In Too Deep(169)

"You want to open it tonight or tomorrow?" Mark asked as I paid for the test and put it in the backpack I was using as a purse. It felt strange and comfortable, not using something from Gucci or Dolce Gabbana for a purse again. I was going to enjoy being Joanna Bylur.

"Tomorrow, after the ceremony. Come on, let's get back. I've never played poker before for real money, and wanted to try. Don't worry, I'm going to keep to a very strict budget. I walk away if we win more than two thousand, or lose more than two hundred."

"That won't take long either way," Mark said as we walked. "The Bellagio tables are some of the biggest in the world. Have you ever played before?"

"Just online against computers," I said. "But hey, I'm on my honeymoon. Why not live a little?"





Chapter 50


Mark





As it turned out, Sophie was a better poker player than I'd expected, or perhaps just a luckier one. Using the Texas Hold 'Em tables, she walked away with four thousand dollars in her pocket and another comped meal from the pit boss after just an hour of play. The last hand, she'd gone all in with two other players when she had just over thirteen hundred dollars. The final two cards had given her a full house, beating both other players and pushing her over her limit. I was more impressed however as Sophie calmly cashed out and walked away after the hand, despite being on a hot streak, and we went to dinner at Le Cirque.

The next morning neither of us could eat much, nerves prompting both of us to skip the buffet. Instead, we made our way down to the chapel early, arriving a good forty five minutes earlier than we had to for our ceremony check in. The staff who greeted us laughed and showed us to the garden. "We get this every day," she told us as she left. "I'd much rather have that than the ones who get sudden jitters and don't show up until five minutes late or something. Those are a pain. I'll bring you two some iced tea. Enjoy."

As it was, we ended up doing more than enjoying, as the couple before us, two kids from California who were most definitely eloping, didn't have witnesses. While Nevada law said that the staff could witness, the kids didn't have the extra money for the staff, so Sophie and I agreed to stand in for free. It was sweet to watch, and helped us calm down.

Our ceremony, I can barely remember, which tells you just how dumbstruck I was by the whole thing. I remember that the organ player had a kind of jazzy sound to his playing, and that the minister was balding, and slightly overweight. Things didn't really start to speed up again until we got into the limo, and I was sitting there with the wedding certificate in my hand. "Mathew Marcus Bylur and Joanna Bylur. I still can't believe it."

"Well, believe it," Sophie said. "Tabby is going to be so flipped out when we show her the pictures."

"There were pictures?"

Sophie looked over at me and laughed. "Yes there were, Mr. I Notice Almost Everything Around Me. You have been looking a little dopey, you sure your mind is right?"

I blinked and nodded. "Yeah, it's just that I still feel blown away by all this. So what's next?"

Sophie slid across the seat and into my lap, giving me a very nice view of her breasts underneath her tank top. "Next, my sexy husband, I'm taking you back to our hotel room and doing what Tabby told me I needed to do. She told me that at least once I needed to rock your world, and I think this is the perfect occasion to do so."

For the rest of the short ride back to the hotel, Sophie and I kissed and made out in the back of the limo, an experience I hadn't done in a very long time, although this time it was much more meaningful than the last. Getting out, we rushed through the lobby to our room. Shutting the door and locking it, Sophie took two steps and launched herself into a full on flying leap, crashing into the bed with an explosion of giggles. Her short, now nearly black hair was the only thing that stopped it from being perfect, as I kind of wished I could have seen her do the same thing with her old purple locks. Ah well, it was still funny, sexy, and just everything that made Sophie perfect to me.

"You going to join me or just stare?" she asked as she posed with her legs in the air, arms open for me.

"If I jump on the bed like that, I'll break the damn thing," I said, pulling my tank top up and over my head. "But I am more than happy to join you."

Coming over to the bed, I took Sophie's feet in my hands. I pretended to consider which foot to work over first before setting her right leg aside and untying her left shoe, pulling it off along with her sock. I was pleasantly surprised as I saw her toenails were painted a dark, lustrous purple. "I knew you were missing the color."

Rubbing my thumbs up and down the sole of her foot, I brought her foot up to my lips and kissed each one, smiling in between. "I have, but the color isn't as important as the rest of you," I said, kneading her foot until Sophie was groaning in appreciation. "I think I might make foot massages a staple of our marriage."

"I can get used to that," Sophie replied, her words slurring slightly as I worked up her calf muscle. There were quite a few knots in the shapely muscle, and I wondered just how hard she'd been pushing her workouts. "Oh God that feels good. I thought I was supposed to be rocking your world."

"You do with every touch, every kiss, and every time you say you love me," I replied, setting her left leg down on the mattress. I picked up her right foot and took off her shoe and sock, before playfully teasing a puff ball of fuzz out from between two of her toes and blowing them off.