CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Jovana
Even though Grayson and I had made all our wedding plans together, our honeymoon was one aspect he’d asked to handle alone. He wanted me to be surprised with the location, or locations—he wouldn’t give me even that detail. My only request was that wherever we went and whatever he had planned, I wanted the use of both hands. So when my orthopedist scheduled my cast to come off two weeks after our wedding, Grayson booked Hooked’s private plane to fly us out the following morning.
Delaying the trip gave us a chance to relax after all the festivities. To bask in the warmth of our marriage and get to know each other as husband and wife.
They said it was just a piece of paper, that nothing would change.
But Grayson and I knew something about paper—we’d had a contract between us since almost the very beginning. One that had kept us legally bound.
Our marriage license didn’t do that. It could be shredded anytime we wanted.
But since we’d both signed the license, things had become so different.
The first thing he said to me every morning when we woke up was how much he loved me. He uttered the same words before we went to bed.
In the two weeks that had passed, he proved his wedding vows.
He showed his promises.
And there wasn’t a moment that had passed when I didn’t believe him.
How much I meant to him.
How much he cared for me.
How much he loved me.
Even if those gestures were subtle, like the way his arm hung over my shoulders and his lips pressed into the top of my head as we got out of the SUV and walked the short distance to Hooked’s plane.
I felt the passion.
His attention.
His constant, irrevocable love.
And as I wrapped my arm around his waist, I could feel the warmth of his skin without a chunk of plaster separating us. I could wear a sexy dress for my husband without my skin covered in purple bruises.
I could take a deep breath and bear his weight on top of me without the relentless pain in my abdomen.
I was finally healed.
Our honeymoon wasn’t just a celebration of our marriage.
It was a celebration of my life.
That I’d survived.
That I was physically and mentally moving on from the accident.
We boarded the plane, and my head was filled with dreams of what these next two weeks were going to be like. The food we were going to eat. The wine we were going to drink.
The beauty we were going to experience.
Inside the plane, the monitor in the cabin, which I assumed normally showed the flight path and destination, was blacked out. The flight attendant and the two pilots didn’t mention anything about where we were going or how long it would take to get there.
I knew absolutely nothing.
But when we were about nine hours into the flight, one of the pilots announced that we were starting our descent, and not a minute later, a text came across my phone.
Sloane: I just looked over Saturday’s sales numbers and it was a record-breaking night. Highest sales I’ve had since I’ve owned the bar. Can I hire you as a weekly guest bartender, PLEASE?!?
Me: I make terrible drinks. You don’t want me.
Sloane: Stop that ... I can teach you.
Me: Better idea—how about I come a few times a month and just hang behind the bar instead? I’ll even post a TikTok to let my followers know I’ll be there. Something tells me they’d like that better than if I charged them for drinks that I butchered and they hated (which they did, I saw their faces, omg, they haaaated them, and don’t tell me it’s because I only had one hand, we both know a second hand wouldn’t have made them taste better).
Sloane: I’m not going to lie, that extra dirty martini you made me at the end of the night was pretty rancid.
Me: SEE!
Me: By the way, I knew things were going to explode once you took over the bar. Glad I can say I was right.
Sloane: A lot of that is due to you.
Me: No way, I’m not taking any credit. You know what the patrons are looking for and you’ve reshaped the whole place. It’s nothing like it was when I worked there. It’s a million times better. Your success is because of YOU.
Sloane: If I had even an ounce of sappiness in my body, I’d be aww-ing right now. But I don’t, so I’m going to say, the second you return from your honeymoon, I better be seeing you.
Me: You got it. XO
“First stop,” Grayson gently growled in my ear as I set my phone down, “is the Amalfi Coast.”
I glanced out the window, the plane coming to a halt at the end of the runway. “Oh my God.” I turned toward him. “You’re kidding? This has been on my travel bucket list and—”
“I know. And for the next five days, before we move on to surprise location number two, you’re going to experience every bit of it.”
“Grayson . . .”
He cupped my chin, holding our faces close together. “Wife ...”
I smiled. “God, I love you.”
“I love you more,” he roared before our lips touched.
The second we parted, we stood from our seats and made our way out of the plane to where an SUV waited for us on the tarmac.
But before I climbed in, I stood on the bottom of the plane’s steps, taking in the sights and smells and emotions racking my body.
