“So it sounds like the decision’s made?”
He met her gaze and shifted slightly as he thought about his options and what Andi deserved. Kneeling on one knee on the carpet between the two narrow beds, he grasped her hand and looked into her face. “Andrea Greene, will you do me the great honor of becoming my wife?”
… … … … …
I stared at him, as my heart started beating a faster drumbeat. Next to me, I could feel KK practically bouncing on the bed in her excitement. “Say yes, Andi,” she whispered.
I looked back at Jonah, who remained kneeling at my feet, and lost my rational side to the emotional. I was about to blurt out yes when he ruined the moment.
“Just for the next five days,” he said. “And honestly, if the captain marries us, it’s not real anyway. We’d have to file government paperwork to make it official.
I mean, I know I’d been the one to blurt out the rash insane idea to get married, but something in me maybe thought it was for real. For life. And now he’d ruined it by making it clear it was short–term only.
“Oh.” I tugged my hand away and slumped back. I was an idiot. Here I’d thought our lovemaking this afternoon had meant as much to him as it had to me. And he simply saw me as a means to an end. He needed me to cover his ass so he wouldn’t be fired.
“Please,” he said.
Since I’d been the one to come up with the plan, it’d be rude of me to back out now. “Fine,” I said. “I can be your pretend wife for the cruise.” Even to my ears, my voice sounded flat, but Jonah didn’t notice. The look of relief on his face made me swallow back my embarrassment over thinking the proposal was for real, and focus on the fact that I was helping a friend.
“Great,” Jonah said. “I’ll go find the captain. You should come too, KK. It’ll make the whole thing more official that your maid of honor is here.”
“But not my parents?” I blurted.
He looked chagrined. “Good point. We can tell them our parents are throwing us a big wedding later, but we wanted something private, something just for us.”
God, did he not hear how romantic his words were, and yet they bled my heart dry one drop at a time. He stood, and I followed to look for my sandals. They were these totally cute wedges with magenta straps. If I was entering into a pretend marriage, I needed cute shoes. It was like a law or something. But then I remembered something else. “What about the divorce?”
“Like I said, unless we go to the island’s government office tomorrow to file the paperwork, the marriage is symbolic only.” He smiled tentatively at me.
“I thought boat captains had the power to marry people,” KK said.
“Urban legend,” Jonah answered. “You still need government jurisdiction. I can tell the cruise line that we’ll be filing the official paperwork tomorrow, but I doubt they’ll ask to see it. The fact that we’re willing to go through a ceremony tonight should be enough.” He stepped over to me, and gently held me in his arms. “Andi,” he whispered. “Are you sure you’re okay with this? You’re being very quiet. We don’t have to do this. I’ll take my punishment like a man.”
I met his stare and forced a smile. “Yeah,” I managed. “I’m cool.” The truth was, with any other guy this would be a lark, a great vacation story. With Jonah, it was something I wanted badly enough that making it into a sham was painful. I mean, I didn’t want marriage. We’d only been back together less than a day, but that day had been spectacular. He was everything I could see myself wanting in a spouse, and it hurt like hell that he didn’t seem to be on the same page. “Let’s go get hitched.”
The wedding ceremony was sweet and beautiful. Ironically, it was exactly the kind of ceremony I would’ve planned for myself had I been planning my own marriage. We stood on a deck toward the front of the boat. Bow? Stern? The sun’s fading rays formed a warm circle at our legs, and KK and Jonah’s two friends surrounded us. The captain performed a brief, non–religious ceremony and that was it. We were married. Sort of.
Jonah kissed me and, as always, when our lips connected it turned scorching. Only this time, it was more than a sexy kiss, it was our first kiss as husband and wife. Maybe I was the only one feeling it, but the look in Jonah’s eyes when he pulled back told me he was feeling it too. All our childhood dreams had come full circle, and we’d actually gotten married. Sur–freaking–real.
We smiled and thanked the captain and our well–wishers. Several passengers had seen the ceremony taking place and stopped to witness it. Their cheers echoed as we kissed. Then everyone resumed their normal cruise behavior, and Jonah and I were alone with KK on the deck. “Now what?” I asked Jonah.
