“Okay. Stop.”
She stood none too gracefully, slapped her hands on her hips, and glared at him.
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
Her reaction must have shot some sense into his brain because he had the good sense to look a bit sheepish.
“Shit.” He groaned. Swinging his legs off the lounger, he sat with his head in his hands for a moment and then met her gaze.
Whatever insanity was running around in his head had to stop. Immediately. She wasn’t about making no babies if he was harboring doubts.
“Are you daft?” she yelled. “Jesus fucking Christ, Parker. I have loved you every damn day of my whole life. We’ve been down this road before. Even when all seemed lost, the love never wavered. Not for a second. So in what far-fetched scenario from your lawyer brain have you concocted a situation that would erase all that? You’re in for a bit of shock if you imagine for a nanosecond that I’m ever leaving your sorry ass.”
“Angel,” he murmured. His hand came out asking for hers, but she wasn’t having it. Someone was about to get an ass kicking.
“No,” she snapped and smacked his hand away. “What fucking part of this isn’t meeting your expectations?”
Tears flooded her eyes. Goddammit. Why were men so stupid?
Lifting the hem of her gown in shaking hands, she whirled away from him and stomped along the wood walkway like a mad four-year-old.
“Angie, wait!”
The sound of her angry foot stomps echoed in the night. Whirling back to him, she yelled into his shocked face. “Did you seriously just fuck up a romantic interlude with some crazy bullshit out of the blue?”
He put up both hands in surrender. “Okay. I fucked up. Please calm down.”
Oh. No. He. Didn’t.
Gasping, she glared at her husband. In that split second, she realized just how unbelievably simple minded a man in love could be.
“Did you just tell me to calm down?”
Angie was pretty sure the generations of women who’d gone before her had a universal howling laugh at her explosive use of the one sentence that shriveled a man’s balls.
Parker’s facial expressions unloaded one after another.
Oh, shit.
How stupid can I be?
Wow, she’s really mad.
And, Note to self: never use the expression calm down.
She shook her head and scowled. What a fucking idiot! Throwing her hands up, she growled, “Men!” and proceeded to stomp away with Parker hot on her heels.
“Baby, please,” he pleaded with her.
“You are an asshat, Counselor.”
She took the three wide steps to the porch and headed into the living room.
“Angel.”
The tone he used almost made her turn around, but she wasn’t finished making him sweat.
“Kitten,” he growled. “Even a condemned man gets to make a statement.”
When he played the Dom card, she reacted swiftly.
“That is so unfair!” The meaning in her accusation didn’t need spelling out.
He gestured with both hands, palms up. “You demanded there be no on-off switch. This is how it is.”
Sputtering angrily, she pushed her hair behind her ears. When her fingers found the Tiare flower, it took some of the wind out of her raging sails. The last thing she expected was for her lip to tremble. But it did.
“You hurt my feelings.”
There. She said it. Angie crossed her arms and deliberately turned her head away.
He was quick to offer an apology, but she still didn’t look at him.
“I’m sorry. Your question took me by surprise. I wasn’t prepared, and unfortunately, my head exploded with a worst-case scenario instead of a happy thought. Sometimes even I speak before I think.”
“Not saying something because you think you’re clever doesn’t make the worry disappear. I can’t believe you think I’d ever walk away from you.”
She started to cry. It hurt her heart to know he carried such a horrible thought.
HIS HEART WAS thundering, and fear squeezed his gut. By stupidly blurting out his most secret terror, he’d ticked her off. Big time.
What the hell was he thinking?
Parker shut down the legal maneuvers that sprang to life in his thoughts. In a courtroom, he’d counter by forcing the witness to reveal a secret fear—but doing that would only make things worse. And besides, he wasn’t a lawyer in this instance. He was a husband. A husband who had inadvertently hurt his wife.
He wanted to touch her and caress her anger away, but he’d stupidly done this, and changing the subject or being a dick about it wasn’t going to make it any better. Her tears killed him.
“I didn’t mean that I thought you’d leave me, honey. It was more like a flash of fear that something would happen. Something would pull as apart. That’s all. You are my world, Angelina Sullivan. And to be honest, there’s no way I’d let you go anywhere. You belong to me, and I know what that means in the bigger picture.”
His words seemed to mollify her just enough that she backed off a teeny bit.
Jerkily wiping her face, she sniffed twice and grumbled, “Is there something you’re not telling me?”
He chuckled. “There’s a lot I’m not telling you. It’s a lawyer thing.”
Parker knew she’d forgiven his gaffe when his wife turned her sapphire eyes on him and snarked, “Did you play that statement out in your head or just go with it?”
“Flying without a net,” he assured her.
“Let me make something clear to you,” she murmured. “I will do bodily harm to anyone who interferes, and if something comes up that puts a strain on you and me, I won’t take it lying down.”
“Spoken like a true Marquez,” he said with pride. He liked that she didn’t take shit.
“Like a Sullivan,” she corrected him.
Parker saw the opening and went for it. Taking her elbow, he swung her around and reached for her hand. She slid her fingers into his and let him lead her to the sofa.
“Sit.”
