by Max Monroe
My eyebrows pinched together, and I turned to the sound of Georgie in the bathroom door. “I don’t know, I don’t want to know, I don’t need to know. Just take care of it,” I said in vague dismissal.
Thatch laughed yet again in my ear. “Break it to her easy, K. Probably best if you mumble it while your mouth is otherwise occup—”
“Bye,” I interrupted, pulling the phone from my ear and hanging up before he could say anything else.
“Who was that?” Georgie asked, cinching her towel tighter around her body. This definitely wasn’t the way I wanted to start the second part of our day. I had a special dinner planned, and I wanted my wife nothing but sated, sassy, and seductive. If she knew about Walter, all of those things would go straight to hell.
“Thatch,” I muttered, turning around to set my phone on the nightstand and gathering my thoughts on how to handle this.
“Is everything okay? Is Cass okay? Did Walter kill her?” she asked rapid-fire, immediately on edge. I had to smile about the last question.
“Did he kill her?” I asked with a snicker. “You know, Benny, I’m searching my brain, but all I can seem to remember is you defending him. Telling people what a sweetheart he is. Why would you think affable little Walter would do anything other than love and protect your best friend?”
Her eyes narrowed, and a foot rotated out into her fighting stance. I bit my lip to curtail a smile. “This isn’t about Walter. This is about Cassie. I love her dearly, but she’s really good at instigating and infuriating. It wouldn’t take much of her to make our softhearted cat turn.”
I shook my head and charged her, scooping her into my arms and smelling the fresh scent of her neck. She squealed but wrapped her arms around my shoulders. I tugged her towel free and spoke at the same time. “God, you’re good. Are you sure you can’t come back to work with me?”
She pulled back, pushing me off her gently and raising a brow. “Kline—”
“I know, I know. You’re happy where you are. I get it,” I surrendered, pulling her immediately back into my arms.
“Kline, we should talk about this. It’s obviously bothering you.”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” I told her honestly. “I want to ignore it and everything else but you and us and our honeymoon.”
She put a hand to my jaw and looked into my eyes.
“Does it bother me?” I went on. “Yeah. Obviously, it does. But not like you’re thinking, and not to the point that I can’t put on my fucking big-boy pants and get over it. When our honeymoon is over, we’ll talk about it more. Make the compromises we need to. But for now, the only aggression I want between the two of us is between the sheets, on the deck, in the pool, in the shower—any-goddamn-where as long as our clothes are off and our bodies are as close as we can get them.”
“Baby,” she whispered, wrapping her tan, bare legs around my waist and squeezing tight.
“Let’s start now, Benny. Argue with me the only way I like it.”
“Why are you so good with words?” she replied softly as she pulled her body closer into mine.
“Business,” I told her with a wink. She laughed. “And to use as a tool to woo you.”
“I’m wooed,” she responded with a smirk. “Whatever will you use your mouth for now?”
Reaching around and under her ass, I sank the tips of my fingers right in between her legs and nibbled at her shoulder. “I was going to use it to get your pussy ready for me, but she’s already all set.”
“Um,” she mumbled through a moan. “What is ready? I mean, can you ever really be ready?”
“You’re right,” I agreed as I laid her gently on the bed and shoved my boxer briefs down my legs and stepped out of them. I stroked my cock from root to tip and back again before running the fingers of my other hand straight up the middle of her wet pussy. “There’s no way she’s ready for this,” I taunted. “My tongue is gonna tease you until you think you’re prepared. That sound good, Rose?”
She always blushed when I called her that, and when she was completely bare, the color didn’t stop at her cheeks.
Down to my knees, I scooped her legs up and over my shoulders and buried my face right in the middle. Her hips chased my tongue, and I pushed forward to make sure they didn’t have to go far.
“Mmm,” I moaned, deeply sucking in all of her sweetness. “My little flower tastes good.”
“God, Kline,” she hummed.
