Thank you for your continued support. I do not own Glee or the characters, neither do I own Grayson's Vow.
SAM
"Thanks," I said, getting out of Jodi's car. She gave me a tight smile and a small wave, no doubt disappointed about where the night had gone, or not gone as the case was.
I didn't generally go back for seconds, but I'd had every intention of working off some steam in her bed. However, once I'd arrived at her apartment and she'd pushed me down on her couch and started pawing at me, all I could think about was the fact that it was my wedding day.
Which was so fucking annoying, because it wasn't like my wedding day meant anything at all.
But in the end, it just seemed in bad taste to fuck one woman on the day I'd given my name...temporarily or not...to another. I wouldn't call it honor, because clearly I had precious little of that, but it just felt...distasteful and wrong...
Wrong enough to cool any lustful thoughts I might've had about fruit-flavored Jodi's athletic little body.
My thoughts turned back to Mercedes for the hundredth time that night...
Her and those stupid O-named rats. It was weird, so why had it made me want to kiss her again?
Kiss her right.
Kiss her long and hard as I wrapped that long hair around my fist.
Something had clearly come between me and my good sense.
I watched Jodi's car drive out of sight and stood in the driveway for another minute, considering my witchy, spirited little wife.
I had fully expected she wouldn't show up that morning, that she'd call off this farce of a marriage and move out after what had happened the day before with the list and the wine.
And I couldn't decide if I wanted that or not.
Clearly, we did not complement each other in any arrangement, business or otherwise.
I had still been stewing about the wine, but if I really considered it, things had gone awry for me when I'd seen her naked.
If I could erase the vision from my brain, I would, because I hadn't been able to stop thinking about her since.
Totally unwelcome... and yet utterly undeniable.
When I'd walked into her cottage and had seen her standing there completely nude, lust had gripped me so tightly, I'd almost grabbed the doorframe for support.
For a moment, I'd been overcome by something strong enough to make me feel weak in the knees, my mind going suddenly and briefly blank.
I'd never experienced anything quite like it before. And I had to believe it was partly the shock of the situation that had stolen my breath right from my body, making me almost savage with want.
I was picturing her now, my mind's eye conjuring up her smooth, supple skin; full, delectable breasts with dark-hued nipples; her flared hips; and legs that seem long and shapely despite her short stature.
She was thick in all the right places, but her clothing hid just how luscious she was. How delectable her ass was.
But I knew now. And I wished I didn't.
This did not bode well for the business relationship we had arranged... And it certainly did not bode well for my peace of mind.
I had no desire to have lustful thoughts for my wife. Like the ones I'd had when she'd shown up in the driveway this afternoon, looking like she'd spent the day in bed having sex... Her cheeks and lips flushed, her eyes bright, nipples hard, and her hair tousled wildly.
For a brief instant, I'd wondered if she had been having sex with someone in her cottage and something that felt suspiciously like jealousy had gripped me. Then I'd wondered if she'd just been alone in that small bed, her hands on her own body...
I knew the look of an aroused woman. It had made me crazy and frustrated enough to accept Jodi's offer.
My body throbbed at the memory, and I swore under my breath at my own unwanted reaction to Mercedes. Thinking about my wife that way made me decidedly grumpy and hostile.
Today would have to be the only day off limits as far as sleeping with other women, because there was no way I'd survive thinking about my wife the way I was.
I would need to distract myself with other willing bodies. And, I admitted, with more mindfulness than I'd almost shown tonight.
Spending time with women who knew my name and where I lived, wasn't exactly following the agreement Mercedes and I had made regarding conducting our personal lives with discretion.
And now, there was even more reason to get this part of our marriage over with so she would be out of my hair sooner rather than later.
Mercedes... Who was now my wife.
'No, not for real. Shut up! Stop repeating that to yourself.'
She'd been a little spitfire yesterday. And this morning, she'd been meek and subdued, except for the way she'd laughed at the chaste kiss I'd given her, heating my blood in front of God and our court-appointed witness, and provoking me...knowingly or not...to kiss her again in a way that was anything but platonic.
She had grown up in the very lap of luxury and yet she'd spent half a day...Alice had told me...scrubbing out what must've been a disgusting bathroom in that little cottage, and was now living there.
She was an enigma... I couldn't figure her out, and I didn't have the time or the inclination to try.
