A Malfoy Marriage of Convenience – Chapter 3
A/N:Hello dear readers!! It has been an extremely long time since I have even signed onto , let alone actually posted an update! I know people have been reviewing this story all the way up to this past summer, so at least I know that some people are still interested in reading it. I have actually found one person who may have a copy of the original story, and this is actually the only thing motivating me to get back to the writing of this fic. Let's all cross our fingers that I manage to get my story back!
Either way, I know that you are probably eager to see how badly a rusty writer can mess up this chapter, so here we go . . .
. . . I have to say – I wrote that note literally whatever many number of years ago it was when I last updated. One day I started, then never finished. Well regardless . . . no one can say I don't attempt to finish a project, not matter how long it takes! LoL!
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Hermione sighed and shifted a little, the morning sun was insisting that she get up and begin her day. For some reason, though she had slept wonderfully, she simply wasn't ready to get up. She felt so warm and safe where she was that she didn't want to leave and face the day, in fact, she didn't even want to open her eyes. The practical side of her won in the end though. Despite being on honeymoon with Malfoy, she could still get up and have a lovely breakfast, do a bit of shopping, and see the sights. With a renewed sense of purpose, Hermione began to ease her way up from the bed, but pressure on her back stopped her. Her eyes snapped open. She found herself looking into the face of her oh-so-handsome husband.
There was a moment of awkward silence as she realized she had somehow found herself lying atop her new spouse during the night, and Draco realized he held her so closely, it seemed like he'd had no intention of letting her go.
No wonder she hadn't wanted to move! His chest was much broader than she expected it to be – strong shoulders, hard muscle, warm flesh. Just thinking about him like this made her want to curl up against him and rub her cheek against his chest. She shook her head slightly. It was early . . . she must be really confused.
Meanwhile, Draco admired the curtain of auburn curls framing her face in the morning light. Had she always been this pretty? And why hadn't he noticed how womanly her curves were? Why hadn't he concocted plots to lure her warm, feminine figure into a broom closet back at Hogwarts?
Finally, Hermione cleared her throat and wriggled away. "Malfoy," she acknowledged, blushing, and then making a beeline to the bathroom.
When the door snapped shut behind her, Draco dragged a hand over his face and groaned. How the hell did he get himself into this situation? A girl finally managed to lasso him into marriage and he gets the only one in the entire world who would not let him lay a hand on her. After the steamy dreams he'd had with Hermione in the lead role the night before, he couldn't even be disgusted with himself for lusting after his sworn enemy – at this point, he was too far gone.
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'Merlin, that was embarrassing,' Hermione thought, as she finished rolling her hair into a bun. Slipping on a headband to keep errant curls out of her face on the beach, she assessed her appearance in the mirror. Her pretty green bikini was definitely suitable if she planned on flirting with some cute surfers, she decided. Hermione sighed. Better not further complicate this trip with another guy she never intended on speaking to again. She quickly threw on a little summer dress and opened the door.
She immediately spotted Malfoy in his boxers . . . doing push-ups? Hermione raised an eyebrow. She never would have thought, but then again, he certainly wasn't rail thin like he'd been in school. Frankly, however, it probably wasn't a good idea to stand here admiring the rippling muscles in his back.
"I'm heading out," she called to him, walking towards the door. "See you . . . sometime . . . eventually . . . whatever. Just later," she added awkwardly.
"Where are you going?" he asked her, without losing his rhythm.
Hermione stopped and turned her skeptical eyebrow directly towards him. "The beach. Why? Are you planning to set a curfew?" she snapped.
Draco faltered slightly. His new wife was going out practically naked? She would be wet and gleaming in the sunshine? Now he was a man who liked to know others admired the woman he was with, but somehow, this was different. He was married to this girl. He couldn't have other men sizing up what was his – especially when she was wearing so little - outside of his line of sight. He leapt to his feet in one graceful motion and began stretching out.
"That sounds like an excellent idea," he said. "I think I'll join you."
"What?" Hermione demanded. "Don't you have other things you want to get done today?"
"If I were particularly sensitive, I might think you didn't want me to join you," Draco replied, heading into the bathroom and grabbing his toothbrush.
"I don't want you to come!" Hermione said with a little stomp of her foot that she couldn't control. "I just wanted to head out for a little swim, read on the beach, and spend some time with my own thoughts. Haven't you got some work to do? Friends to see in the area? Maybe some letters to write or something?"
