You Want Three Wishes [BE11], Phoenyx!

June 8th, 2012
6:00 p.m.
Evergreen Town Hall

As the sun slowly began setting and the couples entered the Town Hall for the annual Evergreen Gala, Trent couldn't help but feel like he was the luckiest man in that room that evening. His guest for the evening was his wife, the delightful woman he been matched with some time ago. She was to him, all he could ask for and more in a woman, a wife and a mother. Marrying her brought him an amazing step-son and as the days moved on he felt himself becoming more and more attached to Jackson.

He couldn't have honestly asked for a better night to spend with the red haired and kind hearted woman that only some time ago had exchanged words devoting themselves to the other, and here they were in a room of friends, acquaintances and neighbors. He felt almost shy standing beside her, taken back by her beauty and beautiful smile that flashed across her face when she was happy. The very same smile that made him light up brighter than the sun it seemed, the girl standing before him was the one that made him forget all that he had done and instead focus on her instead, her and their future.

Tonight was just a night for the two of them, Jackson in safe hands and Phoenyx in his own. As he went to fetch two glasses from the nearby table, he watched the crowds, catching a glimpse of what he thought was Cheyenne among the gathering. He made his way back over this his wife, a smile on her face. He had gotten all dressed up tonight, new suit, his shoes were shined and his unruly hair was slicked back and tamed, temporarily. He didn't think his hair would make it through the night, but one could always hope.

"I have a present for you," He said as he reached into his pocket and removed a tiny little box. "I guess we can consider it maybe like a two months and still going present?" He opened up the box, showing her the necklace with three charms on it. "This represents us as a family, The first one of me, the second is you and this little one is for Jackson." He ran a hand through his hair, nervous at her reaction. "Do you like it?"

When Phoenyx had been looking for something to wear to the gala, the one problem with the dress she had chosen was that it could potentially be seen as cliche - the whole 'redhead wearing green' thing and all. But the way Trent had been looking at her in it made her not care if it was cliche or not. She was sure she had a similar expression whenever she looked at him. Phoenyx thought he looked good in casual wear, but she had to admit he cleaned up nicely when it came to formal wear too. He was a damn fine man either way, and she wasn't thinking of just his looks either.

She hadn't been expecting anything and her curiosity was sparked when he mentioned a present. Phoenyx half melted inside as he talked about it further, and showed her the necklace. "Of course I do" she answered with a happy grin. Unable to resist, she wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug and stood on her toes to press her lips lightly against his for a moment. It was unbelievably sweet of him to get her anything this soon in their marriage. Especially something that was meaningful rather than just a sparkly trinket.

Phoenyx reached up and unfastened the clasp of the necklace she was currently wearing and tucked it away into her small clutch purse. She smiled up at Trent and gently took the box from him, letting her hands brush against his as she did so. Though she was perfectly capable of fastening the clasp herself, she had a better idea. "Would you mind taking care of the fastening?" she asked, her eyes meeting his once again. Was she flirting a little? Maybe so. But who could really blame her, with Trent for a husband? She had definitely hit the lottery after a fashion when she was matched to him.

There were moments in Trent's life where he wondered why his thought process wasn't considerably normal, but he was happy with his wife and there was a part of him that wanted to move forward in his relationship with Phoenyx and become intimate, the whole idea was there, it had been there for awhile, Phoenyx was a very attractive woman and that wasn't just physically beautiful either, she was the only girl besides Cheyenne who could put the prettiest flowers to shame. She just lit up anything in her path and secretly, Trent wanted nothing more than to have a little girl with his wife, one that had her smile, her happiness.

For now, he'd be happy with the three of them, he wouldn't push anything on her that she wasn't completely comfortable with. ”I want nothing more than to make you happy, Phoenyx.” He said softly, a smile forming on his face from the reaction she gave from receiving his present. ”I'm just glad you like it.” He said nervously as his hand went scratch his head. He had a dozen fears in his minds, maybe he was moving things to fast, too slow and there was always the worry in the back of his head that maybe the connection just wasn't there.

But then his doubts were chased away when he noticed the air change,(unless he was just imagining things), and the room seemed smaller. Was she flirting with him? The idea almost seemed silly as soon as it entered his thoughts but this was a first. Clearly he would not be a fool and pass off on this opportunity, he'd grasp it by the horns and not let it fly away. The kiss, the flirtation, well this was certainly looking in the right direction after all. He all but grinned as he moved behind her, praying that his fingers would not get all sweaty and mess this whole thing up. ”With pleasure, I am but your humble servant.” With steady hands he moved her hair to the side her neck before moving the clasp together and hooking the necklace together. Seizing the opportunities given to him, he gently pressed his lips down against the visible skin of her neck, giving her a nice kiss on the neck. ”You are so beautiful, Phoenyx.”

