Desert Angel (Family Justice Book 2)

by Suzanne Halliday

  She’d come prepared to apologize and beg for his forgiveness. But Alex had a different agenda. He made her sit on the tile bench and put her foot in the middle of his chest so he could stroke the wash up and down her leg. By the time he massaged her foot with the sudsy pouf, whatever he was saying got lost in the steam. Meghan was seriously turned on and struggling to stay ahead.

  After he finished with the other leg, she wasn’t entirely sure she could stand again. But he made her, so she trembled and leaned with her back sliding against his wet chest. And then he started on her front and oh, my fucking god.

  Each of her breasts was lovingly washed, massaged, and kneaded. His husky groans and her hushed whimpers mixed in the steam. Meghan’s stomach rippled when the sudsy pouf teased her belly button and when he knelt in front of her, the way he stroked her hips and thighs, and the way his eyes burned with lusty appreciation, took her to cloud nine.

  When he ran the pouf up the inside of her thighs and teased her mound, she arched into his touch and let her head fall back on a groan. That was pretty much the end of bath time.

  Quickly rinsing them, Alex turned off the shower and wrapped her in a big fluffy towel. His tender care didn’t end there. Wearing an expression of intense concentration, he proceeded to dry her from head to toe, gently removing every last droplet of water from her skin. When finished, he stepped back and admired her naked flesh. Instinctively, she straightened and thrust her chest out, knowing how pleasing he found her breasts.

  Twining his fingers through hers, he took her to their bed. Meghan couldn’t help but thrill at the sight of his proud cock jutting away from his body as he walked, knowing she was the reason for his excitement.

  Laying her down gently, as though she was a frightened virgin and this was her first time, he stretched out on his side beside her and stroked the tips of his fingers against her skin.

  She had to say something. Her conscience was killing her. “Do you forgive me?” she asked quietly.

  Gently rolling a puckered nipple between his fingers, he tugged until she groaned and looked at him.

  “What do you think?” he asked.

  An unexpected sob tore out of her throat and a single hot tear leaked from the corner of one eye. “Alex,” she cried as all the emotions she was carefully guarding burst free. “Please tell me you still love me.”

  “How ‘bout I show you?” he asked in a husky voice.

  Several orgasms later, she lay quietly in his arms and enjoyed the sweet aftermath of an erotic high.

  He’d once again orchestrated the perfect way to deal with what was right in front of them. By not overreacting and giving her some time and space to figure things out, he’d shown her by his actions that she truly was safe in his care. When she was ready, she’d talk to him, and though he hadn’t said those exact words, she knew that was what this tender, exquisite loving had been about.

  “New rule,” he drawled as she snuggled deeper into his side.

  “Mmm hmmm,” she sighed.

  “If we’re making babies, there can’t be any secrets between us.”

  I wonder how long it took him to come up with that angle, she thought, because it was a damn good one.

  “I’m not keeping secrets from you,” she assured him as her hand moved across his muscular chest.

  “Call it what you want,” he complained, “but however you put it, something’s making you unhappy and you know I can’t have that shit, Meghan.”

  “I’m sorry.” Her lips pressed to his skin. Mmmm. Even his sweat tasted wonderful.

  “Have I done something? Don’t not tell me if I’ve been a dick because you want to protect my feelings. Just tell me, honey.”

  Shit. He wasn’t going to let it go this time. She groaned and sat up, pulling the sheet across her chest. She didn’t think having him distracted by her tits in his face would be helpful.

  He lay on his back and watched her intently. She wondered if he knew how reassuring she found his attention. Whenever he focused solely on her, her heart nearly burst with love.

  “Marriage is something sacred.” She sounded a tiny bit like her old teacher self, addressing a room full of distracted teenagers.

  “If you’re backing out of marrying me, I’ll tranq-dart your sexy ass and make Uncle Eduardo do the deed while you’re unconscious.”

  Meghan laughed at the absurdity of the scene he just described but knew deep in her heart that he was completely fucking serious.

