“You are incredible. You are wise. You are beautiful. You are talented. You can take on the world, and when you do, I will be there. Not because you need me to be but because I want to be. I want to walk the world with you, Ava Cassidy, as long as you’ll let me.”
There were tears in her eyes, and I heard the snap of camera lenses. I didn’t want to think this was just for them, just for show, so I bent to kiss her again, before anything else could happen to make me remember why we were really here.
Only, she pushed into the kiss, arms winding around my neck, her whole body pressed to mine. I held her tight, lifting her off her feet. We were breathless when we pulled apart. She looked at me with a mischievous twinkle in her eye, and I knew exactly what she was thinking. The photographers had more than enough pictures of the two of us. We could come back for the reception later.
Right now, there were more important things.
River quickly wrapped up the ceremony, reading the urgency in my face, and then Ava and I reached for each other’s hands and ran down the aisle, grinning as we circled around to the front door, away from everyone still in the courtyard. I swept her off her feet to carry her over the threshold.
“I want to do this right,” I murmured, stopping as soon as we were inside so I could put her down and kiss her properly. We stumbled down the hallway, unable to keep our hands or lips from each other long enough to do more than shed our shoes before we got to the bedroom. Her hands tugged at my tie, and I reached around to try and unzip her dress.
“My god,” I said, stymied by the sheer number of fastenings she had holding it together. “What is this thing made of? Kevlar?”
“Close,” she said. “Tulle.” And then she worked some sort of magic and slipped out of it like Houdini, leaving it in a pile of white fabric on the floor. My breath caught in my throat as I watched her stretch out onto the bed. I think I even lost track of time for a while, only coming back to myself when she said, “Well?”
And then it was a rush of movement. I yanked my shirt open and tossed it to the side, climbing onto the bed and crawling over her.
“What are you thinking?” I asked, touching her cheek with my fingertips. “I can’t tell.”
“I’m thinking I want this,” she said, breathless. “I’m thinking I want you. I want to be with you. I missed you so much. So, so much.”
I kissed her, then, slow and sweet, building gradually until I thought that the only thing in the world that mattered was tasting as much of her mouth as possible. Her hands moved to my trousers to open them, and I groaned just from the brush of her hand across my fabric-covered erection.
I unhooked her bra, grateful there was nothing complicated about it, then dipped my head to smother her body in kisses. My lips made a trail that first ran along her collarbone and down the center of her chest before skirting to the side, taking in the soft swell of her breast until, finally, catching a taunt nipple between my lips and sucking gently.
At the same time, my hand slid up her thigh to tease between her legs, rubbing the silky fabric of her panties into the wetness beneath them, teasing along her slit before tugging her panties aside, desperate and impatient to be inside her.
Before I could do more than tease, though, she was pulling back.
“Naked,” she demanded in a voice heavy with desire. “I want you naked.”
Who was I to argue with a command like that? I pulled back enough to shove my trousers and boxers down and off, reaching into the pocket before tossing them aside to pull out a small, foil packet.
Ava laughed, breathy and beautiful. “You brought a condom to our fake wedding?”
“I’m an eternal optimist,” I shrugged, bending to kiss her again, letting her open the packet and slide it on my aching cock.
“Don’t press your luck, Cowboy,” she murmured, looping her arm around my shoulders to pull me close as she lifted both legs, circling my hips with them.
“Too late. My luck is pressed.”
She might have laughed then, but I caught the sound between my lips and shifted until I could feel my dick sliding through her slickness. I could feel every gasp and twitch her body made each time the tip of my cock rolled across her clit.
“Fuck me,” she pleaded, when the teasing had gone on almost too long even for me.
Another shift and I was pressing forward, pushing into her, feeling that delicious, tight heat enveloping my shaft. “Christ, yes,” I gasped, and she rolled her hips up to meet mine, groaning in harmony as we began to move.
I wanted to go slow, to take my time and savor this moment, to show her how much I’d missed her, how badly I wanted her, but as soon as her thighs tightened, pulling me in further, deeper, I knew I wouldn’t be able to hold anything back. Not now. Not when I hadn’t been able to properly touch her in what felt like an eternity.
She clung to me, fingers digging into my shoulders, hips arching up to meet each thrust in an almost bruising rhythm.
I thought for sure the guests must be able to hear us outside, but I didn’t care. It didn’t matter because I was right where I wanted to be, and damned if I was going to apologize for it.
“Bennett,” she breathed into my ear, a soft whine in her voice. “Bennett, come on. I want to feel you. I want you to come.”
That was it. I was gone. I would do anything she asked me to, especially when it was something like that. My cock thrust forward, again and again, leading me to my finish, pulling the rest of my body forward and forcing her into her own hot orgasm. I felt her pulse around me just moments before my climax exploded, knocking the wind right out of me.
