Magical Weddings (126 page)

“I think your boob disagrees with your statement. It seems it does, in fact, have at least some feelings.”

“Keep proving me wrong and do that again,” she said.

He did and she gasped louder than the first time. When she finally thought she couldn’t take anymore, she begged for him to stop. With a disagreeable grunt, he shifted to lie beside her on his back.

“I was having fun,” he said, in a mock whining tone. “And you were having fun. Why’d you make me stop?”

“Because it’s my turn.” She rolled onto her side and gently stroked his length. It was… impressive. She gripped him firmly and moved from tip to base as he rocked his hips. But when she added her mouth, he stilled completely. Only his chest rose and fell, quicker and quicker as she increased her pace.

“Babe, stop.” She was about to say no and torture him a little longer but he was strong and easily pulled her up the length of his body to kiss her mouth. “You’re amazing. But I want to be inside of you.”

“I want that, too,” she said, meaning it more than she’d thought possible.

He grabbed a condom from his suitcase and rolled it on. When he was covered, he lay back on the bed and she straddled his hips.

Jenna hovered over him and inched her way down until he was fully engulfed in her heat. Her head fell back and she sighed with deep satisfaction as his length hit the spot she liked. Leaning forward again, she kissed him while he thrust into her. They found their rhythm easily, moving together with power while still savoring every sensation.

Max pulled her against his chest and hugged her as he rolled her off of him and onto her back. He braced himself on his elbows, hovering over her as he kissed her and moved deep and fast. She wrapped her legs around his hips and held on tight, riding each push and pull fully.

By the time she went over the edge of ecstasy again, she was clawing at his back and calling his name. He joined her in the afterglow of satiated bliss, then collapsed next to her, cradling her in his arms.

In that moment, she couldn’t think of anything but the man cuddling her and the overall feeling of absolute and total happiness she experienced while being in his arms.

****

Jenna woke to bright light filling the room. Something similar to a jackhammer pounded in her brain every time she attempted to open her eyes. Too much alcohol and too little sleep were not a good combo for her.

“Can you call room service and order me a new head? I think I broke mine.” Rolling away from the windows, she buried her face in the nearest available space and was greeted by warm skin and the scent of man.

Not just any man. Max—the best smelling man in the entire world. Seriously, they could bottle him up and sell his scent for millions of dollars because no cologne would ever smell as incredibly delicious as he did.

His strong arms wrapped around her, snuggling her closer. “Let’s stay here all day and sleep.” He ran his fingers down her side then cupped her rear in his large palm, giving it a gentle squeeze. “Or not sleep.”

“Tempting, but I vote coffee.”

Jenna’s eyes sprang open. Did she just say
tempting
to more sex with Max? As if twice last night hadn’t been enough. She shouldn’t want to engage in anymore bedroom activities with her ex-boyfriend. She wasn’t even drunk anymore.

At least last night had been excusable. But what was her brilliant excuse for wanting to ride him again this morning? Surely it wasn’t actual feelings.

No way. Can’t be.

She rolled away from him and dragged the sheet around her body. The curtains were a hideous geometric pattern that made her head hurt when she tried to focus on them. Closing her eyes, she forced a long, deep breath into her lungs and slowly exhaled.

Last night she’d chalked her feelings of lust up to being caught up in the wedding mood and the copious amounts of alcohol she’d consumed. Those blue martinis had been too damn delicious.

But why did she still have those feelings for Max today? Now that the alcohol was out of her system and there were no wedding commitments for the entire day, shouldn’t she be over the desire to have him again?

Only she wasn’t over him. Actually, if she had her choice, she’d be under him right now, while he did things that made her body come alive in ways it hadn’t before.

Max spooned her, tucking her against his chest and legs. His length of temptation pressed against the back of her thighs, and she tried to think of anything other than rubbing against it. Except that the only thing she could focus on was the idea of spreading her legs and letting him slip inside for another round.

