“What’s that wicked grin for?” she said with an edge to her voice that told me my teasing was working.
“I was just thinking about how much I want to bury my cock in your wet cunt and fuck you until you can’t walk.”
Stretching her arm to touch my thigh, she stroked my cock from the base and smacked her lips. “Put up or shut up, Mr. Stone. The time for teasing is over.”
“Ms. Edwards, I’ll take that challenge. Get up here on my lap.”
Nina stood and straddled my hips, and I positioned her perfectly so all I had to do was lift my hips from the bed and ease into her. She didn’t give me the chance, though, and slid down my cock until I was fully seated inside her. Tracing her tongue around the shell of my ear, she whispered, “I didn’t want to wait anymore.”
“Always so impatient.”
I pushed hard into her and stopped, holding her hips tightly in my hands. She cried out, her fingernails digging into my shoulders, her voice filled with aching need. “Don’t stop. Please don’t stop. I’ll beg if that’s what you want. Just don’t stop.”
“You want me to fuck you? To slide in and out of your tight cunt filling you until you can barely breathe? To empty my cock inside you until there’s nothing left of me?”
She stared down at me and knitted her eyebrows like she was in pain. “Yes. Tristan, yes.”
I wanted her as much as she wanted me, and as she buried her face in my neck, I pumped into her. She met my thrusts with her own, riding me with abandon until the two of us were close to coming apart. Pulling her head down, I kissed her long and hard, wanting to eliminate any trace of every other man her lips had touched. The thought of Varo’s mouth on hers tormented me, even as I tried to push it from my thoughts, and as if she read my mind, Nina broke off the kiss and said quietly as her body closed in around mine, “There’s no other man I want. Only you. All I want is you.”
Wrapping my arms around her, I held her tight as her release and mine exhausted us both. She was so small in my hold, a precious soul I needed to take better care of now that I was back. I couldn’t let my jealousy ruin her love.
I lay there with Nina in my arms and silently thanked God for everything I’d been blessed with. I’d avoided jail time from the debacle with Rider, and as the new director of the company I’d have a chance to make sure nothing like that ever happened again under my watch. Maybe we’d even be able to truly create a drug to help heart disease patients. My business life was going to be rocky for the foreseeable future with Federal investigators combing through every last inch of Rider Pharmaceutical’s actions since Karl’s takeover of it more than a decade ago, but that was the price I had to pay for turning a blind eye to even the smallest part of the Stone Worldwide empire. From now on, I’d have to accept the fact that being the CEO meant I couldn’t do it halfway anymore. I just hoped Nina would understand.
Our lives would have to change. For the first time in my life, I had to devote myself to the business of making money. It wouldn’t be enough to playact the role of CEO of Stone Worldwide as I had for the last five years. Now, I’d actually have to be that man.
Nina’s finger traced a line across my stomach, telling me she had something on her mind. It was one of the cute things she did when she wanted to talk about something but didn’t know how to bring it up.
“Tristan, we need to discuss what we want to do about the wedding.”
Lifting her head to face me, she looked at me intently and I knew she’d already thought about it. I pushed a stray strand of hair out of her eyes and smiled up at her. “We’ll do whatever you want.”
She sat up and grinned mischievously. “Whatever I want? Like if I want us to take our vows at the top of the Empire State Building you’d be okay with that?”
I knew she was teasing me, but I really hoped her plans didn’t involve anything in the city. Something small at one of my hotels, maybe in Italy or Greece, was more along the lines of what I had in mind. “Whatever you want. Your wish is my command.”
Her smile changed to that special kind she gave me when she was genuinely happy. “I think something small right here at the house would be great. Just a few close friends and us. We could do it sooner that way.”
I thought about her idea for a moment. “How does a honeymoon in Europe sound then?”
Nina nodded her head. “I was thinking we could go back to Venice. I’d love it if we could get that same room we had last time. Do you think we can?”
I couldn’t help but chuckle. “I know the owner, so I think so.”
She rolled her eyes and jabbed me sharply in the side. “I’ll never get used to that. Maybe it only seems normal if you’re born into it.”
Pulling her down on top of me, I kissed her full on the mouth. “Then that’s something I need to work on. Once you’re Mrs. Tristan Stone, you’ll officially have everything I have.”
“I still don’t think I’ll get used to having whatever I want, whenever I want.”
“You’d be surprised how easy it is to get used to it.”
“Do you have any idea about who you want to invite? I thought maybe just a few close friends.”
I thought about who I’d invite and realized there wasn’t a soul I’d remained close to after the plane crash. Everyone I’d surrounded myself with before had been people who wouldn’t fit into the life I’d created with Nina. Maybe Michelle and her husband. “I don’t know.”
“Well, I’m thinking Jordan and Varo, at least. Maybe he can be your best man?”
“Maybe I’ll let him keep his job and we’ll leave it at that, Nina.”
She rolled off me and sat up. “Then who will be your best man?”
As much as I didn’t want to admit it, there was only one person who I even considered a friend. “Daryl.”
Laughter exploded from her, and she covered her face as she continued to giggle. “Oh, Jordan’s going to love that. I think I’ll make her walk down the aisle with mountain man.”
“She likes Varo. Set her up with him. He can be her date for the wedding. That should make up for having to hang out with Daryl for a few minutes.”
“Then it’s set. Jordan will be my maid of honor, and Daryl will be your best man. When should we do it?”
“We both have birthdays coming up. Which one works better, yours or mine?”
Nina sat silently, and I realized she didn’t know when my birthday was. To be honest, I only knew her birthday because I’d had her checked out even before meeting her.
“Well, mine’s on a Thursday this year, so that wouldn’t work. I think we should get married on a weekend. Your birthday is on the weekend, isn’t it?”
