Jason wasn’t quite as confident as Julie that this hotel was perfect for their wedding. It was gorgeous, no doubt, but it was…slick. Wealthy and perfect. He was neither.
His bride looked right at home in the luxurious infinity pool, though, and he was reminded with a pang that before him, Julie had dated men who would stay here, do business here. She was polished and full of grace. She would shine like a diamond.
“What are you thinking about?” she asked as she swam back toward him.
“How much I like that bikini.”
“Liar.”
Yeah, maybe he was. “This place is nice.”
“Too nice?”
Maybe for him. “Not if you like it.”
“I think you’ll really like the team here.” She wrapped her arms around him, her skin warm and wet and glowing in the late afternoon sun. “Give it a chance.”
“I’m giving it more than a chance. If you like this place, this is where we’re getting married.”
“I want it to be right for both of us.” A frown pulled between her eyebrows and he smoothed it away with his thumb.
“Okay, mind totally open. Promise.”
It took three minutes for the wedding coordinator to win him over. That had to be a record.
They met with her in the lobby, but instead of dragging them to an office, she led them outside, right past the pool they’d already explored, to a perfectly manicured stretch of lawn that overlooked the Pacific Ocean.
“This is the first option for a ceremony. This would be available any time of day, but particularly in the early morning, with the sun rising behind you, the photographs are just stunning. The light on the bride’s skin…” She trailed off and beamed at Jason. “Well, not that your bride needs any special lighting. But it’s really quite lovely.”
“Morning?” He frowned. Julie had mentioned that was one of the available times, but he’d already settled on a luncheon wedding in his mind. “Isn’t that…too simple?”
The coordinator stepped back. Smart woman. She knew the question was for his Jules, and she stayed right out of it.
Julie did a slow circle, then shrugged. “I don’t need a fancy wedding. I need a real wedding, with tears and vows and above all else, a celebration that feels like us. For two people that spend a fair amount of time working before dawn, maybe it's appropriate?”
“When do we have to decide?”
The coordinator cleared her throat and they swiveled their heads to look at her. “Take the weekend,” she said smoothly. “Now if I could show you where we might set up a brunch buffet?”
She walked them through all their options, then they headed back through the hotel. They were going to dinner, and they had a lot of things to consider.
“One concern with breakfast is if the guys get a bit rowdy,” he admitted. How often did they have a horde of military guys descend?
She just laughed. “We can handle rowdy.”
“We might put that to the test.”
Julie shook her head as he took her hand and they headed toward the restaurant.
“What? Too much honesty?”
She laughed. “No. Just the right amount.”
“I think this place is perfect, by the way.”
She groaned. “We’re getting married at dawn, aren’t we?”
It was a definite possibility.
“Can’t sleep?”
Julie turned. Her breath caught in her throat at the sight of Jason, shirtless and his sleep pants riding low on his hips. She shook her head. “Mind was spinning, so I got up to check out what it might look like at this hour.”
“I’ve always liked dawn on the Pacific,” he rumbled, joining her on the balcony. “The sun at my back, and the sky lightening, turning purple, then pink and orange. I think the coordinator might be onto something.”
Julie had been thinking of a civilized breakfast hour, not first crack of light, but…
She turned around again as Jason pressed against her back and they looked down on the pool and the lawn together. “It’s so still this early. It’s beautiful.”
He picked up her hand and brushed a kiss over her knuckles before pointing their fingers together to the beach that curved off to the south. “We could have pictures taken down there, before the ceremony. Right about this hour.”
“That’s insane,” she whispered, but her heart skipped a beat. “I’d have to have hair and makeup here at some obscene time.”
“You’re beautiful just like this,” he whispered, his kiss dusting her neck now. “I love your hair down and mussed up from sleep.”
“I’m not having sex hair for our wedding.”
“Shame.” He scraped his teeth against the curve of her ear. “Okay, so the hair and makeup people come early. And they keep it simple.”
She tipped her head back and laughed. “Pictures at dawn?”
“Just an idea.” He traced her neck with his fingertips. “Or we could wake up early and have sex before the wedding.”
“I assumed you’d stay with the guys the night before,” she whispered.
He snorted. “I’m going to spend six months with some of them. And away from you. We’re sharing a bed the night before our wedding. I don’t give a damn about tradition. The thought of waking up with my bride, and making love to her while we watch dawn break…”
She shivered as his hands smoothed down her body, cupping her breasts and teasing her nipples before drifting lower. “We can’t see dawn from our bed…”
“Hmm. We’ll have to come out here again.”
“Someone might see.” She giggled as he hiked up her t-shirt and pressed his growing erection to her panty-covered bottom.
“Good point.” He picked her up and carried her inside. “Who needs to see dawn when all I want to see is you, naked and spread out for me?”
She wiggled in his arms, but it was no use. Even though she was tall and curvy, he could manhandle her all he wanted and they both loved it.
He peeled her out of her clothes and kissed her neck again, her breasts. She moaned as he sucked first one nipple, then the other, driving her wild with his tongue as his knees pushed her legs apart.
She writhed beneath him, so distracted by the tug of desire shooting through her that she didn’t realize he was already nudging into her until he pulled out with a strangled laugh.
“Condom,” he muttered.
She’d left her pills at home on her last group of flights out east. She’d missed three days, so they were being safe…
But they’d talked about her staying off the pill and working on a baby when he got back from tour.
She reached for him and shook her head. “We don’t need one…maybe?”
“That’s not a maybe kind of statement,” he said, his eyes burning as he gazed down her naked body. “You want me to use one or not?”
Wild excitement leapt inside her. “Not.”
“You sure?”
She nodded. “Completely.”
“Oh, babe.” He fell on top of her, big and heavy and strong, and he was grinning as he entered her again. He took his time pressing inside, filling her up. The stretch was good and familiar, but the promise was new. Exciting. “I love you,” he growled as he dipped his head, and she just had enough time to whisper it back before he was kissing her, his tongue mimicking the thrust of his length between her legs.
He consumed her, claiming her with every part of his body. His hands held her to him, one on her hip, the other around the back of her neck. His chest hair teased her nipples as he rolled up and into her. That was soft and silky, and the hair on his legs was crisper, rougher against the inside of her thighs and her calves as she clung to him.
It was all incredible, and the best part of all was how he pulled back to look at her, his eyes wide and searching, before crashing back into her with another kiss, another matching thrust.
Like he couldn’t really believe they were doing this, too.
She was spinning fast already. Each quick stroke pulled her higher, tighter, and then with one hard, deep thrust, Jason shifted, widening his stance and slowing all the way down.
If she was close before, now she was teetering right on the edge.
“You’re so big inside me,” she gasped, and he grinned, a white, feral flash in an otherwise serious face.
A serious, gonna-knock-you-up face.
“Come with me,” she whispered, and he tipped his head back, baring his throat. She reached for him, tugging him closer so she could lick him there, slide her tongue up the salty-sweet skin until she hit the rasp of his stubble. “Fill me up, Jase.”
He tangled his hand in her hair and pulled her head back. He held her gaze as he rocked his hips. Heavy, thick, hard pulsing. Had it ever been this good?
Of course it had. It was always good. It was always amazing.
But this was…
He swore under his breath, then laced his fingers with hers and jerked hard. His orgasm triggered hers, the hard surge of his body sending bliss spiraling through her entire being. She cried out, too. It was elemental and primal. No words could touch what this felt like.
He was her mate, she was his, in every way.