"You do make me happy" she reassured him. If Trent didn't make her happy, Phoenyx wouldn't have stayed with him. She wasn't one to play games with people and toy with the minds. Doing that sort of thing was just cruel, and deliberate cruelty was just not in her nature. With a man like Trent, how could any woman be anything other than happy?

As far as Phoenyx was concerned, when it came to her husband there was no such thing as 'too fast' or 'too slow'. She was comfortable with him, and had no qualms about leaving Jackson alone with him from time to time. Being physically intimate with Trent was something she wanted and looked forward to, but it was also something she could wait for if need be. In her opinion he was worth waiting for. The last thing Phoenyx wanted was to screw this relationship up somehow, so she wasn't trying to steer things in any specific direction. But she did want to make it clear she was interested in something more... personal. Hence the light flirting tonight - which he was definitely not imagining.

A warm tingle went down her spine when he kissed her neck. That was a bit more than she had expected, but she certainly wasn't complaining or objecting. She did wonder though if it meant he too wanted to take things further between them, or if he was just being affectionate. It could be both too. There was no way for her to know. Well. Not yet anyway. She thought about asking, but she wanted to so so in a way that didn't make it seem like she was either expecting something more or trying to psychoanalyze everything.

Then he called her beautiful, and a happy smile spread across her lips. "Aww, Trent!" She turned and hugged him tightly. "I have the sweetest handsomest husband ever." Phoenyx wondered what she had done in this life - or a past one - to have ended up with him. Whatever it was, it must have been pretty damn important to someone. She wasn't sure she could be any happier.

Despite the fact that his family was never raised with the luxury in life, his father had taught his children that they were to use other means in order to have their riches, that monetary value was not as worthy as the value brought by love and family. You could buy someone all the diamonds and gold in the world, but they would never equal up to the love you earned through trust, respect and compassion. One of the things respected most of Phoenyx was the fact that for richer or poorer, she treated him as an equal, he was just Trent and she was just Phoenyx and they were equal.

She was pretty great and brought him back to thinking that the Vow wasn’t so bad after all, especially after his first two matches and the flops that came from it. He had all but packed up for his reservation when he had decided to just try one more time, things come in threes, his mother always told him. Turned out, she was right and signing up one more time was one of the best things he could do. Trent couldn’t wait to be everything for Phoenyx, and to experience every aspect of a married life with her, spiritual, emotional or physical for that matter.

He didn’t know how his wife would have taken his attempt at an advancement, he was never one for being completely upfront about his reasoning for things, he’d rather let things progress naturally but it didn’t hurt to get the ball rolling either. The feel of his lips against her skin was divine, and selfishly he had to admit that he liked it a lot and why shouldn’t he? His wife was a beautiful, attractive woman and he was attracted to her, and they were both adults.

When she embraced him, he allowed his hands to wrap around her lower back. Her words made him grin from ear to ear. He didn’t even care if they were surrounded by complete strangers; the only one he saw tonight was Phoenyx. ”I have the best wife imaginable, the sexiest too.” Seize the day, he figured. ”And when you are ready, I can’t wait to have all of you, every inch I would worship.” There was no sense in hiding his intentions, he figured it was better for it to come out in the moment than later when it no longer mattered.

When Sandy had left her, Phoenyx had thought long and hard about whether to sign up for the Vow again or whether to try to find someone on her own. Having two matches that didn't work out had made her start questioning it a little. But then she had figured 'what the hell' and gave it another go. After all, three was said to be a magic number. There seemed to be some truth in it too, if her first two matches and her subsequent marriage to Trent was anything to go by.

He was just... there weren't adequate words to describe him, really. He was a sweetheart and a gentleman. He was great with Jackson. They had yet to have any cross words with each other. And that whole 'tall, dark, and handsome' thing? Oh, did he ever have the market cornered on that one. Phoenyx had definitely gotten lucky this time around.

She smiled and hugged Trent a little tighter when he wrapped his arms around her. The jumping of her heart and fluttering in her belly made her forget for a moment they were in full view of most of the population of Evergreen. The conversations and general noise sort of receded into the background and became distant things. As far as she was concerned, the world consisted of just the two of them. At least for the moment.

Any questions or doubts she might have had as to his thoughts or intentions were swept away by his next words. There was no mistaking the meaning behind them. And she in no way objected. Of course, no sensible woman would even think about objecting to that when it came to Trent. He was one of those 'almost too good to be true' men that you heard about but rarely met. And he was all hers.

Phoenyx pulled back just enough to be able to look up at Trent's face, framed by thick curls that she had the perhaps bizarre urge to run her fingers through. Deep dark eyes a girl could get lost in, lips that begged to be kissed... and she made herself stop thinking along those lines. They were in a public place, after all. She had been ready for some time now, but had tried to keep herself under control for the most part. She hadn't wanted Trent to feel pressured or anything. "I'm all yours" she said softly, her fingers curling themselves into the hair at the nape of his neck.

