Like I was falling in love with Trudie. But I couldn’t let her know that. How could she possibly feel like she could give me an honest answer when I was paying her to play the part of my wife? No, it would be… the area of consent on it was too fuzzy. I couldn’t do that to her. I had to keep my feelings to myself. No matter how tempting it was to just blurt it all out.
“All right, whatever you say,” Mum replied. She did sound chastened. “We look forward to seeing you tomorrow, love. Sleep well.”
“Ach, you too Mum. Give my love to Da.”
I hung up and looked at Liam, who shrugged. “I’m sorry if my whole marriage with Alana put the pressure on you.”
“Hey, it’s not your fault that you fell in love. I couldn’t blame you for that. When you know, you know.”
“So you didn’t tell them you’re married?”
“No, I want it to be a surprise—married or not my point still stands and I want them to understand that before they find out about Trudie.”
Liam nodded. “Makes sense. I think you’re right, for what it’s worth. But I’m glad that you did find someone. You’ve always been a soft touch, Laird, you deserve someone who gives it right back to you.”
“Thanks.” That was possibly one of the most heartfelt things Liam had ever said to me. “I’m glad you’ve got someone too, Liam.”
I wondered, as I went up to the bedroom, how Liam would feel once the divorce was in place. For the first time, I felt genuinely and truly bad for Liam for not knowing the truth, for not realizing that it was a deception. I considered, briefly, bringing him into it… but the potential for a blow-up was too great at this point. I had to keep going.
As I’d secretly hoped, Trudie wasn’t asleep. She propped herself up as I walked in, smiling softly. “Hey.”
“Hey.” She looked so beautiful, all rumpled on the bed like that, her hair a bit messy now, wearing soft pastel pink pajamas.
“You know,” I observed as I climbed into bed, nudging her legs open and sliding between them, “it would be rather… unusual for a newly-married couple not to have wild sex. Liam would be suspicious if he didn’t hear anything.”
Trudie snorted. “I think that might be the most ridiculous excuse for sex I’ve ever heard.” But she wrapped her arms around me and let me slide my hands under her clothes. “You’re lucky I find you so attractive.”
Then, to my surprise, she pushed me down onto the bed and swung her leg over, straddling me so that she was now on top. “And, even more lucky for you, there’s something I’ve been wanting to do.”
All of the breath was punched out of me as Trudie moved down, yanking at my pants until my cock was exposed. Holy fuck.
I had never expected anything from Trudie. If she never wanted to blow me, I was fine with that. I didn’t know exactly what was in her past, but she had been so skittish about being touched at first, I never wanted to push anything. But this—well, I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a fantasy of mine.
Trudie gave me a look that was pure sin, licked her lips, and then bent down, licking at my cock, getting it nice and wet.
Fuck. My head fell back against the pillows and I had to struggle to breathe carefully in through my nose. Despite my joking, I didn’t want to disturb Liam and Alana too much. I didn’t want to be rude.
But oh God, fuck, holy buggering fuck—Trudie was going to town. She was eager, didn’t seem to really have any particular technique, just figuring out how I responded to different things, what I liked. When she finally sucked me down I forced myself to look back up, and prop myself up high enough to watch her. She looked so hot like this, her lips wrapped around my cock, her head bobbing up and down, oh Jesus.
I tentatively slid my hand into her hair, and Trudie pulled off me. “I like that,” she said. “You can tug a little harder, if you want, I like it.”
This woman was truly going to bloody well kill me.
I tightened my grip in her hair as she sucked me down again, her tongue sliding up the underside, then working underneath the foreskin, tugging at it a bit with her teeth, swirling around the head. My hips rocked up subtly, and Trudie moaned her approval. I did it again, harder, and soon I had a rhythm going, hitching my hips up again and again until I was fucking her mouth. Trudie was making these obscene encouraging noises, sounding like she was getting off too—and then I looked down between her legs and I realized that was exactly what she was doing. She was fucking herself on her fingers. It was so hot for her to blow me, she was fucking herself because of it.