She was magnificent in all of her pleasure, licking lips and greedy hips moving at a constant pace. She wanted more and less, and I intended to give her everything she wanted, even if it was impossible. The sun-darkened color of her skin made her eyes stand out, and every second I spent looking at her pussy, I could feel them on me. Watching, begging—fucking forcing me to work her harder, faster, slower, softer. Everything she asked for, I felt it, and you couldn’t convince me there was any better feeling in the world than being this in tune with another person.
“Come on, baby,” I pushed while I teased her ass with my thumb and her clit with my tongue. “Get ready. Get fucking soaked.”
I pumped two fingers in and out of her and she clenched around me, but she did it silently. Lost in her euphoria, her head fell back and her mouth fell open. I hated not seeing her eyes, but the line of her throat, the spasm in her thighs, and the grip of her hand in my hair told me every goddamn thing I ever wanted or needed to know.
“Ready?” I asked, climbing to my feet and wrapping a hand around the base of my aching dick.
She demanded my arousal with her eyes and my heart with her words. “Always.”
Always.
Bora Bora, Friday, April 21st, Afternoon
I stirred from my afternoon doze on the quiet beach as strong hands kneaded into my back. Glancing over my shoulder, I found Kline kneeling beside my prone form, holding a bottle of sunscreen in one hand as he squirted more lotion into his open palm.
I took a minute to enjoy the view. His body gloriously bared, only a pair of swim trunks sat low on his trim waist. He was fresh off a swim, dark hair slicked back with several rogue droplets of water slipping down his chest to the muscles of his abdomen, and if his hands kept up this delicious torture, he wouldn’t be the only one wet.
“How long have I been asleep?” I asked, voice raspy from yet another nap under the sun.
In my defense, I was tired from last night’s exertions that included more than one round of hot honeymoon sex. Before that, we had dinner on the beach, with Kline hand-feeding me through most of it. Yeah, there was no denying my husband was one swoony bastard. He wooed me right out of my panties and onto his orgasm-inducing cock.
“Probably an hour,” he said, a smile in his voice. His hands made a slow descent down my back, rubbing soft circles into my skin. “This is becoming a habit, Benny girl. You falling asleep by noon.”
“It’s all your fault,” I muttered, turning my head to the side and resting it on my folded hands.
“My fault?” he asked while his devious fingers slid my bikini bottoms out of the way.
“Uh-huh.” I shut my eyes and swallowed a moan.
His large hands gripped my ass and pretended to apply sunscreen.
“Pretty sure I don’t need sun protection there.”
“I’m thorough, Georgie.” He was undeterred, still groping my body in the name of preventing sunburn.
“This feels less like you applying sunscreen and more like you trying to get me naked.”
He smacked my ass, and I squealed in surprise. When my eyes met his, I wasn’t surprised to find them positively glowing.
“Turn over and let me get the rest of you.”
I giggled, turning over onto my back, and my eyes squinted as the bright sun shone directly into them.
Kline kneeled between my spread legs, hands sliding up my sides until his fingers stopped to play with the edge of my bikini top. “Damn, you’re fucking beautiful.” He rested his elbows beside my head and placed soft, sweet kisses
against my lips. “I could spend the next fifty years just staring at my gorgeous wife and never have my fill.”
“Fifty years from now, I’ll be a lot less gorgeous and a lot more wrinkled and gray,” I said against his persistent mouth.
He leaned back just enough to meet my gaze. “In my eyes, you’ll always be the most stunning, tiny, perfect being.”
“Even when I’m old?”
“Especially when you’re old.” He placed a wet, deep kiss against my lips.
See what I mean? Swoony fucking bastard.
His lips rested against mine as he spoke again. “My standards will have lessened, and I’m pretty sure you’ll age well.”
Hmm…Okay, so maybe he’s just a bastard.
Chuckles bounced off my skin as he lost himself in his humor.
“Relax, baby. I’m kidding.”
“You better be kidding,” I mumbled, huffing and puffing on my chair as I pushed him away.
