Big O Box Set

by Penny Wylder

  “Well, in that case,” I say, “you guys should probably get going. If you leave now, you’ll get home in time for a late dinner. Hudson, their bags are in the guest room, will you help with them?”

  “Of course.” He sets the roses on the table in the kitchen and sets off into the house as if he’s been here a million times and knows exactly where the guest room is.

  Mom’s face is bright red. “You’re kicking us out?”

  “I’m shortening your stay. You don’t approve of me or my life here, and I’m an adult. I don’t have to host hostile people in my house. I love you, mama. You’re family. But I want you to think long and hard about what I said, and why you never think anything I do is all right. After you think about that for a while, then we’ll talk.”

  Hudson comes out from the back hallway with their bags. “You have a lovely daughter, Mrs. Everett. She’s done really well for herself here, and I look forward to seeing her photography all over Phoenix.”

  “What are you talking about?” she says sharply.

  He looks at me like he’s shocked. “You didn’t tell her?”

  I shake my head no, even though I don’t have any idea what he’s talking about. He clears his throat. “I’m a business owner, and I’m also friends with one of the premiere commercial architects in Phoenix. We’re talking with him, and there’s a possibility that Christine might be his go-to photographer for art in his new buildings.”

  My mother at least has the grace to look surprised. And for just a second, she even looks pleased. “Well, that’s very nice.”

  “You’re right, it is,” he says, as I open the door for him. Out by the car he shakes her hand since she wouldn’t let him do it when he first arrived. “I hope that I can get to know you more in the future.”

  She doesn’t say anything. It’s because she doesn’t lie, and she’s not sure she wants to get to know him better. Hudson wraps his arms around me from behind while we watch them drive away, sour looks on their faces. “Thank you,” I say.

  “Smother them with kindness,” he says.

  I practically snort. “They won’t appreciate it.”

  “Maybe not, but it could be good in the future if they don’t already hate me.”

  I lead him back into the house. “Well, this is home. I know it’s small.”

  He shrugs, “Is that what they said? I think it’s a fine size house. Especially since you live alone. Were you ever to live with someone else, it might get a little bit cramped.”

  “True.”

  Sitting down on my couch, he grins. “I like it.”

  “Wait a second,” I say. “How did you get my address?”

  Hudson’s grin turns a little sheepish. “I looked up your billing address from the Halloween ticket.”

  “Sneaky,” I roll my eyes. “I could be really mad at you, you know. For invading my privacy like that.”

  “Are you mad?” It’s a genuine question. He’s not smiling anymore.

  I walk over to him and straddle his lap, pressing my lips to his. “No, I’m not mad. You showed up at the perfect time.”

  “I didn’t know how else to show you I was serious.” His arms pull me closer. “I knew there wasn’t anything I could say that would convince you that I don’t care about who we are in the club. It’s fun, but I want you. Wherever you are and whatever you’re doing. Especially because I’m falling in love with you.”

  My breath stills in my chest. The words don’t seem scary when he says them. They seem natural and perfect and of course that’s what I’ve been feeling. How could I not? “I love you too.”

  His lips crash onto mine, and he squeezes me tight so that our bodies are entirely aligned. We’re so close that I can feel how hard he is and what he wants. “The bed is more comfortable.”

  “Which bed? Yours or the guest room?”

  I laugh against his lips. “I don’t care, just take me to a bed.”

  He picks me up and carries me to my room, laying me out and following me down. I can’t seem to stop kissing him. “This was one of my fantasies too, you know.”

  “Being in my bed?”

  “No.” He shakes his head. “Telling you I love you, and having you say it back.”

  The smile on my face is so wide that it hurts. “Say it again.”

  “I love you.”

  “I love you too.”

  12

  One Year Later

  The crowd of people that have showed up here is insane and daunting. I’m not sure how Hudson did it. There’s no way this many people are here because they’re fans of my work. I glance towards the entrance of the gallery where still more people are coming in.

