Love Thy Neighbor (34 page)

I’ve never seen Asher dressed like this
before, and my panties are suddenly damp. He looks classy as
fuck.

Shifting from foot to foot, he looks nervous
as hell. Not wanting him to know I feel very much the same way, I
do what I do best.

Be a bitch.

I say, “Something I can help you with,
Ghost?”

Not answering my question, he asks, “Did you
like the flowers, girl?”

Rolling my eyes to stop myself from crying,
I turn my back on him and answer with a sweep of my hand across my
flower themed apartment, “Who wouldn’t?”

He walks into my place and states, “You got
the notes.”

I reply with a simple nod of my head. He
nods solemnly and says, “I have to tell you a story.”

Not this again.

Shaking my head, I state loudly, “No. I
don’t want another story. I just want to move on.”

He walks closer to me and utters, “You don’t
like this story, babe, I’ll leave you alone and never bother you
again.”

Even though my heart breaks with that
statement, I really want to hear what he has to say. And I
desperately hope I like it. I dip my head in a single nod for him
to continue.

He moves over to the kitchen counter and
starts, “One day I met this girl.” Playing with the flowers on the
counter, he looks up at me and says, “You know the first part of
this story so I’m going to skip ahead, past the bullshit and get to
what you need to hear, okay?”

Suddenly feeling vulnerable, I hold myself,
rubbing my hands up and down my arms. I nod once again and he goes
on, “So this girl was my obsession. I don’t know how she did it but
she was on my mind all the time. So after we agreed that we’d be
bed buddies, I thought I had it all. The freedom and the girl all
at once. Sometime after we started fucking, I realized that even
though I felt I had it all, I was missing something. Some deep
feelings started to come through and I panicked. I panicked so hard
that I did something stupid and I put my hands on this girl, hoping
to scare her away from me. But it didn’t work.”

Reaching for the white tulip in the vase, he
takes hold of it, brings it to me and places it in my hand. He uses
his other hand to wrap my fingers around it and goes on, “So I go
away for a while to find myself. And it was a fucking shitty thing
to do, but for the first time in my life I was confused about what
I was feeling for a woman. I tried to sabotage our relationship,
but fuck me, she’s stronger than I thought. She wouldn’t run from
me even when I was being a monster.”

Ash walks into the lounge room to pick up
the single lilac Iris stem. He walks back over to me, hands me the
lilac iris and chuckles, “You know, I think I’ve known for some
time now that I love that girl.” I gasp but he ignores me. “I just
never felt something like that before, and it scared the shit out
of me. See, pretty girl, I’d do anything for that woman. Anything
at all. If she asked me to buy her diamonds, I would. If she asked
me to be a better man, I’d try with everything I am. If she asked
me to stop seeing all that’s negative in my life, I’d remember that
she’s my positive.”

He speaks as he walks over to me. “I always
thought it was me. That I was the problem when it came to me
meeting women but it wasn’t. It was them.”

Taking both flowers out of my hand, he says
quietly, “See, babe, they weren’t you.”

My lip quivers and I close my eyes to stop
the tears from falling.

He whispers, “Wait here. Got something else
for you.”

I hear him walk away from me, down the hall
and into my room. He walks back to me and places something in my
hands. I open my wet eyes and stare down at the large, beautiful
Casablanca lily that sits in my palms. He says, “This one means
celebration.”

I whisper hoarsely, “What are we
celebrating?”

My heart skips a beat and I almost faint in
shock when he falls to one knee before me. He reaches into his
pocket and pulls out a blue velvet ring box. I cover my mouth and
burst into tears. He opens the box and the most beautiful antique
white gold, diamond and emerald ring sits there. With a grin, he
announces, “We’re getting married, baby.”

***

Eight hours later…

“Do you take this sassy lady,” Elvis reads
the piece of paper in his hand before continuing, “Natalie Kovac,
to be your lawful wedded wife, my man?”

Ash chuckles at him before looking me in the
eye and smiling his new happy smile, “Hell yes.”

Elvis turns to me and asks, “Do you, sassy
lady, take this hip cat,” He checks the paper again before
continuing, “Asher Collins, to be your main man and husband?”

