ANGIE GRUNTED AND let out a tired sigh. Her arms were on fire from the paddling, but thank god the sandbar was in sight and getting closer.
She paddled faster and not just because she was eager to take a break. Her competitive nature was fierce. Aware of Parker lazily paddling along in her wake, it pissed her off that he could overtake her anytime he wanted.
Dammit.
When she was close enough to the sandbar that it wouldn’t appear as if she was giving in, Angie hopped off her board and slipped into the water. Her muscles melted from the warmth as she floated for a few seconds before finding some footing.
Dragging her board to the water’s edge, she gave up the struggle and handed off the equipment when Parker took over. Relieved of the burden, she gracefully fell backward into the water and floated for a good minute. This place is heaven, she thought. The vivid blue sky, lush tropical greenery, and clear blue water made for honeymoon nirvana.
She swam to the sandbar and walked from the water with confidence when she found her husband’s eyes watching her.
“What’s all this?” she asked. Her hand swept in circles over the stack of towels and beach spreads next to a large picnic hamper.
Parker’s eyes held a blaze of carnality that let Angie know she was about to be thoroughly used. A shudder of excitement rippled along her spine. They’d paddled far from their recreation attendants to a sandbar hidden amongst the curving tree-covered shoreline. An intimate and small lagoon gave the sandbar an isolated vibe. He’d done his homework.
“Lunch,” he informed her, but his eyes remained glued to her boobs. She glanced down and saw that her nipples were visible against the clinging wet suit.
Grabbing a towel, she made a production out of drying off, ending with a deliberate butt wag when she bent over and shook her head while vigorously rubbing away any excess water. Angie was having a blast finding inventive ways to offer Parker her ass. It was something of a game at this point. A game she was winning despite his go-slow approach.
How did she know she was winning? It was the bold lechery visible in his expression when she caught him eyeing her bottom. Parker’s step by excruciatingly slow step of what he called training her ass was incredibly sexy and exciting. When they finally got to the main event, she’d be ready, able, and so totally willing. So, so, so, so willing.
She spread a beach blanket on the soft white sand while he poked around in the basket.
“Need help?” she asked.
He snickered and slammed the basket lid shut. “Nope. Just checking to make sure the butt lube and spreader bar were in there.”
Angie sank to her knees on the blanket and howled with laughter. What a clown! There was no way on God’s green earth he’d do anything like that. Parker took being discreet and careful with what others thought of her to an extreme. The island’s workers might suspect what they were doing, but leaving them with the smallest clue was not his thing.
She crawled next to him and gave a little shove. “Sit, Sir,” she playfully commanded. “Let me serve you.”
“Fuck, yeah,” her husband drawled. “Show me that ass first, though.”
Giggling, she swung around on her hands and knees and shook her butt in his face. He smacked both cheeks and grabbed on for a gratuitous jiggle.
“Okay, kitten.” Parker snigger-chuckled. “I know how bad you want my cock in your ass. No need to run the whole commercial.”
Sighing dramatically, she swung around again and sat on her feet. “You’re going to make me beg. That’s the plan, isn’t it?”
“No begging necessary, wife. However,” he drawled in a sexy grunt, “you will have to use your words. I think please might be nice. Take my ass, please.”
She scoffed and started digging in the picnic hamper. “Duly noted,” she said with snarky dryness.
He grinned and winked. “The begging will happen naturally after your body responds to the pleasure.”
The embarrassed flush that burned her skin started in the soles of her feet and spread upward until throbbing excitement filled her senses. How the hell did he manage to make surrendering her anal virginity sound like the most erotic thing ever?
The soft chuckling sound her husband made eased her nervousness. He played her by feeding Angie’s curiosity and stoking the fire of her passions.
Their sandbar picnic was lovely. Not only was there a delicious lunch in the basket along with a bottle of cold champagne, but her Tiare flower was also carefully packed in a plastic box so it didn’t get mangled during their activities. Parker placed it behind her left ear and took a picture with a small pocket camera he retrieved from the hamper.