  What Hudson told my mother was true, he did talk to his friend the architect, and now my photographs are in most of the new corporate buildings in Phoenix. But tonight, this is my first solo exhibition. Not the photos I gave to the buildings, but the ones that I truly love. The ones I hung onto because they were truly special to me. I even went back to that fountain. With Hudson. It’s the only photo in the entire gallery that has a person in it. He was taking a look at the fountain and the way the light was hitting his face was perfect and I just snapped the shot.

  My lucky shot of a lifetime.

  It’s the only photograph I’ve taken that my mother likes. She’s not here—she still doesn’t like what I’m doing with my life. But I can see her trying and things are getting better. Slowly. Partly it’s because she likes Hudson more than she likes me. His ‘smother with kindness’ defense has worked better than I’d ever hoped.

  Speaking of Hudson, I see him weaving through the crowd towards me. He’s taller than everyone else, so he’s easy to spot. He hands me a glass of champagne. “I got your favorite.”

  I take a sip and my eyes go wide. It’s the champagne from our first night together at the Halloween party. “Thank you! This is delicious.” We’ve had it again only a handful of times since then, and every time it manages to be a special and amazing night. Even though I shouldn’t, I’m choosing to see this as a good omen.

  “Hey, come with me for a second,” Hudson says. “We’ve got a few minutes before you have to give your little speech.”

  Right. My speech. I really don’t want to give a speech, but I need to thank everyone for coming. Hopefully I don’t throw up in the process.

  Hudson leads me out into a garden right outside the gallery. It’s almost dark, and the heat is dropping quickly the way it does in the fall. Our shoes crunch in the rocks of the garden. “Do you know what today is?” he asks.

  “Other than the gallery launch?”

  He laughs. “Yeah, other than that.”

  I try to think and come up with nothing. “I’m sorry, my brain is fried. I can’t think of anything.”

  A hand slides around my waist and pulls us together so we’re pressed front to front. “Today is the anniversary of the coffee incident.”

  “Is it really?” I gasp. “I’m so sorry I didn’t remember.”

  “As long as you remember it in the future,” he says, voice filled with mock admonishment. “But even if you don’t, I’m never going to forget the day I met the love of my life.”

  It feels like everything goes quiet, like it’s just the two of us in the whole world, the way it always does when he talks like this. I love it.

  “Which is why,” he says, “I thought it was the perfect day to give you this.”

  “Give me what?”

  “Just something I’ve been saving for a while. I can’t think of a better time.”

  I suddenly feel vertigo because he lets go of me and it feels like he’s falling. But he’s not falling, he’s kneeling. Oh my god. “Christine Everett. I will forever be grateful to the universe that you spilled coffee on my shirt. I love everything about you, and I always will, and I don’t want to go any longer without knowing I’ll be by your side forever. Will you marry me?”

  Tears spill over my eyes and it’s hard to find my voice. “Yes, of course I wil
l.”

  Hudson places the ring he’s holding on my finger, and then he’s standing again and he’s kissing me and it’s the best kiss ever. “I love you,” he says in between kisses. And he keeps saying it. Keeps saying it even as he lifts me up and presses me against the wall of the gallery, a window just to our right. His hands raise the hem of the dress I’m wearing, and I hear a zipper. “I need to be inside you right now,” he says.

  “Yes.” I don’t care that we’re feet away from the people that are there to see me as an artist. I’m getting married and I want my fiancé to fuck me like he never has before.

  Hudson pushes aside my underwear and then he’s inside me. God, I’ll never get tired of the way we fit together. Every time he pushes himself inside me it feels like we were meant to be that way. He thrusts his hips upward, and I lose my breath. I grab onto his shoulders, bracing myself against the wall and squeezing down on his cock just the way I know he likes it.

  He groans, moving harder, faster, and the stucco of the wall behind me scrapes my shoulders through the fabric of my dress. I love it. I bite my lip to keep from crying out, this angle allowing Hudson to thrust against the spot where I need it most, and I’m already moaning. His breathing is hard too, and I know we’re both too caught up to last long.