“I thought you might be cold over here on this side of the bed all by yourself. You need something hot to warm you up? I’m not coffee, but I can be very stimulating.” He chuckled into her hair and goose bumps rose along her flesh. “Who would’ve thought that one stupid little kiss under a bridge could lead to us in bed again. I gotta admit, I didn’t see that one coming.”

The kiss…

Oh no…

“Um, about that kiss,” Jenna started, unsure of how to say what was suddenly filling her every thought. “Do you…I mean…is it possible?”

“You’re not making any sense, babe. Why don’t we have a little wake up sex since there’s no coffee?”

His hand snaked across her stomach and down her legs, nestling into the warmth between them. Her eyelids fluttered at the sensation he caused with his hands in a nanosecond, and she wanted more than anything to let him continue. But she couldn’t.

She put her hand on his, stilling him. “Wait. We really need to talk for a second.”

“Talking is overrated. I can’t help it if you drive me crazy. I need you, babe. I want you.” He nuzzled his face into her hair and kissed the round of her shoulder.

“Max. Listen to yourself. You need me. You want me. I drive you crazy.” Jenna paused, letting the words hover between them. There was a time when hearing him say those things would’ve made her ridiculously happy. A spark of happiness and contentment bloomed inside her chest. Those words still had power over her, apparently.

No. I can’t fall for him again.

“What are you saying, Jenna?”

“What if that kiss under the bridge, the one that’s supposed to bring eternal love, actually worked?”

“Worked? What do you mean by worked?” He sat up in bed and she rolled over to look at him.

“What if that kiss is the reason we ended up in bed together? What if that kiss is the reason why I’m still in bed with you this morning?” Jenna swallowed the lump in her throat. “What if it wasn’t the alcohol that made us end up naked?”

Max stared at her unspeaking.

Everything started clicking into place in her brain. “At first I thought I was just caught up in the wedding mood of the weekend, but then the feeling got a lot more intense than I expected. But only after that kiss. I was pretty okay before that. I mean, of course it was weird to be around you again, and I still found you attractive because, well, look at you,” she said, motioning toward his naked, muscular chest.

“Thank you,” he said with a smirk.

“After that kiss though, things sort of kicked into high gear. You kept touching me and I kept touching you. And then this…happened.” She put her hand on his chest and gently caressed his pecs. The feel of his warm skin and soft dusting of hair made her want to pull the sheets away and climb on top of him. Not a feeling she should be having after a “simple” fling with her ex. “I think that kiss did something to us. It changed something in us. I mean, he said it was magic. He warned us and we did it anyway.”

“So what’s the problem exactly, love?” Max asked, putting his hand over hers and guiding it down his abdomen and beneath the thin sheet barely covering him.

She stopped their movement south before she touched him in a way that would be hard to stop. “The problem is that you just called me love, that you didn’t see that as a problem yourself, and that the feelings I chalked up to alcohol and situational influences are still here this morning when I’m completely sober and away from everything wedding or romance related.”

The smirk on Max’s face fell as he sat up. “But that’s not possible.”

“Why not? It makes sense when you think about it. More sense then our suddenly rekindled feelings for each other.”

“It’s not possible because that ‘magical kiss’ under the bridge thing is nonsense. It’s not real. It’s some ruse they tell tourists to get better tips or something, but it’s definitely not real.”

“But how do you know that?” Jenna pleaded, honestly hoping he had a valid point. But then if he did, what was the alternative? That what she felt for him right now was real? Because that wasn’t something she was prepared to deal with.

“One, I don’t believe in myths and legends. Unicorns aren’t real. There’s no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. And two, kissing under a bridge can’t bring eternal love. Period. And three, even if there was some hint of truth to that kissing bullshit, it’s not supposed to work unless the people kissing are thinking about eternal love, which I most certainly was not.”

Uh-oh…

She bit her lip and peered at the sheets not wanting to meet his gaze.

“Oh no. I know that look. What did you do, Jenna?”

“I…” she paused. “I didn’t
mean
to think about love. I really didn’t. But we were in the middle of a bachelor and bachelorette party, with my best friend about to marry the love of her life, and…”

He sighed. “And what?”

