“Being pregnant makes me horny. Plus Cord looks so damn good in that suit I just wanted him right then and—”

  “And my brother just obliged you? During my wedding reception?”

  She shrugged. “Hormones and lust are beyond my control, Keely, when it comes to my husband. And he’s always up to the challenge of taking care of my every need.” AJ smoothed her hands over the bulging front of her bridesmaid’s dress and frowned. “Good Lord. How Cord still wants me and sees me as sexy when I look like a beached whale is a miracle.” She caught Keely’s gaze. “Anyway, let’s get you outta that wedding dress and into your traveling clothes.”

  Keely stood in front of the antique boudoir mirror, fussing with the lace panel on the bodice as AJ began unhooking the hundred or so buttons running down the back of her dress. “Do you know where Jack is taking me for our honeymoon?”

  “Yep.”

  Her mouth dropped open. “How’d you get him to tell you?”

  “I volunteered to keep his car hidden so none of your overzealous relatives would decorate it with soap, shaving cream, tin cans and toilet paper,” she said smugly. “That’s what we were just talking about. Where I stashed it.”

  AJ played dirty, knowing how much Jack babied that car. But Keely had a trump card. “So, BFF, seeing you and Cord going at it like teenagers just proves how little alone time you two get these days with two point three kids, so I’ll make you an offer—I’ll baby-sit the boys every Saturday night for a month if you tell me where Jack is whisking me off to.”

  “No deal. If Jack finds out I blabbed… Well, he is much scarier than you, Keels.”

  The door opened.

  Speak of the devil… Jack sauntered in, and once again Keely marveled at how dangerously sexy he looked in his black tux. Plus, he was sporting that wicked get naked grin that always caused her body to pulse with anticipation.

  “Jack, you’re not supposed to be in here,” AJ said.

  “I need to talk to my wife.”

  “It can wait.”

  “No, it can’t.”

  “My job as her matron of honor is to help her out of her wedding dress,” AJ reminded him.

  Keely met Jack’s eyes in the mirror. “Jack is very good at getting my clothes off, aren’t you?”

  “Dare I say…I’m an expert at it?”

  AJ muttered, “And…that’s my cue to leave.”

  “Lock the door and don’t tell anyone where we are for at least ten minutes,” Keely said as AJ fled the room.

  Her body stayed perfectly still as Jack sidled in behind her.

  “Only ten minutes?” He pressed a soft, warm kiss to her nape. “I should be insulted.”

  “You could prove me wrong. I know firsthand that table over there is sturdy enough for whatever you’ve got in mind.”

  His eyes narrowed. “How do you know that firsthand?”

  Crap. “Only because I walked in on Cord and AJ havin’ a quickie.”

  “Ah. However, just to be clear, buttercup, there is no quickie in your immediate future.”

  “Then why are you in here?”

  He sighed. “All you want me for is sex. I feel so cheap.” His rough-skinned fingers traced the bare line of her spine down to where the buttons of her dress were undone.

  “I could make you feel used too,” she offered. She felt the fabric shift as Jack loosened her dress. Her skin beaded from his steady, gentle touch.

  “Thanks, but no. To answer your question, I’m here to give you news.”

  “Good or bad?”

  “Both. The bad news is I’m undressing you now. Otherwise, I won’t have a chance to see the very sexy wedding night lingerie you’ve been teasing me with all damn day.”

  Keely stared at his dark head reflected in the mirror. “Why’s that?”

  “Because as soon as you’re changed and done tossing the bouquet, we’ll be hopping in the car and driving to Denver. Our flight leaves at five a.m. So we won’t immediately have a wedding night, rolling around naked in bed, like you’ve been hinting at all damn day.”

  A whine arose but she squashed it. “So what’s the good news?”

  “I promise the wait will be worth it when we get to our honeymoon destination.”

  “Which is where?”

  His mouth grazed her ear as he continued working the buttons. “Tahiti.”

  She smiled. “Tahiti is good.”

  “Mmm. I thought you’d like that. Especially since we’ll have two weeks to roll around naked in our private villa. Or on our private beach.”

