Keeping my head buried face-first in the pillow, I felt small kisses being placed on my shoulder, up and down the pair of legs permanently marked there. Aly’s long hair tickled my cheek as she leaned in and continued to run laps along my spine, taking the time to do wide circle eights around my traps.
“Love you, Jake,” she said, her voice hoarse and sultry.
“Love you, Aly-cat,” I grumbled, the desire evident in my words.
The patio doors were open, allowing the salty ocean breeze to waft through our bungalow. It was still dark out, early morning before the sun breached the sky, the time I would normally get up to pound some iron at home or the gym. But this was my honeymoon, and I wasn’t moving.
“You good, babe?”
“Mm-hmm,” she mumbled as she slid completely on top of me, her front flush to my back. Her kisses traced the nape of my neck while both her hands wrapped around the front of me. I lifted my pelvis, granting her access between the mattress and my cock, but she didn’t take advantage of it right away. Her fingers tickled my groin area, teasing the seam between my thigh and the promised land.
“Al . . . you’re killing me.”
“Shh,” she whispered in my ear before sucking on my earlobe. “I’m taking my time.”
“I got all the time in the world with you now. I got you back safe and sound, and I made an honest woman of you. But if I want to get in you quick, why can’t a man get what he wants?” I begged.
Yes, I beg now. Beg for my wife.
All. The. Time.
Her hand wrapped around the target and gave a small squeeze.
“Harder,” I couldn’t stop myself from commanding, and she obeyed.
I ground into her hand, the tip of my cock hitting the satiny sheets, her warm hand rubbing me tight and rough without stopping.
“I’m gonna come from a handy, babe.”
“S’okay.” Her words and the sound of the ocean lapping the shore drifted over my ear, tumbling deep into my soul. All she said was s’okay, and I wanted to marry her all over again.
Everything with Aly was beautiful, especially after we got over all the hurdles. It was worth it. All of it. I never thought I’d love a woman this way, more than myself. But I did.
When we’d stood together in front of our family at our wedding, and she told me she loved me and whispered, “Jason, I mean all of you, including all your past transgressions,” I was done in. She took everything as it came—my moods, my proclivities and wants, and all my fuckups. She was the first woman to call me Jason since my mom, and it sounded right coming off her lips.
My brother and his family, a priest, Hilary, and James, those were the only people we invited. It was a small affair in Lane’s backyard. Bess had planned the whole event in five seconds flat with James over the phone. It was simple and sweet, understated and beautiful, just like my wife.
Now, there was nothing sweet about the vixen as she fisted me hard the way I needed. I grunted as I shoved my morning wood within her grip.
Pretty sure I liked her from the first minute in jail. Honest to fucking God, I was that kind of sap now. I didn’t know it would be like this when I walked out of the jail cell a free man on Christmas morning. When we kept running into each other, I’d thought maybe she would rescue me from a life of selfishness by letting me do something noble, protect her or save her, or some shit like that.
Instead, she needed me to protect her forever, and it almost cost her life and my soul. It did cost her leg and my sanity while she was missing.
My balls rose up, full and ready, and I tried to distract myself by thinking of a barbell hitting the mat. She felt too good, and I wasn’t ready to blow my load.
Doc Wells was helping me accept that Aly’s kidnapping wasn’t my fault. Sometimes Aly and I went together to see her; other times, I went by myself. I was slow when it came to these things, but Aly took all of me, including all my past transgressions, just like she’d promised at our wedding.
“Fuck!” I blurted. Her hand was soft and supple from the day before. We’d waded in the ocean, Aly in my arms, the salt lapping all around us, and the sun kissing our skin.
“Maybe I’ll do this every morning when we get back, keep you home from the gym,” Aly teased, slowing her pace up and down my cock, running her finger over the tip and then squeezing me hard.
I didn’t answer, just let out a loud rumble as I came all over the thousand-dollar-a-night bed.
Fucking show her what she did to me.
Shifting my hips up and knocking Aly off-balance, I flipped us around. I wiped my sticky hand on the blanket, gripped the sheet, and cleaned myself off, promising myself I’d leave a tip for housekeeping later.
I ran my hand over her shiny red hair and down her smooth back. “If I miss the gym, babe, the body goes to hell. Don’t think you’d like that.”
She rolled her eyes, and I smirked.
“Probably not,” she admitted, and leaned in for a kiss. Before I could take her tongue, she pulled away and added, “But I’d love you no matter what, Jake. Want you any way I can have you. Tight body or not.” And then she let me have her tongue.
She meant it.
I’d witnessed the way she’d handled Shirley. We couldn’t ignore the fact that the woman had saved Aly; that would be both rude and cruel. So we’d thanked her profusely, and Bess had even sent flowers from me. I would have never thought of that, let alone actually done it, yet that was all I could give her. But Shirley wanted more; she wanted all of us—Lane, Bess, Maddy, Aly, and me.
Aly had left it up to me, watching for clues I had changed my mind before she stepped in and put her foot down. Her intervention had started when Shirley called Bess, wanting to come to the wedding and see the ceremony. That was when my girl took charge. She’d picked up the phone to call Shirley and told her no. It was a simple no, and that was all she said. No explanations or long guilt-ridden conversations that would have been awkward for both of them.
She told me she’d ended the call with, “Shirl, we know you’re there. We know where you are, and we know you’re trying to care, but for right now, it’s always going to be no. If we change our minds about having you be a part of our life, we will come to you.”
Aly interrupted my foggy memory by saying, “Babe, I love you no matter what. You know that? Any way you come.”
I nodded. I knew it.
“Best thing I know. The only thing I know,” I told her, kissing her neck. I traveled my left hand down her rib cage, tickling her hip and caressing her thigh until it ended.
“Jake, let it. We’re having a moment, and I don’t want to ruin it.”
“Nothing’s ruined. It’s better. You’re here.” A shudder rippled down my spine at the thought of her not being here.
“With half a leg,” she said.
“One and a half is better than none,” I protested. “Look at me.” I grabbed her chin and forced her to face me. “To me, you’re always going to be all legs, and now the one you have is looking pretty fine from PT.”
I winked at her and she gave me half a smile. When I tickled her rib cage, she gave me a full smile.
It hurt, and I knew it. Her leg ached, her heart was pained, but it didn’t make a difference to me. She was my tough Aly-cat, learning to walk with a prosthetic and training to do a 10-K with a hand cycle. Her arms never looked so amazing, but with Aly it didn’t matter, because her beauty came from within and shone through all that shit.
“Babe, can I continue seducing you?” she asked, and my body rose to the occasion.
“Yeah, I’ll be quiet now.”
Her hand came around the nape of my neck and pulled me close. She licked the seam of my lips and I let her inside, her tongue sweeping my mouth and brushing against mine.