Smiling like the fool I am, holding my
fifteen dollar bunch of plastic flowers, I bounce on the spot and
almost shriek, “Yeah!”

Elvis smirks and mutters, “Well, alright. By
the power vested in me by the state of Nevada, I now pronounce you
man and wife. You may now kiss your-”

But I don’t wait for him to finish, I run
and jump into Asher’s waiting arms and kiss him hard, moaning all
the while. I’m on such a high which is almost unbelievable because
this morning I was at my lowest. Today is the best day of my
life.

Ash holds me under my ass with one arm,
holds the back of my head with the other, tangling his fingers into
my hair and I wrap my legs around him. Our kiss is deep and carnal
and sexy as all get out.

I love smooching my husband!

Oh my God…my husband. I can’t believe we
just got married. This is awesome!

Ash pecks my lips before muttering against
them, “I love you, pretty girl.”

Smiling against him, I whisper, “Oh God, I
don’t think I’ll ever get sick of hearing that. I love you too,
Ash.”

Elvis interrupts us with, “Hey now, save
that for the hotel.” Ash never takes his lips from mine when he
tips him big and the celebrant says in full Elvis impersonation,
“Thank you very much.”

He carries me out of the Love N Wed chapel
and out to our rental car. He sits me on the hood and steps between
my spread legs. Smiling down at me, he says, “I promise, one day
I’ll give you a big wedding with all the sparkly shit that women
like, I swear it, but right now, I’m about as happy as a kid in a
candy store.”

I reach down to take his hands in mine and
ask, “Do you think we made the right choice? Doing this, here of
all places?”

Ash nods without hesitation. “Yep. I do. I
don’t need anyone approving of what I feel for you, babe. I just
need you and I hope all you need is me, too.”

Suddenly sad, I whisper, “I probably can’t
have kids, Ash.”

He smiles a small smile and says, “You want
kids, baby?”

Looking up at him, I nod. He lowers his face
to mine, kisses my lips gently and says, “Then we’ll have kids.
We’ll make it happen somehow. I promise.” After a second, he frowns
and says, “Don’t know what kind of father I’ll be though.”

Holding his face in my hands, I say with
total faith and conviction, “If you stopped to think about what
kind of father you’re going to be, then you’re going to be a great
father.” I whisper, “You are nothing like him.”

Swallowing hard, he nods and whispers back,
“I’m nothin’ like him.” He cups my cheek and runs his thumb over my
jaw line. He says, “I’ll do everything I can to be the man you
deserve. I know we did those vows in there, but I should tell you
that there’s nothing I won’t do to make you happy. Just say the
word and I’ll do it, girl. I’ll take care of you and I’ll love you
forever.”

Reaching up, I pull him down for another
slow kiss. I try to show him through this kiss that I feel the very
same, but I back it up with words anyway. “I could never love
someone as much as I love you. I’ll be everything you need in a
wife. I promise. I’ll yell at you when you drink milk out of the
carton. I’ll smack you across the back of the head when I see you
checking out other women. I’ll kiss you when you need some love.
I’ll even kick your ass when it needs kicking.” Smirking, I say,
“See? Perfect wife.”

Chuckling, he says, “Perfect or not, you’re
the one I want. And now that I’ve got you…you mentioned lovin’
somewhere in ther-”

Cutting him off with another kiss, I tell
him, “You get me back to the room in fifteen minutes or less and…”
I move my head so we’re cheek to cheek, nip his earlobe and
whisper, “…I’ll beg to suck your cock, baby.”

Looking down at me through hooded eyes, he
says, “Get in the fucking car, girl. And buckle up.”

Not ten seconds pass and he’s already in the
driver’s seat. I get up off the hood and walk over to the passenger
side chuckling. I shake my head and still smiling, mutter, “Such a
man.”

My man.

My heart.

My husband.

Chapter Twenty-Seven
Best weekend ever

“Oh my God! Yes!”

I wrap one arm under her lower back and the
other under her ass, lifting her slightly and elevating her to that
perfect position we both need to get off.

Nat moans deep in her throat, almost a
growl. I watch her body move with every thrust.

I give it hard and she takes it. Like a
fucking pro.

I pant, “I don’t think wives are meant to
screw like this, girl.”

