The Rocker Who Cherishes Me
The other women laughed and then one by one kissed my cheek. “It’s show time,” Emmie told me as she stepped back and opened the door to the make-shift dressing room everyone had used earlier in the day to get ready for my Wizard of Oz experience.
When the door opened, my brother, now free of his Tin Man outfit and paint free, stood there waiting for us in a tux. When he saw me, his eyes began to glimmer with what couldn’t have been mistaken for anything but tears. I walked into the arms he opened and hugged Liam. “You look good,” I told him.
“You look beautiful,” he said and pressed a kiss to my brow and offered me his arm just as he had earlier. Only this time we both knew he was leading me off for the last time. I was getting married. I was really getting married.
With more tears threatening to spill from my aching eyes, we followed the others out to the gates of Emerald City. With a smile the five women stepped through the door, leaving Liam and me alone until our cue. A cue no one had bothered to explain to listen for. I shook my head, hoping that Liam would know what to expect.
“I’m really happy for you, Rissa. I know that Wroth has always been the one for you and I’m glad that you two are going to spend the rest of your lives together.” He smiled down at me a little sadly. “But no matter what, you will always be my little sister. Okay? If you need anything, you only have to say the word and it’s yours.”
“Thanks, Li. But right now I have everything I will ever want or need.”
He nodded. “Yeah, Ris. I know.” The first strings of violin had his head snapping up and he gave a small grimace before reaching for the door to the gate. “That’s us.”
We walked through the door and I saw that the chairs had been rearranged in front of the arbor so that I now had an aisle to walk up. As we got to the back of the aisle, Liam stopped and my favorite song softly filled the air. I frowned when I saw the little Italian rocker standing just off to the side of the arbor singing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” I chanced a glance at Liam and he just shook his head.
“She was the perfect person to sing this song for you, Ris. Even Emmie knew that. Which was why she made the call.” I opened my mouth to ask him how he felt about this, but he shook his head again. “This is your day, Rissa. Whatever makes it perfect is all that matters to me.”
“All I needed to make this perfect was for Wroth to be the one waiting with the minister and you giving me away. The rest is immaterial.” I leaned on tiptoes to kiss his cheek, having taken off the heels and replacing them with slippers instead. “But thank you, Li.”
My brother cleared his throat, as if he were choked up, tightened his hold on my hand as he tucked it under his arm and took that first step that lead to my future. Finally, I let my gaze go to Wroth and my next breath got trapped in my throat as I took in the man who was about to become my husband. He wasn’t wearing a tux, but his formal marines uniform. It had been years since I’d seen him wear that uniform but it still had the power to make me breathless from just looking at him.
It took every ounce of willpower I still possessed to keep from rushing up the aisle and throwing myself into his arms. His smile told me that he was having the same problem.
Wroth
I couldn’t speak. The words that I was supposed to repeat were lodged in my throat and refused to come out. Oh fuck. Oh. Fuck. I swallowed hard, trying to get through the lump that had clogged my throat the moment I’d seen Marissa standing at the end of the aisle in her wedding dress with her brother standing beside her.
There had never been a more beautiful sight than my girl standing there in white as she walked toward me. The smile on her face had been breathtaking and I’d yet to regain mine.
And I couldn’t get the words out.
I could feel the panic bubbling up. She was going to think I didn’t want to marry her. Oh. Fuck…
Soft fingers cupped my face and I blinked down into those blue eyes that fucking owned me. She smiled softly, lovingly, I could suddenly breathe, could swallow the lump in my throat and I cleared my throat as I repeated the vows that would bind Marissa and me together for eternity. With the last words, I slipped my ring onto her finger next to her engagement ring and let out a relieved breath.
Then it was her turn, and she swallowed hard a few times before she was able to get the words out as she placed the matching wedding band I’d chosen for us on my finger. A tear spilled down her cheek as she pushed the ring into place and stared down at it as if she were dazed.
