Chapter Three
Cadence was so excited that she could hardly stand it. Finally, Maddox would be her husband and she could have her wicked way with him.
“Sit still,” Waverly ordered. “I can’t possibly fix your hair if you keep fidgeting like a June bug caught on a string.”
Cadence gripped the edges of the bench seat to keep herself from squirming. “Sorry.” She grew quiet instead of asking a million questions... until she couldn’t take it anymore. “What do you think our parents are going to say?”
“Nothing until you tell them, but I bet Uncle Bastian knows. He knows everything about everyone.” Waverly curled another thick lock of hair. “But he also knows how to keep quiet. I think he enjoys knowing things... and keeping them from his twin brother.”
“Are you speaking from experience?” Cadence asked. There were times when she envied her older brother and sister’s relationship as fraternal twins. They were so close, and almost always together when given the choice, that she often felt left out. She was sure they didn’t do it on purpose, but still...
“A little, but there isn’t much that Jude doesn’t know. It’s a pain in my tail, honestly. I’m waiting for both of us to get a life, fall in love, and be forced to spend time with people who don’t have the last name Romanov or Stewart.” She grinned and curled another swatch of hair. “All done.”
Cadence touched her hair, and Waverly swatted it away with a warning not to touch her handiwork. Since all the models Waverly hung around with seemed to be pretty temperamental, Cadence figured that it must be part of the job, so she’d keep the peace with her sister and keep her hands out of her hair.
“Can I go now?”
Waverly shook her head. “Not yet. You have a present from Maddox. He says it belonged to the second duchess of Lennox.” She went to a bag by the bed and dug inside, pulling out a slim case and opened it. Nestled inside the dark blue velvet was a necklace made almost entirely of diamonds.
“That’s... oh my goodness,” she said, breathless as her sister placed it around her neck. It felt cool against her skin. She looked up at Waverly as she fastened it. “It’s beautiful.”
“You’re beautiful.” Waverly tilted her head toward the window. “Maddox arranged for y’all to be married in the chapel on the grounds.”
“I thought... I thought we were getting married outside.” Cadence shook her head. “Not that I’m complaining, but his parents were married in that chapel, and almost every duke and duchess before them.”
“Your man wants to do it up right, my lady.” Waverly did a silly curtsy, and Cadence rolled her eyes.
“I’m not royalty.”
“You’re married to a man who is in line for the throne... and, someday, your children will be as well.”
“Children,” Cadence replied faintly, then shook herself. “Children are awesome. I want to do the thing that makes it possible for lots of children, lots and lots of times.”
Waverly rolled her eyes. “It’s called sex.”
“I was trying to spare you.”
“Oh, carry on, then... but later, m’dear.” She squeezed Cadence’s shoulders. “Because right now, it’s time for you to marry Maddox.”
***
Cadence didn’t wait for Maddox to open the door before she jumped him. He caught her, laughing as he attempted to punch in the code to the house.
“If you don’t stop, I won’t wait to get you inside,” he said.
“We’re on a secluded island with no other visitors until tomorrow morning,” she reminded him.
The door swung open, and they nearly fell inside.
Maddox swung her up his arms. “I wanted to woo you, but since you’ll have none of that, I’m taking you to bed this instant.”
They passed the kitchen along the way.
“The kitchen counter looks good.”
“Not happening for your first time. Bare-arsed on granite countertops wouldn’t be very comfortable.”
She gave him a look. “Personal experience?”
He lifted a brow. “I have no idea what you’re going on about.” Cadence was on the verge of apologizing. “Besides, it’s been so long since I’ve actually had sex that I can’t quite remember anything.”
“If that’s how you planned to woo me, then I’m supremely glad we’re going straight to bed,” she said with a haughty tone.
He stopped suddenly, his dark blue eyes assessing. “You are the only woman for me and have been for the last three years, my love.”
“Me, too,” she whispered, her stomach doing flips in her belly as he lowered her to the bed.
He held out his hand, and she watched in amazement as it shook. “This is what you do to me.” He crushed his mouth against hers, his beard tickling her skin. She wrapped her arms around him, sinking her fingers into his thick, dark hair. “I plan on making you mine tonight... over and over again.”
“Maddox,” she said, pushing at him until he lifted his head.
“What is it?”
She swallowed. “I’m not... that is.... I’m still a virgin.”
He blinked at that, and she didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “That’s... that’s ... shit. That’s unexpected.”
