Beautiful Illusions Duet Bundle: Eighty-One Nights and Beautiful Ever After

by Georgia Cates

  I take my place on the platform. “Okay. Open your eyes.”

  Rachel. Clarissa. Sara. Shannon. They all gasp at the same time.

  “Come on, people. I need to hear your thoughts.”

  Rachel holds up both hands with outstretched fingers. “It’s ten out of ten for me.”

  Clarissa nods slowly. “I love it.”

  “It’s a stunner,” Sara says.

  Shannon smiles broadly. “It’s fab. You look like a princess.”

  “It’s the one, right?”

  Four yeses overlap at the same time.

  “This is my dress.” And it’s more perfect than anything that I could’ve hoped for.

  This is what I’ll be wearing on the happiest day of my life. The day that I become Mrs. Maxwell Paden Hutcheson.

  52

  Maxwell Hutcheson

  Lou has been working nonstop for the last month on our wedding. Even with the help of my family and Rachel, it’s still been a ton of work for her. Neither of us had any idea what it would take to pull together even a simple wedding in such a short amount of time.

  We’ve reserved the use of the entire castle for the next three days. Everyone who will be attending our wedding tomorrow is staying at the castle tonight. And an interesting night it is going to be.

  Clarissa Hutcheson has put me in the room farthest from Lou. She insists that we can’t sleep together the night before our wedding or even see each other again until she enters the chapel and walks down the aisle. But it’s an hour until midnight, technically not the day of the wedding yet. And I want to see my bride-to-be.

  It’s been a busy day. Everyone has gone to bed and the castle is finally quiet. Thank fuck. I thought they’d never settle down for the night.

  I lightly knock on the door of the bride’s room. A moment later she opens the door and smiles, lifting one of her brows. “What are you doing?”

  “I want to see you.”

  Lou leans out the door and looks down the hallway. “Your mom would be livid if she knew you were here right now,” she whispers.

  “Why do you think I’ve waited until everyone has gone to bed to sneak into your room?”

  “You’re sneaking into my room? That sounds so naughty.”

  “Not near as naughty as the things I want to do to you.”

  “Is that supposed to convince me to let you in?”

  Is she really thinking of turning me away? “Come on, Lou. I haven’t been with you in days because you’ve been so busy with the wedding. I’m craving you.”

  “It’s bad luck to see the bride before the wedding.”

  I hold up my wrist, pointing at my watch. “We have an hour until it’s our wedding day, and I want to spend every minute of it with you.”

  She shakes her head and looks upward, murmuring something that I’m pretty sure is a profanity beginning with an F.

  “Please, Lou. I’ll make it worth your while.”

  She sighs loudly and opens the door. “Hurry up and get your ass in here before Clarissa patrols the hallway and sees you.”

  The door closes and I grab her around the waist, pulling her against me. “Mrs. Hutcheson.”

  “Not yet but almost.”

  “This will be our last time to fornicate.”

  I love the sound of her girly giggles. “I’m going to miss fornicating with you.”

  “You won’t. Our sex life is only going to get better after we’re husband and wife.”

  “You know what? I think so too.”

  I press my lips to hers and she laces her fingers through the back of my hair, pulling me closer and kissing me hard. Because we’ve no time to waste, I grip the hem of her nightgown and tug upward. Next goes her knickers and then my clothes.

  “I don’t know how many times we’ve done this, but I still feel flutters in my stomach every time you’re this close to me. Will it always feel like this?”

  “I hope so.” I don’t want our passion to ever fade away.

  Lou’s arms go around my shoulders and I grip the backs of her thighs, lifting her. She wraps her legs around my waist and I carry my almost-wife to the bed, gently lowering her to the mattress. Pushing stray hairs away from her face, I look at her eyes. “I’m so lucky to have found you.”

  She reaches up and caresses the side of my face. “I’m the lucky one.”

