Contingency Plan (7 page)

“Charlotte, would you give us a few minutes please? Elisa will meet you down at the spa in an hour.”

Charlotte looked like she wanted to argue, but raising a single eyebrow, I made it clear it was not a request.

“Go ahead,” Elisa told her. “Brysen and I obviously need to have a conversation.”

Once Charlotte left the room, I did what I’d needed to do since I saw her standing in that doorway. I dragged her into my arms and kissed her deeply, only coming up for air when I knew I was on the precipice of not being able to stop.

I took advantage of the daze I’d put her in and started explaining. “Elisa, I invited Charlotte, Maddie, and Caleb here to attend our wedding.”

Elisa laughed and shook her head. “Brysen, I think the engagement was enough, we don’t need to get married now just to prove something to my ex.”

My temper boiled at the assumption that the dipshit would have any relevance in my wanting to marry her. I kept it in check and continued. “I’m marrying you today for no other reason than I cannot wait to begin my life with you. You are my everything, baby. I need to know you are mine forever, and to make damn sure everyone else knows it. I want to call myself your husband, to come home to you as my wife every night, and be a father to our children as soon as possible.”

“But,” she paused, her brown eyes wary and unsure.

“What, baby?”

She glanced away and bit her bottom lip, distracting me with the desire to have it in my mouth instead.

“We...um,” she cleared her throat, “we haven’t even said ‘I love you’.”

Holy fuck
. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t told her. I could have sworn I’d said the words the night before. Then I remembered, I’d spoken of being in love, but had not come right out and said it.

I grasped her chin and forced her eyes up to meet mine. “You’re right. I’m sorry I didn’t make this more special, baby. I honestly meant to tell you last night. I love you. From the first moment I saw you, I was bewitched and fell head over heels. Every day, I think I couldn’t possibly love you more, then I wake up and find I was wrong. Every time you laugh, every time you fall apart with my name on your lips, I am tethered that much tighter to you. I will love you forever, Elisa, and I want forever to start today.”

Her eyes had become wide as saucers, her mouth parted, and that blush I loved so much spread across her freckles.

I waited in silence for a few minutes, but patience was not a virtue I possessed. “I know you love me, baby, but I want to hear the words. I need to hear them.”

She seemed to break out of whatever trance she was in and threw herself into my arms. “I love you, Brysen! I don’t know how it’s possible to love you so much after only a few weeks, but I do.”

Relief flooded my body. I’d known the truth of it, yet hearing her say it was better than I could have ever imagined. Our mouths met with urgency and I no longer cared how much we had to get done. I scooped her into my arms and stood, stalking to the bedroom where I followed her down onto the bed.

I lifted up, braced on one side, and slid a finger down the parted robe, loosening the knot and opening the sides, displaying her naked body. I cupped one rounded tit in my hand, squeezing and feeling the nipple harden beneath my palm. Then I slid my hand down over her belly, circling a finger around her navel and ending at the lips of her pussy. She was glistening with arousal, already soaking wet.

“I love how you respond to me, baby. You’re always ready for me.”

She mewled as I dipped one finger into her folds, her chest arching. It left me no choice but to suck one firm, little peak into my mouth.

I wanted to worship her body, to take my time and explore every single inch. However, I knew we were running short on time. I bit down lightly on her nipple before letting it go. “I need you, but we don’t have time for me to make love to you. This is going to be a hard, quick fuck,” I growled.

“Yes,” she moaned. “I want it hard. Fuck me, Brysen.”

I loved when dirty words spilled from my girl’s mouth. It was a fucking turn on and I let my control go, my baser instincts taking over. Moving on top of her, I spread her legs as wide as they would go and lined my cock up to her pussy. Then I thrust in hard, sheathing myself completely.

“Fuck! You are so tight, baby.” At my words, her pussy clenched. “Yes, Elisa. Squeeze me. Fuck, that’s good.”

I began to move and after only two thrusts, I was pounding into her, our skin slapping together, the bed creaking with the force of my movements.

“I want you to feel me the rest of the day. To walk down the aisle with every step reminding you whom you belong to. Thinking about what my cock can do to this fucking delicious pussy.”

