Never to Love (32 page)

Careful not to mess up her perfectly styled hair and makeup, I gently took her face in my hands and guided her lips to mine.

“Your turn to choose,” I mumbled against her mouth.

“Remember the giant topiaries I insisted on renting for the back patio?”

“Yeah.”

“They ruin the aesthetic and take up way too much space.” She didn’t need to say another word.

My dick was harder than I thought was physically possible. If I didn’t know better, I’d have thought Juli was intentionally trying to get me to lose control and fuck her on the red carpet. What was I thinking? Of course she was fucking with me.

I grabbed her hand and hoped she could keep up as I dashed for the ballroom entrance. All I had to do was make it through the doors on the other side of the room and then dive behind the massive wall of topiaries.

Before we made it inside, we were stopped by one of the actors Juli’s firm represented. After we had managed to break away from that conversation, we made it as far as the first row of round tables when we were stopped by my parents. After that, a group of people neither of us knew wanted to chat, and after that, it was some guy I kind of recognized from a movie.

By the time we had a clear path to the exit, the crowd had settled in for dinner, and there was absolutely no way we could leave without being seen and possibly followed.

So, instead of finding a semi-private place to talk for a minute and then fuck like we hadn’t done it in six years instead of six hours, we took our designated spots at the table that was already surrounded by our family, friends, and the guy I punched.

“You okay?” Alissa asked before I could ask why the fuck Brady Johns was sitting across from me. “You look a little flushed.”

“I’m all right,” I lied. By that point, coming in my pants like a teenager would’ve been an acceptable solution to my problem.

My death grip on Juli’s thigh continued to tighten as I prayed for my cock to behave. Even looking at Brady’s ugly face didn’t help—it only made me want to lay Juli out on the table and claim her in front of him.

The sexy bitch who sat beside me was on a mission to kill me. I didn’t think of Juli as a bitch often, and I’d never say it out loud, but that was exactly how she was behaving. The look in her eyes told me she knew it.

Ever so subtly, she’d shift her weight or squeeze her legs together, using that fucking piercing to get some relief while I was forced not only to suffer from my painful erection but watch her play with herself in public at the same time. I almost wished the kids had been seated with us so she would have had to behave herself.

My plans for the evening had officially changed. My number one priority was getting inside Juli’s mouth or pussy, I didn’t care which, ASAP. The discussion I wanted to have could wait a little longer. It was probably a good idea to get off first in case she freaked out anyway.

Based on the way her thigh trembled beneath my hand, I knew she was close to coming. No one was allowed to see her “O” face but me, even if she controlled it and they had no idea what they were looking at. She also wasn’t going to get off while my cock was doing an angry impersonation of a railroad spike.

“Why’s Brady here?” I asked quietly so only she could hear. I wasn’t above making a scene if that’s what it took to distract her from her mission, but I decided to try being discreet about it first.

“Remember when you punched him in his pretty face because he touched me?” Her thighs squeezed together again. “Damn, that was hot.”

“Focus. If you make yourself come now, you won’t get my cock later.” We both knew it was an empty threat; she wouldn’t be able to keep it out of her.

“To get him to play along with the cover story, I had to promise him a bunch of stuff. One of the things he wanted was to sit by Marina tonight.”

“How is Tate okay with that?” I looked over at the actors. Tate was engrossed in a heated conversation with Finn—knowing my brother, it was likely a debate over which mutual funds showed the most promise for long-term growth—while his woman was chatting it up with Brady the Bastard.

“He trusts Marina and knows she’s going home with him at the end of the night.”

“Still.” I wasn’t buying it. I trusted Juli, but I didn’t trust any man except for my father and brothers around her. Sometimes, even Finn was questionable; they’d gotten pretty chummy over the past several months.

“I think your jealousy is adorable.” While squishing my cheeks between her fingers and thumb, she leaned over and pecked a kiss on my fish-face.

“Whatever.” I wasn’t too proud to admit I was pouting. Juli had stopped the action between her legs, but our conversation hadn’t done anything to ease my throbbing cock. If I didn’t get relief soon, I’d have to go to the ER or something.

Turning to my sister-in-law sitting on the other side of me, I asked, “Hey, Madison, you went to nursing school. Is it possible for a massive boner to break a guy’s dick if it goes untreated for an extended period of time? Let’s say, forty-five minutes.” As with my assistant, Stephanie, if I weren’t a crass pig every now and then, Madison would think I had a terminal illness.

“I think I remember reading a case study of a penis bursting from too much pressure,” she teased as she looked around the room before bringing her attention back to me. “I see several people heading toward the restroom and others are going outside to the bar.” As mean as I’d been to her when she first got together with Sawyer, she never ceased to amaze me with her compassion. And my dick needed all the compassion it could get.

“You’re the best.” Kissing her cheek, I shocked her and earned a dirty look from my brother. All I could do was smile as I turned back to Juli and asked, “Care to join me at the bar?”

After checking to make sure the kids were still at their table on the far side of the room, she agreed.

Taking her hand, I not-so-subtly dragged her through one of the doors leading to the outdoor patio where the bar was set up.

“I’m thirsty,” she said as we passed by the bar.

“If you order a drink that doesn’t come in a bottle, I will never speak to you again,” I said as we got in line.

Juli’s laugh went straight to my dick. “Fuck it.” It was my hotel, and I could do whatever the fuck I wanted. I ducked behind the bar and grabbed a bottle of water from a bucket filled with ice. After tossing a wad of cash to tip the bartender for pretending not to notice my frantic behavior, I handed the bottle to my woman and looked for a surreptitious route to the grassy space behind the ugly trees she’d ordered for the occasion.