She flopped more than sat and ended up cross-legged and looking all of sixteen. The see-through lace made for quite an appealing visual.
“The sulking will get you thrown on the floor and fucked, so if you’re holding out for romance, you might want to reconsider your behavior.”
It was all kinds of cute when she eyeballed his groin and flushed beet red. Then she slapped a goofy expression on her face and said, “Better?”
“Much. Now hold that smile a minute. I’ll be right back.”
Dashing to the bedroom, he searched for the bag where he’d stashed a bunch of gifts and poked around. He’d come prepared, goddammit!
In the living room, he sat next to her and handed off the unwrapped gift with an explanation.
“You want to know what I dream about? Open that.”
She cracked open the box and murmured appreciatively at the silver and gold bracelet.
“It’s a bracelet,” she said. “This is what you dream about?”
“It’s one of those Pandora things. You know. A thousand charms or beads and shit can go on it. My mom was sure you’d like it. She made me go page by page through a catalog of charms.”
He watched his wife study the piece of jewelry. She fingered the danglers and looked closer. One was a heart that said Just Married. It had a gold bow studded with crystals. Another dangler was two wedding rings. There was also a diamond studded angel wing and a pair of cowboy boots.
“Plenty of room for more charms,” he pointed out. “Like for babies and anniversaries.”
She found the little square of tissue paper that was still in the box and opened it carefully. It was a teeny tiny Eiffel Tower.
“That,” he told her, “is for when I take you to Paris.”
“We’re going to Paris?”
“Yes. In October. Honeymoon part two.”
He thought she’d gush and get all weepy ab
out his grand gesture, but she just sat there, fingering the bracelet and charms.
“Um, okay, but what if I’m pregnant then?”
“What?”
“Pregnant. You know, having a baby.”
“When?”
“In October.”
Huh? “Are you saying you’re pregnant?”
“No. Not yet. I don’t think. Maybe. I don’t know.”
The only answer missing was a definitive yes.
“Well, if we’re that fucking lucky, then I guess Baby Jedi goes with.”
“Baby Jedi,” she said with a snort. “Really?”
“Hell, yeah! I’ve got my eye on a minivan with a killer safety rating, and I found a decal on Etsy that says Baby Jedi on Board to stick on the back window.”
“So what you’re saying is I’m breeding Jedi younglings for your imaginary rebel garrison?”
His head went back when an explosive laugh rumbled up from his middle. “Please don’t use the word breeding in front of your brother. He’s already a snarling prick.”
“What Alexander needs is to lighten up.”
He grinned. “I’m pretty sure the twins are going to give him a much-needed attitude adjustment.”
Angie smiled and bit her lip. “Are you prepared with a gift for all my mood swings?”
“Pretty much,” he assured her with a self-satisfied smirk. “Remember, honey. I know you better than anyone does.”
“If you know me so well, then how come you sent a kill shot into my seduction? You don’t play fair.”
“Oh, so you’re saying you want to play?”
Her cheeky smirk and side eye succeeded in sending a wake-up call to his dick.
“Define play,” she hedged.
Just to mess with her, he chuckled and looked at her like she was a dumbass. “You know. Play. As in a game.”
“What?”
His adorable wife-sub had no idea who she was dealing with. She expected something out of their playroom notebook, and while she was partially right, what he was suggesting was something new and unique.
Parker took a second to decide. The dice game or BDSM Monopoly?
He stood and motioned to her. “You straighten up and make a spot for us on the floor. Something cozy. I’ll get the champagne and the game equipment.”
He left her for a few minutes, and when he returned, she was lounging seductively in a pose intended to get his attention. It worked.
An ice bucket landed with a thud on the nearby coffee table, and he pulled two champagne glasses from his waistband. Then he tossed a small plastic case in her lap.
“Check it out,” he said with a leer.
The case contained two dice and a small hourglass timer.
First, she took out the black die and studied the gold lettering. Didn’t take but a second for the smile Parker hoped for to grow on her face. Then she checked out the red die and what the white letters spelled.
While pouring them each a glass of bubbly, he explained the game.
“We’re starting a new tradition. Game night. Eventually, we’ll add family games, but for now, I think some couples stuff will do. This little gem is a nice change of pace. I call it Dominant Dice.”
She giggled in his face, the cheeky wench.
“Anyway,” he drawled lazily, “here’s how it works. The Dom, that’s me, rolls the dice.”
“What do I do?”
“Don’t interrupt, woman.”
The insubordinate snort told him what she thought.
“I roll the dice and issue instructions. You will perform, and I will receive. The timer keeps the game moving.”
She studied the dice again.
“Before we start, my angel, are we okay?”
“I value your honesty. If I could promise not to overreact in the future, I would, but you know me.”
“Good enough. Now, about the game. I think we should take a shot at getting shitfaced for this, so let’s toast and put a dent in the bottle and then let the naughty times roll.”
“I can still drink you under the table, Sir,” she added with far too much cocky zeal.
He raised one brow. “I just let you think that.”
“Oh-ho,” she said with a snicker. “Is that how you want to play this? Fine by me.”