  “Miss Everett?” The voice of the gallery director calls out into the darkness.

  “Shit,” I whisper. “They must be ready for me.”

  “I don’t care.” Hudson increases his speed, and I know him. He isn’t going to stop until I come. He’s grunting with the effort, and through the sudden blaze of pleasure I hear the director call my name again. God, I’m so close. She’s going to hear me come. Hudson crushes my lips with his just as he plunges deep. It’s the last spark I need, and I go over the edge, shaking in his arms. He’s coming too, I can feel the warmth spreading in my pussy and it sends me further into my orgasm. It feels like hours until I come up breathing again, completely wrecked from all the sensation.

  Hudson lets me down slowly, and I’m glad that I wore a long dress because his come is now running down my legs and into the rocks. The director calls again. “Over here,” I answer back.

  She peeks around the corner and spots us in the dark. “We’re ready for you.”

  “I’ll be there in just a second.”

  I watch her nod and head back inside before turning and playfully punching Hudson in the arm. “She almost caught us.”

  “I know,” he grins.

  “You’re lucky I love you.”

  He catches me around the waist again. “I love you too.” His voice is serious. “Now let’s go and make your speech and wine and dine these people so I can take you home and fuck my fiancée all night.”

  “All night?” I ask him as we walk back inside.

  “You better believe it,” he says. “You can challenge me, if you like.”

  I roll my eyes. He loves his challenges. “I think you do that enough all on your own.”

  The gallery director spots us and waves us over to the low dais where I’m supposed to make my speech. Oh man, I’m going to feel sick. There’s a tray of champagne nearby, and Hudson grabs two glasses and hands one to me. “Everyone, can I have your attention?” he calls.

  “In just a second, this lovely lady is going to thank you for coming, but I wanted to say first that I’m the happiest man in the world because she just agreed to become my wife.”

  There are cheers and applause and I find myself blushing. He doesn’t stop though. “So please join me in raising your glass to my new fiancée, Christine Everett. One of the best people I know and a rising star on the photography scene.”

  Everyone in the room raises their glasses, including Hudson, but he doesn’t drink. He presses a soft kiss to my lips, to the cheers of the crowd. “Knock ‘em dead,” he says. “I love you.”

  “Thank you,” I whisper. “I love you too.”

  I look out over the crowd and take a breath, not afraid anymore.

  Epilogue

  Somewhere in the Bahamas

  The nights we’ve had like this remind me a bit of Phoenix. The sky is perfectly clear, a deep blue expanse of sky with nothing but gorgeous stars. But I have to say, I prefer these nights with the sound of the ocean in the background.

  It really has been the perfect day, and I look down at both my rings as they sparkle in the moonlight. The tide washes up around my feet and pulls the sand out from around them and back out to sea. Earlier today, Hudson and I got married. Married. Every time I think the word just an insane amount of happiness bubbles up in my chest and I can’t keep the smile off my face. When we get to Phoenix we’ll have a wedding reception for everyone to enjoy, but we wanted this to ourselves. No chance of my family interfering or causing any kind of drama, just the two of us and our vows. And now, just the two of us on a remote private beach, with nothing to do but enjoy each other for the next two weeks.

  Hudson is asleep now, but I have too much energy to sleep. I’ve never been this happy in my life, and right now I don’t want to miss a second of it by sleeping. I wiggle my toes in the sand, loving the feeling of it massaging my toes. I’ll have to move soon. The tide is coming in and I’m going to be soaked soon.

  I hear footsteps behind me, letting me know that my husband is approaching. That same giant smile crosses my face at the word husband. Hudson sits down next to me, nothing but a light pair of pants on his body, and I think I could stare at him forever in the moonlight, body a map of shadow and list what makes me want to capture it with my camera.

  “Can’t sleep?” he asks.

  “I probably could,” I say. “But I don’t want to.”

  He chuckles. “Why?”

