Between Commitment and Betrayal: An Arranged Marriage Romance

“THAT.” I moved so my length was against her pussy as I grazed both hands over her hips to align us. “That, exactly, is what I want to hear every time you want this dick, Drop. The way you actually want what I give. Eligible bachelor who gets you in a way no other man can now. You married me. You wanted this, didn’t you?”

Fuck.

Fuck, I couldn’t stop.

I’d known the second I saw her I wanted her, but this was raw, feral, fucking unhinged desire that I hadn’t tapped into in, quite frankly, maybe ever.

The tip of my dick practically wept to thrust into her, but I gripped it and lowered it to rub my pre-cum on her clit. I needed her to orgasm, needed her to let go and find whatever she needed to hit her high before I buried myself in her. I knew I wouldn’t last long after that.

She gasped when she felt it, the cool metal that pierced my tip rubbing over her. She even tried to turn, like she hadn’t experienced something like it before.

I hoped she hadn’t. The thought of her with anyone made me fucking crazy.

I gripped her hair hard, wanting all of her now, wanting to prove that I would be the one to leave a mark—even if she’d barely given me the time of day over the past few weeks. I kept her laying against my car as I ground out, “The only thing you move right now is your ass so that you can feel my cock on your pussy, baby. I get to see you come against my car, ass up just for me.”

She did as she was told, even if we were both going to regret it later. I knew we would. We were stepping over a line we shouldn’t. A fucking marriage neither of us wanted was going to get messy fast if we did this. Yet, I rubbed my piercing over her and let her ride my cock fast, even made her work for it by inching away just to see her hips chase it while I murmured filth to her, lost in a desire I couldn’t control.

“Such a pretty fuck you are. My wife, trying so hard to ride my cock.”

“Don’t call me that,” I heard her murmuring as I put pressure on her clit. “Oh, God.”

“Not God,” I chuckled. “Your husband. The one you married today. Seems even if you don’t like him calling you his wife, you like his cock right between your legs, huh?”

“Just be quiet so I can get there,” she muttered, but her ass moved faster against my cock, and I slid it back and forth, up and down her slit, wanting her to get that orgasm without me entering her just yet.

“As long as you say my name when you come instead of that little boyfriend of yours, Everly.” The memory of her wearing his jersey as she rode my hand in an SUV was burned into my memory for eternity, there for my jealousy to latch onto at any time. “Say it loud so we all know your husband is giving you everything you want. Going to another man for it won’t get you off like I do.”

It was just the rain for a moment. Falling around us. Drop after drop. Muting out the world like my raindrop did for me. Then I felt her muscles tighten under me, saw how her blue eyes closed and her neck arched as she screamed out my name, slamming her hand down on the hood as she came for me.

“That’s it, pretty girl.” I kneaded her ass, stroking my cock against her wet pussy. So wet it had drenched my cock, mixing with the rain. I was so ready for her I could have slid right in, but I needed to praise her. Needed her to know. “So fucking beautiful when you let go and let me give you what you really want.” I rubbed a finger over her slit. “You feel how wet you are?” She whimpered, like my hand at her most sensitive part still turned her on even when she was spent. I brought my finger to her mouth. “Taste it.”

Her eyes shot open as she looked over her shoulder at me and they were sapphire blue, alive and full of question.

“You don’t hesitate when I tell you to do something, Everly. Now, open.” It was the difference between us. She hesitated with everything. I didn’t. This was how we’d test our dynamic, see if we liked the flavor.

She opened her mouth slowly, and when she wrapped her lips around my fingers, her eyes fluttered closed, and I knew our relationship was going to be fucked.

How would I stop enjoying my wife, enjoying this? I wouldn’t, and it was about to make this arrangement very messy.

“Look at you sucking your own pussy off my hand,” I said and then pulled my fingers back, knowing I couldn’t take much more of her swirling tongue. I went back to working her between her legs, watching what brought her close to the edge again. I was taking notes, filing it away for next time.

