She runs her hands over my chest, eyes dancing into mine. “Oh, yeah? You’re ready to consummate this crazy marriage, Von Bergen?”
“Consummate the hell out of it, Rochat,” I assure her. “And it wasn’t crazy. It was lovely.”
Her gaze softens. “It was. I couldn’t have asked for a lovelier wedding.”
“And it’s only going to get better.” I pull her closer, smoothing my palms down her back to cup the firm swells of her ass. “Let’s get naked.”
She bites her lip, swaying with me as I back her toward the bed. “I’m all for getting naked, but just so you know, a Rindish marriage is considered legal as soon as the ceremony is over. No consummation required.”
I frown. “What a horrible custom.”
She laughs. “Not really. I think it’s kind of nice. Marriage is something you should choose with your heart, not your genitals.”
“I want to choose you with my heart and my genitals,” I say, stopping as the back of her knees bump against the end of the bed. “Is that all right?”
“So much more than all right.” She wraps her arms around my neck and presses up on her tiptoes to murmur against my lips, “Make me your wife so hard I can’t remember I had a last name before Von Bergen?”
My cock thickens behind the fly of my suit pants as I whisper, “It will be my honor and privilege.”
And it is.
Every kiss, every touch, is sweeter and more intense than it was before. I don’t know if it’s the fact that she’s officially mine that makes it feel like my heart’s being ripped from my chest in the best way, or if I’ve just fallen deeper in love with her since this morning, but by the time I get her out of her sexy white sweater dress and naked beneath me, my heart is slamming against my ribs, and my hands are shaking as I cup her breast.
Her fingers come to cover mine. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” I lie. Then I confess in a rush, “Just having feelings. But I’ll rein them in. Don’t worry.”
“I’m not worried,” she says, cradling my face with her palms. “And I don’t want you to rein them in. I love that you have feelings. I love everything about you, Nickolas Von Bergen, and I always will.”
“Me, too,” I say. My throat tightens as I joke, “Even when you’re bullying me relentlessly.”
She smiles. “Good. I do enjoy bullying you.”
“I know you do.” I drag my thumb across her tight nipple, loving the way her breath catches and a sexy shiver works through her limbs. “You’re a beast. But luckily for me, a tiny beast that I can toss over my shoulder and spank when you’re naughty.”
“Try it,” she says with a husky chuckle that goes straight to my aching cock. “We’ll see who gets spanked in the end.”
“I’m not going to take that bet. But I am going to bully you with my dick. Right now.”
She laughs again. “Oh, please do. Bully me. Relentlessly.”
“Wicked girl.” I press a kiss to the soft curve of her breast before pulling her nipple into my mouth, sucking one and then the other, nipping and licking until she squirms beneath me. I wait until her breath is coming fast and her fingers are tangled in my hair before I knee her legs farther apart and press my throbbing length between them.
She groans, arching into me, rubbing her center up and down my cock until I’m slick with her desire and dying to be inside her.
And I know she wants me just as much.
She’s trembling now, too, her arms shaking as they wrap around my chest, and she whispers, “Nick. I need you. Please…”
And because no woman should have to beg on her wedding night, and I can’t wait another moment to be even closer to this precious woman, I sink inside her, and I’m lost.
And found.
And home.
And afterward, I find I’m even more impossibly in love with her.
My wife.
“My wife,” I whisper aloud. “I love the sound of that.”
“Me, too. And I don’t ever want to not be your wife.” She curls onto her side, facing me as the snow falls softly past the window behind her. “Promise me we’ll make it work, no matter what. That no matter how hard it might get, we won’t give up on each other.”
“I promise.” I brush her hair from her forehead. “That’s what those vows were about tonight, woman.”
“I know, but…I’ve been married before, remember?”
“Not to me, you haven’t. I don’t make promises I don’t intend to keep.” I hate that her ex betrayed her, hate that she has even a shred of doubt that I didn’t mean every word I said in front of the priest tonight. “You’re stuck with me, Alexandra. I’m going to love and cherish you until you can’t stand it, and then I’ll love and cherish you some more.”