Inked Ever After (9 page)

She curled her hands on either side of his jaw and softly
kissed him on the lips. “Thank you, James. I really, really love your present.”

* * * *

James came up behind her on the porch and placed his hands
on the railing, bracketing her with his strong arms. He swept her hair with his
chin and nuzzled her throat.

“This is beautiful, James.”

“Yes, it is, baby,” he replied quietly. “This place is
amazing.”

The skies were darkening fast, and the beach was deserted
except for a couple of fishermen and a group of teenagers who had started a
bonfire.

After her complete breakdown, James had given her a tour of
the cabin. It wasn’t the same one her family had rented all those years ago,
but except for the bathroom and kitchen, which had been recently renovated, it
looked almost identical, with the three bedrooms upstairs and the cute wooden
porch downstairs facing the beach. It was sparsely furnished, but the little
that was there had that adorable, small-seaside-town feel to it. And funnily
enough, the whole place smelled like she recalled.

“Being here is bringing up stuff I didn’t know I’d
forgotten. You know, like seeing a long-lost friend and suddenly remembering
things you haven’t thought about for ages. And the best part is that it doesn’t
hurt.” And it was all because of him. He’d made this possible.

James kissed her shoulder. “I’m happy for you, princess.”

After checking the cabin, James had taken Tate for a walk on
the beach, and they’d found the cottage her family used to rent. She’d cried,
but it wasn’t in despair. She’d been immersed in a twirl of memories—all of
them good. Her dad taking them fishing. Jonah teaching her and Elle to ride a
bike, complaining but always giving in when the girls tried to tag along. Her
mom on the porch waiting for them, reading a book.

After that, James had convinced her to go for a swim.
Apparently Elle had been in on it, because when she opened the gym bag he
produced, she not only found her bikini, a change of clothes, and some
overnight stuff, but also a note from her dear old sister.
Enjoy. You deserve this. You deserve him.

Trust her sis to hit the nail on the head. Even when Tate
hadn’t said a word.

Still, she was going to have a talk with Elle for keeping
something as big as this cabin from her. So not cool.

“I guess you know I will be paying you back for the cabin.
At least for half of it.”

“You’re welcome to try. Won’t get you anywhere, but if that
makes you happy, by all means, give it your best.”

They stayed silent for a while, listening to the music
coming from the radio in the living room. James encircled her in his arms, one
hand opening over her stomach, the other over her chest.

She was still pretty much in shock. The magnitude of what
he’d done for her. “Amazingly thoughtful megapresent” didn’t even begin to
describe it. It was not only the fact that he’d bought a cabin, which was
already a huge bomb, but that he’d known what to get that blew her mind away.

“How, honey? How did you know?” she asked, gesturing around.

“I may be an arrogant, possessive bastard used to getting my
way, but I listen, baby. I pay attention to you. Always have. Always will. Your
eyes lit up when you talked about this place. And you never winced. You’d tell me
how your dad or Jonah did this or that in Cape John when you were little, and
not even once did you flinch, princess.”

Her chest tightened at his words. “James, I must have said
it a dozen times by now today, but I’m gonna say it again: me being stressed
out because of the wedding has nothing to do with you. I do really, really,
really want to marry you.”

She felt his smile on her skin. “I know, my love.”

Still. It weighed heavily on her that he could had even
thought for a second that she didn’t want to marry him. She turned around and
cupped his face with both hands. She needed to straighten out a couple of
things. “I get how important trust is to you. And I know you think I don’t
trust you, but I do, James. I trust you with all my heart.”

“Need the soul too, princess.” He leaned on her left hand
and kissed it. “I know you think you trust me, but you hold back on me. There
is this tiny part of you you always keep hidden.” She started shaking her head,
but he continued, “I don’t think you even realize it, but you do, love. You are
afraid to give yourself totally to me. You don’t need to be afraid. You can
give me all of you and I will protect you. I will never hurt you. I will never
leave you. But you need to let me all the way in, baby. You can’t hide the
parts you think I won’t like.”

“I wanted to protect you,” she whispered.

“Me? From what?”

She couldn’t look him in the eye. “From my craziness.”