That did it. I couldn’t possibly hold out any longer after that, and I spilled down her throat. Trudie sucked down as much of it as she could, swallowing, but some still leaked out the corners of her mouth. It was the hottest bloody thing I’d ever seen.
I yanked her back up to me, kissing her, and slid my fingers into her, next to her own, fucking her hard with them. Trudie moaned and shoved her hips down again and again as I rubbed her clit mercilessly until she sobbed my name and came all over my fingers.
Holy fuck. “Do you have any idea,” I breathed against her lips, “what you do to me? How gorgeous you are?” I had never been turned on like this before, had never felt this connection with someone this deeply before.
Trudie smiled at me breathlessly, her eyes practically glowing, and she looked so delighted with herself, but also so shy, that I could hardly believe this was the same woman who’d just shamelessly blown me and gotten off on it.
I was so tempted to say something. To tell her how I felt. Maybe we should talk about this. Maybe I should tell her what I was feeling, come what may afterwards, and if she was upset or felt like I was pressuring her then I would apologize and I wouldn’t even touch her again if she didn’t want me to. But the truth of how I felt was weighing in my chest like someone had stuffed my lungs with cement.
I opened my mouth… but Trudie seemed to read my thoughts and put her finger over my lips. “Let’s just go to sleep, okay? I’m tired.” She yawned. “I… I know what you’re going to say, and I… let’s just have fun in the moment and not overthink it, all right? We can discuss it after the wedding, after we get through this.”
Ah, great. My yearning had been that obvious. I was grateful that she was being gracious about this and that she was being understanding, but I still felt… more embarrassed than I had ever felt in my life before. “Of course.”
I settled down next to her into an uneasy sleep.
21
Trudie
It was only about an hour’s drive to the wedding, so we had plenty of time for a good night’s sleep and a hearty breakfast before we drove over. I was so nervous I had to force myself to eat. It was hard to choke down the food, but I knew that if I didn’t do it now, my empty stomach would make me feel even more nauseous later.
Today was the day that I met all the rest of Laird’s family—specifically, his parents. I was terrified. What if they didn’t like me? What if I fell apart? What if I said the wrong thing and everyone realized it was a sham?
As if last night hadn’t already made me nervous. Laird had gotten this look in his eyes afterwards, this nervous look, and when he’d opened his mouth, I’d known what he was going to say. That this was all nice, that I was a great girl, but he didn’t feel the same way about me that I felt about him. It was practically radiating off of him how uncomfortable he was. I felt so awful. All this time I’d been trying hard to keep my feelings to myself but something must’ve slipped. Our sex last night was passionate and powerful, and I’d let my guard down. That must’ve been how he figured it out.
Well, at least we didn’t have to deal with it until after the wedding. We’d get through this, and then we’d go home and part ways and he wouldn’t have to ever see me again if he didn’t want to. I’d been already planning to use the money to get myself a proper place to live and take a bit of time off to find a local college to get a degree in, and find a better job. I hoped that telling him that we could just have fun and relax helped
him to see that I wasn’t going to force anything onto him, I wasn’t going to make him stay with me and I wasn’t expecting anything from him.
When we pulled up to the whisky distillery where we’d be having the reception, I could feel myself shaking. I hadn’t been this nervous since I’d run away from Pete. Granted, my life certainly wasn’t in danger now the way it had been then, but it was still nerve wracking.
Laird took my hand as we got out of the car. “It’s going to be okay,” he whispered. “They’re all lovely people. And they’ll love you.”
I let myself indulge and keep holding onto Laird’s hand as we walked into the distillery, Liam and Alana ahead of us. I clung to his hand like a lifeline as two older people immediately rushed us to hug Laird.
Without an introduction, I still knew who these two people were. Laird had shown me a couple of pictures and they both looked so much like their son that I could’ve guessed anyway. These were Laird’s parents.
