by Ali Parker
“You look so good in that dress,” he murmured against my mouth. “It was hard to keep my hands off you the whole time.”
He moved his hand between my legs and eased my panties off, and my toes curled as I felt his fingers skim across the bare skin of my thighs. I could still feel him smiling against me, that cocky grin on his face as he guided me toward him once more, his mouth finding my neck and his lips caressing softly over my throat. He bared his teeth for a split second, and the frisson of danger as they dragged over my skin was almost too much to take.
“Mmm,” he purred as he moved his hand up between my legs once more. “You’re already wet.”
“Pregnancy hormones,” I shot back playfully.
“So nothing to do with me, then?” He ran two fingers down either side of my clit, pulling the skin taut and making me groan with need for him.
“Nothing at all,” I managed to reply, and that was all the encouragement he needed to prove his point; he plunged two fingers into me suddenly, catching me off-guard, the pleasure making my body writhe all at once. I clutched to him for dear life, hanging on to that crisp blue shirt as he began to fuck me with his fingers, going slow, taunting me.
“You feel so good,” he murmured into my ear. “And we don’t have to use a condom, remember?”
“Oh,” I groaned, arching my back up off the bed to encourage him deeper. He slowed his roll, torturing me with the promise of more. I wanted him inside of me, to feel him fuck me, but I knew he was going to play these games a lot longer before I got what I needed. Not that I was complaining.
He shifted his hand so that the heel was brushing lightly against my clit, and I closed my eyes and tipped my head back helplessly beneath him. He was going to make me come before he fucked me. He always did as though reminding me that he could make me come just like that, however he wanted and whenever too. And I might have protested that kind of arrogance if it hadn’t totally been true.
“Fuck, Kristo,” I panted, as he traced his fingers over my exposed neck.
“I like it when you say my name,” he murmured, and I moved my hand over his chest, beginning to unbutton his shirt. I looked him dead in the eyes, reclaiming a little of that control for myself.
“Kristo,” I repeated again, letting the word play on my tongue for a moment. He whipped the shirt off, grinned, and kissed me again, harder than before. With his tongue in my mouth and his fingers in my pussy, I felt my body begin to tremble, the tension that had been building all day long on the brink of giving in at last.
And then, it hit me. The pleasure rushed through me like a gasp of air, my pussy clenching around his fingers as I came. I opened and closed my mouth in wordless ecstasy, but even as the orgasm hit me, I knew I needed more.
He stripped me down swiftly, tossing aside his own pants and boxers, and laid down on top of me carefully, so as not to put too much weight on me. I ran my nails over his back, loving the feel of his muscles beneath my fingers. Hell, if this was what the rest of pregnancy was going to be like, then you could count me in, nausea or no nausea.
“You look so beautiful right now,” he murmured, and I kissed him, starving for his touch, his mouth, for anything I could get.
“I need you inside me, Kristo.” I repeated his name once more, and as though it was a charm, he obliged. Sliding between my legs, he parted my thighs and took his cock in his hand. I had a momentary panic about us not using a condom, but then I remembered what he’d mentioned earlier. We wouldn’t need one now that I was pregnant. Skin on skin, together with no barrier between us at last. I ran my hands over his neck and his shoulders, and he looked deeply into my eyes as he guided himself into me.
“Fuck,” he groaned as he moved into me. “You feel fucking amazing.”
I was surprised he could even speak because the words seemed to be escaping me for the time being. I pressed my hands into his chest, letting my nails trace his skin, the place where his heart was, as he began to move inside of me. He felt almost too good, too intense, but soon the feeling mellowed into something I could handle. He brushed his lips across mine, nearly tender, as he moved his hands down to sink his fingers into my ass and fuck me hard.
“Oh my god,” I gasped as he moved into me, rocking my hips back up so I could take him deeper. I craved every part of him, as much as I could take, in a way that I never had before. Knowing he was raw inside of me, something I had never shared with anyone else before, was just making it all the more intense. His breath was coming fast, and I knew he was enjoying this as much as I was. I could already feel his muscles tensing as we moved helplessly against each other, both of us giving in to the pleasure.
We held each other so tight and so close, it was like we were trying to become one being, like we would never extract ourselves from each other’s arms. I thought back to waking up in bed next to him that first morning and wondered how I could ever have forgotten any of this. I had never found this connection with anyone before, this physical desire that seemed to run so deep in me, it carved a whole new valley in its wake. He kissed me again, pushing a strand of hair back from my face, and suddenly, I was back in the present, getting close once more. My pussy was so sensitized, I could hardly take a moment more, and I knew exactly what I had to do to get him to where I was.
“Kristo,” I murmured in his ear. “Kristo.”
“Fuck,” he growled in my ear, and he thrust one more time deep into me and came hard. I could feel his body convulsing on top of mine as I sank my nails into his shoulders and held him steady. The feel of him coming was all I needed to push me over the edge, my body shivering from head to toe as it hit me. It was more mellow than the last one but more intimate, too, the intensity emotional instead of physical.
He slowly slid out of me and collapsed on the bed beside me, catching his breath. I watched with something close to pride as he gasped for air, satisfied that I had managed to exhaust my man so thoroughly.
