Luna sat quietly the whole car ride back to the house. Ever since we left my parents at the entrance of the club, she’s faded to some other place in her mind. Not like she’s shut the door in my face. More like her attention drew inward.
When we step through the front door, Pig gallops to greet us, her entire body wagging. Luna scratches the pit bull’s head, then immediately heads to the back door to let her out. As the sliding glass door clicks shut, I can’t stand the distance anymore, rabid with curiosity over her thoughts about the night.
“Hey.” I catch Luna’s arm as she’s about to walk past me. “My parents liked you.”
Her smile has a curious edge to it. “I liked them too.” Her eyes meet mine, holding me with their intensity. “A lot.”
Then the spell breaks as she glances away and continues into the kitchen. After kicking her heels to the side, Luna groans, stretching her toes on the ground. The sound has my blood pumping hot.
But my wife doesn’t pay attention to me. She just reaches into the freezer, pulling out a container of mint chocolate chip. After grabbing a spoon, the minx has the audacity to boost herself up onto the counter right in the spot where I ate her out.
“Want some?”
My whole body jerks at her question, and I need a second to realize Luna’s tilting the ice cream carton my way and holding out a second spoon I didn’t realize she’d grabbed. Not wanting to shatter this domestic spell, I carefully step up beside her and accept the utensil she holds out. Time passes where the two of us simply scoop out spoonfuls of ice cream and savor them in silence.
Luna eventually sets the ice cream down on the counter, closer to me, as if she’s had enough. My hand has been scooping robotically. I taper off along with her.
“I don’t want to sleep alone tonight,” Luna announces to the kitchen.
Since she’s been in my bed for the past few nights, I can reason she means something different tonight.
This moment sits heavy in the air. An opening that may never come again.
Luna leaving herself vulnerable to me.
“You don’t have to.” I step in front of her, placing my hands on her knees.
You never have to again, I silently add, guessing she’s only ready for so much honesty.
Her eyes meet mine, and behind the fierceness I spy excitement and anxiety.
“Then take me to bed,” she commands.
Yes.
I press her knees wide, stepping between them, sliding my hands under her ass, and boosting her into my arms. Luna helps by wrapping herself around me, but she hinders my progress by placing hot, open-mouthed kisses on my neck, threatening to buckle my knees.
When we reach her room, I collapse onto the bed, letting my wife land on top of me. And there she stays, rubbing her body on mine, drawing her lips up to capture my mouth in a scorching, slow-paced kiss.
This is different than the frantic session in the kitchen, where we moved fast as if to stop each other from backing out. This session still leaves things needing to be said, but not everything. Luna wants me in her bed tonight. The entire night.
And I want to be with her.
I ease into the experience, running my hands along the strong shape of her body, giving small presses on her back and hips to keep her rocking against me. She’s captured my hard dick between us, and every time she moves, the pleasure jolts up my spine.
Luna breaks off our kiss, planting her hands on either side of my head to hold herself above me. She stares down with lust-hazy eyes.
“You would let me do anything to you. Wouldn’t you?” She rocks her hips against my erection.
“Yes,” I moan, ready to follow whatever direction she gives.
“You shouldn’t.” Her voice drops to a hush. “I’m not good for you. I’m not…good.” Luna’s sentence cracks on the last word, and her body stills as she turns her head, blinking rapidly.
What?
I sit up so fast she jerks in surprise. But she doesn’t retreat.
Can’t when I cage her in my arms.
“Good is relative.” I cup Luna’s face in my hands, making sure she’s looking at me. Listening to me. “You’re fierce, strong, and loyal. You fight for what’s yours.” I lean in, pressing a light kiss to her lips before admitting, “I want to be yours.”
A groan wrenches from her throat, and I find myself pinned down to the bed. Luna has her hands pressed to my shoulders, hips back to rocking, eyes on fire.
“I want you,” she growls, making every muscle in my body clench.
“Luna.” I choke on her name when she shoves off me. But the second she’s standing, her hands rip off her blouse and then her pants. I don’t have time to admire her black underwear before the set is discarded too. Naked, she pulls open the drawer on her bedside table, taking out a foil packet. Next thing I know, her fingers are undoing my belt, unzipping my fly, and dragging out my heated cock.
No time for even a word to leave my lips before she’s back over me, sliding the head along her slick folds. I groan at the decadent sensation, every muscle in my body jerking as she rolls the protection down my length. With her muscular thighs clenching, Luna lowers herself onto every throbbing inch of me, and I swear I hear entire symphonies play across my eardrums.
My wife takes me, just like she promised. Luna rides me in a hard, steady rhythm, palming her bare tits, pinching her own nipples, and holding my gaze the entire time.
Somehow I manage not to come in the first five seconds. I think the only thing stopping me is the fear of what’ll happen when this all reaches the crescendo. When Luna’s pace stutters and her lids flutter, I know she can get to her climax. I’m determined to help, reaching out to spread my hand over her lower belly, then sneaking my finger past her intimate hair, under her hood, to caress her clit.
