I held my reaction back because if I knew anything, I knew that Petra would clam up if I showed how much it meant to me. “Thank you. You look very handsome.”

She gave me a small upturn of her lips as her hand came up to cradle the side of my face, her thumb rubbing back and forth over my neatly trimmed beard.

Then her lips pressed against mine. I didn’t care if we were going to be late. Fuck it. I kissed the hell out of her until she relaxed into my arms a bit. I knew that was as much as I was going to get.

“Now we can go,” I said as my hand slipped into hers.

“You can grow it back, right?” she asked and I could hear the teasing in her tone.

“For you, I will do anything. Think we’ve both seen that by now.”

I hit the button to open the doors then walked out with her right behind me.

This woman was going to be the death of me. Just didn’t know how my end was going to be. Would she cut me down until there wasn’t anything left to cut, or would I suffocate in the parts of her she wanted to show me but didn’t know how?

We pulled up in front of an old, plantation style house. It was a little big to really be called a house but I guessed that didn’t matter. Petra drove around until she found a space way out of the way where there weren’t any other cars around. I figured she had her reasons, so I didn’t ask. And I had some tiny clue that it didn’t have a damn thing to do with her being worried about her car getting dinged. Yeah, I was curious as hell, but I figured… all in good time.

I was still figuring out the inner workings of Petra. I would have bet that I could have lived a thousand lifetimes and never get every piece of the puzzle in place.

“Take off your jacket,” she said as her eyes darted around the area outside of the car.

“Um, what?”

“Take off the jacket. And the tie, too.” She paused and looked me over with a quick glance. “Do you have a shirt under that?” Her fingers did a wiggle thing in the direction of my button-up shirt.

“Yeah,” I said.

“Lose the button-up shirt too, then.”

With a shake of my head and huffed-out breath, I did as she said.

I’d dressed up for her and if she wanted me to ditch the fancy shit, then I was going to.

I carefully placed the clothes onto the backseat, folding them in a way that I hoped they wouldn’t get wrinkled in case she changed her mind at some point.

“Come,” she commanded as she popped open the door.

She tried her best to take hurried steps and walk in front of me. I didn’t think she was even aware that she was doing it. There was something up with her. Almost like she was on edge or something. But she hid it well.

I caught up with her and slid my hand into hers. Her steps faltered slightly as she glanced down at our joined hands like she didn’t understand what was going on.

She didn’t let go and she didn’t ask why I’d done it, so I took it as a good thing.

I followed her lead as she walked around the house.

I didn’t bother mentioning that everyone else was walking in through the front door.

We walked along the path lined with huge trees. No one even noticed we were there.

Suddenly, she stopped and stood beside a huge oak tree. I couldn’t even imagine how old it must have been. The branches spanned out wide and moss dripped from its limbs.

People began to take their seats and I realize that we would not be doing the same.

“Why back here?” I asked in a low voice. Not sure why because there was no one even close for me to disturb.

“This is the best view. And fewer people,” she said as her eyes scanned the crowd.

The music started but my eyes were on Petra the entire time. We were too far away to hear the vows that were spoken and I wondered if that bothered her.