Chapter Twenty—Sky
I knew the news was good even before Linc said what had happened—but by the time he got home from Family Court, I had bad news to counter his good. I hated to tell him, but I thought that it was probably better that he hear it when he was happy—happier than I’d seen him in the short time I’d known him—than when he was already upset about something.
“Sky! Thank God you’re home—I had to get here and tell you,” Linc said. He picked me up and spun me around, and for a moment I couldn’t bring myself to say what I needed to say.
“Let me guess: court went well today?” Linc laughed and kissed me. I stiffened in his arms; I didn’t want to like the way he kissed me as much as I absolutely did. I didn’t want to feel that warm flush through my middle, all the way down to my hips and in between them, that rush of sensation that only made me want more.
“Lisa and I have joint custody,” he said. “She can’t take Jazmin to California—she can’t take her anywhere, and she doesn’t have primary custody anymore. The judge saw right through her.”
“That’s awesome!” I managed to smile for him, knowing how good it must feel. I could see how important it had been to him. “So then our work here is done, I guess.”
“What?” Linc stopped in his tracks and stared at me.
“I just mean—you only got married to me because you needed that boost, right? That credibility in court,” I said quickly. It wasn’t the opening that I’d wanted to use, but the words kept tumbling out of me. “So we could wait like, six months, just to make sure everything is settled with you and Jazmin, and then...” I shrugged. “I guess we could get an annulment.”
“I don’t want an annulment,” Linc said, shaking his head.
“What?” It was my turn to stare at him.
“Look—Sky, I realized when I was in court today that it wasn’t just about getting married to have a better chance in court,” Linc told me. I started shaking my head, holding my hands up to stop him from speaking. If I let him go on, he might talk me into almost anything.
“You’re on a high from winning the case, that’s all,” I said. “We agreed that it was going to be a fake marriage, and that it was only going to be for as long as you needed it to have the right status to get custody.”
“But we could make it a real marriage, Sky,” Linc said. He held my gaze for a long moment and I felt my heart beating faster. Had I wanted him to say that? Had I opened up with the weaker part of the situation just so that he would?
“I don’t know,” I said. I looked down at my feet. “I—there’s another thing.”
“What’s wrong?” Linc was right up close to me again, and the smell of him—his cologne and soap, and something more elemental than that—was too much for me. I wanted him to hold me, I wanted him to tell me that every little thing would be okay. But first I wanted to get what I had to say over with.
“I got served with paperwork today,” I said, taking a deep breath. “The police are going to charge me with obstruction.”
“Obstruction?” Linc stared at me, and I realized that he’d totally forgotten the issue of his battery charges.
“Remember how I lied to the cops about not knowing you? Apparently Stephen kept pushing them to charge me, and so now they’re coming after me for interfering with an investigation, obstruction of justice.” I pressed my lips together and closed my eyes for a moment. “It’s not going to look good for us if we’re in the court as man and wife.”
“Well, on the bright side, as my wife, you can’t be forced to testify against me,” Linc said.
“It’s not funny, Linc,” I told him. “It’s really serious.”
“I know it is,” Linc said quietly. “And I swear, I will see you through this. Look, Sky: I actually really care about you, beyond anything I thought I was able to feel about anyone except for Jazmin.”
“You’re just saying that,” I said, shaking my head.
“I’m not,” Linc said. “Look, give me six months, at least. Let me show you that I do care about you, and then at the end of it, if you decide that it’s just no realer then than it is now, we can talk about getting this annulled.” He looked into my eyes, and I couldn’t make myself come up with a reason why that wouldn’t work. How did he always know exactly what to say?
“Six months?” Linc nodded, and I caught a gleam in his eyes that I already recognized, even after only a short time of being around him.
“Besides, if you’re going to go out there in the world and find your ‘real’ Prince Charming, you should be well-versed on how to seduce your future husband, right?”
Laughter burst out of me at that, and when Linc moved to wrap his arms around me again, to pick me up, I didn’t resist at all. I had to admit that when I’d been thinking about what I would have to do—leave Linc, and try to salvage what I could of my reputation somehow—I had thought long and hard about the fact that I would certainly be giving up sex. I couldn’t see myself with anyone else but him, and try as I might, I couldn’t regret the way I’d lost my virginity.
Linc carried me into his bedroom, and in a matter of moments we were peeling each other’s clothes off. We hadn’t had sex again since the first time, but Linc had been more than happy to show me a few other things in the few days since our wedding, and I’d been an eager student. I let my hands wander all over him, working up my nerve to finally reach down and take his throbbing, thick cock and stroke him slowly.
Linc groaned, stiffening against me, and his hips bucked as I worked him with more and more confidence. I felt the sticky slickness of the pre-cum beginning to flow from the tip, and I paused in my stroking to bring my fingers up to my mouth to taste them. “God, you have no idea how hot that is,” Linc said, watching me intently.
“I have a pretty good idea,” I countered. It was apparently hot enough to make it impossible for Linc to let me continue; he pulled me onto his lap and settled me on top of him, and I shivered at the feeling of his thickness against my slick, soaking wet labia. He pushed down gently but steadily on my hips and I sank down onto him.
It didn’t hurt like it had the first time, but it felt so full that for just an instant I almost couldn’t tell the difference. But when I started moving on top of Linc, that was when I knew it was different—it was so right, so good, I never wanted to stop. I kissed him hungrily, twisting my hips as I took him gradually deeper and deeper, and Linc ducked away from one of my kisses to claim each of my breasts with his mouth, sucking and licking and grazing me with his teeth enough to drive me absolutely crazy. I rode him steadily, going faster as I loosened up, and Linc began to thrust into me at the same time, holding onto my hips with his big, strong hands.
All at once, the tension winding up deep down in my hips snapped, and I reeled against Linc, grabbing at him, holding myself against him tightly. He kept moving inside of me, and for a few moments it was almost overwhelming how good I felt as wave after wave of sensation crackled through my nervous system. I was barely even able to breathe, barely able to think, when I heard Linc groan out his own climax, pounding into me hard and fast as he came.
We both collapsed to the bed together, panting and gasping, and in spite of everything I’d told Linc, I knew that I was glad he’d talked me out of leaving. He kissed me lazily on the lips, and I could feel the thickness of him still inside me starting to harden once more. “Six months?” I pulled back and looked into his brilliant, gleaming green eyes.
“Six months,” I agreed. “Unless we both get thrown into jail.” Linc chuckled and shook his head.
“We won’t, I promise you,” he said. “I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure neither of us ends up in prison. And I will do whatever it takes to prove to you that I’m serious about this.”
I smiled at him; I couldn’t help but feel at least a little optimistic. Linc made me feel so good I couldn’t imagine—in a moment like that—ever wanting to leave him. I could only hope that things worked out the way he said they would.