Prologue
(Just in case you forgot where we left off…)
“I’m not who-Oh, my God, stop doing that!”
“Then stop arguing with me,” he said, sliding his tongue back inside her and nearly coming on the spot when he felt her passage tighten around his tongue, desperate to keep it inside her.
“Bastard!” she gasped as he reluctantly pulled away, but not before he ran his tongue through her slit one last time.
“You are an incredibly beautiful woman, Marybeth. You’ve always been beautiful,” he whispered reverently as he slowly kissed his way up her body. “Any man would kill to have you as his wife,” he whispered against the swell of her breast as he reached down between them and released his cock.
She moaned softly as he ran his tongue over her large breast and licked her firm nipple before taking it in his mouth and gently sucking on it as he shifted between her legs. He slid his cock against her wet slit, loving the way that she wrapped her legs around his waist and tried to pull him closer.
“I was never meant to be any man’s wife,” she stated so simply on a gasp that he knew without a doubt that she truly believed that bullshit.
He released the firm nipple from his mouth and continued to kiss his way up, savoring the sweet taste of her skin against his tongue as he pulled back and slowly entered her. They moaned as she welcomed his cock, coating it with her arousal as he reached between and cupped one large breast in his hand when he finally reached his destination.
“You were always meant to be my wife,” he informed her just as he leaned down and kissed her the way that she was meant to be kissed.
“You deserve better, Darrin,” she argued even as she moaned.
“I deserve the best and that’s you,” he told her firmly as he pulled back slowly, teasing them both and making it more difficult with every passing second not to give in and fuck her hard and fast and put them both out of their misery.
She chuckled even as she tried to pull against her restraints. “Take these off, Darrin.”
Taking her bottom lip between his and gently suckling it, he reached up and placed his hand over the cuff keeping her right where he wanted her. He brushed his thumb over the small metal button where the keyhole should be and pressed. The cuff instantly opened, freeing her hand. He did the same with the other, keeping his thrusts shallow.
With her hands finally free, she pressed her hands against his chest and pushed. He rolled over onto his back, groaning when she followed after him. In seconds, he was back inside her. She pushed back, taking his cock deep inside her as she sat up.
“I don’t want to end up being the biggest mistake of your life,” she admitted on a moan.
“Are you still planning on divorcing me?” he forced himself to ask when all he wanted to do was to reach up and take her large breasts in his hands and savor the feel of her wet pussy gripping his cock.
Smiling warmly down at him as she shook her head, “No.”
“I’m not letting you go through this alone, Marybeth,” he swore. “I’m switching my ticket out and I’m coming home with you. I’m going to take some time off work and take care of you. After that we’ll take it slow, figure things out, save our money and start filling out every adoption application that we can get our hands on, but I will be there with you, Marybeth. No more games, sweetheart.”
She averted her gaze as she stopped moving. “I don’t want you to see me like that.”
“Like what?” he whispered as he reached up and cupped her beautiful face in his hands.
“Broken.”
Sitting up, he wrapped his arms around her and held her close. “You’re not broken, damaged or flawed. Do you hear me? You are absolutely fucking perfect and you’re mine.”
She chuckled and rolled her eyes in exasperation. “Only you would see a woman that couldn’t have children as perfect.”
“That’s because you are perfect,” he said, tilting his head so that he could brush his lips against hers. “Besides, who says that you can’t have children?”
“About twenty doctors including your father and brother,” she said dryly, giving him hope because for the first time since he’d found out the truth, she didn’t sound like a small piece inside of her was dying at the reminder that she couldn’t have children.
It gave him hope that one day she’d be able to look in the mirror and see the beautiful woman that he loved.
“What if I told you that there was a way to have a baby without having to worry about stretch marks and the disturbing cravings that went along with pregnancy?” he asked offhandedly as he used his hold on her to get her to start moving again.
“What are you talking about?” she asked, moaning softly as she took over by rolling her hips, riding him slowly while she waited for an answer.
“Are you going to do that thing with your hips that drives me out of my fucking mind if I tell you?”
“Maybe,” she said, smiling down at him.
“Do it first.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Yeah, I don’t think so. You tell me what I want to know and then maybe I’ll think about doing that thing with my hips,” she said, making him sigh heavily, because really at this point she should know better.
“Fine, then I guess that I’ll just have to double dare you to do it all while you scream your undying love for me.”
With a teasing smile, she leaned in and brushed her lips again his ear. “What if I whisper it?”
“It won’t be the same.”
“And why’s that?” she asked, moaning as she rolled her hips sensually.