My hand was in his, and it felt as natural as could be. It had always been this way. When we shared space, we touched. Simple fact of life. “The expectation is we’re on a mini–honeymoon. You’re allowed in my cabin.” He grinned. I turned to KK, but she forestalled any apologies.
“Hon, ditch me. I want you to. It’s a win–win. I get the cabin to myself and any lucky young men I might meet. You get to be with Jonah. Marriage for the win!”
I dropped Jonah’s hand to grab my bestie in a tight hug. “You rock, KK.”
“You know it. Now go have fun.” She whispered in my ear as we hugged, “Grab onto this, Andi. Don’t let him go.”
I pulled back and Jonah’s hand found mine as if they had magnets under the skin. We watched KK make her way toward the adult–only pool lounge.
“Andi,” Jonah said when we were alone. “Thank you. I don’t know how to make this up to you…”
“Stop.” I put a hand on his chest. “Stop thanking me as if becoming your wife is some big sacrifice. As you said, the ceremony wasn’t real and it’ll all be over in five days. You’ll have your job and I’ll have a good story to tell.” I smiled, trying to make light of all the emotions of the wedding ceremony that roiled in my soul, and something flickered in Jonah’s expression at my dismissive words. “Now. I believe I was promised a honeymoon. I heard honeymoon sex is even better than make–up sex.”
We started walking toward a part of the boat I had yet to explore. “Is that so?” he said with a sideways grin that caused my belly to flutter like a butterfly in springtime. “I’m looking forward to testing the theory; tonight and every night for the rest of the week.” Our footsteps sped up until we were suddenly in front of a door marked Employees Only, and Jonah swiped his badge to get us through. And then, a few doors down, another badge swipe took us into his private cabin. I looked around curiously.
It was even smaller than the cabin KK and I shared, with just room for a narrow bed and a desk the size of a hardback book lined up on the same wall and a narrow walkway on one side. Two doors faced the desk. I assumed it was the closet and the bathroom.
“As part of the ship’s medical staff, I get a cabin with a private bathroom. The rest of the crew isn’t as lucky,” he said.
I nodded in response, but my attention had been captured by a handful of photos tacked onto a bulletin board above the desk. I leaned forward to get a better look. There was one of his family in front of the Eiffel Tower and a few of Jonah in exotic–looking places that must be port cities where the ship docked. I wrapped my arms around my suddenly cold body. Jonah had a whole life outside of us. I didn’t know some of the people in the photos, and I didn’t know where he was in most of them.
“Andi, you okay?”
I spun to face him. “Fine. Just thinking about how little I know you anymore.”
“You know me,” he said and pointed to the pictures. “You might not know my exact itinerary for the last dozen years, but you know me.” His hands squeezed my shoulders gently. “You know my history. You know what I value in life, and you know how good we are in bed. None of that has changed in twelve years. If anything the sex has improved.”
“True,” I admitted. “Being an adult has its perks. For one thing, I’m not worried about getting caught by our parents.”
He grinned. “Actually,
the walls down here are quite thin. The occupants of the cabins all along the corridor will know what we’re doing unless we keep it quiet.”
A protest formed on my tongue. Quiet wasn’t fun.
“I have a plan, though,” he said.
“Oh?”
“I’m going to tie you up and gag you.”
I waited for him to ask permission to such an outrageous deed, but none came. Instead he tugged my dress–my wedding dress–up over my head and tossed it over the back of the desk chair. “Get on the bed,” he ordered. “Wait. Lose the bra and panties first.”
It wasn’t in me to question or protest. Jonah was right, I knew him and trusted him. And seeing him go all alpha on me was hot. Like last jar in the row of hot sauces at a taco stand hot. He turned, but not before I caught a glimpse of the bulge in his white uniform trousers. He was liking this. He liked having me at his mercy.