I couldn’t blame her. This all seemed pretty surreal to me as well. I finally had everything I’d ever wanted, ever dreamed of, standing right in front of me. I’d always been so sure that I’d never been good enough to have this, but here we were, having a man of God pronouncing to the world that we were husband and wife.
There was a roar behind us as everyone stood, clapping and whooping as they called out congratulations and best wishes. I glanced at them for a second before grabbing Marissa’s waist and pulling her against me. My gaze went to those luscious lips that were every man’s fantasy and my body responded accordingly, instantly hardening and pulsing against her soft stomach as I lowered my head and captured her lips in a kiss that sealed our fate.
I only tasted her for a moment, knowing that now that she was finally my wife I wouldn’t be able to control myself as I had been able to do in the past. Now there wasn’t anything to keep me from taking what had always been mine. As if she were thinking the same thing, her fingers thrust into my hair to hold me in place for a little longer, her tongue coming out to skim over my bottom lip before she pulled back enough to meet my gaze. “Are you mine, Wroth?”
“Then. Now. Forever,” I pledged.
“I think I know what I want for my first tattoo,” she surprised me by saying and I threw my head back and laughed in a way that made my soul sing.
“We’ll both get it, okay?” I told her and lowered my head to kiss her again.
Everyone was ready to party afterwards but I had other plans. While our friends all got into the vans that had brought us to the warehouse, I bundled Marissa into the back of the limo that had driven her. There wasn’t time for a honeymoon but we had two full nights to ourselves before we had to meet up with the tour again. And later, when this fucking tour was over, I would take my girl—my wife—on an actual honeymoon wherever she wanted to go.
It took thirty minutes to get to the Hilton and I was thankful for efficient staff as they quickly checked us in. Our bags had already been sent ahead and were waiting for us when I opened the door to our suite and carried Marissa over the threshold. She giggled as I stepped inside and kicked the door shut with my foot before tossing her on the bed.
“Wroth!” she squealed when I bounced on top of her and started to tear the dress from her. “Don’t tear my dress.”
“Sweetheart, I will buy you twenty of them. Just hush and let me get you naked, okay? I’m dying here, girl.” I captured her lips when she started to protest again. I pulled back when I felt the dress rip and gave a satisfied shout as the dress split open down the front. Pushing the material away, I uncovered a sight that would have brought me to my knees if I had been standing.
In white silk panties and matching bra, Marissa looked like a goddess lying beneath me. My entire body began to shake as I attempted to hold my desperate need for her in check. Marissa grinned up at me knowingly, her own body trembling as she lifted her hands and linked her arms around my neck. “I love you, Wroth.”
“Love you, too,” I got out in a tight rumble as I lowered my head and kissed her.
Marissa
The feel of his hands on my breasts over my bra felt so good. The feel of his hot body through the layers of his uniform was a sweet madness as his dick flexed against my lower stomach. I squirmed against him, seeking a closer connection to that one part of his body that I knew would send me shooting toward the stars.
Calloused fingers tore my bra away just as he had the material of my wedding dress and then those
big, rough hands were cupping, pinching, tugging. And I was moaning, crying out his name as my need for him heightened. His lips trailed down my neck and over my chest until he was swallowing one breast almost whole. My back arched off the bed as I sought a deeper connection. “Wroth, please.”
“Hush, sweetheart. I’m trying to make this good for you. I don’t want to hurt you.” He moved from one breast to the other, showing it the same attention he had its twin. “Damn, you taste so good.”
While his mouth devoured my pulsing nipple, his hands traveled lower, tearing away my panties as if they were nothing more than tissue paper. I moaned when his fingers found my damp folds and spread the lips of my sex. His thumb rubbed over the little nub that was my clit and then lower, where he rimmed the entrance to my body.
