Unexpected Bride

by Abigail Graham

  "Yeah," I say.

  "I want somebody to do that for me."

  Before I can answer, she stops.

  "Look, it's an arcade bar."

  "So it is."

  "Let's get drunk and play video games."

  We dart across the street and duck inside. The place reminds me of a childhood memory I cherish—Karen's mom grabbed us both one summer afternoon and drove us down from their country home outside Philadelphia down to Ocean City, Maryland. We were gone from six in the morning until one o'clock in the morning the next day, and it's one of the happiest things I can remember growing up.

  We spent hours in an arcade down there next to a little theme park, rushing into the shade from the summer heat to plow quarter after quarter into the machines until her mom ran out and she took us to a pizza place, where we all split a cheese and pepperoni pie and she bought us spaghetti and we ate until we were so full we had to lie on the beach under a rented umbrella.

  Karen and I quickly fall into a rhythm, moving from machine to machine, heading to the bar to grab the most basic drinks they've got, buy tokens, play, and run back to do it again.

  When Karen is a little too sloppy to get a token into one of the arcade machines, it's time to call it quits. She spots a claw machine in the corner and we end up spending twenty minutes drunkenly trying to pluck a stuffed Pikachu from a mountain of other plushies that are probably all sewn together, giggling and laughing like idiots when we fail.

  Karen calls Ryan and shoves her phone in my hands.

  "Karen?" he answers.

  "Nuh uh, it's your wifey."

  "Have you been drinking?"

  "Yup."

  "Stay put, I'm coming to get you. Where are you?"

  "It's called Bar 1984, it's across from the fancy shoe place."

  He sighs. "Just stay there."

  We sit on a bench out front until he walks up, guided by GPS.

  "Look at what you did to my wife," he says.

  Karen snorts and starts laughing, but there's a brittle edge to it. Sensing something, Ryan takes my hand and pulls me to my feet. I grin like an idiot and pretend to stumble into him, sighing when my head comes to rest against his chest.

  He slips an arm around my waist while Karen stands up, looking forlorn.

  "Let's walk it off."

  She nods and all three of us walk, working our way towards the beach, not far from the big rock where I sat with Ryan while he spilled his guts to me last night. I think I might spill my guts if I don't watch it, in a more literal sense.

  Almost as soon as we're on the beach, Karen stares at the ocean and starts hitching her shoulders, struggling violently to hold back tears. I detach myself from Ryan and hug her tightly.

  "What am I going to do?" she says, "What am I going to do?"

  "Nothing," Ryan says. "I'll handle this."

  She sniffs.

  "I should be pissed off at you for saying that but I'm too scared."

  He sighs. "I know. Let's get you two sobered up. Bruce is busy for a few more hours, yeah?"

  "He'll be with the guys until dinner tonight."

  "Come on."

  We walk for a while, and my head starts to clear. At least I don't feel so stumbly. Karen walks along with her head down like she's being led to her execution, but I elbow her and talk to her as much as I can.

  This is still a resort. When we walk far enough the other way, we find what we're looking for and split a funnel cake until all our fingers are sticky with powdered sugar and syrup. Ryan grabs my palm and licks the sugar from the tips of my fingers, prompting me to giggle like an idiot. A pang of guilt stabs into my stomach when Karen sighs sadly and takes a few steps away from us.

  Ryan grabs her by the arm and leads us into a pizza place, getting us a booth in the back. He cuts me off when I try to order us a pitcher of cheap beer and I settle for a Diet Coke instead.

  A creeping dread flows through me, too. I'm supposed to go back to Seattle tomorrow morning at nine, and Ryan is leaving too, and I don't even know where he's going. I guess he'll be going with me, if he can get a seat on my flight.

  Karen might be going, too. I just get a feeling.

  The pizza comes, and we dig in. Ryan reaches over the table and flicks a bit of stray sauce from the corner of my mouth with his fingertip, and I nip at it playfully.

  "You two are disgusting," Karen says dryly.

  Ryan laughs.

