To be honest, I'm nervous as fuck. So nervous that I didn't bother to have shower sex with her. Hell, she washed my body and played with everything she could reach while I stood there, trying to wrap my mind around the fact that I'm a married man. A man married to the woman of his dreams.

How amazing and terrifying is that?

"Jase?" Piper softly calls my name and I turn to look at her. In a simple baby blue nightgown, she takes my breath away. Sure it's see-through and barely covers her ass, but she looks like an angel.

Lit candles brighten the bedroom and rose petals cover the bed. At least I had sense of mind to do that for her.

"Here, kitten." I take her hands and lead her to the bed.

"It's beautiful. I feel like a bride on my wedding night." She blushes. "I know that's what I am, but this...the candles...the bed...you..." She takes a shaky breath and smiles at me so tenderly that my heart lurches in my chest. "I'm ready for tonight."

Since I'm wearing nothing but boxer briefs, I let go of her hand and hook my thumbs into the waistband, quickly divesting myself of them. She climbs up on the bed, giving me flashes of her enticing ass and pink pussy.

I climb in after her. The bed is a ridiculously tall four-poster rice bed-according to the lady who rented the cottage to us. Apparently, that's a selling point, but I'm so hard and ready for Piper that a bunk bed would work for me.

"How do you want me?" she asks, sitting so primly with her legs to one side. Her hands are clasped in her lap, and I check to make sure her knuckles aren't white.

Assured that she's relaxed, I tip up her chin and say, "Like the first time, baby. On your back. I want to look at you when you come the first time."

She lies back on the bed, a fucking vision of perfection in the candlelight. I lower myself between her thighs but keep my weight on my forearms, which rest on either side of her.

I carefully frame her face with my hands. "I love you, Mrs. Simmons."

Her lashes flutter to her cheeks and then her eyes open. "I love you, Mr. Simmons."

Time seems to slow down as I kiss and caress her body, as I touch her everywhere and follow my fingers with my mouth until she's shaking and moaning my name. My only thought is to make this better than ever for her. Better than the first time and better than the last time.

Her neck arches, a slim column begging to be bit, and I give in to that urge, sinking my teeth into her skin. Her hips bump up against mine, my cock rubbing against her pussy.

"Please, Jase," she whimpers, her head thrashing back and forth as I suck on her nipples through the flimsy material of her nightie. "I want you inside of me."

I grab the base of my cock and squeeze, relieving the building pressure slightly, before I slowly work my way inside of her, inch by glorious inch. As soon as I'm balls deep, she squeezes me and I curse.

"Tight and wet," is all I can say before she fuses her mouth to mine. I work my cock in and out of her, taking my time. I use every bit of experience I have to keep my orgasm at bay and to make her writhe beneath me.

But I don't want her mindless. I want her to know who's making love to her. Gradually, I pick up my pace until the headboard is slamming against the wall and Piper is moaning so loudly that I can't hear my own thoughts. Her breasts bounce, hard nipple scraping against my skin. I reach between us, flicking her clit with my thumb, and she starts to come, her inner muscles milking me hard.

My eyes open wide and I strain against the biting urge to come with her, but it's not time. This is for her, not me. Suddenly, I feel her fingers on my ass, dipping between my cheeks and stroking me. She bites my shoulder.

- "Holy-" I groan as my orgasm shoots down my spine and straight into her pussy. I come so hard that I have to grab the headboard instead of her. My knuckles crack as I pound into her for all I'm worth, as I pour every bit of me into her. Passion. Love. Desire. I don't want this moment to end. The way we're joined...the way she takes every thrust. It's fucking perfection.

My hips finally slow of their own volition and I let out a ragged breath. As I crash back to earth, I let go of the headboard and lower myself onto her, while keeping most of my weight on my arms. I nuzzle her throat while my heart feels as though it's about to slam out of my chest.

"Jase," she sighs, and I smile against her skin.

"Here, baby."