“You tell me,” I said with a smile.
Tilting her head, she arched one eyebrow. “You think I don’t know when your birthday is, don’t you?”
“When is it?”
“Well, I’m going to guess May or early June since I met you last May after Memorial Day and starting living with you in mid-June and we’ve never celebrated it. I don’t really know when it is, though. Does that make me a bad girlfriend?”
“No. You’re still a great fiancée. It’s June 2. And since yours is May 15, we’re not able to do it on either day if you want to keep it on a weekend.”
Nina twisted her face into a scowl and bit her lower lip. “Then what about next weekend. We’re not planning to do anything big, so as long as everyone we want can be here, we’re good.”
Lifting her left hand to my lips, I kissed her engagement ring. “Next weekend it is. You ready to be Mrs. Stone, Ms. Edwards?”
“I am. And are you ready to tell me everything that happened with Karl today?”
“I guess I’m not going to escape explaining that to you, so yes, I’ll tell you everything.”
Nina crossed her legs and settled in next to me. “Good. See how nice it feels to not keep secrets?”
“We’ll see how you feel after you hear everything. Things are going to change for me at work.”
“I’m all ears, Tristan, and don’t worry. As long as you don’t change what’s inside you, we’ll be A-OK.”
Chapter Seventeen
Nina
I listened as Tristan explained how he would have to devote more time to Stone Worldwide business from now on, knowing that he feared I wouldn’t want to be with a man like that. He was wrong, though. It didn’t matter if he was a CEO or a doorman. All that mattered to me was that he was the Tristan I loved.
By the time he was finished, he looked like a weight had been lifted from him. Even though he’d decided to be more hands on with the company, the fact that he could shape Stone Worldwide into a business he could be proud of was important.
“So it looks like I’m going to become what I never thought I’d want to be—a real CEO. How do you feel about that? This wasn’t who I was when you said yes to marrying me.”
Lifting his chin with my fingertip, I looked him straight in the eyes. “Tristan, you have to do what’s right for you. If that means taking on more responsibility, how could I have a problem with that? You’re still the same man I fell in love with. It’s not like you’ve decided to give up everything you’ve ever been and live in the wilderness without running water. That I’d have a problem with.”
He kissed my hand and smiled. “I’m not much of a wilderness type of guy. I couldn’t even handle the beard and long hair, and I’m pretty attached to running water myself. I just don’t want you to think that I’m turning into my father. I promise I’m not.”
Who Victor Stone had been was basically a mystery to me, except for what my father had believed about him. I knew nothing about him other than that he was the man I blamed for taking my only parent from me. But never once had I feared Tristan would turn into that man. I saw in the slight frown he wore as he spoke about becoming like his father that he did fear that, though.
“Tristan, you’re not your father. I don’t worry about you turning into him.”
“I swear I never will. I won’t let that happen to me or to us.”
“Speaking of us, I’ve got a million and one things to do before next weekend. One week isn’t a lot of time to plan a wedding.”
“That’s the good part about being the groom. All we have to do is put on the tux and be there on time.”
“I thought the good part was getting married to the woman you love.”
“Well, yeah, of course,” he said with a chuckle. “But not having to do all that wedding stuff is pretty good too.”
I jabbed him in the side. “For that comment, I hope I take up all the bed tonight and leave you with just a sliver of mattress.”
Pulling me close to him, he gave me one of those truly rare Tristan smiles that told me he was truly happy. “As long as you’re next to me, I don’t care how much I have. All that matters is I have you.”
***
I hit the last step to Jordan’s building and struggled to catch my breath as the door flew open. Jordan stood there grinning from ear to ear, arms wide open to envelope me with a hug. “I am so ready to check out some wedding dresses. We can have lunch, gossip about all the things we need to catch up on, and, of course, find you the perfect gown to marry that man of yours in.”
“Let me catch my breath! I think you might be more excited than I am about this shopping trip.”
Grabbing me, she hugged me close and then held me at arm’s length to take a look at me. “This is going to happen this time. I swear to God, if I have to chain you and Tristan down, it’s happening.”
“I promise no more false starts. This time we’re doing this. You ready to go?”
Jordan looked past me at Jensen and the car waiting for us. “I’ve missed that old guy.” Looking around left and then right, she giggled. “And where would your bodyguards be today?”
“They’re somewhere. Tristan told them to make themselves scarce, so we may not see them. Don’t worry, though. You’ll see Gage at the wedding.”
We nearly bounced down the stairs to the car, and Jordan turned toward me, her expression suddenly serious. “By the way, what other females will be there? I need to know who my competition is for the bouquet.”
I opened the car door and held it for her. “It’s going to be a small affair. I promise to make sure you catch the bouquet.”
“Make it look good, though. We don’t want people thinking the fix was in,” she joked as she climbed into the back seat.
I sat down next to her and tapped on the back of the driver’s seat. “We’re ready, Jensen.”
“Yes, miss. We should be there shortly.”
Jordan turned toward me. “So tell me what’s going on with that ring. If my eyes don’t deceive me, that’s not the diamond he gave you when he first proposed.”
I couldn’t help but grin. “It is a new one. He had it for me when he asked me again last night. I didn’t ask for it or anything. I was perfectly happy with the first one.”
Taking my hand in hers, she studied my ring like a jeweler. “This ring looks even bigger. What is this, like almost two carets? I’m surprised you’re not dragging your knuckles on the ground when you walk.”
I pulled my hand away and shook my head. “Don’t tease. It’s not that big, and I like it. Tristan’s got good taste. He knows what I like.”
“Yes, he does. Simple round cut but stunning. So what are the plans? You mentioned on the phone it was going to be intimate, so I’m not going to have to mess up other women there if they hit on Gage?”