Page 43 of My Big Fat Vampire Wedding

“I’m still not convinced it’s as fake as you seem to think it is.”

“Luce, Victor has barely touched me lately.”

“What are you talking about? He’s constantly touching you. Arm around your chair. Toying with your hair. Taking your hand. Whispering into your ear. What was he supposed to do? Hoist you up on the table and spread you wide for dessert … in front of everyone? You two are never alone.”

She wasn’t wrong about that; now that Pandora wasn’t so wrapped up in her own misery, she could see things more objectively.

Most of the time, they weren’t even together. And when they were, it was at Luna Bean. Or at her family’s house. And, once, at his flat. Where his roommates were simply too close and too nosy to have anything happen.

Still, she couldn’t quite let herself hope things were different than they’d seemed for weeks. She wasn’t sure she could survive more hopes being cruelly dashed.

“Why are you so determined to believe he isn’t as into you as you’re into him?” Lucy asked.

“Because I don’t want the heartbreak of realizing he isn’t.”

“But what if he is?”

“I can’t live in a fantasy world. I am going to need to live with Victor for a year. Can you imagine how embarrassing it would be to let him know how I feel, only to get rejected, then have to keep seeing him every day?”

“Can you imagine how wonderful it would be to tell him how you feel, have him return those feelings, and then fall madly in love and live happily ever after?”

“I know why you’re saying this, but I need to be practical. And just get through the wedding. I can’t be getting my hopes up. At least not right now,” Pandora said.

“All right. I understand. I just want you to remember that just because you believe it, doesn’t mean that’s how it is.

There is a chance he’s indifferent. But the chance that he isn’t is just as high.

You have no idea if you don’t ask or make a move.

That’s all I’m saying. OK,” Lucy said, coming to a stop.

“I am going to go back and get completely pissed on that expensive champagne.” She reached out to give Pandora’s wrist a squeeze before running back toward the greenhouse.

Pandora wasn’t quite ready yet, so she just kept walking endlessly around the grounds until she found herself at the back of the castle that served as the guest rooms for the entire family.

Victor’s parents included, though they’d gone to bed early, so no one had to worry about babysitting them while the bridal party had a little get-together.

This garden wasn’t manicured, but instead allowed to grow wild with endless winding hedgerows that stretched high above Pandora’s head, creating little pockets of privacy where no one else would find you.

That was just what she needed.

A little privacy.

A place to get her thoughts and emotions in check.

Then she would need to go back to the party and fake it for another couple of hours.

She found herself in a square of hedges with a giant weeping willow in the center. She was about to sit down, when she heard the crunch of twigs and leaves, telling her she wasn’t alone.

A part of her hoped it was some animal, not a vampire or human looking for her.

“There you are,” Victor said, making her turn around to find him making his way toward her. “I was worried when Lucy came back without you.”

She really needed not to think too deeply into that.

“I just needed some air.”

Victor moved closer, his head tipped to the side as he searched her face. “What’s wrong, Pandy?”

“Nothing. I’m fine. Just needed some space.”

“From the party?” He moved closer. “Or from me?”

“It’s not that.”

“It feels like that,” he said. “It feels like you’ve been pulling further and further away from me for a week or two now.”

“No, I’ve just been—”

“I know you’ve been busy, but it’s been different. Since the flat,” he said, making her insides wobble. “It seems like you’ve been going out of your way not to be with me.”

What could she say to that? It was true. She’d been mostly keeping in touch by text. Even when he’d arrived this afternoon, she’d let Lucy greet him while she pretended to need extra time to get herself ready for the little gathering for the bridal party.

“Pandy, if you’ve changed your mind …”

“I haven’t,” Pandora was quick to assure him. Because she was sure that the only thing more painful than being near him but not being able to have him the way she wanted, was not being around him at all.

“I know some of your family still hasn’t come around,” he said.

That was still somewhat true. Sure, her aunts, uncles, cousins, brother, and father had all come around now that the big day was nearly here.

As for Ophelia, well, Pandora had seen some change after her mum realized that she was never going to be with Elias, that she was committed to her fiancé.

And, quite frankly, she didn’t really care what Bellatrix and Ambrosia had to say about it, since they’d both done some shady things to try to thwart her relationship.

“It’s not that,” Pandora said.

“Then what is it?” Victor asked, stepping closer, coming under the tree with her. “Why are you keeping me at a distance?”

“I …” She trailed off, not sure what to say, if she had another lie in her.

“Pandy,” Victor said, reaching out, his fingers gently taking her chin between his thumb and forefinger to lift her face to his. “Talk to me.” His thumb shifted up, starting to trace lightly underneath her lower lip.

The touch scrambled her brain, made it impossible to filter her thoughts. So what came out was the question that had been eating away at her for weeks.

“Was any of it ever real for you?”

“Any of what?” he asked, brows scrunching.

“Never mind,” she said, trying to duck her head, but his fingers tightened on her chin.

“Any of this?” he asked.

Then his lips were on hers.

Up so close, he overwhelmed her with vanilla, cinnamon, and leather as his lips pressed harder, demanded more, chased away any concerns that he wasn’t as lost in the moment as she was.

One of his hands slid behind her neck as his other arm draped around her lower back, pulling her flush against his body.

The warmth of him was nothing compared to the fire that was burning inside her as his hands moved down her back, sinking into her ass, pulling her against his need as a whimper escaped her.

“It was always real for me,” he murmured against her lips before claiming them again, kissing her hard and long, until she felt tingly all over, until the need was a coiled ache in her core again.

Victor’s arm tightened around her, bringing her with him as he lay down onto the ground under the willow.