  She couldn’t freakin’ wait for two weeks alone with Jack. “What time will we get there?”

  “We fly from Denver to LA, and from LA to Papeete. Tahiti is a little off the grid, so it’ll take about fourteen hours. We should be there in time tomorrow night to see the sunset.” He kissed the side of her neck and murmured huskily, “That was the last button. Turn around and drop the dress, Keely.”

  Her blood heated. Her pulse spiked. Her body went wet and soft in places, tight and hard in others. Jack could fire her up in no time flat with mere words. But that didn’t mean she’d make it easy on him. Or that she wouldn’t use every feminine trick in the book to get him to recant his “no quickie in your immediate future” comment.

  Holding the bodice in place over her chest, she faced him.

  Jack wore the hooded expression that told her he was trying very hard to keep it together and keep his hands off her.

  Ooh. Snapping his control was gonna be so much fun.

  Keely loosely held the dress with her left hand, giving him the occasional glimpse of her cleavage, while her right hand began to remove the bobby pins maintaining her up ’do.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Lettin’ my hair down.” The pins hit the tile floor, one at a time, each with a soft ping. “You like it when I let loose, don’t you, Jack? And I’ve been coiled so tightly all day.”

  He said not a word, but his hands were clenched into fists at his sides. The muscles in his jaw jumped, as did the muscle in his pants.

  Heh heh.

  After the last pin freed her hair, she sighed as the tresses fell, knowing how Jack loved to wrap those loose waves around his hands as he fucked her. “Ah. I needed that. Now. Where were we?”

  “Goddammit, Keely—”

  “Oh, right, you asked me to drop the dress.” She released the heavy weight of the beaded bodice and it gradually slid down her upper torso, briefly clinging to her hips before she slipped it over her thighs to pool around her feet in a pile of satin, chiffon, and lace.

  Not that Jack noticed the crumpled state of her wedding dress. His gaze was firmly glued on her undergarments.

  Low-cut push-up bra edged in white lace?

  Check.

  Ass-molding boy shorts in white spandex also edged in lace?

  Check.

  Satin and lace garters holding up sheer white stockings?

  Check.

  White satin stiletto peep-toe pumps with delicate ankle straps?

  Check.

  Hungry, possessive look on Jack’s face?

  Check.

  Keely tiptoed over the heap of fabric and stopped, expecting Jack would rush her, pin her to the wall, and do all the raunchy things that were etched on his handsome face.

  But the stubborn man didn’t move.

  So she did. She twirled and gave him her backside, swinging her hair as she threw her arms above her head and gyrated her hips. Then she peered at him over her shoulder and murmured, “You like?”

  And…he was done for.

  Jack’s growl was her only warning before he was on her. Spinning her into his arms, smashing her mouth beneath his, kissing her frantically, one hand twisted in her hair, the other clamped on her butt.

  Keely wasn’t too far gone with lust not to release a little chuckle of superiority that Jack’s resistance had vanished so fast upon seeing her peep-show.

  He herded her until the backs of her thighs hit the table ledge. Without missing a beat, Jack lifted her, positioning himself between her legs, continuing to gift her with the soul kisses she craved.

  After he’d gotten her worked up to the point she writhed against him, he trailed his lips to her ear. “Such a cocktease you are, wife. You are going to pay for that little display. Later.”

  “Later? Not now?”

  “No.” Jack nuzzled her temple. Then his mouth followed the curve of her cheek to the corner of her smile. Keeping his eyes on hers, he lightly sank his teeth into her bottom lip before continuing the hot, wet, openmouthed kisses down the column of her throat.

  Keely moaned, tempted to let her head fall back, close her eyes and lose herself in the mind-boggling way this man made her feel. But she kept her eyes on Jack as he conducted his sensual blitz. When he looked at her, a hint of devilry glinting in his eyes, she shivered.

  “Cold?” he murmured as his tongue traced the lace band of her bra down the valley of her cleavage.