I lay back on the bed and watched him fumble around in the closet and tiny drawer set. Finally he turned around with a tie and a leather belt in his grasp. “We’re going to have to improvise,” he said. “I’m ill equipped for a bondage scene.”
“Maybe we should find some of the Whipped tour group,” I suggested.
His expression got dark. “No. What we do in our bed is between us. Far as I’m concerned, there’s no limits other than our own comfort zone. But no one else knows how often, how hard, or where I take you.”
Swallowing was suddenly a matter of life and death, and yet I couldn’t make my throat operate normally. Because when he said where he took me, I got the sense he wasn’t talking about a bed versus a hammock. I was thinking bodily orifice, and holy shit, my body reacted by getting loose and shivery.
“You like that,” he observed. “Remember, I’m a doctor. I understand the human body. I know how far I can take it and where the pleasure centers are located.”
Every inch of skin, I thought, especially when he looked at me like that.
“Scoot down on the bed and hold your arms above you. Toward the headboard.”
I hastened to obey. He knelt on the mattress next to my head and wrapped the thin leather belt several times around both wrists, locking them together. Then he buckled.
The tie came next. My lips parted, sure it was going to be my gag, but he surprised me when he wrapped it as a blindfold instead. “It’s up to you to keep quiet,” he warned. “No speaking except for harder, more, please and doctor. Got it?”
I nodded, keeping my eyes wide open despite seeing nothing. The second the blindfold was tied on, my body launched into sensation overload. I heard a rustling of fabric that told me Jonah was removing his uniform and joining me in Club Naked. I braced myself for the first touch. This was the part of the book Whipped that had intrigued me most. I craved to be at a man’s mercy, and now I was. Would Jonah bring me close to orgasm then back off? Or would he let me come and force me to keep going until I cried out the safe word in a haze of pleasure and pain? Either option sounded awesome.
“I changed my mind.” His voice came from somewhere down by my bare toes. “We’re going to play a game called Tongue, Finger or Dick. Rules are as follows. I touch you, and you tell me how I’m touching you. Tongue, finger or dick. Got it? There will be consequences for incorrect answers.”
I nodded and my hair tangled in my upper arms, which rested above my head. The first touch came quickly. A rasp of beard–roughened skin gave it away as he bent over my face to kiss me and brushed his tongue against mine. I had to wait long minutes for the kiss to be over before I could whisper, “Tongue.”
“Correct. That was a freebie. The next might not be as easy.”
I shivered, feeling my nipples peak against the cool air. I wasn’t sure about the consequence of a wrong answer. He already had me naked and bound. What more could he do?
Then something circled my nipples, I closed my eyes against the fabric of his tie and concentrated. It wasn’t his tongue, that would be wetter and cooler when he moved from one breast to the other. And then I stopped caring what body part of his was on mine, and instead soaked up the sensations he was causing as he caressed and circled my tightened nipple with care.
“Andi?”
“Uh, finger? Maybe two?”
“Good girl,” he murmured. “Can’t fool you.” He rewarded me by continuing his attentions to my aching, needy breasts, but I was starting to feel the need lower. My heels dug into the mattress and I shifted restlessly.
“Ready for the next touch?”
I nodded, praying it was between my thighs. Instead something hot and slightly damp brushed across my belly. I was sure it was his cock, but wouldn’t his cock be heavier and drier? He’d honestly stumped me. “Tongue?”
“Nope. I’m done playing. I was trying to keep this fun, but I keep looking at you and thinking you’re my wife. Gets me hot. I don’t want to play games I want make love to my wife.” I felt the mattress shift, and his hands held my thighs. “Spread.”
My legs fell to the sides, and his hair tickled the sensitive skin on my inner thighs. A hot breath and then his mouth covered my core where I wanted him most. His tongue skated between the damp lips of my pussy, and I bit back a curse. “Tongue,” I moaned. “Definitely your tongue.”