I sucked in a breath, holding myself over her, panting against her lips.
And then she laughed softly, and I was lost all over again.
Chapter 31
Ava
I could not believe it. I wouldn’t have believed it if I weren’t lying naked in bed with Bennett Campbell, our wedding clothes strewn about the room. I couldn’t believe I was here. I couldn’t believe I was happy. I couldn’t believe any of this was real.
Except that Bennett’s fingers were stroking lightly down my arm, and I was curled against his side. Sweat was still cooling our skin.
“We’re gonna have to go back out eventually,” he murmured into my hair. “Reception photos and all.”
“My hair is an awful mess,” I pointed out.
He pulled back to look at me. “I think you look amazing. Perfect, even.”
There was that word again. Perfect.
“You, sir, are biased.”
“I’ll show you biased,” he teased, but instead of the rough, rushed kiss I was expecting, Bennett’s lips met mine so gently I almost didn’t feel it. His tongue swept out to touch my lip, and I breathed into his mouth.
“Did you mean it?” I asked, tracing lazy circles across his broad chest.
“Did I mean what?”
“What you said in your vows.”
Propping himself up on an elbow, he looked at me seriously. “Every fucking word.”
I kissed him, this time, letting my fingers slide into his hair and tangle there, holding him close but gently. His hands began to move from my arms, stroking over my belly and up to cup my breast. I shivered and raised a hand to shove gently at his shoulder, pushing him onto his back and rolling with him so that I landed straddling his body.
“I love you too,” I said. “I think you’re a horribly spoiled, remarkably selfish man, but I also believe that you are trying to be better, and I want to help you succeed. I see some potential.” I smiled so he’d know I was joking. Mostly.
I hadn’t had time to write my vows, not the way he had, but I had meant my words just as much.
Bending low, I returned his soft kiss, our tongues tangling and teasing slowly. I began to roll my hips, feeling his cock begin to grow as I ground down on him, rubbing myself along his length.
“Ava,” he breathed, his hands falling to my hips. I placed my own hands on top of his, using the leverage
to steady myself as I moved, teasing us both, ramping up the pleasure we’d both felt before. We’d come together rough and passionate the first time. I wanted to make it last this time. I wanted to forget about the guests and our friends and my parents and the photographers and People magazine, just for now, just while we still could.
I felt him shudder beneath me, and he breathed out a shaky, “Please, Ava…. Fuck, please.”
“Condom?” I asked, and he jerked his head towards the nightstand.
I leaned across his body, huffing out a startled breath when he took the opportunity to catch my nipple between his teeth, rolling it gently before giving it a good, hard suck. Finally, my fingers closed around a packet, and I opened it quickly, raising myself up to roll it over his length.
When I began to move again, he groaned, and I groaned with him, my pussy clenching with desire. A few more rolls of my hips, and I knew we’d both been teased enough. Raising myself up again, I reached for his cock, guiding it into me. We both gave a low moan of satisfaction as I lowered myself onto him, feeling him stretch and fill me.
I held myself still for a breath. Then two. Then three, clenching purposefully around him. To his credit, he didn’t move, letting me set the pace, the rhythm.
Finally, I began to move in long, fluid circles, my body undulating over his. I straightened up as I rode him, stretching my body long.
“God, you’re so fucking beautiful,” he whispered, his hands moving to my hips again, steadying me as he began to match my rhythm. “Perfect.”
“You too,” I breathed. “You feel... amazing.”
I began to move faster, taking him in shallow rolls of my hips that got gradually longer, pulling him in deeper, until he was buried completely inside of me and I was grinding my pussy against his flesh, the friction of our bodies increasing until they seemed to stimulate every nerve of my body at once.
As I picked up the pace, I had to brace myself against his shoulders in order to maintain the movement. Bennett whispered encouragements, endearments, praises, and I felt worshiped, empowered, fulfilled.
“Christ,” he breathed, all but gasping for air. “Christ, I’m close... are you? Tell me you’re close.”
“I am,” I answered, feeling my orgasm building and building. “I am... fuck, please….” And then I was coming, riding out the waves of pleasure on his cock, groaning his name and shuddering through the force of it.
I collapsed against his chest, letting him hold my entire weight, panting into the hollow of his neck. He held me loosely, his arms draped around my back, nose nuzzling along my hairline.
I’m not sure how long we laid there, but I was starting to feel a chill before either of us spoke. My voice sounded small and soft. “So what happens next?”
“Well, there’s still the reception,” Bennett teased, and I poked his side.
“No, I mean... after today. What happens?”
He pressed a kiss to my temple. “I’ve convinced you to marry me twice now. I figure anything else will be cake after that.”
