I disengage myself carefully from her sleeping form. I don’t want to leave her. I want to snuggle with her all day.

I’m hard, but this morning wood is special. I want to release it inside her, but I know she’s sore from last night. I took her twice. I wanted to take her a third time but she’d bled and I didn’t want to hurt her any further. I gave her three orgasms but I knew her pussy couldn’t take any more pounding.

I reluctantly leave the bed we’ve shared all night. I didn’t want anybody to see me in her room. Not yet. I want to marry her properly before people would start getting any ideas that I’ve been having sex with my ward before marriage.

Where Anya is concerned, I’m very conservative. She deserves my name. After she has my name, I don’t care what society thinks.

I kiss her cheek gently, careful not to wake her up and hastily don my track pants back on. I leave her room quietly.

Back in my room, my mind races. So many things to do. I want everything to be in order for me and Anya.

I have many fears, not for myself, but for Anya. She’s young and society is cruel. She’s been sheltered and I don’t know if she can handle the consequences of our union. But I pray that she’s stronger than I think she is.

Society will never approve.

The headlines would be screaming.

‘Billionaire marries his ward. He’s 42. She’s nineteen.’

I’ve never given a shit what the papers wrote about me. I’ve been scandal’s child since my mother died in a plane crash and rumored to have been giving her famous actor lover a blow job up in the sky while he was piloting the fucking plane. My father followed her to the grave shortly after from a fatal stroke, but rumors of his philandering ways surfaced after his death. So my folks were happily screwing other people while married to each other. For my effort in adding to the family tradition of purveying gossip for public consumption, I was a notorious womanizer with three high-profile failed marriages to my credit, the last one resulting in a tragedy. I’m immune to scandal.

This thing with Anya is going to be the mother of all scandals in my life once it gets out.

But society be damned. I don’t want to waste any more time without making her my wife.

For six years, I stood by her, took care of her, protected her like my most precious treasure, because she’s the most precious gem in my universe.

She’s mine.

Mine to take.

Mine to keep.

A NYA

I wake up to sunshine peeking through my bedroom windows.

For a few seconds my mind is blank. Then everything rushes back in my head.

I lie completely still, letting my thoughts settle.

My body starts to manifest the telltale signs.

I’m naked underneath the comforter.

Dave…

We…

I close my eyes again, my cheeks warming.

We’ve made love.

My body says it all today.

I feel tender in places he’s touched me.

My skin tingles in remembrance of his caresses and kisses.

My core clenches as memories of him entering me bombards my brain.

Oh God, I slept with Dave.

Finally, our relationship is no longer platonic.

I stretch on the bed like a cat and relish the aches and tenderness in my privates, smiling like silly.

Now where is he?

I roll to my side and I catch a note at the bedside table.

“I didn’t want to wake you, angel. Just need to attend a very important meeting today. Will see you as soon as I’m done. Will call you when you wake up.”

His message is a bit casual for my liking and I’m disappointed he left my bed while I was still asleep. But then again, he said it was a very important meeting, so…

I’m being childish. Dave is a head of a conglomerate and is a very busy man. I shouldn’t resent his job just because we’re now lovers. He did say he’d call. And it’s not like we won’t see each other later today.

Sighing, I sit up. Despite the soreness, I feel so alive today.

I reach for my phone on the side table. It’s been muted.

I smile. Dave is so sweet. He didn’t want phone calls waking me up unnecessarily. But he’s been calling too.

I dial his number. He’s not picking up. Maybe he’s in the middle of the meeting he was talking about.

I send him an “I miss you.”

I call Holly next.

“Girl! I’ve been calling for fifty years!”

“Sorry, overslept.”

“Until past noon?! Are you going to the wedding?”

Huh? I check the time on my phone. “Oh my God!”

I jump out of the bed and run to the bathroom.

“I’m going to take a quick bath now. Call you in a bit. Bye!”

A n hour later , I meet Holly at our favorite salon in Beverly Hills.

We hug each other.

