FOURTEEN
Caroline
After we left my mom’s house this afternoon, I stopped by the Verizon store and changed my phone number. I was getting too many calls from various news outlets and Chase was blowing up my phone.
Like the rest of the world, he wanted to know how the hell I went from Caroline Talbot, Vegas stripper, to Caroline Talbot, the girl who married Tennessee King. Only he didn’t put it as nicely.
I’m just waiting for his “tell all” to hit the tabloids. Knowing Chase, there’s no way he’s not looking to make money off this.
While I was busy at the Verizon store, Ten met with his irate manager, who flew in to deal with the shitstorm we created. I imagine he didn’t take it well when Ten told him we weren’t getting an annulment, but all Ten said was that Bennett was looking for someone to blame and since that couldn’t be us, he wanted to sue the hotel for leaking the tape of our nuptials. Only it turns out the tape wasn’t leaked at all. In our drunken stupor, we’d accidentally signed off on having it live-streamed on the hotel’s website, which is a service they offer for families who can’t be there in person.
Whoops.
To apologize for the mix-up, the hotel sent up a complimentary bottle of champagne, which we’re now polishing off towards the end of our date. We kept it simple and ordered room service and watched movies. Ten offered to take me literally anywhere—with the help of the label’s private jet—but I was content to stay in.
And stay out of the public eye.
After we ate, we wound up back in the pool. It’s a good thing I brought my bathing suit this time. My feet are dangling in the warm water as I sit on the concrete ledge, watching Ten glide toward me in nothing but his boxers.
He positions himself between my legs, dripping water onto my thigh when he reaches for the glass of champagne beside me. “You’re amazing, you know that?”
He must notice my little eye roll, because he says, “I’m serious. Taking on all that responsibility at home so your brother can stay in school… It’s incredibly selfless, Caroline. You should be proud of yourself.”
I take the glass from him after he drinks and cock my brow. “I should be proud of stripping?” I ask before taking a sip.
“You should be proud that you took care of your family. Singlehandedly, I might add. That’s pretty badass.” His hands slide up the outside of my thighs, making my skin prick despite the sudden heat coursing through me.
Biting my lip, I set the glass down. “How is this gonna work?”
Ten’s fingers tighten infinitesimally on my hips. “Please tell me you’re not having doubts already,” he says, pressing kisses along my stomach.
My hands tangle in his hair when his lips brush my ribcage in soft, teasing kisses. “No, I just…have questions,” I tell him, struggling to remain unaffected.
He moves higher, kissing the valley of my cleavage. “Like?”
I can’t think when he does that. “Like where are we going to live?” I try to scowl when I pull his head back by his hair, but it’s hard when he’s grinning up at me like that.
Ten shrugs as I release him. “Wherever you want. I have a place in LA, but I’m not opposed to moving.”
“So if I wanted to live here in Vegas…?”
He shrugs again. “Then we’d live here. I know how much your family means to you.”
“What about your family? Are you close with them?” When I Googled him this morning, it wasn’t exactly with the intention of finding out his life story. But I was able to discern that the jackass who woke us up this morning—the one who I thought bared a passing resemblance to Ten—is not only his band-mate but his brother too.
Which makes the jackass my new brother-in-law. Lucky me.
“I’m close to my brother. My parents are…a little self-involved. Sawyer and I were raised by nannies for the most part, but we see them from time to time.”
That sounds so sad. My dad bailed on us before I could even form lasting memories of him, but my mom more than made up for his absence. I can’t imagine having two indifferent parents. “Do you spend holidays with them?”
He laughs. “No. We might’ve spent our first couple of Christmases with them, but then they started vacationing over the holidays. Bora Bora, Turks and Caicos… Somewhere tropical and kid-free.”
My heart breaks for Ten. “That sounds awful. When we have kids—”
My mouth snaps shut when I realize what I just said.
He frowns. “What?”
Heat blooms across my face as I slowly remove my foot from my mouth and awkwardly laugh. “I just realized I don’t even know if you want kids.”
“I want your kids.” He reaches up and softly brushes my cheek.
Chase and I never seriously talked about having kids. He talked about marrying me in some far off, distant future, but he never asked if that’s what I wanted.
He never asked about anything I wanted out of life, which was a huge red flag. I knew he wasn’t Mr. Right and that he never would be. All he was ever going to be was Mr. Right Now.
But Tennessee… I’ve known him twenty-four hours and I trust him with my life.
I trust him with my future.
Leaning into his touch, I smile. “Yeah? How many?”
He grins. “As many as you’ll let me put inside you.”
“So if I want fifteen kids?” I don’t, but I’m curious as to what his answer will be.
“Then we’d better start right now.” He leans in to kiss me and I press a finger to his lips, stopping him.
This is important. I need to know we’re on the same page.
“I’m not gonna pawn my kids off on nannies,” I warn him. “I want to be there for every soccer game, every recital, every birthday and holiday.”