He caught my hand and brought it to his mouth, brushing his lips over the knuckles. Then, he turned to smile at me.
“See? Never too tired,” he told me, almost proudly. I giggled.
“No, I can see that,” I agreed, and I reached over to push a strand of overgrown hair from his eyes. “You need a haircut.”
“Yup,” he agreed, fiddling with his hair. “Guess you’ve just been keeping me busy.”
“And I fully intend to keep up with that.” I grinned, and I felt myself soften toward him now that the rampant desire was beginning to fade. I laid my head on the pillow next to him, and he smiled at me as our eyes met.
“I’m so glad we’re together,” I sighed, and he grinned and planted a kiss on my cheek.
“So am I,” he agreed. “I love you, Amaya.”
“I love you too,” I replied, and before I knew it, my eyes began falling shut as he pulled me close to him. I let the sound of his heart against my head soothe me and quickly found myself falling into a deep, restful, and much-needed sleep.
61
Five days till Jolene moved in. Six weeks until the wedding. And about thirty seconds before I tossed my sister out of my office.
“Really, Cleo, it’s going to be okay,” I promised her. “You need to calm down. It’s not that big a deal.”
“Of course, it is!” she exclaimed, shooting a furious look in my direction. “I really liked this girl, Kristo. And now she’s just gone. Like that. I can’t believe it.”
I ran my hand through my hair and tried to center myself. I had never much been good at this kind of thing, but it was my sister, so I would give it a go.
“Come on, tell me about it.” I crouched down in front of where she had crashed dramatically into the seat in my office just a few minutes before. “It can’t be that bad, can it?”
She wiped the tears away from her eyes and gave me a hard look.
“You’re getting married soon,” she reminded me. “You don’t know what it’s like to have your heart broken.”
I thought back to the
moment when Amaya had walked out on me, when she had told me she’d loved me. I hadn’t been able to think of a single thing to say back to her and had to watch her go. I grimaced at the memory. I had an idea of what it was to get your heart broken, but I had a feeling my sister didn’t want to hear it from me at that moment.
“Okay, but I know how much it sucks,” I assured her. “And this girl, if she was really that special, she would still be around, wouldn’t she? She obviously doesn’t know what she’s missing out on.”
Cleo raised her gaze to meet mine, and I could see a flicker of incredulity in her eyes.
“You really aren’t good at this stuff, are you?” she remarked, and just that suddenly, my sister was back, ribbing me like she always did.
“You know I’m not.” I shrugged apologetically. “But seriously, if this woman wouldn’t stick around for you, then she’s not worth your time in the first place.”
“We were seeing each other for a few months,” she sighed heavily. “I really thought—I don’t know, I just thought it might have been something real, you know? Someone to take to the wedding with me.”
“I wouldn’t want anyone at the wedding who wouldn’t appreciate you the way you deserve,” I told her firmly. “You’re my best man, after all. I’m not having you get screwed around.”
“You’re still banging that drum?” She cocked her head at me and wiped her nose. “You really want me to be your best man?”
“I already told you, it’s the only way I’ll forgive you for blowing up my life with telling everyone about the contract,” I reminded her. She grinned and shook her head.
“I’m only doing it because I’ll look awesome in a tuxedo,” she replied. “Who’s Amaya’s maid of honor? Aren’t I supposed to get together with them?”
“Yeah, that’s Jolene, so you may want to hold off on that.” I raised my eyebrows at her, and she sank back down into the chair, defeated. Then I remembered Darla. The two of them seemed to have hit it off that night they spent at the dinner we’d hosted, but Cleo had been seeing someone, so those two hadn’t taken it any further.
“What about Darla?” I reminded her. “You guys seemed to get on really well, and she’ll be coming to the wedding. You should see if you can do something with her.”
“Yeah, I actually might.” Cleo nodded, furrowing her brow. “We had a really good time when we went for that drink.”
“Just that drink?” I raised my eyebrows at her playfully.
“Just that drink,” she shot back, swatting my arm. I grinned. I was so glad she was going to be my best man. I couldn’t think of anyone more suited to the job, but maybe that spoke to the fact that I didn’t have so many people close to me more than anything else.
I knew Cleo was in the same boat. It was hard, growing up between Greece and America, to hang onto friends where we could. Growing up, it had really just been the two of us, hanging on together to make sure we had some company our own age. Sure, there were the cousins back home, but they always seemed a little cliquey and treated us as outsiders because we spent so much time in the States. While Cleo had found a few socialite friends to flit around with, it was still me she came to when shit went down the way it had with her latest girlfriend. I assumed that’s why she’d been so mad about the contract, not because it existed in the first place but because I hadn’t told her about it before. I got it, I did. If there was one person I told everything to, it had been Cleo. But now someone else had taken that spot in my life, and I wanted to find her someone new to share that kind of relationship with too.
“I guess I should probably let you get back to work.” She sighed and dragged herself to her feet, as though it was some great trial to even pull herself upright. “And can you get me Darla’s number from Amaya? I guess we were a little distracted the first night we met, and I forgot to ask for it.”