Juli unfastened my pants as soon as we were concealed. Beyond ready for action, my dick lunged for her as soon as he was free.

“Looks like someone missed me.” After spitting in her hand, she grabbed my cock and began stroking it relentlessly. Thirty seconds later, she dropped to her knees just in time to swallow my load.

“Thank you,” was all I could say as I regained my bearings. I was still hard and extremely horny, but she’d taken just enough of the edge off to allow me to remember the other part of my plan.

“You’re welcome?”

“I wanted to talk to you about something.”

“Hey, you got your turn, now it’s mine. We can talk after.”

“It won’t take long, then you can come as many times as you want.”

“Fine. Hurry.”

“You’ve practically moved all the way in, so I thought maybe we could take another step.”

“You know I don’t want to give up my place. Even though I’m there all the time, your house is still yours. Not mine.”

“I know, which is why I thought we could move. Get a place together that’s all three of ours.”

“That’s not the worst idea you’ve ever had,” she acquiesced.

“And if we’re going to be a family, for all intents and purposes, it would be for the best if you had a more official role in Colton’s life.”

“Like adopting him?”

“I thought about that, but the thing with Natalie is going to take forever to be resolved, and you wouldn’t be able to until it’s settled—assuming her parental rights are ultimately terminated.”

“What do you have in mind?”

“Well,” I began, suddenly extremely nervous. “I was thinking the easiest way to give you some sort of legal tie to Colton, you know, in case you ever need to take him to the doctor or something…” Not that a lack of legality had ever stopped her before. “What if we go down to the courthouse and file some paperwork.”

“Like a power of attorney?”

“That might work, but all of the forms and documentation would be a pain in the ass. And who knows if it’s even doable right now due to the Natalie situation.” She knew I was blowing smoke out of my ass but was still playing along, for now, anyway.

“Domestic partnership?”

“Dammit, woman. I’m trying to say I think we should get married. Just for the legal benefits, of course. It’ll be quick and easy.”

“You get all kinds of hell from your friends and family for having a girlfriend. If we got married, you’d never hear the end of it.”

“We wouldn’t have to tell anyone.”

“You wouldn’t want me to wear a ring? Stake your claim?” she joked.

Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out a small box and got down on one knee.

“Oh, fuck. You’re actually serious,” she said, biting her lip to keep from laughing. “Only you would propose with your dick hanging out of your pants.”

Ignoring her interruption, I continued, “Julianne Griffith, will you marry me so we can take advantage of the tax breaks?”

“You realize combining our finances legally might make our tax situation worse, right? At best, it would stay the same since we both itemize our deductions and earn way over the limit for everything else.”

“If you ever want me to fuck you again, you need to stop sounding like Finn.”

“Okay, forget about taxes. A prenup is a much bigger pain in the ass than a power of attorney.”

“We could probably skip it. Our incomes are about the same, and California is a community property state.”

“You may not care about protecting your assets, but I—”

“You aren’t going to give me a break, are you?” At least she hadn’t entirely rejected the idea.

“Let me see the ring,” she said, implying the size of the diamond would be the deciding factor.

She gasped as soon as she saw what was in the box. “I know it’s small, but if it were any bigger, it would show when you wore a bikini. If I had it made as big as I wanted to, it would show through most of your dresses. As hot as that would be, no one else gets to even imagine what’s going on down there.” Worried when she didn’t answer, I continued, “It’s platinum, and the diamonds are flawless.”

“It’s perfect.”

“So, what do you say?”

“I won’t marry you for Colton’s sake. There are several other ways we could make that official. My parents only stayed married because of me, and I won’t make the same mistake.”

“Oh.” I had no idea how to proceed from there.

“However, I will marry you to make it easier to inherit your crap when you die.”

“You will?” If her acceptance hadn’t surprised the shit out of me, I would have laughed at her ridiculous answer to my equally ridiculous question.

“Yeah. Don’t worry, I’ll give most of it to Colton. I’m mainly interested in your toy box.” She hiked up her skirt, reminding me of her commando status. “Isn’t it customary for the man to put the ring on the woman?”

“Since when do you care about tradition?”

“Since I decided I want to feel your big fingers try to get that little bar through a tiny hole, millimeters from my clit. Then I want you to use my engagement ring to make me come while a hundred of the most influential people in America are within five hundred feet of us.”

“Can I fuck you again after?”

“Of course. Hurry up.” She didn’t have to tell me twice.

Juli was on the verge of orgasm the entire time I worked on swapping out her jewelry. It was a challenge, but I persevered. By the time I finished, it only took a couple swipes of my tongue to get her to silently scream my name.

While she was still shaking with her release, I laid her on her back, grass stains be damned, and my dick was finally home.

It must have been because we’d both already gotten off, but we took our time, slowly rocking together instead of the frantic fucking we usually engaged in. Looking down at my fiancée’s beautiful smile, I knew everything was just as it should be.

“I don’t love you,” I whispered and then kissed away the single tear that rolled down her cheek.

Taking my head in both of her hands, she pulled my mouth to hers, kissing me with the same slow intensity that consumed the rest of my body. Minutes, or maybe it was hours later, she pulled her lips from mine.

Contentment shone in her beautiful green eyes as she looked up at me. “I don’t love you, too.”

The End

Go back to the beginning.

Strangers meet in a hotel bar. For a few stolen hours, they pretend all is right in their worlds.

Madison Miller is broken. Nearly everyone she’s loved throughout her life has left her. Now, she’s desperate to feel something other than the pain of her most recent loss, even if it’s only for one night.