Chapter 4
4
JULIAN
M ake you mine? Had I actually said those words? I’d thought them, but telling a woman I wanted to make her mine was a sure way to scare her off.
If Gwendolyn minded, though, she didn’t show it. In fact, she gave me a naughty smile and wrapped her legs around me, tugging me toward her.
“Be gentle,” she said. “It might hurt.”
This was where it got serious. We could talk dirty all we wanted, but this was her first time. I needed to make it as romantic as possible.
She sucked in a breath as I eased inside her. It reminded me to move slowly, but it wasn’t easy. As her walls embraced my cock, every nerve in my body was on alert. I was going to come inside her and make her mine.
As I stared down at her, my words came back to me. I should regret saying them, but I meant every word of it. I wanted her to be mine. Because I for damn sure was hers now.
“Does that hurt?” I asked as I inched slightly deeper.
She’d lost the grimace, but that was hardly pleasure on her face. If anything, she looked like she was trying to figure out what was happening.
“No.” She shook her head. “It’s tight, but it doesn’t hurt anymore.”
She didn’t have to tell me she was tight. I’d never imagined being inside a woman could feel like this. With every movement inside her, those warm folds encircled me, stroking me and driving me to the edge.
“I’m going to flip us around,” I suddenly said. “You ride me.”
At my words, her movements froze, and she stared up at me. She’d assumed we were in the home stretch. I’d shoot my load inside her, pull out, and thank her for her service.
Like hell, I would.
“Trust me,” I said.
Her expression softened, and I knew she felt this too. She trusted me with her heart, her body, her soul.
It was awkward, but we reversed position until I was on my back and she was straddling me. Yes, that was much better.
“Oh, it’s tight again,” Gwendolyn said as she guided me inside her.
For a brief moment, I second guessed this decision. Maybe missionary was best for the first time. It wasn’t like I deflowered virgins every day.
But within a couple of minutes, she’d adjusted to my size and was moving up and down on my cock. I couldn’t stop staring at her. Her tits bounced with her movements and her eyes were closed as her breaths came fast. I moved my thumb to her clit, massaging, bringing a gasp to her lips.
“That’s it, baby,” I said, watching in awe as her bouncing increased. “Ride that cock.”
Those words popped her eyes open. A smile took over her face. She liked it when I talked to her like that.
When her eyes slammed shut again, I knew she was getting closer. And then she cried out, throwing her head back and gripping my forearm.
Her movements only slowed briefly, and then she was moving again, this time focused on my pleasure. It wouldn’t take long, though. Once I stopped holding back, my body came to life.
“Fuck me harder,” she said, looking down at me. “Your cock feels so good.”
The sound of those words coming from her mouth sent me over the edge. I grunted, then cried out as I pumped my seed into her.
Making her mine? I didn’t know about that. But I did know that I was now hers, one hundred percent.
Once I finally stilled, Gwendolyn climbed off and lay next to me. I tugged her closer. This was perfect. This was where I wanted to spend the rest of my life.
“I can’t go back,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.
She was trembling. I felt it now. I tightened my arm around her, but I knew it had nothing to do with her being cold. It was at least eighty degrees out here.
“You’re scared?” I asked. “Did someone hurt you?”
Oh, God. What if she was in an abusive situation? They’d have to hold me back to keep me from beating the living shit out of anyone who hurt this woman. My woman.
“It wasn’t like that,” she said. “They were just really strict. They all wanted what was best for me. My parents, my teachers… But I’m twenty-three years old. It’s time to start living my life.”
I couldn’t agree more. I couldn’t relate to her problem, though. I’d been out on my own since the age of sixteen, when I moved in with a friend to get away from a bad home situation.
“I didn’t even know what I was missing until today,” Gwendolyn continued. “Not really. But now that I’ve gotten a taste of this…” She gestured wildly in the air. “I can’t go back to the way things were.”
“So don’t,” I said.
She looked up at me, eyes wide. She truly had no idea what I was suggesting.
“I know we just met, but this is something big,” I said. “This feeling between us is once in a lifetime. You feel it too, right?”
This could very well be one sided. I’d be shocked if it was, though.
“I feel it.” She nodded, her hair tickling my arm. “I have nothing to compare it to, though. I’ve just never felt anything close to this.”
