by Quinn, Taryn
I smiled. “I’m definitely up for that game.”
“We have plenty of time.” He slowly pulled up the driveway to our house and turned off the engine. “Now, you better run.”
I flung open my door and headed for the house. My dress was half falling forward and I hoped to hell everyone was sleeping in the neighborhood or they would be getting a show.
A second before I dashed over the threshold, I remembered he should have carried me over it.
I would only have this opportunity for that, new bride and all. But the intent in his eyes when I turned around made me keep moving.
I ran up the stairs and his pounding feet made my heart race. I got to the top and almost through the bedroom door when he scooped me up and over his shoulder. He set me on the bed gently.
When I frowned at him, he shook his head. “I’m not tossing my pregnant bride on the bed.” He stripped off his shirt and undershirt. Next came his belt. “I am going to fuck the hell out of her though.”
I scrambled up to get out of my dress. He was right. There was rough and then there was safe. And I loved that he wanted me to be safe. For our baby to be safe. But the heat in his eyes made my toes curl.
“Stop.”
I stopped at the strap of my bra. “What?”
“That’s my job.”
“Oh.” I knelt in the middle of the bed in my white demi-cup bra, garter, and panties. He stepped forward and drew the the strap down slowly. My breasts weren’t overly large, but they filled the cup and held it up. He lowered his mouth and nudged it down. He bit down on the tip and tugged, sucking on it strongly until my head fell back.
I scraped my fingers through the close-cropped hair along his nape. When he looked up at me with my nipple between his teeth, I shuddered. How could I ever think he was anything but the wild man of every fantasy I’d ever had?
I’d been so worried about second-guessing every move that I hadn’t let myself enjoy every part of him.
That was changing right now.
He pushed me back on the bed and rolled me onto my stomach. “Now, we’re going to just get rid of these.” He pulled down my panties slowly, his nose brushing lightly over my swollen folds as he inched it down past my thighs and knees until finally, I was free of them. He drew his tongue down my slit and spread me wide. I reached for the headboard and he laughed.
“You better hang onto that, darlin’.”
I cried out as he left not one inch of me untasted. Even parts of me I never thought I’d want him to search out. I couldn’t even wiggle away from him. He eased me onto my side and ducked his head under my leg so I was open to him in every way. He looked up at me as he lapped at me, teased me, and toyed with me.
When I couldn’t breathe around my frustration anymore, he gripped my garter and snapped it. The little sting of pain shocked me into the first wave of an orgasm. He ducked back under my leg and settled behind me. I backed up against him and sighed when he slid his cock into me with a slowness that made my eyes cross.
“Dare.”
“Kelsey. My Kelsey.” He eased out and back in until every square inch of me was filled. I melted into him as he slowly rocked into me again and again. He tucked his arm under my knee until I was splayed open and so full of him I couldn’t think.
I could only feel.
He tugged my earlobe with a harsh growl. “Hold onto that headboard, darlin’.”
I reached up, wrapping my fingers around the lip at the edge of the mattress. He snapped his hips forward and my teeth vibrated from the force of his thrust. “Yes.”
“Fuck yes,” he growled as he let go.
The thing I’d wanted most was mine.
Dare’s frenzied strokes hurled me head first into another release. Before I could recover from that one, his fingers were plucking at me, demanding another. My skin was flushed and sweat coated my back where our bodies met.
Still, he didn’t stop.
My breath came in pants and I reached behind me with my other hand to drag him closer.
“Fuck yes,” I echoed him. I was already riled up from the car ride and now, my husband was unleashing all the passion I’d worried he didn’t have for me until there was nothing left but the truth.
I arched and sobbed my release. And still, he held on and demanded more. Filled me until all that remained between us was sweat and the love I’d been so afraid to give. I held onto him, curling into a tight ball as his hips pummeled into me again and again before finally jerking tight into me. The strangled groan he let out allowed me to finally relax against him as we sagged against one another.
