Chapter 12
Kate
Well, this is it.
My last chance to change my mind, to go back to the life I left behind and the friends who helped me get where I am today.
I was given three months to change my mind. But I don’t need that long. I know what I want. Even though it’s only been a few weeks since that last night of filming. That crazy, wonderful night.
I haven’t seen him since then.
I’ve been living in a hotel.
He’s been busy.
Fixing up our house.
Making plans.
For our wedding.
Yes, you heard that right. We’re getting married. For real this time.
Today.
And he wanted to give me some space before I take this final vow.
Am I a little scared?
A little.
I can’t know for certain if he is really serious about quitting his career.
I can’t know what the future holds for us. Especially after the show airs. Reid warned me, things could get crazy.
But I can and do know one thing for sure.
I.
Love.
This.
Man.
He loves me.
And I want to be his wife. His real, legal wife.
I want to share all my days and nights with him. Both the ordinary and the extraordinary.
I want to laugh with him. I want to cry with him.
I’m ready to take the final leap.
Right here. Standing on the beach. Behind our honeymoon house. With the cameras rolling, one last time. Wearing the most beautiful dress I’ve ever seen. A filmy, frothy white gown that looks like glittering sea foam.
My heart pounds as I say, “Yes,” sealing the deal. “I do.”
And just like that, I belong to Reid Carter. Forever.
With the film crew capturing these precious moments, he slides the sparkling ring onto my finger, and I gasp. It’s so beautiful. I hadn’t expected such a fancy ring. A simple gold band like the one I’ve been wearing since our fake wedding ceremony would have done. In fact, I’m a little afraid I’ll wreck this glittering masterpiece--maybe knock that enormous center stone out. “This ring, my gift to you,” he says, “symbolizes my promise to you. To always love you, cherish you and protect you. Kate, it pales in comparison to the beautiful gift you’ve given me. Your heart.”
Ohmygosh. Those words.
Is this crazy or what? Who would’ve thought two people could really fall in love the way we have? In such a short time, and in such strange circumstances.
My eyes burn as I look into Reid’s eyes. They aren’t tears of sadness. Or regret. Or confusion. They’re tears of joy.
This reality television bride is in love with her groom.
Looking at me like a hungry bear about to take a great big bite of a tasty treat, Reid cups my chin and lifts it. His mouth smashes over mine, and all the air immediately blasts from the whole world. I loop my arms around his neck and hold on while his lips and tongue ravage mine in a bone-melting kiss.
There can be no doubt. I belong to my husband. To Reid.
Then, while the cameras capture our every movement, my husband scoops me off my feet and turns to them.
“That’s a wrap. I’m calling it this time,” he tells them. “Now, if you’ll excuse us, I have some urgent business to take care of with my wife. Private urgent business.”
Urgent business? That’s an unusual choice of words.
Even so, the crew gets the gist.
“Yeah, yeah. Get out of here,” John sends us off with a shooing motion. The crew’s hoots and catcalls follow us as my husband carts me to a big red pickup truck parked in the driveway, and, after I yank open the door, he plunks me down in the passenger seat. “Okay, Mrs. Carter. It’s just you and me now. For real. No more mansions or limos. No more crew. No more cameras. Now that we’re done with this show, I promise it’ll always be like this.” Then he practically crawls on top of me and plants another searing kiss on my mouth. His tongue plunges inside. His hands grab and grope. And I’m okay with that. In fact, I’m more than okay with it. I’ve missed him so much. My spine arches, pushing my breasts up. My body burns. My heart thunders.
Reid rounds the front of the truck and throws himself into the driver’s seat. He hits the gas, sending a plume of dust and gravel into the air and off we go, heading home.
Our home.
The one we’ll share for the rest of our lives.
The one where we’ll raise our children. And discover all the beauty this world can hold for us. And, most of all, share a quiet, private, peaceful life.
Reid grips the steering wheel with one hand and places his other on my thigh. His jaw is tight, his face flushed. He looks like he’s about to snap.
“Are you okay?” I ask, swallowing a giggle.
“Okay? I’m better than okay. Now that we’re finally together again.” He flicks a glance my way, his mouth twisted into a lopsided smirk. “Actually I’ll be better than okay, and you will too, once I get you home. Do you know how hard it’s been, waiting for this?”
“For the end of the show?” I ask, playing coy.