Draco took his time, then rinsed before answering. "I'm on my honeymoon, Grang- Hermione," he replied. "People don't typically focus on paperwork right after they get married. They focus on each other." He made very direct eye contact with her. "I'd hate to be the only groom who didn't have any fun with his bride."
Hermione's heart rate picked up slightly. She hoped he couldn't tell somehow. It sounded like he was promising her something.
'Get a hold of yourself Hermione!' she scolded herself. 'So your husband's cute. There are tons of other cute boys in the world! Stop acting like a ninny!'
She looked away blushing as he started to change into swimwear with the door open. It wasn't the end of the world, she thought. Perhaps she could escape him later if an opportunity presented itself.
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Some of these guys actually did not realize who they were dealing with. Draco was more than considering tossing out some unforgivable curses on some of the ridiculous beach jocks throwing admiring glances at Hermione. He knew what they were thinking – the exact same thing he was – and he didn't like it. Meanwhile, the object of admiration, who had just emerged from the water like some sort of Bond girl, sat down on her beach towel and grabbed another one out of her bag to dry herself off.
"How's the water?" he asked, leaning closer to her on one elbow. Good. He noticed one idiot who had clearly been planning to approach her head in another direction, looking disappointed.
"It's great!" Hermione said grinning, so happy to be doing something relaxing that she almost forgot who she was talking to. "Are you planning to get in at all? You've been lying here for about an hour."
"Maybe later," he said, thinking she was so cute when she was animated. She even had dimples.
Just then, a shadow appeared and Draco squinted up into the face of a woman. With the sun behind her, he couldn't see any of her features, but when she knelt down beside him, he nearly groaned in annoyance. What was Violet Demoy doing here?
"Draco!" she crooned, smiling widely. "What a surprise!"
"Yeah. Surprise," he agreed weakly. This was not a girl he wanted to see. She was borderline as love struck as Pansy, and with his mother's close ties to her mother, it had always been pressed upon him to be nice to her, regardless of how homely or clingy she was. Frankly, he had barely avoided inviting her to the wedding. Her family had been vacationing since school let out and were unable to make it – they hadn't even heard the news yet.
"You look amazing Draco," she purred, sounding more like she had a sore throat than like a siren.
Hermione, of course, watched the entire exchange with amusement.
"You know," Violet said, "I'm having my birthday party on this beach tonight. Dinner, dancing, the whole nine. You should definitely come out for that. You could even be my escort," she added, blinking wildly in an attempt to flirt.
Draco strongly considered declining the invitation. He certainly didn't want to celebrate with this girl, but it wasn't like he had other plans. He glanced at Hermione and smiled slightly. Of course, bringing his new bride out to the festivities would definitely put a boundary on Violet's advances in the future – she wasn't quite as bold as Pansy.
In the same moment, Hermione's hopes rose. If Draco went out for the evening, she could have her own fun without him, while drumming up all the reasons she despised him. The afternoon had been entirely too pleasant, and she couldn't afford to let her guard down with him.
"I'll be there," Draco said with a slow, lazy smile, and Hermione was thrilled. "But I can't be your escort." Looking to Hermione, he took her left hand and caressed it with his thumb. "It wouldn't do to bring my wife to a party and spend the whole night lavishing attention on someone else."
"What!?" both girls demanded.
"Do you really think I would leave you at home while I danced the night away, Hermione?" he asked her, kissing her hand.
Hermione's pulse picked up. Violet looked borderline nauseous.
"You got married Draco?" Violet asked, glancing at Hermione's exquisite wedding band and attempting to sound polite. "When?"
"Very recently actually," he said. "We just arrived here for our honeymoon yesterday."
"Oh. Well," Violet said, clearing her throat awkwardly and standing. "You should both be there then. It starts at seven." With that, she hurried away.
Hermione's hopes plummeted. She had to face the facts. She was battling a really strong attraction to her own husband and the silly git wasn't going to give her enough room to get over it.
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"Draco darling!" Mrs. Demoy said, hurrying over to greet him when he and Hermione arrived later that evening. "What a pleasure!"
The woman, as unattractive as her daughter, swept him into a wide embrace and kissed him on both cheeks. "Has Violet seen you yet? She'll be thrilled! You know she's always carried a torch for you!" she said with a wink.
'Yeah, more like a torch for the Malfoy fortune,' Draco thought.
"Yes actually, earlier today. I introduced her to my new wife. Have you met Hermione Malfoy?" he asked with a sly smile, laying a hand on the small of Hermione's back and gently nudging her forward.
