Blackout

Chapter 21

Imaia Island

Max

Present

“This is insane,” said Rosie, smiling so big that I could see all of her teeth, “Like very romantic and lovely, but insane.” Nathan looked pale by her side, staring at me and then shaking his head a couple of times before placing a hand over my shoulder and staring at me with a worried look.

“Max, is this what you really want? I mean, sure, you two look crazy in love with each other, but marrying on this island, dressed in your uniform, during your lunch breaks seems to me like a lunatic’s dream come true,” I frowned a bit, looking down at myself.

Right. Oh God. I wasn’t even wearing a wedding dress. We didn’t have rings and the dining hall at night wasn’t exactly a lovely venue to get married. I wouldn’t change a thing about this madness though. This was us. Callan and Max. Doctor and soldier. Getting married during volunteer service, on an island after a hurricane had passed. I’d always knew I wanted to wait to have s*x until marriage. Then I met Callan and we got separated. We fought and grew apart before finally deciding to give it a chance. The man who told me that could only give me one night’s stand was giving me a lifetime at his side. The woman who told Callan that he could never give her what she wanted was accepting him.

I smiled, my smile as big as Rosie’s, “This is insane.”

“You know, insanity is not even a medical term,” said Nathan rolling his eyes at me, “It’s a legal term used to get lenient verdicts at court. I suggest you become familiar with the terminology in case all of this situation ends at court. As in getting a marriage annulment, just saying.”

“s**t, I’m getting married,” I said slowly, testing the words in my mouth and trying to believe all of this was happening.

“And you are not even listening to me,” whispered Nathan with a sigh.

“Oh my God! You are getting married!” Rosie started jumping and clapping like a little girl making me laugh. Nathan shook his head at us but I could see a small smile on his lips when he took his place behind me and we all turned to the table at the back of the hall. My eyes found Callan right away. He was discussing all the legal aspects of our marriage with…Oliver. The soldier with the reptilian scales on his hands ended up being an official notary from the state of Massachusetts. He seemed to know everything about marriage certificates, international policies and official certificates. How a soldier from a Black Ops unit had ended up being a notary was still a mystery. I was dying to understand how the hell that had happened.

Callan’s green-gray eyes zeroed on me and instantly he smiled. I smiled back because I knew he rarely ever smiled but when he did it was always with me. Maybe it was a good thing that was the case. Dressed in his uniform and exuding sexappeal Callan Jameson looked like every woman’s dream come true whenever he smiled. The fact that man would be my husband hit me suddenly. I’d always known he was a lot of one man for one single woman. Powerful, determinated, dauntless. Was I enough woman to keep that type of man satisfied for a lifetime?

My smile wavered in my lips and Callan’s eyes narrowed, understanding without one too many words that something was wrong. In two large steps he was in front of me, taking me in his strong arms and anchoring me to his tall body. His eyes moved back and forward while he looked at my face, gently brushing my hair back.

“What are you thinking, firecracker?” he asked me gently, with a tone that seemed to be reserved only to my ears. The rest of the world seemed to disappear while I looked him in the eyes and all of my worries evaporated. I didn’t know how Callan could calm my fears with one single touch but he did it. Exceptionally. I wasn’t nervous anymore. This felt right. Callan, me, the entire marriage thing. He was my man, and I was his woman. If a day came in which I couldn’t be enough of a woman for him then I would know I’d been wrong. Still, while I looked into his eyes and watched him grow impatient with every second that passed by without us getting married I realized that wouldn’t be the case. I was enough of a woman for him, today, tomorrow and always.

“This is taking too long,” I told him in response.

“You read my mind, beautiful,”Callan nodded, kissing my forehead and turning around with my hand between his. Everyone moved after him. Oliver, Jordan and Connor walked around the table while the rest of the men in their unit moved in a tight circle at our backs. Rosie and Nathan stepped by my right when we faced the table where all the official papers were. Callan nodded to Oliver and the soldier cleared his throat, looking a lot more nervous than what I was feeling right then.

“We are gathered here today to officiate the marriage between Major Callan Jameson and doctor Maxima Cruz,” started saying Oliver, looking between me and Callan with a nervous look before clearing his throat again and frowning, “As American citizens this marriage certificate would need to be certified by a national court house ninety days after your arrival to the States. If it’s not certified by both parties then the marriage can be annulled. Having said that, where are the groom’s witnesses?”

“Here, sir,” said Jordan, smiling big and pushing his hand up.

“Here,” murmured Connor, a small smile curving his lips.

“Where are the bride’s witnesses?”

“Here!” yelled Rosie excitedly, taking Nathan’s hand and rushing to the table to put their signatures down our marriage certificate. Everyone waited in silence while all the witnesses took their turn writing on the form. Callan never stopped caressing my hand with his thumb. He looked down at me at one moment and his eyes focused on my mouth. The hunger that always lived in his eyes had turned darker and liquified, like silver bullets aimed at me. Callan didn’t say anything but his eyes burned paths across my face, wanting me so much that my entire body trembled in response. 