He slid his hand down between my legs and flicked over where we were joined. “See why I held back?”
“Never again,” I said against my arm. I lifted my head to try and catch his mouth over my shoulder. The angle was wrong, but I needed the connection. Needed him.
Always.
“Never hold back,” I whispered. “Even if you almost kill me.” I flexed my inner walls against him, not wanting him to slip away from me.
He groaned. “We’ll end up having eight kids.”
I laughed and turned in his arms. “No, we won’t. But three is a nice number.”
He laughed against my mouth. “Or two.”
I shrugged. “Or two.”
Twenty-Two
After the second round, I planted face-first on our bed. “I love you, babe, but I think you killed me.”
“What did you just say?”
I winced as she gripped the slightly longer hairs on top of my head and tugged me closer until our eyes met. “Kel.”
She knelt beside me. Obviously, I hadn’t done my job since she’d been as dead to the world as I was not even five minutes ago. I still couldn’t breathe, for fuck’s sake. I hadn’t realized I needed to start training to keep up with my wife.
Damn. Wife. Never thought I’d say that with a smile on my face.
“I asked you a question, sir.”
I rolled onto my side and traced my finger down the slope of her breast, tweaking her nipple lightly. “Which part? That you killed me?”
“No.” She launched herself at me, shifting me on my back and straddling my stomach.
“Darlin’, you keep that up and we won’t be talking again.”
She balanced herself and brushed her very fine ass against my rapidly hardening cock. “We’ll get back to that. Impressive by the way. I don’t think my boyfriend in college had that short of a recovery time and he was nineteen.”
I growled and swung her onto her back, caging her in with my arms and knees. “Don’t talk about other men being inside you, wife.”
Her eyes widened and her nipples went to bullets against my chest. I angled myself between her thighs and slid inside of her. “Evidently, I need to remind you there’s only one man and one cock you should be thinking about.”
Her beautiful golden eyes fluttered shut as I slowly canted my hips to grind against her. She arched under me with a long, delicious groan. I lowered my mouth to hers. “I love you, Kel. Call it too fast, call it insane, call me out as a liar if you want.” I shifted my hips so I could pull her leg up to take her deeper.
She lifted her hands to my shoulders as her eyes filled.
I reached up for one arm, then the other, dragging them over her head until there was no air between us and she couldn’t move. I wanted to make sure there was no way she could misunderstand me. Not again. Not ever. I grasped her wrists together and slowly punctuated each word with my hips, joining with her again and again. “I. Love. You. Always.”
The tears rolled and she took each word with a nod. And I watched as the orgasm stole her breath, and her speech. Then she broke free and wrapped her arms and legs around me as she trembled, the words finally tumbling from her mouth. “I love you too. So much. Too much.”
I lost it. I didn’t think there was anything left in my damn tank, but as it always was with her, I had more. Always more to give her. I pressed my forehead to her shoulde
r and shook over her as I came inside her one more time. I dragged my lips over her neck. “Never too much.” I coasted over her jawline to her mouth. “Never too much between us. I’m just sorry you didn’t know that until tonight.”
She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. I know now.” She played with her wedding ring and her soft smile broke apart the last of the doubts rattling around in my brain. “And I’m Mrs. Kramer today. It’s a good day.” Then her stomach gurgled—loudly. Her eyes widened. “Sorry about that. I didn’t really eat much of my sandwich.”
“Then let’s get you fed.” I slipped out of her with a groan, nibbling on her neck before I rolled off of her.
She let her legs and arms drop open. “Am I hungry enough to move?”
I picked up my dress pants off the floor. No way I was putting them back on. Nope, definitely time for sweats and maybe some cold pizza from the fridge. I automatically checked the pockets of my dress pants for change or receipts. Doing laundry and losing my debit card or credit card was a constant battle.
Then I felt the ring.
