Just Pretending: Chapter 36

Our fingers were intertwined and I didn’t want to let go. She was healthy, and currently happy. I wanted to keep her that way forever.

The doctor at the rural hospital released her with a clean bill of health. The overnight and treatment with saline were more of a precaution because of the pregnancy. The recliner was grossly uncomfortable, but I would have gladly slept in it another month if it meant Harleigh and our baby had proper care.

“You aren’t speeding,” Harleigh pointed out.

“No, I’ve got precious cargo on board.”

“You always drive like a race car driver. You okay?”

I lifted our combined hands to my lips and kissed her knuckles. “Everything is perfect. I need to slow down and learn to appreciate being with you. I’m perfectly happy to be in your company taking a drive through the country.”

“Who are you and what have you done with Devin Hopper?” she teased.

“I have so much to atone for.” I kissed her knuckles again. “I love you.”

She sighed and happily hummed. “I think I’m going to like hearing that.”

“You’re going to get tired of it. I plan on making sure you know it.”

“Devin, as long as you make sure I know it by actually loving me, and don’t try to buy my affection. I want you to talk to me when there are problems. I desperately don’t want a marriage like anything I saw my father had.”

“I promise to do my best.”

“I also need you to promise to share your worst.”

We arrived home and I parked it in the back. Opening Harleigh’s door, I knelt in front of her. “I will do my best to give you all of me. But I am a stubborn perfectionist.”

“Just give me yourself,” she whispered.

I took her hand and led her into the kitchen.

“Oh good, you figured it out,” Hannah said as she looked at us holding hands. “This deserves some champagne.”

“None for me.” Harleigh ran her hand over her belly. Her curves were starting to round out, ever so slightly. “But I could stand some pizza.”

“We’ll be hungry in about an hour,” I said with a wink.

“Devin!”

Harleigh’s blush was delightful. I had missed seeing her cheeks flare up with pink.

Hannah snickered as we retreated into the back hall.

I pulled Harleigh tight to my chest and kissed her. Her mouth was perfect and soft. She didn’t moan so much as whimper her surrender to me. I placed her arms around my neck and swept her legs into my arms.

“Hold on tight,” I said.

“You aren’t going to carry me upstairs,” she complained.

“Why not? You’re my wife. I never properly carried you over the threshold,” I said as I took a few steps forward.

“Your back and my butt are not compatible,” she said with a giggle.

“My back will survive,” I countered.

“Devin, I won’t let you carry me up those stairs. Put me down,” she protested.

I deposited her feet on the first step. “If you insist.”

Her ass wiggled as she hurried up the stairs. My body surged with desire, growing harder with each shimmy of her hips.

She squeaked as I swung her back into my arms at the top of the stairs. I kicked open the door to her room and lowered her to the bed.

She leaned back, with her hands braced on the bed behind her. The arch in her back thrust her breasts up at me, which added to the glorious way her chest expanded and fell with her panting breaths. Damn, she was beautiful.

“Mine,” I said. “You’re mine.”

“Always.” She bit her lower lip.

I leaned against the bed, boxing her in between my arms. I couldn’t keep the smile from my face as I kissed her again. I didn’t even try. Why had I ever guarded myself against her? I leaned into her more, and she fell back onto the bed, pulling me with her.

As we crashed on the bed, I rolled with her in my arms, holding her above me. Our lips merged and played together. I touched her and felt her entire body pressed to mine. I could stay like that forever. She was my everything, I didn’t need anything else as long as I had her love.

I felt like I could fly. This was how it could have been the entire time, only I had been an ass.

“What?” she asked as she pushed up. She wiggled as she sat back on her knees.

I gave a roll of my hips, pressing my hard cock up against her.

“Oh, oh.” her eyes went wide as she realized what she was propped against.

She started to move again.

I clamped a hand down on her thigh. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“I… I, doesn’t this hurt. I mean, I’m squishing you.” She looked nervous. My innocent bride had no idea how much I desired her just where she was.

“You are perfect. I like you there, that’s what you’re feeling. The only way it could be better was if you were naked.”

More pink burned her cheeks in a sudden burst. I laughed and sat up to meet her halfway as I pulled her back down to kiss me. “At some point, you will stop blushing. That will be a sad day.”

“Devin!”

I lay back, tucking my hands behind my head, giving my hips another roll, pressing up against her soft heat.

With a hiss, she reacted, pressing her hips down and back.

“That’s it,” I said. “Get used to the feeling of me.”

“Can I unbutton your shirt?” she asked.

My cock pulsed, and I agreed. “Only if you take yours off too.”

It was a challenge to hold relatively still as she squirmed over me. She unfastened my buttons and ran her hands up my torso.