  Karen, dejected, stares at a slice of pizza on her plate and doesn't touch it. At least until I grab a fork, saw off the tip of the slice, and make airplane noises towards her mouth.

  "Fine, fine, I'll eat if you don't pester me," she sighs.

  She ends up eating two. Ryan eats almost half of the pizza himself, and I poke his stomach as we're leaving.

  "Don't think you can let yourself go because we're married now."

  "Perish the thought."

  "I need some time alone," Karen declares. "I'm going back to my hotel suite."

  Ryan stops, looks at her, frowns, but nods. I touch her arm.

  "Call me if you need anything."

  "Yeah," she says.

  We watch her trudge dejected towards the hotel and I lean on Ryan, sighing hard.

  "She's going to be okay," he says. "Beneath her hard, cold exterior is steely resolve."

  "You shouldn't make fun of her."

  He sighs. "Old habits die hard, Julia."

  "Jules," I say. "We're married, you can call me Jules. I was just thinking about tomorrow. We're supposed to leave."

  "We can stay if you want," he says. "I'm supposed to be in New York on Monday to schmooze at some afterhours event at the Met with my father, but to hell with that. I guess I'll go back to Seattle with you."

  "Do you really think he's going to disown you?"

  He shrugs. "He does, or he doesn't. I don't care."

  He's looking at me oddly.

  "Why are you staring at me?"

  "Because you're beautiful."

  "Oh yeah?" I say, smirking.

  "That, and you have pizza sauce on your boob."

  I look down.

  "Right boob."

  Annoyed, I flick the little spot of red into space and fold my arms, huffing. Ryan laughs softly and takes me in his arms, tilting my head back to kiss me. A flare of heat rises through me like a mortar shell at a fireworks show, and I run my hands up his sides.

  "I think we should go somewhere more private."

  "I do, too. Let's go back to my suite."

  "My suite," he says. "Mine's a little bigger."

  Taking his hand, I walk with him back to the tower.

  His room is about three times bigger than mine, has a full kitchen rather than a kitchenette, a huge bathroom, and not only a balcony but a balcony with a hot tub. It quickly starts bubbling.

  "Good thing I have a bathing suit on," I say, pulling my tank top over my head.

  Ryan watches me strip and twist out of my clothes before he pulls his shirt over his head.

  "You have a bathing suit on," he says, nodding at my one-piece.

  "Well, yeah."

  "Off with it."

  I give him a smoky look. "Make me."

  Grinning, he steps forward and lightly grabs me around the waist, pulling the straps down. I shiver as the material peels away from my skin and wriggle my toes as it falls to my feet. I set my bare ass on the edge of the hot tub and slip in. Then I'm greeted by the sight of a nude Ryan stepping over the edge to sink into the water beside me.

  I let out a soft ahh and lay back in the molded seat, stretching out my legs. This is too good. Yeah, I'm horny, but it can wait. A good hot soak is just what I need right now. I can't help but put my head on his shoulder and sigh lightly.

  Under the water, he laces his fingers through mine and holds my hand, shifting closer to press against my side. I yawn, suddenly sleepy. A bird flaps by the balcony, and soon I only hear his breathing, the soft gurgle of the bubbling water, and the distant sound of the ocean ca
rrying from far below.

  "I don't think I've ever been so happy in my life."

  Ryan quivers a little when I say it. "Really?"

  I yawn. "Really."

  "I think so, too," he says. "You know, it's funny. We're married, but I haven't said it yet."

  "Said what?"

  "I love you."

  I flinch, and fireworks go off in my chest. I press my eyes shut and wrap my arms around his bicep and let out a soft, joyful sound. "I love you, too."

  He tilts my chin up with his finger and kisses me, brushing his lips softly over mine, daring me to be the one who kisses harder, pulling back until he shocks me with a sudden advance, a kiss so deep I feel like I'm melting into the water like a bar of chocolate.

  He turns and grabs my hips and lifts me bodily out of the water with a squeak. He sets me on the side of the hot tub and puts his hands on my thighs, spreading them. A gentle push and I lean back against the wall, sliding my hips forward.