He impressed her. With everything. Their water activities were photographed and videoed by the resort staff. The whole day was captured, and her heart warmed, knowing how important this small detail was to her husband.
Now that she’d seen his secret mementos and understood the connection he felt to his Angie stash, she didn’t try to pose or put on an act. The candid snaps of moments in time would be real and honest, not full of pretense.
At the bottom of the hamper, they discovered a box of her favorite chocolates. Everyone else might swoon for European confections and fancy gourmet treats, but she was an unabashed milk chocolate fan. Give her a Hershey bar or a bag of kisses, and she was more than good, so finding the container of minis earned her amused husband a shriek of delight and a serious kiss.
Parker stretched out on his side, reclining on one arm with his ankles crossed. It was a casual pose that included the visible signs of an aroused alpha indulging his prey. She sat cross-legged near his head and broke off pieces of the chocolate minis to feed him.
“Did I ever tell you about Sophie and the chocolate dildo?”
Angie realized she worded that the wrong way when her new husband nearly choked to death on a chunk of candy. She thumped his back as he tried to catch his breath between coughs and bursts of laughter. When he finally recovered, his face was bright red from the effort and his eyes brimming with tears. He sat up and shook his head.
“Are you trying to kill me?”
She giggled and popped a square of chocolate into her mouth. “That came out wrong.” With a goofy shrug, she made a face and added, “And you have a dirty mind.”
A display of cat-like reflexes had him snatching the candy out of her hands and holding it high above her head when she tried to grab it back.
“Hey!” she squawked. “Don’t be a dick!”
“Don’t be a dick, Sir.” He snickered.
Huffing and puffing, she sat back down with an exasperated grunt and crossed her arms. “You have an unfair advantage.” She counted to ten then made a face and said, “Sir.”
“Well, you know what they say,” Parker growled. “Size matters.”
She couldn’t produce a smartass comeback and ended up sputtering while she squirmed. In the size matters category, her husband got top honors.
He watched her with a gigantic grin plastered on his face, ate several pieces of chocolate, and openly ogled her boobs, which were making quite a statement due to her crossed arms.
She harrumphed, dropped her arms, and glared as best she could. Not so easy when the person she attempted to manipulate put off a seduction vibe.
“Now,” he smoothly drawled. An edge of mockery in his tone matched her smartass-ness. “Explain Sophia Marquez and the chocolate dildo. Curious minds want to know.”
Angie squirmed, blushed, and looked everywhere but at her husband—which only made him laugh. He unwrapped a piece of plain milk chocolate and waved it in front of her face.
“C’mon, kitten. Tell Sir your dirty secrets.”
For several seconds, she considered jumping on him and going in for a hot and heavy make-out session. Then she came to her senses.
Opening her mouth, she stuck out her tongue and leaned in. And what did Parker do? He balls out laughed in her face, broke the chocolate chunk in half, and dropped a piece on her tongue.
“Sophie? A dildo? I’m waiting.”
The tale wasn’t nearly as lurid as he apparently imagined, but it was funny and classic Marquez sister fuckery. In other words, a story worth telling.
“It was a couple of years ago. Right around the time Aldo came into the picture.”
Her husband’s dark scowl at her deliberate mention of the pansy-ass shithead she’d been briefly and stupidly engaged to felt like a victory until his scowl changed. She’d be paying for that particular taunt. Squee!
With a dry mutter, she arched a brow and sneered, “Anyway,” as she continued her testimony. “We were doing a mall crawl in Madrid to pick up random props and stuff for some pictures Sophie was having staged at the winery. She has an eye for stuff like that, so we hit up every store or kiosk that grabbed her attention.”
Parker half sniggered. “I sometimes forget how crazy smart and talented she is. That girl could convince a farmer he needed a fancy wine cellar and do it with complete believability.”
“It’s her face,” Angie said with a giggle. “Dad says she was born pretending to be innocent, and the look worked for her, so she kept it.”