  “Yes. You should do the gentlemanly thing and take your clothes off to use your body heat to keep me warm.”

  He chuckled against the upper swell of her breast. But he didn’t dally. That oh-so-talented mouth progressed southward, slower than she liked, but chances were high they both had the same end point in mind.

  Finally.

  Keely’s breath stalled when his hands gripped the tops of her legs and spread her thighs wider. She squirmed when Jack’s tongue traced the McKay cattle brand tattooed on her hip.

  And she flat out whined when he retreated.

  “Better grow some patience, cowgirl. You’re going to need it.” He grabbed her right ankle, leisurely unbuckled the rhinestone strap and threw her shoe behind him.

  She laughed. The man surprised her on so many levels. She knew a lifetime wouldn’t be enough to learn everything that made him tick. “Jack. I love you.”

  “I know you do.”

  “Don’t you have something to say back to me?”

  “Yes.” He lifted her left ankle and removed that shoe in the same manner. He stepped just out of her reach and said huskily, “Unhook the stockings.”

  “But…” That wasn’t what she wanted to hear.

  “But what?”

  “But isn’t that your job?” she cooed. “Divesting me of all my apparel?”

  Jack shook his head, but his gaze remained on the satin bridal garter, centered mid-thigh, below the band of the stocking. “Unfasten them, but leave the stockings and the garters on.”

  Damn man was taking all the fun out of it…or was he? Keely crooked her finger. “I need to borrow your big, strong body to support myself so I don’t faint dead away with all the unbridled lust you bring out in me, husband.”

  He grinned. “Laying it on a little thick, aren’t you?” but he edged forward.

  Keely gently set her foot on his crotch. Not as unaffected as he projected; he was totally hard. “Talk about thick.” She smirked when he growled again, but she noticed he didn’t even attempt to move her foot.

  She popped the buttons, moving the bridal garter up over the top of the stretchy band of the stocking, and slid her stocking-clad foot up and down his erection before she switched sides.

  Once the stockings were loose, Jack leaned in and kissed her. A teasing brush of his lips. A fleeting nibble of his mouth on hers as his fingers inched up her thigh in a whisper-light touch across her trembling skin. When he reached the top of the stocking, he inserted his finger inside and slowly, slowly, slowly dragged it down the length of her leg.

  Keely’s whole body was quivering. Tingling even. And he hadn’t even started working his magic touch on all her other special tingly parts. “Jack—”

  Her protest disappeared in his intense kiss.

  Jack removed the other stocking with the same painstaking precision, with such drawn out eroticism, she whimpered.

  He laughed and dropped to his knees.

  Oh hell yeah. Now we’re talkin’.

  His mouth meandered up the inside of her thigh, the tantalizing touch of his hot breath, wet tongue, moist lips and the scrape of his five o’clock shadow was almost too much to bear. He latched onto the bridal garter with his teeth, snapped it once, and tugged it down her leg.

  Okay, this garter removal business was much better in private.

  One down, one to go.

  She expected he’d torment her mercilessly on the other leg before pressing his mouth to her damp panties and giving her what she really wanted.

  But Jack just tugged the other bridal garter off and rolled to his feet. “Done. Now get dressed so we can hit the road.”

  “That’s it?”

  “What? Were you expecting we’d go at it right here, right now?”

  “Uh, yeah. Wasn’t that the point?”

  “No. I’ll admit I was considering throwing you a bone after the striptease, but you were so cocksure I had no control—”

  “Throwing me a bone?” she repeated. “Are you tryin’ to piss me off, Jack?”

  His eyebrows rose. “On our wedding day? Not likely.”

  “Then why won’t you—”

  “Pin you down on the table or on the tile floor or against the wall and screw you blind?”

  “That’d work for me.”

  “Too bad, because it doesn’t work for me.”

  She frowned. “You’re goin’ all puritan on me now that we’re married?”

  “Hell no, but I don’t want fast and dirty the first time we make love as husband and wife, okay? I want to take my time with you. I want it slow.”

  Keely stared at him for a few seconds, thrown by his PC reference to sex. “My God, GQ, sometimes you are such a girl.”

