“Venice. Is that really where we are going, or is it one stop on many?” I ask as I take my seat next to Asher on the flight to Venice.
He sighs. “I can see that you are going to drive me crazy with questions from now until the trip ends.”
“Yep,” I reply.
Asher rolls his eyes. “Fine. We are starting in Venice because I heard it’s beautiful and romantic, and I figured that is what is needed for our first night as a married couple.”
My heart is racing in my chest as I think about what Venice is going to be like. I live in one of the most beautiful places on the planet and have traveled extensively on business, usually to the poorest places in the world. But, now, I get to go experience the beauty of another place.
“And then?” I ask because it seems like there is more up his sleeve than just going to Venice.
“And then we are going to backpack across Europe. Stay wherever we can find a place to stay or sleep in a tent. It will be a great adventure, waking up every night in a new place, not knowing where or what we are going to be doing the next day.”
I smile, but it doesn’t sound at all exciting. It sounds terrifying. I like control too much to be okay with his plan. Maybe once we get to Venice, we will love it so much that we just stay there. Or maybe I can arrange for us to visit several places in Europe while we are there.
Asher grabs my hand and kisses me on the lips. My eyes close when his lips touch mine, and I feel the softness of his lips before his tongue moves with mine.
When he leans back, he grins. “Are you relaxed now?”
“Mmhmm,” I say with a goofy smile on my face.
He quickly kisses me on the forehead. “Stop worrying. Stop trying to control everything. Just relax.”
I lean my head back in my chair and close my eyes, trying to do just that. When I open them again, I see Asher staring at me. Happy to be doing nothing more than just watching me, it seems.
He slowly puts his arm around me, and I settle in against his chest and close my eyes.
“Just sleep. When you wake up, we will be in a whole new world.”
I smile and take a deep breath as I close my eyes. Immediately, I feel sleep coming for me. I didn’t realize how tiring it was to plan two weddings this week. But, for now, I get to sleep.
* * *
It’s early morning by the time we land in Venice. I slept almost the whole flight, only waking when they served us breakfast before we landed. I have no idea how Asher managed the flight. I slept against his hard chest, and somehow, he must have slept, too, because he seems to be just as rested as I am when we depart the plane.
As we leave the cab that brought us to our hotel in the heart of the city, I don’t get to focus on how beautiful the city is. Instead, all I can think and worry about is how there is no way he brought everything that I’d need in the single backpack that he has slung over his back. No way.
Asher rolls his eyes at me and takes my hand, like I’m a five-year-old child he has to corral. He leads me into the lobby of the hotel and over to the front desk.
“Are you checking in?” the man behind the desk asks in English with a sharp Italian accent.
He can already tell that we are American tourists, just from looking at us.
“Yes. I’m Asher Calder.”
“Ah, the honeymooners!” the man says.
He grabs a key that looks to be an actual key, not a card, and that’s when I realize this isn’t a hotel. At least not what I think of when I think of hotels.
The man starts scurrying us along as he starts speaking in Italian, much too fast for either of us to understand. But we follow until we get to a room at the top of the stairs. The man opens the door for us with a large smile on his face. He hands Asher the key and then says something else I can’t make out before leaving us here.
Asher sets the backpack down on a chair as we both look around the room. It’s beautiful. Smaller than I’m used to but definitely full of beauty and charm. It feels as if we stepped into a different time though. The bed looks to be an antique although the bedspread is a beautiful material of red and gold. The nightstands also look to be solid wood with deep carvings on them, nothing like the stark coldness of hotel rooms back home.
I see a door to what I assume is the bathroom, but I don’t look inside. Instead, I follow Asher out onto the balcony that is attached to our room, and my jaw drops. The balcony is small. Just big enough for both of us to be out here with a tiny table and set of chairs, perfect for two people to sit on.
But, my God, the view.
“It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before,” I say as I place my hand on the edge of the balcony and look down at the river below.
Asher’s fingers brush against mine, and then I feel his eyes on me. “Like nothing I have ever seen before either.”
I suck in a breath, but I love hearing his words all the same even if they are a lie. I want to feel loved even if I can’t fall in love back. And lines like that show that Asher is one step closer to falling in love with me.
I grab Asher’s neck at the same time as he grabs my hips, and we press our lips together in a passionate kiss, agreeing that we need this more than exploring Venice. We need it as much or more than the air we breathe. We need sex. We need that connection that we haven’t had since yesterday evening before we were married.