He barked out a laugh. “I remember making a bullshit detector out of a busted tennis racket with Alex. We drove her crazy one summer by whipping it out at every opportunity.”
The beaming smile she knew was on her face had a lot to do with their family’s long history together. How damn lucky was she that the man she married was already a member of her family and inner circle? She would bet that if they dug around in the storage room in the Villa’s stable, they’d probably find that crappy tennis racket.
She continued with a chuckle. “So we were in this store that sold junk. Literal junk,” she clarified. “You know the kind of store I mean. Black light posters and dragon tail incense burners. Gigantic beer mugs and cheap rhinestone jewelry. Every young kid’s dream. Total crap.”
“I think that’s where I got your ruby earrings,” he told her with a wicked chuckle.
She knew damn well those earrings came from a high-end jeweler, but that didn’t stop her from gasping with faux outrage. “Are you insinuating I can be had on the cheap?”
His face at her taunt was ten kinds of adorably priceless. Next to calling him old, any questioning of his intentions toward her—ever—got an instant reaction. Her husband’s comeback made a lie of her attempt at snarky humor.
“Yeah, right. I think this six-figure honeymoon proves that you, madam, are in no way a cheap date.”
“My father says you can afford it.” She flipped her hair, sniffed, and pouted.
He pounded the sand and barked with laughter. “My uncle likes yanking my chain. And since my own father eggs him on like it’s his job, they both get away with murder.”
What he said was one hundred percent accurate. Their fathers were master shit-stirrers. That was why Sophie was also so damn good at causing mischief and acting completely innocent at the same time. The apple hadn’t fallen far in her case.
“Stop distracting me,” she quipped, “or it’ll be tomorrow before I get this whole story out.”
“Sorry. Continue.”
“Okay. Where was I?” She frowned and rewound the narrative until finding where she left off. “So we’re in crap heaven when she spies a display of cringe-worthy chocolates fashioned into sex toys. Donald the dildo.”
Parker snicker-snorted and coughed. His face said sorry, but he was so not!
“Obviously, she bought one. Sophie. What else can I say?”
Parker’s face acknowledged the truth in her words. “Indeed.”
“In case you’re wondering, and I can tell by your snotty chuckles that you are, it wasn’t for personal use but rather earmarked as a gag gift for the winery’s general manager.”
“Interesting … personal use.”
“Ew, no,” she bit back. “Only a guy would think it’s okay to put food items in someone’s hoo-ha.”
“Relax, baby girl. Your hoo-ha is safe.” He shrugged so cutely and drawled, “Sacred ground if you catch my meaning.”
“Well, there you have it. Donald the chocolate dildo.”
“I’m surprised Sophie would go that far.”
The urge to zip her lips and say no more was fierce. “Sophie is complicated.” She stupidly imagined he’d let it drop after that.
Parker studied her face for an uncomfortable minute. Being married to a lawyer would be a lifelong challenge.
“Define complicated.”
Oh, shit. She shouldn’t have said anything. Angie shifted around on the large blanket to a more comfortable position. In the end, she went right back to sitting cross-legged and picked at the blanket beneath her.
Outing her sister’s less-than-subtle behavior wasn’t something she ever wanted to do. Sophie was entitled to deal with her demons in whatever way she saw fit.
But … Parker. He was the exception to every rule. Sharing her innermost thoughts with him was natural.
“If you tell anyone I said this, I will be very, very mad.”
He reached out and gently stroked the skin on her shoulder. Before pulling away, he slid his finger beneath the strap of her bathing suit and lifted it off her shoulder till it dangled.
The distraction caught her off guard.
“All your secrets are safe with me, Angel.” His voice had turned deep, husky, and incredibly sexy.
She chewed on her lip. “Um, my sister has a, uh, mean streak.”
A snort of amused laughter met her remark. “Tell me something I don’t know.”
