“You like this, huh?”
She could only nod, unable to speak, utterly overwhelmed with sensation. She hadn’t really come back down from the climax, was just coasting along on the crest of the wave, waiting for him to join her. “Please,” she managed to whimper out, and Bryce groaned, his face tightening, teeth sinking into his lower lip.
She felt the pulse of heat deep inside her even as he stilled at last, hips thrust right forward, his fingers tightening on her hip until she suspected she might have fingerprint bruises there tomorrow. Not that she cared, not in the least.
Bryce’s grip slackened, and he leaned forward to kiss her spine gently before easing back and withdrawing from her. Collapsing face-first onto the bed, Lucy turned her head to the side and watched him walk to the bathroom on legs which looked as rubbery as hers felt.
After a moment, she heard the shower start up, and groaned loudly. “Do we have to?” she called mournfully.
Bryce laughed, coming back to stand over her. “Well, I’m pretty sure Justine would actually understand if you told her you’re too fucked out to move. But can you bring yourself to tell her, that’s the question?”
“Oh, shut up.” She swatted in his general direction, then squeaked as he caught her hand and hauled her up off the bed and over his shoulder in one easy motion. “What are you doing? Put me down!”
“I’m taking you to the shower, dirty girl.” He patted her ass. She patted his in return, making him roar with laughter as he carried her into the bathroom and straight into the shower stall. “Stop that, woman. Or we’ll be late!”
The shower stall was way too small for two. Even so, Lucy could be inventive, when she wanted to be.
They were very late.
Chapter Fifteen
Lucy floated through the next few days on a dreamlike cloud of happiness. Even Justine’s constant critical scrutiny and regular barbed comments couldn’t pierce her bubble. Bryce was by her side every moment they could possibly contrive; nobody would have doubted that they were utterly in love. Or at least, in lust.
It should probably have bothered her more than it did that the wedding was starting to feel real. She began to feel invested in the plans Terry and Jerome were making, in Olivia’s marketing plans, in every little detail of the big day. She almost got into a row with Justine over the menu for the wedding luncheon, at least until Bryce drew her aside and murmured quietly in her ear;
“You’ve loved everything Suzannah has ever cooked. Trust her to make it perfect.”
Just hearing his voice in her ear calmed her, grounded her. She let him take her hand, drew in a deep breath, and nodded. “You’re right, of course. Stop that, it’s annoying.”
The corners of Bryce’s eyes crinkled up in the way she was coming to love as he smiled. “Just trying to be the voice of reason for my bridezilla.”
“Ugh, am I really?” She wrinkled her nose.
“Little bit.” He held up a hand, forefinger and thumb an inch or so apart. “It’s totally turning me on, though. Can we sneak off and you can use that bossy voice to order me around in bed?”
He could always make her laugh. She almost fell into his arms, feeling his warmth and strength as they closed around her.
“I couldn’t do this without you,” she mumbled against his chest.
“You don’t have to. Just a couple more days, angel.” He kissed her forehead. “Hang in there.”
***
Lucy had lost weight in the last two weeks, Bryce thought as he hugged her close. Justine was getting to her. She never said anything about Lucy’s weight, but she always made a point of only taking a small amount of food, eating about half of it, then watching Lucy with raised eyebrows if she kept eating. The subtle psychological pressure was clearly taking a toll. Bryce could hardly wait for Justine to leave, for the tiny stress lines around Lucy’s mouth to relax, for her to eat a full meal without eyeing her plate suspiciously.
Glancing across at where Justine was immersed in discussions of flower arrangements with the two wedding planners, Bryce guided Lucy outside and around the corner, out of sight. She didn’t seem to want to let go of him, hanging on tightly around his waist. Fortunately, there was a couch there, positioned to allow guests a quiet space if required, so he pulled her to sit down with him, not particularly surprised when she wiggled onto his lap and tucked her face into his neck. Lucy wasn’t cuddly in her sleep, but she most certainly was while awake.
