The Rock Star's Wedding

by Demelza Carlton

  His kiss seared her lips, caressing her tongue with far more fervour than he'd shown in the registry office.

  She wanted more than five minutes, though most men didn't last that long, in her experience. Jason was a man, after all.

  She slid her hands under his shirt, stroking the rock-hard abs she'd admired through her window every morning. Hers to caress now. "I want you," she admitted.

  "Fuck. And I want you, Xanthe. So fucking much. But I don't want to give you five minutes. Shit, I don't think five hours will be enough. I want you all night."

  Pressed against his body, melted by his kisses, Xan murmured her agreement.

  Jason pulled away. "That's why we need to get dinner first. Once our clothes come off, we're not going to be doing a fucking thing except make love until morning. I don't want to fuck this up."

  "You won't," Xan reassured him. "I'll make sure of it." She wasn't sure how, but she could work that bit out later. After dinner, if he insisted on it.

  FIFTY-SEVEN

  "Hey, there's a whole box of spring rolls here that we missed. You want one?" Jason asked.

  Xan didn't even glance at them as she shook her head. She just wasn't hungry any more. Nerves writhed like snakes in her belly, leaving no room for anything else.

  "I've fucked up again. I should have taken you to Sydney's finest restaurant, not ordered a bunch of stuff from the local Chinese. I'm sorry, Xanthe. I'm just so fucking euphoric about today that I wanted to keep you to myself for a bit longer." His eyes beseeched her. "Tomorrow, I'll take you out to dinner wherever you want. I'll find something with Michelin stars or something."

  "We can have all the fancy dinners we want at home. The resort's chefs are as good as any you'll find in Sydney, or anywhere in Australia."

  Jason ran his fingers through his hair, like he always did when he got nervous. "Right. Of course. What about dessert, though? We forgot to order sweets."

  He was as jittery as she was about tonight, Xan realised. One of them would have to take the initiative, of they'd be dithering all night. "I think it's time for the taking our clothes off bit."

  "You're sure?" he enquired.

  Xan laughed. "Now that has to be a first. I've never seen you hesitate about getting naked before, least of all around me."

  He grinned. Off came the pants, followed, one button at a time, by his shirt. He turned his back before he took off his undies, flashing his taut backside before he rotated around to show her the goods. Jason struck a Priapic pose, his hips thrust toward her so he jutted out impressively. "It's all yours, Xanthe. Every inch."

  She'd only ever seen him during or after a swim, and she'd thought him big then. But she'd never seen him properly turned on, like he was now. The man wasn't just big. He was huge.

  Xan swallowed. "You might have to go easy on me with that thing," she said. "I haven't had sex for three years. I might be a bit out of practice."

  Jason nodded gravely. "Three years? Seriously? We better start practising tonight." He eyed her dress. "I could bend you over the table right here if you want to keep that on, but I really want you to take it off. I've dreamed about you naked for a bloody long time."

  Xan rose and held out her arms. "Take me bed, Jason."

  He lifted her like the bride she was and carried her to his bedroom. He set her on her feet, pulling her in close for a kiss. Now, her pretty dress got in the way. Too much fabric between his skin and hers.

  Xan reached for her zip, but found his hands already there, undoing the back of her bodice in a steady purr. The straps slid down her arms, so she stepped away from him to allow the dress to puddle at her feet.

  He closed the distance between them in a moment, making her gasp as his body pressed against hers. Now, the only obstacle between them was her underwear. She didn't have time to think about it, though, because Jason was kissing her again. Devouring her lips, then pressing feather-light pecks along her throat to her chest. His deft hands slid her bra off so smoothly he didn't even pause in his path down her breast. She sighed as he took her nipple in his mouth, gently sucking for just a moment before he turned his attention to her other breast.

  Warm satin landed on her foot. Her knickers, she knew, removed by Jason's hands, which now cupped her bottom, pressing her firmly against him.