  His breath tickles me first, and then a light stroke of his tongue along my slit that makes my legs quiver with a little twitch of anticipation in my thighs. I moan softly and grip the edge of the tub, shivering from the cold as the air sucks the moisture from my skin while Ryan's tongue and lips send spiraling twists of pleasure up from between my legs.

  Ryan runs his hands up my sides as his tongue plunges inside me, lightly cupping and then squeezing my breasts as I gasp. I grab his wrists and writhe against him, my hips coming alive with a mind of their own. He pulls his hands free and slides them back down my wet body, then up again, finally pulling one down to join his mouth between my legs while he slides the other under me.

  His finger slides into my body as his tongue lightly flicks my clit and he grunts when I throw my legs over his shoulders and they start to twitch. I breathe faster, overstimulated, and he slows down, sensing the way I tense. He wriggles when I close my legs around his head, shouldering him apart.

  "Easy, you're going to break my neck."

  I laugh. "You go easy. You're going to make me finish if you're not careful."

  "Baby, you think I don't have total control of when you come?"

  "Now there's a bold claim."

  He laughs and slowly pushes a second finger inside me. Shuddering and quivering the entire time, I gasp at the fullness, feeling my body clench around him. Next, he'll be complaining that I'm going to break his wrist. He works them in deep and sucks lightly on my clit, then harder until my back arches and my hips grind towards the pleasure.

  "My butt is getting numb," I groan.

  "Turn around."

  Grinning, I pull away from him, twist, and rest my hands on the side of the tub, standing on the bottom. Splashing in the water, he moves behind me, rising up to kiss down my back. Taking himself in his hand, he strokes the head against my entrance before working his way down, his tongue lightly flicking against my most sensitive places before he begins fingering me again, using both hands now, gently rubbing my clit as he pumps his hand, slowly. I groan as my legs start to tremble.

  "I want a turn."

  "What?"

  "Sit down, buster."

  He pulls away from me and I sink into the water. He leans against the wall where I was and spreads his legs. His cock is huge and urgent and begging for me. I pop up between his thighs and give him a soft, quick kiss before I lean against him and sink down, his hard cock skimming over my belly, between my breasts, and finally to my mouth. He groans, and his stomach flexes and tightens, his whole body quivering as I close my lips around his shaft.

  "Jules," he murmurs, "Jules," over and over.

  Wrapping both hands around his length, I stroke him while I softly kiss the head, pausing now and then to take him in my mouth fully, a little deeper each time, until I nearly gag. He groans each time he pushes at my throat, growing harder with every touch and lick and caress, his dick twitching in my mouth.

  "Baby, watch out, I'm going to..." he tries to warn me.

  I smile around his girth. That's cute.

  He shudders and cries out, shocked, staring at me as he explodes in my mouth and I take it all down, cupping his pulsing balls in my hand as he empties himself.

  "Out of the tub," he growls.

  I slip out and dart past him, scampering through his suite to the bedroom. He chases me on wobbly legs, crashing into me and throwing us both onto the bed with a bounce. Giggling, I try to twist out from under him and it turns into a wrestling match until he grabs my wrists, forces them down above my head, and kisses me, pinning me with his weight.

  Oh God I need him inside me, but he keeps denying me. Already hard again, he traps his cock between us and thrusts, slowly sliding its hot length over my clit as he grinds. It's too much, so intense it nearly hurts, and I squirm and moan under him. Knowing that he's taken control, that he'll make me feel good, is heady and intoxicating, makes me feel drunk again.

  Even more than that, the feel of him pressed against me. He feels too big, like there's too much of him to fit inside my body, and I feel like I'm shrinking even as he grows. When he kisses me and his teeth brush my lip, I can feel the animal passion burning in his chest, the barely restrained power. He could hurt me if he wanted, but he touches me like glass at the same time he roughly wrings pleasure out of me, a weird combination of rough and delicate, taking me just to the edge of too far but not beyond.

  He takes a tour of my body with his mouth, working his way down to my sex, but this time his hot lips and tongue don't touch me, and he leaves me to suffer unfulfilled anticipation.