My gut clenched and I slipped it down the first knuckle of my pinkie. “Kel?”
“I’m getting up.” She groaned and rolled up to a seated position. God, she was freaking beautiful. Even with her hair a hot mess from rolling around with me for the last few hours and her face smeared with leftover makeup from the ceremony and the tears from the day and night, she was miles more amazing and gorgeous than I deserved. “What? Don’t look at me like that.”
I grinned. “Like what?”
“Like you have a dirty secret.”
I dragged her up to a standing position and slid her arms into my dress shirt, twirling her around to face me as I did up a few of the buttons. Not all of them, because I still wanted access to her. Especially her epic legs that made me hard just by walking behind her.
She shook her hair back. “Do you have a dirty secret?”
“Maybe a few.”
“Oh, yeah? I thought we were through with secrets and lies.” She swept her hair over one shoulder as she always did, twisting it into a loose braid to keep it out of her way.
“I wouldn’t exactly call them secrets. More like surprises I feel you need.”
“Yeah? I like surprises.” She wrapped her hands around my wrist. “Tell me.”
I curled my fingers into my palm to hide the ring.
“What do you have there?”
I smiled down at her. “What?”
“There.” She tapped my hand. “Come on. Is it chocolate?”
I laughed. “No. Not chocolate.”
Her lower lip pushed out adorably.
“But obviously, you’re hungry. It can wait.”
“No, I can wait to eat.” Her stomach roared. She pressed her hand over her middle. “Okay, maybe me and the baby need a little food. But I want to know.”
I grabbed a pair of sweats out of the dresser behind me, then pointed to the door before I tugged them on. “Go on.”
“But—”
“Get. I’m making you pancakes.”
She frowned. “We have cold pizza.”
Damn this woman. She kept me on my toes. Only part of why I loved her so much. “Yeah, well, you deserve pancakes on our damn wedding night.”
She crossed to me and wrapped her arms around my neck. “Okay. I can deal with that.”
I slipped my hand under the tails of my shirt and cupped her bare ass. “Don’t distract me or we’ll end up naked again.”
“Naked brinner isn’t a bad idea. We can make it our anniversary thing.”
I groaned and turned her toward the door. “You are dangerous.”
She threw a smile over her shoulder. “Really? I kinda like being dangerous.”
I rolled my eyes. She had no idea just how appealing she was on every level. I pinched her ass and she yelped and ran down the hall. She got to the banister just before I caught up with her. I hauled her back against me, my arm tight around her waist. “Careful on the stairs.” I nipped the skin between her shoulder and neck. “Precious cargo—both of you.”
She laced her fingers over mine. “You kill me when you say stuff like that.”
“It’s the truth.” I followed her down the stairs and we immediately fell into a familiar rhythm. We didn’t bother with bacon, and I cracked her up with the goofy animals I drew on the griddle with the squirt bottle I used to make shapes for Wes.
She fed me a star for the newest addition to the crazy circle of people I called friends. Then I made a silly heart with our initials. She blushed and dipped the corner of the D into our little joint saucer of syrup.
I lifted the bottle again and she giggled, then covered her stomach. “I’m stuffed.”
“You will be.”
Her eyes heated and she drew closer to play with the strings of my sweatpants. “Is it like swimming? I have to wait twenty minutes after I eat?”
“I don’t think that’s a rule.” But I carefully drew a few words on the griddle. The batter bubbled lightly as she glanced away from me and to my question.
“Marry me, again?” Her words were soft and questioning. “We’re already married. Shouldn’t you be asking that after we’re celebrating ten years or something?”
I held up my pinkie. The simple band with four small diamonds winked in the kitchen light. “I bought this a little bit ago, but I couldn’t figure out how to give it to you. I guess it was just because we had to wait for the right time. Patience isn’t my virtue.”
She covered her mouth with her left hand, her eyes brimming with tears. That gold band already made her mine. This part was for her.