Because I wanted a next time. I was going to die trying for a next time.

Her small hands pressed against the black hood of my car, and then they were inching toward her breasts like she wanted all the pleasure she could get.

“Declan, just hurry. I need you now. You want control? Take it and fuck me.” She was getting aggravated, almost in heat with need but still assessing, still learning me. I saw her do it all the time when she worked at the gym. She was smart, she picked up on people’s tells, and she used them to her advantage.

Her quiet confidence, the way she studied me, it drove me insane. I wanted to fuck her down to my level, get a reaction out of her when she never gave me one. I loved controlling her unraveling. Loved that she was letting me.

It shouldn’t have been this way. I shouldn’t have been thinking about who she was or what I wanted from her as I fucked her. I should have told myself this was a one-and-done thing.

Yet, I took my time drawing away from her and commanded, “Say please.”

She slammed her hand on the hood of the car and yelled it.

Without my name attached. I smiled. I got to her punish her for that one.

I thrust in and she arched her ass out to me like I was stretching her, like the way we fit felt so good she wanted more. I delivered the punishment as I brought my hand down hard again on her ass. I wanted to feel her pussy tighten, experience if she got as much pleasure from the action as I did.

When she cried out and moaned “Declan” as her sex gripped me like a vice, I almost came.

“Say it again.”

“Declan, please move. Please, please, please.”

“That’s it. Nice and loud. Give me every one of those screams and come for me. The world is going to know you’re my wife even if you don’t want them to.” She did as she was told while drops of rain pelted both of us, and I fucked her against that car harder than I had another woman in forever.

I buried my cum in her right as she hit her high. I hit mine simultaneously, practically blacking out even with lightning streaking across the sky. Nothing could be heard but our breathing and the storm for a moments after. I held on to her like she had something I wanted, and I wasn’t willing to move, didn’t want the moment to end, but she shifted under me as she brought her hands to her dress, so I lifted myself from her.

She straightened up and pulled the fabric over her body. “Declan, I—”

Ringing from my pant pocket sounded off, announcing that Anastasia was calling me. Everly’s face, vulnerable a second ago, shuttered off all her emotions, the bright blue in her eyes even dimmed.

“Give me a second.”

“No need.” She held up her hand and shook her wavy wet hair back from her face. “I can wait in the car or if your guesthouse is open …?”

She turned to look toward the small stone home across the driveaway but surrounded by trees and gardenias.

“It’s open, but I’m not taking the call.” I silenced the phone immediately.

“You should. She probably has parts of the will she’d like to go over with you too.” She was already backing away, putting as much distance as she could between us. “Tell Anastasia I said hello, and if you’re informing them of the marriage, let me know what I should say also.”

“I said I would discuss it with you if I was going to tell anyone about the marriage, Everly.”

“Right. Then, all rules still apply, I think.”

“What about what happens between the rules, Drop?” I pushed her. We were already muddying the waters, already blurring lines, crossing them in places we shouldn’t.

“Rules are black-and-white.”

“Relationships aren’t. And rules change. A change saved you from something, didn’t it?” I pointed to that necklace. The way she’d whispered her truth to me showed me Everly had secrets that cut deep, that she hid in the dark crevices of her soul, and I wanted to see all of them.

“Changes can save you, but they can also destroy you.” Her eyes shimmered like they went somewhere far off before she glanced back at me. “Anyway, this isn’t a relationship. It’s a professional commitment of sorts.” Her hand was already on the guesthouse’s doorknob, the one I was sort of pissed I had at the moment. I couldn’t corner her and make her talk to me about this more. I simply had to accept that we were still very much two different people.

“Didn’t feel very professional two minutes ago.” I combed a hand through my hair, trying my best not to get aggravated by her composure. I’d buried my dick inside her not moments ago, and she was fine walking away from me.

