Valorous, A Tame Quantum Novel (Quantum Series Book 2) Read online

  “I know that, and I appreciate the concern. But this is different.”

  “So you’ve said. Look, Flynn, it’s none of my business. It’s none of Hayden’s business. You’re our friend, and we care about you. That’s it. One thing you’ve never been is a fool. But if you marry this woman—or any woman—without protecting yourself and your considerable assets, you’re a fool.”

  He’s right. I know he is, and if one of my closest friends was considering marrying a woman he’d known two weeks without a prenup, I’d be freaking out all over them. But I can’t imagine broaching that subject with Natalie. She isn’t after my money. I know that in the deepest corners of my soul, and it’s one of the reasons I love her so damned much.

  “She couldn’t care less about the money, Em.”

  “Everyone cares about money, Flynn. Especially people who don’t have any of their own.”

  I hate this conversation and the way it makes me feel with a fiery passion.

  “There’s a way around it, you know,” Emmett says tentatively.

  “What’s that?”

  “Set her up with a big account and have her sign something that says that’s all she’ll get if the marriage ends.”

  I’m shaking my head before he finishes speaking. “I’m not going into this marriage like it’s a business deal. That would be disrespectful to her and to what we are to each other.”

  “I hear you, and I’ll even confess to being envious that you’ve found someone you feel that way about. But as your friend and your attorney, I’d be negligent if I didn’t urge you to reconsider.”

  “I appreciate your concern, your friendship and your legal advice.”

  “But you’re telling me to fuck off anyway, right?” he asks with a laugh.

  “In the nicest way possible.”

  “Fair enough. I’ve done my due diligence. If you change your mind, give me a call. I can put something together for you in the morning.”

  “I’m not going to change my mind.”

  “Then I’ll be on my way.” He gets up, and I shake the hand he offers me. “Thanks for a great time tonight.”

  “It was fun. Just what the doctor ordered after the week we’ve had.”

  “You know I wish you all the best, Flynn. Natalie seems like a really great person.”

  “You have no idea how amazing she is.” I look up at him. “Keep me posted on the situation with Rogers and Natalie’s school.”

  “I will. Congratulations again.”

  “Thanks.”

  After he leaves, I sit for a long time staring out at the dark ocean, where a half moon leaves a glowing trail over the surface. My friends have left me with doubts, which are infuriating in light of the certainty I feel where Natalie is concerned. I wasn’t lying when I said I know, in the deepest part of me, that our relationship has nothing to do with my money or my fame or my celebrity or any of the other bullshit reasons women in the past have been interested in me.

  No, with Natalie, it’s all about the two of us and what we’ve found together.

  “What’re you doing out here all by yourself?” she asks as she comes out to join me.

  “Enjoying the view, which just got exponentially better. Did everyone leave?”

  “Yeah, they said thanks for a fun night.”

  I hold out a hand to her and guide her onto my lap. When she’s settled in my arms, her familiar scent filling my senses, I feel like I can breathe again. Nothing about this could ever be wrong. It is the most genuinely right thing I’ve ever known in my life.

  “Why so quiet?”

  “No reason.”

  “Did you have fun with your friends?”

  “I did. How about you?”

  “They’re so nice. I love them all.”

  “They loved you, too.”

  “Even Hayden?”

  “Of course. He thinks you’re great.”

  “Sure he does. He ran out of here awfully quickly, leading me to wonder if the two of you had words over our plans for Monday. And just in case you’re interested, Addie went after him.”

  She’s incredibly astute and insightful, which is part of why I love her as much as I do. “He’s a little concerned about the haste but not about you. You have to know you’ve earned the undying admiration of everyone in my life this week.”

  She drops her head onto my shoulder. “I would much rather have earned it the old-fashioned way.”

  “And how would that be?”

  “By loving you the way you deserve to be loved for the rest of my life.”

  And that, right there, is why there’ll be no prenup ahead of this wedding. “You know what we haven’t done yet?”

  “What’s that?”

  “Properly celebrated our engagement.”

  “And how does one properly celebrate an engagement? I’ve never been engaged before, so I have no idea.”

  With her in my arms, I get up to head inside. “Come with me, love, and I’ll show you.”

  Flynn carries me into the house, past Fluff curled up in a ball on the sofa, and straight into the first-floor bedroom we’ve been using. He puts me down beside the bed.

  “Get naked, sweetheart.”

  Lifting his own T-shirt up and over his head, he watches me remove my top and shorts.

  His shorts fall into pile at his feet, and he reaches for me.

  “Wait, I’m not done getting naked yet.”

  “I’ll do the good parts myself.” He quickly removes my bra and panties and then stands back to admire me, which invokes a full-body blush. “Mmm, look what I get to love for the rest of my life. The sexiest woman in the world.”

  I don’t know if I’d go that far, but he makes me feel as if it’s true by the way he touches and caresses me until I’m ready to beg him to move things along.

  With his hands on my ribs, he bends his head to kiss my neck. His lips are soft and gentle and utterly persuasive. I’d give him anything he wants as long as he doesn’t stop touching me. He’s promised me a lifetime of pleasure and love and laughter and all the amazing things we’ve found together, and I’m more than ready to collect.