“Because my parents have the room across the hall and I would really appreciate it if you could help me out by screaming my name, your undying love and if it’s not too much trouble, a few ‘Dear Gods’ wouldn’t hurt. Maybe you could…why the hell are you laughing, woman? I’m serious!” he snapped, which for some reason only made her laugh harder.
Chapter 1
“You’re too good for him,” she repeated with a hug that was probably going to kill her, but what could Marybeth do?
The woman was right after all.
Besides, wasn’t it considered rude to correct your mother-in-law? If it wasn’t, it should be, Marybeth decided with a cringe as her mother-in-law continued to show her just how much she loved her and was going to miss her while Darrin stood there, with his arms folded over his chest, glaring at them.
“Please don’t go, sweetheart,” she begged. “Just wait a few more months.”
“Mom,” Darrin said evenly, stressing all of his displeasure in that one word.
“She’s not going!” mom practically yelled as she tightened her hold around Marybeth to the point where she actually feared that she would pass out in a few more seconds. “I won’t let her go!”
“Sweetheart,” her father-in-law said gently as he placed his arms around his wife and pulled her away just as black spots began to dance along her vision, “you’re going to suffocate her and send her to the hospital if you keep squeezing her like that,” Dr. Bradford explained calmly while Darrin reached over with a bored sigh and put his arm around her when her legs threatened to drop her on her ass.
“That’s safer than where he’s planning on doing to her!” her mother-in-law cried against her husband’s chest with a heartfelt sob.
No one needed to ask her who he was since she’d been referring to Darrin like that since she found out that her son was actually going to ignore Bradford tradition and take Marybeth on a honeymoon before the one year mark was over. Since then she’d been begging Marybeth to reconsider and even slipped her a business card for a good divorce attorney, telling her that she was too young and sweet to go through something l
ike this.
This being their honeymoon.
“Mom, she’ll be fine,” Darrin stressed with a bored sigh that earned another one of those rather frightening glares from his mother.
“You don’t know that!” his mother cried a bit hysterically as she held onto Dr. Bradford, who simply held his wife and rolled his eyes heavenward.
“Yes, I really do,” Darrin said, keeping his arm wrapped around Marybeth as he reached down and grabbed their suitcase. “We’ll be back in a week,” he announced as he headed to the door, dragging her along with him as she was torn between coughing and laughing her ass off.
In the end she settled for a weak mixture of the two as Darrin helped her inside his truck and she snatched a bottle of water from the console, slowly sipping it as she tried to stop laughing, but the annoyed little grunts and glares that her husband was sending her had her smiling as she carefully sipped the lukewarm water.
She considered mocking her husband, for her own entertainment of course, but the look that he sent her had her rethinking her comments and slowly sipping more water as she considered her options. As her gaze landed on the large group of Bradfords standing in front of their truck, trying to stop them from going on this trip, she had to admit that there were many ways that she could screw with her husband’s head right now and most likely get away with it, but she had to ask herself…
Was that really the best way to start a honeymoon?
Probably not, but she was going to do it anyway.
“Maybe we should listen to your mother,” she said with an innocent little shrug as she worried her bottom lip, mostly to stop herself from laughing at the murderous expression on Darrin’s face.
“We’re. Going,” he said firmly, narrowing his eyes on the men determined to stop them.
“But it feels wrong,” she said in a mock whisper as she let her bottom lip tremble and her eyes watered as she sat there, toying with her fingers waiting until she was sure that she wasn’t going to start laughing before she shot Darrin an imploring look. “It feels so wrong,” she whispered harshly, wrapping her arms around herself. “So wrong.”
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” was all Darrin said with a sigh as he put the key in the ignition and turned it. There were three sputtering sounds as the engine desperately tried to do its job before absolute silence. They shared a look before shifting their gaze to the two-dozen Bradfords standing in front of their truck, blocking their exit.
When they grinned smugly and crossed their large arms over their chests, looking triumphant as a few of them pointedly looked around at the parked cars and trucks blocking any further attempts to escape.
They were good and blocked.
There was a small tap at her window, and without bothering to look to see who it was, she grabbed her duffle bag, threw it over her shoulder and waited for Jason to finish opening the door for her. Once it was open, she jumped out and headed into the house where a dozen more Bradfords were waiting, making sure that they got their point across.
They weren’t going on a honeymoon before the year mark was over.
Sighing heavily, she headed into the house, already knowing that Darrin, who was understandably pissed since they’d fucked with his truck, was right behind her. She didn’t bother acknowledging the Bradfords standing in the hall, lounging in her living room or helping themselves to everything in the kitchen, she simply headed up the stairs towards her bedroom, promising to strangle any Bradford foolish enough to be in her room with her bare hands.
