“Well, I don’t. Get your damn hands off.” Ripley smirks and slides his hand higher up his wife’s thigh.
“Daddy, not too much on my husband, now,” Eden warns. “And husband, stop torturing my daddy.”
“Dandy, you want to dance with your old man? I taught you and your friends how to Dougie.” He starts to dance, and Rip rolls his eyes.
“I already told you. I’m your daddy now. But go ahead.” Ripley finally lifts his arm up. “This lap will be here waiting for you when you’re done.”
Sheriff Rose gives Rip a good dose of stink eye before he leads his daughter away.
“I should have killed him a decade ago,” Rip mutters.
“Well, you’re stuck with his ass now.”
“And you’re stuck with the good mayor.” Ripley practically snorts. “Fucking user.” He looks across the room and frowns at the mayor, who is chatting with his wife and Selene’s parents.
“My in-laws and I are just fine.” Something doesn’t sit right with how easy it was for Lamb to force his daughter’s hand to marry me.
“I bet.” King’s words hold a tinge of judgment. He looks across the room, and I follow his line of vision. Devin is talking to a pretty woman. He says something, and she blushes. “Good luck with that one.”
“I can handle him and everyone else in that family.”
King does a half-smile, half-smirk.
“Let me give you some advice.” He stands to his full height, and I hate that he’s taller than me.
“What the hell kind of advice can you give me?” I don’t say it, but he’s been alone mostly all his life. I met him after he aged out of foster care. He’s the very definition of a loner. The only person he can stand is his wife.
He looks around the room and spots his wife dancing with both her parents.
“You can’t control her family or how they interact.”
“Youhandled the sheriff.”
“If you think you can, you’re a fool. And you see her dumb ass brother over there?” He tilts his head, and the fool is now whispering in the woman’s ear. “From what I’ve heard, he’s always been an entitled little dickhead with a mean streak. Youbetter hope he doesn’t know that you used him to get your wife. If he’s anything like his father, he’ll find the perfect opportunity to tell her, and you’re fucked. I also hear he’s kind of an idiot. Good luck handling an entitled idiot, Hunt.” He takes a step and stops. “And the sheriff’s a lot of things, but he’s not dumb. You don’t have that luxury with your new brother.”
I check my watch. I'm ready to call it a night and be alone with my wife, but she’s having fun on the dance floor with her friends and my mom. Bad Girl by Usher comes on, and all the women take turns dancing in the middle of a makeshift circle.
When it’s Cori’s turn, I join her, pull her back into my chest, and rub myself on her ass. When the song ends, I pick her up bridal-style and carry her out to the cheers of our guests.
There’s a car waiting for us, and after setting her inside, I get behind the wheel and drive her home to the house I took her to after we got engaged. There’s nowhere else I’d want to spend our first night as man and wife.
About half an hour later, after showering in one of the guest rooms, I wait for her, alongside a bottle of champagne and a platter of fresh strawberries.
I’m in nothing but a pair of black pajama pants and no shirt. My dick is already hard at the anticipation of tonight.
I knew almost from the beginning that I wanted her. I approached it scientifically at first—cataloging every habit, mapping her movements, watching how her family moved so I could slip into the gaps.
Learning their rhythms was like tracing a vein to the heart of what I wanted; knowing her father’s flaws and weaknesses, I found the door I needed. It worked. Taking over the businesswas part of the plan, just like amassing influence and wealth while I lived in plain sight. I smiled at the right people, bought loyalty when needed, and traded favors when necessary.
Money filled my pockets, but I was hollow inside. There was an emptiness that things could not fill. That feeling was so familiar that I thought it was a part of me until I noticed her watching. From that moment, a quiet fascination that felt like a spark grew. After that weekend, there was no mistaking it. She was what I needed to fill that emptiness that lived inside of me.
I did what I’ve always done in the past. I hunted her, and when she was in my grasp, I pulled the lever, and she’s now my wife.
Everything I’ve wanted, I’ve gotten, but there’s a certain thrill in getting Corine Lamb. There were moments I didn’t think it would work, but I was wrong. She’s here now. She’s mine. She’s angry, but it’s my job to show her that will to do right by her.
The door to the adjoining bathroom opens, and I turn my back to pour the champagne. I hold up two flutes and face my wife. I almost drop both of them.
She’s not in the sexy, white lace nightie I had delivered to her this morning. She’s in an old, faded blue house dress. It’s the kind with snap buttons that my mother wears around the house while cooking.