  When I finish kissing her, I move lower until my mouth is between her breasts. I palm one on the underside and suck her hard nipple into my mouth, swiping my tongue back and forth over it. I scrape the hard pebble with my teeth and she moans, which urges me on. And when her breath sounds like gasps, I do it again, making her breathe even harder.

  I love the sexy sounds she makes when I’m teasing her. And the more I tease, the louder they become. That’s something I would normally love to hear, but we must be mindful of those sleeping in the rooms next to us. “Not so loud, Lou. Someone is going to hear you.”

  She squirms beneath me. “How am I supposed to be quiet when you’re doing all that to me?”

  My mouth moves lower and hovers over her pubic arch. “Find a way, mo maise. You can do it.”

  I press my nose against the top of her slit. “I get to have this for the rest of my life.”

  “I’m glad you like it because you don’t get to have any others.”

  “I don’t want any others. Ever.”

  I place my fingers on the inside of her thighs and push them apart. “Do you want my mouth on you?”

  Her hand rests on the top of my head, stroking my hair. “You have no idea how much I want your mouth on me.”

  Moving lower, I tongue her in one long, slow stroke up the center. When it hits her clit, her body jolts like she’s been seared. “Like that?”

  “I love it. And it doesn’t matter how many times you lick me, it gets me every time when the tip of your tongue hits my clit.”

  I love that I’m able to do that to her. And I also love that I’m the only man who has ever put his mouth on her this way. “You always taste so damn good. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to get enough of you.”

  “I hope you never get enough.”

  Her legs fall farther apart and she rocks up and down against my mouth. Pushing two fingers inside her, I use my tongue to circle that sensitive nub because I know that’s what she loves.

  “Uhhh… damn, Hutch.”

  She grips the covers on the bed with her fisted hands and her back arches off the bed.

  “Uhhh… damn.”

  One of her feet lands on my shoulder, her toes digging into the meaty flesh, and her legs quiver on each side of my head.

  “Shit… Hutch… I’m coming.”

  Ah, damn. She’s being so fucking loud. I know someone is going to hear us.

  There’s no question about the moment her orgasm ends because she becomes limp as a wet noodle. She’s sprawled out in her exultant state with closed eyes and a subtle smile on her face. It’s satisfying to know I’m able to give her this kind of pleasure—and that she wants it from me.

  Only me.

  Sex is uncomplicated with Lou. No games. No tit for tat. No using it as a weapon. It simply is what it is—an honest and true physical expression of the love we share. And I’m thankful for that.

  Her legs are toneless and have fallen down so I push them up, planting her soles flat on the bed. I crawl over her and lower my body to hers. “Don’t you dare go to sleep on me.”

  “I’m not. I’m just super relaxed.”

  “Did you take some kind of medicine to ease the wedding jitters?”

  “I don’t have wedding jitters.” She giggles “I’m relaxed because of that orgasm. It was amazing.”

  Orgasms do have a calming effect on the body. “I’m glad you enjoyed it.”

  I lift my head, noticing an enormous ornate mirror propped against the wall. No doubt it’s for a bride to get a full view of herself since this is the designated bride’s room. But I have another full view in mind.

  �
�Turn over.”

  She flips over and her eyes meet mine in the mirror. “Ohhh.”

  “Aye.”

  I lower my body and press my front to her back, watching myself kiss the side of her neck. “What do you think?”

  “I’ve never watched myself have sex.”

  “Neither have I.”

  “Feels naughty.”

  “Aye, it does.”

  I slip my hand around her waist and lift her hips off the bed. I don’t tell her so but this is something I could really get into. I’m very turned on by the idea of watching myself fuck her. It’ll be like getting a glimpse of ourselves doing porn.

  I grasp her hair in my fist and pull, tilting her face upward. “I want to see your face while I fuck you.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Yes, sir? Fuck. Hearing those two words come out of her mouth while she’s on her hands and knees waiting for me to fuck her feels like a whole new avenue opening up, one that needs to be explored.