“Only a couple more days, and one of those is the wedding,” he murmured soothingly against her hair. “And if Justine dares be bitchy to you on our wedding day, I swear I’ll throw her off the dock.”
He felt her shoulders shake as she laughed silently. Then she pulled back and looked up at him, whispering softly “It’s not really our wedding day, though.”
Bryce didn’t say anything. The wedding had begun to seem real to him; sharing Lucy’s bed and her life felt so utterly right and natural, being married to her was just one more logical step. They hadn’t even talked about what they would do once Justine had gone home, though, and adding to Lucy’s stress by pressing her on the matter was unthinkable at the moment. Instead he nodded, kissed her forehead, and pulled her to lie against him again.
“Tomorrow’s your girls’ spa day,” he murmured, “and our friends will all be there for you. Olivia and Nessa and the others have Justine’s measure, so relax and let yourself be pampered.”
“I’m looking forward to it, actually. Except the part about the photographer following us around.”
“Well, she’s female as well, and you already covered with her what you do and don’t want shown. Just go with the flow and enjoy the day, angel.” He nuzzled her hair. “The girls in the spa are good, but they can’t improve on perfection anyway.”
“You really are very good for my ego.” He could feel Lucy smiling against his throat as she spoke. “You make me feel beautiful… for the first time in my life.”
“You are beautiful. I could strangle your mother, for what she’s done to your self-confidence.” He tightened his hold. “I’m gonna keep telling you until you believe it. You’re beautiful. The most beautiful woman I know.”
***
“If I didn’t know better, I’d say you two were a loving couple just about to get married.” Luke’s dry remark made them both startle up. He stood looking down at them, hands in the pockets of his grey suit trousers, shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows, tie loose in his open collar.
“Uh,” Lucy looked quickly to the door of the wedding planners’ office.
“Don’t worry, I’m not gonna give you away. Terry and Jerome have her well in hand; Justine’s met her match at last, I think. Just wondering what exactly is going on with the pair of you. It’s not like you were putting on a show for anyone in particular just then.” Luke kept his voice low.
“Was that a question?” Bryce asked, sure his cheeks were on fire with embarrassment.
“I wasn’t asking a question, no. Probably about time the two of you asked each other a few, though.” With a firm nod, Luke strode past them and along the hallway to his own office.
“He might be right,” Lucy mumbled after a moment of awkward silence. She couldn’t look directly at him, Bryce noted, and her face was as red as his felt.
“It can wait,” he said quietly. “You’ve got enough on your plate, Luce. Once Justine’s gone home, you and I can sit down and figure out what we’re doing here.” Lightly, he touched her chin, encouraging her to meet his eyes, and once she did, he told her “Just in case you’re in any doubt, I don’t want this — us — to end once she leaves.”
Lucy’s smile was shy, but blinding. “Me neither. But you’re okay with not talking it over until after the weddi… until after Mum’s gone home?”
“Perfectly fine with it. No pressure even then, angel. We’ll talk when you’re ready.”
Lucy had to bite on her lips to just keep from blurting out ‘I love you. How’s that for talk?’
“If she changes one more thing about the plans, I might just help them,” Bryce muttered, but he stood up too and took her hand.
“Once more into the breach, huh?”
“As many more times as you need me to, angel.”
She almost said it then. Instead, she tightened her fingers around his, thinking that some way, some how, once Justine was gone, she was going to do everything she possibly could to build a real relationship with Bryce. The five years age difference between them seemed utterly irrelevant now. He clearly couldn’t care less about it, so why should she? If the difference was reversed, nobody would even think twice about it.
Chapter Sixteen
Lying in bed beside Lucy in the warm morning light on the day before their wedding, Bryce studied her sleeping face. With her hair splayed around her face like a dark halo, lips parted slightly as she breathed in the slow rhythm of sleep, she looked like an angel to his dazzled eyes. He only hoped the spa day helped relax her rather than stress her out; several of her friends had arranged their schedules to have at least part of the day with her. He’d impressed on Olivia the need never to leave Lucy alone with Justine, and Olivia had promised to stick to Lucy’s side like glue.
