by Marie Force
He produces a matching ring and drops it into my hand with a wink and a smile.
As I slide it onto his finger, the magnitude of what we’re doing seems to hit me all at once, leaving me light-headed and joyful. It’s been so long since I’ve felt anything that could be described as joy, but standing here in a luxurious suite in Las Vegas, marrying the man of my dreams—hell, the man of everyone’s dreams—I know real, true joy for the first time in longer than I can remember.
And then he’s kissing me and the judge is declaring us husband and wife. I’m Flynn Godfrey’s wife.
Flynn produces his phone and asks Mrs. Gallagher to take a picture for us. She takes a dozen and then asks if it would be too much to get one of her with Flynn. Naturally, he obliges and produces an envelope that he hands to them. “A little something to thank you for your time.”
As we’re seeing them off, two tuxedoed waiters arrive, one pushing a table that’s been set for two and the other carrying an ice bucket containing two bottles of champagne. The older of the two says, “When you’re ready, Mr. Godfrey.”
“Give us ten minutes, please.”
“Of course.”
They depart, closing the door behind them and leaving me alone with my husband. My husband. Someone pinch me, please. He wraps his arms around me and buries his face in my hair. “Hello, Mrs. Godfrey.”
I slip my arms inside his suit coat to return the embrace. “Hello, Mr. Godfrey.”
“How does it feel?”
“Unreal. Amazing. Perfect.”
“For me, too.”
“I’ll never forget this, Flynn. Any of it. The whirlwind has been…”
“Life changing.”
I nod in agreement. “Incredible.” It’s my favorite word to describe him and our relationship.
Without breaking the intense eye contact, he kisses me softly. I can tell he’s holding back because he has other plans before we consummate this marriage.
“We have one piece of business to attend to.”
“What’s that?”
He pulls his phone from his pocket. “Help me pick the best one.” We scroll through the photos Mrs. Gallagher took.
“That one.”
“That’s a good one.” He sets up a text message and fires it off to Liza with the words “green light.”
“What’s going to happen?”
“She’s going to release the photo with a single sentence that says ‘Flynn Godfrey married Natalie Bryant in Las Vegas tonight.’ That’s all we plan to say about it.”
“That’s all there is to say.”
“Oh, sweetheart, there’s so much more I could say, but I’ll save all of that for you. No one else needs to know.”
“Would it be okay if I text the photo to Leah and Aileen so they don’t hear about it on Twitter?”
“Of course. I’ll send it to your phone.”
When I have the photo, I fire off a quick group text to my friends in New York, who reply immediately.
Leah: WHHHAAAAATTTT??? SHUT THE FUCK UP! OMG! So happy for you guys! You both look beautiful—and happy. Congrats, Nat. I can’t even tell you how thrilled I am for you.
Aileen: I’m in tears for two beautiful people who deserve a lifetime of happiness. xoxo from me, Logan and Maddie
I share the replies with Flynn. “You should probably tell your friends—and your family.”
“You’re right. I should.” He sends off a group message, and his phone starts dinging frantically with replies.
His sister Aimee: Never say never! Way to go. Welcome to the family, Natalie!
Marlowe: Fantastic! Congrats, guys! Looking forward to celebrating at the SAGs. Love you!
Kristian: Congrats! Great pic. Happiness always.
His sister Annie: Shut the front door! Have you been hacked? Abducted by aliens? Laid low by love? Happy for you, bro. Welcome to the Godfrey family madness, Natalie!
Emmett: Mazel tov! My best wishes for a long and happy life together.
Stella: Congratulations, my darlings. Thrilled and delighted to welcome Natalie to our family. Dad and I love you both! xoxo
Jasper: Well done, chap! Natalie, you’ve got one of the good ones. All my best always.
His sister Ellie: Welcome to our family, Natalie! Anyone who can put up with Flynn full time has my undying respect and admiration. Happy for you both! Love you.
Addie: Thrilled and delighted for you both. Enjoy every minute!
“Very good advice from Addie,” I say. Neither of us mentions that the only one who didn’t reply is his closest friend, Hayden.
“Enough with the phones.” He powers his down and tosses it on a table. “I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.”
“I could eat.”
He goes to the door to let in the waiters, who deliver a beautiful meal that consists of Caesar salad, grilled shrimp, tender beef, asparagus and mouthwatering risotto. They uncork the champagne and fill crystal flutes.
Flynn raises his in toast to me, and I touch my glass to his. “To my wife.”
“To my husband.”
He leans over to kiss me. “I like the sound of that.”
“So do I.”
I try some of everything, even though my stomach is alive with nerves and excitement for the night ahead of us. I can’t wait to be completely alone with him, my husband. Seeing that ring on his finger and recognizing all it stands for is truly humbling.
“Do you like your wedding ring?” he asks, tuning in to my thoughts.
“I love it. It’s beautiful. Everything is. I can’t believe what you and your magician Addie managed to put together with two days’ notice.”
“She’s good at what she does.”
“Your stamp is all over this, Flynn. Take your share of the credit.”
“I’ll take this much.” He pinches his thumb and index finger together. “I chose the rings and said yay or nay to a bunch of dresses, hoping there’d be one you liked.”
