Chapter 36

Birthday countdown: 28 days

Since meeting her: 18 days

Company takeover: 35 days

When we arrive back at the house after a night of dancing, I carry Lexi from the Mustang to the inside. She laughs against my chest and inhales me as I open the door.

“Do you think everyone will be mad at us for getting married without them?”

“Fucking livid,” I tell her, kicking the door behind me.

“You didn’t have to carry me,” she says, still in my arms.

“Fuck yes, I did,” I tell her, keeping her in my arms. “Maybe this will be your mode of transportation going forward.”

She places the back of her hand against her forehead. “Like a damsel in distress.”

“Like a queen who can’t be bothered with a menial task like walking.”

“I hope, one day, I can be the woman you believe I am,” she says as I set her down.

She steadies, then interlocks her fingers behind my neck as I rest my hands on her waist. We sway to a silent song.

“See, the funny thing is, you already are. I’m thrilled you don’t know though. I can’t have you knowing you can control any man you lay eyes on. That’d make my life even more fucking difficult than it already is,” I say into her ear.

“It’s never been like this with anyone,” she admits.

“How many times do I have to tell you that I’m not anyone?” I say, spinning us around. “I think I was made for you.”

She’s giddy, drunk on life, on me, and I fucking love to see it.

“That’s the truest thing you’ve ever said,” she says.

“I hope so. You recklessly fucking married me, darling.”

She pulls away, meeting my eyes. The moment grows serious. “And that’s why this scares me. When I’m with you, I don’t care about anything. Only you and us. You make me reckless. I want to throw all inhibitions out the goddamn door. I just hope … I hope we don’t destroy each other in the end,” she whispers against my mouth.

She wants confirmation that this will be easy, that we’ll be together forever, that it can always be like this. Until I know we feel the same, it’s not something I can promise. I don’t want a year with Lexi. I want forever. And I’ll wait as long as it takes for her to realize and not be afraid to vocalize what she wants, even if her body gives her away.

“Whatever happens, I’ll have no fucking regrets,” I say.

“I trust you know what you’re doing.” Lexi takes my hand and leads me outside through the sliding glass door.

The moon rises over the horizon and the lights in the pool cast a neon glow. Lexi’s fingers work on the bottom buttons of my shirt until she reaches the top. Her hands trail down my chest and over my torso with light fingertips.

This woman’s torturous touch has my heart fluttering and my breathing uneven. She’s everything, all I’ve ever wanted, and now that I’ve found her, I’m not letting her go. No woman has ever been able to grab hold of me so quickly, and Lexi has me in a fucking choke hold. And knows it.

She pushes the material over my back and the shirt falls to my feet. My eyes close as her hands glide over my tattoos, and she stops at my heart.

“I never noticed there’s space here.”

“That’s where your name will go.”

“Easton, that’s permanent,” she says.

I meet her gaze and tuck strands of dark hair behind her ear. “So are you. No matter what happens, you’ll always live here for what you’ve given me.”

“Your family’s company?”

I shake my head. “Hope.”

She sighs against my mouth, running her hand through my hair, pulling me toward her. “Are you going to kiss me?”

“Do you want me to?” I ask like I did the first time I crossed the line with her. I brush my nose against hers and anticipate her answer.

“Fuck yes,” she nearly begs, and we’re a mixture of teeth and tongues and desperate pants.

She tucks her hands into my pants and unbuttons and unzips them before pushing them down to my ankles. I growl against her skin, lifting the pretty dress she wore for me over her body. I trace her collarbone with my lips, tasting her sweet skin, mixed with the salty air. A ragged breath releases from her as I inch her panties down, my palm adding slight pressure between her legs. My finger slides between her slick slit, and she’s so fucking wet for me. Considering my cock is at full attention, there’s no hiding what she does to me.

Lexi glances down at how hard she makes me with desire behind her green eyes. She takes my hand and leads me into the warm water with her.

“Oh, this feels so good,” she moans, swimming to the deep end. The pool is heated; it was a requirement when I booked.

And when her mouth is back on mine, it’s exactly how I envisioned it.

The waves of the ocean crash in the distance, and the moonlight reflects over the water. We have the perfect view of it from our vantage point.

“I’ll never forget today,” I say, wishing I could draw this moment. I bank it to my memory, studying the angles of Lexi’s face.

“I won’t either,” she mutters, wrapping her legs around my waist as I keep us afloat. Leaning in, she tastes my lips.