My woman gives a yelp as her hands fall to my chest, fisting in my shirt. My dick enjoys the tightening pulses of her orgasm, each one drawing me deeper.
Luna finally comes back to the present, panting, chest heaving, a curtain of dark hair cutting her eyes off from mine.
“Hey,” I speak gently, reaching forward to brush aside some strands, wanting to make sure she’s okay.
I meet a glare.
“You’re mine,” she pants. Then her hips rock hard, and Luna starts to truly fuck me, steady and demanding. My back bows off the bed, and I have to hold onto her thighs to give myself some grounding in reality.
“You’re mine, Charlie Keller.”
I groan her name like a desperate prayer, the pleasure too much for my mind to comprehend. There’s a live wire connecting my spine and my balls shooting straight electricity down my cock.
She demands my climax, pulling every ounce of sanity from me as her body milks me dry.
Even after the orgasm is technically done, I twitch with aftershocks.
Eventually my mind and heart calm down enough to realize Luna has sprawled her glorious body over my chest, not bothering to separate where we connect.
I struggle for the right thing to say, but then realize she’s fast asleep.
Worn herself out.
With me. I grin wide, replaying everything she said in this past hour.
Has my wife finally claimed me?
LUNA
The first time I wake up is when Charlie climbs out of bed. In a whisper he tells me he’s going to let Pig back inside, then come back to bed. I’m asleep before I can discover if he fulfills his promise.
The next time I wake up there’s a dog leg digging into my back and a warm man at my side.
Despite being fully awake, there’s nothing strong enough to pull me out from under these covers. Charlie still sleeps beside me, his long, lean body sprawled out over his portion of the bed. He’s belly down, arms gripping a pillow, his face turned toward me, jaw slack, and emitting faint snores in his sleep.
I can’t pinpoint exactly what about last night forced me out of my comfort zone and demanded I do something about my attraction to Charlie. But when we got home and I felt his eyes on me, I couldn’t imagine going to separate bedrooms or sleeping in the same room but with our normal dog buffer. I couldn’t imagine being married to Charlie for one more day without treating him like my true husband.
I just wanted him. Wanted to pretend this could all be real.
That we could be happy together. That I could fall in love with him.
When I was a kid, I wasn’t really a kid. My mother’s disinterest in parenting meant the responsibility of caring for myself and Dash—and at times Leo too—fell on my shoulders. I grew up fast, missing out on all the freedom children get to enjoy when they don’t have to worry about grown-up things. Where the closest they get is playing house.
I want to play house now. I want to pretend with this man. Believe we’re a happy little family with no problems on the horizon.
Can’t I have that? Can it be my birthday present to myself? Pretend for this year, we’re not in a fake marriage but a real one. Indulge in the fantasy.
And then, at the end of the year, the game will end.
I’ll have had my taste of joy and partnership, and I’ll use those memories as comforting blankets when he’s gone.
And he will leave.
They always do.
“Good morning.” Charlie’s voice rumbles deep with sleep, pulling my focus back to the bed and his warm eyes.
“Morning.” I shift on my pillow, facing him. “I want to amend some of the marriage rules.”
A slow smile pulls his mouth wide. “You do?”
“We’d both have to agree.”
“Of course.”
“The no sleeping together rule.”
“You added that in the first place. You want it gone? It’s gone.”
We both know it was truly gone when he sat me on the kitchen counter and licked me until I was gasping his name.
“Okay. It’s gone.”
“Good. And what else?”
The one saying this ends at the end of the year, my mind begs. But I don’t let the urge take control of my mouth.
“That’s it.”
He frowns. “You said rules. Plural.”
Shit. I did. I scrape my brain for the other items on the list.
But that’s the thing. I have trouble remembering what they are.
Because when I’m with Charlie, I don’t care about the rules. All I think about is him, how he makes me feel. How I want him to make me feel.
With his hands. And his mouth. And his tongue.
And that perfect dick of his.
The thoughts are too much. I lunge across the mattress, pinning him back against the sheets, bracketing him with my thighs, and stealing possession of his lush lips. Charlie kisses me back just as hard, melding our mouths together.
Pig lets out an unhappy huff at all the jostling and climbs off the bed, throwing us major side-eye as she waddles from the room.
We share a laugh before I recapture his lips. My body aches for him, and I rub myself against his form, searching for every way we can touch. Be together for this short time we have.
Charlie’s groan spills out, vibrating through me.
I trace his strong jawline with harsh, hurried kisses. “I’m on birth control, and I want you. Now.” I growl into his ear before biting the lobe.
He jerks, and in a surprising move, he turns us until I’m under him. Not a position I normally let partners claim, but his weight on me sets off delicious twisting in my lower belly. His chest against mine has me sinking into the mattress.
“I need you.” Charlie hisses the words against my neck as he slides inside me.
I let the pleasure of being with him rise, ignoring his words. I know what it’s like to be needed.
But that doesn’t mean I’ll ever let myself need somebody else.