  Placing my cock at her wet entrance, I watch her face in the mirror, especially her eyes, as I slowly push inside of her. I never get to see her expression when I’m behind her so this is new. And it’s hot.

  Lou’s eyes focus on mine in the mirror. “Fuck me, Hutch. You know you want to.”

  “Yes, I do.”

  After pulling back, I push into her from behind over and over. She rocks on her hands and knees, keeping perfect rhythm, meeting me thrust for thrust. And then she pushes her upper body off the bed and rises, her knees spread wide and my cock still buried inside her.

  So. Fucking. Hot.

  I wrap my arms around her torso and thrust upward, fucking her as she bounces up and down my cock. Leaning forward, I kiss the space between her shoulders blades as I deliver those final few thrusts. When I come, I don’t pull out. I give Lou every drop that has been building inside me the last few days.

  She leans back and turns her face, kissing me over her shoulder. “The next time we do this, I’ll be your wife.”

  My wife. I can’t wait for that to happen. “And I’ll be your husband.”

  Lou relaxes and we look at our reflections. “I think we need a mirror like this in our bedroom.”

  “You like watching, huh?” she asks.

  “I more than liked it.” I think we could get very creative with it.

  Pound. Pound. Pound. I’m certain before she says a word that it’s my mum beating on Lou’s door.

  “I know you’re in there, you wee jobby. I can hear what you’re doing, same as everyone else in this castle. I’m giving you the courtesy of putting your clothes on before I open this door.”

  Lou and I laugh at the same time and my cock slides out of her. “She really doesn’t want to do that.”

  I kiss the side of Lou’s face. “I have to go but meet me at the altar in the chapel tomorrow evening. Six o’clock sharp. Don’t be late.”

  “I’ll be the one wearing white.”

  “I’ll be the one wearing a red and green tartan.”

  I yank up my trousers and toss my shirt over my shoulder. My mum is standing with her arms crossed when I open the door.

  I lift my arm and point at my watch. “Well, would you look at that? Ten minutes until midnight. I’m leaving Lou’s bedroom in plenty of time so I won’t see my bride on the day of our wedding before she walks down the aisle to marry me. Satisfied?”

  “Cutting it a wee bit close, don’t you think, since you already have so much bad luck on your side? It isn’t wise to tempt fate.”

  My mum believes in old wives’ tales and the folklore that elders talk about.

  “Fate didn’t bring us together only to tear us apart. That’s what I believe to be true.”

  “I hope you’re right. But just in case, I have a sixpence for her to wear inside her shoe tomorrow.”

  All of the Hutcheson women get a sixpence coin on their wedding day. Mum sees to it. And Mina tossed the one my mum gave her into the shoebox instead of wearing it inside her shoe. She said it was ridiculous to walk down the aisle in a pair of pumps that cost a thousand pounds with a sixpence coin stuck in one of them.

  “Lou will love it. Thank you very much.”

  Mum lifts her chin, gesturing toward the hallway. “Go on. Get in your room and let her be. Both of you need your rest for tomorrow.”

  “No worries. There’ll be no more naughty out of me tonight.” I hug my mum and she kisses my cheek. “I love you.”

  “I love you too, son. And I’m so proud of the man you’ve become. You and Lou are going to be very happy together. This time, it’s meant to be.”

  “Yes, it is.”

  53

  Caitriona Louden

  I open my eyes and look at the time on my phone. It’s a few minutes after seven and there’s no Hutch beside me. He’s up and having his first cup of tar for the day.

  No, wait.

  It’s our wedding day.

  Our. Wedding. Day.

  I place my pillow over my face and squeal at the top of my lungs. I can’t believe that this day has finally arrived. I’m going to become Mrs. Maxwell Paden Hutcheson this evening.

  My beautiful ever after. It’s mine. I’m actually getting it.

  I’m changing out of my nightshirt when I hear a knock at the door. “Lou? It’s Clarissa. Are you awake?”

  “I am. Come in.”

  Clarissa has a cup of coffee in one hand and a glass of juice in the other. “I didn’t think you’d be sleeping in today.”