“Listen, Anya, I’m really sorry about what happened.”

“Why are you apologizing? It was an accident, Holly. No one wanted it to happen. As if you told those deers to suddenly cross,” I tell her reassuringly.

“I know but…You know I should have just let the car take care of it instead of swerving. That car has autonomous emergency breaking mechanism, but I was surprised and swerved on instinct.”

“I’m not blaming you. Ever.” I hug her. “I’m just grateful we’re both okay, and those poor baby deers were unharmed.”

“Thanks, girl. Your Daddy hates me though.”

The way Holly said Daddy makes my cheeks heat up. She said it without malice though, but having used it with Dave in our love play last night, it has taken an entirely new meaning.

“I’m sure he’s not, Holly.”

“Last night when he saw me, I thought he’d reach out and throttle me.”

“Dave is not a violent person. He was worried for both of us, come on.”

“I know, but he disapproves of me just the same, with good reason now. He never liked me anyway and now I’m sure I’m banned in your house.”

“Stop that. He was just worried, but he’ll get over it. You and I are BFFs forever. Always remember that.”

Holly smiles. “Love ya.”

“Love ya.”

“Okay, let’s get dolled up.”

We enter the salon. We’re going to get our hair and makeup done, put on our bridesmaid gowns and proceed from here to Bel’s house. Our BFF is getting married at The Vineyard located at the crest of Beverly Hills itself, overlooking Los Angeles. It’s an awesome site for a wedding. Maybe I’d get married there, too, one day soon.

I smile to myself. Dave still hasn’t called. I just messaged him on my way here. “Getting ready for Bel’s wedding. See you there later. Thinking of you.”

Minutes later, Holly and I sit side by side as the stylists work on us.

“You seem to be on cloud nine today. Considering we had an accident last night, it’s kind of weird.”

I keep mum.

“Let me guess…Hmm, you and your secret BF did cam to cam, and to make you feel better he showed you his penis.”

I swat her arm, blushing.

But really, she wasn’t off the mark. Gosh! Is Holly psychic?

Holly gives a snickering laugh before firing another question. “Is your dad dating Marion Templeton?”

I freeze. Of all the things Holly would ask! How odd, but my heart lurches for some reason. “What made you think that?”

“Saw them together on Insta.”

“What…did you see?”

“They were quite cozy in the pics playing golf at Indian Wells today. You haven’t seen it?”

“Marion and I are not connected on social media,” I say softly, controlling my voice. My cheeks feel hot but no longer from the thoughts of Dave’s lovemaking. My head seems to swell. Holly doesn’t have any idea that what she’s telling me is causing my blood pressure to shoot up.

Holly logs in to her Instagram account on her phone and shows me the pictures.

“Is it just my imagination or Marion is looking at your dad quite like a stepmom wannabe? Judge for yourself.”

I scan the pictures slowly. Too many for a woman to post about a man she’s not even officially romantically involved with. Or weren’t they?

No. I shouldn’t jump to conclusions. Dave would never do such a thing to me. To us. But it’s hard not to feel hurt when you see pictures of them laughing together like a happy couple.

“Some celeb gossip blogs have picked it up, by the way. Can’t blame them. Your Daddy Dave is quite a catch. Well…yeah, he is. I guess. What do you think?”

What do I think? I’m seeing bloody murder! “I…uhm…Micah is doing your lips so you’d better shut up for now.”

“Fine.”

I return Holly’s phone and inhale deeply to ease the clenching pressure in my chest.

The stylist is doing my eyes now which have become sensitive.

Oh God, don’t cry or you’ll look like a panda in the pictures later. It’s Bel’s wedding. No drama, please.

Just then, my phone rings.

It’s Dave.

I turn my phone off.

D AVE

S he’s so fucking beautiful , and I can’t wait to have her again. But I have to be patient as she’s playing bridesmaid to her friend who’s currently exchanging I dos in front of the Reverend.

I discreetly take my seat at the back row, mingling with the guests.

I came in late and I can’t wait to leave this place with my baby.

