She hadn’t even told her parents the real reason they were marrying. As far as they were concerned, this was a whirlwind romance.
The man she was about to marry wanted to addle her brain and threatened to ruin her family, but she planned to give as good as she got and addle him right back.
As the three of them walked into the clearing, the string quartet changed their music to the bridal march. The groom and his parents turned as one to look their way. A broad smile split Anton’s face.
The crowd included a sea of friends, bistro staff and buddies from business college. The rest must be from Anton’s side. So many witnesses.
Any moment now the axe would fall. He’d call an end to the whole charade and she’d be standing there looking like an idiot, along with her parents. Not to mention the lifetime of, “I told you to back out when you could”s from her father that would be sure to follow.
Closer and closer they walked, until they were all standing together. Cassidy’s heart lurched as Anton took her bouquet and handed it to her mother, his hands closing warmly around hers, his gaze locked, fixing to her soul.
“You’re beautiful,” he whispered, as the celebrant began reading, welcoming everyone to the occasion. Things twisted and roiled inside Cassidy. How could he say such lovely things and yet plan the opposite? Was there a chance he actually would go through with the whole thing?
Time took on a strange rhythm as she only half-listened to the celebrant, who looked modest but unassuming in her navy suit. One moment things seemed to move too quickly, the next Anton spoke to her and she could feel every tiny moment, see everything in utter clarity.
Hearing? That was another matter. Thanks to the pounding pulse in her ears, she could barely hear what he said, only notice his lips moving and his eyes locked with hers with such tender intensity it melted her heart.
When it came her turn to speak, she performed in a hypnotic spell as she repeated the words from the celebrant’s prompts. Only after she’d said them did she realise she’d promised to love, honour and trust Anton for as long as they both lived.
She’d just promised to love him, when she hardly knew him. Honour? That was a given, no matter how unsuited they were, she’d never have an affair. Divorce was far more honest. Trust instead of obey. Nice touch. She didn’t trust him at all, but she’d just sworn to, in front of witnesses. What had he said in return? For the life of her, she couldn’t remember. It was a blur.
The next thing she registered were the rings on their fingers. He moved the white gold band up her ring finger as he said his vows, followed quickly by another white gold band with a single pale sapphire surrounded by brilliant cut diamonds. The engagement ring? This late in the piece?
A laugh bubble escaped her lips, “Better late than never with that one.”
He winked.
A ripple of giggles washed over the crowd. The front few rows had heard the exchange, they passed it on to the rows behind. Their interpretation of ‘rushed’ would be so far from the truth. Did they think she was pregnant already? That’s the last thing she needed.
The celebrant began summarising proceedings, concluding that they’d both come willingly, made their promises and exchanged rings, therefore there was only one thing left for her do; to declare them husband and wife.
The crowd erupted into cheers and applause. In the corner of her eye, Cassidy saw Anton’s mother dab at her eyes with a floral hankie. From the sound of the loud sniffles behind her, Sonia was more than dabbing at her eyes. Probably going through a whole box of tissues at this rate.
“Kiss your bride,” the celebrant goaded, a broad smile splitting her face.
They were actually married. Anton hadn’t publicly humiliated her in front of everyone she’d ever known. Hope lived!
A hard lump formed in Anton’s throat as he took in the vision of his bride.
From behind him, his mother said, “She’s beautiful.”
‘Sì,’ his father said.
Anton’s arms found their natural home around Cassidy’s waist as he pulled her closer. The smell of her perfume turned his senses to mush.
When his lips met hers, he found a new sensation. Something fresh, exciting and warm; welcoming yet confusing. Relief and happiness pounded his system as their audience encouraged the kiss. He heard cameras clicking and fireworks flashed behind his eyes, reminding him of their kiss outside the bistro on that cold night barely more than a month ago.
If felt so very real. It must be a sense of gratitude on his part that she’d turned up to the wedding. All morning he’d feared a ‘no show’, but she’d turned up looking like a ripe goddess, her kisses sending messages of promise to every fibre in his body.
Was she trying to seduce him?
He couldn’t get enough of her kisses, but this was a wedding kiss, they had an audience. She sensed his mood and pressing her forehead to his.
The celebrant applauded and made the announcement, “Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present Mr and Mrs Anton and Cassidy Catani.”
Their names sounded so good together.
Another roar of approval bombarded them, matching the enthusiasm and joy felt on the night she’d shouted their engagement in the crowded bistro.
Only now did he think fleetingly back to his first marriage, but only to acknowledge that he’d never felt this happy by comparison.
Back then, he’d married for love, or what he thought was love. It had ended in disaster, recriminations and lawyers at twenty paces. This time he’d married for revenge and it felt fantastic.
The milling crowd managed to push into Anton and Cassidy’s bubble in their eagerness to congratulate them.
The photos would take an hour at the least. They still had the reception at the bistro to get through as well. It would be forever until he had her alone.
But he could wait.
“You’re a brave man,” Craig Young broke into their small circle, extending his hand to Anton, ‘Welcome to the family.’