“I love this dress. I never want to take it off.”
He raises a brow. “It’s coming off. Very soon.”
I laugh at the thinly veiled yet playful threat I hear in his tone. “Thanks for the warning.”
We share a chocolate dessert that’s the most sinfully delicious thing I’ve ever tasted. Coupled with the champagne and the strawberries that came with the dessert, I’m bordering on sensory overload. When we’re finished eating, the waiters return to remove the dishes and then the table, leaving us with yet another bottle of champagne in a fresh bucket of ice.
“We need a song,” Flynn says.
“A song?”
“For our first dance as husband and wife. What shall it be? Lady’s choice.”
“Hmmm, this is a huge decision and not one to be taken lightly. For the rest of our lives, whatever song we choose will be the song we danced to on our wedding night.”
“Which is why I left that decision up to you.”
“I’m feeling a tremendous amount of pressure to get it right.”
“I have faith in you, sweetheart.”
“May I consult my iTunes library?”
“By all means.”
As I scroll through the songs on my phone, dismissing one after the other as not right for us, he turns the lights way down. “What song did your parents dance to at their wedding?” I ask him.
“‘Moon River.’ They love that song.”
“That’s a good one.”
He looks over my shoulder as I consult my song list. “Wait, what was that one? ‘Love, Laugh, Fuck.’ That works.”
“We are not having a wedding song with that word in it.”
With his arms around me, he presses his erection against my back. “Why not?”
“Because we’re not, and that’s it.”
“Buzz killer.”
“Maybe so, but you’re stuck with me now.”
“Never been so happy to be stuck with anyone in my life.”
I smile at his sweet words. The kiss
es he’s leaving on my neck set off goose bumps that cover my entire body. “I can’t concentrate when you’re doing that.”
“My apologies,” he says but doesn’t stop.
“How about this?” I choose “I Won’t Give Up” by Jason Mraz and play it for him.
“That sounds sort of perfect for us in light of everything.”
“So we have a winner?”
“Yes, we do.” He takes my phone from me and plugs it into the suite’s sound system. Then he turns and extends his hand. “May I have this dance, Mrs. Godfrey?”
“Absolutely, Mr. Godfrey.” I go to him and let him wrap me up in his love. My hands find their way inside his coat, and I lay my face on his chest. “Flynn…”
“What, honey?”
“I just want you to know that for the first time since everything happened to me, I feel like I’ve found my way home again. The whirling inside my head has finally stopped, and I’m… I’m calm, at peace. And it’s all because of you and what we’ve found together.”
“Nat… There’s nothing you could say that would make me happier, especially in light of everything that’s happened since you met me.”
“There’s relief in having nothing left to hide, so while I wouldn’t have wanted it to happen the way it did, I’m glad there’re no secrets between us.”
He tightens his arms around me as we sway to the music. “I won’t give up on us, Nat. Ever. No matter what happens.”
“Neither will I.”
Chapter 12
I die inside when she says there’re no secrets between us. I’ve kept something huge from her, something that might’ve changed her mind about marrying me if she knew. I tell myself it doesn’t matter because I’ve put that in the past to focus on my future with Natalie.
She’s the only thing that matters now. Neither my past nor hers has any bearing on the future we’re going to create for ourselves. I’ve made my choices, and now I’m going to make this marriage work or die trying.
She’s warm and soft and pliant in my arms as the song comes to an end and another begins. I don’t want this moment to ever end, the first time we dance together as a married couple. It may be the first time, but it won’t be the last. We’ve got everything to look forward to, and I refuse to spend any portion of this night looking back.
Nuzzling through her silky hair, I focus my attention on the long column of her neck, kissing her until I feel her begin to tremble in my arms. I love the way she responds to me, how even the most innocent of caresses gets a reaction from her. I love that no one else but me will ever get to touch her again. I love that she has trusted me to be the first man to touch her after she was so brutally attacked as a teenager.
She has given me a priceless gift, and every day of my life, I will aim to be worthy of her. Her hands encircle my neck and she gazes up at me, her eyes full of love and trust and desire. I’ve tried to be patient tonight, to give her romance and memories that will last a lifetime, but now I want her with a desperation that can’t be contained.
“Natalie…”
“Hmm?”
“I want to make love to my wife.”
“Your wife approves of that plan.”
“I love you so much.”
“I love you, too.”
With my hands on her face, I kiss her softly, reverently. Before things can spin out of control, I take her by the hand and lead her into the bedroom, which was transformed by the hotel staff while we were eating. The room is bathed in candlelight, the bed covered in red rose petals. There’s yet another bottle of champagne in an ice bucket on a table.
“Wow,” she says with a sigh. “You thought of everything.”
“This is why I wanted to come here. No one does it up like they do in Vegas.”
“I can see that.” She worries her bottom lip, which tells me there’s something on her mind.
“What’re you thinking?”
“I didn’t bring anything special to wear tonight. I don’t really have anything that would be worthy—”
I kiss her again because I can’t stand to see her worried about anything. “Natalie, honey, all I need is you. May I help you out of your dress?”