And yet, for some inane reason, I had trouble resisting the allure of meeting the challenges she dished out.
And trouble resisting the desire to make that fire flash in her eyes.
I craved it... The way she looked when she flew into a rage...her face flushed in a deep dark red, her eyes smoldering and filled with indignation...
She kept me constantly off balance and for the life of me, I couldn't figure out why I liked it so much.
That's why I'd teased her with that stupid list of hers. And then things had gone downhill from there.
And now we were married... Till divorce do us part.
I turned to go back into the house when I heard what sounded like voices coming from... Above me?
I frowned, turning and squinting up at the dark sky. No, they were coming from farther over...right at the edge of Mercedes' cottage.
I walked slowly in that direction, a little confused.
"Hello?" I called.
The voices stopped, although I thought I heard a small, muffled laugh.
"Who's there?" I said louder.
No answer...
"Ouch!" I said, as something small and hard hit my head and more muffled laughter came from above.
Then I looked up...
Someone or a few someones were up in the trees...
Another acorn made contact with my skull and I grunted.
What the hell?
"Who's up there?" I repeated angrily. "Come down now before I call the police."
There was a silent moment and then I heard what sounded like someone climbing down.
A pair of beefy, jean-clad legs appeared first and then Willie's head came into sight...
He hopped down, his head bent as he looked at me nervously.
"What are you doing up in my trees?" I asked incredulously.
"I...um...well, sir, we wanted to see if we could catch a few wishing stars, see... Mercedes and me, we thought..."
"Mercedes?" I asked, just as another pair of legs appeared, these pretty and shapely. "What the...?"
Mercedes landed on her feet in front of me, leaves stuck to her and that damn silky hair falling down in disarray around her face.
Just like earlier that evening, her face were flushed and she was breathing hard. But this time, she smelled like alcohol...
My new wife was climbing trees...drunk.
I clenched my jaw.
"So...you're insane," I declared.
"Well hello, husband," she slurred slightly. "How was your date?"
"My date? Mercedes, do you realize you could've broken your neck and Willie's neck, too, for that matter? I suppose this was your idea."
She glanced at Willie who looked like a little boy who had just been sent to the principal's office.
"It was all my idea, actually," she admitted, standing up straight and crossing her arms under her breasts. "Did you know that if you sit in a tree all day, you can watch people to your heart's content? No one ever looks up. It's the most interesting thing."
"Hmm. You have a lot of tree-climbing experience, no doubt."
She tilted and I righted her...
"Quite a bit."
"And of course, there's the wishing star thing."
"Well, yes, that. Might as well try, right? No one ever got anywhere by sitting in their cottage in the woods drinking alone on their wedding night."
She frowned, as if trying to recall something, perhaps whether the person she was describing was herself.
"In the future, will you please leave my employees out of stunts like this one? I would hate to have to call Willie's mother and tell her that her son tumbled out of a tree."
"Oh, there wasn't any danger. I mean, very little. Haven't you ever climbed these trees? They're the perfect climbing trees. The..." she let out a little hiccup, "...branches are so huge and strong and wide. You could sleep on one."
"You're drunk, Mercedes. If you had tried to sleep on a tree branch, I'd be scraping you off the ground tomorrow."
She laughed as if that was funny.
"Seriously, though, surely you've climbed one of these trees?" she asked.
"No."
"No?" she whispered. "Why not?"
She looked at me so seriously, her look as confounded as if I'd just admitted I'd never tried breathing air before.
Without answering, I turned to Willie who was shifting back and forth on his feet.
"You should go on back to your bunk, Willie."
"Yes, sir," he muttered. Then he turned to Mercedes, his face lighting up as if she was the sun and he had just been looking into the darkness.
Me being the darkness in this particular circumstance.
However, he gave her the most openly enamored smile I'd ever seen on a grown man and said shyly,
"Goodnight, Miss Mercedes."
She grinned back at him and I startled slightly. There it was. That wonderful smile I'd seen in the online photograph with an almost dimple. And Willie got it!
I've never gotten that smile...not even once. And I probably never would, especially after tonight.
"That's Mrs. Mercedes," she corrected, winking.
Willie shot me a look that I swore was suspicious and then nodded at her, smiling again as he turned and walked away. Happy as a clam.