“Who’s this!?” Laird’s father said, catching sight of me and seeing that Laird and I were holding hands. “You didn’t tell us you were bringing a date.”
Laird held up his left hand, showing off the ring. “Not a date, Da, this is my wife, Trudie.”
Laird’s mother looked like you could’ve knocked her down with a feather. “What? You got—but you didn’t say—”
“Seeing as you decided to have me be married without my permission, I figured, why should I get married and tell all of you about it? Now the shoe’s on the other foot. Luckily Trudie understood why I was impatient to get married when I told her the story. We’d only just started dating when I found out about our little falsehood, but I already knew she was the one and I’d hate to disappoint my cousins by showing up unwed, so, here we are.”
Laird’s smile was sharp, a smile I’d never seen from him before. It was gleeful, because he knew he had finally gotten one up on the people who had so inconvenienced him.
“You never told us!” Laird’s mother eyed me. “How did you two meet?”
“At the coffee shop where I work. Laird would stop by to get a pastry with Jack, although God forbid he actually drink the damn coffee.” I looked over at Laird, smiling and squeezing his hand. Thank God we’d practiced our cover story a dozen times. “He’s such a snob about it.”
“Where are you from?”
“Um, New Mexico?” I wasn’t sure why where I was from mattered all that much.
“What do you do, just work as a barista?” Laird’s father was now jumping in on the conversation.
“I was hoping to go back to school and finish getting my degree,” I told him coolly. “When I lost my mother I had to drop out.”
“Do you not have any family then?” Laird’s mother asked.
“No, I’m afraid it’s just me, myself, and I,” I said. “I’ve been excited to come here, Laird’s told me so much about his big family. I’ve always wanted something like that for myself.”
“Sorry it was a bit of a whirlwind, but just like Liam, eh? And I don’t remember you interrogating him as much as you’re interrogating us,” Laird added, a protective growl in his voice.
“What, we heard nothing about this!” Laird’s father protested. “At least Liam told us he was starting to date Alana, we didn’t even know this girl existed.”
“Maybe you would have if you hadn’t shown me that you don’t care a bit for my private life and that you’ll just make up whatever you want about me, decide what’s best for me.”
“Well…” Laird’s mother started, but I’d had just about enough.
“If it would be easier for everyone,” I said, “I can just give you my social security number, and you can do all of your research from there, will that satisfy you?”
Laird’s parents gaped at me for a moment in shock, and then Laird’s father started laughing. “Ah, well now, she’s got a right tongue on her. I like it.”
Laird’s mother laughed. “Well, I can see the attraction. C’mon, we’re having a bit of a pre-wedding get-together with everyone, you can meet the family!”
“Um, right, let me just run to the bathroom real quick.” Or the loo, as they called it here.
Laird followed me—because of course I didn’t really need to use the bathroom, other than to sit down and hyperventilate for a second. I could’ve really insulted his parents, and I was just glad that wasn’t how it had worked out.
“You were fantastic,” Laird told me, hugging me tightly. “That was great. Just relax, okay? We’ve gotten through the interrogation, everything will be fine.”
I nodded. “Sorry I’m nervous.”
“No, you’re amazing. Don’t worry about a thing.” He kissed my cheek. “I’ll see you out there. Take your time.”
Well, at least I had gotten through this relatively unscathed, I supposed. Hopefully the rest of the time would go this well, too.
22
Laird
After being away from everyone for a while, I forgot how fucking fast news could travel. It felt like between one moment and the next, everyone knew that I was married. My phone was blowing up from cousins and other family members that had heard the news but hadn’t arrived yet, and the people who were already there were grabbing me to demand that they get to see my new wife.
“This shouldn’t be news to you,” I kept telling them. “Mum already said I was married.”
“Yeah, but you didn’t say you were bringing her!”
