27. Ashley

27

ASHLEY

“Where are we going?” Excitement was bubbling over inside of me like a can of soda that had been opened after it had been shaken, but I was trying to play it cool as we drove down along the water.

“It’s a surprise.”

I did love surprises, so I wasn’t trying to spoil it, but I still really wanted to know. I was trying to figure it out but having a difficult time. We were still on the island, but we were driving down a road I’d never been on before. There’d already been fireworks, so I didn’t think that was what he had in store. I still couldn’t believe he’d gone to all this trouble when he’d first suggested we just get married at the courthouse. All I’d said was that my sister had to be there, and that somehow turned into a real ceremony with a beautiful arch, fireworks, a gorgeous catered dinner, and now this, whatever this was.

Once the dinner was over, Declan asked if I would go on a drive with him, and Nadia practically pushed me into the car, not that I needed that much of a nudge. I had insisted on checking on Skylar first. She was lying down after she ate. She gave me a hug and, surprisingly, her blessing. Even though it was after the wedding, not before, and we were only going to be married for ten weeks, it still made me happy to get it. Sometime between I do and her excusing herself to lie down, Declan won Skylar over.

She wasn’t the only one. Tonight had been full of surprises. One of them being how well Declan, Hank, and Jimmy Comfort got along. The three men acted as if they’d known each other their entire lives. I’m not sure why it had been so surprising to see how well they hit it off. I guess it was because they came from such different worlds. I had to admit, seeing Declan having a beer and laughing with the men had made me feel all sorts of feels. It was just so… normal. So every day.

He’d been Big, who was this unattainable fantasy man who I never thought I’d see again.

He was Declan Wolfe, who was this arrogant billionaire boss who thought he was better than everyone.

But I’d never thought of him as just a guy who had a beer with friends. It was…endearing. And for me, endearing was dangerous.

My mind was still going a million miles an hour when we came to a stop in front of a small bungalow overlooking the beach. I reached for the door, but Declan placed his hand on my arm. “Stay there.”

The authority in his voice sent a thrill racing down my spine.

“I need control. In and out of the bedroom.”

That statement kept playing over and over in my head.

I watched as Declan got out of the SUV and walked around to the passenger side door, opened it, then held his hand out. My knees were wobbling as I stood and placed my hand in his large palm. He helped me stand, then put his hand on my lower back and guided me to the front door.

Each step we took increased the speed of my pulse. There might be some confusion surrounding what the man I just married represented in my life, but one thing was certain: it was undeniable. We had chemistry. There was an intangible palpability between us that was terrifying and exciting. It was something I wanted to explore further and was also worried that if we did, I might not survive.

He unlocked the door and held it open. I walked inside in front of him. There was a small kitchen to the right and a bathroom to the left. I continued down the hallway, and it opened to a living area with a brick fireplace in the center of the back wall and floor-to-ceiling glass doors on either side with a view overlooking the ocean. To the right, there was a bedroom with a king-sized bed complete with rose petals in the shape of a heart, a bottle of champagne, a Jacuzzi, and candles lit around the room. It was the classic honeymoon suite night.

“Wow, this is…you didn’t have to do this?” I shook my head in disbelief.

“Yes, I did.”

It was the same response he’d given about the ring and the ceremony.

“No, you really didn’t.” I was feeling very overwhelmed. This wasn’t real, and the more he did that made it feel real, the more difficult it was going to be for me to remember that it wasn’t.

“No matter what else this is or isn’t, it’s still your wedding night.”

“I know, but this isn’t…I mean…we’re not really married.” As I said the words, I twisted the massive diamond ring sitting on my finger.

“Yes, we are.” He lifted his hand to my face and tilted my chin up so my eyes met his. “We are married.”

The intensity of his stare caused my breath to catch in my throat. It was the same way he’d looked at me at the altar when he’d slid the ring on my finger.

I licked my lips nervously. “You know what I mean.”

“I wanted you to have this, but I don’t have to stay.” His hand dropped back to his side, and I missed his touch. “If you want to be alone.”

“It’s your wedding night, too.” I didn’t want to be alone, but I was nervous. I glanced at the floor and saw an overnight bag. “What’s that?”

“I packed some things for you.”