  “I don’t want to miss anything. It’s too beautiful. Too perfect.”

  His arm slips around my waist. “Yeah, you are.” Even after all this time, I blush when he says things like that. Without warning, he pushes me back into the sand, leaning over to kiss me. “If you don’t want to sleep, I could think of other things we could do.”

  “Oh, really? Like what?”

  His lips graze my ear and down to my collar bone. “Naughty things.”

  The water rushes up my legs, cool and refreshing “If you want to do any naughty things we might have to move.”

  “Or we could stay,” he says, “Haven’t you always wanted to have sex in the ocean?”

  He’s got me there. “I do. But maybe not tonight.”

  “In that case,” he says, kissing me as the water rushes up and around our shoulders, “let me help you.” He stands and swings me into his arms as if I weigh nothing, and carries me back to our little house on the beach. It’s the perfect little cottage with a bedroom that has doors that open right onto the beach. But instead of tumbling me onto the bed like I expect, he carries me into the bathroom.

  “Sand,” he answers the questioning look I give him. Right. Sand. He turns the shower on hot and then we’re both under the stream of water.

  Hudson takes his time undressing me, pressing his mouth to the skin that he uncovers, tossing the wet clothes out of the shower. “If not the ocean,” he says, “then maybe just water.”

  He runs his hands across my breasts, and I let out a moan. It seems like I never stop wanting him. I’ll never stop wanting him and the pleasure he gives me. I strip his pants off and find his cock already hard. Mmm. Hudson grabs my hips and turns me towards the shower wall. The cool stone sends goosebumps across my skin that contrast with the heat of the water and his body behind me, and the scrape of it on my nipples sends ripples of pleasure straight down to my clit.

  “I wonder,” he says, rubbing his cock against my ass, “if taking you like this will ever not remind me of that night in the club. With the St. Andrew’s cross.” His hands are stroking down my back, dipping between my legs to tease my clit, and my breath is shallow.

  “Is that a bad thing?”

  “Hell no,” he says. “It makes me hard as a rock. Too bad I can’t restrain
you in here.”

  I shudder, remembering the night he’s talking about. It’s one of my favorite memories too. Hudson takes my arms and pulls them behind my back. Pressing his body hard against mine, they’re locked in place. “Don’t move,” he says softly in my ear. As if I could. As if I would want to get away. Tipping my hips back, his cock slips inside me. I’m not used to the feel of him like this, bare, with nothing between us. We agreed that we could go without condoms once we got married, and this feeling, it makes what was already exquisite that much better. My knees are already shaking.

  He leans back a little, keeping my hands bound with one of his as he starts to pound into me. He’s not gentle, but that’s not what I need right now. It’s explosive. White light breaks open behind my eyes and I cry out as he pushes himself into me again and again. Ever since we’ve been here we’ve both been in a state of arousal, and nothing ever seems like it will be enough. He thrusts faster, and an orgasm crashes over me like the waves we were just sitting in, and I feel the rush of it flowing down my legs.

  Hudson turns off the water, hauling me out of the shower and spreading me out across our bed, towels be damned. He’s over me in a second, sliding back in, and I moan as he reaches the hilt, buried in me so deep I don’t ever want him out. “How many orgasms have you had today?” He asks.

  It’s hard to think, still coming down from the adrenaline rush of the last one. “I don’t know. Three?”

  “I’ve decided your right. Everything is too perfect to sleep.”

  I look at him, suspicion rising. “What are you saying, exactly?”

  “I’m saying that I want to fuck my wife until the sun comes up and see just how many times she can come.”

  My eyes close on their own, a sharp line of arousal searing through me. Hudson moves his hips and I arch up to meet him. I’m ready to come again just because he said that. He speeds up, and I bite my lip because it feels so good. I love this delicious friction of his skin on mine. Sex feels entirely new, and it’s glorious. He pounds into me, faster and faster, until I’m begging him to send me over, but he doesn’t, keeping me on the edge of pleasure until I think I might go mad.