His tongue slips into my mouth, and he has me moaning and wet with just his tongue in my mouth and not yet on other places. I cry silently to myself, thanking God that I get to have this man completely to myself. I don’t think about the fact that this is a temporary arrangement. That he isn’t really mine forever. He’s mine for now, and that’s enough.
Although I could kiss him for hours, I need more. Now. I need his tongue all over my body. I need to see his muscles flexing as he moves inside me. I need to feel his hard dick pressing into my soul. I’ve been with plenty of men before, but for some reason, I think Asher could show me things that none of the others ever have before. He’s made me come more in one day than Wes did in a year. Although I’d never admit it to Asher. His ego is already too large.
I grab hold of his shirt and begin pulling it up, loving how my fingers ripple over the ridges of his abs as I move the shirt higher and higher. Wes was in shape. But nothing like Asher is. I pull the shirt off and stop kissing him long enough to properly admire him. Now that we are married, I can gawk at him without feeling ashamed.
I suck in a breath as my eyes soak in every bit of his body.
“Strip naked, so I can get a better look at you, and then fuck me,” I say.
He chuckles. “You dirty girl.”
He doesn’t do what I asked though. Instead, he lifts me, carrying me in his arms back inside. “I’ll fuck you anyplace, anywhere. But I’m not going to fuck you on a hard balcony where anyone could glimpse your body. Not when we have a nice soft bed just inside.”
I’m surprised at how gently he is carrying me. It’s almost romantic. Not that I think this man has a romantic bone in his body. But, still, it’s a nice feeling.
Asher gently tosses me on the bed. “Strip.”
I smile. I hate admitting that, as much as I want to be in control in almost everything in my life, I love having Asher boss me around.
“No,” I say because I want to hear him order me around again.
His eyes darken just a little as he glares at me. “Strip, or I won’t make you come.”
I frown. “You play dirty.”
“I thought you liked it dirty,” he says, winking.
I suck in a breath and then take off my shirt.
He grins when I finally give in. I quickly take off my bra and start moving to my jeans when Asher starts stripping as well. And, suddenly, I move much slower with my own clothes because my eyes are too transfixed on him instead of the task at hand.
“Strip,” Asher says again more firmly.
I move quicker until I’m completely naked and lying on the bed. Asher grabs a bottle of champagne that I didn’t see chilling when we first came into the room. He moves to the backpack on the floor and pulls out a condom. He picks up his T-shirt for some reason before he walks toward me.
As he walks, my eyes drink in every bit of his hard body. His cock is already hard, waiting for me. He sets the condom and bottle down on the end table next to the bed. He takes his T-shirt in his hand as he straddles me, his cock pressing into my stomach.
He takes the T-shirt and moves it over my eyes.
I frown. “I want to see you.”
“You will. Just not with your eyes.”
He ties the T-shirt over my eyes, and other than another pout, I don’t protest. I let him cover my eyes. I let him be in control.
I feel his lips on mine, rewarding me for letting him put the blindfold on. His lips move to my neck, and the feeling is more intense than anything I have ever felt before.
I bite my lip to keep from moaning too loudly. I’m not sure how insulated the walls are, but I don’t want our neighbors to hear me.
Suddenly, I feel cold liquid trailing over my breasts, followed by his lips warming the liquid as it moves over my breasts. The difference between the hot and cold sends shivers down my spine.
“I want to properly enjoy every bit of your body, Sloane. I didn’t get the chance to earlier.”
I take a deep breath in and out. “I don’t know if I can wait until you have properly enjoyed every bit of my body.”
I feel his grin against the peak of one of my nipples as I squirm beneath his touch. I grab hold of the nape of his neck, trying to push his head down to fully take my nipple in his mouth instead of teasing me like he is. He does relent though, and I squirm as his tongue expertly glides over my nipple that is covered in the cool liquid.
“Fuck, Asher,” I say, my toes curling, as he moves to the other hard peak.
I feel more of the cold liquid over my smooth stomach, going down my body with his warm lips moving it around, igniting every nerve in my body. The liquid moves down one leg, and his lips trace the liquid down, making me come unglued at his touch.
“Don’t move,” he says.
His lips start moving down my inner thigh, and I can’t help but squirm.