I gritted my teeth and turned back to the little witch...
We stared at each other for a few moments.
"My father never would have allowed it," I said. "Climbing trees."
She furrowed her brow as if trying to remember what we'd been talking about.
Her eyes met mine, and although she was clearly inebriated, I could see gentleness in her expression.
"My father didn't allow it either. "
"I take it you didn't listen?" I raised an eyebrow.
She laughed softly and shook her head, looking suddenly sad in a way that made me want to reach out to her. But then she smiled and nodded her head up to the tree.
"Clearly not. I've never been very good at obedience. Or meekness. Or curbing my sharp tongue for that matter. I'd make a terrible wife."
She swayed again very slightly and took a step towards me on a small laugh. And I couldn't help smiling back at her joke as I caught her by her upper arms.
Then, something suddenly seemed to occur to her...
"Speaking of my father, I told you to be discreet about your personal life. Discreet," she dragged out the word, leaning towards me. "It's very important."
I cleared my throat...
"I thought you said you weren't overly worried about your father."
She chewed on her lip...
"I'm always worried about my father," she whispered, looking somewhere off in the distance. Her eyes focused on me again and she stood up straighter. "I just don't want to invite trouble."
"Noted," was all I gave her as she swayed again. "Okay, little witch, let's get you back to your cottage in the woods."
I almost offered one of the guest rooms in the house again, but she had turned me down before, and frankly, I thought it better that there was distance between us...for a whole slew of reasons I didn't much want to contemplate anymore than I already had.
When we made it to the door of her cottage, Mercedes turned to me, her eyes bleary, her face flushed...
She tilted her head and as the leaves of the trees overhead blew in the wind, and a shaft of moonbeam hit her face, lighting it just enough that her gemstone eyes shone like brightly.
Her hair, perhaps put up in a twist earlier tonight, had slipped almost completely loose and as usual, silky tendrils framed her face.
She smiled a small smile at me, her lips curving up just the slightest bit, and I felt momentarily stunned silent. Had I thought this girl was merely pretty?
Well, I was the stupidest man alive.
A blind fool.
A complete moron.
She was beautiful.
Irrationally, I felt duped, as if the little witch had put some kind of spell on me. Maybe it wasn't so irrational...she probably had.
Bewitching little troublemaker.
I clenched my jaw, turning on my heel.
"Goodnight," I called over my shoulder, not even bothering to wait until she'd slipped through the door of her cottage.
But I went back to my house and took a very cold shower.
I avoided Mercedes for the next couple days. I was busy, but more than that, she unsettled me, and I didn't need the distraction.
The only female companionship I had the time or desire for right now was very temporary, and admittedly very shallow.
Getting involved with my wife would be a bad idea on almost every level.
The only contact we'd had was her text advising me she'd requested a certified copy of our marriage license, but that it would be several weeks before it would be processed and posted.
More waiting... But we were one step closer.
A couple weeks and we'd have the check we both desperately needed. The end.
I had no idea what Mercedes was doing, nor did I much care. Or at least that's what I kept telling myself.
In any case, she seemed to be happy enough to avoid me as well.
She didn't show up at any of the normal meal times, and I refused to ask Alice whether she ate at the vineyard or not.
Although I did catch sight of her scampering around here and there, and I thought she might have brought the men I worked with lunch a couple times.
I always ate up at the house, so I couldn't be sure, and I didn't ask them.
A week after we'd gotten married, I was walking back down the hill to the vineyards where Carlos, Willie and the two new, part-time guys I'd hired the day before were working, when I stopped short, squinting my eyes to make sure I was really seeing what I thought I was seeing.
Mercedes was standing on one leg, her other stretched out behind her on the back of one of the tractors as it moved around the perimeter of the grapevines!
She had a long ribbon of some sort in one hand and was waving it through the air.
As I watched, she changed legs, bringing her arms out in front of her in some sort of pose.
The men cheered and clapped, holding up their fingers as if scoring her for her performance. Then, she turned towards them, the tractor still moving, Carlos at the wheel, and did a deep curtsy, her long, loose hair falling forward.
Next, she stood and spun around, bringing her leg up again in a ballerina-type pose...
My heart leapt with panic and my breath stuttered at the dangerous stunt, which got my legs moving again...