  All thoughts about size faded away as Xan hooked a leg around his hip, wanting nothing more than to feel him inside her. She murmured something to that effect, but she wasn't sure if he heard her, what with him so focussed on her breasts and all.

  Evidently he had, because the next thing she knew, Jason lifted her effortlessly so she sat in the middle of his king-sized bed with her knees bent up and everything between on display. She didn't have time to feel self-conscious, as Jason knelt between her legs, one hand lifting his length as the other stroked her thigh.

  Fear returned. Gods, it looked even bigger than before. More aroused than before, by her. Sure, she wanted him, but how in hell was he going to get that thing inside her?

  "Go easy on me?" Xan squeaked.

  Jason laughed gently. "Don't worry, I'll take it slow. We have all night." He took hold of her thighs, pulling her legs toward him so she lost her balance and her head hit the pillows. Her eyes never left his. "So you want to feel me inside you?" Jason murmured.

  No longer sure of her voice, Xan nodded.

  He gave her no warning, driving into her so sharply that she cried out. She clenched around him, but he withdrew as quickly as he'd entered her.

  Jason held up two dripping fingers. "Fuck, Xanthe, you're wetter than the ocean down there. And smooth as silk." He pushed his fingers slowly back inside her. And again. He'd angled his hand perfectly to hit all the right spots, and his eyes told her he knew it.

  His name became a breathless moan on her lips as he stroked her all the way to Elysium and back. She found herself shaking as he leaned in to kiss her, while his fingers maintained their relentless rhythm.

  She was no longer Xanthe, a woman of flesh and blood. She was a nebulous cloud of sensation, spun by Jason's skilful hands until she saw stars. Then she screamed, and Jason's face swam back into focus. Triumphant, grinning, as he lifted his dripping fingers to his lips.

  "You taste like the sea, too."

  Another orgasm like the last one would blow her apart, Xan was sure of it. She reached for him. "Make love to me, Jason," she implored.

  "I'm not done kissing you yet," he said. He moved down the bed, away from her, and Xan raised her head to see where he'd gone. He sat between her knees now, lifting her legs up higher.

  "Yes. Oh, yes," she murmured, bracing herself for his first thrust.

  His fingers parted her, the rough callouses on his fingertips rasping over sensitive skin until she let out a low moan. He knew exactly where to rub her just right so that she writhed in his grasp, plunging helplessly toward another rush of pleasure.

  Just as she peaked, he plunged into her, so that she came hard around him. It wasn't until she came up for air that she realised he was only teasing her with his tongue. Xan stared as Jason licked his lips, then lowered his head to run his tongue over her, inside her, again.

  And once again, she was lost. So completely out of control. And his, by all the gods, his.

  FIFTY-EIGHT

  Xan's body trembled all over, like a little lightning storm played across her skin and everything inside it. Jason's lips touched her thigh and lightning struck again, overwhelming her with sensation once more. She'd never felt so alive. So unearthly. Like a goddess made flesh for the first time. A goddess who'd married a sex god.

  She opened her eyes to the sound of Jason's laughter. "All night," he said. "We've had all night, and I still can't get enough of you."

  "All night?" No one lasted all night. Not outside of fiction, anyway. Xan raised her head to peer at the window. "It can't be dawn already."

  "It is. Our wedding night's over, Xanthe. I hope you enjoyed it." Jason flopped onto the pillow beside her with a blissful look on h
is face.

  It couldn't be over. "But we didn't...we didn't..."

  He'd spent the whole night pleasuring her. With his mouth, his hands, and the rest of his body. Except for the bit that mattered.

  "We didn't have sex," she said.

  "Plenty of time for that. When you're ready."

  Xan rolled onto her side so she could meet his eyes. "You've spent the whole night on foreplay and you still don't think I'm ready?"

  "I was waiting for you to ask. I didn't want to fuck up."

  Xan bit back her frustration. "You've given me more orgasms in one night than I've had in the decade before last night. That's the opposite of fucking up. More like...fucking awesome. Legendary, even." She climbed on top of him, so she could feel his arousal between her thighs. "Finish what you started, rock star."