He stopped with the mouth action and I wanted to grab his head and force him back down, but my hands were locked above my head. “I said we’re done playing. No more games.” And then he got back to work, licking and driving me wild. His strong arms held my hips in place on the mattress and he continued with his delicious torture. My arousal spiraled and I could feel an orgasm building. A few more licks or a little pressure…right there…and then he stopped. His naked body covered mine as he lay on top of me for a kiss. My taste was on his tongue, and his hard cock pushed against my thigh.
A shift of my hips brought it right to my soaked pussy, and I tried sans hands to get him to enter me. No luck.
“Nice try, Andi. You haven’t been tortured nearly enough.”
Jonah rested on his forearms over his wife and stared down at the gorgeous picture she made, naked, glistening with sweat and totally at his mercy. He nearly lost it, coming onto her skin, and he knew it was the word wife that had him. He hadn’t been able to stop touching or staring at her during the whole wedding ceremony. As the captain was speaking, he’d realized how much he’d wanted it to be real. But it was crazy. They’d been in love once, but as children. Sensible adults didn’t marry after twenty–four hours together.
But he had her here in his bed for the next few nights and he intended to make the most of it. His intention had been to sexually torture her until she was begging for mercy. He wanted her on the brink of orgasm, but he’d hold it back, teasing her with what she couldn’t have. The joke was on him, because his dick was in agony with his need to shift over an inch and hammer deep into her wet, waiting pussy.
Aw, fuck it. He’d torture her later. This was their first sex as a married couple. Pleasure should be the goal. Kneeling between her thighs, he reached to pull off her blindfold. She blinked up at him, lips parting. “Shh,” he whispered and got into position to take her lips in a kiss. “I’m making love to my wife. Gotta enjoy every second.” The melting expression on her face nearly had him confessing his eternal love right then, but he held back, not sure if she wanted heartfelt declarations. The one thing he knew; they both wanted orgasms.
He’d never moved so fast to grab a condom and get it on. When he was once again in position, her thighs gripped his hips as her heels dug into his back. It was a matter of seconds to line up his dick and press into her warm passage. Jesus, that was better than good. He wanted to lose himself in her body and never find his way out.
“Jonah.”
His name on her lips; a tune better than the New York symphony. “I got you, baby.” His lips pressed into hers, and there was no speaking for the next few minutes. Only the sound of two bodies, damp with sweat, undulating against each other in a dance for which they both held the rhythm. He
wasn’t going to last, but he gritted his teeth and pressed on even when Andi’s inner muscles started rippling around his pleasure–swamped cock.
“Ohmigod.” Her scream threatened to break through the thin walls of his cabin, so he captured her mouth with his and drank her cries of needy pleasure. He grunted when her teeth found his lower lip and bit down. Hard. He’d wear the mark tomorrow with pride at knowing he’d driven his wife to the brink.
“Gonna come, Andi.”
“Yes,” she moaned. “Come in me.”
He was helpless to do anything except obey, which he did with a bed–shaking thrust, and spilled his seed into the condom. It took a long time before either of them could do anything but lie side by side on the bed, panting. Finally, he licked his dry lips. “So? Honeymoon sex… As good as you’ve been told?”
“Better,” Andi groaned. “You’re a doctor, honeymoon sex needs to come with a medical warning. Not for the faint of heart.”
He chuckled and that was the last thing he remembered before morning when he woke to Andi’s hot mouth on his dick. If this was marriage, he didn’t know why every guy wasn’t lining up to get shackled. Maybe he should spread the word. It would be a public service announcement; marriage, with the right person, rocked. Trouble was, he knew Andi was the right person, he just didn’t know how he’d manage to keep her.
… … … … …
Four days later
I squeezed Jonah’s hand tightly as we walked toward the disembarkation ramp of the ship. The honeymoon was over. It was time to say goodbye. I smiled brightly, praying my heart wouldn’t burst in my chest from the emotional pain of having to pretend all was right in the world. This was ten times worse than when his family had moved cross country in high school. We were kids back then. Now I was an adult with the knowledge that Jonah and I lived and worked in different countries. A long distance relationship was likely to fail, and the knowledge hurt so badly, especially after the last four amazing days together.
Brought to His Knees-Tough Guys Laid Low By Love Page 69