  "Ryan," I murmur, sitting up.

  I throw myself at him, but he rolls on top of me again. I giggle as he straddles my legs and pins me down, running his fingertips so lightly over my quivering body that I can barely feel them at all, and the touch makes me want to explode.

  "I need you."

  "I know," he says.

  He touches his finger to my lips. I nip and suck it, running my hands up his arm. He gasps when I reach down and curl my fingers around his cock, savoring the hardness of it, anticipating the fullness.

  Then all of a sudden, he's rolling me onto my stomach and straddling my legs again. He lunges down and enters me from behind, his chest pressed into my back. He groans, and I answer with a long, shuddering sigh that rises in pitch to a squeak. He just seems to go on and on as he enters me, like he's going to expand until he fills my entire body and my heart just bursts.

  Trapped between him and the bed, I begin to sweat. He presses against me hard, breathing softly into my ear, not moving. I try to move my legs to relieve the feeling of fullness, but he has them trapped, pinned tightly together, and I gasp and squirm.

  Slowly, he brings his arms around me and begins to pump, moving gently in slow, deep strokes that pump up the expanding heat in my chest, sending quivering rushes of cold through me with every movement. I twist enough to taste his lips as he fucks me, my toes curling.

  Gingerly, I guide his hands, pushing one between my legs. His fingers lightly press against my lower lips as his shaft slides through me, and he teases my clit, sending an explosive bolt of energy through my body so I buck under him like a wild animal until he stops, then does it again.

  I pull his other hand up and push his hand around my neck. He squeezes just a little, just a touch, until I can feel my pulse gently against his fingers and moan softly, pressing my eyes shut. My surrender is total, unending, blissful. I smile dully while he begins to pump faster, driving deep, his control shaking his body with every thrust.

  I don't even know what I'm saying, only that I'm moaning out strained cries and urgent pleas. Yes, harder, faster, more. When he senses me nearing my peak he drives deep and holds me down as I buck under him, my body crushing him inside me. As pleasure floods through me in an awesome, brutal wave, I can feel him shaking, trying to hold back, and the pained moment of strain when he lets go. A second wave of bliss flows through me and I feel claimed, taken.

  Ryan rolls off my back and I crawl onto
his chest, hold his hands, and lay there.

  He breathes slowly, finally turning to glance over at the alarm clock on the bedside table.

  "We need to get up at some point," he says.

  "I don't wanna."

  "I know, honey."

  He gives my butt a light smack, and I sit up, stare at him, and sink my teeth into his shoulder.

  "Ow!" he cries.

  "You like it," I say, nibbling at his chin.

  "Just don't draw blood, and I'll allow it. But you have to pay the price."

  "What price?"

  Suddenly, he pins me down, moving with blinding speed, and smack!

  His hand hits my ass. The sting makes me jerk but the force of the impact starts a quiver between my legs. He slaps the other cheek for good measure, this time grabbing and squeezing, digging his fingers into my flesh. I groan.

  "You're going to get me all hot again."

  "What a shame that would be," he says, drolly. "You like that."

  "Oh hell yes," I purr, wriggling against him.

  He smirks. "Will you marry me?"

  "Oh shut up," I say.

  "Come on, get up. I can put more handprints on your butt later, we have to go to dinner. You need to go get dressed."

  I sigh. "Yeah, yeah, fine. At least let me clean up."

  "Get in the shower," he says, his voice commanding.

  Bathing with him is torture. He insists on soaping me up with his hands and having him scrub his fingers through my hair is almost as good as having him eating my pussy. He finally all but throws me out of the shower to clean himself up.

  I've put my bathing suit and shorts back on by the time he emerges from the bedroom.

  "I'll be right back," I tell him.

  "You have your phone?"

  "Yeah, why?"

  "I think I should have my wife's phone number."

  I laugh. "Oh, right. Let me see yours."

  After we've done that, he pulls me close and takes his phone back, holding it out. I press against him and grin, trying not to blink as he snaps a selfie of us.

  He sets it as his phone wallpaper and I melt a little, my lip trembling.

  "What's wrong?"