Choosing You

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Taryn“Bubbles shouldn’t make me this happy.” I giggled.

The car came to a stop in front of the Villagio Inn in Yountville. After checking out a couple other hotels in the area, we settled on the Villagio as our hotel-spa home for the weekend, and for our wedding guests. The rooms might be pricey for some of our relatives, but Jeff had agreed to supplement the room rates so more of our family could afford to attend. I wanted everyone at the same hotel if possible to facilitate transportation and logistics for wedding activities.

Jeff laughed. “Your love of champagne knows no bounds.”

“Sparkling wine, Jeff. Only wine from the Champagne region in France can be labeled champagne. We learned that in France last year.”

“Are you drunk?”

“No. Well, maybe a little buzzed. Mainly, I think I’m just high on the fact that the wedding is finally shaping up. In six months, I’ll be Mrs. Taryn McConnell. That makes me happier than the bubbles.”

I slid my hand over Jeff’s knee and squeezed. I trailed it up his thigh and squeezed again. Jeff hissed with a sharp breath. Twisting around in the driver’s seat, he leaned over the center console, pulled me toward him, and captured my mouth. I snaked my hands up his chest and slipped my fingers inside the collar of his shirt and up the side of his neck.

A layer of late-afternoon stubble had emerged on Jeff’s jawline and cheek, adding a delicious friction to our kiss. His tongue slipped deep against mine. My body melted. His left hand found the zipper of my rain jacket and yanked it down.

In the next moment, he found the hem of my sweater and lifted it up. His strong fingers left trails of heat up my belly and across my ribs. Jeff tugged on my b*a strap, but the angles in the tight front seat of our mid-size rental didn’t cooperate. Maybe we should have rented the SUV, I thought, as Jeff pulled back, breathless and lightly touching his lips to my cheek.

“We have a very nice hotel room upstairs,” he murmured into my neck. “I think we need to get there. Now.”

I zipped my jacket and jumped out of the car. Jeff waited for me at the door of the hotel lobby and ushered me through to the elevator. He stood behind me, and I leaned back into him, planting my head in the center of his broad chest. I tipped back to look up at him as he towered over me. He grinned and dipped down to drop a kiss on my forehead.

God, I loved how tall he was. I disappeared into his arms and let the warm, spiced scent of him envelop me. He’d borrowed my scented lotion this morning, having forgotten his own. How could something that smelled so feminine on me be so masculine on him that I felt like dropping to my knees when the elevator door opened? That would give hotel security a show.

Jeff continued to hold me in front of him as the elevator arrive and we stepped in, letting the doors close behind us. I arched and flexed my back, the barely concealed hardness in Jeff’s jeans pressing into me.

“I’m cursing security cameras right now.”

“I’m cursing you,” Jeff replied. “You’re driving me crazy. I still have to make it down the hall, you know. If only I had a math book or something to hold in front of me.”

I laughed.

We barely made it to the room and just inside the door before all hell broke wonderfully loose. As soon as the heavy wooden door swung shut, I unzipped my jacket and spun around. Jeff reached for me, sliding his hands under my sweater and pulling it off over my head. Not waiting to unhook it, he pushed the straps of my b*a down my shoulders and tugged down to spring my breasts free. His warm, rough hands tightened my n*****s.

My head dropped back. A moan crawled up my throat. My eyes closed, absorbed in the sound of Jeff’s ragged breath. He scooped his forearms under my a*s and pushed me back against the wall.

The moist heat of his breath on my neck and the sharp pinch of his teeth turned me to liquid. Giving myself to the indulgence of his roaming mouth temporarily crushed the impatience I felt to get my hands on him. Jeff moved his mouth lower and stilled on my right breast. He took a long, intense, sucking tug on the tender flesh, stroking it with his tongue. Time froze. Then, he repeated his attention on the left.

