Hart to Heart

Part 1

"You know I'm taking credit for this whole thing, right?" Lindsay asked as she took a drink out of her big-ass wine glass. No telling how many glasses she'd had already.

"How the hell do you come to that conclusion?" I asked with a laugh as I finally tore my gaze away from my beautiful bride to look at Lindsay. "I paid for this wedding. Hell, I paid for you to get here!"

She waved me off with a flick of her hand while I looked around the patio. The air in Scotland was crisp at night, even in the middle of June. But that didn't stop the party. I caught another glimpse of Addison dancing with Jaxon. I've never seen that beautiful smile of hers look brighter. She was having the time of her life, and who could blame her? We were surrounded by our closest friends and family, who just cheered us on as we became man and wife.

Wow, I thought to myself. She's my wife. That was going to sound surreal for a while.

"Sure, you paid for the wedding," Lindsay remarked. "But if I hadn't asked you to come speak at the school, you would have never met Jaxon. And if you'd never met Jaxon, you would have never met Addison. See? I'm taking credit."

I laughed as she took another swig. "Ya know," I started, leaning my elbows on the high round table we were standing at, "I'm the one who found you online. I'm the one who friended you. So technically, it all started with me reaching out to you."

Lindsay waved me off again as Deuce came bounding up, drunk as all get out.

"Dude," he said, practically falling into me. "Someone is finally getting laid tonight! I bet you can't wait to get your woman back to your room and uh, uh, uh," he said while pumping his hips and making a fool out of himself.

I just shook my head and tried to ignore him, but leave it to Lindsay to egg him on.

"Wait, wait, wait," she said, leaning in closer. "What do you mean he's finally getting laid, Deuce? What am I missing?"

Deuce threw his head back and laughed like it was the funniest thing he'd ever heard. "You didn't know this?" Lindsay shook her head while I slid my hand down my face. I really needed to find a new best friend. "Mr. Hart, Mr. Stud-muffin himself, got cut off before the wedding!"

I groaned. "Don't you have a wife and son you should be hanging out with right now?" I asked.

He slapped me on the back and squeezed my shoulder. "They're too busy on the dance floor," he answered, gesturing a few feet away where Vanessa was spinning baby Trace around in time to the music. Trace was his nickname, since his given name was Michael Johnson the Third. As in uno, dos...Trace. Yeah, it wasn't spelled like the number, but when they came up with the idea, they were pretty adamant that they didn't want the baby to have to explain the spelling of his name for the rest of his life.

"Tonight will be the first time he's gotten laid in six weeks!" Deuce continued while he and Lindsay both laughed at my sexual frustration. Don't get me wrong, it sucked that I hadn't been with Addison in that long, but she wanted our first time as husband and wife to be like the first time all over again. Of course, that meant I was going to have to control myself tonight so I could last more than ten seconds. But I understood where she was coming from, and frankly, I'd do anything to make her happy. So that's just what I did.

"What's so funny?" Elaine asked as she approached the table. Sara was still on the dance floor with all the bridesmaids living it up.

"Nothing much," I said sarcastically. "They're just laughing at my sex life."