Her whimpers quickly turned into passionate cries and when her walls began to clench, I was ready to go over the edge with her.

Angling so my pelvis rubbed over her bundle of nerves, I brought my mouth to her ear and bit the lobe before whispering, “Let go, baby. We’ll do it together.” She splintered apart and I went right along with her. I pushed in as deep as possible and felt my come release in hot spurts, filling her with me, marking her from the inside out.

“I fucking love you,” I gasped, my body still quaking with aftershocks.

Elisa slipped her arms around my waist and embraced me, sighing, “I fucking love you, too.”

“Then there’s no reason we can’t make it official. Become my wife,” I shifted my hips and surged deeper inside, still semi-hard even after coming, “today.”

“I couldn’t possibly.” My heart dropped, dread filling me before she continued. “Charlotte brought my mom’s dress, but I don’t even know if it fits. And then there’s hair, makeup, flowers, and all the other things a girl needs when she gets married.”

My breath left my lungs in a loud
whoosh
. These were all things I could fix. Hell, I didn’t even need to lift a finger to do so because it had already been taken care of. “I have an appointment booked for you at the spa where they’ll take care of your hair and makeup. A florist will meet you up here as soon as you’re done with several options to pick from, but I’ll warn you now, each of them has cherry blossoms included. And if you think of anything else you need in the meantime, I’ll make sure it’s taken care of. Whatever it takes.”

“Okay,” she sighed. “You have a deal, on one condition.”

“Name it and it’s yours.”

She swiveled her hips. “Make me come again first.”

I quickly got to work on meeting her demand. I had said I’d do whatever it took to seal the deal, after all.

***

“C
alm the fuck down, dude. She’s with Madeleine and Charlotte in the other room.”

I turned to glare at Caleb, who was standing to my left as my best man. “I seem to remember having to practically wrestle you to the ground to keep you at the altar while you waited for Maddie.”

Caleb shrugged. “Touché.”

I shuffled my feet restlessly, sticking my hands in the pockets of my tux. The resort had a small chapel and I’d promised a signed football to the manager to book it for right after the five o’clock mass. Cherry blossoms filled the room, the same flower pinned to my jacket and in the bouquet Elisa would be carrying.

After what seemed like fucking hours, the violin quartet I’d hired started to play the smooth, romantic melody of
Nessun Dorma.
The aria from
Tourandot,
told the story of a man who falls in love at first sight and must earn the hand of the princess. It was the perfect song to watch my Elisa walk toward me down the aisle. Her ivory, lace dress hugged her curves until it flared out at the knees, hitting the floor.

The sight of her and the smile on her face calmed my racing heart. I had to unglue my tongue from the roof of my mouth to speak my vows. Then the ceremony was done and I kissed my wife for the first time. I gathered her up close and kissed her without urgency, pouring my love into it. However, it eventually turned passionate, and I was about two seconds away from hauling her ass back to our room when I was knocked out of my lustful haze by a small hand whacking me on the back of my head.

“You can ravish your wife later, Bry,” Maddie said sternly.

My gaze burned into Elisa’s chocolate brown eyes, a mirroring flame sizzling. She went on her tiptoes, her voice quiet, for my ears only. “Don’t worry, I can still feel the stretch from the last time you owned my body and convinced me to say yes,” she said with a firm grip on my ass.

Fuck.
“You better cancel any appointments you have for the week after next. You won’t be able to walk after spending our honeymoon being thoroughly fucked. I’m going for the win, baby.”

Elisa winked at me—damn, it turned me on when she did that—and grasped my hand, her finger rubbing lightly over my wedding band. “I’m game. Just remember, you’ve already won your championship ring.”

“O
ne more push,” the doctor urged.

I squeezed his hand hard enough I should have broken a couple fingers. “C’mon, baby. You can do this. One last push.”

“Easy for you to say,” I growled as I bore down. “You’re not the one trying to squeeze a watermelon out of your vagina. Why couldn’t I have fallen in love with a guy who wouldn’t have knocked me up with a ten-pound baby?”

The sound of a baby’s cry saved Brysen from answering. Our baby had made his entrance into the world, kicking and screaming after twenty hours of labor.
Finally
.