He laughed softly, shook his head. “I like your craziness.
Most of the time. And I don’t need protecting.”

He was so wrong. “You do, baby. You need protecting. You’re
so precious. You don’t even know how exceptional and unique and beautiful you
are.”

She didn’t think she’d said anything funny, but apparently
she had, because James broke into laughter. “You make me sound like a chick.”

She tried frowning at him, but it didn’t work. “I’m serious,
James.”

“Okay, princess, I’m thrilled you think I’m to be protected,
but hiding stuff from me is not the way.”

Yeah, she’d figured that out.

“You may call me a barbarian all you want; I don’t give a
shit. I take care of my woman. I need to know she’ll come to me always, no
matter what. I can’t be wondering whether or not you’re holding back on me. I
need your complete trust.”

“I’m so sorry I’m such a mess, James. I love you, more than
I’ve ever loved anyone. Still, I keep fucking up and hurting you—”

“You aren’t a mess, and you won’t fuck up anything, because
I won’t let you fuck up anything. Sure you have some issues, but who hasn’t?”
he said with a smirk.

He took her hands and brought them to her back, keeping them
there with one of his while he cupped her nape and brushed his lips with hers.

“You would be so much better off if you just dum—”

His grip on her hands tightened, and his expression
hardened. “Don’t dare finish that sentence.”

“Don’t get mad,” she whispered, looking into his gorgeous
eyes, which were now a bit thunderous. “I just mean you could have anyone you
want. A perfect, sweet, obedient wife who would wait for you at home with food
at the ready and a smile on her lips, dying to go on her knees to give you a
blowjob as you eat and watch sports on TV after a hard day of work. Not this
high-maintenance chick with crazy timetables and shitty baggage.”

He cocked his left brow, a smile tugging at his lips, his
stance relaxing. “And this so-called perfect wife, this paragon of good, would
be more deserving of me, right?” Before she could say anything, he lifted her
chin and pinned her with his stare. “I do happen to love this high-maintenance
chick with crazy timetables and shitty baggage. True, she doesn’t wait for me
at home with my slippers in one hand and a beer in the other, but I don’t have
any complaints about her blowjobs. They are fucking stellar.”

“Stellar, huh?”

“Fuck yeah, and I would never desecrate those by watching
sports on TV when she goes down on me,” he said, his grin now blinding. When he
sobered he added, “Princess, I had one of those wives. She cheated on me as
soon as I walked out the front door. My slippers were probably still warm, and
she was already on her knees getting her face fucked by someone else’s cock.”

Stupid bitch. How someone could do that to James, she didn’t
know.

“You think I need a postcard-perfect woman, but you’re
wrong. I don’t need perfect; I need real. And I need you. I’m very glad you
think I’m exceptional and unique and precious,” he said repeating her early
words, his tone mocking. “That you think so highly of me. But I’m far from
perfect, baby. You may not have noticed, and I’m sorry to break it to you like
this, but I can be an ass sometimes.”

She laughed softly. “Yes, you can be.”

“And I’m fucking bossy,” he whispered as he nibbled behind
her ear, flicking his tongue here and there, giving her goose bumps even under
her nails. “Pushy.”

“True,” she managed to let out, her breath catching in her
throat when he pressed his thick erection against her lower abdomen.

“Controlling,” he added, trailing kisses down her neck and
lapping at the base, where her pulse beat madly.

“Yes,” she agreed in a gasp, liquid heat already pooling in
her core.

“Oversexed. Arrogant,” he continued, pinching her already
hard nipples. She nodded but didn’t get words out this time. Just pants.
“Manipulative. With somewhat overbearing tendencies.”

He was back kissing her lips. “I’m not perfect, but I’m your
man. And now your bossy, controlling, oversexed man wants inside you,” he
whispered against her ear as he slipped his hand under the hem of her skirt and
grabbed her ass, pushing his thigh between her legs.

She wanted him too. Badly. “Let’s get inside.”

His eyes flashed with wicked intent. He turned her around,
never letting her hands go, and pressed his dick on her ass. “No. I want to
fuck you now. Here.”

That jolted her. “James,” she hissed, looking around,
alarmed, trying in vain to squirm away. “We’re in public.”

