9. Claire
Nine
Claire
P ressure. That’s the first thing that registers when Elliot Ramsay, my best friend, boss, and newfound husband, pushes inside my body. There’s a faint burn as I’m stretched to accommodate his girth; a lightheaded feeling until I remember to breathe. Then I’m gasping for air, and Elliot’s pulling back an inch, letting me adjust before he presses forward again, and god —
He’s inside me.
I’m naked on his desk, thighs spread, divorce papers crinkling beneath my bare ass, my inner muscles quivering from shock. But he’s in , so thick and hard, thrusting deep enough to make my back teeth clack together.
“Christ,” Elliot mutters, his jaw taut as he fucks between my thighs. He’s gripping my legs with enough force to leave fingerprint bruises. And I know that he’ll agonize over that when he realizes later, marinating in guilt, but the thing is… I like it.
I like the harsh snap of his hips, burrowing deep into my pussy, claiming his territory. I like the sheer intensity of those navy blue eyes, boring into me like I’m the only person who exists in the whole world, and I like the nerve ticking in Elliot’s temple. My body melts into the desk, and every stroke of his cock makes my nerve endings sing.
If anyone walked in and saw this… saw the stern, powerful boss fucking his assistant on his desk, still fully dressed while I’m completely bare and vulnerable, scowling like a murderer while he pounds between my legs…
Yeah, Elliot would get canceled again in a flash. The thought rises unbidden, and I choke out a laugh, scrabbling at his broad shoulders so I can cling on for balance.
Humor flits through Elliot’s gaze, and his mouth curves up. He doesn’t break rhythm, not even for a moment. “Something funny, wife?”
“Just thinking— ah. ” Elliot’s thumb finds my clit without warning, stroking steady circles there, and it’s suddenly way, way harder to string a sentence together. “Just thinking about the PR fallout if we get caught. We already played the wedding card.”
For a brief moment, Elliot looks pained as he thinks about his digital critics—then he shakes it off, focusing one hundred percent on the movement of his cock inside my body. He bends down and licks a bead of sweat off my neck.
“Who cares?” he says against my skin. “I hate everyone but you.”
He proves it, too, with every scrape of his teeth and merciless thrust of his cock. With the greedy way he holds me, squeezing tight, like he can never get enough, and the way he stares like I’m his own personal miracle.
Elliot Ramsay may not permit handshakes from strangers, but he’s more than willing to spank the side of my ass until my voice cracks. And he may not approve of messiness and sticky things, but when the wet, obscene sounds of our bodies joining fills the penthouse, Elliot stares between my legs with primal, cave-man satisfaction.
“Fuck, you feel good.” His deep voice is ragged. Ruined. Elliot groans and ducks down to suck on my nipple, and my belly twists in response. “Ah, Claire. This pussy. It’s so hot and tight and sweet.”
“And yours,” I add, breathless and giddy. “It’s all yours.”
Elliot switches to my other nipple, dragging hard with his hot mouth, and I cry out at the ceiling.
And I’m arched like that, all dizzy and dazed, feeling my husband claim my body like a one-man invading army when it happens. Elliot’s cock moves inside me right as his thumb rubs my clit—and it—and I—
“Shit!” My toes curl as I come, every muscle in my body locking tight. Pleasure floods me, hot and electric, and I shudder through waves and waves of breathless sensation. I’m shaking in a cage of strong arms, so vulnerable and so protected.
Elliot is mine.
Mine.
Mine.
And my body is as greedy as my thoughts, clamping down on Elliot and keeping him wedged deep as I come and come and come. Feels so good to have him inside me; so good to be full. Connected.
When I drift back to reality, there’s fabric in my mouth. I splutter, reeling back, before my sludgy brain realizes that I bit down on Elliot’s shoulder. He huffs out a laugh, moving inside me again, and kisses my temple.
“Finished gnawing on me?”
“Uh.” I stick my tongue out, still tasting shirt. “Yeah.”
“Can I—?”
Another hungry clench low in my belly. Can he come inside me?
“ Yes .” God, yes. I want that so badly.
So my husband growls, low and pleased, and snaps his hips a few more times before burying as deep in me as he can go. His whole body going taut as he holds his breath. I hold mine too, desperate to feel every detail.
Then Elliot swells inside me, and delicious wet heat floods my channel, filling me up as I pant and squirm from the pleasure of it. So good. It spills down my thighs and drips onto the desk—and divorce papers—below.
“Now we really can’t use these,” I say a few minutes later, yanking a damp, torn paper from beneath my ass and waving it. The words have blurred into a smudgy mess, and there’s a chunk left behind beneath my butt.
Elliot smirks, wiping gently between my thighs with a damp cloth he fetched a moment ago.
“Too bad. Guess you’re stuck with me, sweetheart.”
* * *
One year later
“Elliot! Elliot Ramsay! Over here! Look here!”
The strobing flash of dozens of cameras is like a tiny explosion—a blinding pop of light. I wobble on my heels, still not used to being in the thick of all these paparazzi, but Elliot steadies my elbow.
We’re at the city museum, at a charity gala for a cause that Elliot donates a ton of money to. You’d think after years as Elliot’s assistant, coming to these events as his right hand woman, I’d be used to all the cameras and yells from the crowd behind the barriers.
But back then, I was invisible. No one knew or cared who I was.
These days… well, I’m the woman who tamed the notoriously icy tech wunderkind. Not only that, but I’m carrying his baby with an obvious bump that no dress can hide. The paparazzi take almost as many photos of me as they do of Elliot these days.
“Claire! Claire! Over here!”
They learned my name, too. That’s new. And it was gratifying for about three seconds before they all kept yelling, and then I wanted to run and hide under a table somewhere.
“I get it now,” I murmur, a polite smile fixed on my face as I lean closer to my husband, speaking out of the corner of my mouth. Elliot bends down a few inches so he can hear me over the chaos outside this event. “I get why you got canceled online every month. My nerves are fried. I’m ready to push a lecherous old woman too.”
Elliot hums—I feel the vibration more than hear it—and he rubs my arm, soothing my bare skin. Immediately, my tensed shoulders ease a little.
“Inside will be better,” he tells me, not bothering to smile at the cameras. He never does, even now, because it’s ‘none of their business that we’re so happy’. Classic. “Calmer, quieter, with food and places to sit. Let’s go in now.”
The relief makes my knees shake, but I grab Elliot’s hand and stop him from leading me away.
“Wait, not yet. I’m on a mission, remember?”
My husband frowns down at me, then his expression clears. “Ah, yes. You’re humanizing the robot.”
“I’m showing the world your good side,” I correct. “Since you’re not inclined to do that yourself.”
Elliot’s smile is real, amused, and the cameras pop madly, flashing in our peripheral vision. He doesn’t even notice, but this is what I’m talking about. These quiet, unguarded moments have been doing wonders for my husband’s reputation over the last year.
And he might not care what the world thinks of him, but I do, damn it. Elliot Ramsay is the best man I know, and these mofos are going to learn that fact.
Fierce protectiveness burns like a fire in my chest as I yank Elliot round and kiss him on the mouth, all the onlookers and cameras and busy city streets gradually fading away until it’s just… us. Us and the stars overhead.
When we pull apart, Elliot looks grudgingly pleased. He takes my hand again, ushering me up the steps, always so keen to make sure I’m comfortable and well fed.
This is what we do. This is what we’ve always done.
Best friends protect each other.
And if these two best friends also screw each other’s brains out most days… well, that was a long time coming.
* * *
Thanks for reading Bride Bargain! I hope you loved it. :)