Where alcohol was concerned, he was sure of two things. One, that Meghan would always be the last one standing after a drink-to-drink challenge with Alex. And second, that for some incomprehensible reason—despite years of practice—he also, like his friend, came in a lackluster second when Angie was his challenger. The woman had a steel stomach.
It was fun trying to come out on top, though.
“To my wife,” Parker said with a laugh as he held up the champagne flute. “My desert angel. And to the kid who will one day learn that he or she was conceived on Perrier-Jouet.”
They touched glasses and smiled into each other’s eyes as that first glass went down in one gulp. The burp his wife let loose was par for the course. After that, it was a giggle fest of major proportion. By the time he started rolling the dice, they were in shit-faced territory and loving every second of it.
After ten or twelve rolls, Parker began to lose his laughter. “Okay,” he said as the dice came to rest. “This time, you will bite my chest.”
She clapped and licked her lips as he turned the mini hourglass and issued his command. “Begin.”
With his arms at his sides, he reclined against the mound of pillows against the bottom of the sofa and watched as she held her hair back with both hands and bit his chest over and over. The sheer eroticism of the act surprised him. Each time her teeth sank into his flesh, she gave a little growl and pulled at his skin. Monitoring the timer was hard when all he wanted to do was close his eyes and let her continue.
When the time was up, she sat back and they both inspected her handiwork. Small red bite marks dotted his chest. The lightweight silk bottoms he wore did nothing to hide his bulging cock.
Just like that, he was finished playing.
Rising, he took her hand and pulled her to her feet. She immediately closed in and ran her hands all over his skin.
“Are you ready, Angel?”
Her answer was a sexy smile. She took his hands and walked backward, pulling Parker to the bedroom.
The tropical breeze made the filmy gauze curtains hanging on each side of the open walls sway. He instructed her to stand in a shaft of moonlight.
At first, he just looked at her. She was beautiful beyond words.
While untying the satin ribbon around her middle, he enjoyed the telltale appearance of goose bumps on her skin. He pushed the straps of the gown off her shoulders. The bodice draped at her waist as he exposed her glorious breasts.
Parker leaned in close, inhaled her scent, and latched his teeth onto her neck. She moaned and reached for him. He pushed her hands away, crossed her wrists behind her back, and then held them loosely with one hand.
He enjoyed feasting on her skin. One second, he’d lick, and then he’d follow up with a sharp nip or serious bite. She quivered and moaned as he covered her chest the same way she had done to him.
When he bent and bit her nipples, she cried out and shook all over.
Needing both hands, he growled at her to keep hers behind her back. She nodded, bit her lip, and moaned. As an answer, it was good enough.
His hands went on a lust-fueled journey, exploring her soft, warm flesh. She had sensitive zones on both sides of her waist that made her shiver when his fingers feathered over her skin.
In an instant, she snapped, and he wasn’t expecting it. In fact, he was so deeply mesmerized by the track of his touch on her bare flesh that he had a moment of real confusion when his wife went berserk.
She said something he didn’t catch, and then all sorts of sexy hell broke loose. With an abrupt shove and an annoyed grunt, Angie pushed the negligee off her hips. When it pooled around her feet, she kicked it away like an Olympic soccer star before attacking the d
rawstring on his bottoms.
Parker was about to stop her when she set him straight in a way only his wicked angel kitten could.
“No speechifying, Counselor. Don’t say a single word. I’ll take my chances with some of your Sir displeasure later.”
She had the drawstring undone and was rather furiously pushing the silky fabric down his legs.
“Now shut the hell up and prepare for a topping demonstration that’ll melt your beard off.”
His cock was in her hand, and he was laughing his goddamn ass off.
“With pleasure,” he drawled. “I’m prepared to be topped. Please, m’lady, have at it. We’ll negotiate the terms of your punishment later.”
“Whatever,” she grated out.
Parker had never been led around by his dick before. Maybe figuratively but not in actuality, so her tugging him along was some kind of fun!
Seeing her look him over with a blatantly lascivious leer sent a shiver of excitement racing through Parker. He liked it when she got greedy and demanding. Angie’s unchained passions had a way of turning memorable.
“On the bed,” she demanded.
“What if I say no?”
“I don’t think you’re that stupid,” she answered with a wink and a smirk.
Chuckling at her dry delivery, he nodded and said, “Truth.”
He was halfway on the bed when she ran off. Amused and curious, he scooted to the top of the big playground bed and punched a few pillows into place against the headboard. Reclining like a Roman Emperor—a completely out-of-the-blue visual—he snickered at the sight his randy cock made and waited for her return.
There was wanting to laugh, and then there was needing to laugh, which was what he did when his creative wife sauntered back with a big, floppy beach bag over her arm and a grin half a mile wide. She was recreating all the times he’d made her wait before reappearing with his bag of playtime props and equipment. The playful swagger made his dick quiver.
His kitten was good. Very, very good.
Did she walk right up to the side of the bed admiring his erection every step of the way? Yes, she did.
And did she drop the bag with a thud just like he would? Yep. She did that too.
His damn face hurt from the size and strength of his grin. He couldn’t wait to see what his mischievous wife had planned.
Honeymoon Angel: A Family Justice Novella Page 8