“I. Can’t. Help. It. I need—”
But Asher already knows where I’m going with my moans. His tongue and lips encase my pussy as I moan and pray for him to never stop what he is doing. Never. Because I’ve never had a man move his tongue over my clit like this man is doing now.
I thought sex with him was good before, but now that I’ve had his lips on my pussy, I can’t imagine that my days of feeling like this are numbered. That I won’t get to experience this every day for forever.
I shake the thought away though as his tongue moves faster over my clit just as he slips a finger inside me.
“My God, Asher,” I say, barely able to get the words out.
“Don’t come. Not yet, sweetheart.”
My whole body tenses, trying to do as he asked. To not come until he tells me to come. But, every second, I inch closer to coming and not caring about disobeying him.
He must sense how close I am because he stops. And, suddenly, his body isn’t touching me anywhere. I take a deep breath in and out, in and out, trying to slow my beating heart, as I wait for Asher to touch me.
He doesn’t. He takes his damn time because he has more patience than anyone on the planet. He must have patience to have me naked, lying in front of him, and not fucking me immediately. I know he wants to fuck me just as badly as I want to fuck him.
I reach up, trying to touch him.
“Stop,” he says as soon as I move.
I do.
“Patience,” he says. “Trust me,” he whispers in my ear.
I nod a little, letting him know that I do, despite everything I know about him. Knowing how horrible of a person he really is, I do trust him. At least I do with my body. He has more than proven he is capable of handling that.
So, I try to be patient. I try to think about what adventures we are going to have in Venice. But, for the life of me, I can’t remember what Venice is famous for or even what country I am in at the moment.
All I can think about is Asher. His grin. His abs. His cock. And how much I want—no, need him to fuck me right now. Every nerve in my body is alive and on fire. Every part of me aches to be his. Every part of me is begging for him to do more. Touch me. Kiss me. Fuck me.
Anything. Just do anything.
I hear him move. Barely, but I hear it. I hear him opening the condom wrapper, and I assume—no, hope that he is rolling it onto his cock.
He moves. He’s in control. He didn’t tie me up. I can move if I want to, but somehow, he controls me all the same. I don’t move because he told me not to.
I feel him climb back on top of me. I feel his cock settle in between my legs. I feel his breath on my neck. And I know, if he so much as whispered the word come, I would in a second without him even touching me.
“Take me,” he says as he finally pushes inside me. His lips kiss my neck as he fills me.
I try to stifle my cries and moans.
“Scream, Sloane. Tell me how much you want this.”
I let out a cry of pure ecstasy that I’m sure is much too loud, but I don’t care because Asher told me to.
“Not yet,” he says as he thrusts inside me.
I stop screaming and go back to biting my lip and curling my toes to keep from coming. I’ve never been blindfolded before, but now that I am, I’m not sure I want to go back to seeing. Because losing my sight has made everything that much better. I can see with my whole body.
He moves again, and I suck in a breath, but I know I can’t keep from coming any longer.
“Come, Sloane.”
I do as he screams, “Fuck, baby!”
We both come, and then he collapses on top of me. He removes the blindfold as we catch our breaths, and we stare into each other’s eyes.
“I don’t think I’m ever going to get enough of fucking you, Sloane.”
I grin and bite my lip because I don’t think I’m ever going to get enough of him either. And, as much as we are compatible when it comes to sex, we aren’t one in any other way. I can’t fall in love, or even lust, with him because this isn’t going to last.
* * *
We can’t keep our hands off of each other as we walk down the street to the closest café. One fuck isn’t enough to satisfy either of us.
“If your stomach hadn’t growled three times while I was fucking you, I would still have you in my bed right now, finding every possible way to keep fucking you,” Asher whispers into my ear.
I grin. “Then, we must eat quickly.”
Asher shakes his head as he drinks in my body again. I’m wearing a simple sundress that Asher packed for me. He brought one dress, one pair of jeans, one pair of shorts, a few pairs of underwear, and my toothbrush. Everything else, he said we could buy or make do without. And it seems that we are going to be spending most of our time naked anyway. So, I guess it doesn’t matter.
We are seated at a small table and have to break apart in order to sit down. But, as soon as the waitress leaves, Asher scoots his chair over so that he is sitting right next to me. He puts his arm around my shoulders as we both stare down at the menu that is in Italian.