I half walked, half jogged towards Mercedes. When I was close, Carlos looked to where I was, the smile on his face disappearing as he slowed the tractor, finally stopping completely.
Immobile, I glared at them, at a complete loss for words. Finally, I managed to grit out,
"What in the hell are you doing?"
Carlos scratched his neck and wisely looked away, while Mercedes stood straighter, staring down at me defiantly.
"I brought lunch down," she said, gesturing to the In-N-Out Burger wrappers strewn on a blanket at the base of a tree to the right of the tractor's path.
Then she bent down...
"I was simply showing them the routine I planned to use to join the circus. I was going to be the girl who dances on the back of an elephant. I perfected it years ago while my best friend Melodie drove my father's golf cart. We all got talking about childhood dreams and..."
She trailed off, smiling around at the men.
I stared at her...
"Oh, well, clearly," I said, my voice laced with sarcasm.
She had the grace and wisdom to look momentarily embarrassed. But then that little chin came up again and fire danced in her eyes.
"We were just having a little fun...not on your time, either. It was their lunch break."
She put her hands on her hips...
"It's my equipment, Mercedes. If you had gotten hurt, I'd be responsible." Before she could answer, I looked at Carlos. "And you? What do you have to say for yourself?"
He shrugged his shoulders, but I could see amusement in his expression, despite trying to hide it.
"When the missus wants to dance on the back of a tractor, who am I to tell her no? She owns half of this vineyard."
I stared at Carlos, gritting my teeth. I wasn't going to go over the exact terms of the prenuptial agreement Mercedes and I had signed, but in any case, I could see he was thoroughly enjoying himself, so it wouldn't matter anyway.
Traitor!
I looked around at the men who were staring at Mercedes as if she'd hung the moon.
"Get down!" I demanded, recalling that this was the second time in a week I'd had to order my bride off something high and dangerous. "You will no longer climb trees nor dance on tractors at my vineyard. Do you hear me?"
She squinted her eyes at me, defiance clear in her expression. She crossed her arms.
"And if I do?" she challenged.
"If you do, I'll show you just how much of a dragon I can really be," I said with cold calm.
She came down in one smooth, elegant maneuver, landing perfectly on her feet.
"Maybe," she said, standing straight and lashing her ribbon through the air, "I should've practiced being a dragon tamer!"
Her long hair swirled around her as she moved, tendrils of heavy silk brushing her cheeks.
I moved in, but she whipped her ribbon back and forth in front of me.
"Drop your weapon, witch," I growled, hot blood swirling through my veins.
"Or what?" she demanded.
"Or I'll disarm you myself."
And then I was going to take her over my knee and use that makeshift whip to teach her a lesson.
She lifted her chin and jumped towards me and then away quickly again, taunting me, all agility and elegance.
"Oh, I dare you," she said, something fiery and thrilling flaring in her eyes. "Show me that dragonish side. Do your worst!"
I stepped up immediately to the challenge.
"Dragonish? Oh, my little wife, you haven't even glimpsed dragonish yet."
I moved in just as she whipped her ribbon towards me, and I felt the hot sting of slicing pain across my jaw.
I froze...
She'd whipped me!
The little witch had literally whipped me. And drawn blood!
I was momentarily stunned, my hand moving slowly to my jaw where it came away with a bright red smear.
Hot fire ignited in my body as my eyes met hers. The little witch was as stunned as I. Her wide eyes looked down to the thick ribbon in her hand and then back up to my cheek as if she couldn't compute what had just happened.
Her mouth opened, but then she closed it again...
"Run, Mrs. Mercedes!" I heard Willie's voice suddenly call out. I looked back at him and he was wringing his hands, a look of dread on his face as he stared at us.
Mercedes let out a small squeal, dropping her ribbon...whip, and doing just as Willie had suggested.
She ran.
I took a moment to glare at each of my men. Mercedes' men, I should probably say.
"It wasn't really her fault, sir," Carlos said. "We dared her. Seems neither one of you can resist a good dare."
He was holding back laughter, and doing a very poor job of it.
I gave him my very best scathing look.
"In the future," I said, turning in the direction my wife had run. "Please abstain from daring my wife to pull dangerous stunts on moving equipment."
"Yes, sir," I heard muttered behind me, even I picked up my pace, jogging after the insufferable brat.