  “Flynn…”

  “Hmm?”

  “I just want to say…” It’s hard to talk when he’s got my earlobe clamped between his teeth and my breasts in his hands.

  “What do you want to say, sweetheart?”

  “I’m so excited to marry you. To be with you. To have everything with you.”

  “I am, too. You’ve made me crave things I said I’d never want again.”

  “I want to make you happy.”

  “I’ve never been happier.”

  “I mean in here, too.” I gesture to the bed and then glance up at him to gauge his reaction.

  “You know how to fire me up, sweetheart.”

  “Teach me something new. Something we haven’t done before.”

  His low groan is followed by a devouring kiss.

  I loop my arms around his neck, pressing my body into his and opening my mouth to his tongue. His hands are everywhere, stroking me into a frenzy of need. And then he’s lifting me, his hands on my bottom.

  With my legs wrapped around his hips and his tongue invading my mouth, I lose all sense of time and space and anything other than what’s happening right here and now with the love of my life.

  He breaks the kiss, his breathing heavy and labored. “You want something new?”

  I nod. “I want to know everything. Teach me.”

  “You’re officially killing me. You’re so fucking sweet.”

  I should hate when he’s crude, but I don’t. I love it. I love everything he says and does.

  He seats me on the bed. “Turn around.”

  I move tentatively to turn so my back is to him. “Like this?”

  “Uh-huh. Now slide your butt forward and lie back, so your head is hanging off the bed.”

  Thought I can’t quite figure out what he’s got planned, I move into the position he’s requested.


  He bends over me to tug my nipple into the heat of his mouth.

  I run my hands up his legs, needing to touch him while he drives me mad with the slow, steady tug of his lips on my nipples.

  “Open your mouth,” he says, his voice a hoarse rasp.

  When I comply with his request, he takes himself in hand and sinks into my open mouth in small increments. In this position I can take more of him than I have before.

  “Easy, baby, nice and easy. Take as much of me as you can.”

  My lips sting from stretching around his wide shaft. I stroke him with my tongue, making him gasp.

  “God, yes, Nat… Just like that. If you need to stop, just pat my leg.” He takes my hand and raises it to his leg to demonstrate. “Right there. Like that. Okay?”

  I pat his leg to tell him I understand. I’m so caught up in trying to take more of him that I barely notice when he bends over me, puts his hands under my thighs and pulls my legs up and apart. Only when he opens me to his tongue do I understand his intentions.

  How am I supposed to concentrate on breathing and taking him deeper into my mouth and throat when he’s doing that to me? God, it’s amazing. I raise my hips, wanting more. His fingers slide through the flood of dampness between my legs, stroking into me and back out as he begins to move his hips, ever so slightly, withdrawing from my mouth and then returning.

  I lash him with my tongue, which makes him tremble. Then I reach up to touch his balls and feel him get harder and wider in my mouth.

  His tongue is relentless against my clit, his fingers stroking in and out of me. Then one of them is pressed against my back entrance, demanding entry. I’m on sensory overload, the orgasm that’s been brewing breaks free, and I’m thrashing under the weight of him, my moans against his shaft making him cry out.

  I come down from the incredible high to his finger fully seated in my ass and his tongue stroking my clit.

  When my body finally stops contracting, he withdraws his finger, stands upright and slides his penis out of my mouth. It’s shiny from my saliva and so hard it’s standing up straight against his belly button as he reaches for a condom. I’m still rippling and throbbing with the aftereffects of my release when he climbs onto the bed, gathers me up against him and slams into me, triggering another orgasm. He’s so hard and so big, my body struggles to accommodate and adjust.

  “I love you so much, Nat. So fucking much.” His low growl against my ear is like an electrical current, setting of a new wave of desire that I feel in every part of my body. Gone is the cautious, tentative lover who’d worried about scaring me. In his place is Flynn Godfrey unleashed, and I love him this way. I love that I drove him to this by asking for something new. I love knowing he’s mine forever and no one else will ever know him the way I do.

  He drives deep into me and freezes, his head thrown back and his eyes closed. “I’ve never felt anything better than this, Nat. Ever.”

  “Me either.”

  “Do you love it? You really love it?”

  “I can’t get enough of you.”

  “God, you make me crazy when you say things like that.” He bends over me, takes my nipple into his mouth and reaches down to where we’re joined to stroke my clit.

  And just that fast, I feel the tension begin to build again. I squirm under him, trying to get him to move, but he won’t be coaxed. “Flynn…”

  “What, honey?”

  “I need you to move.”

  “I will.”

  “Now.”

  He’s smiling when he kisses me.

  I tug on his hair, hoping to get his attention so he’ll quit torturing me, but that only seems to make him harder inside me. Groaning, I close my eyes and try to breathe, wondering how it’s possible he can get any bigger than he already is. I feel like I’ve been impaled by him.

  “I’m not moving until you come again.”

  “I don’t know if I can again.”

  “Then it’s going to be a long night.”