“Yes, please.” She gathers up her hair and pulls it to the front, leaving her back bare to my hungry gaze. The zipper is hidden by a row of buttons that, thankfully, are just for decoration. If I had to take the time to undo a hundred tiny buttons, I’d lose my mind. I draw the zipper down, and the dress falls open to reveal the enticing curve of her back. Since she hasn’t worn a bra, the dress slides off her shoulders and down her arms, leaving her covered only from the waist down.
“What’s the trick to getting it off?”
She smiles at me over her shoulder and shimmies her hips, letting the dress drop. That’s when I see that she’s wearing a white silk thong, a garter belt and thigh-high stockings.
“I’m going to need you to turn around. Like immediately.”
Still wearing her fuck-me heels, she turns, hands on hips, breasts jutting out proudly, and my heart literally stops for a brief second. “Holy mother of God. You almost gave me a heart attack. And you said you didn’t bring anything to wear.”
Her smile is coy and full of satisfaction. “I lied.”
I place my hands on her ribs, trying to control the overwhelming need to toss her on the bed and take what I want so fiercely. “Where in the name of hell did this getup come from?”
“It was one of several choices that came with the dresses. Your assistant is nothing if not thorough.”
“God, I love her.”
Natalie tosses her head back to laugh, and I take advantage of the opportunity to cup her breasts and suck her nipple into my mouth. My inner dominant hovers on the razor’s edge, wanting to break free and take what’s mine. I want to own her, possess her, rule her. I want every part of her, and I want her to surrender to me in every possible way.
But more than all that, I want her to never be afraid of me, so I suppress my driving natural inclinations and give her the softness, the sweetness and the love she needs and deserves.
She’s a more than willing participant, shoving the suit coat off my shoulders, pulling off my tie and attacking the buttons on my shirt without missing a beat in the tongue-twisting kiss. Her hands flatten against my bare chest, ratcheting up the desperation for more. We work together, our hands colliding as we both reach for the clasp on my pants at the same time.
My pants fall to the floor. I shrug off the dress shirt and practically tear the sleeve off when one of the cuff links refuses to cooperate. “Fucking shit,” I mutter, making her laugh.
“Allow me.” She takes my arm, gently works the cuff link free and drops it into my hand.
Only because they were my grandfather’s do I take the time to put them both on the bedside table before I return my attention to my gorgeous, sexy wife. “I want a picture of you like this.”
“An actual picture?”
“Yeah. Can I?”
“I don’t know…”
“It would be just for us. If you think I’d ever share you with anyone…” I’ve shared women in the past, but not this one. No fucking way could I ever stand to see another man’s hands on her.
“Okay…” She’s tentative, but I can see that the request has turned her on. Her eyes have gotten very bright, and her cheeks are flushed with color. Even her breasts are rosy with heat.
“Stay right there.” I dash into the other room to grab my phone, powering it up as I make my way back to where I left her.
“How do you want me?”
I groan, loudly. “Fuck, sweetheart, you might want to think twice before you ask me such a leading question.”
“Why?” The innocence, the overpowering sweetness… She destroys me and then puts me back together every fucking time.
“There’re a lot of ways I could have you.”
“Will you tell me about them? All of them?”
I swallow hard, summoning control that
’s hard to come by right now. “We’ve got the rest of our lives to try everything once, twice if we like it. For right now, move your hair to the front so your nipples are peeking out and put your hands on your hips. Strike a pose.”
I’m hard as concrete as I snap a few photos. “Now gather your hair up with your hands and hold it over your head. Fuck, that’s sexy. Just like that. Oh my God, Nat.” I throw the phone aside and take her down with me onto the bed, our lips and tongues coming together in an urgent kiss that drives my need so deep into the red zone, I can’t think of anything other than being inside her. Right now.
Motherfucking hell. I’m never going to survive this.
I’ve never seen him quite like this before. His kiss is so fierce, so out of control that all I can do is go along on the ride with him. His tongue is everywhere, teasing and tempting and making me want to beg for whatever comes next. I want him to touch me and take me and make me his.
I’ve never wanted anything quite like I want him inside me, right now.
“Flynn,” I gasp when he finally comes up for air.
“What, honey? Talk to me.”
It’s all I can do to breathe when he attacks my neck, finding the place that I didn’t know made me wild until he discovered it.
“I want you now.”
“I’m here.”
It hasn’t taken me long to become brave where he’s concerned, so I run my hand down the front of him and push his boxers out of the way in my quest to get to what I want. When I wrap my hand around his thick erection, he moans. I stroke him the way he taught me to, hard and tight.
“This is what I want. Make love to me. Please, Flynn. Right now.”
He literally tears the thong right off my body in a move that leaves me dazzled by the sheer power of his desire. “I don’t want to hurt you. Tell me if it hurts.”
“It won’t.” I don’t care if it does.
He takes himself in hand, rolls on a condom and drives into me in one deep thrust that makes me scream from the impact, the pleasure and the heat that come together in the place where we are joined and ripple out to every other corner of my body. I can feel him trembling from the effort it takes to remain completely still, until he’s certain I’m ready for more.