Chapter 40 #2
Dinner was at the estate restaurant, a farm-to-table experience that had Davina moaning over every course in a way that was frankly inappropriate for public consumption.
We shared a bottle of the reserve cabernet she'd loved, talked about everything and nothing, and played footsie under the table like teenagers on a first date.
My phone buzzed one final time as we finished dessert.
Brooke: All systems go. Every guest is tucked away for the night. The ceremony starts at 11 am. I'll be at your cabin at 8 am with the dress. Get some sleep. Tomorrow, you marry your wife. AGAIN. (I'm crying as I type this.)
I couldn't help the smile that spread across my face.
“Okay, seriously.” Davina set down her fork, eyeing me. “What is with you and your phone today? You keep checking it and making faces.”
“Faces?”
“Happy faces. Suspicious happy faces.”
“Maybe I'm just happy to be here with you.”
“Uh-huh.” She wasn't buying it, but she was too relaxed from wine and good food to push further. “Well, whatever secret you're keeping, I hope it's a good one.”
“It is.” I reached across the table and took her hand. “Trust me.”
We walked back to the cabin under a sky thick with stars. Davina tucked herself under my arm and sighed, and I thought about how a year ago, I would have laughed at anyone who suggested this would be my life.
A wife I adored and a future I couldn't wait for.
Back in the cabin, I started a fire in the stone fireplace while Davina changed into something more comfortable, a silk robe that clung to her curves in ways that made concentration difficult.
She emerged from the bedroom with two glasses and the bottle of wine we'd brought from the tasting, settling onto the plush rug in front of the flames.
“Come here.” She patted the space beside her. “I can't believe tomorrow marks a whole year.”
I joined her on the floor, accepting the glass she pressed into my hand as the fire crackled and popped.
In less than twelve hours, I would be standing at an altar watching her walk toward me, and I would promise to love her in front of everyone who mattered. This time, fully conscious and completely certain.
“Dallas.”
“Hmm?”
Davina shifted closer, her robe falling open at the collar. “What are you thinking about? You've had this look on your face all day.”
“What kind of look?”
“Like you're keeping a secret. A good one.”
I laughed. “You're very perceptive.”
“I've had a lot of practice reading your face.” She took a sip of wine, studying me over the rim. “At first, I thought you were completely unreadable. The cocky wrestler with the perfect smile, never showing what was really going on underneath.”
“And now?”
“Now I can tell when you're happy. When you're stressed. When you're pretending to be annoyed but really find me hilarious.” She set down her glass and reached up to touch my jaw, her fingers tracing the line of stubble I hadn't bothered to shave. “Right now, you look like a man with a secret.”
“Maybe I am.”
“Gonna share with the class?”
“Tomorrow.” I caught her hand, pressing a kiss to her palm. “Ask me again tomorrow. I'll tell you everything.”
She raised an eyebrow but didn't push. That was one of the things I loved about her; she knew when to dig and when to let things breathe.
“Fine. Tomorrow.” She clinked her glass against mine. “Happy anniversary, Dallas.”
“Happy anniversary, Davina.”
We drank in a comfortable silence, watching the fire.
I thought about everything we'd been through, the antagonism, the accidental marriage, the fake relationship that had become the realest thing I'd ever known.
Sam and her lies. Davina packing her bags with tears streaming down her face.
How close I'd come to losing everything because someone else decided my wife wasn't good enough.
“Hey.” I set down my wine glass and turned to face her fully. “I need you to know something.”
“That sounds serious.”
“It is.” I took her hands in mine, feeling the familiar warmth of her skin, the way her fingers automatically intertwined with mine.
“This past year has been... I didn't know I could feel like this. Before you, I thought marriage was stupid, and then I woke up in Vegas with a ring on my finger and a hangover the size of Texas.”
“Dallas...”
“It was the best accident of my entire life.” I squeezed her hands. “You're the best thing that's ever happened to me. And I know I don't say it enough, or in the right ways…”
“You say it plenty.”