  “I’m standing my ground, buddy.” She giggled, stretching her leg out to kick him playfully with her foot. “And besides, you told my brothers and my dad that you’d make an honest woman of me now that I’ve been defiled by your wicked ways. So, unless you want a Boston beat down, I expect you to show up on the appointed day and time and swear before God and our families to love, honor, and obey.”

  “Who the hell said anything about obey?”

  “What?” she snickered. “There was a meeting of the Alpha Bad Boys Club and they decided to strike the word obey from the vocabulary?”

  She loved that he smirked right back at her. “Fuck no! There’s going to be plenty of behaving and submitting going on, but it’s kind of one-sided, don’t you think? That obey thing is all you, my gorgeous Irish fuck goddess.”

  “What am I going to do with you?” she teased. “You better watch that kind of language around my mother. She’s got quite an opinion these days about the whole dominant and submissive thing, and you know I hate those labels. And I told you. Ever since she read that damn book, she thinks she knows fifty fucking shades of everything. The last thing I need is her commenting on our bedroom activities.”

  He chuckled. “Understood. Now . . . please continue.”

  And so they’d arrived at that moment when she had to try and explain something that kind of defied any sort of rationale. A paradox. An absurd contradiction, a little like Sammy Hagar.

  “Marriage to me is more than an excuse to throw a big party. When I said yes to being your wife, I was making an inviolate promise to put you before everything, even myself if need be.”

  Alex reached and brought the hand wearing his ring to his mouth for a soft kiss that made Meghan tremble.

  “I make that same promise to you as well, my love.”

  Unf. She loved him so damn much. “I know. And all of this,” she said moving her hand between them, “everything that goes on between us in private, it’s all part of that sacred promise.”

  AT FIRST, HE WASN’T SURE where she was going and was a bit stunned by how serious his fiancée was being, but as her thought process unfolded, he was starting to understand.

  This thing between them was strong. Powerful and intense. What they’d been through to reach this moment could not be understated. She fought for him when he was at his lowest, even after he pushed her away. Alex wasn’t whole without her and together they generated enough heat to power half the state.

  The passion fueling their relationship was part of this sacrament they were entering into. Meghan was so different in her outlook on just about everything. He enjoyed that about her. She wasn’t stuck in her ways and had an almost empathic connection to every living being she came in contact with.

  For her, of course getting married would actually be the solemn occasion it was meant to be rather than the sideshow to a lavish party. He should have seen this coming.

  “What can I do?” he asked softly. He felt her body language ease slightly but she kept chewing on her lip—a sure sign of hesitation.

  “I know this sounds crazy,” she began. “But I’ve been thinking a lot about energy. The kind we create with our actions.”

  She was absently twisting a corner of the sheet in her hands, and Alex wondered if she could look any more adorable.

  “The energy you and I create is . . . powerful.”

  He liked that she smiled shyly and lowered her eyes when she said it. Powerful, indeed.

  “Anyway, when we make those vows, our energies will be join
ed forever.”

  “I love the way you put that.” And he did. She was just so . . . perfect.

  “But, you know,” she said—only now the sheet twisting was getting more aggressive. “Other people’s energy will be there, too.”

  Ding, ding, ding! And there we have it, he chuckled silently. His Feng-Shui believing, yoga doing, meditating, nature loving bride was having none of anybody else’s shit on her big day.

  Was he thrilled that she took their marriage so seriously? Hell, yeah. Was he fucking ecstatic that she pretty much just told him that she regarded submitting to him in their relationship as a sacred vow? Oh, fuck. Knowing she gave him her total trust and faith to always put her first and see to her well-being struck a chord deep inside him. They were made for each other.

  “I hate the idea that half of the people in the church will be judging everything we do. My dress. Your hair. The flowers. The babies will cry. Maybe it’ll rain and be a shitty day. Who knows? My point is . . .” She drifted off for a second like she wasn’t sure where her thoughts were leading.

