Page 37

THIRTY-SEVEN

MOIRA

And so, I marry him.

In a gaudy little Vegas wedding chapel way, way off the strip, I say, “I do,” in front of Elvis and a witness who looks like she got lost on her way to work at a biker bar. Bane puts a cheap silver wedding band on my finger that we bought at the gift shop up front. And just like that?—

BAM. Bane grabs me, kisses me deeply, and I swear I hear wedding bells. No, wait. That’s just the ka-ching of the cash register as Elvis’s assistant sells a couple of rubber chicken bouquets to the next doomed couple in line.

A flash goes off behind us, and I blink up at my brand-new husband. My stomach does a little swoopy thing like I just stepped off a rollercoaster.

“What the hell did we just do?” I whisper, my heart jack hammering in my chest.

Bane grins down at me, his dark eyes full of something that makes my breath catch. “I just became yours. And you became mine.”

Mine.

I blink again, feeling all dazed and Cinderella-at-midnight, but my shoes haven’t fallen off yet, so this must be real.

He laces his fingers with mine, nods at Elvis, and pulls me toward the door. “Come on, wife.”

“Watermarked photos will be emailed to the address you gave! Only a seventy-five dollar upgrade to your package to unlock!” calls Elvis’s assistant.

I giggle. “Hear that, darling? Just seventy-five bucks for a package upgrade!”

“Oh, my package is doing just fine,” he growls, low and dark in my ear. “And more than ready to consummate the marriage. Are you wet for me yet, wife? Because I’m happy to eat you out until you are.”

My breath hitches. My thighs squeeze together like they have minds of their own. Because obviously, I’ve been wet since we got off the plane. Hell, earlier than that. The man refused my very logical suggestion of an airplane bathroom quickie.

“Good things come to those who wait,” was all he said.

Well, I waited, and now I’m ready to crawl up his body and ride him right here in the hallway.

As soon as we step into our hotel suite, Bane has me pinned against the door. His body is all hard muscle and barely restrained hunger. I let out a little whimper because, honestly, I might just combust from the sheer need vibrating between us.

My hand drops to squeeze him through his slacks. Sweet, merciful baby Jesus. No wonder he refused the airplane bathroom. There wouldn’t have been enough room.

He thrusts into my palm, and I swear, I nearly pass out.

This is my wife, Moira. He said it this morning, and I still can’t process it.

I was never the kind of girl who dreamed of wedding cakes and white dresses. That was for other girls, girls who believed in fairytales. Not me.

And yet, somehow, I said yes.

And somehow, we’re here.

And somehow, this is real.

My pulse pounds as I push against his chest, just enough to make space. “Did you just do this because you hate liars? Because you freaked out in the moment and said I was your wife, so now you had to make it true? Like… for your ethics? To save your job?”

He frowns, and I realize I haven’t taken a breath in approximately forever. My lungs scream for air, but I can’t move. I can’t look away.

“No.” He steps forward, arms wrapping around me again, solid and warm. “I meant what I said last night. I love you. I lied to you when I said things were fine after our accidental photo-op at the Christmas gala. Things weren’t fine with the bishop. She made me choose. The priesthood or you. I chose you.”

Oh.

Oh, fuck.

So then why did we?—?

If he’d already basically lost his job. . .! Or is this just a way to keep both me and his job? My head’s spinning too fast.

“You could have told me!” I finally explode.

“I just did.” His lips graze my ear. “No more secrets, wife. Now that you’re mine, I won’t keep anything back. One last thing, though; my father is Brad Blackwolf.”

I jerk back. “Brad Blackwolf. The?—”

“The richest man in the world,” he confirms, sighing like he wishes it weren’t true.

My brain does a full reboot.

I thought there was something familiar about that man lurking in the shadows the other night. It was fucking Brad Blackwolf! Also known as Mad Blackwolf because the man eats billionaires for breakfast and flosses with their bones.

And I just married his son.

I blink up at Bane. “Why the fuck didn’t you make me sign a prenup?!”

His eyes darken. “I gave up my inheritance when I became a priest.”

I exhale. “Oh, thank God.”

Bane throws his head back and laughs, then hauls me into his chest. “This. This is one of the many reasons you’re perfect.”

I narrow my eyes. “What?”

“It never even occurred to you to care about the money.”

I slap him on the shoulder for thinking I would ever care about that shit. “I’ve been poor before. It was fine. I mean, I’ve been miserable when I was rich and when I was poor.”

Bane cups my face, his gaze turning serious, almost fierce. “Not anymore. Not now that you’re with me.”

A small smile tugs at my lips. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

I stretch up on my tiptoes, letting my lips graze his ear. “Wow. I bet you weren’t lying about what an asshole you were growing up.” And then I bite his earlobe, hard.

