We should give the people what they want," she replied.
Reese kissed her ear, then her neck, pleased when she tipped her head to give him room. She might not know the effects her bared skin and tempting perfume had on him, but she certainly knew what she was doing when she backed her ass into his crotch and wiggled.
"Merina." He grasped her waist, his voice a low growl.
"Trying to make it believable," she whispered, half turning to give him a saucy wink.
"I can't go to the bar now," he said. "Part of me needs a shield."
"The rocket part?" she asked, pleased with herself.
"Vixen." This time he said it out loud.
* * *
She could blame the champagne for her behavior, but she could also blame the fact that she was now married and could do whatever she wanted to him. Reese had all but forced her hand in marriage, so he deserved every bit of discomfort.
Only now, his discomfort was matched by hers. The warmth in her belly trickled lower and Merina was overly warm in places off-limits to Reese Crane. He could kiss her. He could suggestively touch her. But the contract didn't include sex.
Sex.
Just thinking the word made her chest pulse with longing. Bumping against Reese's erection and hearing his commanding, teasing growl of the word vixen, her lips pulled into a smile. Who would have thought she'd wield so much power over the man who ruled them all?
"Is that my pet name?" Smile affixed to her face, she wiggled her hips again and was rewarded with a low, agonized grunt.
Reese's hands tightened on her waist, halting her movements. He lowered his lips and pressed a kiss to her shoulder, then bit her. Just a light scrape of his teeth, but it made Merina's pulse dance and sent her smile on vacation.
Into her ear he muttered, "You'll pay for that."
She heard the humor in his tone and decided whatever the cost, the wiggle was worth it.
"Champagne." Reese loosened his hold. "I'll be back. If pictures of me end up hashtagged by morning, I'm telling everyone it's your fault."
She swallowed a laugh and watched him go, admiring his very fine backside in his tuxedo pants.
"Girrrrl." Lorelei, glass of white wine in hand, approached in a gorgeous plum-colored dress, showing off her legs and large breasts. "He looks good in black." Her hair was pinned back, much like Merina's, in a low twist at her nape. But Lorelei's jewelry was the show-stealer, huge rhinestone earrings and a bracelet for each arm.
"He looks good in everything," Merina mumbled. And probably out of it too.
"Good, yes, but you're beautiful."
Merina leaned forward to accept the kiss on the cheek her friend doled out. "Thank you."
"I'm jealous." Lore looked around the dining room. The doors were opened to the foyer where the ceremony had taken place. Candles were lit, white roses were strung, and every inch of the mansion open to guests was gleaming and warm and romantic. "I can't believe you get to live here."
Her best friend bemoaned her six-hundred-square-foot apartment for the thousandth time, and Merina had to smile. Lore had picked the place, justifying that with her heavy workload she'd be at the office most of the time. But ever since she'd made partner she'd complained about wanting a house.
"Where's Malcolm?" Honestly, Merina was surprised her friend came stag.
Lorelei gave a shrug that said she didn't care, but it was a purposeful deflection. Lore cared too much about Malcolm. And Malcolm not enough about her.
"I'll kill him if he's with another woman," Merina said, meaning it.
"Pfft. Come on." Lorelei made a shooing motion with her hand. "You know that man loves himself too much to make himself look bad. I think he's unsure about us. I can't blame him. I'm unsure."
"Well, Tag's single. Want me to introduce you?"
"No." Lorelei gave her a slow eye blink. "What would I do with him?"
Tag moved in the background, hair down and huge arms straining the confines of his dress shirt.
"Whatever you did would probably be fun," Merina admitted. Tag practically had "for a good time call" stenciled across his broad back.
Reese returned with the champagne right then and Merina accepted the glass. Her brand-new husband radiated control. Confidence. Stubbornness. Each of those qualities more attractive given they were wrapped in such a glorious package.
"I'm going to get myself a refill." Lorelei cordially excused herself. "Reese, you don't take care of my girl, I'll have your balls."
"Exactly what I'd expect you to say, Ms. Monson," Reese replied easily. After she'd gone, he turned to Merina. "She's warming up to me. Any chance your parents will do the same?"
"Ha." Merina sipped her champagne. "My dad isn't convinced. And my mom is not happy."
Mark and Jolie may have experienced their own whirlwind love story, but theirs was rooted in everlasting love. The engagement started on State Street in Chicago around Christmas. Near the ice rink, snow falling, Jolie's tears of joy freezing to her face as Mark knelt before her, ring offered and snow seeping into his dress pants. Merina's mother liked to tell the tale of how she and Mark checked into a high-end hotel in a crappy compact car and handed their duffel bags over to the valet. They didn't belong in this world then, but they'd carved out room for themselves. Her parents saw Chicago as a place they made their own.
"Neither is Bob," Reese said of the friendlier board member Merina was introduced to earlier. "My father will smooth that over." He said this with his voice dropped and his face close to her ear. Goose bumps sprang to life on her arms and legs in response.
Nearly everything about him caused an answering physical reaction.
Tag approached with an easygoing swagger, golden hair rolling over the shoulders of his royal blue button-down almost to the middle of his arms.
"You remember my brother, Tarzan," Reese said.
Tag chuckled good-naturedly, much in the way he approached life. "Congratulations. Though, my brother is an idiot, so I suppose I should be offering condolences." He winked. "Maybe I'll offer those in a few months."