  “Well, I don’t know what my point is.” She half-shrugged. “I just don’t want any negativity, you know? I hate that shit. Negativity, I mean. I don’t want to be standing there, having this huge moment, but feeling like flypaper for everyone else’s twaddle. Does that sound crazy? It does! Doesn’t it? Oh, my god, I’m losing it,” she groaned as her head dropped into her hands.

  After a minute, she looked at him with wide eyes. “I mean, some part of me thinks we should elope. Have it be just the two of us. And then I think about our families. They’d be crushed if we did that.”

  “Okay. So let’s review here for a minute. Make sure I understand,” he told her as he playfully tapped the end of her nose.

  “So all this hemming and hawing—the heavy sighs—the worried frowns—the sleepless nights and the running away . . . all that is because you think other people’s energy is going to pollute our vows? I got that right, yes?” He recalled an earlier conversation when she’d spoken wistfully of energy.

  She nodded, and unless his eyes were betraying him, she actually blushed.

  Alex reached, took her face in his hands, and drew it toward him.

  “I fucking love you, lady. Fucking love that you see things that way.”

  And then he kissed her. Meghan’s lips were the sweetest, most seductive treasure. When he finished devouring her mouth, she sat back and did this cute little smirk-pouty thing that made his dick turn to stone.

  “I know there’s nothing we can do about it,” she said, but he cut her off.

  “Well, I wouldn’t be so sure about that. Let me think about it, okay?”

  “Thank you for not over-reacting.”

  He speared her with a no-nonsense look. “You talk to me in the future and don’t worry about me freaking out. You are my one and only priority, Meghan. Nothing else even comes close. I’d walk away from Justice tomorrow if a choice had to be made.”

  Nodding, she reached out and ran her fingers through his hair, laughing. “You’ve got after-sex hair.”

  “And whose fault would that be?”

  “Oh, shut . . .”

  He yanked her hard when he heard the words shut up about to come out of her mouth, and she tumbled on top of him. With the sheet trapped between them now, her ass was beautifully bare so he pulled his hand back and brought it down with a wicked smack.

  “Will you never learn, woman?” he tsked.

  She gave him a naughty leer and then propped herself up on his chest.

  “So, about these points. The scoreboard is sorta stacked against me, don’t you think? I’m not sure my poor bum can handle so much spanking.”

  Alex chuckled and kneaded her ass for emphasis. “Oh, this oughta be rich.”

  She ran her finger down his chest and toyed with a nipple. Witch. She was asking for trouble.

  “I was thinking maybe we could work some of those points off another way.”

  “Is that so?”

  “Mmm hmm . . .”

  “What did you have in mind?” This was fun! He hadn’t considered their playful game had other possibilities. Hot damn!

  “Well, short of calling you daddy, master, or sir—because you know that shit’s not ever going to happen—I believe the choice is yours.”

  He laughed. They both knew she’d call him Your Highness if he asked her to.

  His overactive, over-sexed, mind hit on the perfect solution. Something they’d both enjoy.

  “Okay,” he told her as he grabbed a good handful of her ass. “Here it is. I’ll take back ten points if next Friday, you let me kidnap you from our bed, take you out into the desert, and fuck you without mercy.”

  She squirmed on top of him and he smiled. Her desires were so easy to read sometimes. “Oh wait, darlin’—there’s more.”

  He rolled them until Alex had the advantage, wedged perfectly between her spread legs with the sheet pushed aside.

  “When I’m satisfied and finished coming inside you, I’ll dress you and then will personally deliver you to Ben.”

  She arched a surprised eyebrow at him. Bah! As though Ben would somehow be involved in their fuckery. Shaking his head at her foolishness, he gave her a wry grin. “Who will then drive you and Angie into Sedona for a long weekend at L’Auberge.”

  She smiled. No, actually she beamed at him.

  “And just to be clear, you’ll be making that drive and checking into the hotel with our cum in your panties.”

  “Deal,” she groaned, her eyes smoky with desire after his wicked description.

  There wasn’t anything left to do except shift his hips and slide into Meghan’s welcoming heat.