Several of the girls who worked at the spa were friends of his. They all knew about the situation as well and had taken pains to assure Bryce they’d make sure Lucy had a good day, and they’d keep Justine too busy to needle or harass her daughter.
Checking his watch, he grimaced slightly. He’d have to wake her shortly, and then he wouldn’t see her until the actual ceremony tomorrow. Luke had put one of the premium resort cabins at their disposal for a couple of days as a wedding gift, and an extra suite in the main resort for Lucy to sleep in tonight, both of which they felt slightly guilty about but had no compunctions about accepting. Not when they’d had the photographer snapping candid shots of them both constantly for the last couple of days too, right down to Bryce getting his hair cut yesterday morning.
Lucy sighed and shifted a little in her sleep, the sheet slipping further down her body and revealing her breasts to his gaze.
Well, Bryce thought with a grin, at least he could make sure her day started pleasurably. Easing down the bed, he closed his mouth on one rose-pink nipple, licking and tonguing gently until it peaked in his mouth.
“Don’t stop,” Lucy murmured after a minute or so, and her hand slid into his newly-shorn hair to hold him close.
“Not stopping,” he mumbled, moving across to the other breast to suck that nipple to a pouting point as well. His hand eased between her thighs, which Lucy willingly parted for him, her breath hitching as his fingers burrowed gently.
“Best way to wake up,” she mumbled as his thumb started swiping circles over her clit.
Bryce hummed in wordless agreement, sliding down between her thighs and tracing his tongue over the path his thumb had just taken. Lucy’s thighs lifted over his shoulders, her heels pressing into the solid muscles of his back, urging him on.
He had no intention of stopping, working his tongue over her clit until she was sobbing his name and tugging his hair, her body quivering as she came, soaked pussy clenching on his fingers.
“My turn,” Lucy said when she got her breath and her strength back, pushing Bryce down to his back. He lay back with a grin as she reached for a condom, reaching up to tease her nipples as she mounted him, sinking slowly down on his rigidly erect cock.
“Christ, you feel so good, angel,” he gasped as she seated herself fully.
“Mm hm,” Lucy agreed breathlessly. She tipped her head back, her dark hair rippling over her shoulders as she flexed her thighs to lift herself up and lower down again. To Bryce’s dazzled eyes, she was a goddess, his Aphrodite riding the waves of passion along with him until they both found completion, gasping and straining against each other in mutual climax.
As she lay on his chest afterwards, both of them damp with sweat and breathing heavily, Bryce stroked her hair and tried to come up with the words to express how he felt. “That was magical,” he whispered finally, and felt Lucy smile against his chest.
“For a dyslexic, you’ve got a good way with words.”
“If only,” he mumbled. Maybe then he’d be able to find the ones he needed to tell Lucy he was hopelessly in love with her and praying she didn’t drop him like a hot potato once Justine left the island.
“Thanks for the stress reliever.” Lucy patted his chest before climbing off him. “I gotta shower before I go to the spa, or I’ll stink of sex.”
The bathroom door clicked shut, leaving Bryce staring at it. Thanks for the stress reliever?
Hopefully, Lucy was just even worse with words than he was.
***
“That may have been the worst post-coital line in the history of the world,” Lucy groaned, leaning her forehead against the shower wall and wishing the water could wash away her idiocy. “I might just as well have said wham bam thank you man.” And after Bryce had woken her up so delightfully, too! When would she ever learn to just keep her mouth shut?
Mind you, it would have been much, much worse to blurt out what she’d actually been thinking. Telling Bryce she loved him would probably have him running for the hills.
With a sigh, she reached for the shampoo and started washing her hair. Their relationship was getting stranger by the day, trapped in the weird situation she’d put them in with her own chicken-shit inability to stand up to her mother. What the hell were they going to do once Justine left? Would they just go back to being friends? Would Bryce move back to his own cabin?
