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HARPER
*
WE BOUGHT SOME BURGERS to go. Rowley wolfed his down in a few quick bites. I quickly lost interest and handed him what was left of mine. He polished it off in quick order.
I wanted a wedding night. I grabbed the champagne bottle and tried to work the cork free. He took it from me and popped it with ease. I found two plastic cups in the little alcove which held the coffeepot.
I poured us each a cup. Rowley took the cup I handed him and set it down without taking a sip. "You can't just fucking disappear on me like that."
"I didn't disappear. I went for a bag of chips."
"I just found you causing trouble by the slots, brat."
He shoved the travel brochures aside and swung me up onto the dresser. Champagne sloshed out of my cup. He worked my tight skirt up past my thighs.
He stared down at my naked pussy.
"You went out like this?"
"I'd prettied myself up in the bathroom. Thought we were going to—you know," I said. "Then you fell asleep and I just put my clothes back on—"
"And forgot all about your panties." He shook his head. "This wild shit has to stop."
I wriggled off the dresser, spilling more of my drink. He took the cup from my hand and tossed it in a nearby waste basket.
“Put your hands on the dresser.”
I hesitated for only a moment before obeying him. A tingle ran up my spine.
He shoved my skirt waist high and landed a stinging smack across my bottom.
He was letting me know who was boss. Finn would have just heaved a big disappointed sigh.
Another smack and I found myself getting wet. He spanked each cheek thoroughly. My flesh felt hot. I couldn't even imagine how much that big hand of his would hurt if he wasn't restraining himself.
I widened my stance, eliciting a growl from deep in his throat. His fingers glided up my exposed sex. I was hot and wet for him. I imagined my pink folds glistening. I moaned as he thrust two fingers into me. But he wasn't done meting out punishment. He took turns plunging his fingers in me and then spanking my bottom.
I was certainly holding Rowley Ford's attention with my reddened buttocks and spread pussy. I could see his reflection in the vanity mirror on the dresser. His fierce gaze was fastened to my naked ass as he did what he wanted to me.
I spread my legs further apart and tilted up my bottom. His fingers left my pussy and one of them pressed at my anus. He pushed in the tip, still slick with my wetness. I pulled in a sharp surprised breath. It felt invasive and intimate, and painful and good all at the same time.
“Do you want me to stop?”
“No,” I said, my voice breathy. “This is just new for me.”
“That’s exactly what I was hoping for, darlin’.”
I tilted my ass up higher, asking for more. He plunged his finger in all the way and I clutched at the dresser. He drew his finger out again, his gaze never leaving my raised bottom. Then he pushed back into me, deep and hard, making my pussy want similar attention. I reached between my legs and flicked my clit ring a couple of times and then I came hard.
"Harper, baby, you're going to do me in," he growled. My body shivered as he drew down the zipper on my skirt.
***
HE SHED HIS CLOTHES as I settled onto the bed. I parted my thighs to accommodate his big frame.
He rocked into me thick and long, causing a slow and heated friction that took my breath away.
Forget the fact that I'd always adored him. Just the physicality of the man overwhelmed me. Every part of him was a pleasure to touch. I dug my fingers into his muscular back. I rubbed the sole of my foot down one of his legs, reveling in the crisp feel of the hair against my skin.
He's my husband now, I thought, and that knowledge made me go a little wild. Even though it caused me some pain, I bucked up against him, meeting his thrusts. I wondered if I would ever get used to the size of him. Probably not.
His hand reached between us, his callused fingers brushing my clit, teasing the gold ring.
I clutched his muscular buttocks and squeezed his cock with my pussy.
"Jesus, baby, stop. You're going to make me come."
"Thought that was the point." I said, tightening my inner muscles around him again.
"Harper, stop." He sounded aggravated. He reached back and pried one of my hands off his ass. He jerked over onto his back, and came all over his abdomen.
"I'm on the pill."
Sweat glistened on his heaving chest. He turned his face to look at me. "Why? We were on a break."
A break? Well, wasn't that an innocuous way to describe our nasty, but short separation? I could almost hear the gears turning in his arrogant male mind. Even though he’d ended us, he'd still expected my continued loyalty.
"I guess I was hoping we'd get back together."
Then another thought occurred to me. My stomach dropped. I felt like I'd just fallen off a cliff. He didn't trust me to have his baby.
I scrambled out of bed, bringing the sheet and blanket with me. "God forbid that you accidentally impregnate me."
He didn't say a word, just watched me steadily from beneath his thick eyelashes, as I untangled myself from the bed covers.
"Do you think I'd be the kind of mother who would just up and leave her child?"
He propped himself up on his forearms. "Fuck no."
"Then what is it?"
He sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the mattress. "Come sit here. Let's talk about it."
I stood naked in the middle of the room, the covers in a pile at my feet. "I'm fine here." I pulled in a sharp breath. "Are you worried that I'll remarry? That I'll take your baby from you?"
His face went instantly pale, as if all the blood had dropped to his feet.
“I would never allow another man to raise my child.” His voice vibrated with anger.
“Tell me then? What is this all about?”
His big shoulders heaved as he pulled in a deep breath. “All I want is for you to settle the fuck down a little before we have kids.”