“...but I need you to hear it. Really hear it.” I held her gaze, willing her to understand the weight of what I was saying.
“I am the luckiest man alive. Not because of the championships or the career or any of that. Because of you. Because somehow, in the chaos of that Vegas weekend, I stumbled into a life with a woman who makes me want to be better. Who makes me feel like maybe I already am.”
Her eyes glistened in the firelight. “You're going to make me cry.”
“Good. I like when you cry. It means I've said something right for once.”
She laughed, watery and warm. “Jerk.”
“Your jerk.” I reached up to brush a tear from her cheek. “Forever. If you'll have me.”
“I already have you.” She sniffled. “A whole year, remember? Ring and everything.”
“I remember.” Sort of, I added silently. But tomorrow, we'll make new memories. Better ones.
She leaned in and kissed me.
Not a quick peck. Not a casual brush of lips. A real kiss, the kind that started slow and built into more. Her mouth was warm and tasted of wine, and when her tongue slid against mine, every coherent thought evaporated like morning mist.
Just wait until tomorrow, I thought, the words a feverish chant as her mouth moved against mine. But my body was already betraying that promise, every nerve ending alight at her touch.
The kiss deepened, turning from tender to desperate in a heartbeat.
She tasted of cabernet and the sweet dessert we'd shared, an intoxicating mix that went straight to my head.
My hands came up to cradle her face, thumbs stroking her cheeks as I poured everything, a year's worth of love, of gratitude, of sheer blinding want, into that one kiss.
She broke away first, breath coming in soft, shallow gasps. Her eyes were dark pools of desire, flames reflecting in them. She didn't say a word. Just looked at me with a possessiveness that made my blood heat, her fingers going to the silk tie of her robe.
She loosened it with a single tug.
The robe fell open.
Nothing underneath.
The air left my lungs in a rush. She was beautiful, my own personal goddess kneeling in front of me.
“Davina...” My voice came out ragged, torn from my throat.
“Shhh.” She placed a finger over my lips, her smile a seductive curve. “My turn to talk.”
She pushed my shoulders back until I was lying flat on the rug, wool soft and scratchy against my back. She loomed over me, hair forming a golden curtain around our faces.
“I love you,” she whispered, lips brushing mine with each word. “I love the way you planned all this. I love the secret you're keeping. I love that you're mine.”
She kissed me again. Then her mouth began a slow journey downward. Soft, open-mouthed kisses along my jaw, down the column of my throat, her tongue darting out to taste my skin. I groaned, head falling back.
Every press of her lips was a brand. She took her time, worshiping every inch of me as she moved lower.
She nipped at my collarbone, soothed the sting with her tongue, and continued her descent.
She unbuttoned my shirt with painstaking slowness, pushing the fabric apart.
She leaned down and pressed a kiss right over my pounding heart.
Her hands roamed over my shoulders, my chest, nails scraping lightly over my nipples, making me jolt beneath her.
“You're so responsive,” she murmured against my sternum. “I love knowing exactly what I do to you.”
I'm yours, I thought. I have always been yours.
Her lips trailed lower, across my stomach, her tongue dipping into my navel. I was shaking, every muscle tightened. My cock strained against my pants, desperate for her attention.
As if reading my mind, her fingers went to my belt buckle. The clink of metal was obscenely loud in the quiet room, undercut only by the crackle of the fire and my harsh breathing. She undid the button, slowly drew down the zipper.
The look she gave me then was pure, unadulterated sin. Her eyes locked with mine, holding my gaze captive as she hooked her fingers in my waistband and tugged everything down in one smooth motion.
My cock sprang free, hard and straining, and her eyes darkened with hunger that mirrored my own.
She didn't touch me yet. Just looked, drinking me in from head to toe, her gaze so intense it felt like a physical caress. The heat from her body was tantalizing, a promise hovering just out of reach.
Then, never breaking eye contact, she lowered her head.
The first touch of her tongue was lightning. A lick from base to tip that had my hips bucking off the floor. A low moan rumbled in her throat, the vibration traveling straight through me.