The laziness of pleasure faded as my desire swelled. I couldn’t just go along for the ride. I pushed against Jeff’s shoulder. He pressed forward to, once again, focus on my breasts. I pushed him back again, and he dropped me to my feet. I took his chin in my hands to keep him at bay. Leaning in, I kissed his chest in the V of his neckline. Releasing his face, I grabbed at his shirt, the buttons straining as I plucked them open one after the other.

With each inch of skin revealed, I planted another kiss—all the way down to the waistband of his jeans. Now kneeling before him—still in the entryway of our hotel room—I flattened my hands on his rippled belly and worked open the button of his jeans.

I paused to reach behind and unhook my b*a to move me closer to the goal of getting us both completely n***d. Throwing the scrap of lace in the corner, I returned to Jeff’s jeans. He unzipped them and stepped out, having already thrown his shirt in the direction of my b*a. I slid his navy boxer briefs over his muscled thighs and took the tip of his taut erection between my lips.

Jeff tipped backward, catching himself on wall behind him in the narrow entry to the room. Very little gave me as large a thrill as feeling Jeff lose control when I took him in my mouth. The taste of him. The sounds he made. My right hand slipped over Jeff’s hip. His body was hot and tense. His fingers tangled in my hair, giving my head a slight pull, then a firmer one.

Without a word, he pulled me to my feet and lifted me up. I linked my arms around his neck and locked my legs around his waist. He gripped me tight and walked until he stopped at the bed, where he lowered me backward. Our bodies separated for mere seconds before he came after me. He kissed me hard, his tongue invading my mouth and taking mine captive as he plunged between my legs. I gasped into Jeff’s mouth.

He stilled for a moment, and I savored the rigid feel of him. He lifted his hips and slid into me again. The friction sent a ravaging heat throughout my body. My hands roamed down his back and gripped his a*s. The thrill of familiar sensations hit me a new way each time he thrust.

Jeff buried his face in the pool of my hair. He trailed a thumb up the crook of my neck and behind my ear before tracing the ridge. I heaved waves of hot breath on his chest as he pressed me back into the bed. The sweet pressure swelled inside me, bringing me to the edge of sanity. Jeff’s pace increased.

He thrust again, and his whole body tensed against mine as he cried out. The weight of him. His thickness so deep inside me. I bucked up to meet his final push, unable to get as close to him as my body begged to be. Reveling in the feel of our bodies entwined, I exploded like a firecracker.

The swirl around us settled into a sensuous calm.

Jeff rolled over but brought me with him, pulling me up until our heated gazes aligned. The moisture on his forehead grazed mine. Another rumble of pleasure rolled through me when I saw the wicked shimmer in the amber pool of his eyes. Jeff stroked his fingers over my cheekbones. I shivered.

“Are you cold?” he asked, holding me tighter.

I stretched out above him. “No, I’m impressed.”

“Really?”

“Always.”

Jeff patted my butt before giving it a smack.

“Hey, I’ve been a good girl. No need for that.” I pinched his n****e in objection.

Jeff s*****d me again, and we laughed.

“Is this what it’s going to be like to be married to you? Constant discipline? That’s very old-fashioned and a little sexist.”

“You’re welcome to s***k me anytime you want.”

I sat up and swung my leg over his midsection to straddle him. “I have other ways to keep you in line.”

A fine layer of scattered hair tickled my palms as I dragged them down his chest and ran my fingers over his flat stomach. He grinned with half-closed eyes. “You’ll have to give me a break at some point to refuel.”

“You’re hungry again?”

“A little.”

“You can order something. I’m on the ‘make sure I can squeeze into my wedding dress’ diet.”

His broad hands grabbed me by the hips. “Insanity. You’re perfect.”

I leaned over and pressed my face into his neck. “We’re perfect.”

I knew it sounded like hyperbole, but I meant it. Every touch, every word, every look between us confirmed what I knew the minute I met him: this was my man and I was his woman. I couldn’t wait to announce that to the world on our glorious, impeccably planned wedding day.