ABI
I woke to the rush of release, muscles tensing, hands clenching around the silk rope wrapped around my wrists…
Forcing my eyes open, I stared at the rope pulling my arms taut above my head, giving me zero movement. For a second, absolute confusion filled me.
Then I felt the tickle of his beard against my inner thigh before the culprit dragged his fingers through my soaking folds. His tongue circled my sensitive clit, making my back bow and gentle aftershocks coarse through me.
“Finn,” I moaned.
He chuckled. “Took you long enough.”
His lips latched onto my clit, sucking hard, without giving me so much as a moment to process anything other than the need for more.
“What time is it?” I gasped as he pistoned his fingers in and out of me. They dragged against a bundle of nerves over and over. My hips jolted, chasing him as he removed them. “Finn,” I cried, whether for an answer or for him to keep going, I don’t know.
“We’ve got loads of time.” His lips ghosted over my hip and my gaze snapped to his.
His sapphire eyes burned with need and unrestrained excitement. A feeling of absolute contentment flooded me. Who cares if we’re late?
Five months had passed since Mona and Shaun’s wedding. One feature film under my belt, one trip to Paris and a month spent in our New York Penthouse. Whenever we could, we formed routines. Waking the other with sex had fast become one of them. It didn’t matter where in the world we were, or how ridiculously early our call times were, we could rely on each other.
The sun streamed through the windows of the penthouse, both blinding and enlivening.
“How much time is loads of time?” I asked.
Couldn’t let him start thinking he just had to give me an orgasm and I’d let him be late all the time.
“It’s only seven.” He smirked, his eyes lighting up with mischief. “Plenty of time for me to make you scream.”
“Promises, promises.” I forced myself to relax, though I felt anything but.
The need to reach for him and make him move faster thrummed through me. Instead, I bit my lip and eyed him, my husband.
How could one word have the power to set butterflies free in my stomach?
If someone had told me a year ago, I’d end Married Blind, hopelessly in love with my surprise husband, I’d have gotten giddy over the thought, but I’m not sure I would have believed them. Too many things had clouded my mind for me to truly believe it would come true.
But it had. I no longer wished for a person to lean on, to make me laugh when I didn’t think I could, and to love me unconditionally.
I had Finn.
Finn shifted, moving up my body until his teeth grazed my nipple. I sucked in a breath when his mouth suctioned around the taut nub. His fingers continued to work me, the combination reducing me to mindless sensation.
My head rocked back and forth while his name slipped from my lips in a string of gasps, pleading for him to stop and for him to never stop.
Another orgasm crashed into me, reducing me to nothing more than moans.
How had I gotten so lucky?
“You’re so bleeding responsive,” Finn growled into my neck. Then he shifted over me, dragging his cock against my pussy with teasing strokes. “Are you ready for me, wife?”
I’d never get tired of hearing him say that word. He’d barely used it in our first three months and now he couldn’t stop.
I grinned. “Always.”
Finn leaned back on his hunches and then threaded his arms beneath my knees, lifting me until I had absolutely no control. Knowing Finn, he’d edge me for an hour before letting me come again.
He grinned at me as the realisation hit. “Sure about that, dotey?”
His hips shifted, just the tip of him slipping into my pussy. My eyes fluttered shut at the tiny stretch.
“Eyes on me.” He thrust forward, filling me to the hilt and stealing the air from my lungs.
I fixed my gaze on his, absorbing every twitch of his features as he pounded into me. The pressure built fast and hard and, for one glorious moment, I thought he’d let me go over…
Then he slowed, driving himself deep before dropping one of my knees to lean over me, that amused twinkle in his eyes. He pressed a forearm into the mattress beside me and lowered his face to mine. The change in position applied toe-curling pressure to my clit as he rocked against me.
“How does it feel to be completely mine, Mrs McCarthy?” He brushed my hair back, his fingers lingering on my jaw.
“Perfect,” I panted. He might have let go of one of my legs, but I was still at his mercy. He held me off the bed with his thighs under my ass and his body crowding mine. He caged me in and it felt incredible. “Wouldn’t want to be anyone else’s.”
His expression shifted, hardened. “Too right.”
He kissed me, invading my mouth with his tongue, teeth nipping. It was all-consuming, just like him.
“You’re mine, Abi,” he whispered as he pulled back, his breath caressing my lips. “Say it.”
With my eyes fixed on his, I smiled. “I’m yours. All yours.”
“Good girl.”
Finn shifted back. His hands gripped my hips, urging me to turn over. The silk rope tugged at my wrists, reminding me he had complete control. Once he had me on my hands and knees, he leaned over me, grazing his lips along my neck to my ear. “Remember that when you’re wearing that pretty gown and have a room full of Hollywood royalty lusting after you.”
He thrust into me from behind, driving hard and fast until I couldn’t form words. The pressure built and built, pleasure thrumming through me, making my eyelids heavy and my muscles tense.
Then he eased off again. “Finn,” I cried. My fingers clutched at the sheets, desperate to touch him in return. “Let me fucking come.”