He tightened his grip on her. “Didn’t you have one of your
hands on my crotch and the other up your pussy in the truck? While I was
driving? At noon?”

He had a point. But still. “No one could see us then, but
there are people here.”

He chuckled. “They’re far away and can’t see anything,
princess,” he said as he rubbed his growing erection on her behind, and she
felt herself melting. That was true. Probably. The guys fishing on the far side
seemed too engrossed in doing their thing, and the people around the bonfire
weren’t wandering their way. Plus, there was no light coming from any of the
houses nearby. Nevertheless, all that could change in an instant.

James didn’t look overtly concerned about any of it. “Hold
on to the rail, princess,” he ordered, finally releasing her hands. “We are
breaking the porch in.”

“This is crazy. We have to stop.” But she didn’t move away,
not that he was giving her any space to do so.

He kissed her neck and delved under her skirt proprietarily,
pressing his hand against her pussy. “This is mine. However I want. Whenever I
want. And I want it right here. Your dress is long; no one is going to see if I
lift the back. The porch is closed off by the railing, which is tall enough.”

“James…” she warned, but he bit her on the shoulder while
rubbing her clit with the heel of his palm, and her breath left her in a
whoosh. She braced her hands on the rail. Oh hell. She turned her face to him,
her heart tumbling when she saw his masculine features in the faint glow coming
from the living room behind them. He was so handsome. And determined.

He hooked his fingers in her panties and tugged at them.
“Let them fall down.”

“But—”

“Panties down,” James growled in her ear, the harsh tone
abrading her senses and scattering what little mind she had left. “I can fuck
you all the same with them on. Pull this tiny scrap of cloth aside, like I did
in the truck, and ram into this gorgeous pussy of yours, but there are already
too many clothes between us.”

She obeyed, wiggling them down, her whole body shuddering.
“Oh hell.”

Resistance was futile. Besides, this man held her heart.
There was nothing in this world she wouldn’t do for him. Nothing at all. What
was a public fuck in the great scheme of things?

“That’s it. That’s my girl.” He whispered his approval and
rewarded her by trailing his finger along her slit and sinking it between her
slick folds. “You’re wet, princess. Ready for me. I fucking love how you’re
always ready for me.”

Yeah, well. He didn’t even have to touch her; his voice
alone did the job. Much to her shame, he just had to whisper to her, and her
body reacted right away.

Without moving his hand from between her legs, he pulled up
her skirt until her bare ass made contact with the rough denim. Her breath
hitched in her throat and her core spasmed, more liquid rushing down.

James tensed, groaning in her neck. “So fucking sweet.
Sweetest pussy in the whole world. I’d love to go down on you here, baby.
Spread you and bury my face between your legs, eat at those smooth pussy lips
of yours, rake my teeth along them and lap your juices up, but I don’t think we
can pull that one off without getting arrested, so you’ll have to settle for my
cock inside you.” His words had her clit pulsing against his palm.

He reached for his zipper and released himself. The feel of
him, hard and big, nudging the crease of her bottom, almost sent her over.
“Open your legs for me,” he growled while he positioned himself at her
entrance. She obliged, whimpering as he slid his blunt head up and down her
slit and then prodded at her inner folds. He entered her in one long, slow
thrust.

“Fuck me,” he cursed, burying his face in her hair and
holding himself still while her insides quivered and adapted to his thick
presence. “So good. So fucking good.”

They stood for the longest moment immobile, his hands
clutching her hips, hers gripping the rail; she was afraid her legs would give
away if she let go. She could hear nothing but their loud breathing.

He pulled out inch by excruciating inch, her muscles
clenching around his shaft, refusing to let go, and pushed back in just as
slowly.

“I love how tight you feel, princess. How snug and hot and
wet. I could spend the next fifty years fucking you and never tire.”

“This is crazy,” she repeated. In the truck, they’d managed
to get off the beaten path and find a secluded spot before going full at it.
This was a whole different game. At any moment, some of their neighbors could
drop by to introduce themselves and bring some welcome cookies—wouldn’t that be
an eyeful? They were going to be blacklisted at the very least.