“I was waiting on you to be ready for sex with me,” she said teasingly. Although, it wasn’t a lie. It was the truth. He’d been the one for her for so long that no other man could compare.
“Then I am very glad I’ve been waiting for you as well.”
“So we’re both virgins tonight.” She winked at him, and he smiled. What he’d done in the years before his self-imposed celibacy didn’t matter to her. What mattered is that when he figured out she was the one for him, he didn’t go to other women. He was faithful to her before she had a right to demand it.
“Absolutely.” He slid her dress from her shoulder and kissed her there. “We should slow down. Take our time.”
“If we take any more time, I’ll scream and not in a good way,” she warned. To prove her point, she gripped either side of his shirt, right where it buttoned, and pulled as hard as she could until the buttons popped and his magnificent chest was revealed to her. She heard the buttons ping as they hit the floor and furniture around them.
“Dang, I’m good.”
“Want me to do the same to your dress?” he asked, his voice gruff.
“Don’t you dare.” She pushed him away and got to her feet, then turned around. “Unzip me. The zipper is hiding behind the row of buttons.”
She felt a tug as the dress tightened and then grew loose. With a happy, but nervous, sigh, she let it fall to the floor before she stepped out. Before she could turn around and show off her lingerie to Maddox, he was at her feet, kneeling.
“What are you doing?”
He grabbed her hips with his hands, pulling her close. His lips skated over her skin, leaving goose bumps in their wake. With a gentle tug, he slid her thong down her legs. “Step out.”
She did as he asked, her body trembling. She wanted him so badly, and he was going to kill her with this torture. “Please hurry.”
He smiled against her skin before saying, “I’ll hurry as fast as I can.” But he didn’t hurry. On no, he took his time, kissing her thighs, licking the delicate skin on the inside and blowing his warm breath against her most sensitive parts.
Her legs grew weak when he tenderly parted her with his thumb and touched her with the tip of his tongue. She had to grab his head when his tongue pushed inside and began a slow worship of her sex.
He hummed low in his throat and moved to her clitoris, where he gently sucked on it until she broke apart and moaned his name while he pushed and pushed her to come again.
“What are you trying to do to me?” she said breathlessly.
“Trying to make what’s going to happen as painless as possible.” He gave her another long lick that nearly made her eyes cross before working his way up her body, kissing every inch as he went.
She scarcely noticed when he unfastened her strapless bra because all she could concentrate on was his mouth on her breasts, her nipples taking turns being in his mouth.
And his fingers... oh, his fingers were teasing her still. Keeping her hips rolling and the desire she felt for him at the forefront.
She pulled him to her, backing up until they tumbled to the bed. He rose above her, his eyes full of lust and love. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.” She touched his jaw, rubbing her thumb over the strong lines. “Don’t ever shave this off.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.” He kissed her again, making her mindless as she pushed at the barrier of his clothing between them.
Finally, when he was a nude as she, he positioned himself between her legs, rubbing his erection against her slick folds. “I’ll be gentle,” he promised.
She gasped when he pushed inside, the feel of them so intimately joined taking her breath away. It wasn’t exactly pain free when he began to move, but the care and consideration he showed her more than made up for it... that and all the orgasms he’d given her.
She held on to him as he whispered to her in a mixture of Gaelic and Spanish. Some words she understood, while others, she hadn’t a clue, but it sounded so romantic.
He slipped his hand under her lower back, pressing her more fully against him and rubbing her swollen clit with each slide of skin against skin. He was so deep in her that she was sure they shared a heart.
A soul.
Everything.
“Can you come again?” he asked, his hips moving faster.
“I don’t know...” She urged him on anyway, spreading her thighs wider and earning a groan from him. “But I can try.”
“See that you do, my love.” He braced himself against the mattress, lifted his hips slightly, and moved his hand from her back to her clit. She cried out as soon as he touched her. When he applied more pressure, she shattered again.
“You’re coming on my cock,” he whispered in her ear. “You feel so fucking good.”
“So do you.” She gasped as he continued to torture her. “Oh God.”
With a fierce look on his face, he pushed deep. She felt his orgasm fill her. He growled her name, then his hips started moving again and his mouth was on hers.
It was too much.
It wasn’t enough.
She never wanted him to stop.
But stop he did, falling to one side and rolling her with him so he could gather her in his arms.
“That was bloody... You’re the writer; you tell me what that was,” he said.
She peered at him. “That was everything.”