  “Flynn…”

  He pushes his hips against me, setting off waves of sensation that fall just short of a full-on release. “I can stay here all night.”

  “Help me. Make me come.”

  He lets loose with another of those low growls I love so much. “I love when you say shit like that.”

  “I can tell. You just got even bigger.”

  Hooking his arms under my legs, he opens me wider and slides in deeper. Then he bends over me and draws on my nipple, clamping down on it with his teeth. I discover a direct connection between my nipple and the place where we’re joined. I explode. I absolutely detonate. I come so hard that I scream from the sheer pleasure that rocks through me.

  He releases my legs and starts to move again, until he’s coming, too. Pressing into me repeatedly until he lands on top of me, big and heavy and sweaty and all mine.

  “You wiped me out,” he says after a long period of silence.

  “You demolished me.”

  “What do you think of engaged sex?”

  “I’m a little afraid of what married sex might entail.”

  He raises his head and smiles down at me. “You’ll find out soon enough.”

  “I can’t wait.”

  Chapter 10

  Early on Monday morning, Flynn drives me into town for my appointment. I told him I’m too nervous about seeing a doctor to drive, and thankfully he didn’t push me. Despite the travel mug of coffee he made for me, I can’t stop yawning. We were up really late “celebrating” some more and then the alarm went off super early so I’d have time to shower and mentally prepare for this appointment.

  We spent the whole day in bed yesterday, getting up only to shower and eat before going back for more. So in addition to being tired, I’m rather sore, too, which has me dreading the appointment that much more. I can’t even think about our exciting plans for later until the trip to the doctor is completed.

  “You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to,” he says. “I know it’s traumatic for you, and I hate the idea of you doing something for me that makes you so stressed out.”

  “It’s not just for you. It’s for me, too. It’ll give us the kind of freedom all newlyweds should have.”

  He shifts in his seat as if he’s uncomfortable or something.

  I glance down to notice he’s hard. “That’s all it takes?” I ask with a laugh.

  “All you have to do is look at me, and I’m hard. But when you talk about our sexual freedom… Well, I’m only human.”

  “I’m surprised you didn’t wear him out completely yesterday.”

  “He’s amazingly resilient. Can’t keep a good man down.”

  I’m giggling madly by now as I engage in verbal foreplay for the first time in my life—and quickly realize I’m dealing with a master.

  He brings our joined hands to his lips and nibbles on my fingers. “Yesterday was so much fun.”

  “Yes, it was.”

  “Tonight will be even more so.”

  “I can’t imagine more.”

  He has nothing to say to that, which leads me to wonder what he’s imagining. I know I’m a neophyte at all things sex, but I kept up with him pretty well until we finally fell asleep around four a.m. I worry about keeping him happy in bed. Will I be enough for him for the rest of our lives? God, I hope so. If he ever cheats on me, I’ll die.

  My stomach aches when I recall the story he told me about infidelity on both sides when his marriage ended. He said then that giving his now ex-wife a taste of her own medicine hadn’t been his finest hour.

  “What’s going on over there?”

  I force a smile for him. “Nothing. Doctor jitters.”

  “Are you sure that’s all it is?”

  “Yeah.” I tell him what he needs to hear, but the worries weigh on me and stay with me when we go into a big brick building. The office staff greets us with utmost professionalism, even if they stare at Flynn like starstruck girls. We’ve agreed that I should remove my ri
ng while we’re there, so the news of our engagement doesn’t leak before we’re prepared to go public. My hand already feels naked without the gorgeous ring I’ve zipped into a pocket in my purse.

  After I complete a medical history form, get weighed and have my blood pressure taken, I’m shown to a room and asked to take a seat. The doctor will be in momentarily.

  I sit in one of the chairs, and Flynn sits next to me, holding my hand.

  Thankfully, she doesn’t make us wait long. A knock on the door precedes the doctor entering the room. She is younger than I expected her to be, a true Southern California girl with blonde hair and blue eyes.

  “It’s so nice to meet you both,” she says, shaking our hands.

  “Doc,” Flynn says, “you and the rest of the world know what Natalie’s been through in the past, but you should also be aware that this is the first time she’s been to a doctor since the night of her rape exam. She’s extremely nervous, which is why she asked me to be here.”

  “Of course, I completely understand. Natalie, what brings you here today, other than the fact that you’re long overdue for an exam?”

  “I… I’m interested in birth control.”

  “Is this your first sexual relationship?”

  I nod. “Yes.”

  “And you’ve been using protection?”

  “We have,” he says for me.

  “Okay, that’s good to know.” She asks about my periods and if I’ve had any health issues, which, thankfully, I haven’t. “All right, then.” She retrieves a gown from a cabinet and places it on the table. “We’ll need everything off, okay?”

  Though I’m already trembling, I nod and she heads for the door. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

  For a long time after she leaves the room, I stare at the gown, remembering the last time I wore one as a broken, traumatized girl. The sight of a doctor’s gown takes me right back to that long-ago night.

  “Sweetheart?”

  I almost forgot he’s there.

  “The table, the gown… Brings it all back.”

  “Let’s not do this, Nat. Not today anyway.”