Trent could remember the moment that he had realized that the person who left Phoenyx was a complete imbecile; he had been riding one of the newer horses and was on a mission to break the horse in before people could start riding it. He had been thrown off and as he sat there, flat on his back he was forced to just think about things. He thought about Cheyenne, thought about his baby that would have two fathers and then he thought about Phoenyx and how much she meant to him. It was then that he realized that she was becoming more important to his life than he first realized.

When he pressed his lips against her skin, the feeling set a spark through his own skin, a fire that shot through his whole body from his head all the way down to his toes, the feeling was much more than he expected it to be. A fire that he was pretty sure that only she could put out, and despite the fact that he was worried that he was stepping the line by upgrading from a simple peck on the cheek or kiss on the lips, he did not regret it. Life was too short to want to take back the moments, you just had to keep going forward.

He didn’t know what this was and honestly Trent had never been truly in love so he didn’t know if this was just the hormones racing through his body or something easily explained. He didn’t think it was possibly to start having these sorts of feelings so soon. They hadn’t been married long but he knew he felt something for the red haired girl before him. It wasn’t just a physical attraction towards her; it was so much more than that. He wanted everything that was associated with her; he wanted to be a part of her in every way.

In that moment he could have cared less if there was ten people or even a thousand, he could only see his wife and that was his sole focus for the evening. When he looked at her, it seemed as if the room just narrowed down to only the two of them. She was like his angel, and he couldn’t have asked for a better woman because he was pretty sure there would never be a better woman out there. The two previous matches he’d been set up with didn’t even come close to her; she was the woman of his dreams.

A smile formed on his face as he watched his wife become lost in her own thoughts as her hands moved to the hair at his neck. The feeling sent a shiver down his spine and he leaned forward and pressed his forehead against hers. "Phoenyx Halliwell, you are the most amazing woman in the world and I would love nothing more than to show you exactly how I feel about you." He laughed to himself, how strange it was that he was so calm near her after such a short amount of time. "Did you know that you are so desirable?"

Phoenyx smiled and warmth filled her at Trent's words. The more time they spent together the more moments she had where she wondered if she was just dreaming or if he was actually real. It was comments like that one that made her half think he had stepped out of a fairy tale or off the pages of a romance novel or something. If it weren't for the solid warmth of his body against her own and in her arms, if it weren't for the strong arms wrapped around her in a gentle embrace, the sound of his voice, the sweet yet masculine scent of him... if not for all of that and myriad other details, she might think she was hallucinating or dreaming the entire thing.

"I had no idea" she replied, unable to stop grinning. She paused a moment to kiss him lightly on the lips. "But did you know how completely intoxicating you are?" she asked, her lips a hairsbreadth away from his. Her tone hopefully conveyed at least a fraction of what she was feeling for him... both emotionally and physically. Phoenyx kissed him again, a bit more firmly this time so as to erase any lingering question or doubt her husband might have as to whether or not she reciprocated.

Getting intimate with Trent wasn't the only thing on her mind though. Recently, Phoenyx had been kicking around the idea in her head of breaking with family tradition and taking Trent's last name instead of keeping her own. She wasn't sure how he would take that though... or how to go about bringing it up. The reactions of her parents should she follow through with her idea were something else she wasn't sure of.

What she was sure of though was that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with Trent. That she wanted to have children with him and grow old with him. That she... well, if she were to put a name to how she felt about him she would have to say she loved him. Sure she had felt some affection for the exes she had in her past. If she hadn't she wouldn't have been with them. But that was a mere flicker compared to what she was feeling for Trent. It might even be said that she was in love with him. Did that happen so quickly though? She didn't really have any basis for comparison, so there wasn't really any answer to that. She supposed it must be that. Why else would she even think about changing her name like she was? That was something to mull over later, though. Right now she had more tangible and immediate things to think about.

"As for showing me how you feel... I know we haven't been here very long, but if you want to we can leave early and..." she grinned mischievously, breaking the kiss so she could talk. "...Take advantage of the fact that Jackson is with the babysitter for most of the evening." She didn't know if he would take her up on that or if he'd rather stay a bit longer. Personally, she was hoping for the former but was okay with either. Phoenyx didn't know what Trent's comfort level with that sort of thing was and didn't want to mess this up by going too fast and making him uncomfortable. It belatedly occurred to her that she might have done just that with the bit of relatively tame pda she had just indulged in. There was no going back from it though, and the lingering feel of his lips on hers made her just a little bit not sorry that she'd kissed him the way she had. Though... she would be sorry about making him uncomfortable if she had gone a step too far.