There’d been dancing. And toasts, food, congratulations, and music. The hotel staff had gone above and beyond, and each guest who’d dined in the hotel on Christmas Eve had been treated to dinner and dancing. All Laura really remembered was the feel of Tyler’s arms around her and the way her body, excess curves and all, fit against his.
She’d lost track of time, but didn’t care. As unorthodox, untraditional, as the day had been, Laura wouldn’t change it for anything. Who needed tradition? All it’d ever done was corner her into a small box she couldn’t and didn’t want to fit in.
Leaning on tiptoes, she kissed the side of Tyler’s neck and whispered, “Ready for bed?”
Tyler’s eyes were dark when he looked down at her and grinned that slow, wide grin that took over his whole face. Her grin. The one that made her heart skip a beat, only to speed up with anticipation. The one that made her breath catch and her brain forget how to form coherent thoughts. He kissed her hard and fast, just enough to leave her breathless.
She wrapped her hand around his and tugged him out of the restaurant and across the lobby. Several people waved and called out their congratulations. Laura waved back and smiled; she didn’t care how wide she grinned or that everyone knew what they were about to do. It was her wedding night and Laura didn’t care who knew it.
The instant the elevator doors slid closed, Tyler kissed her. Laura wondered if he’d somehow managed to get them alone during every single elevator ride they’d taken. But then his tongue slid over hers and she didn’t care if a hoard of drunken partiers got on at the next floor.
She slipped her hands beneath his jacket, bunching up his shirt to feel the smooth, warm skin beneath.
“I can’t believe we did it,” she said against his lips. “I can’t believe we got married on Christmas Eve.”
Tyler grinned and nipped along her jaw. “Sorry?”
“No.” Exhilarated, thrilled, free? Yes. Sorry? No.
Laura wanted to tell him that she felt like she was flying, that this whole leaping before she looked, planned, thought about it, and planned some more wasn’t her. In his arms, nothing felt more right.
The elevator dinged and he walked her out, his hands on her hips as he kissed across her bare shoulder. She’d given Tyler an extra key to her room days ago, and was now doubly glad she’d done so. It wasn’t like her gown had pockets. Laura stepped back and took his hand. She silently led him into the room, past the remains of their Christmas Eve morning, and through to the bedroom.
Her hands slipped beneath his suit jacket and down his arms, taking the material with her. Laura tossed it over the bench at the foot of the bed. Slowly, she unbuttoned his shirt, spreading the material open to her touch. She tasted each inch of skin she exposed with small kisses and quick licks.
Tyler’s hands hung at his sides, but she felt the weight of his steady gaze on her and shivered at the intensity of it. She tossed the shirt atop the jacket and returned to his mouth.
Arousal heated her blood, the sharpness of it no stranger whenever she was around, or even thinking of, Tyler. His long fingers brushed over her shoulders; his mouth trailed along her throat. Still touching her, he turned her around, kissing her spine as his fingers worked on the buttons of her dress.
Laura suddenly wished she’d worn something a little more practical, but the gown made her feel far more beautiful than she usually did. Plus, she wasn’t about to marry Tyler in a business suit.
Tyler spread the dress open and kissed down her spine, his hands coming around her middle and up to cup her breasts. Laura’s breath caught and she arched into his touch. His fingers tugged her nipples, his mouth doing delicious things to her neck. Suddenly the dress pooled at her feet and he swung her around.
His mouth crashed against hers, hard and fast, and Laura moaned into the kiss. Her nails scraped up his back as she pulled him closer. He easily picked her up and laid her on the bed, kneeling beside her.
And then he touched her.
They’d spent the last two weeks either in bed or fooling around. She’d had more orgasms in the previous weeks than she ever had in her life, and she’d learned nearly all there was to learn about Tyler’s body. Still she wanted more.
All that time didn’t prepare her for the sheer slowness of his seduction. Beneath his talented hands, his questing mouth, his hard, beautiful body, Laura shuddered, moaned his name. Her first orgasm washed over her with a brilliance that made her breath catch.
She lost track of time—it was so unimportant. All that mattered was the way he drew out every touch, every taste, and each and every sensation until Laura didn’t know where he began and she ended.
Slow kisses, the brush of his long fingers over her body, a slide of her leg against his hip. All aroused, every touch showed the depth of passion and need and want and love. Laura shuddered, on the precipice of climaxing, but still Tyler seduced. He tasted her again and again until she sobbed in frustrated need. He teased and touched and Laura floated, lost.
Tyler trailed his mouth over her spine again, his hands slowly trailing down her sides to her hips. Suddenly he moved, and her eyes shot open at the loss. But he only reached for the head of the bed and grabbed a pillow from where they’d been shoved aside earlier, so much earlier. Laura lifted her head to watch him. Her body was tight with arousal and need to feel him moving within her and the lazy acceptance of the grace of her husband’s body.
Her husband. That was a first, and the warmth that moved through her had nothing to do with Tyler’s touch. Well, not everything, at least.
He moved back down her body, taking the time to touch her, linger over the spots she liked, and teased her aching wetness with his fingers. Tyler gently lifted her hips and slid the pillow beneath her.
“Tyler.” She breathed out his name and looked over her shoulder.
His eyes were dark with passion and such intense focus that Laura’s already unsteady breath caught. Her fingers curled into the bedding and she arched her hips back against his. When his breath caught, she grinned and moved her hips in a slow circle, the move doing nothing to dampen her throbbing need.
She looked over her shoulder and smiled at him, at how his fingers tightened on her hips, at the growl in the back of his throat that threatened to push her over the edge. She tried to speak, but had no words. She wanted to tell him, “Yes, anything. Anything you want.” But didn’t know how.