“You don’t have to move in with me,” I blurted. As I searched my mind for a room in a cabin she could borrow for a while, a great idea slammed into me. “The retreat center needs a new night manager,” I said. “It might not be something permanent, but the position comes with room and board. You’d stay in the suite right off the check-in desk.”
Sierra had been staying there while the retreat center got up and going, but now she was marrying the guy who was over the construction of this place. She wanted to switch to daytime hours to spend nights with him.
“Do you think they’d hire me?” Gwendolyn asked.
“I think you’d be the perfect addition to the Rosewood Ridge Retreat Center family.”
Sheesh, I sounded like an advertisement. When did I become a big cheeseball?
When I met this woman. That was the answer to that. She’d changed me for the better.
“Thank you.” She smiled up at me. “Thank you for showing me what life is all about.”
“I plan to show you a lot more than this,” I said, returning her smile. “I’m going to give you everything you ever wanted.”
We held a long stare. Eventually, I lowered my head, and she seemed to understand what I wanted. She lifted her head and met me halfway, returning my kiss. This time it was a slow and sweet one—a kiss that said I was already falling in love with her.
“Gwennie?” The voice of a woman rang through the air. I thought maybe I’d imagined it, but then it came again. “Gwennie?”
Gwendolyn froze and pulled away from the kiss. “Did you hear that?”
How could I not hear it? I opened my mouth to answer, but it came again, this time much closer. She bolted up to a seated position, looking around.
“Where are my clothes?” she asked. “I have to get dressed. I can’t let my mother find me naked.”
Those words made me feel a little better. I’d expect Gwendolyn to be worried about being caught with me. But instead, she just didn’t want to be found with no clothes on. I could relate. I wouldn’t want her family to find me naked, either.
I snatched on my underwear and jeans while she rushed to grab her dress and slip into it. As I helped her with her zipper, the sounds grew closer.
A woman in a long-sleeved beige gown came into view. That was the exact moment I realized Gwendolyn’s underwear was still on the ground. She began walking toward the woman, who I assumed was her mom, while I stuffed the bra into my back pocket. I didn’t see the panties on a quick scan, so I hoped her mom wouldn’t either.
“We’ve been looking everywhere for you,” the woman said. “What are you doing way back here? We were about to call the police. Don’t you have your phone?”
“You made me leave it in my room, remember?” Gwendolyn asked.
I wanted to step up and stand beside her, forming a united front, but I wouldn’t do that unless I had her permission. This was her family drama, not mine.
“Your sister had to cut the cake without her maid of honor,” her mom said.
I turned and looked back at the water. I was doing whatever I could to give the two of them their privacy.
“Who is this?”
Gwendolyn’s mother’s question flipped me back around again. I saw they both were staring at me.
“This is Julian,” Gwendolyn said. “We’re dating now.”
Dating? I kept my expression neutral, but I liked the sound of that.
“You’re dating this man?” her mother said. “A man you just met?”
“Yes.” Gwendolyn looked at me, and something in her expression told me she needed me by her side.
So that was exactly what I did. I threw my arm around her for good measure, and she snuggled up against me. The two of us could tackle any challenge as long as we had each other. She was the other half of my soul I’d been searching for all my life.
“We’ll just have to discuss that later,” the woman said.
She narrowed her eyes at me like that would somehow threaten me into submission. I held my ground, making it clear she couldn’t scare me away.
“Right now, we need to get inside and support your sister.” Gwendolyn’s mother reached out her hand. “Come on.”
Gwendolyn didn’t budge. Of course, if she wanted to go back to the wedding, I wouldn’t stop her. She could do whatever she wanted. This meant nothing if being with me wasn’t what she chose.
“Julian is coming with me,” she said. “He’s my date.”
Her mother’s jaw dropped and her hand fell back to her side. She looked from her daughter to me and back again, as though trying to figure out how she could fight this.
“I’ll run home real quick and shower,” I said, looking over at my new girlfriend. “I might be a half hour or so, but I’ll show up clean and dressed for the occasion.”
She smiled at me. “Sounds like a plan,” she said, but then she looked back at her mother and the smile vanished. “I’ll meet you in there. I need to run to the room and get freshened up.”
Her mother clearly didn’t want to go. The wheels in her mind seemed to be turning as she tried to find a way to exert control over the situation.
It wasn’t going to happen. The two of us were going to dance the night away at that reception, and there was not a thing her parents could do about it.