by A. Aubry
“Have you taken it yet today?” He scooted closer to me on the couch, my leg still resting across his lap.
I shook my head slowly, “Not yet, I usually take it before bed.”
Jameson put his hand on my cheek and I immediately turned into his touch, “Don’t take it tonight. We can start trying right away.”
“Okay. I love you, Jameson.”
“I love you too, Briella. Now, what do you suggest we do for your injury?”
“Elevation and ice will help with the swelling and probably numb the pain a bit,” I smiled.
Jameson nodded and gently lifted my leg before standing up and setting it back down on the couch. He disappeared in the direction of the kitchen and I took one of the pillows that was resting on his side of the couch and propped up my leg. When he returned, he had his laptop in one hand and a small sandwich bag filled with ice cubes in the other. He set up his laptop on the coffee table in front of us, starting one of the many Netflix shows that we were currently binge-watching. Lifting my bad leg up once again, he grabbed the pillow it was resting on and sat down, putting the pillow onto his lap. Almost as soon as I put my foot back onto the pillow, he placed the bag of ice onto my ankle and I screamed in surprise.
“What—What? Are you okay? Did I hurt you?”
“Fuck! That is so fucking cold!” I pulled my foot away from the makeshift ice pack.
Jameson chuckled, “I think that is the point, Bri.”
“Don’t you have something to put on top of my foot to be a tiny bit of a barrier? I don’t want fucking frostbite, Jay.”
Thinking for a second, Jameson put the bag of ice down onto the couch before unbuttoning his shirt and taking it off. Great, now my face was flushed. He folded it in half and rested it over my foot. Replacing the ice pack back onto my ankle, I sighed at the sensation rather than screaming.
“Better?”
“Much better. Thank you, Nurse Jay.”
“Hey, that is Dr. Jay to you.”
“Seeing you shirtless makes me want to play doctor with you,” I winked.
“As soon as your swelling is down, I’ll take you back to the bedroom for a full-body examination.”
“But—” I started as I began to undo the buttons on the bodice of my brand-new dress.
Jameson’s eyes watched my fingers work each button open as he swallowed hard. His tongue ran over his lips and I knew that I had his full attention from here on out. Opening the last button, I let the front of my dress fall open, exposing that I had neglected to wear a bra or panties to dinner this evening. The fact that Jameson didn’t notice at all was a good testament to how the dress was not see through, I took that as both a positive and a negative.
Jameson quickly folded the extra fabric of his shirt over the ice pack before tying it around my ankle. He held my legs up and slid off the couch to kneel in front of it while putting my legs over his shoulders. The way his lips felt against the inside of my thighs as they kissed upwards made me groan in anticipation.
“How did I end up with such a naughty wife?” He questioned as his eyes locked with mine.
“You make me want to be bad for you, husband,” I answered, threading my fingers through his hair.
“I’ll show you what naughty girls get when they come for a visit with Dr. Jay,” he said huskily.
The second that his tongue connected with the apex of my thighs, my head leaned back as I stared up at the ceiling. We definitely weren’t going to let the fact that I was momentarily injured interfere with our intimacy. All day, every day, was going to be like this with me and Jameson and I was far more than prepared for it.
“No, stop it!” I screamed as I ran away from Jameson on our private little beach.
“Oh, come on, Bri. Give him a kiss!” He said, chasing after me with a crab that had wandered onto our beach.
Thinking fast, I went to the picnic blanket we laid out and had been enjoying our own little picnic on before the crab had scuttled out of some nearby bushes, scaring the shit out of me. Grabbing a bottle of chocolate syrup that Jameson had smuggled off of the plane from our ride here, I took aim at him.
“You take one more step and you’re going to get covered in chocolate,” I said as sternly as I could.
Jameson pouted and turned the crab to look at him, “I’m sorry, buddy. Apparently, my wife isn’t interested.”
He walked the crab a good distance away from us and set him back down onto the sad. The crab quickly scurried off away in the opposite direction of us. Serves him right, I had no interest in being pinched by a crab today. Jameson came back to the picnic blanket and took a seat close to where I had chosen to sit down.
“I’m happy that you wouldn’t cheat on me with a crab,” he teased and leaned back on his elbows.
“I have no desire to cheat on you with any person or animal,” I stuck my tongue out at him and laid down on my side to face him.
Just as our lips were finding their way to one another, his phone began to ring from the picnic basket. I sighed as Jameson reached over me and I took the opportunity to rest my forehead against his chest. He smelt like the sea with just the perfect mixture of Jameson and it made my mouth water. Jameson pressed a button on his phone and soon the voice of the main security at his apartment floated out of the speaker.
“Hi Arthur, what can I help you with?”
“Mr. Barnes, I am very sorry to interrupt your honeymoon with Mrs. Barnes, but there has been an incident that I did not think could wait.”
Instantly, Jameson’s arm came around my waist as he set the phone on top of a container that had previously held our sandwiches from the deli up the road.
“If there have been any problems, I need to know. You are on speakerphone, Arthur, and Mrs. Barnes is with me.” God, the way Mrs. Barnes just rolled off his tongue gave me goosebumps.