  He barely hesitated. "Condoms are in the top drawer," Jason said, waving at the bedside cabinet.

  Xan took a deep breath. "I hate them." Nasty, sticky things. "I haven't slept with anyone for years, and I'm clean. Are you?"

  Jason stared at her. "Of course. I haven't slept with anyone for a year, and never without a condom."

  Xan found that hard to believe. "It can't be that long. Penelope was here until September, wasn't she?"

  Jason bowed his head. "I never did it with her. Not last year, anyway. I didn't sleep with any of the reality show contestants. The last time I had sex with a woman was...Gaia. A year ago."

  "And she made you swear off sex?"

  "For a week or so, yeah. Fuck, I had nightmares about her screaming for me to spank her harder, when it stung my hands as it was." Jason shuddered. "But when she left, you got out of that helicopter and it was like dawn breaking through the clouds. You let me hug you and it was like...home."

  Xan swallowed. He'd been in love with her that long and she hadn't even noticed? "But...a year? How did a rock star like you manage to keep your dick in your pants for a whole year?"

  "You were the one telling me to wear pants."

  She laughed. She might have told him to, but he'd rarely listened.

  "So what with being a good boy so long and all, the first time we do this, I'll be lucky to last five minutes."

  Xan ground her hips against him, making him groan. "Then I'll ask you for an encore later," she said.

  Honey-coloured eyes stared at her, filled with longing. "You really mean it?"

  She was aching for it. "Give me my five minutes, rock star."

  He shifted and they rolled together until he was on top.

  At least he hadn't picked doggy style, she thought as she relaxed beneath him like a proper missionary, ready to let him do all the work.

  Jason shook his head, lifting her legs up so high, her toes pointed toward the ceiling. "They might only be five minutes, but they'll be five fucking awesome minutes, I promise." He knelt so close to her that she could feel his knees behind her bottom.

  Before Xan could protest that she'd never heard of a sex position like this, she felt the heat of his tip parting her folds. Jason eased inside her, inching his way over skin so sensitised it sang at his touch. She closed her eyes in bliss.

  This. This was what she'd craved, longed for, dreamed about. Hot and hard and filling her so perfectly he felt like a part of her.

  But Jason had stopped moving. "Are you all right, Xanthe?"

  "Yes," she said, clenching lightly around him just to see if she could. Oh, that felt incredible. "Keep going."

  He chuckled. "Oh, I'm all in. Balls deep in my wife. You know what it feels like when you do that? Like coming home to the heat of a roaring fire, gliding through silk and that little clench thing you did there? That's a fucking welcome home hug right there. It even makes my toes curl."

  Home. He was right. Comfortable and yet toe-curlingly incredible, all at the same time.

  "Xanthe?"

  "Mmm?" Now she had him inside her, she didn't want to think about anything else.

  "What if I want more than five minutes?"

  She held her breath as he slid out of her just as tortuously as he'd glided in. No, almost out, before he resumed his slow thrust into her depths. "Take as long as you like," she breathed.

  "I want forever, Xanthe. Forever with you."

  "Then take it. I'm yours, and you're mine. Forever."

  When his triumphant shout harmonised with hers, a considerable amount of time later, sunlight streamed through the window, haloing them both as it bathed their bodies in light.

  "Is this what happily ever after feels like?" Jason murmured, his honey eyes sweet with love.

  Xan laughed. "Yes. And it's better than anything I ever read in a book, because it's ours."

  FIFTY-NINE

  Xan shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot in her new shoes, wishing she'd worn a different pair. Her body still ached from their lovemaking marathon, even after a stint in the spa. Or maybe it was the multiple encores that were responsible. Somewhere in her head, she'd made a mental note that slow and steady in a position Jason had called the anvil made for unbelievable sex. Part of her ache was a desire for more, she knew, though they'd have to wait until they reached the island for that. Then, in the privacy of his villa or her unit or maybe even the honeymoon suite, she'd surrender and let him worship her body all over again.