With a growl, he lifted his head. “You’re soaking wet, Marissa. I can’t wait to be inside of you here.” He thrust a finger inside, deep and hard until he was met with the resistance of my virginity. My hips bucked in pleasure, seeking more. Pulling his finger free, he sucked the digit into his mouth, making a groaning rumbly sound in approval at the taste of my need for him.
Before I could beg him for more, he was shifting and replacing his fingers with his mouth and tongue. I gripped the covers underneath me, trying to hold onto my sanity as he licked me from my entrance and upward. When he reached my clit, he sucked it roughly into his mouth, thrusting a finger into my tight channel, and I came apart with his name leaving my lips on a scream of pure unchecked passion.
I wasn’t sure how long it took before I realized that I was actually alive and he hadn’t in fact killed me with pleasure. When I opened my eyes, he was watching me closely, a dark passion shining at me from those espresso eyes. Wroth had his long, thick dick in his hands as he stroked himself up and down. I’d never seen anything as sexy as the man before me. With a moan, I spread my thighs welcomingly, my need building all over again for him.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” he assured me in a voice deeper and rougher than any I’d ever heard leave his mouth before. If there had ever been a man who was more beast than human it would have been my delicious husband. “If I do, just say the word and I’ll try to stop. Okay?” He was still taking care of me, even now when he looked like he would die if he didn’t take me. I didn’t think it was possible to love him more than I already did, but in that moment my love grew until it was an ache in my chest.
Licking my lips, I nodded, knowing that even if he did hurt me there was no way I was going to tell him to stop. No way. Carefully, Wroth moved over me, guiding his pulsing dick to my entrance. The tip slid in, stretching me deliciously. I moaned. He’d done that a few times before in the past, and it had always felt so good that I couldn’t help but come within minutes. His hips thrust forward just a little and another inch entered me and I moaned his name in approval of how good he felt inside of me.
Wroth rocked back, leaving me completely before entering me again and sinking just a little deeper. Sweat beaded on his brow and rolled down his face as he pulled out again. Moaning, I matched his thrust when he entered me again, the tip of his dick brushing over my hymen. I knew that with the next thrust he would break through it and breathed in deeply when he thrust forward again. There was a sharp pain and I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from crying out. My legs wrapped around his waist to hold him deep inside and I held on tight as my body slowly began to adjust to him.
Wroth lifted his head. “Okay?”
“Better than okay,” I assured him as pleasure began to replace the brief pain. I lifted my hips and rubbed against him, grinning in delight when he flexed inside of me. His lids lowered, masking his own desperate need. “Make love to me now, Wroth. You feel so good, honey. I need you so bad.”
Wroth growled my name and covered my lips with his as he set a pace that soon had us both touching the stars.
Epilogue
Marissa
“Okay, Mrs. Niall. Just a few more minutes and we’ll be all set.”
I smiled nervously at the nurse as she stood by my head. “Okay,” I whispered as I took a few deep breaths to calm my anxiety despite there being tubes sticking in my nose to give me oxygen since I was lying flat on my back.
Wroth rubbed his fingers over my cheek and leaned over to kiss me. “It’s okay. You’re going to be okay,” he kept repeating and I knew he was trying to convince himself more than he was trying to soothe me.
I gave him as bright a smile as I could manage right then, feeling the pressure on my stomach as the three different doctors stood on the other side of the sheet tent. This was it. We were about to be parents. It had only taken three years and two attempts of implanting my harvested eggs mixed with Wroth’s impressive swimmers into me through IVF. The first attempt had resulted in none of the embryos taking but the second had been more than successful. So much so that I’d had to be monitored constantly throughout my very rough pregnancy.
When we had first gone through IVF, the doctors had warned that there was a chance that I wouldn’t get pregnant just as there was a chance that I could just as easily get pregnant with multiples. Three embryos had taken this time round, and then one had split, producing identical twins. When we’d gone for our first ultrasound and the tech had found four heartbeats, Wroth had nearly fallen out of his seat. He hadn’t been the only one startled by the announcement. Our last IVF had been our last shot and I’d known that no matter how many babies we ended up having, they would be our only children. So to discover that we were having four—four little babies—at the same time, I’d been both scared and delighted.