“Just drinks, huh?” I teased again.
“Just drinks,” she repeated, but she was grinning like she was sitting on a secret. I gave her a quick hug and saw her to the door.
“Take care of yourself, okay?” I ordered her. “I’m going to need you running properly these next few weeks. The wedding’s coming up, and then …”
“And then we’re going to have to start putting shit together for the nursery.” She clapped her hands together in excitement. “Oh my god, I can’t wait to meet my little niece.”
“Or nephew,” I reminded her. “We don’t know the gender yet.”
“Yeah, I have a feeling.” She tapped her nose.
“Just make sure anything you do get is gender-neutral,” I suggested. “Just on the slight chance you’re not right about this.”
“Impossible,” she replied. “I’m always right about this stuff.”
“Right, okay.” She held her hands up. “I’m going to get out of here. I have loads I need to get done today.”
“You working this afternoon?” I tried to keep the incredulity out of my voice and obviously failed, judging by the rolling of her eyes as the words came out of my mouth.
“Is that such a shock?” she asked, and I just stared at her silently for a few moments, letting the quiet say what I didn’t dare to.
“Yeah, yeah, I guess.” She shook her head and laughed. “I’m still not used to coming into the office, all right? I’m getting there.”
“No, it’s good,” I assured her. “Takes some of the weight off me.”
“That’s kind of the point.” She shrugged. “I want to be able to help. I want there to be someone here you trust if you do want to take some time away from work when the baby comes along.”
“That’s really sweet of you.” I smiled, and she gave me a quick hug.
“You should come around for dinner again soon,” I suggested. “Spend some more time with Amaya and Jolene before the wedding, get to know them a little better.”
“Make sure Amaya forgives me for the shit with the contract, huh?” She winced slightly, and I chuckled.
“Yeah, that can’t hurt,” I replied. “Maybe I could invite Darla as well?”
“Maybe you could.” She grinned and bit her lip. I could tell that she was already running through every single way she could get her claws into Amaya’s new friend.
“I’m sure she’ll like you,” I assured her, and she flashed me a big, cocky smile, one that I recognized from seeing it on myself.
“I know that. I’m just perfect,” she teased me. “I’m going now, properly this time. Catch you later?”
“Catch you later.” I waved her off, and I watched as she went out the door and back down to the office we’d set aside for her years before when she had made some vague noises about wanting to come work at the company. As it turned out, that had been little more than posturing, and the office had spent several years gathering dust and remaining empty, but now here she was, making an effort. I didn’t precisely know what she was doing while she was here, since I ran a tight ship, and everyone I needed to do anything was already around here taking care of business, but I appreciated the effort. Maybe she was looking into the company history so she could actually step up to the plate when the time came for me to leave. That would be useful.
I sat back down and stared at the spot she had just come from. It was crazy to think we were friends again. She was being a butt about being my best man, but I knew she was excited about it. It would have felt wrong for me to take anyone else up there with me. I knew people at work, of course, and there were a few old scattered friends I’d had in high school that I could have called up and asked to help me out, but it would have felt wrong to have anyone other than Cleo standing up there next to me when I said my vows to Amaya.
Amaya. I smiled to myself. None of this would be happening without her. If it hadn’t been for Amaya, none of this would be happening, not just the wedding but Cleo stepping up at work and the family coming together like this. It was amazing. She had already done so much to change my life, and we weren’t even married yet, well, not properly. I coul
dn’t wait to slip that ring over her finger and make her my wife. I’d been thinking a lot about that specific moment, about how it would make me feel. I’d always assumed it would come with a big heaping pile of anxiety, of worry over somehow having picked the wrong woman and being stuck in this for life, but with Amaya, there was this clear-headed certainty. It was her. It had always been her. It had just taken me longer than I would have cared to admit to realize that.
I turned my attention back to work, furrowing my brow and wiping the smile off my face. I had so much to get done before the wedding, and none of that involved sitting around getting sappy about my fiancée, no matter how much I liked doing it.
62
“Oh my god, I can’t believe this is actually happening.” Jolene was practically dancing in her seat as we pulled up to the apartment building. I grinned in the rearview mirror. She had been saying that over and over again since we’d gotten into the SUV after loading everything she owned into the back. It surprised me how little she had, but then I remembered that up until a few months ago, the two of us had barely been able to afford to take care of ourselves. I noticed the charm bracelet on her wrist, glinting in the morning sunlight, and I smiled, knowing Kristo had given her something I would never have been able to treat her to.
“No, me neither,” I replied. “You’re going to be living with me again. With us.”
“Crashing your newlywed thing.” She grinned, chuckling to herself. “When do I start getting to throw wild parties when you’re out of town?”
“Never,” I replied firmly, shooting her a look. “Come on, let’s get your stuff unpacked and head upstairs. There is loads we’ve got to do today.”
“I’m waiting on you,” Jolene replied, as we pulled to a halt in the parking lot, not far from where Kristo had installed the stairlift. I bit my lip and waited for a second. I was a little early, but I hoped Kristo would figure out that it was our SUV pulling into the lot and send everyone down.