"That was perfect."

She's perfect. I roll onto my back, taking her with me. Our skin is slick and the air smells like sex. I stroke the curve of her waist. Her long dark hair tickles my chest as she snuggles against me.

I can't remember the last time I felt this settled, this grounded. Have I ever felt settled?

I don't think I have, but I love it.

Chapter 21.

TWO WEEKS LATER.

Jase

Finally we are back home. Purposefully, we stayed in that cottage for two weeks to make her parents sweat and to give the private investigator time. The attorney Piper hired for my defense had one on staff and supposedly he is the best out there. I'm not holding my breath, though.

Just as we walk inside our house, Piper's phone rings and she answers it, the look on her face unreadable.

"Hello, this is Piper."

So damn proper, I think with a grin. Wouldn't have her any other way.

"Mr. Gibbs. It's so good to hear from you." She mouths the words my accountant.

"Why yes, I did get married. Thank you."

Oh fuck. We couldn't keep it a secret for long, and we really weren't planning on it, but if her accountant knows, then it stands to reason that her parents know as well.

"I have a what?" she practically shouts into the phone. Only for her a shout is a slightly raised voice.

I drop our suitcases and go to her, unsure if I should take the phone or rub her shoulders. Touching her wins.

"But I thought I didn't inherit until I was thirty," she says, and I kiss her head. The tension in her shoulders grows. "Half on my birthday? But-but Mother and Father never-"

She shakes her head. "No, there was no prenup. Why would there be? I've been disowned."

Prenup? Why would we need one of those? I know Piper comes from money, but prenups are for the ultrarich and famous.

"We'll come in as soon as we can. Let me talk with my husband about his schedule."

Piper turns to me as she ends the call. Her eyes are wide and her face is both pale and flushed. "My parents lied to me. They said that I was disowned, but-but in two months, I'll be-we will be millionaires."

Millionaires? I can't speak at first. "I don't want your money."

"Too bad. It's ours anyway." She sinks down in the kitchen chair and drops her head into her hands. "I don't understand how anyone could hate their child this much."

"They don't hate you." But I sure as hell hate them in this moment.

She glances up at me, her cheeks streaked with tears. Only five minutes before, she was happy. Laughing. Teasing me as we drove home. Hell, she went on for twenty minutes about all the new monogramming she would have to get done.

"They knew I didn't have enough money to live on but did nothing about it. They knew I needed money for school but let me flounder. Meanwhile, I could have set up a payment plan to pay for classes, because in November I get ten million dollars just for turning twenty-five."

The weight of her words makes me sink down beside her. "Ten million dollars." I rub the back of my neck. "Any way we can go back in time and do a prenup?"

"I don't know. Jase, I don't care about money. It's great to have money to pay for stuff, but it's my heart that's been broken by the very people who should love me." Piper shakes her head. "My dad still hasn't said a word about Mark attacking me. My mother hasn't said a word. They get to live their lives and I'm not even an afterthought anymore."

That's it. We're settling this once and for all. I refuse to allow those assholes to hurt her. "Are your parents home on Sundays?"

"Yes." She sniffs and more tears fall.

I wipe them away. "I think it's time I met my in-laws."

- I pull my Mustang up to the front door of the three-story mansion Piper grew up in. There are wings off each side, two stories each.

"I can go in and talk to them," she says.

"Not happening. We're together in this," I counter.

"Which side did you live on?" I ask as I open her door and help her out. She insisted on changing before we came over. I totally approve of her bright blue form-fitting dress and matching heels. The ring I bought her looks mighty fine on her finger, too.

"East wing. My parents live in the west wing."

"You didn't even live on the same side of the house?" My voice is incredulous.

"No. I cried a lot as a baby and a toddler because of my medical issues, so they put Nanny and me on the other side," she says as a matter of fact.

"I didn't think it was possible to hate them even more, but I do."