Tyler moved behind her, lips trailing up her spine as slowly as they’d trailed down. Along her shoulders, the sensitive side of her neck, his hands on her sides, her hips, wrapped around her own hands. Another shudder, another moan, and Laura moved more insistently now.
“Now,” she begged, or tried to. She wasn’t certain she’d said the word aloud. “Please, Tyler. Now.”
Every orgasm she’d had since he’d begun his slow worship of her body had built until she shook and begged.
His body touching every inch of hers, he easily slipped into her wetness and hissed out her name. She knew he was close to losing control, and the thought thrilled her. Without him saying, Laura knew he wanted to move slowly, gently, prolonging every touch and movement and orgasm until the end.
She wanted him, wanted to feel his control shatter. Wanted him to know what he did to her. What she did to him.
“Laura,” he groaned, his teeth sinking hard into her shoulder.
Laura gasped and arched beneath him. She wanted him deeper, wanted to see him. “Yes,” she moaned, and her bum moved against him, nearly dislodging him. “Yes, Tyler. I need…” She gasped in a breath as he withdrew slightly, only to thrust hard back into her. “Yes, harder, make me come. Please. Please. Please.”
“Not yet,” he said, the words a breath across her ear. His tongue ran across the back of her neck and finally, finally he moved with slow thrusts, the slow, drawn-out pleasure that wound around and over her. Once more she felt her orgasm building, the heated slowness of it, the promise of falling—of leaping—off the precipice.
Tyler moved steadily, his body blanketing hers, and every nerve in her body sparked and fired. Laura whimpered, pushed herself up slightly, and twisted to reach behind her, kiss him. He thrust harder and she gasped, broke the kiss, fisted her hands onto their bedding. Cried out his name. Shuddered and strained for release.
“Tyler,” she gasped.
His control snapped and she cried out as he moved harder, faster, and her orgasm twisted tighter and tighter through her. Despite their bodies touching in every way possibly, Laura kissed him again. It wasn’t enough, not enough, and she strained for more.
Suddenly it snapped and Laura screamed as her orgasm crashed through her and she climaxed hard. All her inhibitions vanished. Even as the world faded and her body continued to move against his, Laura felt his thrusts increase, the rhythm falter. With a cry of her name, he came hard, emptying himself into her.
His arms buckled, and Tyler collapsed onto her, a wonderful weight. In some distant part of her mind, she wanted to turn over and hold him, but her body continued to shudder with the aftershocks of such a hard orgasm, and she didn’t want to move.
She thought she may have dozed, or passed out, really, and blinked her eyes open when he rolled them over. Laura curled around him and rested her head on his chest, too sated and too exhausted to do more than listen to the still-pounding heart beneath her ear.
* * * *
The sun barely peeked over the mountains the next morning. Christmas morning. Laura stretched and hummed as she lifted her head from Tyler’s chest. Her limbs felt heavy, her body still vibrated with Tyler’s touch, and her heart beat contentedly.
What she wanted to do was seduce Tyler again, but her body was sore. What she needed was a hot bath. Hmm, maybe she could seduce her husband in the bathtub. She’d never done that before and it sounded utterly perfect. A little thrill tore through her and Laura smiled.
Husband. Definitely a great way to wake up on Christmas morning, with a new husband to unwrap.
“Tyler,” she whispered against his mouth.
“Hmm?” he mumbled and she grinned.
“Come with me.”
One eye opened, the bright blue of it telling her that he wasn’t as groggy as he pretended. “Anywhere,” he said.
That little thrill shot through her again, and she smiled against his mouth. It should be illegal to be this happy. But then Tyler smiled at her, with that slowness that spread through her, and she stood, holding out her hand.
Laura didn’t bother with a robe and simply walked through to the ensuite, her hand firmly in his. She flicked on the water before turning to kiss Tyler. No, she’d never tire of this, any of it—the way he made her feel, the confidence she felt when she touched him, and the freedom she felt around him.
He climbed in first and tugged her into the steaming water with him. Happily settling against his chest, she took his hand and lifted his fingers to see his ring.
“Are you insane?” she asked. “Or are we insane?”
Tyler laughed and lazily trailed one hand up her side. “I’ll take the blame,” he said and she felt him press a kiss to her hair. “You’re too sexy for blame.”
“You don’t know if I leave the cap off the toothpaste,” she pointed out, somewhat reasonably, she hoped.
“Sure I do.” She heard the grin in his voice. “I’ve spent the last two weeks living with you.”
Laura shivered at that and grinned in response. “All right, I’ll give you that one. But you don’t know if I leave my shoes in the center of the living room. Or leave dirty dishes piled high in the sink.”
His hand tightened around hers. “It’ll be fun finding out.”
Quiet for a few moments, Laura reached out to flick the faucet off. Skimming her fingers over the water, she trailed her hand over his hard, muscled thigh. She took a deep breath and admitted with a short, nervous laugh, “Tyler, this is the most impulsive thing I’ve ever done.”
His hands wrapped around her and held her close. “Impulsive is good.” He kissed her bare shoulder. “Sometimes, it leads to great things.”
She half turned and looked up at him. “But was this—”
“This was right for us.” He tilted her chin and brushed his lips over hers. “Don’t worry so much.” Then he grinned, a lightning fast curve of his lips that twisted through her. “Enjoy your honeymoon, Mrs. Kamari. Because I know I am.”
Laura smiled in response, the words sounding right despite, or because of, the quickness of their courtship. She wound an arm around his neck, pulling him to her, and kissed him.
Tradition be damned. This was perfect.