Chapter 71

Richie grinned as the skirt of her dress rode up, sneaking fingers below the hem, he cupped her upper thigh. "So soft everywhere," he murmured against her mouth as he coasted higher on her hip and around to her ass. "I love feeling all of this snug at my back," he said roughly as his fingers squeezed gently.

She trembled, his simple touches turning her to jelly as usual. "Not as much as I like feeling you pressed close to me." She stepped into her heels and still he loomed over her. God, she loved how big and broad he was.

He grinned against her mouth and pulled away, letting his fingertips coast all the way back down to her hemline. "Glad I'm not being replaced by this big vibrator," he said smugly and climbed on.

The blush had to go straight through his jacket when she pressed her cheek against his back. "Not even close to the same!" She laughed loud enough to cover the roar of his engine. The quick grin over his shoulder pulsed through her even more than the increased throttle.

He gunned the engine, the coastline was still one of the most beautiful he’d ever seen, but he had a purpose and the stretch of road was keeping him from it. He'd convinced her to marry him, now he needed to get the deed done before she slipped away. He didn't want to give her time to figure out that he was a bad bet. He'd do anything to keep her now. Anything.

Pulling up to the small weathered building, he turned off the engine. He turned around, suddenly a stupid thought formed. "Silly question, but you don't have a record right?"

She tilted her head and gave him a wicked grin, "And If I did?" She giggled when his eyes widened. "Course I don't silly man."

He sighed in relief. "I'd marry you anyway, but when they do an overseas license, it's the first thing they look at."

"You have nothing to fear, Pony. No record here, I leave the records up to you."

He snorted, linked their fingers and headed up the crumbling steps. Sea air and sand had stripped a lot of the landscape, leaving it a pale sun streaked beige and powdery white. Opening the door, he blinked against the quick change from blinding sun, to dark wood and shadow. He looked around for something that said main office, dragging her behind him.

Trailing behind, she curled her fingers around his bicep, peeking around him to the little old man sitting behind an ancient metal desk. "I sure hope he speaks English, Pony," she whispered. If it was possible, the nearly typewriter sitting was even older and the telephone looked like it came out in the 50's.

"I can hear you, girly!" came a creaky voice. "Just because I'm old doesn't mean I'm deaf." His accent was rich with the tropics and as dark as his cocoa skin. "What can I do for your fine folks?"

Richie couldn’t help but grin at the thickly accented Jamaican man. "We're looking to get married, Sir."

Elena peeked over the partition and gave him her brightest, sweetest smile. "You can help us right, Sir?"

He pushed up a dozen forms on the small shelf. "Fill these out and we'll get a license to you in two weeks."

Elena blinked back a quick prick of tears. "Two weeks?"

"Yup, standard procedure," he said and looked back down at his typewriter, painfully punching one letter at a time.

She glanced up at Richie, sliding a hand across his back warm back before she peeked around the half wall. "Please is there a way to do it sooner?" She crouched down next to his desk so they were eye to eye, letting the crocodile tears fall. "I love him so much you see, but I'm a good girl. I have to wait ‘til I’m married, and it’s so hard to not give in.” She looked up at Richie, his lips pressed tight and his brown eyes dancing. “I love him so much and if you don’t help me it’s going kill my mama. I just love him too much to wait anymore. Please Sir, I know you have a kind heart, please help us."

The old man cackled. "Try another one, girlie. Especially when you come in here with whisker burn and sand in your hair."

She gripped his gnarled hand, the tears free flowing. "That’s just from kisses and laying on your beautiful beach, Sir.” She pulled his hand up to her cheek. "Didn't you ever love someone so much you’d die for them?"

Richie tried desperately not to laugh. She was laying it on a bit thick. God, he loved her.

"You think I can't smell bullshit after seventy years in this office? Forms are there, sweetheart. You can keep your panties up around your waist for two weeks."

"I know you remember being so in love, you just can’t stand another day apart. I bet she was a fine woman." She sniffled softly. "I’m not bullshitting you, I love him that much. Tell me sir, what would the love of your life have thought if she saw you do this to two young loves?" Elena’s saw him finally begin to relent. Sensing victory, she wrapped both her hands around his. "Don’t make us wait. Please?"

"My Elena was a beautiful woman," he sighed. "We had to run away to get married, her Papa didn't approve of me." Wistfully, the old man turned on Richie. "You haven't said anything there, mon."

Richie smiled, letting his dimple flash. "Well, this is my Elena. I'll wait for her if I have to, but I sure don't want to, sir. I want her to be mine by morning on that pretty beach you have up the coast. Great way to start off my life, I'd say."

She gave the old man a soft kiss on the cheek and moved back to Richie and leaned against him, her eyes intent on the old man. "Please?"

"Elena, you say?" He looked at her, his rhuemy eyes softer now. "You even look a little like my Elena. Same way with the waterworks too," he laughed. "Fill 'em out and I'll see what I can do." He said and pushed the papers off the shelf into Richie's waiting fingers.

Richie inclined his head. "Thank you."

She reached for the two pens on the desk and handed one to Richie. She took her half of the papers, swiftly filled out each section, signing each place carefully. She peered over his shoulder, his eyes intent as he read through and answered each question, as if his very life depended on each word.

Signing her name with her usual flourish, she straightened and smiled. "Well I’m done."

Richie looked down at her, then her pile. "No way."

"Yes way. All done." Elena giggled, her years of filling out college forms finally came in handy.

Huffing he took the forms and found a chair. "I guess you get to go see if you can find a dress," he grumbled.

She handed her half of the papers to the old guy and moved to him, dropping a kiss on his head. "I'll be back in a flash." Walking to the door she wandered out, glad for once she had her daddy's little gold card in her pocket.

Three shops later, she found the perfect thing…something she knew would have Richie going both gaga and hot with desire. She made her purchase then convinced the clerk to let her wear it from the shop, her purple dress riding comfortably in a small bag.

As she moved back down the street her eyes wandered to a small music shop tucked into a corner. Her eyes widened as a thought occurred to her. Racing over to the shop, she searched out a saleswoman.