“Was this part written in invisible ink too?” I ask.

“Yes.” She reaches down, stroking my cock.

“Fuck,” I groan in her ear as she goes at an agonizingly slow pace.

Our breaths are strangled as our tongues wrestle together. I ache for more of her.

“Please touch me, Easton,” she says between pants.

“You never have to beg,” I whisper. “I just want to enjoy every second like it might be our last.”

She melts under my touch as soon as my fingers rub against her needy clit. A sigh escapes her as I place my hands under her ass, lifting her onto the side of the pool. She widens her thighs, giving me full access to devour her perfect pussy.

“More,” she pleads, but it comes out like a demand.

Lexi is insatiable, greedy, and addicted to me. I slowly dip my finger into her cunt, until I’m at the knuckle, smiling against her skin. A small cry escapes as her hips buck forward.

“So goddamn beautiful,” I say between licks and sucks, giving her wet hole another digit to the knuckle.

“That feels so goddamn good,” she whimpers, rocking her hips against me as I return to her swollen bundle of nerves.

She’s racing to the edge, like it’s a sprint, greedily chasing her orgasm as she takes what she needs from me while I slowly finger-fuck her, tickling that G-spot.

I love the way she tastes, lapping up her sweetness. Gently, I push her thighs wider, sliding my tongue into her cunt and continuing down to her cute ass.

Her needy pants and breathing quicken as I lick around her puckered hole before adding pressure with my tongue.

“East—” she whimpers as she sinks into me, allowing me to eat her from front to back until her body trembles.

When her mouth falls open, I continue, but I slow to a crawl.

“Easton,” she hisses.

I kiss her pussy, smirking against her slick folds. “Don’t want you to forget who’s in control here.”

“Asshole,” she pants, grabbing and tweaking her own nipple.

My cock aches for her, all of her.

“You know I’m … so fucking … close.”

Her back arches off the ground. I work her clit in large circles, giving her flicks, before I suck her to oblivion.

“Oh. Oh. Yes. Yes. My God.”

Her pussy tightly clenches around me as I continue giving her my mouth and tongue, and she convulses, screaming out my name, gasping for air, with her heart rate ticking fast in her throat. She stares up at the sky, trying to catch her breath, her pussy still on display.

“I need you, Easton.”

She crawls on her hands and knees to the Bermuda grass of the putting green that’s beside the pool. Her ass and dripping wet pussy are on full display. I lift myself over the side of the pool and then join her on the grass. She pulls me down to her until I slide the tip between her wet folds.

Her long lashes flutter closed. “I want to feel you.” She pulls me to her mouth. “All of you. Nothing between us.”

I nuzzle into her neck, smelling her skin, and glide myself deep inside of her. She adjusts to me, a sigh on her lips.

“You were made for me,” she groans when I trace her jaw with my mouth.

“I was,” I say as we make love under the stars with the waves crashing in the background.

It starts off gentle and grows intense as Lexi’s cunt tightens around me.

“Fuck,” she hisses, not able to say anything as she comes again.

I position myself on my knees and grab her ass with my hands and fuck her deep and hard, loving how she pulses with each pump.

“Lexi,” I groan. My voice comes out in a deep husk.

When I’m close, she rolls me over onto my back.

“Can’t let you forget who’s in control.” She smirks, riding me, popping her pussy up and down my length.

Satisfying sighs release from her, a glisten of sweat forms on her body, and I sit forward, capturing the hard peak of her nipple into my mouth.

“I’m close,” I whisper, knowing I’ll tip over the edge at any moment as my heart nearly bursts from my chest.

My eyes slam closed as Lexi continues to fuck me into oblivion, and I think I see stars when the orgasm rips through me. She continues her assault on my cock until my groan releases and I stop pumping into her. Then, she collapses on my chest.

We lie, connected, with her on my chest as I pet and kiss her hair, holding her in my strong arms.

The euphoria of being with her still has its hold on me and my mind as I stare up at a sky I don’t recognize.

“During our vows, you knew that you’d love you until you take your last breath.…”

I nod, kissing her shoulder. “I did. I meant it.”

“I can’t say those three words yet, Easton,” she admits, holding me tight.

“I know,” I whisper.

“Don’t give up on me.” She tilts her chin so she can look into my eyes.

“Fucking never,” I whisper, taking her chin between my fingers before kissing her.