  “Thanks, Unc. I’ll tell Meghan you say hi. She’d want to get in on the conversation, but she’s in the shower,” Alex said with a grin, cell phone pressed to his ear. “Let me know right away what you find out. And Calder?” he drawled. “About Stephanie—don’t fuck this up, dude. I agree that going to Atlanta is the thing to do. If she’s yours, man . . . go get her.”

  Alex’s attention was drawn away when he heard Meghan moving around in the dressing room. He was curious to see what kind of mood she was in. It had turned out to be an emotional day, and he knew she was particularly fragile now that she’d shared her fears with him. He hoped she’d be happy with his solution to their unusual predicament. What he’d come up with was definitely unconventional, but fuck, so was their entire relationship.

  “Uh, listen Calder. I gotta go. Stay in touch,” he absently muttered, ending the call and tossing the phone aside.

  Not able to wait for her to make an entrance, Alex strode into their dressing room and stopped short when he saw her. How the fuck had his sorry ass been fortunate enough to find this magnificent woman and make her his? When he saw her like this—subdued, relaxed, and completely natural—he couldn’t believe how damn lucky he was.

  “You look ravishing,” he murmured—his eyes devouring every detail. The white silk of her robe. Her sexy auburn curls piled atop her head and the delicate tendrils that escaped and lay against her lovely neck. Her face, fresh from the shower, was flushed from the heat and looked like something he wanted to lick.

  She watched his reflection in the mirror, a shy quirky smile on her lips.

  “Do you remember when you took me to L’Auberge?” she asked softly. Her eyes were shining as he watched her reflection.

  Of course, he remembered. Their stay there in a private cottage had been magical. He smiled warmly. “We spent so much time by the fireplace that you smelled of wood smoke and cashmere. Very sexy, actually.”

  Alex moved closer and stood directly behind her, his hands first on her shoulders, then one encircling her neck as they stared at each other in the mirror. She relaxed in his grip and leaned into him.

  “Were you trying to tell me something with this weekend getaway?”

  He smiled and softly caressed her neck. “Perhaps. It’s a warm memory for me—our time ther
e was very special. You were,” he explained, “so happy. Relaxed. You’ve been anxious lately, and I thought it would do you good to have some girl time.”

  “Girl time?” she smirked.

  “You know what I mean,” he chided her gently with a quick squeeze of her neck. “It’s not like we’re set up for mani-pedis way out here.”

  “True.”

  He could see her thinking about their memorable L’Auberge interlude and could practically pinpoint the second she bought into the indulgence of a spa weekend with Angie. Women! So predictable sometimes.

  “And while you’re there getting pampered, I give you permission to let go and just have fun with the wedding. Get silly. Indulge every whim, no matter how absurd.”

  She rolled her eyes and mocked him with a grunt. “You give permission, huh?”

  “Yep!” He shot her his best cocky grin. “Trust me. I’ve got this, babe. You are to have nothing but fun from here on out. Got it?”

  “What are you up to Major Marquez?”

  The adorable look of suspicion reflected in the mirror made him laugh.

  “Why, I’m giving you your happily ever after, of course! And, by the way, I have it on good authority that a certain relative of mine, the aging surfer who needs his ass kicked, to be exact, has finally come to his senses. I do believe a trip to Georgia is now on his mind.”

  Meghan gasped and a bright, happy smile lit up her face. “You spoke to Calder?”

  “Yes. Yes, I did.”

  “And?” she grumbled.

  “And for the rest, you’ll just have to wait and see,” he teased.

  Okay. So Parker had until tomorrow night to come up with some kind of plan. Being thrown together with Angie in a group outing and seeing her out in public was the easy part. It was what he was going to say and coming up with a way to get her alone. So they could talk. Maybe clear the air.

  But it wasn’t all that easy to make all the fractured pieces of their story fit neatly together, due to the fact that it wasn’t just him and Angie anymore. Alex was involved. So was Meghan. Both their families had to be considered. It was fucking a lot and the outcome was mostly on him.