There’s been a tightness in him all day, something coiled just beneath the surface, but it unravels in an instant as he melts into me, pinning me against the wall.

“Yes,” he growls, voice dark, rough, and brimming with promise.

I shove him toward the bed with a wicked grin, my voice all honey and steel. “Go lay on your back with a pillow under your hips.”

Bane growls, his biceps flexing as he grabs me and pins me against the wall again. “What if I want to fuck you against this wall instead?”

God, I love the feel of his big body up against mine. I get back up on tiptoes to bite the tip of his earlobe, then soften the sting with slow, deliberate kisses down his jaw to his mouth. “You can do that. And we’d both enjoy it. I’m so fucking wet at the thought.”

His hand is already beneath the hem of my dress, fingers teasing my inner thighs before sliding higher, and oh. Oh .

He exhales, sharp and harsh, and I clench around the fingers he’s slid inside my cunt, grinning against his lips. “But you won’t get the surprise you would if you were a good boy and did what I said.”

I feel the jolt of his cock against my stomach at the words good boy . His muscles lock up like I just flipped a switch inside him, and oh dear God. Bane Blackwolf is utterly wrecked by the way I tease him, and the power of that knowledge floods me, thick and intoxicating.

I never get to have the power. Not like this.

But he relinquishes it to me so completely. So easily. So without hesitation.

I haven’t told him I love him. Do I?

I haven’t told him my secrets. Can I?

He gives of himself so freely, but I’m not sure I know how. Giving my body is easy. Thoughtless. Nothing at all.

His dark eyes hold mine, pupils so wide I swear they’ve swallowed his irises. Then he moves, stepping back to the bed. Never looking away, not for a second.

“Naked or clothed?”

My pussy clenches tighter than even when he had his finger in me. “Naked.”

I stand frozen as he does exactly as I said and pulls off his clothes, one piece at a time, like my own private Magic Mike show. I was going to suggest going to see it while we were in town, but no, I think I like this much, much better.

I bite my lip by the time he gets to his boxers and shoves them down, stepping out to reveal his long, massively engorged cock.

He reaches down to touch himself, still watching me, but I quickly say, “Don’t. That’s my toy.”

He heaves out a breath, his cock leaping as he puts his hands behind his back, eyes smoldering, before he climbs on the bed. He never takes his eyes off me the entire time he arranges a pillow beneath his backside and lays down just like I told him to.

“You fucking kill me when you bite your lip like that,” he says, voice rough as gravel.

I do it again, just to see what happens, and his cock twitches where it lays against his stomach.

“Oh, do I?” I tease, deliberately adjusting my bottom lip between my teeth. “How so?”

“I want you to hold me down and ride me and bite me.”

“Do you, now?” I take a slow, measured step toward him, loving the way his eyes widen in anticipation. But then, just to be a menace, I pivot and head for my quickly packed bag instead.

I can feel his obsessive gaze tracking my every move. God, I didn’t know what it would feel like to be wanted this much.

But what about when he finds out what I’ve been keeping from him? Will he still look at me like this? Or will he fly off the handle? I’ve seen too many men explode into a rage before. He hates his father with a fire that burns in his bones.

How much like him is he?

Nothing!

I know Bane. I do.

No matter what he says about his past, he’s not his father.

Still, my fingers hesitate for just a second before I grab the things I need and turn back to him.

He lifts a dark eyebrow when he sees what I’m carrying. “Jeans? You going somewhere?”

I tilt my head, my smile curling despite my anxiety. “I was thinking about going for a ride.”

His entire body tightens, the way his focus narrows on me, making my stomach flip. “Oh?”

I reach down and wrap both hands around one of his thick wrists, squeezing slightly. “Some stallions are best kept tied while you saddle up.”

His nostrils flare. I swear his cock gets even harder.

I knot one leg of the jeans around his wrist as tight as I can, then drag his arm down and tie the other leg to the top of the bed frame.

His chest rises and falls heavy, eyes burning into me as I move around the bottom of the bed, grabbing the second pair of jeans to do the same to his other wrist.

When he’s secured, I set the last object from my bag on the nightstand, making sure he gets a good look at it.

I particularly enjoy the way his breath hitches when he recognizes it.

“Alright, you absolute menace,” he murmurs in a voice somewhere between reverence and raw need.

I grin as I stand from tying his second arm down, watching his gaze stay locked on the small tincture of oil I stole from the church this morning as we fled the altar.

“Did you miss it?”

His Adam’s apple bobs. “I did not. I’d forgotten all about it.”

His eyes finally find mine again, and my breath catches.

Oh, this is going to be fun.

I snatch the oil from the side of the bed and sling my leg over his waist, facing away from his face, reverse cowgirl style.

He groans again. “Fuck. Why do you have me tied up like this? I want to touch that ass.”