I start counting the time.

This day is taking too long for me.

That meeting required me to play 9 holes with Eli Templeton at a golf course in Indian Wells today. The man is making me chase him around country clubs all over the country the past months and it’s really getting old. He’s been playing hard to get, sizing me up, asking me personal questions. He’s a stalwart Republican with the most antiquated ideas about family and stewardship. I’m a bit worried my past would affect his decision but I’ve been clean the past six years. My womanizing days were over the day Anya came into my life.

Needless to say I played the worst game of my life. My mind was elsewhere. With my beautiful Anya lying in bed, sleeping like a nymph tired from our lovemaking. I couldn’t wait to leave the fucking place, board my chopper and be with her again.

My miserable game seemed to have boosted Eli’s ego. The seventy-five year old sure kicked my ass to the bunkers big time with the most embarrassing score.

We had a deal before we parted ways.

I flew back straight to L.A.

I missed my baby so bad. I haven’t had enough of her. Haven’t touched her enough. Haven’t kissed her enough. But she wasn’t home when I arrived. She went to attend her friend’s wedding. And she’s been dropping my calls all afternoon.

What is the little minx up to? I had to call Vlad to know she was okay and was just deliberately ignoring my calls.

I’m so pissed off but I’m so hard just looking at her in her bridesmaid gown.

Her skin glows in the sunset. She’s wearing a coral gown that flows down her body like water, accentuating the swell of her breasts and the curve of her ass. My muscles clench in yearning as I stare at her. I’m almost breathless with the need gripping my entire being.

My passion for her has been unleashed. Once tightly caged by my iron will, it now runs freely, hungry for more of her. I’ve tasted her. Smelled her. Felt her. Have been inside her. I’ve experienced how glorious it is to be sheathed in her tightness, engulfed in her passion that equals my own. I now know the indescribable bliss of coming inside her.

I want more. She’s got me addicted to her already.

Dammit, this is a beautiful wedding, but it’s delaying my pleasure.

A NYA

I plaster a phony smile on my face as I approach them. I’m trying hard to hold my temper in, but God, I feel violent.

How could he do this to me? I’ve been waiting for him all day and he was with this woman in some golf course all this time. And they’re still together here!

Marion stands tall beside Dave in that structured and ridiculously fabulous aquamarine gown that could only be Valentino. She looks like a postcard for the rich and glamorous. I feel gauche in my empire-cut, ultra-feminine gown which I designed according to Bel’s fairy tale fantasy.

“Anya,” Dave breathes my name, a big smile on his face. His eyes are warm on me, speaking to me. I’ve missed him all day, but he was with Marion. All fucking day!

He’s wearing a three-piece number that easily makes him the most gorgeous man in the crowd, but I give him the cold shoulder.

“Marion,” I greet his companion instead with a small smile.

“Anya,” Marion responds with a slight tip of her head as though she couldn’t be bothered by my presence. “It’s a beautiful day for a wedding, isn’t it?” she adds, obviously a master of small talk.

“Indeed.”

“Dave and I had a great day at the golf course today, too. Didn’t we, Dave?”

“I just bet.” I shoot Dave a mocking look.

He clears his throat. “I think Eli is finally going to give me what I want. It was a great day indeed.”

Marion smiles at him.

They look so fucking perfect together.

So it was Eli he was meeting today. But why was Marion there playing like his future wife and posting it all over social media?

Marion is trying to ambush my happy ending, I can very well tell now. In her dreams!

Dave is mine. Even more so now after what happened last night. And it was time I showed this plastic bitch who’s going to be the next Mrs. Knight. I loop my arms around Dave’s arm. “Dave, I’m hungry. Shall we go to the reception area now?”

“Good idea. Marion, are you with someone or would you like to join us?”

“Actually, I came alone. I’d love to join you.”

Dave glances at me as if asking for my permission. I slightly raise a brow, but it would be rude to say no, so I let him decide by saying nothing.

“Let’s go, ladies.”