Her gaze locked on his. “And I might have been thinking about how I wanted that same kind of love,” she whispered. “Someday.”

“Jenna!” he shouted, accusation clear in his tone.

“I know!” she squealed.

Max covered his face with his hands and groaned. “This is all your fault. Is that what you’re telling me? It wasn’t that I
seduced
you into bed? It was that you
tricked
me into wanting you?”

“I didn’t mean too. And besides which, isn’t a magical kiss better than the alternative or would you rather that your actions were a direct consequence of your sudden resurgence of feelings for me? I know what I prefer.”

Do I?

Spending yesterday with Max hadn’t been bad. In fact, it had been pretty awesome. They’d gotten along well all day, had a great time drinking and dancing. They’d even discovered they both liked scuba diving. How cool was that?

Having real feelings rekindled for Max wouldn’t be the worse thing in the world, would it? Not if he felt them, too.

“Let’s pretend for a second that you’re right and this situation is all a result of that kiss. There must be an expiration date on it, right? Like the stroke of midnight or something?”

“Well, last time I checked, I wasn’t riding in a pumpkin on my way to meet a prince in a fairytale. Not to mention midnight is long gone.”

“So twenty-four hours then. Even the stomach bug is gone within twenty-four hours.” Max got up and pulled on a pair of boxers before starting to pace.

“So you’re comparing your feelings for me to the stomach bug? Nice.” She got out of bed and dressed in last night’s clothes as quickly as she could.

“We simply need to wait this out. Not see each other again until after the time limit has passed and then we can go back to being the way we were. That sounds good, right?”

“Sure. Great.”

Going back to feeling uncomfortable and awkward around her ex would make the rest of the weekend go smoothly.
Awesome.
He couldn’t make his real feelings for her any clearer.

She choked back the sudden urge to cry.

Max wanted things to go back to the way they were and that’s what she should want, too. So why did it feel like she’d just taken a sledgehammer to the chest?

“I guess I’ll see you later then. After six, so we cross the twenty-four hour mark?” he asked.

She nodded and ducked her head as she walked passed him, unable to bring herself to meet his gaze as she left. Out in the hall, she took a deep, but shaky breath.

The next time she saw him, Max wouldn’t call her love or babe anymore. He wouldn’t look at her with lust or desire or even friendship in his eyes like he had for the last twelve hours. He’d go back to being formal and awkward and barely saying more than absolutely necessary to her. And the next time she saw him, she hoped she’d feel the same way, because if she didn’t…

She feared she’d feel worse than after their original breakup.

Max wandered the casino for hours, putting chips on random colors and numbers on autopilot without paying much attention to whether he was winning or losing.

He couldn’t dispel the sense of loss he’d felt since watching Jenna walk out of his room on the verge of tears, nor could he explain it. He shouldn’t feel this way. He’d fought the urge to go to her for the rest of the morning, finally forcing himself to leave his room and head to somewhere public to wait out the rest of his time until the effects of their magical kiss wore off.

But even with distractions everywhere, he couldn’t stop wanting to contact her to see if she was okay. Worse, he couldn’t shake the feeling of needing her and wanting her, not in a sexual way—though that was definitely still there too—but in a deeper more all-inclusive way. He missed her smile and her laugh. He missed seeing her bite her bottom lip. He even missed her smart-assed jokes made at his expense.

He simply missed her company.

Damn it. Grow a bigger pair and man up.

When his stomach demanded sustenance, he wandered into the nearest bar and ordered a whiskey and a burger, hoping that maybe food would fill the void he felt deep inside his chest. He wondered what she would order if she were with him. The burger, too? Or the fish tacos? Or maybe she was a Caesar salad kind of girl? He couldn’t remember what she liked to eat when they dated.

He suddenly remembered a lot of other stuff about their previous relationship that he’d long ago made himself forget. Like the way her cheeks dimpled when she smiled and the way her nose crinkled when she got annoyed at him. He remembered how much fun they’d had going out to play billiards at the bar off campus and the time she’d forced him to sing karaoke. He’d never forget that painfully humiliating moment, nor would he ever forgive her for it.