I should have come clean. Told Sullivan that I had more debt than I disclosed. But I couldn’t make myself do it. He is only just beginning to trust me, to see me as a real person,,; I couldn’t just ruin it all by admitting what a loser I am. That I can’t pay my bills … that I wasn’t honest with the agency … that I am nothing like the successful women he must have dated in the past.
We spend the morning on a hike. “Just one more stretch,” he keeps saying, and I believe it. At first.
“You’ve been saying that for the last hour,” I tell him, clutching my sides and groaning playfully.
“I mean it this time,” he says, taking my hand. He’s in a flannel shirt, jeans that hug his butt, and I honestly don’t mind hiking a few feet behind him.
He pulls me to him and I sink against his strong chest. I tell myself that when we get to the end of the hike I’ll tell him about Robby— but before I do, we’ve crested the mountain.
“Oh my gosh,” I say breathlessly. The view is remarkable and tears prick my eyes. “It’s so beautiful,” I tell him. The ocean is spread out as far as the eye can see, snow -capped mountain are to the left and right of us, and a sweeping of massive evergreens takes over the rest. Our home is below us, and above us, only sky.
Sullivan takes out his phone, pulling up the camera. “It’s a selfie, but we need evidence of our first week together. To put in our own photo album.”
Those words alone catch me off guard. “Oh, Sully,” I say, feeling like the luckiest woman in the world. We smile for the camera, then he kisses me. It must be the mountain air because I feel like I’m on cloud nine.
The hike down is much easier, and we take a shower together, washing off the dirt and sweat.
His body is so perfect, but it’s the way he looks at me that has me feeling jittery. He looks at me like am truly enough.
“You’re so perfect,” he tells me, running his hands over my naked body as the hot water washes the day away.
I shake my head, unable to believe him. He doesn’t know the half of it — how flawed I am, how broke and alone I’ve always been. He said the word the love last night … and I wonder if he meant it.
He kisses my breasts, the water pouring over us, and I take hold of his thickness, his cock so powerful, so mighty. It’s capable of making me lose all rational thought — when he fills me up all I can think about is the here and now, the present. Us.
Soap suds cover me and I want to make him happy, to show him how thankful I am to be here, as his wife.
I kneel before him, the warm water rushing over us, and I gently take his length in my hand. I look up at him, feeling his warmth and desire, his pulsing rod so hard and wanting. I run my hands over his tight balls, my pussy tightening as I move my mouth toward the tip of his perfect cock. I open my mouth, his hands running through my hair. I take as much of him as I can, wanting to make him come the way he has made me so many times over the last few days. I want to be his lover, his bride, his everything.
I suck him, feeling powerful and beautiful at the same time, His length hits the back of my throat and I suck harder, deeper — more. Wanting all of him.
When he comes in my mouth, I swallow his release. The salty cream slides down my throat and I need more. Want more. I suck and suck until there isn’t a drop left, then he lifts me up, carries me from the shower and pulls himself over me in our bed. Our bed. Ours.
Wet and awake, he enters me, his thick cock still so hard and ready, and I moan in pleasure as he fills me up hard and fast. “Oh Sophie,” he grunts, grinding himself against me in the most erotic way. I need more, and I beg for him to fuck me, to make me his. He grips my ass, pulling my legs over his shoulder, entering me in a more complete way, making my pussy drip with release as he pounds himself into me, fucking me and claiming me and making me his all at the same time.
I can’t think or speak and I don’t want to. I want to make love to him all night. Forever.
“God Sophie,” he whispers as we finish, kissing my shoulder, my cheek, my ear. We can’t get enough of one another and I still want more. More. Everything.
We stay in bed like that, wet and alive and tired beyond belief. He pulls me close to him, and I ease my ass against his still hard cock, letting him enter me again. My body is his, made for him. He can take as much of me as he likes.
“Sophie,” he moans as he rides me from behind, squeezing my breasts as he empties himself inside my pussy.
It feels so good, so perfect. I want him to fuck me silly and he does. We fall asleep wrapped up in one another. With dreams like this, who would ever want to wake?
* * *
Later, after dinner, we take a bottle of wine outside and my eyes light up when I see what he’s prepared. There is a telescope pointing to the sky, and I squeeze his hand. “I thought you didn’t care about the stars?”
“I care about you.”
My heart aches with joy, feeling truly wanted for the first time in my life. “You know how to work this thing?” I ask him.
He nods. Granddad Sully taught all of his grandkids. I don’t know too many constellations but I can find some. What about you?”
“It’s pretty smoggy in LA.”
He shakes his. “I can’t picture you there,” he says, pouring me a glass of wine before adjusting the scope.
“Why not?” I take a sip of the deep red wine, wrapping my shawl tighter around me. It’s a summer night, but there is a deep chill in the air — nothing like California summers.
“You fit so well here, is all.”
“Maybe here where we’re all alone. I doubt I’d fit in to your world in Juneau — with fancy business dinners and your sophisticated condo.”
He raises an eye at me. “Juneau may be a city — but it’s a far cry from Los Angeles. It’s still rural, as far as you’d be concerned. It’s not designer clothes and beach clubs.”