I’d found paradise.
In the way the leaves on the trees moved and whispered from the wind.
In the way the air smelled of the sun’s warmth and a hint of lemon.
In the way that my husband held my hand.
How he looked at me as I faced him, like Italy didn’t even compare to me.
This was love.
This was what a future with Grayson was going to look like, and I didn’t want to rush it, but I couldn’t wait for more.
We got into the back seat, and after a short drive, we pulled up to the home that he’d rented for our stay. Rose petals met my feet the second he opened the front door.
I took in the long trail of red that wove through the living room and kitchen, the only two rooms I could view from the doorway, and filled my lungs with a shaky, emotional breath. “This is magical.”
With our fingers locked, he led me through the living room to show me the view outside the balcony. The home was nestled in a mountain, surrounded by others that were as beautiful and as colorful as ours, and below was the water.
Not like the dark, almost midnight blue of the Atlantic.
The Tyrrhenian Sea was teal, and in some places, it was so clear I could see the sand below.
“Five days.” I sighed, still having a hard time fathoming that I would get to look at this view for that long. “I’m literally in heaven.”
As he stood behind me, he held my stomach, his face in my neck. “Wait until you see the bedroom ... and what I’m going to do to you when we get in there.”
I giggled as he pressed his hard-on against me. “Show me. Now.”
We followed the petals into a hallway where there was a large walk-in closet, an en suite, and a balcony off the bedroom where we could open the doors and listen to the waves below. The bed was decorated with more petals, and champagne sat on ice by the dresser. Vases of red roses were on every surface with candles waiting to be lit.
Despite the long flight and not having slept at all, I wasn’t tired.
Adrenaline flowed through me as I thought about the first leg of this trip. I wrapped my arms around Grayson’s neck, fantasizing about what he was now going to do to me in this room.
How loud I was going to scream.
How hard I was going to come.
“You have me,” I whispered, my gaze dropping to his lips. “What are you going to do with me?”
He lifted me into the air and placed me on top of the wonderfully big, comfortable bed, where the softness of the petals grazed my skin.
“I’m going to fucking devour you.”
His eyes backed up every word, and suddenly my dress was off and my sandals were no longer on my feet. My strapless bra was the only thing left, since I hadn’t worn any panties, and that was now unhooked and flung to the ground.
“And the first thing I want to do is taste you.” He spread my legs, his beard scraping the insides of my thighs as he moved between them. Before his tongue landed on me, his nose wedged between my folds, taking a long, deep inhale. “Mine.” He breathed me in again. “God, you smell good.” He slowly and gradually licked me from top to bottom. “Fuck yes, you taste amazing.”
“Yesss.”My fingers dived into his hair, gripping his strands, needing to just hold on to something while he moved to the top of me, focusing on the highest point, licking it horizontally. “Your tongue ... fuck.”
Then vertically.
His pace stayed but the pattern changed as he sucked me into his mouth, flicking the end of my clit with his tongue, while he slipped two fingers inside me.
The combination was too much.
I couldn’t hold off the orgasm.
“You’re getting close. I can taste it.”
Just as I was memorizing his rhythm, it shifted.
Again.
He wasn’t going to let me come that fast.
Grayson liked having that control.
That he could send me over the edge whenever he wanted.
I squirmed from the sensations, unable to stay still, the pleasure far too much, and I tightened my grip on his hair, my other hand clasping the blanket beneath me.
It seemed every time I neared the place of no return, he would lower his tongue to my entrance to stop the build from happening. His fingers would slow. He would gather my wetness and lick back up, starting the process all over again.
I was breathless.
“What are you doing to me?” I gasped.
“I’m making you want it so badly, you can’t think of anything else.”
Except I was there.
I had been since the very start.
And I was positive he knew that. He was just overwhelming me with thoughts.
Needs.
Wants.
Because there was nothing in this world that felt as good as Grayson’s tongue.
“Please,” I begged.
My legs threatened to cave inward, my hips rocking, matching the momentum of his tongue.
And just when I reached a point where I couldn’t stop, something changed.
Something . . . felt different.
Something was extra soft.
A quick look showed me he was holding a rose petal between his teeth, rubbing it against my clit like it was his tongue.