The old man looked genuine, his handshake firm but friendly. Not the vice-like grip of a power-mad mogul. Anton introduced Craig and Sonia to his parents, then he grabbed Cassidy and pulled her back, so they could be alone – if only for a moment.
“What’s say we skip the reception and go straight home?” He kissed the soft skin near her ear.
A sharp intake of breath was his reward.
Earlier this morning, Cassidy had wondered how she could get through the day without falling apart. Yet she had kept it together and now they were married. She’d even managed to nibble some of the delicious food at the reception. Held in the bistro of course.
As she waved farewell to everyone, she felt like a true bride. So many camera flashes, so many smiling faces all around them. The heady mix of joyous emotions and goodwill directed towards them flooded her perception. Her cheeks ached from smiling so much.
They kissed in the car as Mark drove them away. Their audience would expect nothing less. But the kisses continued even when the crowd was far behind them. Kisses that melted her senses as his hand slipped to her leg, bunching her skirts up so he could feel his way north, to the lacy tops of her stockings around her thighs. He played with the elasticised edges, then moved to the bare skin that lay beyond. Those fingers kept moving, tracing, sensing, burning little patches of want on her skin. Heaven help her, she wanted him. Correction, her body wanted him. Her mind simply had to stay one step ahead and she’d be fine.
A moan of appreciation escaped her lips as his fingers trace under the line of her lacy knickers, to the hot, wet prize.
“You’re beautiful,” he groaned, teasing, testing, flicking his fingers over her moist centre. More delicious aches filled her senses.
Her breath shot up another notch as he pushed his fingers inside, while his thumb grazed her clitoris. Firecrackers burst behind her closed eyes.
He was going to take her in the car. Make her come hot and fast in his hand and there wasn’t a goddamn thing she could do about it.
What the hell happened to her plans of sending him insane first?
She had hands, she should use them. But the seatbelt got in the way, and his bulging pants were cramped beneath her, making access impossible. All the while he kept his fingers moving inside her, teasing her, pushing her so close, so damn close to the edge.
He pulled away.
Confusion and emptiness filled her. He’d just beaten her at her own game. She looked in his face, expecting to see triumph, but his line of sight looked just as fuzzy and out of focus as hers.
“We’re here,” he said, his voice a husky croak.
“Where?” If his voice had been husky, hers was worse than a squeak. Shooting to smithereens her plans to stay in control.
“Home.”
Straightening her skirts, Cassidy unclipped her belt. Thanks to Mark waiting outside, the door opened before she reached it and the cool Melbourne air whipped against her skin. A few deep breaths helped cool her blood and regain her senses as she stood in the street. They were outside an expanse of neo Georgian houses, in a street lined with elm and oak trees just starting to lose their leaves.
Behind them, Mark closed the car doors and only now did she realise she hadn’t thanked him. Hadn’t even acknowledged his existence. Terribly rude of her, but she blamed the all-powerful man beside her, who made her forget things.
Like breathing – she completely forgot how to breath as the front door opened and he swept her into his arms to carry her over the threshold.
His lips crashed against hers. Claiming her, urging her to pick up where they left off in the car. Swamping her with sensation. Eyes shut, she had no idea where she was, only the sense he was carrying her somewhere and she didn’t care where it was.
They entered a room and he lay her down on something soft. It had to be a bed, but for the life of her she didn’t care to open her eyes. Right now, all she wanted was to live in the sensation of his kisses, his touch, his masculine fragrance that curled around her system and seeped into her soul.
Teasingly, tauntingly, he removed her shoes and then, her stockings, rolling them down the length of her legs one by one. Taking his sweet time. They were still more or less completely dressed, so she started on his tie, loosening it and pulling it free. Then his cufflinks, which she let fall to the floor. The buttons were next, opening his shirt so she could run her palms across the expanse of his chest, lightly dusted with curls. Strong muscles under tender skin. Skin that shivered and puckered at her touch.
He rolled her above him, and she sat up, opening her eyes to her new surroundings. Everything around her looked new. This couldn’t be his home. He must have bought it for them. Neutral territory to start their fresh life together.
Didn’t he trust taking her to his real home?
Shifting her weight over him, she felt the solid length of his penis straining against his pants. He half sat up, reaching around her back for the zipper to her dress. The fabric fell away from her back, exposing her skin to the night air, then her shoulders. He swept the fabric down from her arms, until it bunched around her waist.
The pressure beneath her felt so good, she wanted to grind herself against him, but she stepped back off the bed and let the dress fall to the ground. Standing before him in her knickers and bustier, she should have felt vulnerable, but a sense of power and purpose filled her. He shifted forward off the bed and kissed the tops of her breasts as they groaned to break free.
Together again, Cassidy reached for his pants and freed him. He kicked his shoes off and stepped out of the material, the silk of his boxers straining to hold him in.
She had to see him, had to see what she was in for. She pulled the fabric down and felt her breath hitch.
He was magnificent.
With her palms to his chest, she pushed him back on the bed and climbed over him. She pressed her molten core to his penis and started rocking along the length of it, protected only by the thin lace she still wore.
His hands moved to the sides of her knickers, where he pulled at the ties on the side and freed her. There was nothing between them now. Nothing holding them back.