He kisses my finger. “I want that too. I want a real family with you.”
The way he says it, so honestly and so heartfelt, has my chest squeezing tight as emotion floods me. How can I feel so much for someone this fast?
His stubble is rough under my fingers as I hold his face and kiss him deeply, trying to show him what I’m feeling, but can’t quite bring myself to say. He kisses me back with just as much heart and fire, stealing my breath, my thoughts, as he wraps his arms around my waist and lowers me into the warm water.
My arms lock around his neck, my legs encasing his hips as he starts to carry me out of the pool and through the suite. I’m vaguely aware we’re dripping water everywhere, but it’s hard to care when he’s kissing me this passionately.
Tennessee King kisses like he sings—rough, raw, and deep.
I’m melting into him as he licks, flicks, teases, and nips his way into my mouth and into the bedroom, laying me down on the plush mattress.
“You’re getting the bed all wet,” I murmur as he climbs atop me.
He pulls the knotted strings on the sides of my bikini bottoms one by one, until the fabric falls off me and my pussy’s exposed. “The only thing I care about getting wet is you, Mrs. King. I want you fucking drenched for me,” he says, kissing a path down my stomach before licking up my slit.
My breath catches as I grab fistfuls of his hair, spreading my legs as far as they’ll go. His tongue is warm and wet as it swirls around my clit, and when he rapidly starts to flick it, I begin rocking my hips.
I mindlessly grind my pussy against his sinful mouth as arousal seeps out of me. Ten laps it up like a cat drinking from a saucer of milk before shallowly thrusting his tongue inside me.
It’s a teasing taste of what’s to come, and I need more. I need it now.
“Get up here and fuck me,” I say, leaning up to watch his tongue tease my clit in wet, sweeping licks.
It’s driving me wild to see his mouth fucking me, my bare pussy glistening from the mixture of his saliva and my juices. When he sucks my clit into his mouth and slips two big fingers inside me, my head falls back in ecstasy as a moan slips from my throat.
“Quit teasing me already and fucking fuck me,” I beg, my tits bouncing from his fingers pumping into me.
He releases my clit with a loud pop. “What kind of birth control are you on?”
“Why?” I ask when he curls his fingers inside me, hitting that magical spot. It’s so hard to think when he does that.
Ten asks me another question, but I can’t concentrate on anything other than the feeling of his hot mouth working in tandem with his skillful fingers. If he keeps it up, I’m going to come all over his gorgeous face.
When he pulls away a second later, I actually whine.
“Are you on the pill?” he asks again, harsher this time.
He kneels between my spread thighs and pushes the waistband of his boxer-briefs down, freeing his massive cock. The metal piercing glints in the light as he slowly strokes himself, his hand running up my thigh to rub my clit in little circles with his thumb.
Licking my lips, I nod. “Yes,” I answer breathlessly. Wetness drips out of me as I watch him touching himself, his muscles flexing with every movement.
I desperately want him to sink his fat cock inside me, but I’m also dying to wrap my mouth around it and see how far I can take it down my throat. My pussy clenches at the thought of doing one right after the other—of licking my juices off his drenched cock after he’s fucked me with it.
Ten hovers over me, running his pierced tip along my folds and around my clit. “Have you taken it today?”
“Not yet.” I’m trembling with anticipation, my pulse fluttering, my breathing shallow as I wait for him to push it inside me. Instead he teases me by parting my lips with his cockhead, barely even inserting the tip.
I rock my hips, grabbing his as I try to work him in.
He grins and slides the underside of his cock along my wet folds, gliding back and forth over my clit in teasing thrusts. His piercing rubs me with every pass, driving me mad.
I can’t fucking wait to feel that rubbing the inside of my pussy.
Leaning down, he kisses me. “You want my dick?” he murmurs against my mouth. “You want to feel it slide into these lips and stretch your pussy wide while it fucks you raw?”
I nod feverishly.
Ten rolls off me and removes his boxers. “Then get your ass out of this bed and go throw those fucking pills away. Pour ’em down the drain or flush ’em down the toilet for all I care. I don’t want anything standing in the way when I come inside my wife.”
My walls clench as my eyes squeeze shut. I shouldn’t be this turned on by the thought of him knocking me up.
My legs are shaky as I climb out of bed and rifle through my purse on the chair beside us. I pull out the plastic disc and head into the bathroom, popping today’s pill out of the foil.
I stare at it for a moment as it rests in my palm, making sure this is what I want to do. Instead of feeling doubt or worry, all I feel is excitement.
Billy Crystal said it best in When Harry Met Sally—when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.
The pill clinks as I drop it in the sink, rolling around until it disappears down the drain. I pop the rest of the pills out and drop them down the drain too, then throw the plastic container in the trash.
Ten grins when I come out of the bathroom empty-handed. “Get your beautiful ass over here and sit on my cock.”