My fear had overridden my delight though when I’d been put on bed rest in my second trimester because the babies were growing at an outrageous rate and too much activity could have easily put me into premature labor. The horror stories of Layla’s ordeal with her twins had kept me in bed and scared to so much as sneeze wrong.
Wroth had gone an extra step and hired a nurse to take care of me. Thank God it had been Dallas because I wasn’t sure if I would have been able to handle a complete stranger bossing me around like Dallas had done over the last five months. She and Axton, along with their two beautiful kids, had moved into our house on the farm and things had gone pretty smoothly for the most part.
Somehow, by some miracle, I’d actually made it to the thirty-six week milestone without very many more complications and now the doctors thought it was safe to take them. I’d been admitted into the hospital last night and at five thirty this morning the anesthesiologist had come in to prep me for my epidural. Now, we were just minutes away from meeting the rest of our family.
Wroth’s hand trembled and I linked our fingers together, offering him the strength he had been giving me since we had decided to start trying for a child of our own. “I love you. Then. Now. Forever,” repeating the words that he said to me almost hourly. The same words that we had had inked into our wrists just days after we’d gotten married.
“Then. Now. Forever,” he murmured and kissed my lips again.
“You’re going to feel a lot of pressure, Marissa.” The obstetrician spoke up and I gasped when the pressure he had mentioned left me breathless. It wasn’t necessarily painful, but it was scary and a tear leaked from my eyes as I gripped Wroth’s hand harder.
“Mari?” Wroth clutched my hand harder and I tried to give him a brave smile as suddenly the pressure was gone and the sound of a screaming baby filled the air. Wroth’s head snapped up at the sound of our child crying. When he looked back down at me, he had tears in his espresso eyes. “Mari…”
“We have a boy,” the doctor announced and then the pressure started up again as he moved things around inside of me and pulled out another baby. “Say hello to boy number two.” Wroth’s hold on my hand was nearly to the point that I worried about the bones in my fingers snapping but I just laughed happily as the pressure came again followed by the announcement of yet another son.
The room was full of three screaming little baby boys
and they each had their own doctor and nurse working with them as they were checked over and cleaned up. But the doctor wasn’t done with me yet and I bit my lip as I waited for the doctors to take the fourth and final baby.
“Okay, here comes baby number four.” The doctor called to the last waiting team. “Get ready.” The pressure was ten times as bad this time as it had been the first time and I cried out in fear as my screaming child was pulled from my body.
“Well, look what we have here,” the doctor said and I froze, scared that something was wrong with my baby.
Wroth stood, even though he’d been told repeatedly to keep on the other side of the tent. When he turned pale I thought it was because something terrible was wrong with our son. One moment he was standing there, his eyes looking almost tortured as he gazed over the tent, and the next he was on the floor, his head bouncing off the chair he’d just been sitting in.
“Wroth!” I screamed just as I heard the doctor give an exasperated sigh. I started to cry. “What’s wrong with him? What’s wrong with my son?” I demanded. It had to be something bad, why else would Wroth have passed out?
“Nothing,” the doctor assured me as a nurse appeared beside my bed and bent to wave something under Wroth’s nose. “Except for the lack of a penis, that is. You have a daughter, Marissa. But I’m not so sure that’s why your husband passed out. Probably all the gore on this side of the tent.” He chuckled and stepped around the tent to show me the screaming, squirming, very angry little girl in his hands. “Say hello to your momma, little princess.”
If I hadn’t seen the evidence, or rather the lack of evidence, that I really did have a daughter, I wouldn’t have believed the doctor. For months now I’d been told repeatedly that I was carrying four boys, two of which were identical. There had been no sign of a girl anywhere. But here she was and as I gazed at her through my tears, I could honestly say that I had never seen a more beautiful baby girl in my life.