“Hello, Mrs. Barnes. I hope you are enjoying your honeymoon,” Arthur said politely.
I smiled at Jameson who was already worried, “Hey Arthur, I am enjoying it very much.”
“That is good to hear. Now, as far as that incident goes…”
“Of course, what happened?”
I heard him clear his throat before he continued, “Another package was delivered to your residence. As per your request, it was opened to be searched for anything that might be dangerous or suspicious.”
When he paused, I tried not to cough at how awkward I still felt about how him and the other security opened the package that I had delivered to Jameson’s penthouse that was filled with lingerie for our honeymoon. A part of me wished I could’ve seen their faces, the other part of me couldn’t even say anything to them for a solid three days because I was so embarrassed. To be fair, I forgot that Jameson still had them checking the packages that came to his apartment in both of our names.
“It was addressed to Mrs. Barnes but under her maiden name,” he paused.
Jameson lowered his voice and looked at me, “Did you order more lingerie?”
I shook my head, “No way, I learned my lesson. I am going to go to the store to buy it from now on.”
Arthur continued, probably picking up on our conversation, “There was no return address listed on the label. We do have the name and address of the last package that Mrs. Barnes ordered and will not open any packages from that name and address in the future.”
Why did I feel both relieved and embarrassed about that? It’s not like I ordered several separate packages of lingerie for me to wear. Then again, now I could order other things from that website and know that the Calvary at the door was not going to open it before I did.
“So, what were the contents of this new, unreturnable package?” Jameson had begun to get a little irritated.
Any phone conversation that was longer than a few minutes on our entire honeymoon would make him irate. The first time that it happened, it completely caught me off-guard because he was normally so laid back and didn’t mind phone conversations. He had said that the reason he had gott
en upset was because this was our time to be together. The only times he was supposed to be contacted were if there were dire emergencies, which a lot of the phone calls weren’t. It made my heart flutter at how seriously he took our alone time together.
“Another one of those dolls, sir. This time, it had a note. It states ‘Leave him or else’.”
“Really? ‘Leave him or else’? She couldn’t come up with anything more original than that shit?” I wondered aloud.
Jameson silently laughed and shook his head at me before turning back to the phone, “Were the police called?”
“Yes, sir. They are on their way as we speak. I just thought that I should update you on the situation. I know that you are due to leave Greece in a couple of days. Are you still planning on going straight to Los Angeles from there?”
“Yes, that is the plan. We will be there from Monday until Thursday morning and we will be back on Thursday afternoon,” Jameson rubbed his forehead, exasperated with the situations that Melody kept on causing.
“Very well. We will give you a call and update you once the authorities have arrived and have conducted what they need for their investigation.”
“Thank you, Arthur. We will talk again later.”
Jameson didn’t even wait for him to answer before he hung up the phone. He sighed as he flopped back onto the picnic blanket and stared up at the sky. What I would give to be able to hear his thoughts right about now.
“You know that she will have to kill me if she wants me to leave you, right?” I tried to lighten the mood.
“Don’t talk like that, Briella. No one is going to kill you, no one is going to lay a fucking hand on you as long as I am around.”
“Jameson,” I moved as close as I could next to him and rested my hand on his chest, feeling his heart thumping under my fingertips, “I know you will protect me no matter what. I just don’t want you getting hurt in the process.”
“But you’re my wife—”
“Even though I am your wife, I don’t want to see you get hurt because of me. I love you so much, Jameson. I wouldn’t know what to do with myself if you something happened to you.”
Jameson grabbed my hand gently and brought it up to his lips. I really did love the way that he would do little gestures like that for me. Gavin never did that shit, never made me feel loved at any random moment of the day. I looked down at our hands as he laced our fingers together, his gold wedding band reflecting the sun.
“Baby…” I whispered as I moved my eyes up to meet his.
“Yeah?”
“Tell me you love me.”
“You already know that I do, Bri. I have loved you from the moment that I met you.”
A shy smile pulled at my lips and I leaned down to kiss him to hide the fact that I was blushing. Jameson kissed me back, rolling his body onto mine. Beating him to the punch, I kissed down to his neck, his skin warm from being in the sun for most of the afternoon.
“Hey Bri, your best friend Mr. Crab is back.” The smirk in his voice was very evident.
I jumped underneath Jameson, immediately stopping and looking around for the abnormal color on the beach. My heart was racing because I couldn’t stand anything that I wouldn’t normally see in Chicago. It took me a moment to realize that Jameson was laughing above me as I searched.
“Where the fuck is it?” I begged, my voice an octave higher than normal.
“I was just kidding. You should’ve seen the look on your face.”
“Fuck you!” I tried to push him off of me but his hands took hold of mine before pinning them above my head into the hot sand.
“Well, since you asked so nicely,” Jameson raised an eyebrow, an arrogant smile on his lips.
“You aren’t getting any of this, mister. To top it all off, you are sleeping on the couch,” I argued.
Jameson’s lips latched onto my neck and I had to fight the moan that was begging to be released, “I’m sorry, baby. I can make it up to you, I swear.”
I rolled my eyes, “You gonna start groveling? Because that’s what it’s going to take.”