“For you to decide whether you want to be my wife. So I can…make love to you.” He glances my way again, dark eyes shimmering with male hunger. “It’s been pure torture since the beginning. You have no idea. All that running I did when we were filming the show. It was my way of burning off steam. So I wouldn’t…lose control.”
Oh! Now I get it! Now I understand why he did so much running. Mornings. Evenings.
He knew what he wanted. He was waiting. For me to be ready.
Gosh, how did I not pick that up? Am I really that clueless? I chuckle, at my own naiveté. “I was beginning to think you were a little too obsessive with your exercising.”
“Oh, I’m obsessive about something. But it isn’t running.” He gives me another one of those hungry-man-beast looks.
My insides tingle.
His hand inches up my thigh and I literally tremble.
I know what’s coming. Well, sort of.
I know we’re going to have sex. Because everyone knows that’s what married people (real married people) do. But I don’t know what it’s going to feel like. Will it hurt?
My insides literally squeeze. Warm wetness gushes.
Already I’ve done more than the average unmarried Amish girl. Amish kids don’t kiss men they haven’t married. At least, not the girls I knew growing up. Unmarried couples don’t even hold hands, let alone have…encounters in dark, empty houses.
And nobody talks about sex. At least, not in a detailed, or favorable light. I figured, by what murmurings I’d heard, that girls have sex because it is their duty. Not because they like it.
Soon I will know the truth.
Reid and I…Reid will become my husband in all ways.
As it should be, he has been my first. For so many things.
First kiss.
First love.
First man to touch me.
I’ve liked what’s happened so far. The possessive way Reid kisses me, touches me. How he practically climbed on top of me after our wedding and devoured my mouth.
My face burns and a twinge zips through me.
His hand inches higher, and my whole body tenses. His fingers are so close to my core, where I’m already burning. My lower stomach clenches.
My knees gradually part, the smooth, cool fabric of my long, gorgeous dress sliding between them, along with Reid's hand. His fingers graze my folds through the material, and I tremble. My insides tighten. My breathing quickens.
Tensing up all over, and not because I'm scared, I grip the handle next to me. If he continues this teasing, this tormenting, how will I survive?
Those fingers press harder. The pressure feels so good. And yet I want more. My head falls back, resting against the headrest. My eyelids grow heavy. I let them slide shut.
That's better. Now I can focus.
On the husk of my breathing.
On the sweet and earthy smell of him.
On the pounding, throbbing pressure building between my legs.
I can't stand it.
I drag my legs farther apart. It feels better the wider they are. Better and worse. Desperate for him to touch my skin, I claw at my dress, sliding it up my thighs until it's out of the way.
Reid makes a sexy growling noise, steers the truck off the road, and shifts it into park. “Woman, I am trying hard to control myself,” he says with a low, rumbling voice. “But you're making it impossible. I don't want to take you here. I want it to be right. To be at home. Our home. And I want to take my time.”
I want all those things too.
But I also want this throbbing heat to stop.
No, no I don't.
Yes, yes I do.
That hand continues to torment me as he catches my chin with the other.
“Look at me,” he commands.
I open my eyes and suck in a gasp.
His face is taut, his eyes burning with lust.
He smashes his mouth over mine and shoves his tongue inside, swirling, plunging, claiming. The hand between my legs tears away the crotch of my panties. I’m completely bare. For the first time. I quake all over.
His fingers slide between my folds and test my opening. He pulls my lower lip into his mouth and bites down gently, and my spine arches.
Once again, with just a few touches, he has brought me to the verge of ecstasy. But this time he has possessed my body, laid claim to it. Now that I am truly his, I know he will take me fully. And that’s good. I can't stand the teasing anymore.
The fingers slide up, toward the front of my folds, finding my burning little pearl. Damp with my slick juices, they glide over it, round and round. The slow, delicious circles produce swirling heat in my core. My thighs tighten more, spread wider.
I’ve never been unclothed before any man. Perhaps I should feel some shame in being so brazen. For spreading my legs and enjoying his wicked torment. But I don’t. Take me, my body says. Take me now.
Again, those fingers move to my virginal entrance. One finger presses against the barrier and I tense up. It burns. My insides clench. The finger retreats, returning to the super sensitive part it was stroking before.
“Not yet,” he murmurs. “I'll make it better. I’ll stroke this little clit, but I won't take you yet. Not until we're home.”
