“Everything is going to be fine,” he told me in reassurance.
I placed my hand on his kneecap and gave it a squeeze. “I trust and love you. As long as we have each other.”
“It’s all we’ll ever need,” he said, then turned back to the road.
More than a few times, I would watch as he seemed focused on all three mirrors. Once or twice, I had even looked out of the one closest to me, expecting to see something, but finding nothing. Cillian was being overly paranoid, which was unusual. I could’ve and should’ve asked him about what, but I closed my eyes once more.
About an hour later, the car came to a stop, and I slowly opened my eyes. It was in that moment that I realized we were outside of a twenty-four hour wedding chapel. I swallowed the small lump in my throat, realizing he’d actually meant to elope with me. Now, is when I should’ve been afraid, and as if he sensed my hesitation, he turned my head with one of his large hands, then tipped my chin upward.
“I had a friend get us the license we’ll need.”
“You actually want to do this tonight?”
“No reason to postpone the inevitable. You do want to be Reagan Brannington, yes?”
I nodded. “I do.”
“You should save those two words for inside,” he teased, and for the first time, his smile partially reached his weary eyes.
A half hour later, we exited the building as quickly as we’d entered it. I couldn’t believe it. “We’re married,” I exclaimed, and he grinned.
“We are. There’s a resort next door. We’ll stay there tonight and decide where to go to start this new life together tomorrow.”
“Sounds perfect,” I said to him. We got back into the car, then went straight to the hotel.
Once inside our room, the earlier exhaustion set in, but I knew he would want to consummate this union of ours. I was still a bit sore from his earlier possession of me, but I could never deny this man anything. I slipped off my sandals, then watched as he removed his shirt. When he turned, I saw his chest and gasped.
“Oh my God. What happened!”
I’d sensed that he had been in pain back at the pier, and now I knew why. Moving closer to him, I attempted to reach out to touch him with my hands, but pulled them back at the last minute. Instead of using my fingers, I leaned in and placed a few chaste kisses to the darkest looking bruises.
He grimaced once or twice, until he finally pulled me into his arms. “Don’t worry about them, or me. A rugby game in Dublin got out of hand.”
“Are you sure that is all it is?”
“Of course. Like I said, forget about them. I’d fucked you earlier, and I’m about to do it again.”
“Cill—”
“Shh,” he crooned to me moments before sweeping me up into his arms. He carried me to the bed, then dropped me down onto the firm mattress. His eyes swept over me right after, and I felt my thighs grow damp and my nipples harden.
“Make love to me,” I whispered.
“All night, and for the rest of our lives,” he promised before his body came down on mine.
It wasn’t long before he was thrusting inside of me. There was something frenzied about the lovemaking, and it was as if he was trying to brand me as his. I wanted to tell him that I was already his–now and forever–but each time he drove into me, I could do nothing more than cry out his name. Cillian brought me to two orgasms before he climaxed, then afterward, I fell asleep in his arms exactly as he had promised.
Istretched languorously as I stirred, and thought nothing of it when I rolled over to find the space beside me empty. It was only when my eyes raised to slits and I remembered why I was in this place that my eyes flew completely open.
“Reagan,” I called out when there was no sign of my girl. No, my wife. “Anamchara!”
Had I imagined our escape?
Had I possibly only been dreaming when I took her for my wife?
Grabbing the pillow next to me, I saw the slightest twinge of red, and picking up the solitary hair of hers, I brought the pillow to my face. It still smelled of her shampoo, so I knew she had been here. It hadn’t been all a figment of my imagination.
“Anamchara,” I called out once more.