Using his tongue, Jameson trailed down to the sensitive spot he found after our first night together and I instantly gasped. I could feel my nipples harden against my thin bikini top and a dampness begin to develop between my thighs. Shit, my body was definitely betraying my mind.
“I think I can do one better from groveling, my beautiful wife.”
Oh, I know you could.
Chapter Nineteen
“Well don’t you two play the part of the happy couple so well?” Zander teased as Jameson and I walked into Club Roma hand in hand.
I was still riding the high of our honeymoon but I was more than exhausted by the time changes. So tired, in fact, that Jameson had to dress me just so that we could make it to the club for his interviews. That was probably why I was wearing a sundress and some flip flops because when it came to dressing me, Jameson was more interested in taking off my clothes rather than putting them on.
All I could do was simply smile at Zander. Normally, I had a great comeback just waiting to be said to him. But my mind was still on Greece time and it was still wrapped up in my alone time with my husband.
“Did you fuck her into silence last night or something?” Zander laughed as he waved his hand in front of my face.
“She’s rarely ever silent when I fuck her,” Jameson quipped.
“Jameson Warren!” I scolded him, attempting to let go of his hand.
He gripped my hand tighter and pulled me into his arms, “I couldn’t help it, baby.”
I sighed, exasperated, “Need I remind you that the couch is always a sleeping option for you?”
“You don’t mean that. You love sleeping next to me.”
“You do make a good pillow.”
“There’s my sassy wife.”
“Okay, enough. You two make me sick with your cuteness,” Zander stuck out his tongue like he just ate something rancid.
Jameson kissed my lips quickly and winked at me. Our banter never got old and my warnings of him sleeping on the couch were a bunch of shit anyways. He was right, I did love sleeping next to him. Ever since the first night he ever took me home from this club, I was pretty infatuated with sleeping beside him. A sense of safeness and security always enveloped me whenever he was beside me, even when he was fast asleep.
Peter rushed up to our little group, a wide smile on his face, “The news crew is here guys. I told them to set up down here at the bar.”
“Sounds great, man. But you need to take a breath, you look more nervous than when you first introduced us to Cameron.” Zander patted him on the back heavily and chuckled.
Peter had introduced the group to Cameron at mine and Jameson’s reception. Well, technically she met the guys before the ceremony. But I didn’t get to be there for that part because of the whole ‘don’t see the groom before the wedding’ bullshit. She seemed like a perfect fit for Peter, very calm and collected. Now all we had to do was find a girl for Zander and we would be golden. Ha, who was I kidding? We’d never find a girl that was as outspoken as Zander.
“I’ll go up in the VIP area, Jay. Maybe I can squeeze a nap in on the couch? Jet lag is kicking my ass this time around,” I ran my hand through Jameson’s hair once to smooth it out.
“Of course, Bri. If you need anything at all just holler and I will get it for you.” I could feel his hands move from my hips to my stomach.
This was a new thing that Jameson had been doing since we decided to start trying for a baby. We knew that it probably wasn’t going to happen in the next week if it hadn’t happened already because my period was due soon. I wasn’t one to complain when Jameson’s hands were on me, especially when one day we would be expecting and his hands would rest on the curve of my belly as it held our baby.
“Something you wish to share with the group?” Zander inquired as he watched our small interaction.
Jameson turned his attention to Zander as I straightened
his tie, “Bri and I are working on starting a family, if you must know.”
Zander’s eyes got wide, “You’re kidding, right? We are all still young, man. What is the need for a baby this early? Besides, you guys just got married.”
Jameson rolled his eyes and I could feel him tense under my hands, “I’m going to be thirty, Z. Time isn’t exactly slowing down for us. Bri and I want a family together and when we start that is for us to decide.”
“Boys, that’s enough,” I interrupted, noticing the news crew shuffling in with their equipment and starting to set up, “We can’t have you all arguing about what one person in the group is doing. You three are best friends and have a successful chain of nightclubs that are open. Whenever Jameson and I end up having children will not put a damper on anything. So, get your heads out of your asses and start acting like the friends that you are.”
“Damn, Jameson, you picked a good one right here,” Peter laughed as he straightened his own tie.
“I know I did,” Jameson acknowledged.
I brushed our lips together before letting go of him and going over to Zander. Helping him straighten his tie, because lord knew that he needed the help, I smiled up at him in the friendliest way that I could muster. The last thing that I wanted was to come between Jameson and his friends, especially if we were bringing a family into the picture. Jameson needed his friends support no matter what.
“Will you please not be so hard on my husband, Zander? He cares about you like a brother, he deserves the same respect that he treats you with,” I reminded him softly.
Zander nodded and let me make the final adjustments to his tie, “I’m sorry, Bri. It just took me by surprise.”
I shrugged and patted his tie when I was finished, “I’m sure it did, but that doesn’t mean that you can talk to Jameson that way. I’m not going to stand in the way of your guys’ friendship at all, not even when we have children. It is important that Jameson has you guys and it is important that you all stick together because the three of you make your clubs run like well oiled machines. Without even one you, this all would fall to the ground.”
