“Can I tell you something?” he murmured. When I nodded, he brought his head closer to mine like he was going to kiss me,but he didn’t. “I love having this thing on my finger. I know it’s only been a few hours, but it’s heavy, and it’s warm, and it marks me as yours. It’s sexy as fuck. I’m going to be turned on all the time now.”
I laughed through my tears. “You were doing so well at being romantic until that last part, but you’re not wrong. It really is sexy as fuck. Although you’re turned on all the time anyway.”
“Only for you, Mrs. Westwood,” he murmured. “Only ever for you.”
He sealed his mouth over mine in the sweetest but most intent kiss he’d ever given me, his tongue almost tentative as it delved into my mouth. A lot had happened again in the last couple of days. I got that.
This was our wedding night, but it was also the night that we’d made up, the day we’d brought peace to our families—for now—and the day on which we’d learned that his family trusted us to expand their name to the east coast.
All of those things were huge, but I knew we were both also still tender from how we’d almost lost each other. How very close my mother’s ultimatum had gotten to tearing us apart. “I would’ve chosen you, you know.”
Harrison’s mouth stilled against mine. “What are you talking about?”
“I decided to give it one last stab with my mom,” I replied, looping my arms around his neck and looking up into his eyes. “That’s why I asked her to meet me at your place. I thought that I owed it to her to explain honestly where I stood, and I was hoping it would go down the way it would, but if it hadn’t?”
Understanding suddenly dawned in his eyes. “You would’ve chosen me?”
My chin dipped in a slight nod. “I was so, so miserable all of yesterday and I kept trying to tell myself that it would be okay. I tried reminding myself that people got their hearts broken everyday and that most of them eventually learned how to move on, but whenever I tried to picture any future for myself without you in it, it felt so wrong that it made me sick.”
“Same,” he admitted quietly. “I didn’t want to believe that it was over, but I kind of forced myself to imagine what it would be like if it was. I hated every fucking second. Honestly, I hated it so much that I couldn’t even stand the thought of going back to W&S. I figured that if I’d misjudged life so badly, I was probably better off traveling for another year.”
“You would’ve given up on your dreams?”
He shook his head. “No. My dreams have you in them now, baby. I wouldn’t have been living them without you. No matter how successful I became. You were really going to give up your family?”
I nodded slowly, my heart swelling to make room for the fact that Harrison and I had willingly bound our lives together. Our very selves. Everything we were and ever would be. We were strong by ourselves, but we were better together and the last couple days seemed to have proven that to us both.
“My family has never been there for me the way you have,” I said softly. “They’ve never believed in me. Never seen me for who I am. I do love them, and I don’t think I ever would’ve stopped trying to find a way to make it right, but I would’ve chosen you. It’s like you said, no matter what I did, I wouldn’t have been living my dreams if you hadn’t been there.”
Our mouths came together again and I didn’t even know who had kissed who. It was just that one second, we’d been talking, and the next, our tongues were locked in a passionate tangle and I was desperately working at the buttons on Harrison’s shirt.
Thankfully, he’d lost the tie, jacket, shoes, and cummerbund downstairs, but it still took long enough just to rid him of his shirt and pants. We both kicked off our shoes on the way to ourbed, and since I hadn’t been wearing a bra, that left me in only my panties.
He rolled them off as soon as we hit the mattress, but to my surprise, he didn’t make a desperate grab for a condom or immediately dive between my legs. Instead, he settled himself at my side, head propped up in the palm of one of his hands with his elbow bent, and he just kept kissing me.
Slow, lingering kisses that made me die for him to speed them up, hard, hot, fiery kisses that made me feel like I was about to spontaneously combust. Especially when his free hand skated along my ribs, his palm grazing every inch of my skin before he finally pinched a nipple between his thumb and index finger.
I moaned into the kiss, but I didn’t want to rush him. Frankly, this was amazing. Kissing like we were lovers who had all the time in the world was making me ache like it was nobody’s business, but I loved every second.
As if he had plucked the words from my thoughts, he murmured against my lips, “I love you, wife.”
“I love you, husband,” I responded, my voice a husky version of itself, but I didn’t even mind. “Do you remember our promise to always have fun together?”
“Yeah.” He pulled back just enough to send me a quizzical frown. “Are you not having fun? Because I sure as hell am. Certain parts of my anatomy are hating me for not just getting the job done, but I’m having too much fun to listen to it.”
A breathy giggle slid out of me, my cheeks flaring with heat. “Have you ever, uh, gone down on someone at the same time they were going down on you?”
His dark eyebrows hiked up. “I’m not going to answer that question, but I’m down if you are.”
“I’m so down, I’m already on my way.” I winked at him, breaking away to press a trail of hot kisses down the elegant column of his throat.
A groan rumbled through him, making my insides pulse hot and heavy with more need than ever before, but this was something I’d always wanted to try and I’d never had the courage to ask. Since we were married now, I figured that Harrison was the person who was eventually going to find out everything I’d ever wanted to try, and besides, he was the only person I’d ever trusted enough to even think about it with.
His arms locked around my hips, and the next thing I knew, he was spinning deftly underneath me while pulling me into position above him. Laughter squealed out of me at first, but only until I found myself face to face with his painfully hard cock.
The tip was shimmering and shiny, the veins in it bulging like they were angry. I moaned, immediately running my fingers along the length and cradling him in my palm. I was so entranced by it that I nearly missed his sharp intake of breath when I settled on top of him, but the sound of it still broke into my thoughts and sent another rush of heat from my core.
Uncharacteristically, Harrison didn’t even say anything. He just wrapped his hands around my thighs, spread me apart, and speared his tongue into me. I cried out, but I knew then just how much he’d been holding back. I wrapped my mouth around the head of his cock, sliding him as far into my mouth as I could and relished the growling sound that came out of him.
