Chapter Seven
Waiting on the curb with their luggage, Eric yawned widely, stretched his arms over his head, and then lowered them to scratch his ribs. He would have liked to stay in bed for another few hours. Rebekah had kept him up—both in an awake and in an aroused kind of way—all night. Apparently she found Vegas inspiring. After she’d sucked on his lance and he’d buried it in her treasure chest, she’d allowed him to explore her pyramids and raid the dark passage she referred to as her tomb. She didn’t let him fuck her in the ass very often, so that had been an unexpected treat. But now he was tired and wasn’t ready to climb back into the minibus to head to their next destination. He’d never understand why she was so against spending two weeks relaxing in Tahiti, but he had to admit he was having fun. Lots of exhausting, imaginative fun.
When the valet brought the Volkswagen around, complaining that the thing didn’t want to stay started, Eric crammed their suitcases into the back. “Do you want to drive?” he asked Rebekah.
“You know she won’t run for me.”
“The valet managed it,” he pointed out.
“Eventually,” he said as he accepted the tip Rebekah handed him.
“I’d rather you drive.” Rebekah gave him a sweet smile. She knew he was weak to that smile, damn it.
“And I’d rather nap. You wore me out last night, woman.”
She grinned. “And I’ll be wearing you out again tonight and tomorrow night and the night after that, so you might as well get used to it.”
He climbed behind the wheel without further argument. He did like the sound of those plans of hers.
Under Rebekah’s navigational direction they journeyed along a stretch of highway that seemed to be heading nowhere.
He was pretty sure they were going to the Grand Canyon—seeing as he saw directional signs for the natural wonder every twenty miles or so—but he didn’t want Rebekah to feel like she wasn’t carrying out this surprise of hers effectively. He still felt bad about upsetting her after they’d braved that scary-as-fuck amusement ride. He never wanted her to experience any hurt, and he definitely didn’t want to be the one to cause her pain. She’d forgiven him almost instantly, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was a bad husband.
She hadn’t talked to him at all since they’d found the road that would lead to their next destination. She must still be pissed, but unwilling to gripe him out while they were on their honeymoon. He glanced at her, expecting her to be fuming, but instead found that she’d fallen asleep. He grinned. It was mighty unfair that she should get to nap while he had to drive.
“Rebekah!” he yelled, honking the horn madly.
She jerked awake, her hands flying out to both sides to steady herself.
“I think we’re here,” he said, nodding excitedly at a particularly ugly patch of barren wasteland complete with tumbleweeds.
“You scared the shit out of me,” she said, one hand covering her chest. She peered out the windshield and then rolled her eyes. “You know damned well we’re going to the Grand Canyon.”
“We are? Cool!” It was cool. He’d been there a few times before, so he knew this for a fact.
“Have you ever been there?”
He started to shake his head, but remembered that they’d pledged to be honest with each other. Even little white lies could damage a relationship if they became a habit. “A few times,” he said, reaching across the van to take her hand. “But never with you.”
She smiled and squeezed his hand. “Have you ever had sex there?” She wiggled her eyebrows at him.
“Uh… Only with a donkey.”
Her eyes bulged. “What?”
“The mule turned me down.”
She slapped at him. “That’s disgusting!”
“I’m joking. I’ve never had sex at the Grand Canyon.” When she continued to crinkle her nose at him, he added, “Or with any animal.”
She relaxed into her seat, and he nudged her with his elbow. “But if you want to dress up like a sexy kitty cat and lick cream off my balls, I wouldn’t turn you away.”
She stuck her tongue out at him and then pretended to lick her paw. He should have known she’d find no fault in that idea. As long as they were playing solely with each other, Rebekah was game for just about anything.
As usual, the view of the Grand Canyon was spectacular. The view of Rebekah’s bare tits bouncing as she rode his cock in the back of the van an hour later was even more breathtaking. He’d been sure to engage the parking brake this time. They didn’t want to pull a Thelma and Louise by fucking themselves right over the edge of the Grand Canyon. In the loving afterglow of a spectacular orgasm, Rebekah squirmed out of his embrace and tossed his clothes at him.
“We have to go or we’ll never make it in time.”
“For what?”
“It’s a surprise.”
Of course it was.
The surprise turned out to be a drive through the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest of Arizona. But they’d missed the last ranger-guided tour of the day. Rebekah’s disappointment was tangible.
“Nothing is going as planned,” she grumbled as she flopped herself into the passenger seat of the Volkswagen.
“Well, there’s the problem. Let’s forget the plan and just drive. We’ll stop to eat when we’re hungry. Find a hotel when we’re tired. Explore the area we find ourselves in or follow signs to points of interest along the way.”
“If we just meander around the country, we might not make it to Bangor in time to catch our flight to Tahiti.”
“So we’ll catch a connecting flight in a different city. It’s not a big deal, Reb.” He shrugged. She wasn’t the type to follow a strict schedule. She usually went with the flow. He didn’t understand why she was so unmalleable all of a sudden. Frankly, he didn’t much enjoy this side of her. Her impulsive nature was one of his favorite things about her.
“It is a big deal. The entire reason we’re on this trip is to go to Bangor.” Her eyes widened, and she sucked her lips into her mouth.
“Will you just tell me what’s in Bangor that’s so important?”
The smile she plastered on her face appeared entirely fabricated. “It’s a surprise.”
“Enough surprises,” he said, tossing his hands in the air. “Tell me. Tell me what the fuck is in Bangor or I refuse to drive another mile.”
The smile faded from her face and she looked down at her folded hands. “If I tell you, you won’t want to go.”
“I don’t want to go now, but I’m going, aren’t I?” He didn’t mean to shout at her, but he didn’t know how else to make her understand. “To make you happy. But you’re so stressed out that you don’t seem to be having the least bit of fun.”
“I’m having loads of fun,” she snapped.
“Well, I’m not.” The second the admission was out of his mouth, he wanted to tie his tongue in a knot.
She sucked a wounded breath through her teeth. “I thought you liked my surprises. On your birthday you said you did.”
Eric took a deep breath to calm his frayed nerves and tried a subtler approach. “I loved my birthday surprises, Reb. Honestly, it was the best birthday of my life. Every gift you gave was heartfelt and thoughtful. It showed me how well you knew me. How much you loved me. It made me believe that you understood who I was and that you accepted all my quirks.”
“I cherish them,” she said quietly.
“But this isn’t my birthday—which should be about me—this is our honeymoon, which should be about us. Have a little faith in the strength of our relationship. You don’t have to disguise something you want as a surprise for me. Just tell me what’s in Bangor that’s so important to you.”
She sat there beside him, her shoulders rounded, her body curled inward as if he’d kicked her in the stomach. “You’re right,” she said. “It’s wrong of me to keep this from you.”
She lifted her head, but her gaze shifted to his forehead. What was so terrible in Bangor, Maine, that she couldn’t even look him in the eye when
she told him about it?
“When I put our marriage license and birth certificates in the fire safe, I noticed your mother’s place of birth. So I did a little snooping online and found out that your grandparents still live there.”
So this wasn’t about her at all. It was about him.
“You called them?” he said, a strange mixture of curiosity and dread churning in his stomach.
“No. I tried to get a number, but it’s unlisted. I did find their address, though.” She looked at him the way a puppy looks at