“Your turn. Let me see you,” I said.

“Will you touch me?” she asked as she pulled her top over her head.

“If you want.”

I gulped around a dry spot in my throat as she reached back and unfastened her bra. She leaned forward, brushing the tips of her nipples across my chest.

“Yeah, I want.”

I didn’t need an engraved invitation. I pulled her down so she was flush against my chest. I kissed her long and hard, letting my hands roam over her exposed skin. I couldn’t get enough of her. I needed more hands to hold and touch her with. Pressing her up, I directed a breast to my face and sucked one glorious nipple into my mouth. I was rewarded with a whimper and a sudden grinding of her hips. If she kept that up, I wouldn’t be able to resist ripping the rest of her clothes off and finishing balls deep into her. But I wanted to prolong this as long as possible. There was so much more for my bride to experience at my hands. So much for me to make up for.

I pressed my heel into the mattress and rolled until Harleigh was under me. I still had my mouth around her breast. I cupped her pussy. Her leggings were damp. Damn, she was wet and ready. She thrust against my hand and whimpered when I pulled it away. I was a master of multitasking. As I continued to lick and suck and tease her receptive breast, I skimmed my hands over her skin until I found her waistband. I slid my hand under the fabric until I found her folds. She was drenched. My fingers slid over her slit and straight to her clit.

Harleigh’s fingers dug into the skin of my back and my scalp. She rolled and pressed against me while trying to pull me in closer.

I reluctantly let go of her sweet nipple and placed a trail of kisses between her breasts and down her midsection. I continued to stroke the delicate flesh between her legs. I stopped long enough to pull her leggings over her hips and down her legs.

“What are you doing?” she asked as I positioned myself between her legs.

“Getting a proper taste of you, my wife.”

Her eyes went wide, and then I no longer could see her. I closed my eyes and dipped my tongue to her honey. She bucked against my mouth as I kissed and licked and sucked on her.

She pulled my hair and pushed my head tighter against her. I repeated the action she seemed to like and was rewarded with a trill of sound. Yeah, she liked that. She was going to sing like an opera soprano when I was done with her.

I sank two fingers into her wet depths. Her muscles sucked at me as she thrust and rolled her hips. My little songbird was close. I wanted to ring as many orgasms out of her as I could before I needed to be deep within her. She didn’t disappoint when her first one hit. She cried out and slammed her fists against the bed as I fucked her with my fingers and tongue. Her interior muscles rolled and squeezed. Damn, that was going to feel good on my cock. But not yet.

“Did you like that?” I demanded to know.

“Uh-huh,” she could barely talk. Her flush skin glowed as she panted.

“Good, there’s more where that came from.”

I stood. I unfastened my belt and the button on my trousers. I pushed my pants off, freeing my erection.

She started to giggle.

“That’s not good for my ego. What’s so funny?”

“We don’t need condoms, at least not for a while.”

“No, we won’t,” I confirmed. I pressed against her, my cock against her hip.

“Love me, Devin,” she said as she pressed her hips to mine.

“I do, I do.” I couldn’t feel anything except her warmth around my cock. It felt as if she surrounded my entire being.

I pressed up on my fists so I could look down at her as I thrust home. Her breasts jumped with the pounding, and her face was heaven. She closed her eyes and dropped her jaw as if she would cry out at any second. Then she would smile, and a lyrical cry would escape her mouth. I could watch that face forever. She counter thrust until her next orgasm took control. That’s when I crashed into my own. She rolled and sang out in victory.

I froze up in near agony as I finally achieved release. With nothing left in me, I collapsed into her soft arms. She held me and it felt as if my heart would explode from the sheer joy of having her love.

She whispered, “I love you, husband.”

I rolled out of bed and surged to my feet. I scrambled around for my pants.

“What’s the matter?” she asked, her voice laced with panic.

“I’ll be right back.” I ran from the room and out to my car. My case was still in the back.

I grabbed it.

“I need a metal trash can,” I announced as I strode through the kitchen. I grabbed a lighter from the butler’s pantry.

“Everything okay?” Hannah asked as she held out a small metal trash can to me.

“Everything is perfect. Why don’t you order enough pizza so everyone can have some? Harleigh likes pineapple on hers.”

“You remembered?”

I smirked. I remembered a lot more about Harleigh than I had let myself acknowledge. “Of course, I love her.”

I took the back stairs two at a time. She was still in bed when I returned.

“What’s going on Devin?”

I set the can on the floor and held out the divorce papers. I clicked the lighter and watched as orange flames consumed the pages before dropping the burning document into the trash can.

“I never signed those. I couldn’t. Now I know it’s because I’ve been in love with you.”