I whimper. That isn't what I want. I don’t want to wait. But my frustration is forgotten as he strokes my clit harder, faster. Sweet, sweet tension builds. Spreads. Heat blossoms. Pulses out from my center.
“Cum for me,” my husband demands. And just like that, my body obeys. A massive, tingling explosion blasts through me. My insides spasm. I soar into the air… higher and higher. Then, I sail upon massive waves of pleasure. Waves cresting bigger and bigger.
And then I float. On smooth rivers of bliss.
“That's it. My sweet Kate.”
I open my eyes to find my husband smiling, eyes glittering with dark need. “Now at least one of us will enjoy the ride home.” He shifts the truck into gear and steers it back onto the road.
Still pulsing and twitching with aftershocks, I admire his profile. And then the thick swell of his upper arm. The lean cut of his torso. The (holy crap!) thick bulge tenting his pants.
I was feeling better, thanks to Reid's magical fingers. But clearly he is in agony too.
Should I return the favor?
I have never…touched a man there.
Shy and uncertain, I slide one hand over his thigh, moving it toward the erection pushing at his pants. When I reach it, I cup it, feeling the round head trying to work its way out of his clothes.
Reid makes another of those growly sounds, like an angry dog and shifts his legs, sliding them apart a little.
Encouraged, I unfasten his belt.
“I'm warning you, wife,” he says, “if you start this, I may lose control. You might find yourself taken out here, on the side of the road. Roughly.”
My insides quiver. My heart does a little flip.
Roughly.
Maybe that's what I want.
I unbutton his pants and pull down the zipper.
He's wearing no underwear. His thick rod springs free and I can't help gasping.
I’ve felt it before. Prodding at me through his clothes. But this is the first time I’m seeing it.
It's soooo big.
Thick.
Long.
How will it ever...fit?
My insides clench and I feel my cheeks heat. I'm blushing.
“Are you afraid?” my husband asks, glancing at me.
I shake my head, even as a huge lump gets stuck in my throat. Am I afraid? No. I know Reid won’t hurt me. But I'm nervous. I don't know what to expect.
I trace a fingertip along the slit and a little droplet of liquid comes out. I smear it around the velvety head.
Reid pulls the truck off the road again. Then he gently moves my hand away. “If you don't stop this right now, I won't be able to resist. I will take you. Here. Now. I won't be able to stop myself.”
The heat in my cheeks burns hotter. Still, emboldened by the flames I see burning in his eyes, and the throbbing heat beating through my body, I turn my attention back to that other part of him. The big, hard part.
Oh gosh.
I don't know what I'm doing.
Yes, I have touched a penis.
Once.
Sort of.
Technically, I didn't really touch it with my hand. And I didn't touch it in a sexual manner.
I touched it with a washrag. It belonged to my baby brother. He made a mess in his clothes and I had to bathe him.
So, needless to say I have no idea what to do with a grown penis.
Feeling a little lost, but appreciating Reid's (wavering) patience, I trace the flared ridge circling the head with my fingertip. It twitches and Reid's breathing speeds up. “Kate…”
Hmmm, must be doing something right.
I do it again, and then, inspired by the girth, I wrap my fingers around the base and squeeze.
Reid groans and another droplet of liquid leaks from the top.
He likes that.
I do it again, and Reid places his hand over mine. “Like this.” He slides his hand up the full length, until the top is hidden inside his fist, then back down until his hand meets mine at the base. A stroke. Up and down. And another.
I mimic his motion, sliding my hand up and down, up and down, and my efforts are amply rewarded. He groans and growls before grabbing a fist full of my hair and yanking me to him for a kiss. This kiss is rough and raw. It says he's on the verge of snapping. And he's desperate for release.
The feral passion makes me forget what I was doing. All I can concentrate on is his mouth, his hand, tugging on my hair, the other cupping my breast through my dress. The delicious, sweet flavor of his mouth. And the tension coiling inside my body.
“No more,” he grumbles, catching my hands and pinning them to my sides. “Or you’ll be sorry.”
Sorry? I highly doubt it.
Growing up Amish, I had never imagined what sex would be like. We didn't think about those things. Still, I never, not in my wildest fantasies, would have dreamed it would be as deliciously naughty as this.
It is, truly, just like those wicked books I read.
I’m burning all over. And Reid, well, his face is so red it practically glows.
We can’t get home fast enough…for either of us.
And to think this is just the beginning.