“Bye, Lance.” I ended the call and then did the one thing I never, ever did. I turned off my phone. “I’m all yours, storm cloud.”
“What were we talking about before Lance decided to have the worst timing in the universe?”
I shook my head. “It was something important but I don’t remember the specifics. All you need to know is I’m not going anywhere. I can work from wherever I want, and I want to be here with you. Just so long as you let me take you on adventures a few times each year. Plus the honeymoon.”
“Tell the truth. You’re actually staying for the festivals.”
“Now, don’t misunderstand me. I’m not about to turn into the patron saint of Friendship’s festivals anytime soon but—oh, wait. Wait a second.” I pushed a hand through my hair. “Yeah, I might’ve agreed to host an oyster festival.”
“It was only a matter of time.”
I laughed, holding her close. “Did you happen to hear the part about me taking you on a honeymoon? Because—”
“Fifteen months, Beck. That’s the deal.”
“Trust me, I know the terms of this deal. Just as long as you know you’ll be taking a significant chunk of time off in fifteen months. For your honeymoon.”
“I’m going to need a very elaborate proposal out of you first.”
“So, my declaration of undying love and promises of forever in the middle of a hostage situation wasn’t elaborate enough for you?” I ran a hand down my face. “Let’s grab a book, run a bath, and see if I can change your mind.”
She pressed her cheek to my chest. “That sounds good,” she said, her tone softening. We weren’t playing anymore. “But later, okay? I just want to be with you right now. We have all the time in the world for everything else.”
I kissed her hair. “Yes. We do.”
epilogue
Beckett
Today’s Special:
All You Can Eat Oysters
Springtime,the next year
“Keep reading,”I warned.
“I’m trying,” Sunny snapped back. “You’re—you’re—”
“I’m doing my part,” I said through clenched teeth. God, she felt amazing around me this morning. I loved fucking her from behind while she read out loud. There was something strange and magical about slamming into her while beautiful, indecent words spilled over her lips. “You’ve repeated the same line three times.”
She rocked back against me. Her ass looked good enough to eat. “It’s a good line.”
“She’s been rubbing his cock against her clit for like an hour. It’s time for her to take it like a good girl.” I moved my hand up her spine, settled between her shoulder blades. Put her focus back on the pages. “I hope she’s had fun playing because he’s not going to last much longer.”
“I believe what you’re saying is you’re not going to last much longer.”
“Yes, but that’s only because you are clenching on my cock so hard that I’m seeing stars. I might be the one in the coma this time.”
“No worries. I’ll roll you over and finish without you,” she said.
“Believe me, storm cloud, I know.” I thrust into her hard enough to force a gasp out of her. The shy woman with the sexual history roughly equivalent to loose change was long gone, a memory so distant that I doubted it had ever been real. I gripped her hips, holding her tight to me as I bottomed out. “Keep reading.”
“‘I felt like I'd belonged to him for a lifetime,’” she started, her words coming apart like a knot frayed down to the threads, “‘like everything that was mine had always been his, and I realized I wanted it that way. I wanted to be possessed in every filthy and beautiful and painfully real way I could be, and—’”
She dropped her head to the book when I reached around to stroke her clit. “That’s my girl,” I growled. “Don’t stop now.”
“‘—I wanted him to be the one possessing me. And the secret I wasn't prepared to share with him—barely with myself—was that I wanted to possess him too.’” She moaned into the mattress as I sped up. “‘Every inch of me was hot and sensitive, and my nipples needed so much attention, they hurt.’”