I laugh. “Well that wasn’t my life in LA. Maybe for celebrities or millionaires …but me? I told you I come from nothing, Sully … I hardly fit in here, with you.”
He sets down his wine, turning to me. “You don’t feel like you fit in here?”
I sigh. “I want to fit here … but this house is an estate … there are a dozen bedrooms and you make million dollar deals … it makes me wonder if I’m right for you.”
“That’s ridiculous. I don’t care about money—”
“Bullshit,” I say, laughing. “You love your job. Even if you needed a break from it, building a business from nothing is why you fit so well out here in the wilds of Alaska. You want to carve out your own destiny just like your great grandparents.” I smile, elbowing him. “Just with a modern bent.”
“That’s the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me.”
I exhale. “I doubt that. I’m sure you’ve had plenty of girls who have told you nice things.”
He runs a hand through his hair. “I won’t lie and say I haven’t dated — but I’ve never been with a woman like you.”
I smirk. “A hippy dippy girl who wears feather earrings and fringe?”
He pulls me to him. “Yes, that, and also a girl who believes in fairy tales, in fate. Who believes in me. In us.” Sully kisses me softly. “Listen, Sophie. I know you’ve had a shitty past, but together maybe we can make a beautiful future.”
He shows me where to look in the telescope, pointing out Cassiopeia, the Big Dipper, Orion.
“And where is the North Star?” I ask, leaning against my mountain man.
He looks at me, our eyes searching one another. “See that line from the two outermost stars in the bowl of the Big Dipper? The one that points to Polaris? That’s the North Star.”
I look at the sky, finding the North Star. But my heart? It’s fixed on Sullivan.
Chapter Ten
Sullivan
The next morning I get up with one thing on my mind. Needing to set Sophie’s mind at ease. It’s obvious she still doesn’t fully believe that I would want her, choose, her — so I am goi
ng to take her to Juneau so she can see where I live, our home there. So she can see my business and get a feel for the world where I come from.
“Really, we’re just taking a plane?”
I grin at her surprise. “We are, and I’m flying us. And when we get there, I booked you a day at the spa. You deserve it.”
She bites her lower lip, not seeming so sure. Fuck, I thought I was being romantic.
“What’s the problem?” I ask.
“Nothing, just sometimes I wish I could get better reception up here. All I get are voicemails and texts. I wish I could read the news so I could, well, never mind.”
“So you could what?”
“Read my horoscope. To make sure this is a good plan.”
I try not to roll my eyes too hard. “Sophie, you and I are making our own destiny. We chose to come here. Be here. Have faith in us, not astrology.”
She pats my head like I’m clueless, and maybe I am. This week has been a rollercoaster of unexpected emotions. Mostly that I am falling head over heels with my wife.
“Anyways,” I say. “Who is calling you?”
Her eyes go wide and I can tell right away she’s hiding something. “Nothing. I mean no one.”
“What aren’t you saying?”
“Nothing, it’s just my co-worker Charlotte. She wanted to make sure I was ok.”
“And what did you tell her?”
She laughs. “That I married the man I was fated to meet.”
“You think you’re funny, don’t you?”
She smiles, kissing me. “Yes, but I do think you’re a bit of a stick in the mud.”
“You didn’t think that last night,” I say with a grin.
Her cheeks turn red and I know she is remembering the way I took her outside, under the stars, the full moon. We were both howling like wolves.
“Anyways, Charlotte is happy to know that I am safe and sound. But I will FaceTime her in Juneau since we’ll have WiFi.”
I tell her to pack for a few days, and within the hour we are off in my seaplane. I’ll admit to priding myself on the fact I can take my wife anywhere she likes in my plane.
“You like me being the pilot?” I shout over the noise of the engine.
She licks her lips. “It’s super hot,” she admits.
“How hot?” I tease, and then my perfect little wife is unbuttoning her pants, pressing her hand under the waistband of her panties and showing me just how turned on she is.
“Fuck, Soph, I need to focus.”
“I know,” she purrs. “But I like making my mountain man squirm.”
I’m doing more than squirm. Damn, imagining her fingers rubbing against her little pink clit has me hard as rock. She’s moaning as I fly, getting herself off like the perfect bride she is. She’s panting, desperate for release and when she screams my name, coming against her hand, my cock is ready to rage.
By the time I land the plane all I can think about is fucking my wife. And I do. The moment I turn off the engine, I unbuckle and pull her in my lap.
“Won’t people see?”
“This is a private dock, wifey. Fuck me like the pilot I am.”
She does, she pulls out my thick cock and sits down like we’ve practiced this a hundred times. Her tits start bouncing and I pull up her blouse, needing to suck her nipples as she rides me hard. Her tits are perfectly round and full and my cock plunges inside her warm slit, dreaming of coming against her big titties.
“Fuck,” I groan, balls deep in my perfect girl. She is whimpering as I take her, her creamy pussy dripping as we finish.
“What the hell was that?” she pants, catching her breath.
“That was me fucking what is mine.”
She presses her forehead against mine. “You can do that anytime you want, husband.”
