AllFreeNovel
Share Us
other than the fact that she was probably only minutes away from shoving Trevor aside and lunging for that toilet.
“Well?” she asked when he didn’t say anything else.
“Give me a minute,” he said tightly, sounding like he was struggling not to make a lunge of his own. Since she probably wouldn’t be able to hold back if she heard him lose it, she decided that it would probably be for the best if they sat there in complete silence for a few minutes and enjoy the peaceful sounds of air slowly blowing through the air ducts, filling the room with fresh air, which was probably why she hadn’t lost it yet.
“Okay,” he finally said only to pause once again to take a deep breath before he continued, “according to Bradford lore-”
“Bradford lore,” she interrupted him in a teasing tone that he simply ignored.
“According to Bradford lore,” he said stressing the last part, and she didn’t need to open her eyes to know that he was probably glaring at her, “it’s bad luck to take your honeymoon before the first anniversary.”
“Bad luck how?” she asked, mostly to keep him talking so that she could focus on his voice, amazed at just how much the sound of his voice was able to soothe her.
“Because everything goes to hell.”
Chapter 10
“Uh….huh…,” Zoe said slowly in a way that told him exactly what she thought of his little announcement. “And what exactly does that mean?”
He closed his eyes with a soft groan and dropped his head against the door. “It means exactly what it sounds like.”
“It sounds like Bradford bullshit,” she said matter-of-factly, making him chuckle despite the fact that the slight motion of the boat made him want to curl up and die.
Christ, why did the boat have to rock so fucking much?
He chuckled weakly as he tightened his hold around her. “That’s what I thought too,” he said with a shrug before he admitted with a touch of embarrassment, “At least that’s what I hoped it was.”
“Feel like explaining exactly what that means so that I can properly mock you?” she asked in that teasing tone that he loved so damn much.
He felt his lips twitch even as his stomach lurched, threatening to put an end to this conversation before it even had a chance to start. He took a deep breath, wishing like hell that he’d listened to Jason and put this off until after they’d hit the one-year mark. If he had, they could be home right now, curled up in their bed, making love before grabbing a late snack and making love again.
Instead, they were stuck here on this godforsaken boat, stuck in this fucking bathroom without their anti-nausea medication and talking about something that he’d always hoped was bullshit. Christ, if he’d married anyone else, he wouldn’t have given a flying fuck about making sure that giving her the perfect honeymoon. He would have just given her a wedding night and kept putting her off until after the one year mark, because he couldn’t possibly imagine going through this kind of bullshit for anyone else.
“Apparently,” he started to say, and he really didn’t know why he was telling her this, “the men in my family have been cursed to fuck up for two hundred years or so. I’m not really sure when this started, but what I do know is that every Bradford that brought their wife on a honeymoon before the first anniversary always regretted it.”
“And you regret taking me?” she asked, merely sounding curious when any other woman would probably be crying prettily and demanding that he make it up to her with declarations of love and promises to make it up to her, but not Zoe…
“Yes,” he admitted, refusing to lie to his wife, even about this.
“Because…” she prompted, making him smile despite the fact that the damn boat wouldn’t stop rocking.
“You deserve better than a honeymoon where you’re forced to take care of me, because I had no fucking clue that I get seasick. You also deserved to wait until after you had the babies so that you could enjoy your first real vacation,” he admitted with a slight shake of his head until the movement threatened to unman him, “you deserved better than this.”
She chuckled weakly as she leaned against him. “I have no complaints.”
Sadly, he didn’t think she did either, which pissed him off more. She’d never had much, so she’d never expected much and he certainly fucking succeeded in making sure that trend had continued, he thought, feeling sick, which had absolutely nothing to do with the boat and everything to do with the fact that he’d failed his wife.
She was his now, his responsibly, and his job to make sure that she finally had the life that she deserved. He should have done things right from the beginning, should have taken her out, worked his ass off to win her heart instead of pretending that the only thing that he wanted from her was sex when it had been more than obvious that he’d wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.
He couldn’t go back and make this right, but he could make it up to her. He would spend the rest of his life making this up to her, but first he needed to get her out of this damn bathroom and get her medication so that she could at least enjoy what was left of their trip.
“I want a do-over,” he said, opening his eyes and forcing himself to stand up when all he wanted to do was to curl up with his wife on the floor and wait for the goddamn rocking to stop.
“A do-over?” she asked slowly from where she sat on the floor.
“Mmmhmm, a do-over,” he agreed, managing a tight nod as he placed his hands against the door and pushed with everything that he had, but the damn door wouldn’t budge.
“What exactly is a do-over?” Zoe asked, pushing to her feet only to crawl back to the large shower, turn the hot water back on and settle limply in the corner with a mumbled, “Better, much better.”
“Exactly what it sounds like,” he said absently as he grabbed the handle and tried to open the door, but the damn thing wouldn’t budge. After a few more tries he considered banging on the door and yelling for help, but common sense told him that it was pointless.
So instead, he turned around, pressed his hand against his stomach and shuffled his way over to the shower where his wife was, praying that he’d make it without embarrassing himself. As soon as he reached the shower, he sat down, pressed his back against the wall and nearly groaned with releif when the hot water hit him.
“Better?” Zoe asked as she carefully shifted until she was sitting between his legs and leaning back against him. As soon as her warm, soft back pressed against his stomach he moaned with pleasure.
Christ, that felt good.
“God, yes,” he said, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her closer as he closed his eyes and simply savored the woman in his arms and the hot water pouring down on them, helping them relax and somewhat settling their stomachs. He didn’t have to open his eyes to look down to know that she was smiling.
He just knew.
“I don’t want a different honeymoon,” she said, snuggling back against him, shifting his arms and in the process rubbing her large, wet breasts against his arms and making him wish like hell that they weren’t both sick to their stomachs, because she felt so fucking good in his arms.
“Too bad,” he said, leaning down to press a kiss against her bare shoulder, “you’re getting one.”
“I don’t get a say in this?” she asked, running her finger through the drops of water rolling down his arms.
“No, you don’t,” he said, kissing the top of her head before he tilted his head back against the shower wall so that Zoe could lay her head against his chest and get more comfortable.
“I see,” she murmured sleepily as she settled back against him.
“After the babies are born, which I’m naming by the way,” he decided to remind her for the sake of their unborn children, “and you feel comfortable being away from them for a few nights, we’re going to do this again.”
“Another cruise?” she asked, trying to sound casual, but he wasn’t buying it.
“We can go on another cruise,”
he said, chuckling when she shifted anxiously against him, trying to hide how excited she was about the prospect of going on another cruise.
“I suppose we could do that,” she said, adding a little shrug that had him smiling. “If you think you can handle it, that is.”
“I’ll bring plenty of medicine next time. Don’t worry about it, sweetheart,” he promised her as he tightened his arms around her and sighed, savoring the hot water as he made a mental note to stash his anti-nausea medication in every room of their suite the next time.
“How long do you think it will be until they find us?” she asked after a few minutes of companionable silence.
It probably wouldn’t be until late morning, but he didn’t have the heart to tell her that, so instead, he simply kissed the top of her head and held her closer as he imagined that they were somewhere else, preferably somewhere that wasn’t constantly rocking back and forth…back and forth…back and-
“Oh, fuck,” he managed to get out before he was forced to carefully set his wife aside and added a whole new level of fucked up to their honeymoon.
