5. Five

Chase

“Do you, Chase Lane Knight, take Valentina Marie Carlucci as your lawfully wedded wife?” the preacher states in a Georgia drawl.

“I do.”

I listen to Val as she quietly states, “I do,” and then we’re pledging our vows.

Soon, the wedding ceremony is over, and the preacher states, “You may kiss the bride.”

I take a nervous Val into my arms and then lean down to give her a quick kiss to seal the deal.

She’s so close I can smell her flowery perfume. It’s the scent she always wears: lily, lilac, or something like that.

My lips touch hers, and all thought of my promise not to touch her goes out of my head. I’ve thought about kissing Val. Hell, I’ve thought about throwing her down on the ground and just taking her period. I mean all those sexy curves and her lush ass. It would be heaven.

Why haven’t I? Because her friendship means more to me than a damn quickie. I don’t want to jeopardize our friendship for lust.

Yet, I knew kissing Val would be perfect. I just didn’t think she would go to my head so fast. She’s like a fine wine that I can’t get enough of. Her soft curves mold to my hard frame. She feels so good in my arms.

“Ahem—“

I lift my head and look around at the preacher, “I said you can kiss the bride. Anything else needs to be behind closed doors, young man. That’s our policy.”

“Of course. Sorry.”

I look down at Val, who seems a little shell-shocked herself. Her dark eyes look a little unfocused, and she has the prettiest pink blush on her cheeks.

I reluctantly let go of my wife. My wife... Val is mine... at least for a year.

We walk out to my truck, and I help her into the high cab. I smile, and this time, I don’t turn my eyes away. Nope. She’s my wife, I can ogle her lush ass if I want to. I refrain from reaching out and squeezing her firm backside.

I get on the driver’s side and start the engine.

It’s a mostly silent drive as we head back to Jacksonville. I spend the entire time berating myself for kissing Val like that. What happened to my promise to keep my hands to myself? It hasn’t even been one day, and already I almost went too far. Damn, Knight, get it together.

We haven’t driven that far when my check engine light in my truck comes on, “Shit. Something’s wrong. I need to pull off at the next exit and check this out.”

I take the next exit, and we pull into a gas station. I pop the hood.

“Damn! Val, it looks like I’ve got a busted hose,” I look at the gas station, but it’s more of a convenience store.

“What type of hose? I can search to see if there’s a store nearby that sells it.”

“It’s the radiator hose,” I tell her about my truck’s make, model, and year, and she types it into her cell phone.

“There’s an Auto Zone about a block away,” she says excitedly, then “Oh, it just closed. It opens tomorrow morning at seven-thirty, though.”

“Good. Well, this is better than being stranded on the side of the road. I’ll fill the radiator, and I should be able to get us to that motel across the street. We can get a new hose first thing tomorrow.”

Once I pull up to the motel, Val jumps out of the truck.

I reach for a small duffel bag, which I keep behind the seat of my truck and carry with me when we enter the motel.

“We have only one room available. It has a king-sized bed. Checkout is at eleven o’clock.”

“Alright. Thanks,” I don’t protest when Val pays the guy for the room.

I hand her a keycard and keep one for myself. I use it to unlock the door to our room.

“Welcome to our bridal suite, Mrs. Knight.”

I see Val grin at my words. The motel is the typical cheap room with faded pictures on the wall and plastic furniture made to look like wood.

“At least it’s clean and doesn’t smell.” I nod at Val’s attempt to lighten the mood.

“Yeah, things could be worse.”

I grab the plastic ice bucket. “I’ll get us some drinks out of the vending machine. Be right back.”

When I returned to the room, Val had found some plastic glasses and placed them on the counter. She’s sitting on the side of the bed, so I sit on the only chair in the room. My big frame barely fits in the seat.

“Let’s make a toast to being Mr. and Mrs. Knight.”

“I’ll drink to that. Thank you, Chase.”

We both take a drink. I look at my watch. “It’s getting late. I guess we better get some sleep. You can have the bathroom first.” I walk over to my duffel bag and pull out a large T-shirt. I hand it to Val. “Here, you can sleep in this if you want. That way, your clothes won’t get all wrinkled.”

She takes the T-shirt, “Thanks, Chase.”

When she steps out of the bathroom, I try not to notice how my T-shirt hits her mid-thigh. When she bends over to place her folded clothes on the low table, I catch a glimpse of hot pink panties. I instantly half-chub. Damn.

I jump up and go into the bathroom. By the time I walk back into the bedroom, I’m more in control. I glance at the bed and see that Val is already lying against the pillows as if she’s asleep. She’s as near to the side of the mattress edge as she can be without falling off. I hide a grin.

I wonder if she kept on her panties. I glance at her pile of clothes and don’t see a flash of hot pink. I don’t know if I’m disappointed or relieved.

I start to take off my clothes and then stop. I typically sleep nude, but tonight— I take off my shirt and my belt. Looking over at Val, I decide to keep my pants on.

Dammit, I already know it’s going to be a highly uncomfortable night. I lie down on my side of the bed and punch the pillows into place. I try not to toss and turn too much.

When I wake up the next morning, before I even open my eyes, I can feel that I’m wrapped around a soft, curvy female body. I’m lying on my side with my arm around Val’s waist, and I’m cupping her unbound breast. It fills my hand nicely. Her backside is snug against my groin. She can probably feel my growing erection. Growing erection? Shit.

Just as I start to maneuver my hips away from her backside, she begins to stir.

I freeze. I can’t help it; my hand just doesn’t want to let go of her breast. It feels so soft, and— Dammit, Knight, let go of Val’s breast now. And while you’re at it, take your arm from around her waist.

Shit! Hopefully, she didn’t feel my hard-on, as there isn’t much I can do about that at the moment. In fact, being this close to Val, it continues to harden.

I lean my weight on my elbow and gently pry my hips away from her lush backside. What I really want to do is roll until she’s flat on her back underneath me and push aside those hot pink panties. Then, when I’m balls deep inside of her, I’ll ride her good and hard until she’s screaming my nam—

“Chase?”

“Uh... yeah?”

“Is it morning already?” She asks sleepily, then she pushes her curls out of her way and sits up in bed. I have just enough sense to stay where I am, so the sheet doesn’t tent over my groin.

“Chase? Are you okay? You’re frowning.”

“Just ah, worried about my truck.”

“Oh, it’ll be okay. The store opens pretty early.”

I watch as Val gets out of bed, and I see that my T-shirt she wore as a nightgown has ridden up during the night. I catch a glimpse of her creamy white thighs and a flash of pink before she pulls it back into place.

“I’ll use the bathroom first.”

As the door closes behind her, I roll onto my back. Smooth move there, Knight. Get a hold of yourself before she comes back. I have an entire year of lusting after my wife. An entire year of blue-balls. Fuck. I deserve it. I promised myself I wouldn’t jeopardize our friendship, but waking up like that for a year? It might be worth– No. It isn’t. She’s Val. She’s special. Very special. I slam my hands down against the mattress in frustration.

At least we won’t be living together. That would make things a lot harder— literally.