Closing her eyes against the sting as she rinsed the shampoo out, Lucy blew water droplets out with frustration. She was too scared to talk to Bryce about their relationship until after Justine left, not that she thought he’d bail on her at this stage. They just had to stick it out a couple more days, get through the wedding day and then they could talk. Really talk.
She felt sick with anxiety at the mere thought.
***
Bryce was gone when she left the bathroom, the bed neatly made. He was heading out on a full-day dive today, Lucy knew, and that evening had been invited to Jace’s villa with some of his friends among the male staff for a small bachelor party.
“Ready?” A knock on the door made Lucy look up to see Olivia standing there with Gemma, the resort photographer who had been documenting the lead-up to the wedding.
“Yeah,” Lucy said, dry-mouthed. “Sure.”
Gemma had her camera in hand, but lowered it to look closely at Lucy as she walked past to leave the cabin. “Are you okay, sweetie? You look a bit frazzled.”
“That’s what the spa day is supposed to be for, right?” Lucy’s laugh sounded fake to her own ears. “Relax the bridal jitters?”
Gemma and Olivia looked at each other, and Lucy could practically hear the unspoken words. But you’re not actually getting married.
“Just don’t leave me alone with my mother,” she carried on quickly.
“On top of it,” Olivia said comfortingly. “We’ve got you booked in for private sessions with Shae all day, and your mom with Eleanora. You’ll only see her at lunchtime, when we’ll all be together.”
Lucy took a few deep breaths as they walked up to the spa, a series of luxurious timber cabins set apart from the rest of the resort, overlooking a crystal blue lagoon. She was going to relax and enjoy today, she was determined. She would never treat herself to this sort of thing normally, and she wasn’t even paying. All she had to do was let Gemma take a few pictures for publicity use, and Gemma had even promised to let Lucy see them before they were published, too.
“Good morning, darling!” Justine was already sitting in the waiting area, leafing through a glossy magazine.
“Morning, Mum. Looking forward to the spa?”
“Why, yes; i
t’s been a while since I treated myself. You’re the one who needs it though, darling. You look positively peaky.”
And that’s why every time I never really even get started on feeling guilty about deceiving her, Lucy thought, grindting her teeth. Every time I even think about it, she says something like that.
“Ready to get started, ladies?” a sweet voice said, and Lucy looked around to see a petite, beautiful woman with a cap of short black curls framing her face standing by the reception desk, a white beautician’s smock wrapped around her slim form. “I’m Shae and I’ll be taking care of the bride.”
“That’s me,” Lucy said, raising her hand, and Shae gave her a warm smile.
“Come along with me then. Eleanora will be out in just a few moments for you,” she told Justine.
Lucy hadn’t encountered Shae before, but took to the other girl immediately. Shae’s quiet, gentle manner was extremely reassuring, and she didn’t chatter while she began Lucy’s first treatment, a seaweed wrap over her whole body. Instead, she quietly checked Lucy was comfortable being photographed mid-treatment before calling Gemma in to take a few pictures.
It felt odd lying on the table naked except for being wrapped in warm seaweed, but surprisingly relaxing. Lucy closed her eyes and put on a small smile as Gemma snapped a few pictures.
“Come back in an hour for the massage,” Shae suggested. “Will you be okay with that, Lucy? You’ll be naked, but the shots have to be non-sexual anyway, Gemma can just take a pic of my hands on your back or shoulders…”
“I trust you girls,” Lucy mumbled drowsily. She could already feel tense muscles letting go, was really looking forward to the massage now, as well as whatever else Shae had planned.
She heard Shae laugh, say something to Gemma, and then a door closed.
The next thing she knew, Shae was waking her up, telling her it was time to take the seaweed wrap off and wash down.
“Wow,” Lucy mumbled, blinking to clear her eyes. “I must’ve been more tired than I thought.”
“It’s a stressful time, leading up to your wedding,” Shae said sympathetically. “You can snooze off again during your massage, I promise I won’t mind. It’s for relaxation rather than therapeutic, so you shouldn’t feel any discomfort unless you’ve got really stiff muscles somewhere.”
Her Fake Island Wedding Page 9