“For me.” I bent down and unzipped it and saw that it was filled with anything and everything a woman could possibly need. It had high-end toiletries, silk pajamas, a robe, and slippers. It looked like a swag bag from a luxury resort, which it could be since he owned several resorts. There were also clothes from the athleisure line that had just launched. And he’d even packed shoes from my house.

“Where did you get?—”

“I asked Hank to let me in to get them.”

Wow, he must have made a good impression on Hank because Hank was very protective of his family, and I was, by default, Hank’s family.

I looked up at him. “Hank let you into my house?”

His chin dipped in a nod. “I think he was impressed with the work I did on Suzie Q.”

“Oh, that’s right.”

I’d totally forgotten that Declan had fixed Suzie Q up. Wow. Me sending him the text saying that he could take the repairs out of my paycheck and him saying reimbursement would not be necessary felt like a lifetime ago.

“He brought it up several times today. Apparently, your tires had been bothering him for a while, but your sister wouldn’t let him do anything about it because, and I quote, ‘You Thompson girls are frustratingly independent.’”

That must have been how he’d won Hank over so quickly. Jimmy was friends with everyone, but Hank was not. Hank getting won over so easily by Declan made so much more sense now. He wasn’t. He’d been won over months ago when he’d fixed my car.

“Are we?”

“That seems to be the general consensus.”

He smiled, and I nearly jumped on him and threw him to the bed. That smile was lethal. It stole all the breath from my lungs. I tried to breathe, but this dress was not letting me do that. I suddenly felt very constricted and very overdressed.

I bent down and grabbed the bag, then turned so my back was facing him. “I’m going to change. Can you unzip me?”

His fingertips grazed my skin as he gathered my hair and brushed it to the side, leaving a trail of tingles in its wake. A shiver rolled through me as I listened to the sound of the zipper as he slowly pulled it down my back. When it reached the bottom, he said, “You’re good.”

“Thanks,” I breathed.

I walked into the bathroom feeling lightheaded from the simplest brush of his touch. The door shut behind me with a thud, and I leaned against it, trying to catch my breath. My hand rested on my chest, and I could feel my heart pounding beneath my palm. I stepped out of the dress and slipped into the two-piece satin pajama set he’d packed.

After washing my face, I stared at myself in the mirror. I wanted to pinch myself, but then again, if this was a dream, I didn’t want to wake up. Tonight was my wedding night. I was in a beachfront bungalow that I didn’t even know existed here on the island. There were candles, champagne, a Jacuzzi, and a king-sized bed. Declan was outside waiting for me.

I had no idea what the night would bring, but I was very excited to find out.

When I stepped outside from the bathroom, Declan’s back was to me as he opened the champagne and poured it. He had removed his jacket and tie and rolled up the sleeves of his crisp white shirt, just the same way he’d been the night I’d met him at the bar in Atlanta. A skitter of arousal spread through me from the top of my head to the tips of my toes.

He turned around and handed me a glass of champagne. As I reached out to take it, I noticed a tremor in my hand.

“To the next ten weeks.”

“To the next ten weeks,” I repeated as I clinked our glasses together and then took a sip. I didn’t need alcohol to get a buzz. I was tipsy on life right now. “So, husband, the night we met, what was your first impression of me?”

“I thought you were the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen in my life.”

I chuckled.

“I’m serious.”

He looked serious, but there was no way he could be. Today, in between mini panic attacks, I’d looked up his former fiancée Sarena was because, of course, I would, who wouldn’t, and… wow. Forget being in the same league as her; we weren’t even playing the same sport. If she was baseball, I was ping pong. She was a goddess, and I was a mere mortal.

But I didn’t want to think about her now. She wasn’t here with him; I was. She wasn’t going to be married to him for the next ten weeks; I was.

“So, what’s the plan?” I asked as I took another sip of my champagne.

“The plan?” he repeated.

I nodded. “For tonight.”

“What do you want it to be?”

“It is my wedding night. And like you said, we know that we are compatible in certain departments.”

His jaw tightened, and he took a step closer to me. When he did, he suddenly took up a lot of space in the room. He loomed over me, and I felt very small as I lifted my gaze to meet his. He reached out and took my glass out of my hand and then set the flute on the table beside me.

My chest was rising and falling in shallow breaths. In front of me was not the man I’d grown to despise through emails. He was the man who could make my body sing with pleasure from a single touch.

He began to unbutton his shirt, and I watched in excited anticipation. His movements were leisurely as if he was in no rush at all. I, on the other hand, had six months of sexual frustration that had been lying dormant.