  At least she wouldn't be returning to Sydney for a while. She'd taken the time to call the Sydney hotel and tell them she wouldn't take the job. No, not even if they increased the salary. When they'd asked her why, she'd said it was because she loved island life too much to move to the city.

  Jason finished reading the recording company's prepared statement, and invited questions from the assembled crowd of reporters at the airport media conference.

  Xan should have predicted the first one, but it took them both by surprise.

  "Where's your bride?"

  Jason hesitated for a moment, then repeated what he'd said in the statement about his plans to tour Australia.

  His hand shook slightly as he pointed to another reporter for the second question.

  "Everyone knows you got married at a secret ceremony on Romance Island Resort a few weeks ago, and this is the first time you've been seen in public since then. But the one thing no one seems to know...who is the bride?"

  Jason fixed a smile on his face and launched into a paean of praise for the resort. Not once did he mention a wedding, or Caitlin, or his own bride. He finished with, "Romance Island Resort is the most romantic honeymoon destination you can imagine."

  He'd promised to show her, when she said she'd prefer to return to the island instead of staying another week in Sydney. Xan did her best to hide her smile, though she didn't think anyone was looking at her. All their attention was fixed on Jason, who continued to ask for questions he didn't actually answer. The reporters began to complain about Jason's stupidity, which Xan thought was particularly unfair. This was a press conference called to publicise the news of his comeback tour, not his personal life.

  "When will we get the wedding photos so we can publish them?" an irate reporter demanded, digging her long nails into her phone case as she strove to record his response.

  Probably never, if Xan had any say about it. And she did, seeing as she was in them. She'd had enough, anyway. She stepped up to the microphone beside Jason.

  "As always, Romance Island Resort respects the privacy of its guests, and I'm sure Mr and Mrs Felix are grateful for your discretion. Perhaps when they are ready, they will release photos to the press, but I understand Mr Felix is eager to return to the island, to continue their honeymoon. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank him for sharing his momentous music news, and wish him every happiness with his new wife." And with that, she called an end to the press conference.

  Now the whispers sounded like her name, as those who didn't know her were quickly filled in by those who did. Not a single one of them tried to ask her about his wife, though. None of them seemed to realise the truth – that Jason's bride stood before them, and t
hey hadn't asked her a single question, or tried to snap her photograph. So nothing had changed, really. They all still worshipped Jason the rock god, while she was...no one.

  And not important enough for Jason to introduce to them as his wife, either, Xan thought sadly, grabbing her carry-on case and wheeling it behind her.

  Jason hurried to catch up. "Thanks," he panted. "I thought they'd want to know more about the tour. Not...Caitlin."

  "Why didn't you distract them by telling them about me, then?" Xan asked.

  "I wouldn't throw you to the wolves like that. They'd eat you alive," Jason hissed, glancing back.

  "I can hold my own against a press crew. I did just fine back there," Xan reminded him.

  "Why didn't you tell them, then?"

  That brought her up short. "Because...well, you didn't. I figured you didn't want them to know. I mean, what sort of rock star marries a hotel manager? It's not the sort of thing people write romance books about."

  "Fuck the books," he growled. "This is real. I love you and I don't care what they think. I think you're fucking awesome."

  Xan wet her lips. "Tell them, then. Tell the world."

  Jason glanced back. "You want me to spill my feelings to those vultures?"

  "No," Xan said patiently. "Just tell them I'm your wife. We're about to hop on a plane to Broome, where we'll hide out at the island for as long as our honeymoon lasts. By the time it's over, they'll have run out of stories to spin about us, and moved on to the next celebrity crisis. Someone's boobs or bottom or baby."

  He stared at her for a long moment. "I'm not going to tell them anything. A picture tells a thousand words, right?" He grabbed her hand, the one with the ring. "Stick your hand on my shoulder, here. Now, hold on and look like you're enjoying it."

  He let out a piercing whistle, so every eye in the airport turned to him.