“Do you have any idea what any of these things are or how to pronounce them?” I ask.
He shrugs. “Does it matter? We are in Italy. I’m sure whatever we order is going to be amazing.”
“I don’t think I care as long as I can fill my stomach and then get back to our hotel room,” I say, winking.
He laughs. “I am not letting us go back to our hotel room until we have at least had a chance to explore more of Venice first.”
I frown. “Then, you are going to have to fuck me in an alleyway because I’m not waiting past lunch to have you again.”
Asher’s eyes dart playfully from mine up to where our waiter is standing, looking at us with a bit of a shocked expression on his face. We might not understand Italian, but it is clear that he understands English.
“What can I get for you two lovebirds?” he asks, finally smiling at us after the initial shock of hearing me swear in front of him.
“Um…” I look down at the menu, not having a clue. I’m not the most adventurous person with my food.
Asher notices my expression. “We will each have a glass of wine. Whatever red you recommend for me and…” Asher looks at me, waiting for me to answer.
“White,” I say.
“White for her. And we will have whatever you recommend for our meals. Something with a bit of variety would be good. We would love to try as much as we can.”
“Excellent, sir. I’ll have the chef prepare a sampler platter for you.”
“Thank you,” Asher and I say at the same time.
The waiter leaves and returns in seconds with a bottle of red and white wine that he pours for each of us. He leaves us again, and I open my mouth to say something when a basket of bread suddenly appears at our table.
Asher smiles at me and moves to hold my hand, but then he grabs for the bread instead. I laugh at his antics and then grab a piece of bread for myself.
“Oh God. This is the best damn thing I think I’ve ever tasted. Sorry, sweetheart, but this bread tastes better than you,” Asher says.
I laugh again and take a bite of the bread, and I immediately fall in love. “I think I’ve just fallen in love with a piece of bread,” I say with a mouthful of bread.
Asher laughs but shovels in more bread. I do the same.
The waiter comes back a few minutes later with two giant plates of all sorts of different foods. My eyes grow wide as I look at all the food we’re expected to eat.
“Bon appétit!” the waiter says before leaving us to eat our enormous meal.
We dig into the food. Neither of us speaks. We just eat. And eat and eat.
But, eventually, my stomach starts to grow full, and my hunger turns back to other needs. Asher is still shoveling in food, but I know he can’t keep eating for much longer. He must be close to as full as I am at this point.
And I don’t want him thinking that we are ready to go exploring just yet. I need to explore more of him before I spend any time exploring the town. I need a lot more of him. Like at least the rest of today, tonight, and part of tomorrow before I’m satiated enough to be able to focus on exploring the rest of the town. I just need to figure out how to get him on board with my plan.
We are seated outside on the patio of the restaurant. There are a couple of other couples here, but none seem to be paying us any attention. I know Paris is considered the place to go for love, but it looks to me like Venice might give Paris a run for its money.
I don’t think anyone is going to be able to see me or even care if they do realize what I am doing. So, I take a chance. I slide as close as I can to Asher and slide my hand under the napkin in his lap. He doesn’t look up from his plate. He just keeps shoveling in food until I slip my hand into the waistband of his pants. I find his cock, and within seconds, it starts to grow hard within my grasp as I massage him.
He cocks his head to one side and looks at me with a grin on his face. “Is that the way you are going to try and gain control back?”
I smile. “Is it working?”
He sucks in a sharp breath when I tighten my grip on his throbbing cock again.
“It depends on what you think a win is for you.”
“Getting you to spend the rest of the day fucking me in our hotel room is a win. So, have I won yet? Or do I need to work harder?” I say, winking.
Asher adjusts his chair, forcing me to let him go. I frown as I watch him reach into his pocket and pull out some money. He waves our waiter down and hands him money, asking if it’s enough. When the waiter nods, Asher grabs my hand, pulling me from my chair.
I grin as he does. I won. I knew I would. No man can resist, not once they are turned on, no matter how much they want to win.
We exit the restaurant and start walking the couple of blocks back to our hotel room when Asher pulls me abruptly into an alleyway. He pushes me up against the brick wall and kisses me harder than he ever has before. I can’t breathe while he kisses me. It’s too much and not enough all at the same time.
“What are you doing?” I ask when I can breathe again.
“I’m winning by fucking you here instead of in the hotel room.”
I grin. “I don’t care as long as you fuck me.”