“I haven’t been with anyone since we were together,” I admitted. I wasn’t sure why. He didn’t need to know that; but for some reason, I wanted him to have that information.

“Neither have I.”

My mouth watered as he removed his shirt, revealing his muscular upper body. He continued talking as he unbuttoned and unzipped his pants.

“Every time I touched myself or used a toy, I thought of you,” I confessed. “I thought of the night we spent together.”

His nostrils flared, and his jaw ticked. “I thought about you, too. A lot.”

Hearing him say that he’d thought of our night together made me a lot happier than it should have. I’d wondered all this time if he had thought of our night together, or if that night had never even crossed his mind again.

“I thought about how tight you were. How wet you got for me. I thought about the sounds you made when I was deep inside of you,” he continued as he pushed his slacks and boxer briefs down his legs, then straightened again.

As he stood in front of me, his rock-hard column of flesh jutting proudly out from his body, I began to pull the camisole up and over my head, but he stopped me, reaching out and gripping my wrists firmly. He then proceeded to undress me. Once I was naked, he tilted my chin up, and my eyes locked with his. His thumb traced along my lower lip and then my top lip.

“I thought about what I would do if I had you again. I thought about you using your pretty mouth to suck me off.”

A shock of bliss exploded in my core.

“Get on your knees.”

I lowered down onto my knees before him as flames of arousal spread through me like wildfire. Declan’s propensity for control in a work environment was not something I appreciated. In the bedroom, it was very much appreciated.

He wrapped his fingers around his girth and pressed it to my mouth. I kissed his mushroom tip, then licked it. A deep, masculine groan ripped from his chest. I reached out and braced myself, grabbing his hips. My nails dug into his skin as I wrapped my lips around his tip, and he fed himself into my mouth.

His hand cupped the back of my head as he guided me up and down his shaft. My tongue slid along the silky, taut skin wrapped around his steel-hard erection. I worked to keep my throat relaxed so I could take as much of him as possible. I kept swallowing as I sucked him until I began to choke.

“Fuck,” he growled as he swelled in my mouth.

I kept one hand on his hip to anchor myself, but with the other, I cupped his balls. He hissed as I massaged them and worked my mouth up and down his shaft, making sure to keep the suction of my lips tight. My tongue flattened against his shaft, licking the underside.

His girth pulsed with each pass of my mouth. I moved my hand from his balls to the base of his length, and I tightened my fingers around him. I began to work both in tandem, sucking and stroking him. My mouth watered as my tongue pressed against his straining shaft. Every time I reached the head, I swirled my tongue around in a circular motion, then took him as deep as I could. I lost myself in the rhythm of going up and down, up and down, until a deep groan ripped from his chest, and he picked me up off the floor.

The next thing I knew, I was being carried over to the bed. When he started to move onto the mattress with me, I reached out and touched his chest. My hands explored his upper body in a way they hadn’t the last time we’d been together.

My exploration was cut short when Declan grabbed my wrists and pulled them above my head. His face hovered above mine, and his lips brushed against my mouth as he spoke. “I didn’t tie you up the last time we were together.”

I waited to see where he was going with this. My heart was pounding faster at the thought of where I was ninety-nine percent sure it was headed. The first night we’d been together, the second time we’d had sex, I told him that I’d never been tied up before. I thought he was going to suggest that he be the first, but he didn’t. I was both disappointed and relieved. I’d wanted him to, but I wasn’t completely sure I was ready since I had just met him.

The roughened pad of his thumb brushed along my inner wrist. “Your pulse is racing.”

I nodded.

“Is it because you know what I’m going to ask?”

I nodded again.

“Do you want me to tie you up?”

I nodded.

“I need you to say it,” he gritted out.

“Yes.”

“Yes, what?”

“Yes, I want you to tie me up.”

His jaw tightened, and the next thing I knew, his tie was in his hands and my wrists were being bound to the headboard. When he pulled the knot tight, I sucked in a startled gasp at the sting. The restraint was much tighter than I’d expected.

I shifted my arms and realized that I could not get them loose if I wanted to. I was vulnerable and defenseless. There was part of me that was a little scared, but for some reason, that fear, that adrenaline, that danger all morphed into arousal.

Declan had set the bar high the first night we’d been together, and tonight, he’d already raised it.