Cecily harrumphed. “Oh, c’mon! I am not that bad.”

Chase slipped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her to his side, pressing a kiss to her hair. “I’m game, if Malcolm agrees. I love a good party, so why not? We’re here for another three weeks. We can plan the event once we’re back in Boston.”

“I don’t want this to wait that long,” the lawyer replied. “How about we schedule the date for a week after you get back? That way I can have invitations made up and sent out, giving everyone a month’s notice. Cecy, I can have Nella get on securing a venue. Afterward, a couple of conference calls between you three should get the ball rolling nicely.”

“Nella?” Chase asked.

“My father’s party planner. She knows everyone and everything. Dad used to call her the Hedda Hopper of modern-day socialites.”

“Hedda Hopper?” Chase asked with a snort. “Sounds too made up not to be real.”

“Oh, she was real,” Cecily replied. “She was an old Hollywood gossip columnist who knew everyone and everything, including the secrets hidden in high society closets. Back in the day, glamour and glitz would only get you so far. Hedda Hopper could make or break you with a single column. Nella is her incarnate, and we need her.”

Chase kissed her, whispering above her ear. “We don’t need anyone, love. Just you and me and maybe a big bed to spread you wide.”

Malcolm cleared his throat. “Uhm, still on the phone, remember? I guess Cecily didn’t tell you that shifters have very acute hearing.”

“Oops.” Cecily snickered. “Sorry, Malcolm.”

“Yeah, yeah. Expect Nella’s call in the morning.”

Malcolm hung up, and Chase took Cecily’s phone from her hand and put it on the bench beside him. “Wow. I think we could both use a beer.”

He got up from the swing and held his hand out for her. She slid her fingers into his palm and his hand closed over hers. A perfect fit. She closed her eyes but didn’t reply.

“What’s the matter? I expected you to talk my ear off with ideas for this shindig, but instead you look apprehensive. If you didn’t want the reception, Cecy, why did you suggest it?” he questioned.

Cecily got to her feet, sliding her hand from his before moving around him to the screen door. “It’s not the party, Chase. It’s Jackson. I know this is going to sound like a cliché, but my Spidey senses are tingling. Something is off.”

“You said lawyering up with a smarmy attorney was right out of Jackson’s playbook. That doesn’t sound off to me. In fact, it sounds predictable in the extreme. Whatever trouble that asshole brings, we’ll meet it head on. Besides, Malcolm seems like he has a handle on everything.”

Cecily chewed her lip. “He usually does, but that night in your bar, Jackson knew about the marriage codicil in my father’s will. Malcolm told me that in private. That means someone on Malcolm’s staff is leaking information for a price. Jackson’s attorney wouldn’t file a petition contesting the will unless Jackson thought he had the upper hand, or at the very least had a plan of attack.”

“No one is going to attack you, Cecy. At least not while I draw breath.” Chase stepped behind her at the door and moved her long, dark hair away from her neck. “Let Jackson file all the petitions he wants. His lawyer is probably setting a legal precedent. Burying you in paper, so to speak.”

Dipping his lips to the top of her bare shoulder, he continued. “If Jackson tries anything else, it’ll be me that makes sure he’s good and buried, for real. You’re my wife, regardless of the circumstances. Where I come from, that means everything.”

You’re my wife…

Cecily’s stomach flipflopped at the words. They sounded strange in her ears, but not. Like new shoes that slowly become the most comfortable pair you’ve ever worn. She sighed to herself. Time was running out. Jackson knew about more than the marriage codicil. He knew about the mandate for her to produce an heir. If she didn’t tell Chase soon, Jackson would the first chance he got. She had no doubt that would make her a liar in Chase’s eyes. More than a liar. It would make her cunning and untrustworthy, and put her in the same category as Jackson.

She shook her head, trying to ignore the sour feeling forming in her gut. Thank God her back was to Chase. He’d see the doubt and fear on her face, and it would be game over before they really had the chance to begin.