This was it.

We were getting married.

Slowly he kissed my hand, the same hand he hadn’t let go. There was a silent promise in them. A promise to love me and protect me with his life. I didn’t need vows, or speeches of love and unconditional acceptance. I could see everything in his eyes. This was the man that had jumped down a cliff to save my life. This was the man that had rescued me twice from attackers. This was the man that had been lusting for me for months now. In him I could see my future and I liked what I was seeing.

“Ahem…ahem,” Callan and I looked away from each other and realized everyone had been staring at us. s**t, had they been saying something important? Did we miss the moment we exchanged vows or something? Oliver shook his head in exasperation at us and started talking again, “As I was saying before, Major Jameson, you will need to repeat after me the following: I, Callan Jameson…”

Callan turned around, holding my hands and staring into my eyes, “I Callan Jameson…”

“Take you Maxima Cruz…”Callan repeated the words and after that I completely stopped listening to Oliver and heard only the man standing in front of me, “to be my wife. I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honor you all the days of my life.”

Then it was my turn. My voice trembled a little but my eyes never stopped looking at him.

“I, Maxima Cruz, take you, Callan Jameson, to be my husband. I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honor you all the days of my life,” when I was done speaking Oliver indicated where we needed to sign on the form and said something else about official international transcripts or something equally relevant and important but we were far gone.

  Callan didn’t wait a moment before holding me up and kissing me hard, his entire body hard and powerful while he moved us away from the crowd of people shouting and cheering on us. We just married each other. Just like that. Damn, I was married. The entire situation was impossible to rationalize while we kissed, completely consumed by that electricity we felt every single time we touched.

“We only have five minutes left,” I said against his lips and Callan kissed me deeper, keeping my legs firmly locked around his back. One of his hands held me by my neck, guiding my face closer to his so he could kiss me easier.

“That’s plenty of time,” he grunted, making me smirk and move back, so I could see him while he walked us through the short corredor that connected the dining hall to the medical building. I smiled, interlacing my fingers at the base of his nape and staring at him in awe.

“We are married Callan,” I whispered and he smiled in response, a big smile that I’ve never seen in him before. I wished I could take a picture of him right then, looking so happy and relaxed, as if everything he could possibly need was right there, in his arms. God, I couldn’t have enough of that man. I kissed him again and this time our kiss seemed to explode completely out of control. I had never known attraction could be like this. The entire world had just gone away and all that mattered was us, kissing our mouths and biting our lips while we tried to touch every inch of our skin that wasn’t covered by clothes.

I don’t even know where we were standing. That had to be some deep level of alienation. At the end Callan’s military watch went off and he cursed between kisses, letting me free for long enough for me to come out of our intense s****l trance to breathe. I was panting, hot and flushed all over, in contrast Callan seemed angry, his eyebrows lowered down and a frown on his lips.

“We seriously need to start considering vacations,” I said in frustration. It was my time to go back to work and we both knew it. I would be working for the rest of the night, all the way until 6:00 am the next day. A part of my mind couldn’t register the fact we had gotten married during my lunch break. The other working part of my frontal lobe was already machinating a way to see Callan sooner than that. At the end of it all, we had just gotten married. I only wanted to be with him and by the way he was clenching his jaw and eating me up with his eyes I could tell he was a second away from stealing me from the hospital and damn the consequences.

In the end reason won. Callan put me down, kissing my lips one last time before taking a step back while our holding hands stretched between us. Neither of us wanted to let the other’s hand go.

“I will come for you at the end of your shift,” he announced, not a negotiation but a fact, “And then I’m taking you away and we are spending an entire day off the grid. Don’t pack anything. I will take care of everything you need.”

“What about clothes?” I asked worriedly and this time Callan smiled down at me, his eyes greener than ever.

“You will not be needing them.”

And that was that.

I bit my lips in anticipation. I really couldn’t wait. My stomach already felt tight and light, as if all the butterflies inside of it would end up making me float.Callan’s nostrils flared while he studied my mouth like a starving man would look at a four course meal. He cursed again, this time shaking his head and taking his hand away.

“Go woman, go before I kidnap you and shoot any i***t who tries to stop me,” I laughed even if Callan only frowned seriously at me, bracing his hips and staring at me as if he actually had half a mind to act on his word. Knowing him that was probably possible. 

“I will go now…husband,” I said with a smile and this time Callan smiled, giving me a short nod.

“Wife.”

I turned around and rushed inside of the medical building. All along my shift I couldn’t stop smiling. While making notes about a case I eyed the date at the bottom of the page and halted. August the third. That was the day we had gotten married. I closed my eyes and held on the clipboard tight to my chest while I giggled like a little girl. We were married! And from then on our anniversary would always be on August the third. I only hoped we would be able to celebrate it together every single year. I knew it would be hard for us to celebrate but I just got married, I was too happy to think further into the future.

Smiling, I kept on writing my notes.

Damn, it felt good to be married.