I stomped the few steps to the bathroom and shut the door sharply and locked it. I turned on the shower and stepped inside before the water had warmed completely. I expected to hear the knob rattle, expected him to apologize, but it didn't happen.
After my shower, I sat on the edge of the bathtub wrapped in the towel. I wanted to scream. I wanted to cry. Instead, I just sat there unable to move. I knew I was flawed, and that I was far from an ideal choice for a wife. I’d warned him of that.
What if I couldn’t change to his satisfaction? What then?
I heard his phone chime and his deep voice rumbling through the door.
I started as he knocked on the door. "Harper, I need to get back to the station."
I came out in the towel. He already had his pants on and was buttoning up his shirt. The color had returned to his face, but his expression remained stony.
I couldn't switch gears as fast as he could. Maybe because I was the injured party. "How would you like to be the one on trial? The spouse who's not trusted?" I took a heaving breath. “You want me to be a different person.”
“That’s the last thing I want. All I want is for you to think before you act. Like not going on a creaky, old Ferris wheel in the middle of a fucking windstorm.”
He grabbed my clothes off the back of the chair and thrust them at me. "Don’t forget your panties this time."
I thought of the spanking. “You want to tame me.”
“Yeah, I guess I do, baby,” he admitted.
I managed to pull on my clothes, but my whole body was shaking with such fury that I couldn't manage to get the zipper up on my skirt.
And I could barely stand still for him to do it. I hurried away from him the second he'd pulled the zipper to the top.
I stabbed my feet into my pumps and grabbed my purse "For the first time in my life, I hate you, Rowley Ford."
He flinched as if I'd struck him. "Nice thing to say to your new husband."
Afraid I might say something else cruel, I decided to hold my tongue on the drive home.
He broke the silence. "I'm going to call my folks and let them know we got married. We're going to have to fly out there to see them soon. Are you going to talk to your brother or should I?"
"Let's just wait until my trial, however long that might be, is over before we tell our family and friends. You don't even have a ring. No one would even suspect. Maybe I should stop wearing mine...until I pass your test, or is it tests?"
"Enough.” The harshness of his tone made me jolt. "That ring never comes off. Understand me?"
"Yes, sir," I answered. I’d tried for sarcasm, but I came off sounding sheepish. I’d gone too far and I knew it.
I expected him to drop me off at the house and leave, but he followed me inside. Without a word he pushed me against the wall and kissed me. I kissed him back, sucking greedily on his big tongue. My anger was no match for my hunger for him. He reached up under my dress and ripped off the panties he'd insisted I put on. He brought one of my legs up to hook around his waist and then he penetrated me in a single, hard thrust. He tried to hold my gaze as he fucked me, but I shut my eyes.
I clutched his shoulders as he drove deeper, propelling me up the wall.
"Harper, dammit, look at me."
He wielded his stiff cock to get his way and I opened my eyes to find him staring at me. I saw lust in his heavy-lidded eyes, but there was also the need to control.
He started pumping into me rough and fast, one of his hands braced on the wall, the other clutching my ass, holding me still so that I would take the brunt of his thrusts. I could feel the muscles of his shoulders bunching beneath my hands. He was too deliciously much for me, my pussy spasmed around him and my head lolled forward as my climax tore through me.
His release followed almost instantly. His cock jerked inside me, his come surging warm and thick.
He set me back on my feet. I watched his broad form as he strode away down the hallway. I stayed propped against the wall for support, his come trickling down my inner thigh. That proved nothing, of course, since he now knew I was on the pill.
Wrong, it had proved something. That, despite claiming I hated him, he could have me whenever and wherever he wished.
I cleaned myself up and then managed to pull it together enough to brew some coffee and put a couple of pieces of bread in the toaster.
He'd exchanged his black pants and dress shirt for a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. His hair was wet from the shower and his face was shaved clean. He plucked a piece of toast from the toaster and ate it plain. "Not sure when I'll be home."
I was still up for a fight, but I bottled it. I filled the metal travel cup with steaming black coffee and then searched for the lid in the drawer. I popped it on and turned around and handed him the cup. 'I hate you' was not going to be the last thing I said to him before sending him off.
"Is it okay to say, 'be careful'? Would that bring good or bad luck? What’s the appropriate phrase for a firefighter's wife?"
"Not sure. I've never had a wife before." His lips quirked at the corners.
"I'm being serious.”
"A couple of the guys have this superstitious thing. They never let their wives say goodbye. See you later or see you soon, but not goodbye."
Annoying tears pricked at the back of my eyes. "See you soon," I said.
He scooped his free hand around my waist, and searched my face. He was trying to figure out whether I was still angry with him. After a long moment, he dipped his head and kissed me. This time with such tenderness that my heart melted.
Would he always have the power to change my mood? To make me forgive him, no matter how much of an asshole he'd been?
All morning long, I found myself reliving our argument. Had it really been an argument? I’d done most of the yelling.
My anger returned full force thinking of how sure he'd been that he was in the right.
When he called me at noon to tell me he wouldn't be home until the next day, I hid my anger. I also didn't bother mentioning the small club concert I'd committed to before our elopement. Or that my ex was scheduled to perform.