No woman did that so easily.

No woman was like Everly, though.

“Let’s just keep our distance from now on then.”

I stared at her, saw her for the beautiful woman she was. Quiet confidence, composure even when her estranged father threw a curveball. And my partner’s daughter. “I’m not sure what Carl wanted to happen between us,” I said softly.

“We’re giving him as much as we can,” she whispered back. “I don’t know that I owe him even this.”

“He did love you, Everly.” I wasn’t sure she saw that.

“You can’t possibly know that.” She wrung her hands in front of her, but I saw how she leaned in, how she wanted to know more.

“He smiled when he talked about you, was proud of how quickly the athletes warmed to you. Albeit he was pissed about Wes, obviously, but he wouldn’t have cared about Anastasia and Clara doing that. In his eyes, you were part of his team.”

She gave one jerky nod before she murmured, “I know you were very close. I’m truly sorry for your loss. I know I said that at the funeral, but I meant it. Losing someone is difficult.” She stopped for a moment. “I lost someone a while back and … I miss her a lot most days. I hope you let yourself sit with that grief and heal it. If you don’t, it will eat at your soul.”

“I—” Saying anything would probably bring me to damn tears. I cleared my throat. “I’ll miss him for a long time.”

She chewed her cheek and then stepped forward to wipe some of the rain from my face. Her touch soothed, comforted, and warmed me in a way I wasn’t sure anyone else’s could.

My phone went off again.

She snapped her hand away and almost jumped back, her blue eyes refocusing on that distance she wanted between us. She cleared her throat. “Feel free to have someone come show me around when they have time. Otherwise, I can explore myself. I’ll make sure to stay in the guesthouse and call if I need something.”

“Someone? I’ll show you around right now!” Jesus, did she have to turn that composure on so damn quickly?

“Call Anastasia, please. I think it’s best if she discusses things with you. She obviously wants to. And she’s friends with Piper, right?”

My jaw worked up and down as I saw her take a step back toward the guesthouse. “So what?”

“Piper and you are close, correct?” She tilted her head. “You told me once she does your PR? It’ll be good for you to be on the same page with them. Plus, I would really like to get my bearings, take a shower, all that.”

She needed to wash me away. Fuck. Fine. “Right. Well, you have the guesthouse to yourself. My assistant will stock your fridge. You can write her a list of what you want. She’ll text you soon to get everything coordinated. Movers will be here in the next hour or so with an overnight bag and will be stopping by with your things throughout the next two days. They’ll organize them for you.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Hmm.”

“And I have a personal chef on staff for meals, so have them make what you want—”

“I can organize myself.” She halted me. “I can also get my own groceries and make my own meals. There’s no need for—”

“I know that, Everly,” I said, pacing up and down my driveway. The rain had stopped, but my clothes were stuck to all the wrong parts of my body, irritating me further on top of her nonchalance. “It’s a convenience to have them do it. Plus, we can catch up over dinner or breakfast, whenever we’re both available. The chef can text you when they’ll be preparing things over at my place.”

“It’ll be an inconvenience for me, actually. And I’ll enjoy sorting through my own stuff. Just tell them to leave it out front.” A small smile played at her lips. “And, Declan …”

Her saying my name had me stopping and looking at her. Curly hair weighed down by the rain, free of makeup in a black dress that wasn’t supposed to do anything for her, but she didn’t need it to. The statement was her. Her blue eyes, the freckles that sprinkled over the bridge of her nose, the slope of her neck.

Raw beauty.

“Thank you for trying to make this comfortable. It won’t be, but trying is best. One day down, 364 to go, right?”

“Right,” I grumbled. Why did I feel like a child? Like someone was judging my life and I was coming up short?

She left me on my own driveway, staring after her like an idiot.

An idiot who hadn’t even offered her a ride to work.

Sure, I’d miss Carl, but I wasn’t above damning him to hell for the shit he was pulling from the grave.