Without bothering with a towel, I slipped out of the tank and stalked toward her, uncaring of the fact that I was dripping along the way. My swim trunks were bogged down with water and hanging damn near indecently low on my hips, but I couldn’t focus on any of that. Not when I had a mission in mind.
As soon as Quinn realized what I was doing, her eyes went wide, and she started backing up. “Ford…” she called to me, a warning in her voice as she held a hand out in front of her. “What are you doing?”
“I’m greeting my wife. Aren’t you happy to see me?”
She shot a frantic gaze around, no doubt realizing that all eyes were on us. This was our first public event as husband and wife, which meant we had to play this up. We had no choice but to beonin front of half the town.
And I damn well was going to take full advantage of that when she’d been icing me out at home.
The closer I got, the narrower her eyes grew until she hissed in a low voice, “Don’t you dare…”
“Aw, don’t be like that, kitten,” I said, eating up the space between us. “You know you want a hug and kiss from your brand-new husband.”
“Stop it. You’re going to get me all wet.”
“Good. That’s always my goal.” Finally to her, I cupped her ass in one hand and hauled her up against me, lifting her straight off the ground.
Fuck, it felt good to have her in my arms again. I had no idea what she was doing to me, no idea why I craved her so much. No idea why I felt this constant hunger to touch her, but I did. There was no use denying that anymore.
With a yelp, she threw one arm around my shoulder and reached back with the other, trying to tug at the bottom of her dress as she wrapped her legs around my waist. “Seriously? The hand on my ass is a little excessive, don’t you think?” she snapped in a low voice. “You better not be giving everyone a show of my panties.”
I pressed my mouth to her ear, tracing my bottom lip along the shell. “Believe me, kitten, no one gets to see your sweet ass and that pretty little cunt but me.”
A shudder racked her body, and I pulled back to look at her. Her lips were parted, cheeks flushed and eyes bright, and she could play that she was mad all she wanted, but I knew her expressions well enough to know, without a doubt, this wasn’t anger. This was desire, thick and undeniable.
“Everyone’s watching,” I murmured, tipping my face to hers. “Time to kiss me, wife.”
“You are such an ass,” she hissed.
I pressed my lips to the underside of her jaw, forcing her to tip her head back, and carried her through the crowd, uncaring of the murmurs around us as we went. I was desperate to get her someplace semi-private so I could finally get my fill of her. “An ass you loved enough to pledge the rest of your life to. Are you going to kiss me, so all these people know how desperately you want me?”
“I hate you,” she whispered, but the way she stared at my mouth, licking her lips as if she was just waiting for my kiss, belied her words.
“No, you don’t. You love this game we play. Tell me you want it.” I scraped my teeth over her earlobe and pressed my lips to the shell. “Tell me you want it, wife, and I’ll give it to you.”
“Everyone’s looking,” she said, even though her eyes never strayed from mine. “Just kiss me already.”
She could blame it on whatever she wanted so long as she gave me the permission I needed. Without hesitation, I pressed her up against the nearest building, pinned her to it with my hips, and took her mouth with mine.
Christ, it’d only been two weeks since I’d last tasted her—and a fucking lifetime before that—so how did her lips on mine already feel like coming home?
She opened for me and groaned into my mouth, her arms tightening around my neck as she slid her tongue against mine.Fuck. I hadn’t thought this through before I’d shoved her against this wall. I was hard as a fucking rock while wearing swim trunks that left absolutely nothing to the imagination. Worse, I’d loosened my restraint, the only thing that had been keeping me in check. And now that it was gone, I needed to fuck her. Badly.
“Ford,” she panted, tipping her head back when I dragged my mouth down the column of her neck. “We can’t do this here.”
Distant sounds of the crowd filtered to me, kids yelling and playing, and I definitely wasn’t interested in giving them this kind of show.
“You’re right, but we’re doing this somewhere, and we’re doing itnow. You’ve got me all fucked up, so desperate for you, I can’t even smell your goddamn shampoo without getting hard.” I gripped her hip and pressed myself against the cradle of her thighs, groaning when I felt her heat through my soaked trunks. “And with the way you keep trying to grind that pussy down on me, you feel the same.”
Her cheeks flared bright red, her eyes flashing with that fire I loved so much. “Don’t tell me what I feel.”
“Am I wrong?” I asked. “Tell me I’m wrong, kitten, and I’ll set you down and meet you back at the cottage, where you can keep feeding me your bullshit excuses just to avoid this thing between us. Tell me, and I’ll jack it in the shower with your soap just like I have been for the past two weeks. Tell me,” I urged. “And don’t fucking lie.”
With a glare, she snapped her mouth shut, pressing her lips into a thin line. Not saying a damn word.
“That’s what I thought. Now find me someplace and do it quick because I’m tired of the games. I told you this wouldn’t be a one-time thing. I need to fuck my wife.”
My words seemed to spur her on, and she glanced around, her eyes brightening when her gaze landed on something behind me. “I have a key!”