“Nope.” His lips twisted while his eyes devoured me. His fingers danced over my clit, circling and teasing while he continued to rock into me. “I’ve got an hour before either of us needs to leave this bed, and I’m going to make you come so hard you can still feel it while we’re at the altar.”
For all of a second, I wondered if he was serious.
* * *
Finn
For the second time in a year, I stood at the altar surrounded by my friends. Except this time, my eyes weren’t fixed on the emergency exits. Nervous excitement twisted in my stomach.
We were already married, and we didn’t need this ceremony to prove it.
I’d argued against it for weeks and then Abi had rightly pointed out that my sister lit up every single time she suggested it. My parents never joined the chorus, but I’d have to be blind to miss their sly glances on our video calls. Beyond her initial visit, my mother hadn’t said another word about missing the wedding… but once I saw it, I couldn’t unsee it.
So here we were. Trussed up once again with hundreds of eyes fixed on us.
I glanced across the huge room, taking it all in. Abi had said our first wedding overwhelmed her with the number of people; this one was much larger. Once word got out, it grew and grew. The who’s who of Hollywood congregated in this room, all of them watching me and all of them no doubt judging one detail or another.
I didn’t care. Particularly not when the doors opened and Abi’s sister led the charge of bridesmaids down the aisle outwards me. Ros, Saoirse and Mona followed her, all of them grinning from ear to ear and all of them wearing lavender Grecian bridesmaid dresses. A detail my sister insisted she would not have stolen from her a second time.
Then the music shifted and my wife stepped through the door, her hand tucked into the crook of my father’s arm and a massive smile on her face. Like last time, her dress hugged almost every inch of her.
I bit back a groan at the sight of it hugging her hips, thighs and torso. The low cut of her dress showed off her cleavage, making me ache with the want to drag her into a room away from prying eyes.
Abi stopped before me and handed her bouquet off to Eva, who had tears shimmering in her eyes once again. Even my mother looked close to blubbering.
“Take good care of her, son,” my father said, handing me Abi’s hand with an amused quirk of his lips.
“Always.”
And I meant it.
Abi smiled up at me as we took our positions before the officiant. This time, she stood before me, without the slightest tremor in her hands.
The officiant began and I couldn’t stop myself from grinning at her like an absolute fool.
“A year ago, I didn’t think I would ever fall in love again. But then you crashed into my life and refused to let me be,” I said, when the officiant asked for our vows. I smirked as everyone around us chuckled. “I was an idiot, so focused on my past that I couldn’t see the future in front of me. I should have known the moment I laid eyes on you that escaping with my heart would be impossible.”
“Didn’t stop you trying,” Abi muttered.
My brows rose. “Didn’t stop you trying, either.” My eyes narrowed on her as the room laughed. She zipped her lips, her eyes twinkling, and I continued, “When Charlie forced me to join Married Blind I thought he was an absolute eejit. Now, I think I owe him a bottle of scotch.”
“Better be expensive bloody scotch,” my agent shouted, eliciting another chorus of laughter.
I didn’t break my focus from Abi. “The point is, it turned out I could handle a little pain when you were beside me. I can’t imagine my life without you. Thank you for seeing beyond the grumpy, distrusting actor. I love you.”
I slid a new ring onto her finger, one I’d put thought into purchasing, rather than letting someone else handle it like the last time. The engagement ring stayed. Whoever picked that out nailed it, and I couldn’t imagine any other rock on her finger.
“You didn’t make it easy, Finn,” Abi said. Her brows rose as she shook her head at me. “I’d never experienced emotional whiplash before, but you mastered it. I guess it’s fortunate for me that you lacked control.”
She smirked at me and my eyes narrowed. Speak for yourself.
“The soft glimpses you let me see were just too good for me to forget.” She grinned at me and my heart jolted. I’d never get tired of seeing the love in her eyes. “I think I fell in love with you the moment you stepped in to help a woman you didn’t know. No matter how hot and cold you were with me, I knew there had to be a great man beneath your show mask. I’m glad I didn’t let you push me away. For years, my life was focused on nothing more than making ends meet. I had love, but our family had dwindled and neither of us could patch the holes.” Tears simmered in her eyes and mine began to burn.
“You gave me back colour, excitement, joy,” she continued. “The thrill of never knowing what tomorrow will bring, and the comfort of being supported no matter what. Thank you for loving me as much as I love you.”
She slid the ring onto my finger and air whooshed out of my lungs. Something final settled in my chest and mind. All the talk of vow renewals had unearthed a fear that she’d realise she’d made a mistake and leave me.
Logically, I always knew that wouldn’t happen. When she told me she loved me, I believed her wholeheartedly.
But this moment, with all of our family and friends watching, not a single camera in sight, it felt more real than the first time.
Add in the room full of blabber-mouth Hollywood stars and producers and I knew that within minutes, the entire world would know we belonged to each other.
The officiant pronounced us husband and wife (again). The room exploded in applause and I tugged Abi into my chest, wrapping my arms around her. I claimed her lips, getting lost in the feel of her pressed against me, just like the first time and every time since.