He covered her hand on the screen door handle and turned the knob, pulling it open. “C’mon, Cecy. You need to relax. We’re team Villareal. We’re on our honeymoon, so try to focus on the fun of it all. If Malcolm sets this reception for a week after we get back, that leaves us three solid weeks of relative peace and quiet before the party of the century plunges us into society drama.”

She chewed her lip again. Chase was right. She needed to focus on the here and now, and the now of it was Chase’s strong hands on her skin.

Cecily let him steer her into the cozy living room, turning in his arms without missing a step. “Three weeks, huh? That’s just enough time to teach you how to dodge the wave of innuendo and gossip our hasty marriage will have stirred. Society waters can be treacherous, and we want to make a splash, not end up all wet.”

“Like I said at the lake, I like you all wet.” He walked her backwards, the same way he had in the bedroom, stopping when the backs of her legs hit the couch. He held her hands as she lowered herself to the edge of the sofa.

“You are incorrigible, you know that?” she said with a soft laugh.

Chase knelt in front of her, spreading her knees apart to get in closer. Her skirt bunched over her thighs, and he pushed the soft fabric higher, revealing creamy thighs.

“And you,” he replied, slipping his fingers beneath her chin, so she had to look at him. “Are not polished and perfected. I love that about you. I love that you blush at dirty words yet spread yourself for me wild and wet. It makes you real, Cecily. Genuine.” He cupped her pussy. “And that makes you irresistible. If this is what it takes to put a smile on your luscious mouth and take your mind of everything but us, then I will keep you naked and ready for the next three weeks.”

That same familiar invading thought nagged at the word genuine, and she bit her lip. Chase slipped a hand under her ass and lifted her hips to slide her panties from her legs. He spread her knees wider and dipped his head to her wet folds. His tongue delved deep as his hand worked her clit, circling the hard nub. He licked her pussy and then sucked the bud between his teeth.

Cecily cried out, sinking her hands into his hair, all thoughts of everything else gone.

“You’re so wet, love. Your shiny slit is dripping for me, but not yet.” He pulled his mouth from her sex and slid his hand up her belly, tweaking one nipple beneath her camisole.

Sitting back, he shrugged his shirt from his shoulders and then pulled Cecily to her knees in front of him. Her hands came up and she ran her fingers over the bulge in his jeans. She unbuttoned his fly and freed his cock.

Chase pushed his pants to his thighs and fisted his shaft, holding it to her waiting lips. “Open for me, Cecily.”

She licked his engorged head, running her tongue around the ridged edge and then down his thick shaft and back again. He sucked a hiss through his teeth, pulling back. “God, my cock is ready to burst, but I want your slick pussy.”

Watching her lay back on the bed, he pushed his pants to the ground and stepped out of the denim. He fisted her wrap skirt, pushing it higher as he climbed her body. He took her lips, kissing her, hungry and demanding. She gasped, breaking their kiss, her eyes burning with her animal clawing at the surface.

“Spread yourself for me, Cecily.” His voice was rough and low.

With speed she didn’t know she possessed, she flipped Chase onto the couch and straddled his hips. Ripping her dress over her head, he hooked his hands to her hips and lifted her ass. He pulled her up, driving his cock between her folds. A torrent of need shook every muscle, thrust after thrust, grind after grind. His fingers dug into her flesh as she rode him balls deep.

Cecily’s body clenched around him and she cried out again, this time her climax shuddering through her with a vengeance. She threw her head back and a feral sound ripped from her throat as her orgasm ripped through her body. Her fingers splayed tight across Chase’s chest. Claws burned beneath her nails with the need to mark the man, but she held back.

Chase lifted her high, flipping her beneath him in a tangle as he emptied himself deep within her. He held himself motionless for a moment before slumping forward, burying his face in her neck.

Cecily reached for his damp hair and breathed in his scent, the word mine reverberating through her mind.