“Well who else was I gonna bring as a guest, the bloody Pope?”
I did feel a bit bad, seeing as I knew Trudie struggled with all the attention, but also because this was supposed to be Colleen’s big day, not mine. Colleen was my cousin who was getting married, and a more sweet-tempered girl you wouldn’t find anywhere. Well, sweet-tempered by Irish standards. She could cause a commotion with the best of us.
Trudie looked absolutely stunning today, in her lilac dress with her hair all done up. I had been so fucking tempted to follow her into the loo and mess her up, have a little fun with her, but I knew that everyone would give us shite for it and I didn’t want her to be embarrassed. It was almost as fun to show her off to everyone, honestly. Trudie was quieter than the rest of my family but just as sassy, as her exchange with my parents had proven, and she didn’t let anyone steamroll her.
I only wished that she really was my wife and that I was getting to show her to my family for real. That when I got to stand there and say, “Isn’t my wife amazing,” that I was speaking the truth. She was amazing, and I wanted her like that.
Despite my drawing all the attention away, inadvertently, everybody settled down for the ceremony. Colleen looked stunning, and her groom (I’d never met him before but he seemed like a decent bloke) had a look of adoration and shock on his face as he watched her walk down the aisle. He looked at her the way I felt when I looked at Trudie, I realized.
Fuck, I was in deep.
The ceremony was short—short by Catholic standards, anyway—and the castle setting was fucking gorgeous. I knew the photographer was having the time of their life getting these shots.
And then the reception could begin.
There are a lot of things you could say against the Irish and I wouldn’t blame you, but one thing that we do know how to do well is that we know how to party. Hell, we have fuckin’ party every time someone dies and we get drunk off our arses celebrating their life.
Trudie didn’t drink too much, and she was more subdued than the rest of us, but that was just her nature. She was a bit quiet inside, the way that I was. It was how we fit together so well. She still had fun—we danced together under the party lights, and Liam pulled her in and she danced with him, and a few of my other cousins introduced themselves and chatted with her.
“I like her,” Da said to me as Trudie and Alana joined in teasing the unmarried women huddling together to try and catch the bouquet.
“Not that I need your approval,” I reminded him, “but I’m glad.” My point had been made, a
nd so I could start softening towards him and my mum. “She’s a good person and I’m glad you like her. I figured you all would.”
“If she makes you happy, then of course we like her,” Da assured me. “But I’m glad that we also like her just for who she is. She seems like a bit of a timid girl, though.”
“She’s been through a lot.” I still didn’t know the details, but I was pretty sure that something bad had happened to Trudie, something still fairly recent, and that was what made her so skittish. “She’s had to struggle. But she’s happy now.”
“You make her happy,” Da countered. “She can’t stop smiling when she looks at you. I always hoped you’d find a girl who looked at you like that. It’s how you deserve to be looked at. You’re a good person.”
“You raised me,” I pointed out.
“Ach, it was all your mother. I just paid the bills.” Da winked at me.
We were all being put up in rooms for the night in the castle, since it was still functioning in half of it and regularly had people staying over for school sleepovers, tourist nights, that sort of thing. Trudie was a lightweight when it came to alcohol, and I’d had a bit too much trying to keep up with all of my cousins, so we were definitely tipsy by the time the night was winding down.
“We have to be quiet,” I shushed her as Trudie leaned against me, letting me guide her out of the main hall where we were all dispersing and down another corridor towards our rooms.
“Don’t you shh me,” Trudie replied.
“I’ll shh you if I want.”
“Make me shh.” She stuck her tongue out at me.
I laughed. I knew of a surefire way to shut her up, all right. I grabbed her face and kissed her, pressing her in against the wall.
Trudie moaned, opening her mouth to me at once, her tongue hot and slick and tasting of champagne. I pressed my body up against hers, shuddering. She was so warm and beautiful, so sexy, and I wanted to be inside her more than I wanted my next breath.
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