“You’ve told me your secrets. I want to tell you mine. But I want you to behave and not freak out when I do.”

“Moira. There’s nothing you can tell me that’s going to make me change my mind about loving you.”

I look over my shoulder. “Good. But I still don’t want you going off and doing anything stupid, either. I’ll feel better this way.”

Then I smile wickedly as I lift the little bottle of anointing oil and pull out the stopper.

First though, I grab his long, hard cock with my other hand and feed it into my wet cunt. Oh, God, yes . I clench around him, folding my legs beside his hip and riding him for a few long moments to give both of us some release from the pressure that’s built up all day.

Behind me, I can feel him twisting like he’s trying to get free of his restraints as his hips rise up to meet mine, straining to get deeper.

I smile. That’s the point of this position. I have all the control.

But I still want to drive him crazy.

I grab his left leg and breathily manage, “Lift.”

He obeys, lifting it the way I guide.

Then I remove the oil stopper and let it drip down the underside of his balls and down his crack.

He groans, finally getting the point of why I have him in this position.

I bite my bottom lip in anticipation, stoppering the little bottle and tossing it to the side.

Then I wrap an arm around the leg he’s lifted before massaging two fingers underneath his balls to his taint and then further down.

He groans, and his cock leaps inside me when I begin to gently massage the gland right inside his ass.

“Moira,” he heaves, his voice gruff but breaking.

“That’s right, baby. Give in to all the good feelings. Completely relax into the pleasure.”

“I fucking love you.”

“Good. Remember that when I tell you what I’ve got to tell you.”

“What does that mean?” he growls, and I feel some of the tension come back into his body even as his hips continue lifting, fucking me even more roughly as I stimulate his prostate.

I suck in a deep breath. Time to be brave. “I ran into your father yesterday.”

He freezes, but I keep massaging him until he jolts forward and thrusts up into me again as if he can’t help himself. That’s right .

“He offered me an obscene amount of money to break up with you. He doesn’t think I’m good enough for you. I didn’t know who he was at the time. Not ’til you told me his name.”

“But what’d you say to him?” He’s frozen beneath me.

I stop this time and look over my shoulder, offended. “I told him to go shove it where the sun don’t shine.”

The look of stark terror on his face as he waited for my answer is swept away by relief, overwhelming pride, and then fury.

“I’m going to kill him.”

“No, you’re not.”

I start to relentlessly massage him again.

He lets out a noise like a strangled animal and bucks beneath me even more furiously than ever. I cling to his leg wrapped up in my arm. Even though I’m on top and stimulating him, I’m not sure who’s riding who at this moment.

“Why didn’t you t-tell me?” he manages to get out.

“If you can still talk,” I pant, clenching around his hugely engorged cock as I ride it, “I’m not doing my job right.”

I go more furiously at his prostate.

“Oh—Jesus—Fuck— Moira !”

I’m waiting for him to thrust and finish inside me, but instead, I hear the noise of ripping fabric. I look over my shoulder to find him Hulked-out, all his muscles flexed and pulling against the impromptu ties around his wrists until the one on the right finally rips and tears down a center seam. His left hand pops through the hole of the other tie because he’s still yanking so hard.

I squeal as his arm comes free, and he immediately reaches for me.

I’m helpless as he grasps my waist, hands needy.

I let go of his leg as he lifts me up and flips me, and I’m the one on my back now. Immediately, his body engulfs me. Arms around me, cock inside me, mouth on mine.

I open up to him, feeling his sudden desperation even if I don’t understand it.

“You chose me,” he mumbles, even as his hands are everywhere, pulling me to him even though I’m already as close as can be. “I need you,” he says, thrusting gently inside me.

“You have me,” I say between kisses, turned on by this flash of wild passion. My legs lock behind his back.

He just shakes his head like I still don’t understand. But I understand the language of his deep kisses. And how his body moves against mine. Slow lunges that reach so deep inside me. Claiming me as his. . . oh god, claiming me as his wife.

That’s what this is. He said it earlier, joking. That we were consummating the marriage. But I feel it in how his body moves in mine, and I yield to him. I wrap my arms around him and clench, claiming him back.

He shudders above me, his hips thrusting faster.

No man in my life has ever wanted me this way. Tears roll down my eyes as emotions I’ve never felt before well in my chest. I cling even tighter to him, squeezing him to me, our bodies cemented together except for our hips that separate and slap back together with each desperate thrust.

He buries his face in my neck and howls when he comes, triggering the deepest G-spot orgasm. But for once, sex isn’t about the pleasure that shakes my body as we shudder together. Tears pour out my eyes as I cling to him, feeling?—

I—I—He’s?—

I give up on trying to figure out what I’m feeling, clutch the back of his head to me, dig my fingers into his hair, and abandon myself to him fully.

No more secrets between us.

We’re bared fully to one another.

Man and wife.