Thankfully they all knew her well enough to stay out of her room as well as give her a wide berth when she was pissed, which she should be right now, but then again, she’d married Darrin, one of the cagiest Bradfords alive so she had absolutely nothing to worry about.
She walked into their room, tossed her duffle bag on the chair, climbed onto their large, comfortable bed and closed her eyes with a sleepy little sigh. “How long?” she asked, not bothering to open her eyes as she heard her husband walk into the room, closing and locking the door behind him.
“Two hours,” he said, joining her on the bed and sat back against the headboard with the remote.
“Perfect,” she said, cuddling into his side as she wrapped her arm around his waist and settled in for what she already knew was going to be a very enjoyable nap.
That is, until the screams for help and mercy began, but even that didn’t wreck the enjoyment she’d found from one of the best naps she’d ever had. The sobbing was a little unnerving, but she’d been to a lot of Bradford get-togethers so it really didn’t bother her, but it did alert her to the fact that the house was pitch black.
“Ten minutes,” Darrin said into darkness just as she registered the feel of his lips brushing softly against her temple.
Nodding, she stifled a yawn against her hand and threw her legs over the side of the bed. She carefully made her way to the bathroom, used the bathroom, washed up and even had time to brush her teeth before she walked back into the bedroom, grabbed her bag and headed for the window. She threw the lock, pushed the window open and tossed her bag out, not bothering to make sure that the coast was clear, because she knew how her husband worked.
Less than sixty seconds later she was carefully dropping to the ground with a soft “oomph,” grabbing her bag, she dusted her pants off and headed towards the backyard where she knew he would be waiting.
She hadn’t counted on all the Bradfords lying on the ground, moaning and bitching, but then again, it wasn’t as though it was really all that unexpected. Shifting the bag over her shoulder, she carefully stepped over Bradfords curled up and bitching and made her way to the silhouette of the man leaning against the fence, waiting for her.
“What did you do?” she asked, smiling as she handed her bag over to him.
“Do you really want to know?” he asked in a seductive whisper that made it impossible to care about the big babies curled up on the ground, begging for medical attention while others were begging for pot roast.
“No,” she said, shaking her head with a smile as she reached up and wrapped her arms around him, “I’m good.”
“Help…us…,” Jason? said, but she simply ignored him, leaned up and kissed Darrin’s chin before she stepped back, grabbed hold of the top of the chain-link fence and climbed over it and headed towards the woods.
Before she made it to the path, Darrin was there, taking her hand in his and leading her through the pitch black woods and towards the car he’d parked three streets over the other night as their backup just in case his brothers and cousins tried to pull something like this.
Sure, she felt bad that they had to do it, but sometimes there was no other way to deal with a Bradford other than to temporarily maim him or distract him with food and since they hadn’t bothered to go grocery shopping since last weekend…
Well, she was sure that they’d be okay eventually.
Chapter 2
“Did you get me some?” he asked the greedy little thing as she tossed another package of Snow Balls into the hand basket he was carrying.
“No,” she simply said with a pop as she pulled the lollypop that she’d been suckling on out of her mouth so that she could stick her cherry red tongue at him with a wink.
He sighed heavily even though they both knew that she was going to share every last delicious morsel with him. She loved to tease him and heaven help him, but he fucking adored it when she did it. So, like the dutiful husband that he was, he followed her from the junk food aisle to the beverage coolers and began adding bottles of water, chocolate milk and soda to the basket without sparing him a glance and moved on to the ice cream cooler where she grabbed a pint of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream and carried it with her as she stepped in line to pay.
“Are they still calling you?” he asked, coming up behind her so that he could place his hand on her hip as he breathed in her intoxicating butterscotch scent that she wore every now and then just to drive him out of his fucking mind.
“Yes, yes they are,” she said, reaching into her pocket and pulled out her phone and held it up so that he could see that she had over a hundred missed calls and texts waiting for her. “Have they tried calling you yet?” she asked as she put away her phone and grabbed a King-size Almond Joy candy bar and tossed it in the basket.
He chuckled as he leaned down and brushed his lips against hers. “No, they know better,” he said with a boyish grin that made her wish that they were somewhere alone so that she could show him just how much she liked that smile of his.
“They’ve given up all hope of talking any sense into me so now they’re going to rely on your fear of dying in a horrifying, tragic death to talk you into calling this honeymoon off for another year,” he explained as he placed the basket on the counter and began unloading all the junk food that they’d grabbed.
“I see,” she murmured as she added a bag of peanut butter M & Ms to the large pile of obscenely fattening food that they would probably end up devouring in less than an hour.