  “Definitely not.”

  “Did you sleep at all last night or did nerves keep you awake?”

  “I can’t believe it, but I actually slept really well.” I think that amazing orgasm was the reason.

  “You’re not nervous?”

  I thought I would be, but I’m not. “Excited is a better way to describe how I feel.”

  “That’s grand. You should enjoy your wedding day. Not wish it away because you’re ready to put the formalities behind you.”

  “I have no reason to be nervous. There will only be twelve people at our wedding, and three of them are children.”

  “There’s still time to call your family if you like. I wouldn’t want you to one day regret not having them here.”

  Sharing DNA doesn’t make them my family. “I don’t want them to come.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “They don’t have a place in my life. There’ll never be any regrets about them not being here.”

  “You are ours now, a Hutcheson, and we love you. We’ll always take care of you.”

  I blink rapidly when I feel tears forming in my lower lids. “When you don’t have a family of your own, you truly understand how important one is. And I’m so happy to be becoming a member of yours.”

  “I already have a daughter, but I feel like I’m gaining another one today.” Clarissa looks up and touches her fingertip to the inner corners of her eyes. “That’s enough of that on your wedding day. You don’t want your eyes to be red and swollen, and nor do I.”

  I’ve shed too many of those salty bastards for things I have no control over. I have a wonderful life ahead of me now, and I’m done with the waterworks. “No more tears.”

  “The men have gone hunting. They’ll be out most of the day, and Max arranged for the women to be pampered. We have a masseuse coming this morning and then a hairdresser and nail tech will be here after lunch.”

  That’s my Hutch—always pampering me like a princess. It’s what he promised right from the first and he hasn’t disappointed me yet. “He loves to pamper me and I’m sure that I have you to thank for that.”

  “I put a lot of effort into teaching Max how to treat women well. Ian too.”

  “Your effort shows.”

  “It’s taken thirty-four years, but Max is finally moving in the right direction. My worries are over with you as his wife. But Ian… I don’t know about that one.”

  “Hutch tells me that he and Shannon are trying to build a relationship.”


  “Married or not, people are usually already in love when they conceive a child. I don’t know how doing it in reverse is going to work for them. A bairn is very stressful. I just don’t know how they can fall in love while trying to figure out how to feed and change a newborn.”

  “It’s amazing how things can work out when you give it a shot.”

  “Aye. Let’s cross our fingers that we’ll be doing this with Ian and Shannon one day soon. Because the thought of my grandchild being raised by Shannon and a man other than Ian is more than I can stand.”

  This month has been dedicated to planning the wedding, so I’ve spent almost no time with Ian and Shannon. I have no idea what kind of relationship they have. Shannon seems nice, but I’m not really even sure what kind of person she is.

  “They have all of us in their corner supporting them. Hopefully, they can make it work. And from what Hutch says, they seem willing to try.”

  “Aye. There’s that at least.”

  My hour with the masseuse was incredible. Exactly what I needed. I’ll have to give Hutch a special thank-you for that tonight.

  I’m sitting in a chair in the middle of the bride’s room, and the hairstylist is curling my hair. Rachel is sitting on the bed watching her every move. “How are you wearing it today?”

  “The sides will be up and the back will be down.” Hutch loves my long hair when it hangs in loose curls. I wouldn’t dare wear it in an updo on our wedding day.

  “That’ll look great with the tiara and long veil.”

  The hairstylist gives me a mirror when she finishes curling my hair. “Tell me what you think and if you want to change anything.”

  “No changes. It’s exactly the way I wanted it.”

  Shannon comes into the bride’s room and sighs when she looks at me. “So bonnie.”

  “Thank you.”

  “The photographer sent me to tell you she’ll be ready for you in thirty minutes.”

  “It’ll take that long to get you into that dress. We better get to work on those buttons,” Rachel says.

  I stand in my robe by the bed as Clarissa and Rachel remove my dress from the garment bag. Looking at it gives me chills.