He resumed his sunscreen application, squirting more into his palm and kneading those strong fingers into my belly. “What do you want to do today?”
Hells bells, his hands were an aphrodisiac.
I thought it over, but I didn’t have to think hard. “Stay here and let my husband give me the five-star treatment.”
He chuckled, waggling his brows. “All of my massages end with happy endings.”
“I thought this was sunscreen application?”
“Okay. All activities that include my hands on you end happily.” He winked and moved those greedy hands farther up my stomach until they were resting just below the swell of my breasts.
Oh boy, this man was perfect. If he kept it up, I’d start purring like a fucking cat.
Purring like a cat? For some reason, I felt like I’d been down this line of thinking before.
Oh, shit! Cat! The cat!
I sat up abruptly, forcing Kline’s hands to fall from my skin.
“Hey, I wasn’t done,” he responded, hands moving toward me again. They found my ribs and started tickling me into giggling.
“Stop it!” I playfully slapped him away and grabbed my beach bag, rummaging through it in search of my phone.
“You bring some toys to the beach, Benny?”
“No, you kinky bastard,” I said through a laugh. I pulled my phone from the bag and held it up for him to see. “I forgot to call Cass and check on Walter.”
His expression changed from devilish smirk to something a lot less excited in the span of a heartbeat.
“What’s wrong?” I tilted my head to the side, taken aback by his sudden change in mood.
Silent and brooding, he stared into my eyes and searched for an answer to an unknown question.
“Kline?”
He grimaced before he spoke. “I need to tell you something.”
My nose crinkled involuntarily. “Is everything okay?”
“I talked to Thatch and—”
“Oh, my God!” My hand covered my mouth. “Did something happen? Did something happen to Cass?”
He shook his head. “No, baby. Cassie is fine.”
I put my hand to my chest, trying to slow my racing heart. “Don’t scare me like that. I thought something terrible happened.”
“Baby, Thatch called yesterday to tell me that…” He trailed off, watching me with concerned and cautious eyes. He took a deep breath and then finally added, “Walter got out of the apartment, and they’re having a hard time locating him.”
“What?” My eyes bugged out and I shot to my feet, pointing an accusatory finger in Kline’s face. “Walter is missing, and you didn’t fucking tell me?!”
His face was a mask of shame and Ah, shit, yes, and the combination of the two sent me running for our bungalow.
“Georgia!” I heard him call after me.
But I was at a damn near sprint, racing to get inside and pack my shit. Call me a lunatic, I didn’t care. My baby was missing, and I’d be damned if he spent another lonely night in some decrepit alley in New York.
Tears filled my eyes as I pictured him walking the streets, cold, wet, and with no goddamn food.
My husband found me in the bedroom, tossing my suitcase onto the mattress.
“Baby,” he said, voice hesitant. “What are you doing?”
“What does it look like I’m doing?” I threw my hands out in front of me in a wild, erratic gesture of isn’t it fucking obvious. “I’m packing my shit. I need to get home! Walter is missing and cold and wet and lonely and just walking the streets of New York looking for me.”
I moved toward the closet to get my clothes, but I stopped in my tracks as my brain started conjuring all of the worst scenarios. “Oh, my God!” I covered my mouth with my hand as a shocked gasp escaped my lungs. “What if he becomes desperate, Kline? What if he has no other choice but to start prostituting himself for food? You know he’s not good at making new friends! There’s no way he’s been accepted by the good crowd. He’s probably already addicted to heroin!”
“Georgie,” Kline cooed in my ear, arms wrapping around my body and pulling my back into his chest. “I’m sure Walter is fine. You know Maureen. She made sure he has one of those GPS tracking chips. I bet Cass and Thatch have already found him by this point.”
“You don’t know that! They would’ve called if they found him.” I pushed his arms away and moved into the closet, yanking clothes off the hangers.
Kline was standing by my suitcase when I strode back in with both arms full of sundresses and bikinis.
“Call the airline! We have to get on the next flight out.” I threw everything into my suitcase and headed for the bathroom to grab my toiletries.
