as her arms loop behind my neck.
Her lips part wider as she urges me back, her little hands pulling at my shoulders. I let my tongue roam wild, fully tasting her, taking this forbidden kiss to the very limit.
She holds nothing back. If I want, I could toss her back on the island, spread her legs, and take her right now.
But I’ve still got a shred of humanity left. Barely.
The buttons on the shirt she’s wearing are undone, her scantily covered tits pressed too tight against my bare chest. I can feel her nipples on my skin, begging to be teased, pinched, sucked.
Snarling, I give my hands a few seconds of freedom, letting them explore.
Her back, her sides, down to her hips.
That lush ass spills into my hands, so real I can just picture her bent over. For a runaway second, I squeeze her ass cheek. Hard.
But a voice growls up in the back of my mind. What the fuck are you doing?
Naturally, it sounds too much like Cash.
Before the brink of no return, I break the kiss and pull back. “We shouldn’t do this. Not yet, I mean.”
She frowns. “Do what? We’re married, Flint.”
Yeah. About that...
I take a long second to catch my breath and let common sense win. “You’re not wrong. Thing is, babe—”
“Oh. I don’t remember,” she says quietly. “I get it now.”
Guilt hits me like a crossbow arrow, straight through the chest. “No, you don’t get it.”
She stares at me, her eyes full of wonder as I cup her face with both hands.
“I don’t care that you don’t remember, I just don’t want you fucking pressured into anything you’ll regret. Your next time should be special. Not a couple days after bashing your head so bad you’re still trying to sort up from down.” I kiss her forehead, cringing as I force out the next words. “Give it time to heal, Val. Give us time, and then I’ll rock your world.”
“Flint,” she almost moans my name. Talk about rubbing salt in the wound.
Her head falls to my chest again and her hand skims up, molding to my abs, my pecs, my shoulders. “You’re a good man. Almost too good to be true.”
“Not as good as you’d believe.” Raw guilt pushes it off my tongue before I can stop it, already regretting the dumpster fire ending I’m sure this catastrophe has waiting.
Stepping back, she slips her arms off my neck and looks at her ring again. “Can I wear it for a while?”
“Oh, yeah. It’s your ring, lady. We’ll take it out soon, and you’ll make the other girls jealous.”
Her eyes flick back and forth, her bashful smile slowly wilting. Then she says, “I get the feeling our marriage is sorta secret. Am I right?”
I nod like a puppet on a string.
“Is it family stuff?”
I nod again.
She sighs, smiling sadly. “That feels right. You know, as crazy as it sounds, it makes me feel better. I was starting to think it was all a weird sham of some kind.”
My back teeth clamp together.
It hurts to keep this phony-ass, reassuring smile on my face.
Damn, she once again proves she’s too smart for this, meaning I don’t have much time. The whole thing could blow up in my face any second.
“Keep working on that better part, woman. You’ll put the surreal shit behind you. It’ll be so buried under by happier times, someday you’ll just laugh. I know you will.”
She beams at me. If she had a tail plastered to that sweet ass, I’m sure it’d be wagging.
I don’t have a crystal ball. If and when she finds out the truth, it’s pretty likely she won’t be laughing for a long time to come. But the fact that she’ll be alive, able to laugh someday?
Let her hate me. So long as she’s alive with a chance to make something of her life.
That’s why I’m showering encouragement and big dreams at her feet.
That’s what I fucking hope for more than anything.
That far-off clock I hear ticking gets louder later.
While I’m grilling the steaks and throwing together some asparagus, Ma sends a text. My time’s running out on that end, too.
Hiiii. I’ll be swinging by with Bryce at eight tomorrow. He’s yours again.
Normally, I love how she piles a dozen emojis behind every text, but not today.
I fire off a response asking if he can stay with her one more day, but she says that she’s heading to Maui at ten in the morning. Apparently, a couple friends are planning to