She did it again, tongue flat and wet, tasting me, exploring me. Her hands came up to hold my hips, pinning me to the floor, asserting her control. She was in charge, and I was more than willing to surrender.
She took me into her mouth.
The heat was overwhelming. Her lips stretched around me, sliding down, taking me deeper. Her tongue swirled around my wide head, then pressed firmly along the sensitive vein underneath.
My eyes rolled back. I fisted my hands in the rug, fibers tearing under my grip. I couldn't look away from her, blonde hair spilling over my stomach, cheeks hollowed with suction, eyes locked on mine. The most erotic thing I had ever seen.
“Fuck, baby.” My voice was rough. “You look perfect with my cock in your mouth.”
She moaned around me, the vibration traveling through my bones, and took me deeper until I hit the back of her throat. She swallowed, the convulsive tightening pushing me right to the edge.
“Baby... I'm not gonna last...” The warning came out strained.
She pulled off with a soft, wet pop. Her breathing was ragged. “Not yet. I'm not done with you.”
In one fluid motion, she swung her leg over my hips, straddling me. The heat of her center brushed against my aching cock. She was so wet I could feel it, a damp warmth that promised heaven.
She reached between us, fingers wrapping around my length, guiding me to her entrance. Her eyes never left mine, filled with a love so fierce it stole the air from my lungs.
“I need you,” she whispered, a command and a plea all at once.
She sank down onto me.
A choked cry tore from both of us. She was impossibly tight, inner muscles clenching around me in a velvet vise. She took me all in one slow stroke until she was seated fully on my lap, my cock buried to the hilt inside her.
“You feel so good,” she whispered, voice trembling. “So full.”
We stayed like that for a long moment, joined completely, just breathing each other in. The fire cast her in a golden halo. I reached up, hands finding her hips, gripping her as if she were my only anchor in a stormy sea.
Then she began to move.
She rose up, nearly pulling all the way off, before sinking back down with a rolling grind that made me see stars. I was transfixed. My hands slid up her body, over the waist I loved to hold, to the heavy weight of her breasts bouncing with every movement.
“You're so tight, baby. Fucking perfect.” My fingers found their way between us, brushing against her clit as she rocked against me. She gasped, movements faltering for a moment before she found her rhythm again.
“That's it,” I encouraged, circling her clit with my thumb. “Ride me. Show me how much you want this.”
She moaned, head falling back. “Yes. Just like that. God, Dallas, don't stop.”
I didn't plan to. Watching her come undone above me was my favorite thing. Her breasts bouncing, mouth parted in pleasure. She was breathtaking.
“You're close, aren't you?” I pressed harder against her clit. “I can feel it. You're gonna come all over my cock.”
“Yes,” she whimpered, nails digging into my chest. “Please, Dallas.”
She picked up the pace, movements urgent, frantic. Her head fell back, a symphony of moans and gasped curses falling from her lips. Each time she came down, I met her thrust for thrust, driving up into her.
Her inner walls fluttered around me. The sight of her coming apart above me, lost in pleasure, was my undoing. I sat up, wrapping my arms around her, crushing her to my chest without stopping our frantic rhythm.
“Eyes open.” I ground out the words. “I want to see you.”
She obeyed, eyes fluttering open. Glazed with pleasure, but focused on me.
“I'm going to come inside you,” I whispered, voice rough with need. “I'm going to fill you. You are mine, Davina.”
Her eyes widened as her orgasm ripped through her. She cried out, sharp, broken, and her body convulsed around me, milking my cock, pulling my own release from me.
I buried my face in her neck as I came, my shout muffled by her skin.
I pulsed inside her, wave after wave of blinding pleasure tearing through me until I was shaking and completely claimed by the woman in my arms. She collapsed against me, boneless, our slick skin sliding together, hearts hammering against each other.
For a long time, we stayed like that. Wrapped in each other. The only sound was our ragged breathing and the fire's gentle crackle.
She was the first to speak, voice a breathless whisper against my ear.
“I am yours. Always and forever.”