But my husband stopped my momentum, wrapping his arms around me again and pulling me into a tight bear hug.
“We don’t have time for this!”
He kept his hold on me, lifting me into his arms and carrying me into the hallway.
“Put me down!” I tried like hell to get out of his hold as he walked down the stairs, but it was pointless. He was too strong, no matter how much adrenaline I had running through my system.
He sat me down on the kitchen island, stood between my knees, and his hands gripped my thighs to hold me in place. “I need you to take a deep breath and calm down for a minute.” His voice should have been calming, but it was just pissing me off more.
“I can’t calm down!” I shouted. “Everything is all fucked up! Our cat is missing, and you didn’t tell me. You lied to me, Kline! I feel like you keep lying to me about a lot of shit.”
His eyes turned remorseful at my accusations, but they weren’t completely complacent either. “I know I should have told you about Walter, but I didn’t want you to panic.”
“You told me everything was fine and that Walter was good, but in reality, he’s sitting in an alley shooting up heroin!”
“Baby, I—”
“Do not baby me.” I pointed my index finger at him.
His eyes narrowed, and one thing became clear. Sweet, patient Kline was losing a little of both.
I knew I was probably being a little—okay, a lot—irrational, but I couldn’t help it. Ever since the whole Rose and Ruck debacle, my husband had made it a point always to be open and honest with me, but lately, he had been doing the opposite. I knew he wasn’t happy about my job situation, yet he just kept brushing it off and refusing to discuss it.
But it was bothering him. Big. Time. And, let’s be honest, the fact that it was bothering him was really bothering me.
And now, he’d lied to me about the cat. It felt like the icing on the dishonesty cake.
“Georgia,” he started to say, but I held up my hand.
“I can’t go there right now. I need to call Cassie and see if they’ve found Walter.”
I glanced around the kitchen, but I remembered the last time I had my phone was before I had hauled ass to our bungalow. “Shit! I think I left my phone on the beach.”
Kline grabbed my bag—that he had obviously carried insi
de for me—from one of the barstools and reached inside. “Here.” He handed the phone to me. “Call Cassie and see if they found Walter.”
I didn’t even hesitate. Three rings in, I hopped off the island and started to pace.
On the fourth ring, she finally answered. “Helloooooo, Wheorgie! How’s Bora Bora? Is Kline at least feeding you between—”
“Did you find Walter?” I asked, too worried to let her ramble any further.
“Uh…I guess Kline told you about that, huh?”
“Did you find my cat?” I snapped.
“He has a tracking device, Georgie. We could find him on the moon with the GPS shit your mother-in-law embedded under his skin.”
“Oh, thank God.” I breathed a sigh of relief. “I was about one minute away from booking a flight home.”
“You were going to leave your honeymoon because the dickhead…was missing?”
“Are you kidding me? My baby was missing! Of course, I was going to fly home to find him!”
“Slow your roll, Susie. No need to make me deaf,” she muttered into my ear.
“Is he okay?”
“Uh…yeah…I’m sure he’s just fine.”
“He’s not hurt? Was he scared? I can’t believe he was lost and roaming the streets of New York all by himself.”
“Walter is one tough little asshole. You have nothing to worry about.”
“Will you stay at our apartment for the rest of our trip? I think he could really use the companionship.”
“Already planned on it. Sorry to cut this short, but I gotta jet. I’ve got a shoot in about thirty minutes. I’ll call you later, okay?”
“Sounds good. Oh, hey, Cass?
“Yeah?”
“If you lose my cat again, I will kill you.”
She scoffed. “You can guarantee I won’t lose that little bastard a second time.”
“Good.”
“Georgia, stop sulking and go blow your husband. Lord knows he probably needs the extra attention after watching you lose your shit.”
“I did not lose my shit!”
Kline snorted in the background.
“Sure you didn’t.” She laughed. “My money says you had half your shit packed and were already telling Kline to book a flight.”
