She blinked once, then twice. All I could see of her now was her eye, and those pretty long lashes. I could tell from the crease at the corner of her eye that she was still beaming. “It’s bad luck for you to see me wearing this, especially today.”
“Like I give a fuck about that,” I growled.
Her lashes kissed her cheek and she moaned. “Can you get in here?”
“Now who’s testing fate?”
She drew her head back and rolled her eyes, clicking her tongue on the roof of her mouth. “We’re already married anyway. So, what difference does it make?”
When she was right, she was right. “I can’t argue with that,” I said. Leaving my peep hole, I went to the door that I always used to get in and out of her rooms. I’d made a door at the back of her big oak closet bureau. And within just a few seconds, I was emerging out from between her dresses into her room.
She was absolutely tickled, and clapped her hand over her mouth to keep down her giggle as she ran to me. I scooped her up in my arms and twirled her, doing my best not to mess up her gorgeous dress. Mid-twirl, I kissed her, long and slow and greedy. And I was still kissing her when I let her feet touch the floor.
I could’ve kissed her forever, but I had one last question for her. “Do you still want me? Will you still have me as your husband?”
“Yes, yes, yes,” she said. She damned near panted it. Fuck. “And you?”
I hoisted up her skirt so I could get a solid grip on her ass with one hand. She still hadn’t fully fastened her corset, so her round, creamy breasts were right there for the taking. And sucking. Which is exactly what I did. I sucked on her nipple, biting and teasing. “Fuck yes,” I said, still with her nipple between my teeth.
She ran her fingers through my hair, arching her neck back as I sucked on her tit. “Will you… Will you do more of what you did the other night?” She sounded shy. Almost unsure of what to say and how to say it.
As strong and brave as she could be, she was still so fucking innocent. So pure. And it made me want to ruin her all the more. I slipped my hand down between her thighs, playing with her pussy from behind, and then double-checked that the most recent gift I’d given her was still where it should be. There was the jeweled butt plug, right in its place. I let her nipple go with a sucking pop.
“You can’t even fucking imagine what I’m going to do to you, Anika. Last night was just the start.”
Now it was her turn to growl. I saw the heat of desire, pent-up need, flash in her pretty eyes. She planted her hands on my chest and walked me backward, pushing me up against the wall. I was so fucking hard for her that I thought I’d bust right out of my pants. With one of her hands, she cupped my balls. With the other, she unfastened my fly. And she was just about to take me in her hand when…
The fucking door opened and there stood Maria.
Anika shrieked in happy surprise, burying her face in my chest. “Sorry! Busy!”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake,” she said, hands on her hips. “Get out of here, you brute!” She told me, swatting at me with a towel and laughing.
Anika let go of me and dissolved into giggles as Maria chased me back out of my secret entrance, still pushing my dick back into my pants.
“See you in church!” Anika yelled after me, just before Maria slammed the closet door in my face.
Though I’d never been a fan of pomp and circumstance, I had to admit that our wedding was fucking awesome. And now there we sat, side by side at the reception banquet, with my ring on her finger and hers on mine. We’d been there about ten minutes, maybe twenty. Plenty of time, in my opinion. I leaned over into Anika, nestling my jaw against her cheek. “Can we get the fuck out of here yet? I really need to be inside you.”
She pulled back, doing her best to give me a behave yourself stare.
I narrowed my eyes at her. Counted down from 3, 2, 1, then asked, “How about now?”
Lord Somebody and Lady Something Else came up to our table, and Anika greeted them with the perfect poise and elegance of a born queen. As she was making conversation, I caught my father’s eye. After the fight was over, I’d made certain he knew that things were going to be on my terms from now on, and that if he wanted to argue that fact I’d happily meet him on the same field where I’d dispatched Galen. The look in his eyes right now wasn’t exactly hatred, but it wasn’t exactly fatherly love either. But I’d decided I could live with that ambiguity. Pain in the ass that he was, and sketchy though his tastes tended to be, we’d done right by him, and that was all that mattered. I couldn’t change the fact that he was king, not without risking everything I’d fought so hard to win, so I’d just have to work hard for smaller changes. I’d already told him that there wouldn’t be any more fleshmarket auctions, and he’d grudgingly agreed. So that was progress, right? Anyway, right now I was happy, Anika was happy. The king and queen were happy. And that was a pretty goddamned good outcome, no matter how you cut it.