One month later

I couldn’t believe how fast the time had gone by. One day I’d woken up to the pictures leaked onto the internet, learning over the course of a few minutes that my life as I knew it could very well be over.

And then I’d learned that I was going to be a father.

Now, I was getting married. That afternoon. I woke up to Chelsea nuzzling into the crook of my arm in that way I loved, the bedroom bathed in morning light.

“Morning, baby,” she said, a sleepy, lovely smile on her face.

“Morning, wife,” I said, slipping my hand under her head.

She raised her hand and waggled a finger at me in a jokingly chiding way.

“Not so fast,” she said. “Still got a full day ahead of us before you can call me that.”

“I know, I know,” I said. “Just trying it on for size.”

“And how does it feel?” she asked.

“Feels very, very nice.”

“Glad to hear, husband,” she said. Then her eyebrows raised in mild surprise. “Wow,” she said. “I do like the sound of that.”

I leaned in and gave her a soft kiss on the lips. “You ready for the insanity ahead?” I asked.

“I think so,” she said. “Still can’t believe we’re going with the enormous wedding instead of the private affair.”

“Wasn’t it your idea to have one last bash before we spend the next year hunkered down and focused on work and the baby?”

She chuckled. “May very well have been,” she said with a smile before coming in for another kiss.

“Having any regrets?” I asked.

“Nope,” she said. “But part of me is eager to get you back into bed tonight.”

I smirked.

“I’m in bed with you now, you know,” I said.

She rested her hand on my bare chest, letting it drift down the solid plane of my torso.

“That’s a good point,” she said. “But isn’t there some rule about sleeping with the groom before you get married?”

I closed my eyes, enjoying the feeling of her soft hand against my skin.

“I think that’s just about seeing the bride in the wedding dress. Nothing about fucking first thing in the morning.”

“Then I don’t think there’s anything stopping us,” she said.

My cock pulsed solid, tugging at the sheets that covered my lower body. I took hold of the covers and tossed them down, revealing both my solid prick and Chelsea’s body.

A smile crossed my lips when I laid eyes on her stomach. Her body was still slim and curvy and clad in nothing but a pair of skimpy white panties, but I loved imagining the baby growing in there. She was getting close to the end of her first trimester, and looked as gorgeous as ever.

Her hand continued down, over my abs and across the notches of my hips. Finally, it came to rest on the stiff thickness of my cock. She stroked it slowly, her beautiful eyes locked onto mine.

“That feel good, baby?” she asked.

“So fucking good,” I said. “But I need more than your hand.”

“Oh?” she asked. “And what is it that you need?”

“I need to be inside you so fucking badly.”

She took her hand from my cock, the end of my prick glistening with precum. I didn’t waste any time. I rolled over until I was on top of her, Chelsea’s legs spread open wide around me. I took a quick look down at her gorgeous pussy, wet and ready for me.

Chelsea put her hands onto my ass, pressing down hard and guiding me toward her. I lowered my hips, the head of my prick pressing against her wet lips and spreading them apart. With a slow downward motion, I entered her, Chelsea’s velvet pussy gripping me hard as I did.

“Baby,” she said as I began thrusting, “you feel so damn good. It’s like you’re right where you belong.”

I moved in and out of her, the pleasure tight against my cock.

“We’re meant to be, darling,” I said, bucking faster. “I love you so much.”

“And I love you.”

I drove into her harder and harder, my cock pulsing more and more with each thrust. I positioned my head near her neck, covering Chelsea’s skin with kisses as I listened to her soft exhalations.

It didn’t take much before her pussy tightened with orgasm. She moaned and bucked underneath me, rocking her hips in time with my thrusts.

My own orgasm came soon after and with a hard grunt I let it loose, draining myself deep inside of her as she pressed down on my ass. The pleasure exploded through my body, and it was all I could do to stay propped up on my arms.

Once I was done, I withdrew my cock, the cum warm on my prick. I fell onto my back at her side, and Chelsea quickly placed her head on my chest, and for a time I watched her rise and fall with each breath.

Minutes passed, and I began to feel like I could pass the whole day just lying here in bed with Chelsea, the wedding and everything else simply passing us by.

The buzzing of my phone on the nightstand, however, made it clear that wasn’t going to happen. I rolled over and picked up my phone, checking the screen. Sure enough, it was Mom, letting me know she was coming over to make breakfast for the two of us.

“I hope you’re hungry,” I said. “Mom’s on the way over.”

She smiled. “My parents doted on us last night, only fitting that yours would take over the duties today.”

I placed my feet on the ground and got up. “Speaking of which,” I said, “you think I made a good first impression?”

“Are you kidding?” she asked, getting up. “They loved you. And when my dad got a look at that Aston Martin in the garage, I was pretty sure he wanted you to marry him instead of me.”

I laughed.

“Come on,” I said. “Let’s get to it. Race you to the shower.”

The two of us hurried into the bathroom and into the shower, taking our time getting good and clean. When we were all done, we got dressed just in time to see my phone buzz again with a text from my mom, letting us know she was here.

The elevator doors opened as we stepped into the living room, Mom hurrying into the place like she was outrunning a fire.

“Someone’s excited about the wedding,” I said.

“Morning, morning,” she said, hurriedly putting her purse down and taking out her laptop. “You two hear the news?”

Chelsea and I shared a look. We knew this could only mean one thing.

“Did they—?” Chelsea asked.

“They did,” said Mom, powering up the laptop. “Take a look.”

She turned the screen toward us, which was open to one of the local gossip websites.

The headline read, “Sentencing in Celebrity Phone-Hacking Trial.”

“This I have to see,” said Chelsea, sliding into the seat in front of the laptop and leaning close to the screen.

I stood over her shoulder and watched as she clicked the link and scanned through the story.

“Holy shit,” she said after a time. “Two years of probation for Hunter and Becca and Walsh. Not a single one of them got off.”

“They deserve everything they get,” said Mom.

I was still in awe of how Chelsea had managed to pull it off. She hadn’t wasted any time in getting to the bottom of who’d hacked my phone, calling on the help of all of her former employees in the tech department.

They were all more than happy to assist. Together, over the course of no more than a day, they’d found evidence that linked the phone hack back to Walsh and Becca. We turned the evidence over to the police, and it wasn’t long at all before they implicated Hunter, Walsh and Becca cracking under the pressure and giving up his name as soon as they could.

Felicity had managed to stay clear of any criminal wrongdoing, but word out of Hollywood was that she was radioactive—offers were drying up. Turns out no one wanted to do business with a backstabbing schemer who’s leaked her own scandalous photos.

I still couldn’t believe it—a conspiracy at my own company. But thanks to Chelsea, we’d outsmarted them and made sure that the company stayed in my hands. Once Damien and the rest of the investors had been made aware of the plot, they were more than eager to provide whatever money I needed.

Carver was growing into one of the biggest companies in the city, Chelsea and I were getting married, and a baby was on the way. Everything was so perfect I couldn’t believe I wasn’t living in some kind of dream. I only wished my father were there to see it.

I leaned over and kissed Chelsea on the cheek. She turned, giving me a quizzical look.

“What was that all about?” she asked.

“Just had to make sure this was all real,” I said.

She smiled before coming in for another kiss.

“It’s all real,” she said. “I’m yours, and you’re mine. And all that’s left to do is turn this fake marriage into a real one.”

I smiled, my heart full of more happiness than I’d ever thought possible.

“Then let’s go get married.”