[Back ][Forward ]

You love your life. You're getting married. Your fiance is the greatest guy in the world. But in the back of your brain is that little tickle: Am I sure I didn't miss out on something? That wild motorcycle ride? That no boundaries vacation at the beach? Thoreau meditated for years at Walden Pond to find the meaning of life, but sometimes you can find it in one weekend. That was the question I asked when writing ONCE UPON A WEDDING. (Ellora's Cave).

Loraine (Rainie) McIntyre longs for just one weekend to let down her hair and find a man who will help her lives out all her fantasies before her conventional wedding to her very conventional fiancé and continuing her very conventional life. Despite’s Stuart’s protests, she knows she has to do this or she’ll always feel she missed something in life. Goodbye, Loraine, hello, Rainie. And hello, Joe, the sex god with lion’s eyes she meets at the beach. Hopping on his Ducati motorcycle with him, she roars off to a weekend of the wildest sex anyone could ever want. But things are not always what they seem, and life is about to hand Rainie a few surprises.

The sun dipping down toward the waters of the Gulf of Mexico cast everything in shades of rose and gold. Way out against the horizon a cabin cruiser chugged through the water. The late afternoon stragglers were gathering their belongings and the outdoor bar of the hotel was preparing for the next onslaught. Music began to fill the air through the outdoor speakers.
“You look like you’re in very serious thought.”
The deep voice startled her out of her reverie. She looked up…and up…and up. When she reached the top her jaw dropped.
“What…”
“What’s a nice guy like me doing in a place like this?” He gave her a lopsided grin. “Trying to find some answers. And you?”
Rainie just stared, speechless.
The man was a one eighty from the starched and pressed men she was used to, including her fiancé. At least six foot four, with a thick, tawny mane of sunstreaked hair framing a tanned face full of planes and angles. His casually unbuttoned shirt revealed a broad expanse of chest with a soft matte of darker hair. Amber eyes flecked with gold looked down at her from under thick lashes. Long, tanned, muscular legs stretched out from well-worn denim cutoffs and ended at feet shoved into disreputable deck shoes. Behind the zipper of his cutoffs a well-defined bulge made her mouth water. A lion! That’s all she could think of. A lion had come to life in human form.
Rainie couldn’t stop staring.
“I should introduce myself. I’m Joe.”
“But…”
“It’s not so hard.” He grinned, showing even white teeth. “Just say hi, Joe.”
She swallowed. This was absurd. “Hi. Joe.”
“See how easy that was?” He hunkered down next to her. The wind had tossed her dark curls every which way and Joe reached out a finger and very gently brushed some loose strands away from her cheek. “You look like a damsel in distress. Think I’d make a good white knight?”
“Y-Yes. You would.” God, that smile. She felt her bones melt.
“As my first official duty, can I interest you in a drink?” He gestured toward the outdoor bar, already filling up with the cocktail hour crowd.
She shook her head. “I’m not in the mood for people right now.”
“No problem. I’ll bring the drinks over here.”
Rainie started to protest. “I don’t think…“
“Good. Don’t think. Go with the flow.” He winked at her. “You never know what might turn up.”
Boy, that’s the understatement of the year.
He was back in minutes carrying two disposable glasses. He handed one to her.
She raised an eyebrow. “Pina colada?”
“Something told me that’s your drink. Am I right?”
“Yes, you are.”
He sat down on the sand beside her. “So how about telling me your name, now that I told you mine.”
“Um, Rainie. My name’s Rainie.”
“Rainie.” He rolled it around on his tongue. “Nice name.” He let his eyes roam over her from head to toe. “It suits you.”
“Thank you.” She sipped at her drink. “Most people call me Loraine, but that has such an uptight sound, don’t you think?”
“I think a name is what you make of it. You shouldn’t let it define you.”
She’d never looked at it that way. She’d always hated her name and waged an unsuccessful war to get her family to call her Rainie. Not even Stuart, her erstwhile fiancé, called her Rainie.
“Thank you for the drink,” she said after a while, remembering her manners.
“My pleasure. So here comes the pickup line of all time. What’s a beautiful gal like you doing sitting so sadly on a beach by herself?”
“It’s complicated.” She sipped more of the drink.
He was only inches away from her and she could feel his powerful sexuality rolling off him in waves. He wasn’t even touching her and her nipples tightened and moisture dampened her panties. Her hands itched to yank down his zipper and caress what was sure to be a magnificent cock. If she closed her eyes she could imagine it in her mouth, stretching it to the limit, or sliding into her greedy pussy.
He took a swallow of his drink, tilting his head back, and Rainie stared at the muscles flexing in his throat. “I’ve learned that most things are really simple if you break them down to their basic form. Why don’t you try it?”
She sighed. “I’m getting married.” He stiffened slightly and she caught the tension. “You, too?”
He shrugged. “Maybe. I don’t know.”
“So why are you out here, then?”
He gave her a lopsided smile. “Working some things out. Anyway, a wedding’s usually cause for celebration, not unhappiness. What’s the problem? Bridegroom a disaster?”
“No.” She hadn’t meant to shout and lowered her voice. “He’s a great guy. Better than I deserve.”
“Can’t be too great if you’re out here by yourself.”
“No, you’re wrong. He’s wonderful.”
He shrugged. “Okay. If it’s not the groom, what else? Don’t want to be married at all?”
“Yes, I want to be married.” She plucked at the skirt of her sundress.
“Then what’s the deal?”
Rainie let out a huge sigh. “This is going to sound so very, very stupid.”
Joe laughed. “You’d have to go some to beat all the stupid things I’ve heard. Come on, out with it.”
“Okay. Here goes. Everything in my life is so…so…normal. There. I’ve said it.”
Joe turned his head to look at her. “And you think normal is bad? There are people who would kill for normal.”
“See? I told you it was stupid.” She sipped at her drink again.
“Let me get this straight. You’re out here on the beach because getting married is too normal.”