“I don’t always get shit right. And sometimes you’ll probably want to strangle me, but I’ll do everything in my power to make you happy, Kel. And I know our little wedding wasn’t what you need.”
She shook her head and the tears spilled down her cheeks. “I have everything I need. I swear I do.” She crashed into me, her arms sliding around my neck. “I have you and Wes and this baby. I have everything.”
She meant it. I knew she did, but I also knew she deserved the fairytale. To be the center of attention for one day.
I eased her back and slipped the ring down next to her wedding band. “We’ll do it up right with all our family and friends. Might even be able to get my brother Gage into town for it. I want it too. I’ll even wear a monkey suit for you.”
She wiggled her finger, making the diamonds flash. “One for each of us. You, me, Wes, and whomever is still cooking.” She pressed her hand to her belly and I covered it with my own.
“A little bit of perfect.”
“No, a lot perfect.” She rose onto her toes and kissed me. “Perfectly perfect.”
Epilogue
Kelsey
“I can’t believe I’m doing this again,” I whispered into the mirror, touching the sparkly crown that sat atop my hair.
Okay, it wasn’t a crown. Not exactly. More like a tiara-ish thing with a filmy veil in back. It still shimmered like a crown. Like the thin layer of diamond-like snow that I knew covered everything outside.
Everything was glimmering tonight, even me.
Especially me.
“That pregnancy glow is really working for you, sis.”
I smiled and gripped my tiara as I turned toward my ridiculously beautiful little sister. Rylee was wearing a dark blue crushed velvet wrap dress and her dark hair was piled high with those little tendrils hanging down. Effortlessly beautiful, like she always was.
Except now she was staring at me as if I was the beautiful one.
The happy one.
Better yet, the one who deserved to be happy and wasn’t going to miss a minute of this night and all the ones that came after.
“Thanks. But I think it’s a Dare glow too. And a Wes glow.” I swallowed hard and glanced back at the mirror, afraid to see the joy on my face had vanished like smoke. But no, it was still there. “And maybe a me glow too. Just a little bit.”
&
nbsp; “Or a lot. You’re coming into your own. Own it, sister.” Rylee moved up beside me and bumped her hip into mine. “It’s about time.”
I touched the tiara again though that sucker wasn’t going anywhere with all the pins and gunk Ally and Sage had used to attach it to my surprisingly wavy hair. Even my stick-straight strands had cooperated with Sage’s curling iron.
Everything was going my way tonight.
“Yeah, I guess it is. What about you? You look…smug,” I decided after a minute. Rylee had the most expressive face and she wasn’t shy about sharing her emotions. Right now, she was practically flushed with pleasure. “What’s that all about?”
Rylee fiddled with the bodice of her dress, not meeting my gaze. “Let’s just say someone had a very good night last night. And this morning.”
“Oh, jealous.” Then I remembered my own very good night and morning and bit my lip to hold back a grin. “Well, okay, not jealous, but curious. Do tell. With who?”
Rylee shrugged and my eyes popped wide.
“Is that shrug because you won’t tell me or because you don’t know his name? And just FYI, you might want to be careful with the unexpected hookups, because—”
“Because I might end up pregnant by a super sexy dad who is good with his hands and blissfully happy with a brand-new family like you are?” Rylee rolled her eyes. “Yeah, such a downside. Hold me back.”
Hmm. She kinda had a point. But still. Wasn’t I some sort of fertility cautionary tale?
Besides, there were no guarantees that the guy she’d done the nasty with was a decent dude like mine. In fact, it was probably likely he wasn’t. What were the odds that both Ford sisters would bag themselves a wonderful man within one calendar year?
Slim to go fish.
“Okay, I won’t press. But this very good night, does it come with repeats?”
My sister shrugged again. “That’s the best part. It was just a hot night. No strings. Sometimes you can let loose the most with someone you know you’ll never see again.” She waggled her brows. “You know, let out your inner freak.”