Without looking up, she moans, “Shut up and
fuck me!”

Fisting the sheets, her back arches when I
pull her deeper into my thrusts and her eyes flutter. I can’t take
my eyes off her perfect body. Her perfect curves. Her perfect tits.
With her back arched, I can reach them. I hold her lower back
firmly, my feet planted firmly on the floor at the foot of the bed
with her ass just off the edge of the mattress.

Nothing beats sex with someone you love.

Making love. That’s it. We’re making
love.

Panting and grinning, I lower my parted
mouth to her nipple and lick it once before I suck it hard. She
moans and grips the back of my head. She clenches on my cock and I
bite her nipple. Her nails dig into my head and I groan, gently
chewing on her nipple. Her pussy clenches around me again.

Her nipples are sensitive.

Harder than a fucking rock, I pound into
her, rolling my hips, trying to get that perfect angle that hits
her spot. As soon as she gasps, I know I’m there. I demand, “Look
at me.”

Her eyes open and she looks up at me with
this face, this desperate expression, and I can’t help it. I pinch
her nipple and tell her, “Say it.”

Her pussy tightens around me, her eyes
flutter and she whispers, “I love you, baby.”

And I’m gone. I drive into her, groaning
long and hard through gritted teeth. Her pussy contracts around me
and I still, jerking my come into her sweet warmth.

Nothing better than this.

Collapsing onto her chest, I pant on her
breast, “Holy shit. That was something else.”

I feel her silent laughter and she pants
back, “Well, babe, that was make up sex
and
honeymoon sex,
so I think it was meant to be that hot.”

Looking up at her, I ask seriously, “Can we
do it again?”

She dissolves into fits of laughter and I
chuckle with her.

I love my wife.

Lifting her up, I pull back the covers and
place her in the center of the hotel’s king size bed. I lie next to
her on my side, and she shifts to her side so we’re close and
facing each other. Leaning forward, I take her lips in a slow and
sexy kiss. Her hands come up to hold my face and I tell her, “Love
you.”

She smiles, a joyous smile that I rarely see
her wear. I think she saves this smile for special occasions. Her
white teeth gleam and her eyes sparkle. I love this smile.

You don’t need words when you’ve got a smile
like that.

She says through her smile, “Well, that’s a
relief, being that you’re my husband and all.”

Husband. Fuck me.

Putting a hand on her bare hip, I use my
thumb to draw lazy circles on it. Avoiding her gaze, I utter,
“Didn’t know it was possible for someone to feel like this.”

Her hand rests on my scarred chest and she
asks quietly, “Like what?”

I breathe deep and reply on my exhale,
“Happy. Just…happy.”

Her eyes tear up and my brow furrows in
confusion. I mutter, “The fuck I do now?”

Nat responds through a shuddering breath,
“You’re just being you, Ash.” Then she runs her fingertips over my
brow and says, “Stop that. You’ll get wrinkles.”

Chuckling at her bad joke, I pull her to me
and burrow my face into the crook of her neck.

I’m a married man.

I smile into her and I hear her amused,
“What are you smiling at, dork?”

Kissing her throat, I mutter against it,
“I’m gonna get so much shit from the guys when we get home.”

Angling her head, allowing me more access,
she sighs, “Me too. From the girls, I mean. Tina’s going to kill
me. What did you tell Nik?”

Wrapping my arms around her waist, I reply,
“I told him we both needed a few days off. He didn’t ask so I
didn’t tell him. He said he’d tell Tina and that as long as
everything was okay, he was cool with it.”

Nat chuckles, “You know we only get one day
here, right?”

What?

Shaking my head, I say, “No, girl. We got
two nights here.”

Pulling away from me, she looks a little
uncomfortable as she utters, “No. We don’t. There’s one stop we
need to make before we go home.”

The look on her face makes me think wherever
it is we’re going I’m not going to like it. But she’s my wife and
if she says we need to go, then I guess we’re going.

Narrowing my eyes at her, I ask
suspiciously, “Okay, baby. Where exactly are we going?”

Her eyes gleam and she whispers with a small
smile, “You know I love you, right?”

Oh shit. I’m so fucked.

***

Using my key, I open the front door to my
childhood home and call out, “Mama? Tata? Is anyone home?”