  There. That oughta goad him into proving his masculinity. Right now.

  Probably twice.

  But he laughed—a bit meanly. “Nice try. But I will not fuck you until we’re alone, in a room with a huge bed, with the surf pounding in our ears and zero chance we’ll be interrupted by any of your two million family members.” He kissed her forehead. “And that, my sweet, sexy, horny wife, is a promise.”

  “Promises are meant to be broken.”

  “Not this one.”

  A challenge? She loved a challenge. Keely would do everything in her power to make him eat his words—preferably while he was eating her.

  Smirking, she tucked the garter in the front pocket of his tux jacket. “If you change your mind, all you’ve gotta do is wave the white garter and surrender to me.”

  “Not happening.”

  She shrugged. “We’ll see. Now scram so I can get dressed and we can get out of here.”

  Three hours later Jack was this goddamn close to saying fuck it, pulling off to the side of the road in nowhere Wyoming and fucking Keely until she couldn’t walk.

  It figured his ornery cowgirl couldn’t just sit back and accept that he wanted to wait. No, she’d decided to turn it into a game of make Jack sweat. Within ten miles of driving away from the wedding reception, she’d offered to give him a handjob.

  He’d declined.

  Then she’d offered to give him a blowjob.

  He’d declined.

  Then she’d asked if he minded if she took the edge off herself by masturbating.

  He minded. A lot. He said as much.

  But she’d just laughed, slipped her fingers beneath her sundress and proceeded to get herself off.

  Twice.

  God. If he didn’t have any willpower now, how was he supposed to survive the next eleven hours?

  “What are you thinking about?” she prompted.

  As if the vixen didn’t know. “How absolutely exquisite you looked today. How lucky I am. How happy I am that you married me.” Jack lifted her hand and kissed her knuckles. “What are you thinking about?” She opened her mouth and he warned, “Besides sex.”

  “I’ve actually been thinking about my dad’s wedding gift. It was a shock.” Her frown morphed into a sneaky smile that never boded well for him. “But then again, he did give us the section of land that’s closest to their house.”

  Jack groaned. “I knew there had to be a catch.”

  “It’ll be handy to have Grandpa and Gran-gran so close when we have kids.” She paused. “How many times did you get asked during the reception when we’re gonna start a family?”

  “I lost track after seventy.”

  Keely laughed. “I rather liked seein’ you skirting the issue, Jack. But as long as we’ve got time to kill, maybe we ought talk about kidlets. Since it’s something we haven’t discussed.”

  The last two months since they’d set the wedding date had been a whirlwind. Opening Keely’s clinic, setting up his office space in her building, meeting with his clients across the country to explain he was only changing his physical address, not the nature of his consulting business. He and Keely had been apart more than either of them liked, which was why they needed these two weeks alone.

  “Okay.”

  “I’m thinkin’ I’ll want seven kids.”

  He nearly wrecked the car, his head whipped around so fast. “Seven? Are you fucking serious?”

  “Yep. That’s only one more than Cam and Domini have, and they’re doin’ fine.”

  “Their house and their lives are a goddamn zoo, Keely.” When she smirked, he realized he’d been had. “Very funny.”

  “But I do think we could handle six.”

  “No way.”

  “Fine. How many do you want?” she demanded.

  “Two.”

  “Two? That’s it? I already feel bad for our two poor babies, practically raised alone.” She made the most pitiful-sounding sigh.

  Jack rolled his eyes. “Last time I checked there were almost twenty-seven McKay and West cousins for Jack Junior and Little Keely to play with. That’s plenty.”

  “Fine. Five kids.”

  “Nope. But I’d agree to three.”

  “Four.”

  “We’ll see.” Four ankle biters sounded good to him, but he had to keep some negotiating power with his wife.

  His wife who’d gotten very quiet all of a sudden.

  “Keely? You okay?”

  Her hand tightened around his. “Just thinking. As much as I wanna have a ton of kids with you, not right away, okay? I want you all to myself for a while first.”