Page 123 of Between Never and Forever

He stared at me for a beat and then breathed out like he was trying to dissipate his concern. “Okay, heartbreaker. It’s nothing.” He rolled his eyes. “Let’s focus on the wedding. You iron out everything you wanted with Penelope?”

“I told her we could get married at the courthouse and take some pictures around the gazebo in town, Dex. Nothing big.”

He hummed and nodded.

“We can make an easy enough social media post on that. I’m hoping it will squash rumors, like you said.”

“Right. We will most likely do an interview too. Mitchell wanted that for the record label.”

My gut twisted at him doing another thing he shouldn’t have to do for me. “Dex, you shouldn’t—"

“I want to,” he concluded. “Don’t worry, okay? Look, you got your team back there.” He waved back at Olive, Dimitri, and Pink. They’d agreed to come. Yet, we didn’t invite the rest of Dex’s family because I hadn’t agreed to this being any more than a sham. I was retreating back to the agreement where I could protect Dex from my problems, from my fame, from stalkers, and from my label.

Thankfully, his family had all been very understanding—supposedly—when Dex told them.

“I could still call Mitchell to see if maybe we could—”

“You’re in the air, halfway home. The venue is set.” He turned back to Olive and Pink, who were a few rows back in plush seats, drinking and talking over stage sets. “Ladies, Kee thinks we shouldn’t go through with the marriage and instead just do a press release. Thoughts on that?”

Olive frowned. “If that’s what you want, we’ll support you, but the photographers have been vetted and approved. I think the pictures will speak volumes on social media too.”

“Personally, I get why you don’t want to marry him.” Pink smirked at Dex. “But it’s the best way to avoid drama with the record label and shut the media up. Just do it.”

Pink and Olive went back to talking, and I turned to Dex. “They shouldn’t be painting this type of picture, and you shouldn’t have to marry me to change it.”

“What if I just want to marry you?” Dex stared at me, his green eyes bright.

“I don’t know if you’re thinking right after seeing that last letter, Dex,” I whispered to him now because I knew that letter had sent him into a tailspin. I saw how he’d paced the room after, how he’d stayed up late that night, how he’d bothered the post office again and again before coming to the conclusion that the marriage was an even better idea to deter all my stalkers. According to him, he was now convinced I had a thousand.

“You’re marrying me this weekend, heartbreaker.” He went back to his laptop too.

That sounded so real. So final. “For the press,” I added on quietly.

“Sure, heartbreaker,” he murmured. “Whatever you say. If that makes you feel better. You need to relax. Want me to help you?” The devilish smirk I knew now as him thinking dirty thoughts surfaced.

I chuckled nervously but my body reacted. “What? Absolutely not. I’ll read,” I huffed. I needed to escape from my nerves anyway. I could escape into a book for a bit. I pulled up a book on my phone.

Every now and then, he’d squeeze my knee or look over from his laptop to drag a finger across my cheek. It was every time I was reading a spicy part of the book, and I would swat his hand away.

“Just making sure you’re aware of the parts you like, heartbreaker. Highlight them so you can read them to me later.”

I bit my lip and nodded because I wanted to do that too much to deny it. “You’re almost to book boyfriend status by saying that.”

“The goal is to get to bookhusbandstatus.” His eyes darkened as my lips parted and then he leaned forward to unbutton and discard his suit jacket. “You know what, fuck it. You need this.”

He draped the jacket over my legs. “Why? I’m not cold. It’s—”

Suddenly, his hand disappeared under the jacket, and I felt his fingers dip into the waistband of my yoga pants. “No you’re not cold. You’re fucking hot. I’ve stared at your ass all day in these pants. And now you’re sitting next to me wound up and wet.”

“I’m not—” I gasped as he pushed my panties to the side. His fingers slid easily over my arousal.

“Go ahead. Finish that sentence. Tell me you’re not soaking right now.” He whispered in my ear, “I want to see how well you lie as my fingers slide into you.”

Jesus, his mouth was dirty when he wanted it to be. “You can’t seriously be doing this right now. Dimitri, Olive, and—”

“They’re all at the way back of the plane behind us, occupied with their own shit.” He licked my ear. “Be good and quiet and they won’t know I’m making you come.”

My breathing picked up as my adrenaline rose. All worries dispersed as my pussy tightened in excitement. My body wasn’t going to deny itself.