Our loungers are side by side, close enough that my hand is within his reach. “You haven’t ruined anything.” He strokes his thumb across the top of my hand and it finds its way to my wedding ring. “I’m your husband so I want to know everything. The good and the bad.”

Most of the good has happened since I met him but what about the ugly? Is he really ready to hear that stuff?

“I want to ask you a question about the wedding.”

Sounds like he’s preparing me for something bad. He never tells me he’s going to ask a question. “Okay.”

“Why did you let your dad walk you down the aisle? He’s never been a father to you so I don’t understand how you felt like he deserved that honor.” His voice is oozing with contempt for the sperm donor.

I didn’t wimp out, if that’s what Jack Henry thinks. I’m done with flaking. There’s only one reason I allowed Jake to do it. Irony. “Think about it. He claims me as his daughter and his first official act as my father is to give me over to you—a strong, honorable man who will always take care of me. I thought it was quite fitting.”

“Huh,” he says. “I was worried your mother guilted you into doing it but I should’ve known better. That’s not who you are.”

“She thinks she convinced me. I choose to let her believe that but I have the pleasure of knowing otherwise.”

“My wife, the satirist. I’ll know better than to ever cross you.”

“You will if you know what’s good for you.”

“I’m not mistaken about what’s good for me. It’s you, L. Always you.”

Oh, sheez. Hearing him say that almost makes my bikini bottom melt away.

I get up and take his hands. “You think I’m good for you, huh?” I pull so he knows I want him to slide to the foot of the lounger.

“I know so. No doubts.”

I grin as I push my thumbs inside the band of my swimsuit and shimmy out of it. “I know something else that’s good for you.”

I kick out of the red fabric at my ankles and step closer to Jack Henry. He grabs my ass and I squeal as he pulls me closer. He watches my face as he slides his hand between my legs. “And I also know what’s good for you.”

He rubs his hand up and down, back and forth, in an exquisite torture, before gliding his fingers through my slick center. Yet I know what he’s doing when he avoids my most sensitive area, the spot where I crave his touch most. It’s purposeful on his part because he wants to feel me ride his hand. And I give in because I have no choice.

I grab his wrist and guide his hand upward while rocking my hips against it. I’m worse than any petted cat. And I’m pretty sure he loves it. “More,” I plead.

He crooks his thumb and rewards me by stroking my clit. “My girl is greedy.”

He has no idea.

My head is spinning because I want him so much. “I want you inside me when I come,” I tell him while reaching for his swim trunks. He makes no haste in helping me get them down and then I crawl over him. I sink down hard so he’s deep inside me and he returns his hand to its previous task. “Is this what you want?”

He knows it is. “Yes!”

I move up and down, sliding him in and out, gaining unrestrained pleasure as his hand rubs my clit. I arch my back and thrust my breasts forward as I hold his shoulders. “I want to feel you come all around me, L.”

And I do.

I feel those familiar quivers squeezing Jack Henry while he’s inside me. Seconds later, I recognize the telltale rhythmic quivering and know he’s met his undoing before I ever hear him groan my name.

Nothing beats both of us coming at the same time.

He grabs my face and kisses me hard. When he finishes, he presses his forehead against mine. I think he loves doing that. I know I do because it makes me feel so adored. “You and I are going to have an amazing life together. I’m going to make certain of it.”

“I know.” And I do. There’s not a bit of doubt in my mind. “Wanna go skinny-dippin’?”

“With you?” He sucks my bottom lip into his mouth and then lets it go. “Absolutely.”

I lean closer to the mirror as I apply eyeliner. Jack Henry slinks up behind me to sneak his hand up my sundress and down my panties. I stop lining my eyes and look at his reflection. I’d like to be irritated with him but I can’t be when I see his crooked grin. “You must know this is a good way for your wife to lose an eye.”

“What?”

“Sneaking up to put your hand down my panties while I have a stick near my cornea is never a good idea.”

He palms my bare cheek. “We’ve been here twelve hours and haven’t christened our honeymoon bed yet.”

Good grief, I married a horny bastard. “We consummated our marriage in the sky. We did it up against a pole as soon as we got here. And then got naked at the beach and did it again. We managed all of that in less than twenty-four hours. The bed will have to wait until we get back from dinner.”

“I love the way you say we did it instead of saying we had sex or we fucked.” He slides his hands around to my belly and sucks my earlobe into his mouth. “It makes you sound so sweet and innocent.”

I’m sweet because I’m not going to let him get a raging hard-on when I already know we’re not christening that bed right now. “No.” I swat his hands away. “We have reservations in forty-five minutes and we’re not going to be late because you messed up my hair and makeup wallowing me around in that bed.”

He sighs but knows I’m right. “Okay.” He leans around and watches my face in the mirror as he presses his partial erection against my bottom. “But I’m only backing down because I plan on fucking you like a champion as soon as we get back.”

“All right, McLachlan.” I rub my bottom against him since he wants to play like that. “I look forward to being fucked like a champion.”

He grinds against me. “Mmm … I love hearing you say things like that. Turns me on.”

I could say a lot more but I won’t because it would just end up with us in that bed and I need to finish getting ready. “I love you but you’ve gotta go away so I can finish.”

He holds his hands up in surrender. “I get it. I’m leaving you alone.” He kisses the side of my neck and growls. “But only for now.”

“I’ll hold you to that promise later.”