“Holy fuck, Elisa. He’s perfect.”

“A boy?” I breathed out, trying to sit up to catch a glimpse of our baby as the doctor laid him on my belly. We’d decided to wait and let it be a surprise, a decision I’d only agreed to because it meant so much to Brysen. The decision was the right one, making this moment even more special.

“He’s so little.” Brysen’s voice held the same awe I was feeling. We both watched avidly while the nurse dried him off and put a blue cap on his head.

“Would you like to do the honor?” the doctor asked, gesturing toward the scissors in the nurse’s hand.

“Absolutely,” Brysen agreed, grabbing the scissors from her and cutting the cord.

When it was done, the nurse wrapped the baby in a blanket and lifted him up into my arms. At that moment, all the pain I’d felt giving birth melted away as I stared down at this perfect little person Brysen and I had created together. “He looks just like his daddy.”

“I think he’s as beautiful as his mommy.” Brysen’s voice was shaky and honest-to-goodness tears filled his eyes.

My uber alpha guy was moved to tears by the birth of our son, and it was yet another reason I loved him with all my heart. “We need to pick a name soon so we can call him something other than ‘he’ or ‘the baby’.”

Brysen cupped our son’s head in his big hand, his touch incredibly gentle. “Gregory James Mariano.”

A sob crept up my throat at his suggestion—one I fell in love with because it honored my father. “Gregory,” I choked out.

The nurse gave us each a wristband and took the baby to the side of the room. Our gazes were locked on them as she weighed him, took his footprint, and checked his heartbeat and reflexes. “Agpar score is ten.”

“Perfect,” I sighed, relieved to know he was healthy.

“Would you like to try to feed him now, Elisa?”

“Yes, please.” It took a few tries to get him to latch on, but once he did, I could hardly believe I was breastfeeding my baby boy. I couldn’t tear my gaze away from him as he nestled into my breasts, trailing a finger down his soft cheek while he suckled. When he was done, Gregory pulled away from my nipple and fussed quietly.

“Can I hold him?”

“Of course.” I handed our baby over to his daddy and wished I had a camera with me to capture this moment. Gregory looked tiny in the crook of Brysen’s arm. He walked around the room, rocking him gently and murmuring softly under his breath—their first father-son conversation.

The door cracked open and a nurse peeked her head into the room. “Are you up for a visitor? Your sister has been pacing the hallway, waiting for her chance to come in.”

I looked to Brysen, hoping he’d be okay with sharing this moment with Charlotte. He nodded and I beamed up at him. “Yes, please. I think Gregory wants to meet his aunt as much as she wants to meet him.”

The nurse stepped to the side and Charlotte rushed past her. “Gregory? Did I hear you right? It’s a boy?”

Brysen moved toward her, tilting his arms so she could see the baby’s face. “Gregory James, this is your Aunt Charlotte.”

My sister gasped, her hand covering her mouth as she stared down at my baby boy, tears streaming down her cheeks. It took her a moment to gather herself and ask the question I knew she’d been dying to ask since she came into the room. “Can I hold him?”

“Of course,” I answered, and based on how reluctantly Brysen handed him over, it was a good thing, or else he’d never have given Gregory up. He moved toward me, running his fingers through my hair while we watched the aunt and nephew bond.

When the nurse came back in to take Gregory away to the nursery before moving me to another room, Brysen followed them while Charlotte stayed behind with me.

“Insta-love, insta-marriage, and insta-baby. You guys are even better than one of my romance novels.” Charlotte’s voice was wistful, almost yearning.

“I know it might seem crazy, but you’ll understand when you meet the guy for you.”

Her response was so low, I barely heard it as the nurses rolled me out of the room. “What if I already did and I can’t have him?”

F
alling for her college professor has turned Charlotte Young into a romance novel cliché. The hint of taboo makes her want him more every time she sees him. How can she hope to lose her virginity when all her peers pale in comparison to him?

What Charlotte doesn’t know is that Gabe Alrdic has been watching her as closely as she has him. The college’s fraternization rule makes a relationship between them impossible. Now he’s done waiting and Charlotte won’t know what hit her when he makes his move.