Her eyes widened. “Do you mean…”
He nodded.
“You’re not kidding?” she asked faintly.
“God’s honest truth, ma’am.”
Bee had never heard him speak with such a distinctly Texan drawl, and it startled a laugh out of her.
“There it is.” He gently traced her lips. “Smiles suit you more than frowns, sweetheart.”
She just about turned into jelly at the words, and it seemed as if Nicholas also sensed her inner melting, with the way he was suddenly smirking.
“Too much?” His tone was the very definition of devilish.
Bee tried to play it cool for once. “I have no idea—Nicholas, no!”
But the deed was already done. She was now seated on his lap, and with the kitchen having only an open doorway, there was every chance Nicholas’ boss could walk in on any them, and oh my God, but what if this would have her husband suspended or, even worse, fired?
Nicholas frowned at the sudden look of distress on Tabitha’s face. “What’s wrong?”
“I just don’t think this is appropriate,” she said uneasily. “I mean what if your employer—” She stopped speaking when she saw Nicholas’ gaze narrow.
“You know…” His voice was thoughtful. “I have a feeling we’ve got our wires crossed somehow.”
Fearing that he might think her too interfering or presumptuous, she said tentatively, “I really, um, like…” She tried to say the words ‘sitting on your lap’ but couldn’t. “I really, um, enjoy this,” Bee said instead. “I’m just worried that your employer might think you’ve been skiving off—”
“Can I ask you a question?” Nicholas interrupted. “What exactly has Daniel told you about my job?”
“You manage a ranch.” She paused. “Don’t you?”
“And that’s it?”
Bee was starting to feel confused. “Was there anything else he should’ve added?”
“Nothing much…” It was his turn to pause. “Except the fact that I own the ranch as well?”
Bee burst into laughter. “Yeah, right—”
Nicholas smiled but said nothing.
She stopped laughing. “You’re joking.”
Nicholas only looked at her.
“You have to be joking.”
He said very gently, “I’m not.”
“But…” Her heart had started racing, and she was suddenly having difficulties breathing. “It can’t…” Her eyes flew to him in horror. “I can’t do this.” She was just ordinary Tabitha Sandler, a nobody who was fine being nobody. And he was now telling her she had married a man whose ranch was the same size as Rhode Island?
“I can’t, I’m sorry, I—”
“Tabitha.”
“I don’t want to disappoint you. I don’t want to ever make a mistake—”
“Tabitha.” Nicholas’ firm voice cut her protestations short. “Look at me.”
Panicky brown eyes lifted to his.
“Do I look like a man who doesn’t know what he’s doing?”
She slowly shook her head.
“Do you think I would have married you,” Nicholas lied without hesitation, “if I thought you wouldn’t be able to handle being my wife and everything the position entails?”
After one long moment, she shook her head again.
“Then trust me when I say you have nothing to worry about.” Because it was true.
“You’re the woman Daniel and I chose.” She had nothing to worry about.
Bee hastily blinked back tears. “You have such a way with words.”
Since it wasn’t her who had been tricked into a marriage by his own son.
“Thank you for believing in me. Thank you for choosing me. Just…thank you.”
It wasn’t her who had then ended up uttering a thousand lies just to keep the deception.
Nicholas’ lips brushed over hers, and he whispered, “No, sweetheart. Thank you.”
And it wasn’t her, Nicholas thought moodily, who now had no fucking idea about what he really wanted to happen.
Chapter 9
“Good morning, husband.”
Sleepy green eyes gradually focused on her, taking note of her still-pink cheeks and the telltale quiver in her voice. A moment later, and the sound of his wicked laughter had Bee turning even redder.
“It’s just not that easy calling you ‘husband’,” his wife said defensively.
“It’s only a word,” he said lazily.
“It is not just a word,” she said huffily. “But never mind about that…”
Nicholas arched a brow when she reached for the covers and slowly drew them from his naked body.
Her eyes met his shyly.
“Happy monthsary.”
And then she was going down on him, and his already aroused cock slid into the tight, moist warmth of her mouth like it was fucking home. She held and pleasured him like the novice she was, teeth occasionally scraping painfully against the swollen head of his dick, but because it was her – because it was his wife – none of it made a difference.
She had him tightly gripping her hair in mere fucking moments, had him shoving his cock down her throat with uncool haste, had him goddamn exploding in her mouth with more load than he could ever remember releasing.
And when he felt her throat working to swallow all of his cum, ah, fuck, it just gave his orgasm a second lease of life, and a hoarse groan escaped him as he felt his balls tighten once more.