I saw Mercedes pause ahead of me, as if deciding whether to head towards her cottage, or the main house.
However, she chose the main house, most likely thinking she'd have some support in Harrold and Alice. Plus, we both knew there was no lock on her cottage.
I had thought she might try to escape out one of the many back doors, but when I entered the house, she was standing in the foyer, looking around as if trying to decide where to go.
The door clicked softly behind me and I used the hem of my T-shirt to wipe at the blood I could feel dripping down my jaw.
When I lowered it, I saw that her eyes had been on my bare stomach. And just like that, I felt myself harden and swell, my blood moving hot and thick through my veins.
Damn witch!
"It was an accident," she said, glancing up the stairs as if contemplating trying to escape up them.
"I've come to realize you're more accident-prone than most, wife. And Mercedes," I gestured my head behind her. "If I have a mind to catch you, you won't even make it halfway up that staircase."
Her eyes widened and determination filled her expression. She faked a right towards the kitchen and then made a sudden lunge left, towards the living room instead.
I went after her, the primitive male instinct to hunt a fleeing female exciting all my senses and causing arousal to surge through my body.
She ran towards the couch... But I was right behind her as she tried to climb over it.
I pulled her down even as she shrieked and fought me.
"Alice!" she screamed. "Harrold!"
I managed to get her under me and pinned her arms. When I did, looking in her face triumphantly, she flinched and turned her head as if expecting a blow.
I froze, immediately letting go of her.
"Did you think I was going to hit you?" I asked, incredulously.
She blinked up at me with those gorgeous eyes, suddenly looking uncertain and very young.
Tenderness filled my chest, replacing any anger I'd felt.
"I'd never hit you."
She nodded at me.
"I...I know," she said, but the tone of her voice told me she wasn't completely sure.
"Sammy? Mercedes?" I heard Alice call from behind me, but I didn't look up. And Mercedes didn't turn her head. I didn't move off her, either.
"We're fine, Alice," I said emphatically.
"I heard..."
"We're fine, Alice," I repeated. "Give us a minute, please."
She hesitated for a moment, and then I heard her footsteps moving away.
Mercedes was still watching me with large, wary eyes.
Did she think because I'd been arrested for hitting someone, that I'd strike her?
Never!
She had only ever acted fearlessly with me, never backing down until we were in this particular position.
"Someone has hit you before," I guessed.
Her gaze held contact with mine.
"Yes," she whispered.
I closed my eyes, exhaling a long breath. And when I opened my eyes, she was still looking at me, her stare fixed on the cut on my jaw, the one I'd completely forgotten about.
In truth, it was barely a flesh wound. That dumb ribbon must've hit me just right. What were the odds of being sliced by a ribbon?
"I hurt you," she said, her voice full of regret.
My body was still pressed into hers, her light flowery scent surrounding me, her lips parted just slightly.
Her eyes were full of tender concern and so beautiful my heart ached.
I couldn't stop myself...
I lowered my lips to hers...
She startled slightly and after a tense moment where we stared into each other's open eyes, she relaxed back into the couch and brought her arms up and around my neck, her lids fluttering closed.
I groaned and used my tongue to trace the full contours of Mercedes' lips before slipping inside the warm recesses of her mouth.
She tasted like sweetness and fire, her tongue reaching out to tangle with mine as I brought my hand under her body and stroked the curve of her spine.
She arched up into me. And the kiss took on a feverish intensity as our tongues played together, mine dipping into her mouth in a penetrate-and-withdrawal pattern as old as time.
Lust, as sharp and sudden as lightning, arced between us... She felt so right under me. And I felt my control slipping...
The shock of that feeling was as surprising as it was worrisome.
I broke my lips from hers and stared into her face, her lips wet and puffy from my kiss, her eyes half lidded.
She was stunning!
Picking up a lock of dark silk and feeling it in my fingers, I murmured gently,
"This hair..."
Mercedes blinked up at me, her expression taking on a cautious confusion. She wriggled and I hissed in a gasp of air as she moved against my hard, aching groin.
She managed to slip out from under me and I sat up abruptly.
Then she stood looking down at me, and I reached out to her with my hand, but she backed up instead, looking at me almost accusingly.
I opened my mouth to say something...I had no idea what...but before I could, she turned, and again, she ran.
Stay safe!