Jessica clutched her stomach as she laughed.
“Sorry,” he said. “Wrong mood.”
Smiling, he fiddled with the screen of his phone and found some gentle instrumental music. She caught the name of the playlist—Our Honeymoon—and her heart melted. He’d been thinking ahead about how to make their honeymoon romantic. What a wonderful man.
“Come here,” she said, lifting her arms in his direction. “You’re too far away.”
He settled on top of her, his skin cool and damp from their shower. His fingers tangled in the wet strands of her hair, and he bent his head to kiss her. She stroked his back as he deepened the kiss, and then he moved those kisses along her jaw to her ear, down her neck, along her chest, and to her breasts and belly. She opened her legs wide, and he settled between them, his lips moving slow and tender against her clit. He took his time with her, hands caressing her thighs and hips as his mouth offered her building pleasure. Her fingers clutched the covers beneath her as her back arched and she shattered in bliss. Even before the ripples of ecstasy receded, she wanted him inside her, to fill her emptiness.
“Sed.”
He gently turned her onto her belly and massaged her shoulders and back until her flesh felt like warm butter. She knew she should reciprocate, but she couldn’t move. Oh, she felt so good inside and out. His big, strong hands moved down to her ass, thighs and calves and massaged the tension from her there as well. By the time he reached her feet, she was boneless. She couldn’t have moved if she tried.
She didn’t realize she’d fallen asleep until the smell of greasy beef drew a moan of longing from deep in her chest, and she opened her eyes. The room was dimly lit with candles, and sitting on the bed beside her was a big white bag speckled with grease spots. Next to the bag sat the most devastatingly gorgeous man she’d ever laid eyes on.
“Did I fall asleep?” she murmured, rolling onto her side and rubbing her eyes. “I’m sorry. I meant to give you a fantastic blow job to thank you for making me feel like the most cherished woman on earth.”
“You are the most cherished woman on earth,” he said. “Are you hungry?”
“Did you bring me a cheeseburger?”
“The cheeseburger’s for me. I asked you what you wanted, and I translated”—he made a loud snoring sound—“to mean salad.”
She pouted, but his grin told her that he was only teasing. He opened the bag and peered inside.
“Well, shit,” he said. “The morons got our order wrong. There are two bacon cheeseburgers in here, and they put extra mayo on one of them.”
She shifted onto her knees and hugged him. “I love you. You have no idea how much I love you.”
“You love me or that the take-out joint got our order wrong?”
“You. For making me feel safe and beautiful and loved and valued and smart. And as soon as I get that cheeseburger in my belly, satisfied.”
“I tried to satisfy you earlier, but someone wasn’t interested. It’s the last night of our honeymoon, and you fell asleep.”
The bag rustled as he reached inside and pulled out a paper-wrapped cheeseburger and a carton of fries.
“Of course I was interested. Just tired.”
“Likely story.”
She couldn’t see his face, so she didn’t know if he was teasing or if she’d bruised his pride.
“Sed, you satisfy me on every level.” She grabbed his arm to strengthen her claim. “The best thing I ever did was stop trying to push you away.”
When he turned his face toward hers, he wore a mocking grin. “You didn’t last very long in your attempt.”
“It’s your fault.” Jessica squeezed his arm, and he flexed beneath her fingers. Mmm. She did love those big, hard muscles of his. “You’re so damned irresistible.”
He smiled, and she was glad that she could make him feel as good about himself as he made her feel about herself.
She unwrapped her cheeseburger and lifted the top bun to make sure there were no onions hiding to ambush her taste buds. The sandwich was dressed exactly as she liked it; Sed had remembered everything. She wasn’t sure why something like getting her cheeseburger right made tears prickle her eyes, but her eyes were burning. Must have been those damned pregnancy hormones making her all sappy and emotional.
The cheeseburger was divine, the fries a bit soggy, and the company perfect.
“Mom called while I was picking up our burgers,” Sed told her between bites. “She says the sailboat is ours if we want it. Do we want it?”
“It can be fixed, right?” The mechanic had been too busy to offer an estimate yet.
“I’m sure it can.”
“Good, because I’d love to go sailing with you again,” she said. “But we’ll prepare better next time.”
“Now that we know what an EPIRB is, we’re good.”
“Well, I still plan to stock up on batteries and fill that cooler with something we can actually eat.”
“Maybe we’ll get around to fishing next time,” he said.
“Or we can just have copious sex to pass the time.”
“I love that I married an adventurous woman,” he said.
“You love that you married a horny woman.”
He laughed. “That too. And one so bendy.” He winked at her.
“I’m not going to be too bendy after stuffing myself with this ginormous cheeseburger.” She’d be more likely to want to hibernate than attempt fucking him in a standing splits position.
“That’s why I figured you wanted a salad,” he said, reaching for another fry.
“I’ll eat salad tomorrow,” she promised. “Tonight I want to gorge myself and fall asleep in your arms. I wish we could sleep until noon and do nothing but yoga all day.”
“That sounds perfect to me,” he said. “I should let you plan our days more often, but we have to be at the airport at four a.m.”
Jessica groaned and collapsed back onto the comfortable mattress, stretching her arms wide. “Trey had better be glad I love him.”
“He’s glad. Who wouldn’t be glad about that?” r />
“My mother,” Jessica said. She always felt that any affection she showed her mother burdened the loveless woman with guilt.
“Your mother loves you. She has a terrible way of showing it, but she wouldn’t have hooked us up with this nice place if she didn’t love you.”
“I should probably call her and thank her.” Because she hoped Sed was right.
Sed grabbed her cellphone off the side table and handed it to her. “I think she’d like that.”
Her mother like being thanked? Uh, yeah. She lived for that shit.
“Did someone steal my daughter’s cellphone?” Mom asked when she answered.
“No, Mom. It’s me. I just wanted to thank you for renting this great house for me and Sed. We loved our time here. It was perfect.”
“Did you get to meet him?” Mom asked, a breathless quality to her voice.
“Meet who?”
“Enrique Sanz.”
Jessica shot Sed a puzzled look, but he couldn’t hear what her mother had asked, so he just shrugged and shook his head.
“Why would I have met him?”
“Zach seemed to think he might show up there looking for him and that it would serve him right that he wasn’t there.”
“I’m so confused. Who is Zach?”
“He works with your husband. Some drummer from one of the bands on Sed’s tour.”
Drummer. Drummer. Jessica searched her memory for drummers named Zach, and then it dawned on her. “You mean Zach Mercier of Twisted Element?”
“Maybe. Good-looking guy with dark hair that’s shaved on the sides and has a little ponytail?”
Jessica could picture her mother demonstrating his hairstyle on her end of their phone conversation.
“Yeah, that sounds Zach. How did you meet him?”
“He was at your reception.”
“Right. I’d forgotten.” Jessica wasn’t sure if she’d even said hello to him. “What does he have to do with Enrique and this house?”
“Don’t you read the tabloids?”
“Not if I can avoid it.”
“Enrique and Zach are involved.” Mom lowered her voice as if they were spies sharing secrets on a tapped line. “Romantically. Or they were until the tabloids published something about their affair and Enrique denied it. Sanz was supposed to come to your reception. He RSVPed months ago. I figured he didn’t show because Zach was there, so I asked Zach about it, because wouldn’t that have been exciting, for Enrique Sanz to be at your reception? My God, he’s gorgeous and getting so many huge acting roles these days. I’d say he’s an A-list actor, wouldn’t you?”