Best Friend Bride

This was her relationship to make or break. All at once, it became so obvious what she should be focusing on here.

No, this wasn’t practice for the next man she dated. She was practicing for this one. If she hoped to get to a point where they were both comfortable with declarations of love, she had to tread carefully. While she didn’t think Jonas was going to divorce her if she moved too fast, neither did she have a good handle on how to be less intense.

She needed to back off. Way off. Otherwise, she was going to freak him out. And suddenly she could not fathom giving up this marriage under any circumstances.

“I’d love to talk about Cupcaked,” she said with a smile. “Seems like you owe me some advice.”

“Yes, exactly.” His return smile bordered on relieved. “You’ve been so patient and I’m a selfish jerk for not focusing on your career when that’s the one thing you’re getting out of this deal.”

“The sex is nice, too,” she teased. Look at that. She could be cool.

Jonas shot her a wicked once-over. “That’s what makes you so perfect. We can hang out as friends, but if I wanted to, say, slip my hand under your dress, you’d gladly climb in my lap for a little one-on-one time. It’s the best.”

She shrugged to cover how his compliment had thrilled her to the marrow. “I promised it wouldn’t make things weird.”

Now she’d stick to that. At the end of the day, Cupcaked was important to her. She’d just have to make sure that eventually Jonas realized that he was important to her, as well.

* * *

Jonas ducked out of a meeting on Friday with a guilty conscience. While he knew Viv would understand if he put off a thorough analysis of her business plan, he wasn’t okay with ignoring his promise. Unfortunately, Park had come through with some amendments to the merger agreement Jonas had drafted, which had taken his time and attention for the whole of the week.

The moment he stepped outside the Kim Building, the sunshine raised his spirits. He was on his way to see his wife at Cupcaked, which oddly would mark the first time he’d graced the store since they’d gotten married. Before the wedding, he found excuses to drop by on a frequent basis. But now he didn’t have to. The cupcake baker slept in his bed and if he wanted to see her, all he had to do was turn his head.

It was pretty great. Or at least that’s what he’d been telling himself. In reality, the look on Viv’s face when she’d told him she valued their friendship had been like a big fat wake-up call. Basically, she was telling him no pressure worked for her regardless of how hot he could get her with nothing more than a well-placed caress.

Well, that was great. He didn’t have any desire to pressure her into anything. But he couldn’t deny that he might like to put more structure around things. Would she think it was weird if he expected her to be his plus-one for events? His admin was planning a big party for the whole company to commemorate the anniversary of opening the Kim Americas branch. He wanted Viv by his side. But it was yet another favor. If they were dating instead of married he wouldn’t think twice about asking her.

Everything was backward and weird and had been since that no-pressure discussion, which he’d initiated because he needed the boundaries. For no reason apparently. Viv so clearly wasn’t charging over the imaginary lines he’d drawn in the sand. In fact, she’d drawn a few lines of her own. Yet how could he change those lines when Viv had gotten so prickly about the subject? In fact, she’d already tried to call off t

he intimate aspects of their relationship once. He needed to tread very carefully with her before he got in too deep for them both.

When he got to Cupcaked, the door was locked. Not open yet. He texted Viv that he was outside and within thirty seconds, she’d popped out of the kitchen and hurried to the plate-glass door with a cute smile.

“I didn’t know you were coming by,” she commented unnecessarily since he was well aware it was a surprise. After she let him in, she locked the door and turned, her brown hair shining in the sunlight that streamed through the glass.

Something was wrong with his lungs. He couldn’t breathe. Or think. All he could do was soak in the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen in his life. And all of his good intentions designed to help her with her business flew out the window in a snap.

Without hesitation, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her. She softened instantly and the scent of vanilla and Viv wound through his senses, robbing him of the ability to reason, because the only thing he could think about was getting more of her against him.

Almost as if she’d read his mind, she opened under his mouth, eagerly deepening the kiss, welcoming the broad stroke of his tongue with her own brand of heat. Slowly she licked into his mouth in kind, teasing him with little flutters of her fingers against his back.

That was not going to work. He wanted to feel her fingers against his flesh, not through the forty-seven layers of clothing between them.

Walking her backward, he half kissed, half maneuvered her until they reached the kitchen, and then he spun her through the swinging door to the more private area, where the entire city of Raleigh couldn’t see them.

Her mouth was back on his without missing a beat, and he pushed her up against the metal counter, trapping her body with his. Her sweet little curves nestled into the planes of his body and he wasn’t sure if he could stand how long it was taking to get her naked.

The zipper of her dress took three tries to find and then slid down easily, allowing him to actually push the fabric from her shoulders instead of ripping it, a near miracle. There was something about her that drove him to a place he didn’t recognize, and it bothered him to be this crazy over her. But then her dress slipped off, puddling to the floor, and he forgot about everything but her as she unhooked her bra, throwing it to the ground on top of her dress.

Groaning, he looked his fill of her gorgeous breasts, scarcely able to believe how hard and pointy they were from nothing other than his gaze. Bending to capture one, he swirled his tongue around the perfection of her nipple and the sound she made shot through his erection like an arrow of heat.

“Hurry,” she gasped. “I’m about to come apart.”

Oh, well, that was something he’d very much like to witness. In a flash, he pushed her panties to her ankles and boosted her up on the counter. Spreading her legs wide, he brushed a thumb through her crease and, yes, she was so ready for him.

She bucked and rolled against his fingers, her eyes darkening with the pleasure he was giving her, and he wanted her more than anything he could recall. As much as he’d like to do any number of things to bring her to climax, there was one clear winner. Ripping out of his own clothes in record time, he stepped back between her thighs and hissed as she nipped at his shoulder.

“Tell me you have a condom,” she commanded, and then smiled as he held it up between his fingers.