He was laughing as I swatted him again, but he only stopped when I kissed him.
“I think I’m going to stick around this time,” I said. “See if this fake marriage actually makes it.”
He slipped out from under me, moving us both to our sides as he tucked a bit of hair behind my ear. “I was hoping you’d say that,” he whispered, leaning in to brush his lips across me once more.
Epilogue
Ava
"How many weddings are you two going to have?" my mother asked with a twinkle in her eye. She was fixing my veil for real this time, straightening out my dress and making sure there were no wrinkles even threatening to mess up whatever perfection she had made happen with Great Aunt Agnes’ wedding gown.
Great Grandma hadn’t had the money to buy a dress when she got married to Great Grandpa, but by the time her youngest sister was proposed to by a young Brad Pitt look alike, the family had been able to pull together enough money for Aunt Agnes, who was an accomplished seamstress, to purchase the material and thread necessary to make a stunning 1920s wedding gown.
I was so proud to be wearing it now.
Tears stung my eyes as I watched my mom continue to fuss over the veil. I was thinking about the strength of the women from this family. I was thinking about how many sacrifices had been made by those women, before I was even born, for me to end up with this beautiful gown to wear.
“What’s wrong Ava-bean?” my mother asked as she wiped my eyes, “I would think you would be all teared out. How many weddings is this now?” She winked at me.
“Great Aunt Agnes is out in the front right? So she can see?” I asked. “I’m so proud that she let me wear this.” I wanted to make sure she knew that this was the one that mattered, the wedding that mattered.
“Oh, Ava. Oh, of course she is,” Mom said, dabbing at my eyes with a handkerchief, careful not to smudge my makeup. “You’re one of us, my love. Nothing will change that. When I asked Aunt Agnes if you could wear it, do you know what she said?”
“What did she say?”
“She said, ‘That girl is one of us. She doesn’t quit. She’s strong and resilient. I’m so proud of the way she stood up and took responsibility after some two bit, good for nothing, classless, waste of space of a man did her such a terrible harm. You tell Ava that she can have that dress. You tell her to use that dress, but to then get some pants. Cause no man should ever be in control. You tell her Great Aunt Agnes said so.’”
I belted out a loud laugh. Mom and I hadn’t laughed like that in a while. “Well, if she says so, I guess I better listen.”
“Exactly. Honor your elders.” My mother’s smile was more free than any I’d seen on her in a long time.
“When do you think Dad’s going to let you into the driver’s seat?” I teased.
“Where do you think I’ve been all this time?” The two of us laughed and hugged.
“The problem you two have is that married men want to at least feel like they’re in control,” Layla spoke up, standing up from the makeup table she’d been using to give herself some final touch ups. My old assistant was now my new assistant again, but I’d made sure to ask her to be my maid of honor before I’d rehired her, just so she knew I was asking her as a friend. “With River, I never have that problem. He does what I tell him, and then thanks me for it.” She laughed, but I was fairly sure there was at least some truth to that. Her boyfriend was so laid back he was practically comatose.
“Well, I’m done being controlled,” I agreed. “Ken was more than enough for a lifetime.” One of the best things that had come from all of this was watching Ken and Fiona’s careers fall apart. The little seed that Bennett had planted in his interview had taken some time to grow, but eventually someone picked up on it and did some digging. They found out that Fiona had a history of sabotaging her younger cast mates, and Ken was very often linked to her as a co-conspirator. He lost all of his other clients, and she was booted off of The Wild Rovers shortly after I was. The show couldn’t support losing both of us at once, and last I heard it had been canceled. Just like her book deal.
I thought I couldn’t be happier than I was after hearing all of that news. And then Bennett proposed.
Again.
“It’s time,” my mother said, giving my arm a little squeeze and leading me out to where my father was waiting. I beamed at him as he offered me his arm and I took it for the second—and hopefully final—time. He was one of my very favorite people, and his eyes were just as wet as mine had been a few moments ago. “Here we go again, Daddy.”
“Here we go again, Ava-bean.” He gave me a quick squeeze.
My father and I stepped out into the aisle. As I looked down towards Bennett, the tears began to fall one more time.
Our first wedding didn’t really happen.
Our second one was just for show—a calculated act used to take back my life and my career, and show the world that Ava Cassidy was more than just Ame
rican’s fallen Sweetheart. And it worked. I was already signed to play a major supporting role in a new Wednesday night drama as a police detective.
But this wedding, this final one, it was happening because of love.
No acting. No pranks.
This time we really said “I do.”
Bonus Book 3 - Slade
Slade is a bad boy Stepbrother romance. Following this will be the followup novel, Kellan.
Royal Stripper Page 59