They were man and wife in every way except deed as she slicked herself up and down the length of him, making him groan with temptation as she teased the head, felt the drop of moisture on the tip. Fuel to her fire. The power balance shifted in her favour. She had him exactly where she wanted him.
Pulsing need took over as he flicked the front clasps on her bustier and freed her breasts. He leaned up and took the left globe into his mouth. Spasms took hold. It was hard to breath. Heat radiated between them, their bodies slick with sweat.
She teased him again, as he sat higher and shifted his body. She pushed him and goaded him, teasing them both with the most insane pleasure she’d ever felt. Growing ever bolder, she reached down and clasped him in her grip, teasing the tip of him against her entrance, back and forth, letting him feel how wet and ready she was. Teasing him, teasing herself. He kissed and suckled her other breast, groaning and flicking his tongue over her sensitised flesh. Every nerve in her body tensed as an overwhelming need to have him took hold. She guided the tip in, then out, her breath coming in panting gulps.
His name cried from her lips. Shock registered as she impaled herself on him. All the way down. His hard length pressed into her core, her body stretched to take him in. All of him.
It felt so damn good.
Sparks burst behind her eyes. With her head falling back she called his name again and she came in hard waves all around him. Muscles caught and clamped, her heart thumped against her ribs. He answered with a jarring thrust home. He grabbed her and flipped her over so he could drive home, pinning her to the bed beneath him.
His mouth devoured her, she wrapped her legs around his waist, melding them together as he pushed her ever onward, riding the waves of pleasure.
7
He’d meant to pull back. Meant to drive her to the very edge of delirium and leave her begging for more. Instead, Anton had kept going, reaching for the satisfaction of completion for himself. In the process he’d given her everything she wanted. Twice.
What a mess. What a glorious, beautiful, insatiable mess.
Their bodies still joined after another wild session, he didn’t want to pull away. Their breathing came hard and fast, his body shuddering from the aftershocks. He kissed her again, across her brow, the tip of her nose, her lips, claiming her. Stamping his brand on her.
Her hand splayed over his chest, her palm stuck fast above his heart, claiming him. Before he had time to marvel further at what had taken place, Anton surrendered to the call of sleep.
The shower beckoned Cassidy. The water-saving heads delivered a strong massage onto her shoulders and neck. Magnificent. Shutting her eyes, she let the hot water purify her skin, washing away the insanity of last night.
“Great idea,” Anton said, stepping into the shower. Standing close to her. Completely unashamed of his body and what it could do to her. His eyes roved up and down her body, appreciating her nude form, like a buyer appraising fine art.
One step closed the distance, their bodies pressed together under the sluicing water, he lodged himself between the apex of her thighs so she could feel him hot and hard beneath her.
When he claimed her lips she forgot to breathe. An affirmation that they were made for each other.
Despite the gentle tempo, heat poured in her veins, the ache became a throb and she wanted him inside her again.
Where he belonged.
Oh no, I didn’t just think that. I couldn’t have.
He whispered between the kisses, “You don’t deserve this.”
Before she could work out what he was saying, he pulled away. With a flick of the mixer tap he turned the second shower on himself – freezing cold – then stepped out.
Cassidy swore. He’d just done the very thing she should have done to him last night – left him unfulfilled. Except she’d enjoyed herself too much and gone too far – hadn’t pul
led back when she was supposed to.
“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” She demanded, flicking the tap off and following him out. On her way out, she grabbed the robe and cinched it around her waist, but it didn’t stop the trail of wet footprints as she walked along the carpet.
With a head full of steam, Cassidy really wanted to have a good old-fashioned shouting match. But with the object of the shouting walking away, she had to keep up. They walked down a hallway, past a near-empty living area to the open kitchen.
“Coffee?” He asked, sliding open a hatch to reveal a commercial-size espresso machine.
“What was that about, back there?” She demanded, hitching the robe even tighter.
“What do you think?”
“I don’t know what to think, other than you’re crazy. You’ve blackmailed me into marriage, seduced me, bought a house for us, and all for what?”
Confusion played across his face, making his brows knot together as he set the coffee machine going, “I haven’t bought a house for us.”
Interesting that he didn’t deny any of the other accusations.
Cassidy did a double take. She looked around the room, noting the absence of furniture, decorations. Even the garden out the back – except for the lap pool – looked new and empty, “But this is new.”
“I’ve been here three years,” he said, pouring milk into the steel jug.
Shock made her reach for a bar stool, “But it’s empty.”
“I’ve been busy,” came the non-committal response.
The heady aroma of fresh espresso filled Cassidy’s senses, igniting her cravings. Anton and good coffee. The man could seriously mess up her head.
“So, I’ve seduced you, have I?” He said as he poured the textured milk into the cups, a grin playing over his lips.
“Give me the coffee you arrogant jerk,” she took the cup and brought it to her lips, grateful for the reprieve. Not that his eyes let go, they stayed fixed on hers, even as he drank. His long lashes flicking up as he looked at her over his cup.
Be Mine: Valentine Novellas to Warm The Heart Page 76