When the butler lets us into the house, her parents are waiting in the foyer. Neither of them looks very happy to see me. Us. Whatever. I don't give a damn. I am here for the woman holding my hand.

"Hello, Mother. Father," Piper says, "Where in the hell have you been?" my father asks, his eyes blazing.

"Mother told me to marry the right man and you would leave us alone. So I did."

Mrs. Ross's gaze narrows in on Piper's hand. Her face turns bright red. "I meant someone like Mark Williams, Piper, and you know it."

I step in front of my wife. "Mark Williams? Are you fucking kidding me? He attacked your daughter and you want her to-The two of you should be ashamed." I pin my gaze on Piper's dad. "Especially you. You're supposed to protect your daughter, not hand her over like a sacrificial lamb to a scumbag like Mark."

Her father's face turns purple. "If anyone's the scumbag, it's you. You attacked him and somehow convinced my daughter to go-"

"How dare you," Piper says, and the entire room gets quiet. "I filed a report. They took pictures of my face and my arms...he hit me. He shook me and he-If Jase hadn't shown up, Mark would have done a hell of a lot more."

"Piper," her mother says, her face pale as she takes a step forward. "I didn't know. I wouldn't have-" She glances at her husband. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because he's a liar and he's making one out of your daughter. Besides, how do we know he wasn't the one to hurt her?"

Piper stiffens, then her shoulders droop a little. I can't blame her. Her parents would rather blame me and accuse her of lying than actually defend her. "For the last time, Jase had nothing to do with Mark Williams's attack, but I've hired Lucy McBeal to represent him and she assures me that her PI will do everything he can to uncover what really happened in that video.

"Furthermore, I've been informed of my inheritance-the specifics, that is-and I don't require anything from the two of you ever again. I'll have my BMW delivered to you as soon as possible."

"That's not all," I say, taking Piper into my arms. "As a wedding present to your only daughter, you will help her deal with Mark Williams and his family. You will make sure that he is punished."

"And you'll leave my husband and his family alone," Piper adds. "I don't want anything to do with either of you ever again."

"Done," her mother says, and then looks at her husband. "Right?"

"We'll take care of Mark." His jaw works. "Hard to believe that he-"

"Fuck off, Ross." I steer Piper toward the front door and she doesn't resist. "Don't listen to him. We know the truth and that's all that matters."

Piper tips up her chin, her eyes clear. "Exactly."

"So damn proud of you for sticking up for yourself."

I open the passenger-side door and she gets in. "I had you to stick up for me, too. I've never had that before."

Leaning down, I give her a hard kiss, full of promise, then shut the door and jog to my side of the car, sliding in.

I take her hand and kiss the back of it. "You're my wife. I'd do anything for you."

- Another week passes by without a word from Piper's parents. The police haven't been sent to my house, either, and mysteriously the notices from the health department have stopped coming, too.

I'm not positive that it is merely a coincidence. What I do know? None of it is Piper's fault. She can't help who her parents are or what they do.

The only downside to our rather hasty marriage and impromptu honeymoon is that when we get back, Piper learned that she lost her job at the women's shelter. Their policy doesn't allow anyone who works there to be married to someone convicted of a violent crime, even if it was a crime of circumstance.

Ginger hadn't wanted to tell Piper up front because she wanted us to enjoy our honeymoon. Ginger is classy like that. I like her.

Piper took the news better than I expected, but I made it up to her by going to Aristotle's Closet and buying back every pair of shoes and every stinking purse I could find that she had sold in order to pay for my lawyer...at all four locations.

She actually cried over seeing the hot pink ones with the tiny bows. So I did what any guy would have done in that situation-I handed her the inhaler I kept on me, just for situations like this, had her put the shoes on, and bend over the kitchen table so that I could get rid of those tears.

Worked like a fucking charm.

My phone vibrates, taking me out of my very hot memories of watching my cock sink into Piper's wet pussy over and over again. Her heart-shaped ass jiggles so good when I pound her in that position. And the sounds she makes...