Reaching between them, he pulled her skirt up, allowing him to roll over her, to settle between her thighs.

Pandora’s fingers dug into his shoulder as her legs wrapped around his hips just before he bore down on her, dragging his hard length against the material of her pan-ties, making a deep moan work its way out of her.

Her hands were greedy then, yanking at his jacket until it was on the ground beside him, before pushing his buttons through the loops, exposing his skin inch by delicious inch.

Victor went up on his knees to take off his shirt, giving Pandora a lovely view for a short moment before he moved over her again.

Her hands met the bare skin of his back and suddenly her own dress was feeling too hot, tight, restrictive.

As if hearing her own thoughts, Victor rolled to his side, taking her with him. Then, anchoring his arm around her hips, he rolled her over him, then pushed up to sitting, forcing her onto her knees at the sides of his legs.

He said nothing then as his hands started to slide her skirt up, letting the night air kiss her skin little by little. Just this once, though, Pandora didn’t need him to say what he was thinking, what he was feeling; it was all there right on his face.

The heat.

The hunger.

The need.

But beneath that, something that had her heart feeling full to bursting.

Just as she placed it for what it was, though, Victor lifted her dress up off her arms, leaving her in nothing but a pair of barely-there panties.

A shiver of anticipation moved through her as Victor let out a deep breath, his gaze moving over her.

His fingers landed at her ribs then slowly drifted up, teasing over her stomach, then upward to cup one of her breasts.

A soft, mewling sound escaped Pandora as his hand tightened, then released before his thumb and forefinger found the tightened point and began to roll.

Her hips rocked down against him again, the ache in her core too strong to ignore.

A low groan escaped him at the feel of her grinding against him.

His other hand moved up, teasing her other nipple as she kept writhing against him, kept driving herself up, too needy to pretend to be anything else.

It was the brush of his soft hair on her skin that had her slowing down. Then his tongue was on her, teasing over the sensitive point until her head was thrown back and she was arching into the sensations.

He sucked it into his mouth, making her groan fill the quiet night air for a moment before his tongue and teeth toyed with her.

He moved across her chest, dragging out the sweet torment.

Then, suddenly, he was rolling her under him once again, his welcome weight pressing her into the cool, soft grass.

Her thighs wrapped around him, her heels digging into his ass, holding him tightly against her as her hips rocked.

Victor’s lips claimed hers again. Harder. Hungrier.

Then he was moving with her, grinding down into her writhing movements, increasing the pressure, the friction, as his lips muffled her frantic whimpers.

“Victor, please,” she whimpered, looking up at him with heavy-lidded eyes, finding his just as intense.

But he didn’t pull back just enough to free himself, to slide inside her and give her relief from the pressure in her lower stomach. No, he went back on his knees, running his fingers up her skin, then pressing against the material between her thighs.

Pandora arched off of the ground with a moan at the feel. But the touch was fleeting, leaving her as soon as it found her, as he reached back for her ankles, pulling them forward, and pressing her knees into her chest.

He reached down and grabbed the material of her pan-ties, drawing them down her thighs, over her calves, then off her feet, tossing them to the side with her dress.

A shiver ran through her as his fingers teased back up her thigh. This time, when he touched her, it was without the barrier.

His thumb teased up her cleft to find her clit, rocking gently side to side as two of his fingers slipped down and slid inside her in one languid stroke.

She nearly shattered apart right then.

The feel of his fingers, the look in his eyes, the rumbling sound that moved through him.

But then his fingers were stroking inside her, slowly building speed and pressure as Victor’s breath got faster and more ragged.

Her own hand moved down, sliding over his lap to find his hard length straining against the material of his trousers, then stroking her palm around the head at the same tempo as his fingers were teasing her.

That seemed to undo him.

His fingers left her and she was helpless to stop the whimpered objection that escaped her, at the loss when she’d been so close.

But then his hands were moving toward his own trousers, working the material down and off.

The needy ache between Pandora’s thighs intensified at the sight of him naked before her. At his hard length proving he was just as far gone as she felt.

Her hand moved out again, closing around him, stroking him until he pushed her hand away, pinning it on the ground above her head as his weight came down on her again.

“Yes,” she whimpered at the feel of him against her cleft, rocking, but refusing to press inside her as his lips claimed her again.

With his weight balanced on the one arm above their heads, his free hand moved up her side, closing around her breast, squeezing. Harder this time, almost to the point of pain, dragging another ragged groan from her as her hips started to writhe more restlessly against his slow, steady rocks.

Just when she thought she couldn’t take another second of anticipation, Victor’s lips left hers as he pushed up to look down at her.

Then, his gorgeous green eyes watching her, his hips shifted back and she felt him pressing against her for a moment, then surging inside.

Her gasp of pleasure mixed with his as he slid deep inside her in one long stroke, making her thighs clamp to the sides of his hips and her walls tighten hard around him.

They stayed just like that for a moment, adjusting to the sensation, to the connection, and just then, somewhere in the distance, a clock chimed midnight.

It was the day of their wedding.

But then the need overtook them completely, leaving her hips writhing and her fingernails digging into his hips as he started to move inside her.

It was slow and sweet at first, but, as their pleasure grew, as the need for release built, they both moved together more quickly.

Her moans mingled with his ragged breaths as the two of them rushed toward that cliff, then flew over and crashed in unison.

Pandora’s body shook as Victor tensed, and their moans mingled together as the pleasure overtook them completely.

And as their connection deepened, the night drew its curtain around them, shielding whispered promises and vows too sacred for daylight.