Biting her lip until it throbbed, she wiggled on the beach blanket and grimaced. “Fuck. Okay. I’m only saying this once. She sorta, kinda, um, well not sorta. She definitely took a spin on the dance floor with what’s called revenge sex.”
“Excuse me?”
Yeah. Angie shared her husband’s shock. Considering her sister’s unfortunate history and the battering her mental health took as a result, vengeance fucks probably came out of left field.
“I think it’s how she dealt with what happened. It wasn’t just the passive-aggressive bullying that did her in. It was knowing she’d been used. And that others judged her for it.”
“Wow. I’m shocked but wanna give her mad props for being a hard ass about it. Totally fucked up way of looking at it on my part, but where your brother and I are concerned? If we’d known who fucked her over, he’d have been dealt with. Severely. I’m glad she didn’t roll over and play dead permanently.”
“It was just a phase. Didn’t last long but my sister was a total bitch to a couple of men. I’m not even sure she actually did the deed or if she just toyed with them. Well,” she admitted with a shoulder roll, “that’s not entirely true. I know for a fact that a couple of years ago, she took the four F’s a bit too far with someone doing business with the winery. My dad found out and went apeshit.”
“What are the four F’s?”
Angie smirked. “Um, that’s a modern term. Probably not something an old guy would hear.”
He flipped the other strap off her shoulder with a warning growl and tugged the top of her suit down till he’d exposed her breasts.
“F’s. Four of them,” she teased. “Find. Feel. Fuck. Forget.”
“Seriously?” he growled while pinching her hard nipples.
Angie laughed and swatted his hands away. “Hey! You asked.”
Her husband’s eyes shone with approval. “Thank you for sharing.”
An unexpected flash of anxiety shook her. “Please don’t think badly of her.”
“Oh, sweetheart,” he murmured. “Thinking badly of Sophie isn’t in the cards. She’s my sister too, ya know? I’m aware of the trust she has in me. It’s mutual.”
On impulse, she blurted out, “She knew about us, didn’t she?”
He shrugged. “Probably. But she didn’t interfere and didn’t tell Alex. That says a lot.”
Angie stretched out on her side and pulled on Parker’s arm until he did the same. Then she wiggled into his arms and put her head on his chest. There wasn’t anything to say so she listened to the beating of his heart and sighed. The warmth and contentment she felt in his embrace made everything right in the world.
His hands started stroking the bare skin on her back, causing her to shiver from the tingling sensation. She bent her leg and shimmied it between his until she rode one of his muscular thighs.
“I adore you, my sweet angel,” he softly murmured into her hair.
She felt the shift from playful to completely serious and reacted instinctually.
“Can we make love here, Parker?” Angie lifted her head and gazed into his beautiful eyes. “I know it’s wicked to ask while we’re out in the open in broad daylight.”
His gaze held so much love that her breath caught.
“I know that’s not what you had planned.” She smirked ever so slightly. “There’s no way a sandbar seduction was left to chance. Am I right?”
“You are correct, my love. But not the way you might think. We’re honeymooners, so every damn second of the day is a planned seduction. But what I had in mind for this moment will be perfectly suited for making slow, deep, powerful love to my beautiful wife.”
She looked around. “Being surrounded by water makes this feel like our very own island.”
“A fabulous memory.”
After a short kiss, she stood and wiggled out of her suit. Making sure her Tiare flower remained in place, she readied for her husband’s possession. He held out his hand and drew her onto the blanket.
Beneath a cloudless blue sky in a lush, fragrant tropical paradise, he took them on an erotic journey that culminated with him slowly and deeply stroking her to a spine-tingling climax that made her sob from the beauty of it.
The memory they made was too beautiful for words.
Clinging to him in the aftermath, he wiped away her tears and reminded her again and again how much he loved her—had always loved her.
Though she couldn’t explain how or why, Angie’s secret heart of hearts was confident that their incredible love story found fertile ground inside her body. The baby she longed for would make his or her presence known in due course. For now, she just wanted to love the man who held her heart and soul.
This was their time, and the two of them were all that mattered.