The woman was so stunned, both her chins wobbled in shock. She appraised Hermione slowly, taking in the stunning auburn curls, curved figure, and pretty face.
"Well," she said, clearing her throat. "She's lovely. Nice to meet you dear."
"It's nice to meet you too," Hermione lied, looking appropriately charming.
"Yes," Mrs. Demoy said uselessly. "Enjoy yourselves then." She grabbed some champagne from a passing waiter, took a long drag from the glass, and headed away.
"You're really enjoying this aren't you?" Hermione said to Draco, pulling away from him.
"What are you talking about?" he asked, signaling for some glasses for themselves.
"The shock factor," she replied. "You keep dropping the fact that we're married like some sort of high impact bomb."
"Well, it's going to come out eventually," he responded casually, handing her a glass. "It's not my fault we keep running into women who are so devastated I am taken for life."
Hermione rolled her eyes. If she thought this was going to be a long night while she got ready, she wasn't far wrong. Dozens of people swirled around greeting them, and at least half were outrageous flirts who looked crestfallen when he announced his recent nuptials.
After the, admittedly delicious, dinner, Hermione was just about ready to go home. Sitting around while other women fluttered their eyelashes at her not-so-darling husband was boring her, and all the casual touches Draco fit in while he looked appropriately besotted with her had her unusually tightly wound. She really needed to get away from him.
"Malfoy," she began. "I'm getting a little tired and . . ."
"I hope you're having a good time Draco," Violet said, appearing out of nowhere. She gave a quick, catty half smile to Hermione, then looked back at Draco. "You should really get up and dance with me. You've been sitting for ages."
"Actually, my wife and I were just about to fit in one quick dance before heading back," he said, jumping on an excuse – both to avoid swaying to the music with Violet, and get to press Hermione's lush body close to his. "It's been fun though. Happy birthday."
Leaving a devastated looking Violet at the table, he led Hermione by the hand onto the dance floor.
"You can't keep doing that you know," Hermione said, stifling a small gasp when he pulled her close to him.
"Can't keep doing what?" he whispered near her ear, starting to expertly lead her around the floor.
Barely suppressing a shiver, Hermione hissed back. "Using me as a ploy to avoid things you don't want to do. You've been doing it all day. You avoided escorting a girl you clearly dislike to this bloody party for one."
Draco chuckled. It was deep, masculine sound, and Hermione found herself wishing she heard it more often.
"You focus so much on what I didn't want to do," he said. "Suppose I wanted to bring you this party. Have you considered that I might want to be dancing with you right now?"
He met her eyes and maintained contact as he slowly, deliberately leaned closer to her mouth.
Hermione was shocked at the level of anticipation she felt. She barely had time to register that she may regret this later when his lips touched hers.
The kiss was explosive. Whatever Draco had thought kissing Hermione at the wedding was completely eclipsed by the bursts of excitement all over his body. He couldn't deny the extreme chemistry between them. Right now, he couldn't even figure out when his casual flirtation had become an outright seduction. His hands slipped lower on her back and Hermione sighed against his mouth. He had to be alone with her. Now.
He pulled his mouth away from hers and dragged in a deep breath. Ignoring the knowing looks of passersby, he led Hermione toward the hotel.
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The elevator doors slid open and Draco and Hermione, wrapped in an embrace, fairly spun out into the hallway.
Draco couldn't bring himself to stop touching her - mainly, in case the spell their contact had cast broke, and Hermione retreated. But he was also getting drunk on their closeness. The smell of her hair, the taste of her lips, the warm silkiness of her skin.
He muttered a spell to unlock the suite doors, and quickly had her pressed against a wall.
"You are so beautiful," he murmured, nibbling on her earlobe, then raining kisses along the column of her neck.
With his thumb, he gently slid a strap of her summer dress off her smooth shoulder, following the path of his fingers with his lips.
Hermione's knees weakened, and when she slid into his arms, he scooped her up and carried her towards their bedroom.
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A/N: Well. That's the chapter. Finally. Several years later. LoL! I hope those of you who have been waiting all this time really enjoyed it.
I do plan to continue as time permits. I am thinking to go in a similar direction to what I had in the original (though, as the years pass, that storyline gets foggier and foggier). Of course, I always love your reviews and ideas are welcome – better still would be if that person who said they kept an original on their computer could send it to me so I know which direction to take for sure! (Hey . . . it was worth a try). :-D
Like always – happy reading!
~ CaramelSweetness66