* * *
When we get to my condo, she takes her time, looking at each and every item. “You plan on moving back here eventually?” she asks.
“I haven’t decided,” I tell her honestly. “Depends on a lot of things.”
“Like what?” she asks.
I stand behind her, pulling her to me. “On what you want.”
Her ass grinds against my cock and I know what I want next. But she spins around. “Where is this day spa you promised me?” she asks.
“Right,” I say, spinning her around and kissing her. “I’ll take you, then we can meet for dinner afterwards. Sound good?”
“What will you do while I’m gone?” she asks.
“I need to go to the bank, then I’ll head to the office and check in.”
She twists her lips. “Your brother won’t like that.”
I scoff. “I’m my own man, remember?”
She smiles. “You sure? Thought you were my man.”
As we we drive to the spa, Sophie checks her phone.
“Everything okay?” I ask.
“Yeah,” she says softly. “Totally. Charlotte is asking when she can come visit.”
“She can come anytime,” I tell her. “I’m getting you a credit card today. What is mine is yours — remember, no secrets. Only truth, right?”
She nods, her eyes extra bright and sparkly. “Right.”
“Good.” I squeeze her knee as I come up to the spa. I put the car in park and look at her. “I don’t want you to hide anything from me.”
“Why is that so important to you?” she asks. “I mean, I know honesty is the best policy, but why are you always emphasizing it?”
“I don’t know a lot about relationships — but I learned one thing from my brother and Hannah. Being truthful brings people closer, even if it’s hard.”
She nods, kissing my cheek. She’s about to say something but she pauses for a beat too long. Her phone buzzes and when she checks it, I notice the time on the dash.
“You need to go, Sophie, or you’ll be late. I already paid for everything over the phone. Just check in as Sophie McClain.”
She leaves, and I watch her go, trusting that my wife is in good hands.
Chapter Eleven
Sophie
I feel panicky. Like I’m making another wrong decision. My gut told me to come clean with Sullivan, about the loan sharks and his incessant texts, but I want to consult my horoscope before I do anything drastic. The last thing I want is to ruin things with Sully when we are growing so close.
I more than care about him. I love him. From the way he looks at me — I know he will always protect me. And that fills the hole that has been in my heart since my parents left me when I was young.
Still, I can’t bring myself to tell him. He will think I am a liar and a fool. He trusts me … and here I am holding this back from him.
I know that sixteen thousand dollars … or more than double that due to interest … isn’t a big deal in his eyes, but it represents something so much larger. That I can’t make good decisions. That isn’t how I want my husband to see me. I want him to think I am intelligent and capable.
As I walk towards the spa that, which is housed within a large shopping center, I pause to use the restroom. My mind is so focused on how I am going to open up with Sullivan that I don’t realize someone is following me until it is too late.
“There you are, you little cheat,” says a low gruff voice.
I stiffen, turning as a man shoves me into a storage room. “Robby?” My voice is curdled with fear and he pushes me against the wall.
“You think you can just run off and pretend you don’t owe me thirty grand?”
“I don’t have it … I don’t have anything …”
His grimy hands dig into my skin. “You are so fucking stupid. I know who you married. You can get me that money.”
“How do you know? How did you know how to find me?” Tears run down my cheeks as Robby grips my neck.
“Because your stupid ass friend Charlotte told me you ran off to Alaska and got married. You don’t think I know how to track you down? Your phone is a goddamn GPS you fool.”
He is
saying all the things I already feel. Like I am stupid and make bad choices, and for a moment I believe him. I allow him to confirm all of those things in me.
But as I squeeze my eyes tight, I see something else. Something brave and beautiful. My future. Yes, I’ve made a mistake, but it doesn’t define me — and I know Sullivan wouldn’t cast me aside if I’d just be straight with him.
My heart pounds as I think about losing Sully. The man who took a chance on me, on our story. Yes, he may have gone into it hoping to prove his brother wrong, but it has turned into something so much more than that.
And I’m not letting Robby steal that from me.
I fight back, lifting my foot and kneeing him in the balls. I scream, I shout, and it’s hard as I’m gasping for breath, but I will put up a fight. He’s not going to kill me; he’ll never get his money if he does.
“Just give me your money you little slut and I’ll let you live.”
It’s not the fact that I have literally zero cash on me that makes me feel in the driver’s seat here — it’s the fact that I know Robby can never own me. I own myself.
“Get the hell away from me!” I scream, shoving him hard, knowing I’m not going down like this — not when I have finally gotten the life I always dreamed of.
Just then the door opens and Sullivan is standing there with security guards.
“Sophie!” he shouts, fear in his eyes as he looks at my attacker. “Who the fuck are you?” he asks Robby, dragging him to his feet and slamming him against the wall like he is a worthless piece of trash. There is venom in my husband’s eyes, loathing and disgust, as he takes in Robby with his greasy hair and bloodshot eyes, lined with dark circles. No questions asked, Sullivan is here to save me.
“She owes me money,” Robby shouts. “And you have the means to pay up.”
Sullivan barks orders. “Get the cops — this man is going to jail.”
The Mountain Man’s North Star: A Modern Mail-Order Bride Romance Page 5
