I can’t believe I let him talk me into this.

But I wouldn’t – couldn’t – lie.

It had felt good.

As soon as I stepped off my flight, I’d had to go straight to the hospital to see about Devyn and the baby, and be with the family through that rough time. That day and the one after it had passed in a blur, and then after Devyn was stable and Joseph was calm, and baby Josie was absolutely perfect, I was able to unpack my suitcase, and settle in at home.

And then, with a week until Christmas Eve, I woke up to Justin staring at me, smiling.

“Marry me today,” he’d said, holding up the marriage license we’d applied for before I left for my trip. It had to have come while I was gone, and that official document made it feel so much more real.

I didn’t really care why he wanted to it today.

I just said “yes”.

Because I trusted my best friend.

Aviva, my cousin, was going to be my maid of honor when we did the big shebang in a few months, so calling her to stand as my witness – and help me find something to wear – wasn’t even a question. Justin’s friend Rich came to stand with him. Our wedding bands had already been chosen, and were in the safe, waiting for the occasion.

I was Mrs. Wright by that afternoon.

“How hard do you think everybody is gonna flip when they found out we did this?” Justin asked, pulling into a parking spot on the west side of the BSU campus. This had been our hangout spot as students here – complete with the green apple slushes we were both slurping now.

“We don’t have to tell them,” I shrugged, popping the top of my slush, then reaching for his, to top both off with the cheap vodka we’d grabbed, for nostalgia’s sake. “The rings could go back in the safe, and it could stay between us, until the wedding.”

Justin scoffed. “And not brag about finally being able to call you my wife? You got tipsy fast, huh?”

“Oh whatever,” I laughed, returning his drink. “You’re telling me you can’t keep a secret for four months?”

“I can definitely keep a secret, Mrs. Wright… when I want to. But this isn’t one I want to keep, unless it’s what you’d prefer.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Boy please. I can’t wait to join the Constant Obnoxious Reference to my Huuuuzbun club, are you crazy?”

Chuckling, Justin detached from his seatbelt and exited the driver’s side of the vehicle, coming around to my side. He winked at me as he opened my door, unclipping me before he moved to open the side door of the SUV.

“What in the world is going on?” I asked, not really needing the answer once I stepped out. He’d already hit the button to make the back seats sink into the floor, and as I watched, he was spreading a thick blanket out. “You’re not serious,” I laughed, and he turned to me with a grin.

“Oh I’m deadass.”

I shook my head, taking a long sip from my spiked slush. “Last time we tried this, we got caught by the cops.”

“Last time we tried this, was a Friday night in the middle of the semester – nobody is going to be out here on a Monday evening when classes aren’t even in session.” He abandoned the spreading of the blanket to put his hands at my waist, pulling me into him. “Come on, Mrs. Wright… it’s technically our honeymoon.”

“Really nigga?” I giggled. “This is why you wanted to go and get married, isn’t it? So you could talk me into public sex again.”

His hands went to my ass, gripping and squeezing as he easily picked me up, depositing me on the blanket-covered floor. He climbed in too, closing the door behind him before he faced me, shaking his head.

“Nah, you would’ve been about this life anyway, don’t front,” he teased, already undoing the buttons of my ivory blazer. “I wanted to marry you because I didn’t want to wait to be your husband another second longer than I had to. And… another reason I’ll tell you later. And…” he let out a deep sigh, and his hands went still at the waist of my matching ivory slacks. “If, God forbid, something happened to either of us, between now and the wedding… I wouldn’t be able to live with it if…”

He stopped speaking, seemingly unable to find the words for what he was trying to say. Still, I nodded, stowing my cup in the door so I could pull his face between my hands.

I knew what he was saying, and I knew what had sparked it.

We’d all been there at the hospital with Devyn and Joseph – had seen how he’d been able to manage her care with little red tape, because they were husband and wife. It wasn’t the sexiest thing in the world, but it was real, and it was responsible. Seeing how quickly Devyn’s health took that turn had put our own mortality right in our faces. And the fact was, if we hadn’t done this, and Justin died tomorrow, the wedding itself wouldn’t even register in my list of regrets.

Not having exchanged those vows, though?

Would kill me too.

“You aren’t nearly drunk enough if you’re being this sappy, Mr. Wright,” I told him, biting my lip as I reached for his pants. He smirked, and sat back, grabbing his drink from the front cupholder as I stripped him out of the beautiful charcoal suit he’d worn for the ceremony, and then rid myself of the rest of my clothes too.

It was cold.

And still relatively light outside.

Both of those were pretty exciting.

I grinned as Justin pulled the blanket over us, wrapping us like a cocoon before he brought his vodka and green-apple flavored lips to mine. Because of the drink, at first his hands were cold against my hot skin, creating a contrast that put my sensitive places on even higher alert than they already were, so different, so good, that I was a little sad when his hands finally warmed.

I got over it quickly though.

What else was there to do but get over it, when his hot mouth was so attentive to my nipples, and his scorching fingers were so skilled between my legs? I stretched out, enjoying every second of my husband’s rapt attention to my neck, my breasts, my stomach, my thighs, and then finally between my legs.

My mouth fell open and stayed that way as his tongue worked, and worked, and worked, until I was bucking against his mouth as I orgasmed, all underneath that blanket.

He came up for air wearing a goofy, satisfied grin that turned to wide-eyed wonder as I shoved him onto his back while he was caught off guard. It was my turn under the blanket, breathing him in and swallowing him whole and massaging handfuls of his balls, and finding nothing to complain about when he dug his hands into my hair and bucked his hips, plunging himself into my throat as he released, and I greedily took every drop.

“Goddamn, Mrs. Wright, ” he grunted, flipping the blanket back.

I licked my lips as I crawled up his body, ready to ride him into oblivion. “Mmmm. Was that good for you, Mr. Wright?”

“Hell yes.”

I squealed as he flipped us over so he was on top, then spread my legs and buried himself in me in such quick, fluid movements I couldn’t do anything but take it. And moan. And love how he felt, hard and thick and so deep it made me squirm.

He grabbed me by the feet, spreading them as wide as he could in the confines of the SUV as he pulled back, then plunged again.

And again.

And again.

“Oh God yesssss,” I groaned, grabbing and pinching my nipples as he built up a steady rhythm. It wasn’t cold without the blanket anymore – we’d built enough heat that the windows were starting to fog. He hooked my legs over his shoulders so he could hold me by the waist, using it as leverage to stroke deeper, faster, harder, snatching away my breath.

And then he went deeper.

Leaning in, with my legs still up on his shoulders, capturing my mouth in another sweet kiss as he buried himself to the root. I melted underneath him, not holding back a single sound of pleasure or praise, damn near choking on my tongue when he gave me one last plunge I felt deep in my stomach, and stayed there, sending wave after wave of pleasure coursing through my back and legs and… everywhere.

Goddamn was exactly right.

“We’ve gotta do this more often,” he declared as he collapsed on the blanket next to me, panting.

I grinned, rolling onto my side to face him. “The public thing, or the vodka slush thing?”

“Both.” With hooded eyes, he reached for me, brushing my ruined hairstyle out of my eyes. “We can make this our anniversary tradition.”

I snuggled closer, tucking myself against his side as he pulled the blanket over us again. “I like the sound of that.”

I closed my eyes, basking in the afterglow of good sex, and deep love, and the high of pledging myself to a man I’d known – and loved – for most of my life. Happy couldn’t even describe how I felt, and I was content to stay exactly as we were until we absolutely had to leave…

A moment that came unfortunately soon.

My eyes shot open as a booming knock sounded on the window.

“Campus PD. Put on your clothes and step out of the vehicle!”