“Oh God!” Although it wasn’t wet like his mouth, the feel of it, the silkiness, the softness, was incredible.
And it was enough.
More than enough.
Within a few swipes of the flower, I was coming.
“Grayson!” Tingles shot through my navel and up toward my chest. “Ahhh!”
The shudders came next, moving through my stomach in waves, each one consuming me, sending me further into my orgasm, where I was positive I’d stopped breathing.
I also wasn’t squeezing his hair anymore.
Nor could I hold my legs apart.
I was lost.
Overpowered and overstimulated.
Soaking in every perfect second.
Until his tongue stilled, his fingers pulled out, and my body finally began to come down from its high.
He kissed me, my wetness on his lips. “Tell me how you taste.”
“Grayson—”
“Tell me.”
“God, the things you do to me.” I smiled. “Sweet ... is that what you want to hear?”
He reached around and grabbed my ass. “I’m far from done, baby.”
He was moving me higher on the bed, my head eventually hitting a pillow, my legs spread over his shoulders as he knelt in front of me.
With his tip aimed at my entrance, he ran it up and down, like he was mimicking his tongue, soaking himself with my orgasm. After a few drags, he was sinking inside me.
Inch by inch.
Taking the little breath I had in my lungs and draining it.
“Oh. My. God.” I moaned.
Once again, I reached for the blanket, fisting the fabric, feeling the petals at the same time.
“Goddamn it,” he roared. “You’re so tight and so fucking wet.”
He was diving into me, stroking me with his famous speed and power, his hips turning when he reached the end of me, pulling out to his tip to do it all over.
My nails pierced his hips, urging him to go faster.
Harder.
Deeper.
I needed more—I always needed more.
But that didn’t earn me any of the things I wanted. What it got me instead was Grayson pulling completely out and repositioning us at the side of the bed, where he sat along the edge with his feet on the ground and my legs straddling him.
“Ride me.”
I circled my arms around his neck and lined my lips up to his. “That’s what you want?” I teased his tip, dipping just enough that I took in his crown, so he could feel my tightness, before I hauled myself back and he slipped out. “You want me to ride the cum out of you?”
“Mmm. My wife talking dirty to me. I fucking love it.” His fingers bit my ass. “And yes, that’s what I want.” He was gripping my hips, using his power to drive me down, burying his shaft inside me. “Fuck. Me.” He pulled me forward and back, bucking me over him, giving friction to all sides of his dick.
He wasn’t the only one moaning, the only one totally flooded with these mind-blowing sensations.
I was there too.
Captivated.
Adrift.
The build came out of nowhere, but each time I lifted and lowered, bobbing over his cock, it brought me closer.
“Grayson ...” My voice was a whisper. That was all I could muster up vocally. I was just too lost in movements. But what I did have was my lips, and I used them, pressing my mouth to his, his tongue swirling around mine.
“You want to come together?”
I grunted out a sexy response.
“Then don’t stop.” He held me tighter. “Fuck me like you want to come.”
I didn’t have much left, but what was there, I used. I rotated my hips in a circle, holding him inside me, rising to gain more momentum before I plunged him back in.
“That’s it, Jovana.” He whispered in my ear, “Now faster.”
Our breaths increased. Our sounds got louder.
Our tongues touched again.
And when I couldn’t hold it off for a second longer, confining him within my walls, pulsing around him, I lost it.
“Grayson!”
There was something so erotic about watching the man you loved turn vulnerable and pound his orgasm into you.
About feeling the wetness shoot from his tip.
About absorbing each other’s pleasure.
That was where we were—together. Hugging our bodies against one another.
Clinging.
Kissing.
Screaming out our orgasms.
“Fuck yes!” He continued to hold my ass. “Jovana! Damn it, yes!”
The peak of my pleasure was drawn out, causing me to shudder over him, clutching him from the inside until I turned sensitive.
Grayson’s trembles lasted as long as mine, and I inhaled his moans as he exhaled them over my face, holding me like I was going to slip away.
Draining ourselves until only stillness was left.
His hands held the sides of my face and he gazed into my eyes.
Several seconds of silence passed before he broke it. “I’ll never have enough of you.”
“I’m never going anywhere, so you can have me whenever you want me.”
“You know what that was?”
My brows rose. “No?”
He pressed our noses together. “The best answer you could have ever given me.”